April 16, 2015

Orekoya kids back home

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NEWS

•AND MORE

•Court lifts orders on Obasanjo’s My Watch ON PAGES 2,4,7 •Senate furious over Jonathan’s refusal to okay Bill •Rivers elections petition tribunals to sit in Abuja •Ajimobi warns Ladoja against instigating violence

Page 56

•Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

VOL. 10, NO. 3186 THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

•www.thenationonlineng.net

TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

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How Buhari’s govt can boost revenue, by Okonjo-Iweala

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HE Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has a word of advice for the incoming government- diversify revenue sources.

Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, who spoke yesterday in Washington DC, on the theme: “Beyond the oil” at

From Simeon Ebulu, Washington DC

a forum tagged: “A conversation with Ngozi OkonjoIweala”, said the result of the rebasing of the economy demonstrated that there are diverse sources of revenue which the government can tap from.

Part of the revelation of that

exercise, she said, is that the government can actually increase its revenue profile by depeening and expanding its tax collection drive. In achieving this, she said, the government engaged the services of a foreign tax consultant. The measure brought in additional $500million into its coffers last year.

Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said if

consistently pursued, the measure could fetch the government $3billion over the medium-term.

Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, who spared no kind word for politicians bent on spending almost everything that comes into the government’s coffers, stressed the need for the government to rebuild its buffers.

Continued on page 4

•INSIDE: FED GOVT GIVES CONDITION FOR DIVESTMENT OF SHARES IN FIRMS P4

There’ll be positive change, Buhari assures Nigerians APC leaders fine-tune plans

Jonathan to handover May 28

From Ahmed Rufa’i, Dutse and Tony Akowe, Abuja

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RESIDENT-ELECT Muhammdu Buhari is confident that there will be positive changes in the polity.

But he is pleading for understanding, urging the citizenry not to expect immediate results from his administration when it takes office on May 29.

Gen. Buhari spoke yesterday at his Daura, Katsina State home when Jigawa State Governor-elect Alhaji Muhammadu Badaru Abubakar, senators-elect and would-be House of Representatives members from the state visited him.

The president-elect urged Nigerians to exercise patience, saying corrective policies would take time to achieve results.

He reiterated his administration’s commitment to fighting economic sabotage, bribery, corruption and insecurity.

His words: “People should not expect change immediately because of accumulation of problems in the country. There is need for more time and prayer from the public for the incoming administration to handle matters and bring change.

“I am affirming my commitment to fighting economic sabotage, insecurity, bribery and corruption.”

Abubakar said they were in Daura to reiterate their loyalty and support for the president-

From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

P

Continued on page 4

I am affirming ‘my commit-

•Gen. Buhari

ment to fighting economic sabotage, insecurity, bribery and corruption

’

•Fire fighters battling to put out fire that gutted Mamman Kotangora House on the Marina in Lagos…yesterday.

STORY ON PAGE 56

PHOTO: JOHN EBHOTA

RESIDENT-ELECT Muhammadu Buhari will receive the handover note from the outgoing government on May 28, a day before his inauguration, the Federal Government said yesterday.

He will be hosted to a dinner in what will be President Goodluck Jonathan’s last official engagement on May 28 and be given the notes, Minister of Information Patricia Akwashiki said.

She briefed reporters after the meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by President Jonathan.

According to her, May 29 has been reserved for the incoming government.

Other activities have been lined up “to showcase what Jonathan’s administration has achieved”.

She said the President has also directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to submit their transitional briefs to the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) on Monday.

The MDAs have also been directed to submit latContinued on page 4

•SPORTS P24 •EDUCATION P25 •POLITICS P45 •N/HEALTH P47 •E-BUSINESS P52 •FOREIGN P60

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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NEWS GOVERNORSHIP ELECTIONS Oshiomhole: 140,000 APC votes voided in Edo

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DO State Governor Adams Oshiomhole yesterday blamed his All Progressives Congress (APC) loss of the presidential election on March 28 to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Southsouth state on the cancellation of votes.

According to him, 140,000 of the 150, 000 voided votes in the state were APC’s. He made the revelation in an appreciation broadcast to the people for voting the APC in the general elections.

The governor said the Presidentelect, Muhammadu Buhari, secured 45 per cent of the total valid votes despite the cancellation. The APC scored below 25 per cent in all the Southsouth states except Edo. In the broadcast, Oshiomhole said: “I want to formally thank you for standing by me and the government of Edo Sate during the just-concluded presidential, National Assembly and State Assembly elections. During the presidential election, you refused to be swayed by the campaigns of hate, religious and ethnic bigotry.

“Consequently, it is on record that Edo is the only state within the Southeast and Southsouth geo-political zones where the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, secured the highest number of 45 per cent of votes cast.

“It is now clear that the about 140,000 out of the 150,000 voided votes were actually APC votes. If we add 140,000 to the 208,000 votes declared

by INEC, it is clear that Gen Buhari

won the election in Edo State.

“I am very excited by this outcome.

Indeed, all Nigerians, other than those blinded by religious and ethnic sentiments, are proud of the outcome. I am glad that you resisted the subversive generosity, the monetary inducement displayed by our opponents and you voted for change. I cannot thank you enough for doing us proud in the manner you voted.

“In the House of Assembly election, you rose in unison to re-affirm a vote of confidence in my stewardship. You demonstrated clearly your commitment to change and your desire for us to sustain and build on the gains recorded in the last six years of my stewardship, as governor.

“Indeed, the outcome of the just concluded elections has confirmed unequivocally that the APC is the darling of the people across the three senatorial zones of our dear state, and in fact, across Nigeria.

“Not only did we win convincingly in all the seven local government areas in Edo South and the six local government areas in Edo North Senatorial zone, but even in the home base of the godfather-general, we still won convincingly in three out of the five local government areas in Edo Central senatorial zone. I dare say with all sense of humility that it could not have been better than this.

“It is manifestly clear that God has used you, the electorate, to silence all the godfathers across the state; a small clique that has for about 16 years - at

•Oshiomhole

the federal level and 10 years at the state level - feasted on our common patrimony; criminally privatised our resources and presided over the underdevelopment of our state.

“You have now effectively and permanently retired the four political ruling houses that have kept our state and our people in political bondage.

“Over the past six years, we may have offended some individuals or groups in our bid to improve the lot of our people, through aggressive urban renewal, rural development and revenue generation. To those we have inadvertently offended by our actions or inactions, I offer my unreserved apologies. However, to those that had deliberately constituted themselves as cogs in the wheel of progress, we have no regrets.

“Now all hands must be on deck.

With the support of the presidentelect, we are well positioned to do all we need and take Edo State to the next level.”

Ajimobi warns Ladoja over violence threat •Alaafin leads Obas to congratulate governor-elect

•Ladoja

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YO State Governor Abiola Ajimobi had a piece of advice for his predecessor and challenger, Alhaji Rashidi Ladoja, yesterday. It was over the latter’s threat to disrupt the peace in the Pacesetter State.

Ajimobi, who defeated Ladoja of the Accord in the April 11 governorship election, urged the former governor to weigh the consequences of carrying out his threat. He said his administration will not tolerate any form of violence.

Ajimobi spoke at a news conference in Ibadan, the state capital, on the reported plan by some politicians to instigate violence.

His warning came even as prominent monarchs from Oyo, Ibarapa, Ogbomoso and Oke Ogun visited the Oluyole home of Ajimobi to felicitate with him on his re-election.

The royal fathers were led by the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, who believed the governor was reelected because of his performance in the last four years.

Warning against violence, Ajimobi said: “Surprisingly, the Accord party has been complaining that it will go

to court. No problem. If you look at the results of the election and the conduct, it was the freest and fairest election ever held. Everybody said so. All it agents signed at the polling units. It was only at the final collation center that they declined to sign. Let him go to court.”

Ladoja allegedly threatened on Tuesday to unleash members of his party if assaulted by any politicians.

The governor said: “We brought peace and security to Oyo State. We have established that and we’ll not fold our arms and allow any individual to destroy it. Senator Ladoja’s administration was replete with violence.

“Some people are sore losers and some are very sportsmanly. If he says he will resort to violence as reported, we will not tolerate it. Oyo state is a state where nobody is above the law.

If he has complaints, let him go to the police. But if he wants to lead some people to resort to violence in the state, we will deal with him.

“I guarantee that, should anybody lead any group to cause violence, the law will take its full weight to deal with that person. I assure them,” he said.

Ajimobi said his All Progressives Congress (APC) won the governorship and State Assembly elections fair and square.

His words: “If you look at the results, APC scored 25 per cent in 29 local governments. Other parties did not meet the statutory requirement of 25

Taraba: Atiku wants erring INEC, security chiefs redeployed •Says troop shouldn’t go near polling units

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ORMER Vice President and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, yesterday recommended Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security officials found to have compromised the integrity of last Saturday’s election in Taraba State for redeployment.

According to him, neutral officers should be drafted for neighbouring states to conduct the rerun on April 25.

The ex-vice president made the suggestion while hailing INEC’s decision

•Atiku

to cancel the governorship election results in some local government areas of Taraba State and declare the outcome of the polls inconclusive.

In a statement by his media office, Atiku said the declaration was in order in view of the widespread reports of irregularities in some local govern-

per cent. Accord party had only 17 per cent. We won across the six political zones out of seven. Accord and Labour Party won one each. Where is the spread of Accord? Ladoja did not win in Oyo, Ogbomoso, Oke Ogun I & II, and Ibadan city zones. He did not even meet the statutory requirement. Let him go to court, we are waiting,” the governor said.

Oba Adeyemi, who led the royal delegation, described Ajimobi’s victory as well-deserved if his achievement in the last four years were the determining factor.

The Oyo monarch said the contributions of Ajimobi to the development of the state surpassed those of his predecessors.

He observed that the only person who had governed for two consecutive terms was the Premier of the defunct Western Region, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, adding that the people have been enjoying good governance and since Ajimobi assumed office.

In their separate contributions, the Eleruwa of Eruwa, Oba Samuel Adegbola, the Olugbon of Orile Igbon, Oba Samuel Osunbade, Iba of Kisi, Oba Moshood Aweda Lawal and the Olokaka of Okaka, Oba Abdul Azeez Olatunji, called the governor-elect to implement his party’s manifesto.

Responding, the governor expressed appreciation to the royal fathers for the support given to him and his party. ment areas of the state.

“These irregularities included using armed personnel to intimidate voters,” the statement said.

According to him, armed soldiers attached to a serving senator, a minister and chief of staff to a principal officer in the Senate engaged in brazen acts, including ballot-box snatching, that violated the Electoral Act Atiku said in the statement: “Elections should not be militarised. Nigeria is a democracy not a dictatorship.

Citizens should be able to go out and vote without fear of being threatened with the nozzle of a gun.”

He alleged that election violations were perpetrated in Southern Taraba, specifically in Wukari, Takum, Kurmi and Donga local government areas.

Why PDP failed in Southwest Many factors aided the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Southwest geo-political zone at the governorship elections. Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU writes on the epic battles, issues that shaped the contests and lessons from the elections.

I

T was a fierce battle. And it was fought on all sides with vigour, energy and resources. During the campaigns, it was as if the zone was preparing for a major war. Indeed, it was an epic battle for the soul of the most politically conscious and sophisticated region, the Southwest. The All Progressives Congress (APC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its allies - the Accord, Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Unity party of Nigeria (UPN), participated in what could best be described, a popularity test. At the close of the polls, the wheat was separated from the chaff.

The general elections, according to observers, were free and fair. Many gladiators escaped defeat narrowly.

Some others were not so lucky, they were humbled. Across the three states-Lagos, Ogun and Oyo – where the governorship election held, the margin was not wide.

There were a lot of surprises. Candidates that were perceived as weak contenders waxed strong on poll day. The so-called power brokers fell during the exercise. The contest was keen, an indication that electoral democracy has become much more competitive. For the first time, the people took ownership of the process. The lessons of the parliamentary and governorship polls will remain instructive. They may guide the zone in its preparations for future elections.

The outcome of the poll heralded a new dawn in the Southwest. Indeed, for the first time, four states in the region-Lagos, Oyo, Ogun and Osun - which had loathed mainstream politics, or put succinctly, alliance with the conservative centre, is aligning with the centre under the banner of progressive politics. This has implications for inter-governmental relations in an atmosphere of cooperative federalism. The era of federal/state bickering may be replaced by a gradual movement to political understanding. However, to enlarge its coast in the region, APC has an unfinished business. Although the party made further inroad into Ondo State, where it won two of the senatorial seats, it met a brick wall in Ekiti, where it was roundly defeated by the PDP at the presidential, National and State Assembly polls.

Between 2011 and 2011, the perception of the Southwest about President Goodluck Jonathan has changed. The people of the region were stunned by his inept administration. The poor performance cut

across all sectors. To them, the government has not tackled corruption, addressed unemployment and the issue of power. Rather, it has encouraged waste, inefficiency, thuggery and impunity. Consequently, when Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and other compatriots mooted the idea of a mega party to challenge the PDP, there was enthusiasm in the region.

The four governors have an arduous task ahead of them. While fraternising with the Federal Government, based on party affiliation, the regional integration project they have subscribed to must not be abandoned.

Lagos Since 1999, the PDP and the progressive bloc have been locked in a battle of supremacy in Lagos. The Federal Government had always wanted to capture the state, but at every election, the bid has been futile. The recent governorship election was not an exception. The PDP candidate, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, a pharmacist, fought gallantly. But, he lost to the APC standard bearer, Akinwunmi Ambode, a chartered accountant. The opposition, built on its previous record of failure. In 1999, its candidate, Chief Dapo Sarumi, was defeated by Senator Bola Tinubu of the Alliance for Democracy (AD).

In 2003, Tinubu also defeated the PDP flag bearer, the late Mr. Funso Williams, an engineer. In 2007, the PDP candidate, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, crashed before Governor Babatunde Fashola of the defunct Action Congress (AC). Also, in 2011, the PDP candidate, Dr. Ade Dosunmu, could not fly. He lost to Fashola, who ran on the platform of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

Ahead of the recent general elections, the crisis-ridden PDP chapter, reflected on its failed attempts to capture power. Its leader, Commodore Bode George (rtd), took Agbaje to Aso Villa, to sell him to the President.

The Afenifere chieftain, who had earlier rejected overtures to defect to the PDP, shortly after the demise of Williams, finally agreed to run on the platform of the party. The PDP has always been a divided house. To encourage Agbaje, there was a sort of camouflage reconciliation among the warring chieftains. Unlike the APC, Agbaje emerged as a candidate at a rancorous primary election, which Obanikoro described as a sham. But, the party was united by the pumping of money into the chapter by the Presidency.

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

3

GOVERNORSHIP ELECTIONS

‘‘

•The Governorship outlook

• Aregbesola

• Fashola

• Amosun

Agbaje is a people’s man and Lagosians took him seriously. He is a polished politician; urbane, nice and sociable. The pharmacist is brilliant; he is a good speaker, knowledgeable and widely perceived as a man of integrity and honour. But, according to analysts, Agbaje ran on a wrong platform, which mocked his antecedent as a committed progressive. This called attention to his pedigree. Those who voted for him, did so on merit, not because of party affiliation. His party, to many Lagosians, was not appealing.

The PDP was desperate to capture Lagos. Before the presidential poll, it employed four methods. President Goodluck Jonathan secured the endorsement of the polarised regional group, Afenifere. But, reality later dawned on him that he struck a deal with a section of the pan-Yoruba socio-political group that could not successfully mobilise support for a councillorship candidate in any part of the region. Also, the PDP-controlled Federal Government mobilised both factions of the ethnic militia, the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), led

by Dr Fredrick Faseun and Gani Adams, to terrorise Lagos for eight hours. Irked by the show of shame, former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Alani Akinrinade, said that the sponsors of the perfidy were on the way to doom. The third strategy was the ethnic card, which has now created a division in Lagos, with its implications for peaceful co-existence among the diverse tribes. The PDP succeeded in inciting the Igbos against their hosts by inventing the highly divisive and potentially provocative slogan of ‘Lagos is no man’s land.’ In the opinion of observers, Agbaje also made a mistake of playing ethnic politics, unlike in 2007 when he dwelt on issues. Thus, PDP promised Lagos Ndigbo six commissioners and an Eze Ndigbo of Lagos, which would have been very difficult for Agbaje to fulfill, if he had won the race. The fourth was the massive financial inducement of the electorate.

The party was more desperate, shortly after it lost the presidential election. The PDP peeped into the future, noting that it would need money to play the role of the opposition. It therefore, resolved to cap-

• Ajimobi

•Mimiko

ture Lagos, Akwa Ibom and Rivers states. But, the plot failed in Lagos and its victory in the two oil-rich states remained controversial.

Lagosians were yearning for change. Therefore, they supported the presidential ambition of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. Besides, the struggle for change at the centre began from Lagos. The crusade was led

by Tinubu. He was the last man standing in 2003. Under his leadership, the progressives reclaimed other Southwest states, although Ondo and Ekiti were re-captured.

In the last 16 years, Lagos has also been building on the solid foundation laid by Asiwaju Tinubu. In 1999, the former governor inherited a state struggling for survival. But, through creative financial engineering, Lagos State jerked up its internally generated revenue. Tinubu also laid the foundation for infrastructure battle in the Centre of Excellence. He was succeeded by a competent aide, Governor Babatunde Fashola, who built on the legacies. Therefore, when the APC family led by Tinubu, the pathfinder, and Fashola, the actualiser, called for the sustainability of the progress made so far through a government of continuity, Lagosians believed in them and in the standard bearer, Ambode, the consolidator. The PDP propaganda, falsehood and campaign of calmuny against the APC national leader and the ruling party failed. What gained prominence was the counter-argument that Lagos was not ready for experimentation under an untested politician and a party with no attraction.

Now, Lagos is in the mainstream.

The state suffered for 16 years under an unfriendly Federal Government. It is believed that the new federal/state parley will herald many dividends of democracy for the citystate.

Oyo Oyo State became a PDP state in 2003, following the political earthquake that swept through the Southwest. For eight years, the Pacesetter State suffered the indignity of being ruled by uncaring politicians. But, there was a clean break from the past when Governor Abiola Ajimobi assumed the reins in 2011. Thuggery, violence, arson and disruption of the

•Fayose

state by road transport workers were the order of the day. There was no peace. Also, godfatherism was enthroned. Development and progress were at a standstill. The hand of the government was heavy on the state.

Corruption was rife. The state was in chaos.

The former governor, Rashidi Ladoja, and his godfather, the late Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, parted ways, following disagreement over the sharing of the state revenue.

Ladoja resisted the suggestion that his benefactor deserved a portion of the security vote. Hell was let loose.

His administration was full of tension. The atmosphere was tense. It was not conducive to good governance. Ladoja lost his seat. He was replaced by his deputy. By the time he regained it, time was running out.

His successor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, also ran a controversial government. It was obvious that the state was fed up with the PDP. The people yearned for change. Their prayer was answered in 2011.

Ajimobi defeated Alao-Akala. He inherited a heavy burden. But, he swung into action. The financial loopholes were blocked. It was obvious that Senator Ajimobi cannot be intimidated by unscrupulous elements. He took charge of the state without any recourse to a godfather.

In four years, the governor turned the state into a huge construction site. His urban renewal projects have been hailed beyond the targeted cities. Also, he has fought the infrastructure battle across the nooks and corners of the state. A risk taker, the governor also stepped on toes in the interest of the state. Under him, there was no room for personal aggrandisement.

However, he could not curtail strife and rancour in the ruling party.

Ambitious compatriots, including Senator Olufemi Lanlehin, defected to the Accord, in protest. Even, elder statesman Chief Michael Koleoso decided to take a back seat. But, the governor maintained intimacy with the people who enjoyed the dividends of democracy under his administration. His foes went to town to twist the objective of the urban renewal project, saying that it was meant to deprive the traders of their ware points. Others said that a re-

But, reality later dawned on him that he struck a deal with a section of the panYoruba sociopolitical group that could not successfully mobilise support for a councillorship candidate in any part of the region

‘‘

gime of unbearable taxation was underway. There were other fabrications by his detractors. But, the governor weathered the storm.

Ajimobi ran an incorruptible and transparent government. Unlike those before him, he did not sponsor thuggery and hooliganism. There was no divide and rule among road transport workers. Under his administration, peace returned to Ibadan and its environs.

Ajimobi made the traditional institutions the cornerstone of his administration. The parley with royal fathers - the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, the Soun of Ogbomoso, Oba Jimoh Oyewumi, and the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Samuel Odulana Odugade - worked.

Their children are commissioners in the state. The children of the Alaafin and the Soun were also APC House of Representatives candidates in their domains. Blood is thicker than water. The royal fathers are popular in their kingdoms. So, their subjects listened to them. Besides, the governor ran back to the leading lights in Ibadan, urging them to support his re-election bid. He got their endorsement.

The people started to compare Ajimobi administration with the previous administrations. He was adjudged a performer, despite the liabilities he inherited. A searchlight was beamed on Ladoja and AlaoAkala governments. It was discovered they performed below expectation. In particular, they perceived Alao-Akala as a controversial politician. The people were not impressed by new promises reeled out by the former governors to stage a comeback into Government House.

Also, the APC has waxed stronger and Ladoja’s party, Accord, and the Labour Party (LP), on which AlaoAkala ran, were no match for the ruling party. The PDP was also in ruins. In fact, the PDP did not put its house in order. It has disintegrated, with Ladoja, Alao-Akala, Senator Teslim Folarin, and Seyi Makinde, who are chieftains of the party, working at cross purposes. The former Senate Leader was the PDP candidate. Makinde, a rich engineer, defected from the fold to run on the platform of the relatively unknown SDP. They were consumed by the

clash of ego and ambitions.

At the presidential election, Oyo honoured the governor by voting for Gen. Buhari. His campaigns were also not in vain. The ruling party won the three senatorial seats, to the consternation of his rivals. The power brokers of yester-years were dusted at the poll. Reality dawned on them that they could only contend with past glory. However, the challenge before Ajimobi, whose reelection has broken the second term jinx, is how to manage the success, work hard, make the party one and implement a succession plan that will enable him hand over to a worthy successor.

Ogun The forces against the governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, were formidable. But, he is not strange to political battles. The people did not elect him in vain in 2011. Amosun has lived up to expectation by his giant strides across all sectors of the state economy. No governor has worked assiduously like him in the Gateway State. The testimonies are the new roads springing up across the state, the new classrooms, the hospitals and health care centres, and other social infrastructure. In particular, the roads and bridges in Shagamu, Ijebu-Ode, Abeokuta, Sango-Ota/Akute are signposts of successful infrastructure battles.

Royal fathers across the state have also testified to his financial re-engineering and judicious allocation of resources. Amosun, according to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has performed, despite dwindling resources. Urging voters to vote wisely, the former President said their decision on poll day has implications for the state and the future of their children.

But, as it turned out, performance was not the only factor that could guarantee victory. The governor campaigned vigorously to woo back voters, whose minds have been spoilt by sheer falsehood, fabrication and propaganda by his opponents.

Amosun’s main challengers were Gboyega Isiaka of the PDP and Senator Akin Odunsi of the SDP. But, it was clear that they could not match the APC candidate, who was miles ahead of them. But, the outcome of the senatorial poll jolted the APC. Its candidate, Dapo Abiodun, an influential businessman, crashed before the billionaire business mogul, Prince Buruji Kashamu of the PDP. Amosun has stepped on toes in the Ijebu-Remo axis, when he insisted that the commonwealth of the state should not be sold to godfathers.

Therefore, they ganged up against his second term ambition.

Also, ahead of the polls, the rift in the APC could not be resolved, resulting in the defection of Senators Gbenga Obadara, Odunsi and Gbenga Kaka, the deputy governor, Hon. Segun Adesegun, and other members of the Osoba camp to the SDP. But, the outcome of the Ogun polls demystified Aremo Olusegun Osoba, a founding father of the APC, who deserted his original political family to embrace a new and strange platform. The SDP was unknown to the people. Across the three zones, it lacks formidable structures.

The PDP was also a divided house. The cracks could not be mended before the polls. The effects of the pre-primary crisis robbed off on the party during the general elections. Also, Obasanjo’s exit from the PDP was a blow to the opposition party. To ordinary folks, Amosun was a performer. Therefore, he earned the mandate of the people for the second term on merit.

The governor has an unfinished business of re-uniting the ruling party, building on the achievement of his first term and reconciling with critical stakeholders in the state, despite their opposition to his re-election bid. With that, he will be magnanimous in victory.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

NEWS There’ll be positive change, Buhari assures Nigerians Continued from page 1

•Members of ‘Bringbackourgirls’ Group holding a candle-light vigil for the release of kidnapped Chibok school girls in Abuja ...yesterday.

Rivers election petition tribunal to sit in Abuja

T

HE Rivers State Election Petition Tribunal will sit in Abuja following the approval of its relocation from Port Harcourt, the state capital, by President of the Court of Appeal Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa.

The relocation is due to security reasons.

A statement yesterday in Abuja by Mrs Deborah Musa,

From Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi

the Secretary of the Tribunal, said Justice Ishaq Bello, the acting Chief Judge of the FCT High Court, approved the FCT High Court, Apo, as the secretariat and trial court for the tribunal.

There has been violence in Rivers State before, during and after the elections. Many

•Members of ‘Bringbackourgirls’ Group during the candle-light vigil in Abuja ...yesterday.

PHOTOS: NAN

Continued on page 60

Fed Govt gives condition for divestment of shares HE divestment of some in Transcorp, DISCOs, GENCOs government interests in

T

businesses to private investors will depend on the profitability of such businesses, Nigerians were told yesterday.

According to the Federal Government its shares in the Transcorp Hilton Hotel Plc and Electricity Distribution and Generation Companies (DISCOs and GENCOs), among others, will depend on the profits made by these companies.

The Director General of the

From Nduka Chiejina and Chioma Onyia Abuja

Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) Mr. Benjamin Dikki, spoke at the first Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Transcorp Hilton Hotel Plc in Abuja.

Dikki told the shareholders that the decision to divest the government’s holdings in some enterprises was to protect the investment of ordinary shareholders who would buy

the shares of such companies.

The Federal Government, Dikki said, would not want to expose potential shareholders and investors to unprofitable enterprises, considering that shareholders invested their hard-earned money.

In the case of the DISCOs and GENCOs, Dikki said they would be taken to the capital market when they show profitability so that shareholders are not exposed to unprofitable ventures that will make them

lose their investments.

Shareholders were excited when Transcorp Hilton Hotel Chairman Olorogun O’tega Emerhor told them that the company would post a dividend of 37 kobo to every 50 kobo shares held by shareholders, amounting to N2.8 billion inspite of difficult operating conditions in 2014.

Emerhor said: “Gross revenue for the company remained Continued on page 60

How Buhari’s govt can boost revenue, by Okonjo-Iweala Continued from page 1

She said considerable political will was exerted in the Olusegun Obasanjo administration to set funds aside for the Excess Crude Account and save for the rainy day. The then government was able to pull that through because there was no strong opposition then, pointing out that the vibrant opposition in the present dispensation and the tendency by the governments at the states’ level to always insist on sharing all government revenues, have combined to deplete the Excess Crude Account. “This was not quite right. Sharing of ECA continued, which was not proper,” she said, adding that the depletion continued because the political will the government had changed..

She said the incoming government should also tinker

with the option of raising the Value Added Tax (VAT), which in its present five per cent level, she pointed out, is the lowest in the world. Raising the margin by another five per cent, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala argued, would make a difference in increasing revenue.

She said the proposal is already included in the 2015 budget before the National Assembly.

“We can look at other taxes, like the VAT, which is in the budget for 2015. We have the lowest VAT in the world, which can be doubled. This can bring another $3billion into the revenue profile,” Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said, adding that these steps are needed to drive the economy beyond oil.

She said President Goodluck Jonathan’s position, which she is recommending to the incoming government, is to re-

verse the ratio of crude oilNon oil contribution to revenue from 70%-30% in favour of oil, to Non oil- crude oil contribution of 70%-30% in favour of Non-oil over the next 10 years.

Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, who continually stressed that this year would be particularly difficult for Nigeria, economically, said the hardship occassioned by the drop in crude prices, should serve as an incentive and a wake-up call to diversify the economy, rather than a challenge.

“We shoild see the drop in the price of oil, not as a difficult thing (it is very difficult with the drop in revenue by 50 per cent), but it’s also an opportunity for the country to pursue this diversification agenda,” she stressed.

The Minister, who spoke on a wide range of issues, impressed

on the need for the incoming Gen. Muhammadu Buhari administration to build institutions designed to fight corruption.

She called for reforms in the oil sector.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), she said, should be restructutred and the Petroleum Industry Bill should be passed.

Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala’s presentation was witnessed by a one time Lagos State Commissioner for Finance Mr. Wale Edun, Nigeria’s Ambassador to the US, Professor Ade Adefuye, Director of Budget, Dr. Bright Okogu and the former Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Mrs. Imoigui Ifueko-Okauru, amongst other personalities. The programme was moderated by Ambassador Princeton N. Lyman, former US Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan.

elect.

He said the state would support the incoming All Progressives Congress (APC) government’s policies to bring positive change.

The governor-elect was accompanied by his deputy, Alhaji Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia, the three senators-elect and 11 would-be members of the House of Representatives, who won on APC platform, as well as the party’s leaders and the officials of the National Association of Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA).

What will be the priority areas of the incoming federal government? The fine-tuning of the mid-term and long-term plans was at the centre of discussions yesterday as the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Working Committee (NWC) met for many hours in Abuja.

The meeting due to end today, will make recommendations to President-elect Muhamadu Buhari, according to National Publicity secretary Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

“All we discussed was to make recommendations on how the transition committee should hit the ground running; what should be immediate mid-term and long term priority of government.

“This government is not going to be like before, we discussed serious issues and honestly, I am telling you what we discussed since morning has been what should be the priority of government. Power sharing was not discussed… We are going to resume the discussion tomorrow”.

On how the on the transition committee which will interface with the federal government’s

Jonathan to handover May 28 Continued from page 1

est by May 13, anything requiring President Jonathan’s approval.

The FEC will hold its valedictory session on May 20.

“Also, you know May 29 is our Democracy Day. So we have activities lined up all through that week, showcasing all what we have achieved and all other things we do normally on our Democracy Day, except that this year is special with the inauguration of our new President on May 29,” Mrs. Akwashiki said According to her, a format has been developed for all the MDAs to follow in preparing the notes.

She said: “So we are going to be very busy this weekend, putting our handing over notes together. The President also emphasised that he would require another little briefing from all MDAs to indicate inherited projects, how far it has been executed and initiated projects by his administration and the level of completion, whether completed, ongoing or abandoned.

“If they do that, it will be easier for the President to compile everything. The format is to ensure you submit everything before they are passed to the incoming government.

“We discussed other issues but we are particularly paying attention to the transition and

how to make it effective. As you are all aware, we have transitional committee already set up by President, headed by the Vice President.

Other than that, we have an inaugural committee that is headed by the SGF. “So everything we are doing we are doing to achieve smooth transition, getting all our notes together.

“That is not to say that governance has stopped. Of course, we are in government until the day the presidentelect takes oath of office.”

“There is no space vacuum, there are things happening.

And if you have any pending contract approval, it has to be submitted before the 13th of May. Everything that requires the President’s approval should be submitted before May 13th.”

“We also do not want the incoming administration to accuse us of rushing projects, which is normal. So, we are guided by that. And if you have approvals, we are going to have Federal Executive Council every week. The last one that will be the valedictory one will be on May 20th.”

“So governance is not stopping, we are still working and in the event you have approvals it must be concluded before 13th,” Mrs. Akwashiki said.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

5

NEWS

Senators furious over Jonathan’s refusal to okay constitution amendment bill

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HE build up to the looming face-off between President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly over the former’s refusal to endorse the fourth alteration of the 1999 Constitution gathered momentum yesterday.

Senators were furious after Senate President David Mark read a letter containing Jonathan’s refusal of assent to the constitution alteration.

Already, the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on Constitution review has summoned emergency meeting to discuss the development.

The meeting was scheduled for yesterday and today.

Apart from the emergency meeting, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu-led committee will also hold a retreat.

Some of the senators angered by the president’s withholding of assent on the Bill are already up in arms, threatening to mobilise their colleagues to override the veto.

The senators, who felt that they did the right thing in the alteration of relevant Sections of the constitution, said that one option open to them was to mobilise members of the two chambers of the National Assembly and the required number of state Houses of Assembly to override the president.

One of the senators said there were salient alterations made in the constitution that were aimed at moving the country forward.

“The work we did painstakingly for months cannot just be thrown to the waste bin with a stroke of the pen. We know how to overcome this sweeping rejection of the work of 109 senators, 360 members of the House of Representatives and over 23 Houses

•National Assembly may override veto From Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation, Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor and Sanni Onogu, Abuja

of Assembly.

There was pin drop silence in the Senate chamber as Mark read the seven page memo entitled: “Re: Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Fourth Alteration) Act 2015.”

For effect, Mark took his time to read the lengthy document, ensuring that he placed emphasis where Jonathan stressed.

Immediately the Senate president was done with the memo, Senator Sadiq Yar’Adua (Katsina Central) raised a motion to urge his colleagues to set aside relevant Senate rules to enable them to discuss the presidential memo.

Yar’Adua said the president’s memo was so weighty that its discussion should not be delayed.

Mark, however, countered.

The Senate president, who agreed that Jonathan raised weighty issues in the memo, said first thing should be done first.

The first thing, he said, was to circulate the memo to senators to study it with the hope of enabling them make informed decisions on the issues raised by the President.

Mark also said the appropriate committee, in this case, the Senate Committee on Constitution Review, should consider the presidential memo.

He said the committee had already scheduled to meet. He then referred the memo to it.

It was learnt that aggrieved senators have started mounting pressure on Senate leadership to allow the chamber to override the President’s veto.

But the Presidency is insisting that any override of the veto could only become applicable if there is a legal threshold for the amendments to the constitution.

According to a source in the Senate, Ekweremadu and members of his committee from both chambers were shocked by the rejection of the amendments.

They said the 12 issues raised by the President were “legal technicalities”, which can be mutually addressed.

Some of the senators alleged that the “errors” spotted by the President might have been the handwork of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN).

They vowed to deal with Adoke by invoking the power to override the President’s Veto.

A top source said: “The mood in the Senate and the House of Representatives was shocking and glooming. Ekweremadu and his team were just unhappy that the amendments were thrown away by the President.

“Senators are threatening fire and brimstone to stop the President from vetoing the amendments. Some of them are pushing for the invocation of the power to override the President’s veto as enshrined in the constitution.

“The anger of the senators stemmed

•From left: Forte Oil Director Layi Bolodeoku, Group Chief Executive Officer Mr. Akin Akinfemiwa and director Mr. Akinleye Olagbende, at the Forte Oil Annual General Meeting at Lekki, Lagos State...yesterday.

PHOTO: JOHN EBHOTA

from the fact that time is no longer on the side of the National Assembly to meet the thresholds in Section 9(3) of the 1999 Constitution to make the Fourth Alteration Act 2015 legal.

“They are unhappy that all their efforts have been wasted. As it is now, only the 8th National Assembly can complete the process for the ongoing amendments to the constitution.

The source added: “The Senate leadership is calling for calm to open up talks with the Presidency.”

Another source said: “We told the Ekweremadu’s Committee that there was no basis rushing to pass the amendments into law. We said they should be careful, but they did not follow due process.

“There must be legal basis for amendments to the constitution. If there was no compliance with due process, do you want the President to assent to it?”

The power of the National Assembly to override the President on any bill is contained in Section 58 (1-5) of the 1999 Constitution.

The section says: “The power of the National Assembly to make laws shall be exercised by bills passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives and, except as otherwise provided by subsection (5) of this section, assented to by the President.

“A bill may originate in either the Senate or the House of Representatives and shall not become law unless it has

N

From Jide Orintunsin, Minna and Bolaji Ogundele, Warri

“I, therefore, hope that by the time we will re-organise our party, we would add more ideology to what we have. Let me urge you to stop thinking you have failed. In terms of elections, particularly the time we found ourselves, it went beyond the limits of individual effort.”

Aliyu praised the state’s voters for conducting themselves in the most peaceful manner. He noted that the elections were free, fair and devoid of violence.

Wushishi hailed Aliyu over the way and manner he took the elections despite results were not in favour of the PDP. He said the governor exhibited the character of a good leader.

He urged Aliyu not to be dismayed by the result, adding that he has done

well in tproviding dividends of democracy to the people.

He said the challenge was the fact that the voters were conclusive in voting for a particular political party regardless of its candidates.

Uduaghan, who spoke with reporters in Warri yesterday, also challenged the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, to give due attention to the interests of the people of the Niger Delta, their political party leaning notwithstanding.

He reminded him of the critical role the region plays in Nigeria’s economic sustenance.

Uduaghan had earlier paid condolence visits to families of two departed Delta State and Itsekiri elder statesmen - Chief Oritsegbiten Edodo and Justice Silvanus Ajuyah - before hosting reporters in his house.

The governor said the PDP was already working on rebuilding its struc-

been passed and, except as otherwise provided by this section and section 59 of this Constitution, assented to in accordance with the provisions of this section.

“Where a bill has been passed by the House in which it originated, it shall be sent to the other House, and it shall be presented to the President for assent when it has been passed by that other House and agreement has been reached between the two Houses on any amendment made on it.

“Where a bill is presented to the President for assent, he shall within 30 days thereof signify that he assents or that he withholds assent.

“Where the President withholds his assent and the bill is again passed by each House by two-thirds majority, the bill shall become law and the assent of the President shall not be required.”

But the position of the presidency, however, yesterday was that the veto had no personal undertone.

Jonathan had said he would not assent to the alterations because they did not satisfy the strict requirements of Section 9(3) of the 1999 Constitution.

Shell challenges EFCC’s ‘powers’ to collect debts

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N oil firm, Shell Nigeria Gas Limited, has urged the Federal High Court in Lagos to declare that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is not empowered to collect debt on behalf of anyone.

It said the commission made it to pay $1.2million (about N239million) to a firm, which Shell claims it was not indebted to after EFCC allegedly threatened to arrest and detain its directors.

The plaintiff is praying the court to hold that EFCC is not vested with judicial powers under Section 6 and 36 of the 1999 Constitution and therefore cannot act like a court.

Shell filed three suits against EFCC claiming similar reliefs.

In one of the suits in which Dec Oil and Gas Limited is the second defendant, Shell said it signed contract on March 29, 2000 with Dec for the construction of a Gas Distribution Pipeline at Agbara/Ota. However, Shell later terminated the contract in December 2001, following which Dec claimed that Shell was indebted to it and sued.

The Federal High Court entered

PDP is not dead, say Aliyu, Uduaghan IGER State Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu and his Delta State counterpart, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, have declared that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is not dead.

They predicted separately that the party would bounce back in 2019 to take what it lost in the just concluded general elections.

Aliyu spoke when Umar Nasko Campaign Organisation, led by Alhaji Aminu Yusuf Wushishi, visited him at the Government House, Minna, on plans by the PDP to meet at states and federal levels to correct the party’s mistakes.

The governor said: “Our party is not dead. When all these cool down, we will properly re-organise to bring PDP back to its formidable political strength. Many things have happened and this is not the time for us to cast blames.

Dr. Jonathan

tures so it could give the All Progressives Congress (APC) a good fight for the Federal level.

On the APC’s reaction to the just concluded governorship and House of Assembly elections in the state, the governor said there was no basis for the party to either reject the process or call for the cancellation of the results.

He said: “It is not about falling. It is really about being able to get up on your feet and bouncing back. The PDP remains strong enough to stand up where it has slipped. We have 11 states so far and we possibly could get the two remaining to be decided under the current dispensation.

“In the Southsouth, we are strongly in control.”

He blamed the party’s defeat on management challenges, saying: “People feel things should be done differently.”

By Joseph Jibueze

judgment in Dec’s favour, but Shell appealed against it.

According to Shell, the Court of Appeal set aside the judgment, but Dec appealed to the Supreme Court.

While the suit was pending, EFCC invited Shell with a view to determining “the civil contractual rights and obligations between the plaintiff (Shell) and the second defendant (Dec).”

Shell said even though it drew EFCC’s attention to a pending court case, the commission “vehemently insisted, under threat of arrest and detention of officers of the plaintiff, that it must determine the civil contractual liability of the plaintiff…”

The plaintiff said EFCC later found it “liable”, and Shell was made to pay $1.2 million.

“The plaintiff was not indebted to the second defendant in respect of the contract,” Shell insisted.

It added: “The plaintiff brought this action when the actions of the first defendant (EFCC) in collusion with the second defendant became unbearable.”

But the EFCC and the second defendant denied the claims.

The commission said: “EFCC was and is investigating alleged diversion of loans and advances made against the second defendant by some of its creditor-banks…”

It added that a bank petitioned the commission and listed Dec as one of the customers who allegedly might have diverted loans and advances to frivolous projects not related to the original transactions entered into.

Shell was “implicated” as being indebted to Dec, making it impossible for the company to meet its financial obligations to third party banks.

The second defendant said Shell has no cause of action against it, adding: “This action is a ploy to overreach the Federal High Court in suit no. FHC/ L/CS/1075/2002.”

Yesterday, Shell’s counsel Babatunde Ogungbamila prayed the court for extension of time within which the plaintiff can file a counteraffidavit in opposition to Dec’s preliminary objection.

Justice John Tsoho granted the application and adjourned till June 4 for hearing.

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

6

NEWS APC plotting to deplete our ranks, says PDP

From left: NonExecutive Director, Transcorp Hotels Plc Emmanuel N. Nnorom; hotel chairman Olorogun O’tega Emerhor; Chairman, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc Tony O. Elumelu and Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Transcorp Hotels Valentine Ozigbo, Plc at the inaugural Annual General Meeting of Transcorp Hotels Plc at Transcorp Hilton Abuja...yesterday.

From Gbade Ogunwale, Assistant Editor, Abuja

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HE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged plot by the All Progressive Congress (APC) to deplete its ranks, using the party’s disgruntled members.

At a news conference in Abuja yesterday shortly after its National Working Committee meeting, its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, however, vowed that the party would resist such “plot”.

“The NWC has noted some divisive comments and statements by certain elements within the party, who are being enticed by extraneous factors and other parties to cause disharmony in our ranks”, Metuh said.

According to him, “while cautioning against such comments, we urge our members with genuine grievances to direct them through the appropriate channels within our party in line with the provisions of the PDP constitution.

“We are aware that some elements within our party have been co- opted by the APC to destabilise our party in the aftermath of the outcome of the results of the 2015 general elections.

“While some have defected to the APC, others have been asked to stay behind to be used to execute the plot, but the NWC will not allow this to happen.

“We reassure all our members that the NWC has put a machinery in place to reengineer and refocus our great party in keeping with our collective determination to consolidate our support base in all states of the federation with a view to regaining power at the centre in the next four years since it is obvious that the APC lacks what it takes to effectively lead our dear nation”.

He said the NWC had summoned emergency meetings next week with its stakeholders.

UNILORIN mourns pioneer head Tamuno From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

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HE University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) has described the death of the pioneer head of the institution, Prof. Tekena Tamuno, as a big loss to the academic community.

Prof. Tamuno, who was appointed the pioneer principal of the then University College, Ilorin, between October 1975 and 1976, died last Saturday in Ibadan. He was 83.

Reacting to the death of the renowned historian and university administrator, its vice chancellor, Prof. Abdulganiyu Ambali, said the late Prof.

Tamuno would be remembered for his vision and pioneering role in laying a solid foundation for the university upon which generations of vice chancellors after him are building.

Ambali, in a statement by the university’s Deputy Director of Corporate Affairs, Mr. Kunle Akogun, added that the late Prof. Tamuno’s foresight and dedication and those of his successors contributed to the preeminent position of the University of Ilorin in the comity of universities in Nigeria and the Africa generally.

He commiserated with the Tamuno family of Okrika and the people of Rivers State on the death of their son.

Why we demand Senate president, by North Central APC

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HE All Progressives Congress’ (APC’s) leaders in the Northcentral have called on the party’s national leadership to cede the position of the Senate President in the Eighth National Assembly to the area.

Its state chairmen, in a communique in Abuja, said the call has become necessary as a reward for the performance of the zone in the 2015 elections, which contributed to the party’s overall victory.

They insisted that the Northcentral, being a vulnerable zone, its success and victory should not be taken for granted.

The APC leaders noted that it would only be just and equitable for the position of the Senate President to be allotted to the Northcentral.

The communique reads in part: “Following our party’s overwhelming victory at the National Assembly polls, it is clear that our party will form the majority in the forthcoming 8th Assembly.

“Therefore, in due course, the Senate President will be chosen from one of our distinguished senators.

“Consequently, at a meeting of chairmen of the Northcentral Zone held on April 15, 2015, we deliberated at length on the issue of Senate Presidency and after series of analysis, consultation and exhaustive deliberations, we made the following observations: “Record shows that the Northcentral, historically being a PDP zone generally tends to vote for PDP at the national level.

“We further observed the followings facts among others, that the block vote of the

•Zamfara, Kano jostle for Senate Leader From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor and Sanni Onogu, Abuja

Northcentral, which is over 2.4 million, is same as Southwest. The Northcentral delivered 13 senators same as Northeast.

“The Northcentral also delivered 100 per cent state governors as Northwest compared to the Northeast with only four governors.

“It is our strong belief that these efforts and performances need to be rewarded since our role was pivotal to our party’s success at the national level.

“It was expected that the Northwest and Northeast would largely vote APC. However, it was crucial that the Northcentral should also deliver its votes for our party to succeed. It was on this, we believe, that contributed in no small measure to our party’s victory.

“It must be noted that since 1999, the Northcentral Zone, even under the PDP, has been taking third position and with our recent performance, we equally believe the zone should have the same third position.

“It would be recalled that our campaign in the North was not easy as issue of religion, ethnicity and tribalism was propped up and despite all these challenges, we went out to deliver for our party.

“The argument that Northcentral is always in third position has to do with PDP to be precise. Therefore, if the zone had performed and delivered under the APC, we believe we should be adequately rewarded as

it was being done under the PDP.” Also ahead of the inauguration of the 8th Senate, senators from Kano and Zamfara states are jostling for the post of Senate Leader.

Senator Victor NdomaEgba (Cross River Central) occupied the position in the outgoing 7th Senate.

With the emergence of the APC as the majority party in the Senate, ranking senators from Kano and Zamfara states are already positioning themselves to occupy the exalted position of Senate Leader.

The APC, with 60 seats in the 8th Senate, is expected to zone the slot of the Senate President to either the Northcentral geo-political zone or the Northeast.

The Northwest geo-political zone, where the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, hails from is also expected to produce the candidate to fill the position of Senate Leader.

Findings showed that some ranking senators have started lobbying their colleagues to support them in their bid to clinch the positions.

The Northwest zone is said to be laying claim to the slot on the strength that the zone produced the highest number of senators during the March 28 National Assembly election.

The Northwest zone has 20 senators to its credit all on the platform of the APC. Of the 20 senators, eight are ranking as some have been elected to the chamber at least twice while others will cross to the Senate from

the House of Representatives.

Findings also showed that senators from Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Kano and Zamfara states have been meeting to decide, which state will produce the Senate Leader.

Five states of the Northwest - Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara - returned six ranking senators.

They are Senators Kabiru Gaya (Kano), Adamu Aliero (Kebbi), Abu Ibrahim (Katsina), Ahmed Ru’fai Sani (Zamfara), Kabir Marafa (Zamfara), and Ibrahim Gobir (Sokoto).

Senators-elect Bala Ibn Na’Allah and Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano State Governor) also have the ranking advantage, having been elected into the House of Representatives at different times.

The implication of the ranking rule, which gives preference to senators, who have been elected more than once into the chamber, means that top contenders for the Senate Leader position are: Senators Sani, Marafa, Gaya and Adamu Aliero.

Senator Sani who had been elected into the Senate three times in a row, has the most legislative experience from the zone.

Sani has been a principal officer since 2007. In his first term, he was elected Minority Whip and in 2011, became the Deputy Minority Leader.

Findings showed that the closest contender to him is Gaya, who was a principal officer in 2007.

Gaya was Deputy Minority Whip.

Lawmaker-elect hails voters

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HE House of Assembly member-elect in Obokun Constituency of Osun State, Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, has thanked residents for voting for him.

He said: “During the election, there was harassment of our people, interruption by fake security personnel moving around with unregistered vehicles believed to

belong to a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain.

“Despite this intimidation, our people stood firm and defied the attempt to deny them their franchise.

“This has shown that the people have become politically awaken and defenders of democracy.”

He lauded security agencies for responding promptly to complaints.

Chibok girls: ‘Fed Govt won’t relent on rescue’ From Bukola Amusan, Abuja

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HE Federal Government yesterday said it will not relent until the over 200 abducted Chibok girls are released and united with their families.

The Coordinator of the National Information Centre (NIC), Mike Omeri, said this during the weekly security briefing in Abuja.

He said the government will continue in its war against terrorism and ensure the safe return of the abducted girls.

His words: “On April 14, 2014, the nation woke up to the tragic incident of the first Nyanya bombing and the abduction of over 200 students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok by the Boko Haram terrorists.

“April 14th marked one year of the horrific occurrences, which were a tragedy and an experience that every Nigerian painfully shares alongside the immediate families of the victims, the people of Chibok and the international community.

“The Federal Government remains resolute in finding and returning them to their homes where they rightly belong.

Consequently, we will continue to exert all efforts in ensuring their safe return.”

He stated that the security agencies had in recent months made progress in their counterterrorism efforts with the arrest and prosecution of the suspects of the Nyanya bombings as well as the liberation of 40 communities from the control of Boko Haram.

Omeri noted that “presently, the military is moving into the Sambisa forest after taking Alagarno, Gwoza, Bama, Malam Fatori, Abadam, among others”.

He added: “The fortification of the border routes by other members of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) has also played a key role in these successes.

“Our intelligence indicates that the present military operation is focused in the area, where the girls are believed to be held.”

On the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), the NIC coordinator said the government was committed to returning and resettling people from the affected communities as soon as possible.

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

7

NEWS

Court lifts orders on Obasanjo’s My Watch

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USTICE Valentine Ashi of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Apo, has vacated his orders restraining ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo from, among others, publishing, printing or offering for sale, his autobiography: My Watch.

The judge, in a ruling on Tuesday, upheld the argument by Obasanjo’s lawyer, Kanu Agabi (SAN) that the court was misled into granting the orders given on December 5 and 10, 2014.

Justice Ashi vacated the orders on the grounds that the applicant, Buruji Kashamu, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) suppressed facts from the court to obtain the orders.

The court, on December 5, restrained Obasanjo from

‘

The point at which he can be restrained is when he is unable to prove his plea of justification.

From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

publishing his book in the country pending the determination of a libel suit brought against him by Kashamu.

On December 10, Kashamu complained that Obasanjo breached an earlier order of the court on December 5 restraining the ex-president from launching the book.

Kashamu, who sued Obasanjo for libel in relation to claims in a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan that he (Kashamu) was a fugitive wanted in the United States, had moved the court to grant the restraining order of December 5 on the grounds that

the subject of the libel suit was contained in the book.

Despite the order of December 5, Obasanjo launched the book on December 9 in Lagos, a development that prompted the court to make the orders of December 10.

On March 23, Agabi, while arguing Obasanjo’s application seeking to vacate the orders, argued that the court wrongly applied the law in reaching its decision.

Agabi, who served as Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) under President Obasanjo, argued that it was wrong for the court to grant a restraining injunction against a party in a libel case,

’

who pleaded justification.

He contended that the court should have first determined whether or not the publication complained about was libellous before restraining Obasanjo from engaging in further publication.

Agabi, who cited some authorities in support of his argument, contended that “the point at which he can be restrained is when he is unable to prove his plea of justification.”

He said his client was willing to abandon the appeal he filed against the court’s decision to enable the court decide his application.

The ex-AGF also asked the

court to set aside its order directing the Inspector General of Police (IG), Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS) and Comptroller General of Customs (CGC) to recover the published book from all book stands, sales agents, vendors, the sea and airports and deposit them with his court’s registrar pending the determination of the substantive suit.

Justice Ashi upheld Agabi’s argument and set aside all orders made against the publication and circulation of Obasanjo’s book.

He also restrained the CGC from charging demurrage on copies of the book already confiscated.

The judge adjourned to May 25 further hearing on the substantive libel suit.

•Obasanjo

Polio: World Bank approves $200m

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HE Board of Executive Directors, World Bank Group, has approved $200 million to support polio eradication and immunisation of children under five in Nigeria.

Mr Oluwole Odutolu, who heads the bank’s Task Team for Polio Eradication Support Project, made this known in a statement in Abuja on Monday.

Odutolu said the fund, sourced from the International Development Association (IDA), was additional financing for the final push to eradicate polio in Nigeria.

He said the effort was also aimed at sustaining routine immunisation for children and women of reproductive age, adding that the programme was approved on Friday in Washington

•Independent National Electoral Commissioner, (INEC) Dr Chris Iyimoga (left) presenting Certificate of Return to the winner of Central Senatorial Zone, Mr Shehu Sani in Kaduna ... yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

DPR, NOSDRA indict oil firm for crude oil wastes

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HE Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has denied being party to the diversion of crude oil deposit at Stubo Creek Marginal Field in OML 14 by Universal Energy Resources Limited.

The regulatory agency said it did not give approval for the lifting and disposal of crude oil wastes as claimed by the oil company.

The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) also claimed that it was not notified of the transfer and disposal of the waste by the oil company in contravention of NOSDRA’s law.

The disclosures were made

From Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

yesterday at an investigative public hearing carried out by a House Ad Hoc Committee following a petition by Mbo Youth Development Association.

The youth alleged that the company loaded three trucks of crude oil on February 8; three trucks on March 22; five trucks of crude oil on March 31 and seven trucks on April 8, totalling 18 trucks within the period under review.

In his submission, the Chief Operations Officer (COO) of Universal Energy, Steve Okoko explained that three trucks lifted sediments from the site on March 31

while seven trucks loaded waste mud.

He added that when the youth of the community refused to allow the trucks to leave, claiming that the trucks were lifting crude illegally, the military was invited leading to the arrest and detention of the trucks and the drivers.

According to him, the trucks and the drivers were released after five days in detention when the Nigeria Security Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) confirmed that the alleged stolen crude oil was sediment.

However, the representative of the DPR, George Osahon, said there was no

record in DPR to show that the company was given authorisation to truck out its crude by road, as alleged.

“When the DPR, NOSDRA, youths and chiefs of the community visited the site it was observed that there were five tanks at the site, three were empty, one was discharging to the facility while one was still filled with crude oil awaiting discharge.

“The company has not violated any section of the petroleum Act 1969 and pertinent regulations relating to drilling operations. Though DPR asked Universal which company is handling disposal and treatment of its wastes and whether they are

duly lisensed.”

“They promised to get back but never did,” he added.

Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee commended the youth and the community leaders, saying: “We can blame the government but we have obligations too and that is what the youth and the leaders of this community have done to protect the resources of the country.

“We haven’t concluded the investigation and based on what have been submitted, we will come to a conclusion and we shall be fair to all”.

The committee gave the NSCDC, Uyo command until Friday to appear before it or be forced to.

NBA tackles fake lawyers with identification stamp

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HE Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed and the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Augustine Alegeh (SAN) yesterday noted that the activities of fake lawyers were negatively affecting the practice of law.

They spoke in Abuja at the launch of special identification stamp for lawyers by the NBA. While the CJN observed that judges were finding it difficult to differentiate between “real” and “fake” lawyers, Alegeh explained that such difficulties informed why the NBA, under his leadership, decided on

From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

the stamp.

Justice Mohammed said: “The prevalence of fake lawyers in the country negatively affects the integrity of the legal profession and casts a shadow of disrepute upon us all. Indeed, Judges find it difficult to identify which counsel, appearing before them, is genuine or otherwise. “Of even greater concern is the fact that members of the public are often left in a quandary over who they can place their trust, property and even lives in.

“We must not forget that the credibility of the Bar has a direct impact on respect for

the Rule of Law and the independence of the Courts.

“This is why it is our collective responsibility to ensure that the stamp is used as a veritable means of authenticating a qualified legal practitioner and the documents emanating from him.

“I believe that the stamp can, if properly deployed, become a hallmark of a firm’s work and a way for prospective clients to better identify their counsel- a veritable means to ‘Know Your Counsel’. “Thus, having an innovation, which may bestow a ‘stamp’ of integrity and respect, is indeed welcome.

This event is also timely in its occurrence.

“Our Judiciary is similarly introducing the greater use of information and communications technology solutions like legal email and court automation into the administration of justice in the tri-strata of our superior courts.

“I believe that an enhanced synergistic use and adoption of appropriate ICT innovations will further enhance our ability to bring the legal profession into the 21st century and re-position the temple of justice to provide effectively a qualitative justice dispensation system that meets the complex demands

of our dynamic society.

“These innovations will soon include the electronic service of hearing notices from the Supreme Court and more secure inter- and intracommunications platforms between the courts and legal practitioners.”

Alegeh hoped that the stamp would eradicate the problem of fake lawyers in the country.

Acting Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Justice Ishaq Bello hailed the NBA leadership for the innovation. He was optimistic that the stamp would help reduce cases where non-lawyers pretend to be lawyers.

D.C., US. “Eradicating polio is a global public good because of its epidemic potential and devastating impact on children and adults. Polio remains a preventable lethal and crippling disease and ending it makes the world a safer place for children,” he said.

He said Nigeria was making progress towards polio eradication, with no new cases of the polio virus reported since July 2014.

According to him, the disease surveillance system, even in insecure areas, continues to perform well.

“This additional financing will build on the positive results of the original project approved in July, 2012, and help to sustain the gains achieved to date.

“This new financing for the Polio Eradication Support Project will assist Nigeria to increase and sustain the coverage of oral polio vaccine immunisation.”

New chair for Nigerians in UK

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N insurance expert, Mr Babatunde Loye, has emerged the chairman of the Central Association of Nigerians in the UK (CANUK).

Loye, 44, is the immediate past assistant social secretary of the association. In the second round of voting at the Nigerian High Commission into the executive of the association, he polled 46 votes to defeat his main rival Mr Boma Douglas, who got 44 votes.

The two candidates previously tied at 39 votes while the third candidate Mrs Ronke Udofia got 16 votes.

Speaking on his victory, Loye expressed gratitude to the voters and pledged that his administration would raise funds to pursue the programmes of the association.

He said his administration would positively project the image of Nigeria in UK and beyond.

CANUK was established to serve as the umbrella body of Nigerians living in the UK. Its mission is to protect, unify and empower the Nigerian community towards contributing to nation-building in the UK and Nigeria.

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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NEWS Parties decry ‘impunity’ in Ekiti

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OLITICAL parties in Ekiti State, under the aegis of the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), have decried the “unending lawlessness and impunity in the state”.

A communiqué at the end of an emergency meeting yesterday said the crisis rocking the House of Assembly called for “serious concern of well-meaning people at home and abroad”.

IPAC, in the communiqué endorsed by its Chairman, Pastor Peter Jegede and Secretary, Deacon Olu Akomolafe, cautioned the seven Peoples Democratic Party

Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado-Ekiti

(PDP) lawmakers to give peace a chance.

The group said it was disturbed on how seven PDP lawmakers purportedly impeached the Speaker, Dr. Adewale Omirin, describing the event as “unlawful, uncivilised and full of political impunity”.

“IPAC notices with dismay the activities of some undemocratic forces that dominate and terrorise the people’s will with respect to the House of Assembly election”.

Resign now or be impeached, youths tell Olanusi

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HE post-defection war against Ondo State Deputy Governor Ali Olanusi by Governor Olusegun Mimiko heightened yesterday.

Over 200 youths marched on major streets in Akure, the state capital, to protest against the deputy governor’s stay in office.

Olanusi recently defected from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The youth, under the aegis of Concerned Ondo State Youths (COSY), said either

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

Olanusi resigns or he is impeached by the House of Assembly.

Led by their Chairman, Akintunde Lawal, the protesting youths marched to the Governor’s Office, Alagbaka, Akure, where the Chief of Staff (CoS) to the Governor, Dr Kola Ademujimi, addressed them.

Lawal said the deputy governor was over ambitious hence his defection to the APC. “Olanusi had thought that

the APC will have the majority in the House of Assembly.

So that he can impeach Mimiko and assume office as the governor.

“Olanusi had planned how he would succeed Mimiko through impeachment if members of the APC dominate the next Assembly.

“He has left the PDP, so there is no point remaining in office as the deputy governor.

“His defection is the ground for our protest and we would continue to protest, until he resigns or is impeached.”

Lawal said Olanusi’s action caused the breach of peace that the state has been enjoying in the last six years.

Addressing the protesters, who carried placards, Ademujimi praised the youth for the peaceful nature of their protest and urged them to remain peaceful.

He said the peace in the state should be cherished by the youth, just as he called on the people to embrace peace.

“The interest of the state should be allowed to take preference over personal interests,” he said.

Ibadan gets chief imam

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HE Muslim Community and Imam-in-Council of Ibadanland yesterday unveiled the 18th Chief Imam of Ibadanland, Sheikh Abdul-Ganiyy Abubakri Agbotomokekere.

The Chief Imam (80) succeeds Sheikh Baosari Suara Haruna III, who died on April 9 and was buried the same day according to Islamic rites.

At a press briefing at Oja Oba hall, the Chairman, Ibadan Muslim Community, Chief Bayo Oyero, said Agbotomokekere was appointed In line with due process.

He said:”This press conference has been organised to unveil and formally present

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

to the public, an erudite scholar, inspiring preacher, teacher of teachers, who up till this time occupied the position of Alfa Agba of Ibadanland, Sheikh Abdul-Ganiyy Abubakri Agbotomokekere, as the 18th Chief Imam of Ibadanland.”

Oyero added that the installation ceremony would hold on May 15 at the Lekan Salami Sports Complex, Adamasingba, Ibadan.

The eighth-day fidau for the late chief imam will hold today at the Lekan Salami Sports Complex.

Amosun, others get Certificates today

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GUN State Governor Ibikunle Amosun will be issued with a Certificate of Return today by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The ceremony will take place at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta.

Also to be presented with

From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

Certificates of Return are the three elected senators - Prince Gbolahan Dada(Ogun West), Prince Lanre Tejuoso (Ogun Central) and Prince Buruji Kashamu( Ogun East) as well as the nine elected members of the House of Representatives.

‘Ndigbo will support Amosun’

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GBO in Ogun State have pledged their continued support for Governor Ibikunle Amosun The Igbo lauded Amosun’s victory, saying it shows his “overwhelming acceptance”.

The Eze Ndigbo of Ogun state, Eze Willy Ejimnkeonye, in a congratulatory message, said: “Your victory is a testi-

From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

mony of your overwhelming acceptance by the people, who have benefitted from the developmental projects of your administration in the last three and half years.

“We pledge our unflinching support to his administration, as exemplified in the election.”

Lagos CAN congratulates Ambode

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HE Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Lagos State, Apostle Alexander Bamgbola, has congratulated the Governor-elect, Mr. Akinwumi Ambode, on his deserved victory.

A statement by the General Secretary, Elder Israel Akinadewo, said the group also appreciates Mr. Jimi Agbaje for his sportsmanship and for taking a godly step in congratulating Mr Ambode.

“It is indeed a new dawn in the state. We advise the governor-elect to put behind him all brinkmanship and irrelevant issues that arose among the contestants during the electioneering process and begin steps that would guide him aright in the discharge of his responsibility to the people, for “to whom much is given, much is expected”.

“We pray that the Almighty God will give the incoming governor the enablement and the strong will to govern effectively the cosmopolitan city of Lagos.”

Oke: PDP trying to implicate me

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CHIEFTAIN of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, Chief Olusola Oke, yesterday alerted to the plot by some politicians to deposit firearms in his home.

Oke, who joined the APC recently, also alleged that some politicians were planning to implicate him by depositing bodies around his home.

A statement by his media assistant, Rotimi Ogunleye, alleged that some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) politicians, who were not com-

fortable with the outcome of the last House of Assembly election in Ilaje Local Government Area, which was declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), were behind the plot.

Oke called on security agencies to unravel the plot.

According to him, “for our electoral process to be free of banditry and firearmsbearing thugs the system they operate must be liquidated and their sponsors brought to book.”

•From Left: Oyero; Agbotomokekere and Asiwaju Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji Abdul-Lateef Oyelade in Ibadan...yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

Ikeja Electric explains power outage

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HE Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (Ikeja Electric) has explained the reason behind the power outage being experienced in Ikeja for over one week.

Head, Communication and Strategy, Ikeja Electric, Olanipekun Adeyanju, said there was gross shortfall in supply and Ikeja Electric receives only 330MW from the National Grid.

He said: “We have transmission limitation coupled with the substantial decline in supply from the grid. We need at least 1,200MW to satisfy customers’ requirement but only get 330MW. “But in the short term, we will manage our load-shedding programme effectively to ensure that whatever we get from the grid is even-

By Emeka Ugwuanyi

ly distributed so that no customer is shortchanged.”

“In the long term,” he said “the company is working on its embedded power generation programme. We are talking with some embedded power generators to complement whatever supply that will come from the grid. I appeal to our customers to be patient with us as we look at exploiting offgrid supply.”

The Nation learnt that the company is challenged because of the drop in supply from the National Grid.

Power generation declined from about 3,400 megawatts (MW) to 2,988MW this week.

A source told The Nation that the breakdown of the company’s 150MVA transmission transformer wors-

ened the situation as it was difficult to wheel the little supply from the National Grid to customers.

As a result, customers in some parts of the Ikeja Electric network get zero supply.

The source said: “We have limitation. The transmission transformer at Ikeja West station broke down forcing some areas to get zero supply. Therefore, the little supply from Alausa transmission station, which is distributed through the OPIC feeder that serves Magodo, Ojodu, Arepo and some others is going through load-shedding.”

But the spokesperson of Transmission Company of Nigeria, Lagos Zone, Mrs. Celestina Osin said she contacted the technical person-

nel of Ikeja West and Alausa transmission stations and they confirmed there was no problem with the stations.

She said the outage was as a result of a fault from the transmission end, adding that the Lagos West transformer had problems yesterday and was fixed a few hours later. Besides, the areas affected by the outage are not served by the transformer, she added.

“I just learnt from the Ikeja West station that the faulty transformer had been fixed since 11 am. The problem is likely to be a local fault and not from TCN end as the operator at Alausa Transmission substation reconfirmed that feeders serving the areas are on at our TCN end.”

REC: Only 35 per cent of registered voters F the over one milparticipated in Ondo election lion residents who

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collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) in Ondo State, only 35 per cent participated in last Saturday’s House of Assembly poll, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Olusegun Agbaje, has said.

The REC decried the low turnout, saying enough time and money was invested to enlighten the people.

Agbaje spoke yesterday at the presentation of Certificates of Return to victorious National Assembly lawmakers in Akure, the state

From Leke Akeredolu, Akure

capital.

He condemned the incessant electoral malpractices in Ilaje Local Government Area.

“We are particularly worried about the rate of electoral violence in Ilaje, the area is becoming notorious in the state. Our politicians, youths, religious leaders and security operatives need to do more in tackling electoral malprac-

tices.

“Snatching of materials, intimidation of ad hoc workers and opposition are not good for our democratic system. Ondo State is well enlightened and we need to eradicate these if our party leaders, traditional and religious leaders are ready to partner us.”

The National Commissioner in charge of Lagos, Ogun and Ondo states, Prof. Akinola Salawu, condemned electoral malpractices, saying crimes do not

add values but weakens democracy.

Speaking on behalf of the lawmakers-elect, Senator Ajayi Boroffice assured the people they would work together to bring progress to the country.

Boroffice said: “Here, politics stop, when you get there, you don’t introduce yourself as PDP or APC member. We work as a team representing the interest of the state.”

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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NEWS Solidarity walk for Chibok Girls

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IFE of Ogun State Governor Mrs. Olufunso Amosun has appealed to the Federal Government to expedite action and ensure the safe return of the Chibok girls.

Staging a solidarity walk for the safe return of the schoolgirls from the MKO Abiola International Stadium, Kuto, to the Governor’s Office in Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, Mrs. Amosun said there was need for concerted efforts by the government, security agents and Nigerians for the release of the over 200 girls, who were abducted by Boko Haram a year ago.

“We, the people of Ogun State, raise our voices once again to God in solidarity for the return of our Chibok schoolgirls and we believe there shall be a miraculous release.

“We are gathered once again here to identify and join other Nigerians and the world in a solidarity walk to intercede, plead and pray to God for the forgiveness of our sins and ask for wisdom for our government and leaders to be able to design the right path for the return of our girls.”

She presented a letter to the Secretary to the State Government, Taiwo Ade- •From left: Special Adviser to Ogun State Governor on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Mrs. Hafsat Abiola-Costello; Wife of the House of Oluwa, who received it on behalf of the Assembly Speaker Mrs. Oluwaseun Adekunbi; Mrs. Amosun, Wife of former president Olusegun Obasanjo, Bola, the Head of Service, Mrs. Modupe INSET: The banner governor for delivery to President Good- Adekunle, Commissioner for Women's Affairs Mrs. Elizabeth Sonubi and others during the walk. luck Jonathan.

Lawmaker-elect hails voters

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HE House of Assembly member-elect in Obokun Constituency of Osun State, Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, has thanked residents for voting for him.

He said: “During the election, there was harassment of our people, interruption by fake security personnel moving around with unregistered vehicles believed to

belong to a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain.

“Despite this intimidation, our people stood firm and defied the attempt to deny them their franchise.

“This has shown that the people have become politically awaken and defenders of democracy.”

He lauded security agencies for responding promptly to complaints.

Bodies of two pupils found in River Osun

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HE bodies of two pupils of a public secondary school in Osun State were yesterday evening found floating on River Osun in Osogbo, the state capital.

It was gathered that the pupils drowned two days ago when they went to the river to swim.

It was also gathered that the

From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

boys, who were Senior Secondary School 3 students of Ataoja High School Osogbo, came to school on Monday to participate in the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) but

went to swim afterwards.

Investigations also revealed that when they did not return on time, some of their mates, who knew about their movement, informed the school authorities that they might have gone to swim at River Osun, which is a few metres away from their school.

The boys were not found

until yesterday evening when a farmer, who owns a farm near the river, discovered their bodies and alerted the school.

One of the boys was immediately buried by his parents but it was learnt that the school authorities are yet to locate the parents of the second pupil.

Lagos inaugurates WEMPCO Road

Soldiers, police disappear from Ekiti streets

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AGOS State Governor Babatunde Fashola will today inaugurate the new WEMPCO Road in Ikeja.

Commissioner for Transportation Kayode Opeifa said as part of traffic management strategies during the inauguration, all vehicular movements will be diverted inward Wempco Road from Ogunusi end to

By Adeyinka Aderibigbe

the left up to the junction of Metal box road to allow for free flow of traffic.

Consequently, Wempco Road from Metal box Junction inward Ogunusi would be shared by vehicles on both directions between 10am–3pm.

The government appealed for co-operation from all road users.

Cleric advises Buhari

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HE Pastor, Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), Mountain of Mercy, Erio-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Prophet Sam Olu-Alo, has urged the president-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, to focus on his electoral promises to Nigerians.

Prophet Olu-Alo, who said Nigerians’ expectations were “high” ,warned against complacency in governance.

The cleric said: “Buhari would be the president of all Nigerians and not just his party members and he must therefore carry all Nigerians along in his government and ensure that he focuses on the promises he made to Nigerians.”

He called on Nigerians to keep praying for the country, saying they could do this at the church’s annual “God of Elijah”, beginning from April 15- 17.

Ebira congratulate Ajimobi

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HE Ebira Community in Oyo State has sent a congratulatory message to Governor Abiola Ajimobi for being the first governor to secure a second term in the state.

The association maintained that his re-election didn’t come as a surprise because during his first term, the state witnessed uncommon transformation in the areas of security, transportation, youth employment and infrastructural development.

The community noted that the governor demon-

strated the biblical truth that when the righteous rule the people rejoice.

According to the Ohinoyi Anebira (Baale) of Ibadanland, Chief Lamidi Aliu Balogun, through the Protem Chairman, Comrade Aminu Saliu, the community vowed to continue to give its support to the Ajimobi administration.

“It is our prayer that as you begin this second journey, God will grant you wisdom, strength and grace to continue your good works.”

OLDIERS and riot policemen have reduced on the streets of AdoEkiti, the Ekiti State capital.

Security build-up reached a climax last week with an attempt by the All Progressives Congress (APC) members of the House of Assembly to continue impeachment proceedings against Governor Ayo Fayose.

The development sparked violent protests in Ado-Ekiti and other parts of the state.

A move round Ado-Ekiti yesterday barely 24 hours

From Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado-Ekiti

longer at the entrance of the governor’s office.

after the Supreme Court verdict, which validated Fayose’s election, revealed that fully armed regular and mobile policemen hitherto stationed at strategic locations, including places identified as hot spots, have vacated the places.

All Armored Personnel Carriers (APC) have also disappeared from where they were stationed.

Armed soldiers deployed for the same purpose are no

But armed policemen are still keeping vigil in the House of Assembly.

Many civil servants whose offices are close to the Assembly complex, who had stopped reporting for work because of the crisis, have since resumed.

They were, however, not allowed to move in their vehicles as the troubled House of Assembly complex, which is situated within the new

From Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado-Ekiti

ia cannot do without deployment of security operatives He said: “We are not yet there; you can’t do elections without deployment of a large number of security agencies to the field. It cannot continue to be like that.

“The cost of organising elections in this country is quite huge compared to what the cost is in other countries.

“America does not spend as much as an average lawmaker spends on an election in this country.

“After spending all these money, where are you going to get it back from if not from the public purse?

“It is so costly to do elections in the country because every process has been monetised.”

secretariat was still being heavily guarded.

A security source said there was no need keeping security agents on the road since peace has returned to the state Residents continued their celebration of Fayose’s victory as most of the notable relaxation joints and road-side beer parlors were filled up with admirers, who bought free drinks and pepper soups for passers-by.

Ekiti workers declares sitElections costly in Nigeria, says INEC chief at-home

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HE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) National Commissioner in charge of Ogun, Oyo and Ekiti states, Prof. Lai Olurode, has lamented the huge cost of organising elections in Nigeria.

Olurode said the monetisation of elections makes political office seekers spend so much before winning, noting that the scenario may encourage corruption.

The National Commissioner deplored a situation in which politicians sell their property in a bid to finance their election.

He spoke in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, yesterday during the presentation of certificates of return to win-

ners of the National Assembly election.

Those who received their certificates of return are Senators-elect Mrs. Fatima Rasaki (Ekiti Central), Mrs. Abiodun Olujimi (Ekiti South) and Mr. Duro Faseyi (Ekiti North).

House of Representatives members-elect Kehinde Agboola (Oye/Ikole), Segun Adekola (Ikere/Ise Orun/ Ekiti Southwest), Olamide Oni (Ekiti West/Inero/Efon) Akin Awodumila (Emure/ Gbonyin/Ekiti East), Thaddeus Aina (Ido Osi/ Moba/ Ilejemeje) and Ayo Oladimeji (Ado/Irepodun Ifelodun) also collected their certificates at the ceremony.

Olurode added that Niger-

‘Ajimobi, a trail blazer’

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ENATE Deputy-Whip Hosea Ayoola Agboola has congratulated Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi, describing him as a trail blazer.

Senator Agboola said Ajimobi had achieved what his predecessors could not achieve.

In a congratulatory message, the lawmaker admonished the governor to be magnanimous

in victory.

He called on him to see his success as an act of God and therefore work to justify the confidence reposed in him by the electorate.

Agboola said the election has come and gone, lessons have been leant and that not every mortal who aspire for victory could get such, “but it has pleased God to crown your own efforts with victory”.

From Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado-Ekiti

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RGANISED Labour in Ekiti State has directed workers to observe a sit-at-home tomorrow to pray for peace in the state.

The decision followed a meeting held yesterday by the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Joint Negotiating Council (JNC) on the political situation in the state.

A statement by NLC Secretary, Ade Obatoye; TUC Secretary J.A. Adebayo and JNC Secretary J.O. Oladipupo said the labour unions will address an “international press conference” today to call for peace and stability in the state.

The labour unions also earmarked today and tomorrow for a peace forum to express solidarity with the government.

The move is believed to be in response to the crisis in the House of Assembly which culminated in a notice of impeachment signed by 19 lawmakers against Governor Ayo Fayose.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net

Reps probe abandoned N800m Okpella Water Scheme From Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

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HE House of Repre sentatives has man dated its Committee on Water Resources to investigate the current status of the Okpella water scheme in Edo State.

The resolution came on the heels of allegations by Edo State government that the Federal Ministry of Water Resources siphoned the N800 million earmarked for the completion of the scheme.

The committee is to determine the level of work done by the defunct Petroleum Trust Fund ( PTF) and also the input of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources since the project was taken over by the ministry.

The Reps committee is also to ascertain the total amount spent on the project till date and investigate who authorised one Alhaji Ibrahim Abubakar to remove the pipes already paid for and supplied to the site.

Hon. Abubakar Momoh who moved the motion, said the contract was awarded in 1998

by PTF to four contractors namely Rotary Group Ltd, Sihga Services Ltd, Johnson Steel Company and Golcon Engineering Company, “ with a completion date of six months at the contract sum of N321. 19 million, out of which N157. 86 million was paid to them.”

He described as untenable the defence offered by the Ministry that the money which Edo State government alleged was siphoned was actually the amount which the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), after a review exercise in 2011, determined to be the amount needed to complete the project, but that the money was never released due to paucity of funds.

Momoh expressed concern over “allegation that items such as pipes and other fitting which were supplied for the project were carted away by one Alhaji Ibrahim Abubakar, an auctioneer, who claimed to have been an agent of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.”

What does corporate governance do? It ensures that you have set up a structure and a culture within the institution that can drive the business in line with given rules. That’s what corporate governance does.

-Seplat Petroleum Managing Director Mr Austin Avuru

‘Two billion adults without bank accounts globally’

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LTHOUGH the World Bank is pleased with the growing number of adults gradually finding their way into the banking system, about two billion are yet to have access to bank accounts, the World Bank Group President, Jim Yong Kim, has said.

Kim, who quoted from a New Report packaged by Global Findex - the world’s most comprehensive gauge of progress on financial inclusion, released at the bank’s headquarters in Washington DC, yesterday, said between 2011 and this year, 700 million people became account holders at banks and other financial institutions.

He said the devlopment reduced the number of “unbanked” individuals by 20 per cent to two billion adults.

Kim said the bank is keen on promoting acces to financial inclusion as it would help in reducing poverty.

“Access to financial services can serve as a bridge out

From Simeon Ebulu (Washington DC, U.S)

of poverty. We have set a hugely ambitious goal of attainng universal financial access by 2020, and now we have evidence that we’re making major progress. The payoff will be millions of people lifted out of poverty,” he said.

According to Kim, part of the success story of the Findex report commissioned in 2011, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is that within the four years of its work, the percentage of adults with bank account increased from 51 per cent to 62 per cent, a trend driven by a 13 percentage point rise in account ownership in developing countries and the role of technology.

He said mobile money accounts in sub-Saharan Africa are helping to rapidly expand and scale up access to financial services, adding that along with these gains,

data also indicated big opportunities for boosting financial inclusion among women and the poor.

The finding, Kim pointed out, has also shown that having an account that allows adults to store money and make and receive electronic payments, is critical to ending global poverty. He added that broader access to, and participation in, the financial system can boost job creation, increase investments in education and directly help poor people manage risk and absorb financial shocks.

In line with the report’s finding, Kim observed that there is still more work to be done to expand financial inclusion among women and the poorest households.

“More than half of adults in the poorest 40 per cent of households in developing countries are still without accounts in 2014,” he said, lamenting that the gender gap in account ownership is not significantly narrowing.

He said in 2011, 47 per cent of women and 54 per cent of men had an account,while last year, 58 per cent of women had an account, compared to 65 per cent of men.

Regionally, Kim noted that the gender gap is largest in South Asia, where 37 per cent of women have an account compared to 55 per cent of men, representing an 18 percent point gap.

The United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development, Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, said the report should serve as a guide “among those of us passionate about advancing access to financial services for the poor, to see what is working, what isn’t, and how we can focus our efforts most effectively to reach the goal of universal financial inclusion.”

The Global Findex report covered over 140 countries with studies on how adults save, borrow, make payments and manage risks

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From Nduka Chiejina (Asst Editor) and Chioma Onyia Abuja

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HE divestment of some Federal Government’s interests in businesses to private investors would depend on the profitability of such businesses, the Bureau of Publci Enterprises (BPE) has aid.

It said sale of government’s shares in the privatised Transcorp Hilton Hotel Plc, the recently privatised Electricity Distribution and Generation Companies (DISCOs and GENCOs) among others, will depend on the profits made by the companies.

Its Director-General, Mr. Benjamin Dikki who spoke at the first Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Transcorp Hilton Hotel Plc, Abuja, was forced to comment when shareholders demanded to know when the remaining 40 per cent share of Transcorp Hilton Hotel held by the government would be sold to members of the public.

Dikki assured the shareholders that the decision to divest government’s holdings in some enterprises based on the profitability of such businesses was to protect the investment of ordinary shareholder who would purchase the shares of such companies.

The government, Dikki said, would not want to expose potential shareholders and investors to unprofitable enterprises considering that shareholders are investing their hard earned money.

Business School to partner organisations on human capacity devt From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

• From left: Clare Omatseye of JNC International; Trainer, Wild Fusion, Digital Centre, Ose Osundeko; Publisher, TW Magazine, Adesuwa Onyenokwe; and Managing Director, Travant Capital, Sanyade Okoli, at the Empowering Women with Technology Capacity Building series organised by Women Banking Division of Access Bank in partnership with Wild Fusion Digital Centre in Lagos.

Lagos monthly IGR hits N23billion HE Lagos State govern ment said its monthly Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) has increased from N20 billion in 2013 to N23 billion this year.

The government said it had captured no fewer than 300,000 new tax payers in its tax net in the last one year.

Chairman, Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), Mr. Tunde Fowler, who spoke yesterday while addressing reporters in Lagos, said the development was due to the increase in the number of people that have been captured in the state’s tax net.

Fowler said those who are tax compliant in Lagos state are now 4.5 million up from 3.8 million in the previous years.

Fed Govt ties divestment of shares to profitability of enterprises

• Fresh 300,000 in tax net

By Miriam Ekene-Okoro

He said: “The high months of collection are usually in April, May and June. These are the months when companies declare dividends and staff go on leave and they get their leave allowance.

“In terms of our actual collection, we didn’t increase in IGR. In 2013 we had approximately N236 billion while in 2014 it was N276 billion. So we went from an average of N20 billion in 2013 to an average of N23 billion. And that was one of the things that have kept the state working.

“The informal sector is yet to pay taxes and some of these people get paid for

their services. And they are about three million people in the state. The objective of taxation is to distribute wealth.”

The chairman said 626 tax defaulters were dragged to court with a total liability of N11.6 billion while 376 succeeded in obtaining a restraining order and a liability of N8.1 billion, while adding that N728 million was however recovered through court processes.

“We filled 686 cases at the state high courts at the beginning of the year with a total liability of about N11.6 billion. Out of which 376 cases we received restrain orders on. And this amount

to liability of about N8.1 billion. Of this, they have paid N771 million.

“When a tax payer disagrees with the tax he is expected to pay and both the tax officials and the payer couldn’t reach a compromise, both parties go to court.

And the court will grant us some order of restrain; to close that organisation.

“After that restrain, and they make a payment; we will give a room for the tax payer to bring additional evidence on why he cannot pay such fee. And that was why we always have difference in the amount that we took to court and the amount that was paid.”

Speaking during 2015 inisterial news conference, Special Adviser to Gov.

Babatunde Fashola on Taxation and Revenue, Mr Bola Shodipo, commended residents for paying taxes voluntarily, saying the practice had enabled the government to discharge its development responsibilities.

He said: “We have made significant progress in recording greater tax compliance in the past few years.

From 2.7million in 2011 to 4.5million taxpayers presently; this is a significant leap and government commends residents for voluntarily and promptly paying their taxes.”

However, he said no fewer than three million taxable adults were still not paying taxes, appealing to evaders to fulfil their obligations in the interest of development.

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HE President , Impact Business School, Ibadan, has expressed readiness to establish working relationship with professional bodies in Nigeria in the areas of capacity building and certification programmes that would reinforce the growth of different sectors.

Its President, Mr Owolabi Oladejo who spoke when he hosted the April meeting of the Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria (ICAN) at the headquarters of the school, in Ibadan, said the schoool is entering into partnership with professionals that wants to sharpen their skills and competence of their workers.

“Unless professionals embrace self-improvement, they can never attain their height in life. If you are not productive in your organisation, you will never be elevated. We are here to train and re-train the work force in order to meet up with the standard of organisations.

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THE NATION

BUSINESS INDUSTRY

industry@thenationaonlineng.net

Nigeria has failed to harness the productivity of youths for national development, despite her robust youth population estimated at 70 million. But the Nigerian Youth Chamber of Commerce (NYCC) is poised to reverse the trend. It has outlined some strategies to facilitate investments in youth-focused start-ups and micro-enterprises. Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA reports.

Catching them young

‘The NYCC chief noted that entrepreneurship, though an emerging phenomenon, is fast gaining momentum and being acknowledged as the critical pathway to growing the economy, generating jobs and creating wealth, thereby combating and reducing unemployment, hunger and poverty’

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FRESH vista of opportunity may have been opened for youth entrepreneurs.

The Nigerian Youth Chamber of Commerce (NYCC), the umbrella body of youth entrepreneurs, has unveiled some strategies to boost innovative and industrious energies of youths in production.

Part of the initiative tagged: “Decade of Campaign on Youth Entrepreneurship in Nigeria 2015–2025’ is aimed at youth entrepreneurship promotion and development to inspire and deepen entrepreneurship among youths.

The campaign is also aimed at stimulating and sustaining relevant stakeholders’ engagement and conversation on the imperativeness of entrepreneurship as well as mobilise support for sustainable promotion and development of functional youth entrepreneurship.

Under the campaign to be formally launched in Abuja in July, no fewer than three million functional youth-led start-ups/micro-enterprises would be created every three years in the next 10 years under the Vision 2015-2025 document.

An average of five people is expected to be employed by each of the one million enterprises to be created. In all, 15 million jobs would be created.

Its Director General/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Comrade Peter Ayim, said other highpoints of the launch, which would engage the attention of the in-coming administration shortly after inauguration on May 29, will be the launch of N100billion Nigerian Youth Entrepreneurship Development Fund (NYEDF) and inauguration of National Council of Youth Entrepreneurs (NCYE).

He said the N100billion NYEDF would be a ‘donor basket fund’ to be domiciled in Bank of Industry (BoI), adding that it will be a corporate guarantee to serve as collateral for functional youth-led enterprises.

He said NYCC’s strategic objective is to mainstream youth in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector through robust policy advocacy and constructive engagement with government and development partners.

The campaign, he said, is also designed to form the superstructure for constructive stakeholders’ engagement on some areas and policy advocacy, suggest innovative solutions and promote global best practices in youth entrepreneurship promotion and development.

Ayim noted that beyond the inauguration of the NCYE and the launch of the NYEDF, the decade campaign has the objective to reduce unemployment in the country to zero per cent through functional entrepreneurship.

•Ayim

•Aganga

It will also create a data base for youth entrepreneurs to access enterprise growth tips and create a comprehensive business directory for youth entrepreneurs.

The programme, he added, would also establish NYCC Academy for start-ups and micro-enterprise development.

Other objectives of the campaign, Ayim said, include creating a link with training service providers (TSP) to train and certify entrepreneurship, creating enterprise policing system (EPS) to monitor and guide NYCC certified entrepreneurs from going into liquidation. It will also conduct research on the non-oil sector for entrepreneurs to know how to apply their strengths and help to conduct feasibility report for members to be properly guided.

The NYCC chief noted that entrepreneurship, though an emerging phenomenon, is fast gaining momentum and being acknowledged as the critical pathway to growing the economy, generating jobs and creating wealth, thereby combating and reducing unemployment, hunger and poverty.

He, however, regretted that although policy makers seem to appreciate the prospects, potentials and positive impact of entrepreneurship, it is evident that they have not been able to develop a result-oriented and sustainable policy framework and intervention mechanism targeted at supporting the accelerated

promotion and development of functional youth entrepreneurship in the country.

Ayim said though the government has demonstrated commitment to promoting youth entrepreneurship through short-term intervention programmes, most of the intervention programmes are either limited in scope and do not benefit a broad spectrum of aspiring youth entrepreneurs to facilitate start-ups or assist youth entrepreneurs in expanding their businesses.

He cited the YouWIN programme of the Federal Government, pointing out that “such short-term measures are usually handouts and tokenism that cannot in any sense facilitate and grow a functional start-up or micro-enterprise”.

‘YouWiN’, an acronym for Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria, is a competition launched by the Federal Government to create jobs by encouraging and supporting aspiring entrepreneurial youths to develop and execute business ideas. The initiative hopes to trigger a ripple effect that would inspire the creative and entrepreneurial spirit of millions of youths across the country.

The scheme is also expected to help identify and empower young entrepreneurs with the technical skills and capital needed to start or grow a business such that they could create employment for themselves and others in dif-

ferent areas. But Ayim said the scheme is limited in scope.

He decried the orientation of state and nonstate actors, adding that they are in a hurry to jumpstart employment policies that are only targeted at giving grants and soft loans to youths to keep them off the street and engage them with an activity they don’t understand its guiding philosophy and modus operandi. He insisted that such attitude should be discouraged.

He said: “Entrepreneurship as it is being practised should not become government’s bait to lure the youth only to maintain law and order.

For them, the higher the number, the higher the score card. “Entrepreneurship policies are not intended to build wealth in Nigeria, but used as a criterion to boost government’s performance evaluation. This could be seen in the number of failed schemes in Nigeria youth empowerment drive.”

Ayim identified the lack of synergy between the public and the private sectors.

Said he: “The only seeming existing synergy recently fostered is the public/public synergy between the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and the BoI. “There is the urgent imperative for a functional public/private partnership that will facilitate a robust, dynamic and sustainable enterprise development ecosystem in line with contemporary trend and global best practices in the promotion and development of youth entrepreneurship.”

Govt okays new ECOWAS common tariff

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•From left: Deputy President, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Alhaji Remi Bello; immediate past National President/Jigawa State, Governor-Elect, Alhaji Badaru Abubakar; Acting National President, Chief Bassey Edem; President-Elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari; NACCIMA (2nd Vice President), Mrs Alaba Lawson and National Vice President, Alhaji Ahmed Rabiu, during a visit to Buhari to congratulate him on his election in Daura, Katsina State.

HE Federal Government has approved the implementation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Common External Tariff (CET). It will take effect from this year and expire in 2019.

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the new CET is in addition to this year’s fiscal policy measures.

According to her, the implementation of the ECOWAS CET 2015-2019 and its Supplementary Protection Measures (SPM) and 2015 Fiscal Policy Measures occur concurrently and took effect from April 11, this year, after the expiration of the 30- day notice under the ECOWAS CET. “By this development, as from April 11, 2015, all imports arriving in the country shall be subjected to the rates contained in the CET 20152019 and 2015 Fiscal Measures without recourse to the rates applicable before the coming into effect of the ECOWAS CET 2015 – 2019,” she said.

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COMMENTARY LETTER

EDITORIALS

Chibok girls: 365 agonising days •That there are no words on them ever since is a big minus for the Jonathan administration HAT is the life of a Nigerian worth? What value does the Nigerian state place on the life of its citizens? That about 219 pupils of Chibok Girls Secondary School, Borno State, abducted from their dormitory by Boko Haram insurgents on the night of April 14, 2014, remain unaccounted for over 365 days after indicates that the existence of its people does not mean much to the Nigerian state, especially under the President Goodluck Jonathan administration. A day after the horrific incident, Dr Jonathan was dancing merrily at one of his party’s campaign rallies in Kano. For nearly two weeks, Jonathan was inactive on a matter that required urgent and drastic presidential action.

It took a worldwide expression of shock and outrage for the administration to bestir itself and begin to respond to the tragic event. Obviously reacting to the seeming paralysis of the Jonathan administration, several countries rallied to Nigeria’s support, providing technical, military and logistical assistance to ensure the girls were rescued. Such efforts were ultimately frustrated particularly by the massive corruption that has characterised the military’s prosecution of the war against terror.

Nigeria once again attracted global focus on the first anniversary of the abduction of the girls on Tuesday. Several activities were held both within and outside Nigeria to identify with the Chibok girls.

We commend those behind the activities.

It is, however, disheartening that President Jonathan did not issue any statement to mark the day. This was another indication of the President’s emotional distance from the plight of the girls, their distraught

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relatives and the traumatised Chibok community.

True, the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Mrs Anastasia Daniel-Nwaobi, representing the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Tuesday met with representatives of the Chibok community in Abuja. She reportedly assured them of the government’s commitment to rescuing the girls and briefed them on the status of the Safe Schools Initiative.

Similarly, the National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki, tamely assured that efforts would continue to be made to rescue the Chibok girls as well as other men and women abducted by Boko Haram insurgents.

Yet, none of this can make up for the President’s thunderous silence. This reinforces the impression that the administration’s intensification of the anti-insurgency offensive in the six weeks before the March 28 presidential election, including gestures to show concern for the Chibok girls, was motivated largely by the desire to win the election.

It is thus not surprising that the girls’ parents now put all their hopes of seeing their daughters again on the Presidentelect, General Muhammadu Buhari. According to one of their representatives, Rev. Mark Enoch, “I know that as General Buhari is now the president-elect, things will be better. He can rescue our daughters; he can bring our daughters back home. He can end all the atrocities of the Boko Haram sect like he addressed the Maitatsine movement in 1984 and our girls will return so we the Chibok

girls’ parents are excited”.

We commend General Buhari for his honesty and candour on the matter. According to him, “Currently, their whereabouts remain unknown. We do not know the state of their health or welfare, or whether they are even still together or alive. As much as I wish to, I cannot promise that we can find them: to do so would be to offer unfounded hope, only to compound the grief if, later, we find we cannot match such expectation. But I say to every parent, family member and friend of the children that my government will do everything to bring them home”.

We urge the President-elect to make this a cardinal priority of his administration. Its capacity to ensure security of lives and property within its territorial jurisdiction is the basis for the legitimacy and existence of any state.

‘It is, however, disheartening that President Jonathan did not issue any statement to mark the day .. This reinforces the impression that the administration’s intensification of the anti-insurgency offensive in the six weeks before the March 28 presidential election, including gestures to show concern for the Chibok girls, was motivated largely by the desire to win the election’

Let the tribunals sit • JUSUN should not prevent election petitions from being heard

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LECTION Petition Tribunals may not be able to sit in at least 15 states of the federation due to the strike embarked upon by members of the Judiciary Staff Union (JUSUN) in the states.

JUSUN members began industrial action about four months ago, to force state governments that are yet to comply with the court judgment on financial autonomy for the judiciary to do so. The strike was however called off by federal judiciary workers at the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court. But JUSUN members in the 15 states said they would heed the call of their national president, Comrade Marwan Mustapha Adamu, to continue the strike in the 15 states.

The states are Kaduna, Yobe, Taraba, Adamawa, Nasarawa and Plateau states.

‘We therefore call on JUSUN to prevail on its members nationwide to at least allow the election petition tribunals’ sittings to hold unfettered ... In the same vein, state governments that are yet to comply with the court judgment on financial autonomy for the judiciary must do so forthwith, in the national interest’

The others are Benue, Anambra, Abia, Enugu, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Edo and Cross River states. Judiciary workers in Rivers State have been on strike over the power tussle between Governor Rotimi Amaechi of the state and the National Judicial Council (NJC).

We recognise the right of JUSUN to fight for its members’ rights. Even if we have reservations as to whether the union is competent to embark on the strike for the reason of getting financial autonomy for the judiciary, we acknowledge the fact that the judiciary should not be going capin-hand to the executive for money if its independence is to be truly guaranteed.

In a democracy, there are three arms of government, viz: the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary. The essence is to ensure checks and balances and prevent a situation where one arm would lord it over the other/s. This is necessary especially in a presidential system of government that already bestows a lot of powers on the president.

Moreover, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja had declared as unconstitutional and illegal, the appropriation practice where the NJC sends the judiciary’s budget to the budget office. It said the practice which violates Section 81 (2), (3) (c) and 84(2), (7) CFRN 1999 was responsible for poor funding of the judiciary, and corruption.

As law-abiding entities, the Federal Government and the respective state governments ought to abide by the judgment.

However, while some governments have complied with the judgment, the 15 state

governments are yet to. Why, we do not understand and we are not even interested in finding out because what is unconstitutional is unconstitutional; it cannot be given any other name. Any government that has nothing to hide should not play god with the judiciary’s money.

So, the state governments should do the needful immediately.

However, we want to impress it on JUSUN that disruption of election petition tribunals’ activities would be counter-productive because election petitions are time-bound. Section 285 (5) of the 1999 Constitution as amended provides that “an election petition shall be filed within 21 days after the date of the declaration of result of the elections.”

If judiciary workers now insist that the tribunals would not sit for whatever reason, we may have cases where some of the petitions would become statutebarred as we witnessed in the past. The tribunals are on special national assignments. And, in a situation like this, national interest takes preponderance over all other interests.

We therefore call on JUSUN to prevail on its members nationwide to at least allow the election petition tribunals’ sittings to hold unfettered. It is important that we protect the sanctity of elections; and we cannot do this when petitions are dismissed simply on account of being statute-barred. In the same vein, state governments that are yet to comply with the court judgment on financial autonomy for the judiciary must do so forthwith, in the national interest.

Congratulations, Nigerians!

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IR: With the 2015 general elections concluded, the undisputed winners are citizens of Nigeria. Yes, Nigerians with an unassailable voice elected their preferred candidates to serve them for four years at the Presidential, state and legislative levels.

The presidential election was won by Gen. Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and lost by incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). But the ultimate winners are Nigerians that remained united and resolute. These were attributes exhibited by the 30 million Nigerians who trooped out of their homes to vote for the next number one man.

They defied sun/rain, endured darkness, skipped meals, defied the comfort of their homes and ensured their votes, in the end counted.

Fifteen million Nigerians representing 54 per cent voted for Gen. Buhari to take over from the People’s Democratic Party’s sixteen wasteful years of rulership over Nigeria. It was a keenly contested match. President Jonathan lost by 2.5 million votes. Despite his loss, he mustered the courage to concede defeat and congratulate the winner through phone calls and a nationwide broadcast.

This show of maturity negates the usual nature of African leaders that want to hold tenaciously to power. Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d’Ivoire’s refusal to relinquish power in 2011 was his undoing. Despite having served for eleven years, he was resolute in holding on to power after losing to Alassane Quattara in a keenly contested election. Former Malawian first female president, Ms. Joyce Banda, attempted to nullify the election after losing out to Peter Mutharika in May 2014. Her attempts failed woefully with the winner sworn into power.

Indeed, the presidential elections in Nigeria are over but lessons cannot be wished away.

The introduction of the Permanent Voter Card (PVC) is a laudable innovation. This innovation was though with pockets of skirmishes. Furthermore, logistics- related issues such as movement of sensitive materials and personnel to polling stations were hampered. The late arrival of materials and persons delayed the commencement of election in some areas in the country.

Beyond postulations about a ‘foreseeable botched presidential election,’ it goes down history lane as one of the most keenly contested election in the country. It is therefore imperative for preparations towards a successful and improved outing in 2019 to commence immediately.

• Kelechi Amakoh political analyst.

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief Victor Ifijeh • Editor Gbenga Omotoso •Chairman, Editorial Board Sam Omatseye •General Editor Adekunle Ade-Adeleye •Editor, Online Lekan Otufodunrin •Managing Editor Northern Operation Yusuf Alli •Managing Editor Waheed Odusile

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THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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CARTOON & LETTERS

IR: Politically, a movement of change connotes revolutionary mode of moving either forward to backward or backward to forward. So, on Saturday March 28, 2015, Nigerians went into the polls to elect a new President that will start distributing the fruits of democratic governance to them commencing from May 29, 2015.

The electioneering campaign leading to March 28 fierce contest was characterised by promises by the two leading political party-the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The PDP wanted continuity while the APC preached for a change of baton. Over 15 million Nigerians who felt that the PDP had not done enough to better their lots and that of the nation for the past 16 years it had held the insignia of power voted for change while about 13 million Nigerians who think that the much advertised change will lead Nigeria to nowhere vote for continuity.

Consequently, since democracy imply popular participation and in view of the fact that in every democratic setting, majority rules while the interest of the minority is to a great extent put into consideration, the change advocates triumphed.

Majority of Nigerians have voted for the change championed by General Muhammad Buhari of the APC at the detriment of the continuity of transformation agenda spareheaded by Dr. Goodluck Ebele

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Now that change has come Jonathan of the PDP. Now, for the records, I wish to remind the Change advocates some of the change they promised Nigerians during the electioneering campaign. Crest fallen, dejected and disconsolate Nigerians are seriously waiting for the change the APC promised to bring to Nigeria in all ramifications.

Nigerians are eagerly waiting for naira to drastically gain more value against the dollar in the international financial market as promised

by General Mohammad Buhari during the electioneering campaign.

Nigerians await a declaration of free and qualitative education from primary to tertiary level as promised by Buhari. Before May 2019, one of our universities must be ranked among the best 500 in the world as promised. I wish to remind General Buhari that he promised that by February 2019, Nigeria under his reign would have generated 40,000 tons of electricity megawatt. The daily 21 hour of electricity power supply is what Nigerians are waiting to start enjoying, not excuses. Nigerians are also waiting for the comprehensive

Defections of shame by politicians

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IR: The recent victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last presidential and national assembly elections has triggered mass defection of politicians to the winning party.

This is not a good development to our quest to sustaining a virile political system in the country. It has the capacity of foisting a one party system in the polity.

We need an enabling environment that would create favorable opposition parties to checkmate the excesses of the ruling party.

The defectors should have taken a lesson from the president- elect who refused to change party, despite the olive branch extended to

him at that time. The defectors have shown they don’t have clear ideologies and principle of nurturing a party to stardom like what the present opposition party did before winning the centre and many states.

Nigerian politicians should cultivate the habit of grooming political parties for a long period of time to check the ruling party and deepen our democracy. We should not allow ourselves to be laughing stocks in the eyes of the world with the gale of defections.

• Bala Nayash, Yashi Areas, Lokoja, Kogi State.

feeding of school children and 1 million housing units promised.

I wish to remind the advocates of change that Nigerians are waiting for all our highways to be fixed before May 2019. The APC must not forget that Nigerians were promised N45 per liter of PMS. The country’s bad refineries must be repaired with new ones built. Further more, let me explicitly remind the Change Agents that they promised the unemployed youths of Nigeria 850, 000 jobs by September 2015. They should also recall that twenty-five million unemployed Nigerians were promised payment of N5, 000 every month till their

lives get better. Corp members were promised N45, 000 monthly allowances.

For Nigeria to be transformed from a periphery to a core sovereign nation, corruption must be well tackled. However, I put it to Buhari that the war against corruption that he promised to pursue with sanctimonious attention must start within the APC. I also wish to remind Buhari and his yet to be known change cabinet that we are now in a democratic regime where rights to freedom of speech, expression, religion, association and peaceful assembly are

constitutionally protected. Nigerians will not accept any attempt to intimidate, oppress and harass them unduly for exercising their fundamental human rights. We all know that PDP goofed, but APC should do things better. The judiciary must be totally independent and sanitized. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) must continue to enjoy its freedom as enshrined in the constitution.

In conclusion, I salute President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for giving Nigerians the most free, fair and credible elections ever since the return of democratic governance to Nigeria. I acknowledge his spirit of statesmanship.

I congratulate General Buhari on his well-deserved victory at the polls. Jonathan has done his best for Nigeria; now, Nigerians are waiting for the change!

• Maxwell Adeyemi Adeleye Magodo, Lagos

The Buhari I know IR: General Muhammadu Buhari’s victory was not entirely on account of his sophistication or political philosophy. Yet, Nigerians should embrace Buhari’s simplicity, discipline, integrity, doggedness, and the most endearing of his attributes- his love for his country.

This type of Buhari’s patriotism is unprecedented and no other Nigerian in history comes close. He does not have to espouse it but his patriotism radiates through his quietude and simplicity. It is a curious type of patriotism. It is love in a non-self-seeking way that many might see as erroneously depicting lack of intellectual capacity to articulate issues. Such simplicity might excite many, especially when contrasted with the incumbent president.

The Buhari I know may not likely convene a national conference or propose any revolutionary constitutional process to change the current stasis. Yet, one can anticipate what to get from this administrator-par excellence- no drama. Nigerians can look forward to seeing a simple but forthright budgetary

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process that is at variance with the current system that is complex because it is laden with many vested corrupt influences. A budgetary process that would not unnecessarily dissipate state’s efforts.

Nigerians can expect, under Buhari, a judiciary that is conscious of governmental oversight and capable of simply sending criminals and corrupt persons to jail. The example of the president-elect will radiate across all civil servants in the discharge of their duties in very effective manner; Nigerians should hope for a regime of moral order in public life in which despicable characters will stop flaunting illgotten wealth and positions by claiming to be above the law.

Two instances when most Nigerians were proud of their country was firstly in July 1984 when exiled Umaru Dikko was kidnapped and bundled into a van to be smuggled out as “diplomatic baggage”.

The second instance was a few weeks ago when Nigerians across the world jubilated over the victory of the APC over Goodluck Jonathan’s PDP. Nigerians jubilated in the hope of a restoration of val-

ues, security, justice, and confidence and of a better tomorrow.

This hope is not simply because the economy will improve overnight or that Boko Haram will disappear, or even that our overspent treasury will immediately rebound. Unemployment will not disappear quickly, and neither will the national question, upon which tribal jingoists and their militias have fed fat, be resolved.

The hope is drawn from a reasonable measure of confidence that Nigerians know Muhammadu Buhari can be trusted to bring appreciable “change” that he promised.

Sadly, patience is not an attribute of suffering masses, which should not be. GMB consciously inherits a huge liability government and to resolve its created avoidable problems that simple solutions may not solve. Nigerians should offer grand ideas to the incoming government so as to quickly bring forth the new dawn.

• Ademola Orunbon, Ajanosi Street, Oke-Posun Epe, Lagos State.

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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COMMENTS

Buhari: Sweat and tears

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HE founder of modern Germany, Otto Von Bismarck, after the failure of the 1848 Liberal revolution to unite the German states, told the Germans that German unification will not come through debate but through blood and iron. Meaning that if Germans wanted unification they would have to fight for it by war and by shedding their blood. Winston Churchill, war time Prime minister of Great Britain in those dark years of 1941 when defeat was starring Britain in the face told the British people that he had nothing to offer them than blood and tears.

In view of the depressed economy of Nigeria and moral bankruptcy in high places, General Buhari must tell our people that we can pull ourselves out of the quagmire we are in by a policy of sweat and tears. This means in essence that there is work to be done and that in doing this work, we may go through lots of pain involving shedding tears and sweating.

He has already said he has no magic wand to solve all our problems at once and that we must not expect any miracle but that he would offer moral compass by which to negotiate the stormy waters ahead of us. If all he offers is the moral leadership, I believe this would be more than sufficient.

The problems facing Nigeria are both physical and psychological; it is easier to tackle the physical problems of infrastructural decay in form of bad roads, unavailability of electricity and pipe-borne water, poor health and educational facilities, poor environment, non-functioning of our railways, seaports, airports and general urban decay as well as the huge problem of unemployment.

The psychological problem we have is not knowing when to stop taking from the public till, as well as embezzlement in order to provide for ourselves and families, moral decay and buccaneering attitude to public service and governance and general lack of integrity and prevalence of unrighteousness in our way of life.

Many years ago, our first civilian President, Right Honourable Dr Nnamdi Azikwe of blessed memory, said the problem with us Nigerians was the problem of politics of

‘We must direct our energy to industrialization, agriculture and exploitation of solid minerals as a way of diversifying our economy from over-dependence on oil and gas and when we have enough resources, we must radically transform our electricity generation and distribution because without this we will not have modern industries, health, transportation, industrial and communication infrastructure’

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HAT is in April that makes the month tick nationally? It is a month like no other month in the annals of the country. Things have happened in the month that reverberated around the world. Check : the Orka coup of 1990. Check : the abduction of the Chibok girls last year and now the abduction of the Orekoya boys. All these happen at various times in April.

These were earthshaking events, which threw the country into a spin.

The country was shaken to its foundation when these events occurred. The Orka coup hit the Babangida regime where it least expected. The regime did not know what hit it until the plotters struck. It was through sheer luck that the regime survived the onslaught. Being one not to push his luck too far, former military president Gen Ibrahim Babangida promptly moved the federal capital from Lagos to Abuja, where he believed he would be safer.

One year after the Chibok girls were kidnapped from their school, the question is still : when will they be rescued? It was 12 months last Tuesday that they were abducted from their Government Girls Secondary School (GGSS) in Chibok, Borno State, by Boko Haram insur-

367 DAYS AFTER

WHERE ARE THE ABDUCTED CHIBOK GIRLS?

poverty. He defined it as the desire of public officials to embezzle public money so that they and their family will not lack anything. We still have the problem with us.

This attitude to life generally has permeated not only public life but also private commercial dealings to the extent that Nigerians in the corporate world and in public life are too steeped in corruption that they cannot help themselves. The problem of underdevelopment can be attacked if the president has the right kind of people working with him and, a grand plan to implement the other problem of moral deficit that is not something that can be easily solved. It will require the leadership acting as a beacon to those who may go astray when called to serve.

The president is the head of the executive branch. The executive branch is the council of ministers and the departments working under them composed of civil servants. This is the branch that formulates policies and after approval from the legislative branch, executes policies. It is the executive branch that is in charge of contract awards and supervision. Eighty to ninety percent of the resources of states is handled by the executive branch. Hence, if there is going to be a reduction in corruption, the executive branch is going to lead the way. The executive branch must ensure that contracts are not padded for the purpose of kick- backs. It must ensure that the bureaucracy is not over inflated with un-needed personnel; it must ensure that a lean administration shorn of jobbers and nepotism is in place. The days of special advisers, special assistants, specialthis and special-that should be gone, and gone forever. The days of a fleet of aeroplanes and cars for the executives should no longer be tolerated, and as much as possible, promotion should be based on performance and we should bring back the days of Public Works Department (PWD), so as to engage the service of young engineers and technicians in doing public works instead of all minor physical works being given to contractors.

This will help to fight unemployment and our youth must be told frankly that the task of building this country is in their hands. Whatever is being done at the centre must be replicated at the state and local levels. A regime of accountability must be imposed on all levels of government through beefing up and activating audit departments at all levels. The executive must also ensure that all institutions charged with preventing public corruptions like EFCC and ICPC must be revamped and sufficiently staffed and well-funded to do their work. They must also be separated from he executive and merged with the judiciary so that they can do their work without let or hindrance. The days where prosecution takes a lifetime must be stopped. Cases before anti- corruption courts must be swiftly decided; those guilty must be sanctioned and punished. No regime can completely wipe out corruption and corruption is a global problem but we must be seen to be serious about

tackling this hydra headed problem.

If educational institutions are functioning well, if there are hospitals to take care of the sick, if infrastructure is modernized and efficient, if there is excellent public transportation, if there is welfare plan for the old, the women, the children and the unemployed, then, there will be no reason whatsoever to steal from the public treasury. This was the Jide philosophy of Lee Osuntokun Kwan Yew in Singapore. He decided that he would so highly remunerate his workers that they would not steal and embezzle public funds and that people would work for and uphold the system that takes care of them. Let us try it here in Nigeria. If the executive is serious about cutting down corruption and the cost of governance, the legislative branch will have to follow suit and the same goes for the judiciary.

The current package of emoluments and allowances for legislators is not sustainable. We are told that our current members of House of Representatives and of the Senate are the most highly paid in this category in the world. This is not an enviable record for a third world country. This has to change.

What we are saying of the centre applies to the states and the local governments. We cannot honestly ask for a change of direction without all of us being committed to changes in the system.

There has to be a change in revenue mobilization, a situation in which Nigeria charges a VAT of seven percent while other African states are charging 18percent must change. We have to increase VAT to 18percent especially at a time when our income for oil has been reduced by 50percent. Increase in VAT will hit the rich more than the poor because it is the rich who buy aeroplanes, cars and drink champagne etc. we should also adopt on a national scale, Lagos state land use tax and each state would decide how much it wants to levy. States had better get used to mobilization of internal revenue than carrying begging bowls to the federal government.

Finally, we must direct our energy to industrialization, agriculture and exploitation of solid minerals as a way of diversifying our economy from over-dependence on oil and gas and when we have enough resources, we must radically transform our electricity generation and distribution because without this we will not have modern industries, health, transportation, industrial and communication infrastructure.

Chibok girls and Orekoya boys gents. The world was stunned that the girls, many of who are in their impressionable years, could be seized from their hostels in the wee hours of the day and taken into captivity.

Nigerians expected the government to react in equal measure to the insurgents’ audacious challenge, but nothing was done. For two weeks, the government felt unconcerned while the girls languished in Boko Haram den. To the government, it was impossible to kidnap such number of girls in one fell swoop and so it did nothing for those two weeks.

Nigerians were shocked by their government’s stance, provoking questions, such as, will hoodlums notify their victims before they strike?

What is government’s job if it cannot protect its people? If the girls were children of the rich would government turn a blind eye to their plight?

The posers arose because the government created the impression that it must be informed before crimes, such as the abduction of the Chibok girls, are committed. Thus, since it was not so informed, it dismissed the girls’ abduction with a wave of the hand. By the time, it decided to act, the girls had been taken far deep into Sambisa Forest.

This was why its much-vaunted six-week onslaught against Boko Haram before the general elections came to nought - it did not lead to the rescue of the girls - because it was too little too late.

Will the girls ever be rescued?

The government says they will, but Nigerians are not that convinced. But we all live on the

hope that one day a miracle will happen and the girls will be back home.

It is this kind of miracle that the Orekoya family is praying for now. The Orekoyas have been in agony since April 8 when their children - Aderomola (11 months), Ademola (6) and Adedamola (4) - were kidnapped by their housemaid, Mary Akinloye. The maid ran away with the boys, barely 24 hours after she was employed.

Mary (I am sure this is not her real name) had her plan well laid out before she took the job. From reports so far on this unfortunate incident, the Orekoyas, it seemed, walked into a set up by Mary and her gang. The kidnap of these boys was well planned and clinically executed by a maid who was supposed to care for them.

Like all animals in human skin, she first won the confidence of the kids’ mother, Mrs Bisi Orekoya, before moving in for the kill. Within hours of getting to the home of the Orekoyas, she had tidied up everywhere, giving the place a spick and span look. Of course, the woman of the house was impressed and let down her guard. Who wouldn’t?

First impression, they say, matters. With that act, Mary got Mrs Orekoya. a working class mum, who needed her services so as to relieve her of the stress of working and taking care of the home.

Many women indulge in this luxury these days.

In the past, our mothers did everything themselves, whether or not they were working. I agree that times have changed and that

today’s women need extra help to cope with work and family challenges, but they should be wary of the kind of servants they go for. No matter how good a maid may be, she cannot take the place of a mother in the life of a child. This is the mistake some of our mothers make today. Once they get a maid, they hand over their homes to her. The maid becomes the madam of the home and before you know it she becomes another thing. he truth is that if they can help it, most girls would not want to be maids.

They would rather prefer to play madam. This is why women must open their eyes wide while hiring maids. No matter how good and industrious maids appear, madam must not give them an elbow room to operate. Yes, she may need a maid’s services, but she must know where to draw the line. There must be certain things the maid must not do in the house. But under the guise of ‘’working myself to the bones’’, many women have unwittingly handed over their homes to their maids.

I am not blaming the Orekoyas for hiring a maid since they could afford it, but the question is did they take all the necessary precautionary steps? Did they do diligence check on the girl’s

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Lawal Ogienagbon lawal.ogienagbon@thenationonlineng.net SMS ONLY: 08099400204, 08112661612

background? Or were they in such a hurry for her services that they allowed her to sell them a dummy? These maids are streetwise; they can get some funny characters to stand for them as aunts, brothers, sisters and uncles before their wouldbe employers. When trouble comes as we have now seen in the Orekoyas’ case, such ‘relations’ will simply disappear.

I feel for the Orekoyas and pray that soon they will be reunited with their children. For God’s sake, why will anybody kidnap toddlers? Why? May God touch the kidnappers’ hearts and let these children go. * The kids were rescued early yesterday after this article had been written.

‘Maids are streetwise; they can get some funny characters to stand for them as aunts, brothers, sisters and uncles before their would-be employers. When trouble comes, such ‘relations’ will simply disappear’

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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COMMENTS

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OWEVER distorted, Nigeria runs a federal system. The Ibos, like other immigrants from other parts of the country, have lived peacefully with their Yoruba host communities for decades. The Ibos have always enjoyed better privileges in Yoruba land than among their own people at home. That they won an election in Lagos to represent indigenes whose language they don’t speak without the killings and mayhem we have witnessed in parts of the southeast is enough evidence.

But even long before now, in the 1940s at a time when non indigenous Onitsha were regarded as settlers and denied the same privileges as the Onitsha indigenes, the Ibos in Lagos and part of Yoruba land were already standing for elections. (G I Jones, Report of the position, status and influence of chiefs and natural rulers in the eastern region of Nigeria (Enugu 1957).

In 1950 when the indigenous ‘Onitshans’ which constituted only 12.5% of the population controlled majority of the members of the council and the non Onitsha Ibo had to form an association to agitate for equal treatment for non Onitsha in the manner of allocation of stalls and equal democratic representation in the Onitsha local council, (Richard Sklar, Nigerian political Parties: Power in An Emergent African Nation), the Igbo in Lagos controlled the NCNC which was initially a Yoruba party. Zik, who was the only nonYoruba at the inaugural meeting of NCNC rose on merit to become the leader of the party.

Zik became a household name in major towns of Yoruba country. But for the overbearing activities of Igbo hawks and Zik’s 1949 gaffe when as the president of Ibo Federation Union he declared; ‘the martial prowess of the Igbo nation at all stages of human history has enabled them not only to conquer others but also to adapt themselves to the role of preserver,” yet, he was on his way to becoming the premier of the Yoruba country.

That unrestrained statement was all the Action Group led by young Yoruba professionals and intellectuals needed to mobilise and convince Yoruba voters and traditional rulers that a Yoruba country should be led by a Yoruba and not an Igbo irredentist.

Oba Akinolu’s anguish, I’m sure was not that Igbo won elections to represent his people but the body language and the indiscretion of a segment of Igbo elite. After the first round of elections, the Ibos, who gave block votes to President Jonathan not out of principle, (for four years he did not fulfill any of the promises to the south east), wanted the

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In defence of Oba Rilwan Akiolu of Lagos Oba to appreciate their newly acquired power to decide who governs Lagos. If they embark on irrational block vote for the President, it becomes even more irrational to do the same to derail a government that everyone adjudged better than any PDP- run state in the country and which has allowed the Igbo to thrive.

We must not forget these are the luxuries they don’t have in Abia, Ebonyin, Enugu, and Rivers Akwa Ibom where the Ohanezes, the Obis and Amayanabos decreed who to vote for and their anointed candidates won a landslide with statically impossible electoral returns of about 95% of registered voters.

Leaders and Obas in Yoruba country cannot go against the will of their people. This perhaps explains why the Oba told the Igbo that those who work against the interest of Lagos will die in the lagoon. The Oba couldn’t have put it differently. Unfortunately, his Igbo visitors singing ‘winners o winner’, saw the Obas reaction as a threat because they don’t understand our culture that teaches us not to bite the fingers that fed us, a culture defines our behaviours and worldview.

While it is part of the Igbo culture to ‘run away when calamity befalls the owners of the land who know how to appease their own gods, we as Yoruba have been forewarned that “eiyele ki ba onile je, ba onile mu, ki o salo ni ojo isoro” literarily saying you are not allowed to abandon your benefactor when he is in difficulty. Our respected leaders say: ‘eniti o ba dale , a bale lo’(those who betray the cause of the Yoruba race will die a miserable death).

This is not a curse but a call to maintain

HE history of political development in Nigeria has recorded the growth of multi-dimensional forms of violence in the desperate bid of power thirsty individuals and groups to attain and keep state power. In recent times, Human Rights Watch revealed that over 2000 Nigerians lost their lives in post- election violence in the country.

As the campaigns for the 2015 general elections were rounding off, the governor of the state of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola had his convoy attacked in Ilase, Obokun Local government of the State. That was on Friday the 13th of March, 2015. Stalwarts of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party allegedly initiated the attack. It left at least one person dead, many injured and properties worth millions of Naira destroyed. This is a sad footnote on our quest for a true democratic process, because it underscores happenings in almost all states of the federation including Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Imo and a host of other states. Updated report has it that 66 violent incidents targeted at polling units were recorded nationwide during the April 11, 2015 governorship and state houses of assembly polls.

In a remark, the leader of All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, had this to say, “Throughout the week, before the election, there were lots of( gunshot across the state. That was scaring to the people. That is ( why they didn’t come out. That is a method of rigging. It is( because you are not popular. If you are popular, you will want the ( crowd to be there and make their choice. The abuse of power in ( this nation must stop. It takes a commonsense revolution to do ( that”.

I wish to historicize electoral violence and its implications on the survival of democracy in Nigeria with major emphasis on this Fourth Republic (1999-2015). The high incidence of electoral violence (pre and post) in the Fourth Republic in particular is closely associated with neo-patrimonial character of the Nigerian state, the nature and kind of party politics being played, the weak institutionalisation of democratic architectures and inefficient electoral management body among others. These were among the factors that led to the fall or collapse of the First, Second and Third Republics.

In every stable democratic society, election remains the essential ingredient of transitory process from one civilian administration to another. Elections have become an integral part of representative democracy that by and large prevails across the world. In all, elections constitute a core component of democracy. The electoral process in Africa in general and Nigeria in particular especially since the beginning of the 21st century is characterised by violence.

Fundamentally, there is no doubt the fact that electoral violence remains a major source of political instability in a democratic society with palpable threats of deconsolidation. Nigeria, having survived decades of military dictatorship that was characterized by despotism, violation of fundamental human rights, financial profligacy among others, eventually returned to demo-

certain standard of behavior expected of ‘Omoluabi’. The only people who have anything to fear are those who are planning evil.

Unfortunately, a segment of the Igbo elite, in the last few days have engaged in futile exercise of trying to teach the Oba democracy ignoring what was described by observers as vote allocation in the south south and southeast followed by screaming newspaper headlines such as “Bloody polls in Rivers, Ebonyi and Akwa Ibom”; “Police, thugs kill 18”; houses, cars burnt”; “policeman, youth, leader shot dead”; “INEC office, vehicles bombed”; “AIG Ogunsakin ordered out of Rivers”; “10 NYSC member, soldiers caught voting in General’s house”.

They forget the dominant party ran neck to neck in Lagos and other parts of Yoruba country. And that was not by accident. If democracy is about participation, freedom of choice, checks and balances and accountability, the Yoruba country had practiced democracy for a thousand years before the advent of the Europeans. The pre -colonial history of Nigeria clearly shows a system of government existed in Oyo that was as good if not superior to the modern democracy, the world new god.

The embattled Oba’s warning against an irrational use of block votes in the name of democracy to derail 16 years of development recorded in spite of efforts of clueless PDPled federal government that did everything, including seizing Lagos state local government allocations, instigation of non indigenes against indigenes and bribing outlawed militant groups to cause mayhem during elections, came against the back drop of mischievous claims such as “we came from the east to turn

jungle into a city” and “Lagos is no man’s land”.

With such statements from a former governor of a state where elected governor was kidnapped and locked up like a criminal in broad day light by gangsters or from barely literate street traders who became stupendously wealthy; or still some parasites who emerged from detention over fuel subsidy scam to become chief fund raiser and campaign manager to a president, one can understand the righteous indignation of the Oba of Lagos.

It cannot be any less exasperating when immigrants lay claim to a kingdom and territories his illustrious forbears fought the British to protect until they were forced to sign a treaty with the British in 1861.

And for those on civilization mission, P C Lloyd has shown that the Yoruba country was more culturally developed not only than any part of Nigeria but more than Europe as at the time the Europeans came if we use urbanisation as index of measurement. For instance, while in 1921 the population of Ibadan was put at 287,133, Lagos 99,890, Ogbomosho, 84,880; Oshogbo 51, 413 Iwo 51,183, Ede 48,300, Enugu, a mining village had a population of only 3,170, Aba 2,327 and Onitsha 10,309.

Of all the capitals of The Fulani caliphates, Sokoto had 19,335; Zaria -25,000); Katsina-17, 489 and Kano with a figure of 49,938 was the only town in the north with a population of close to fifty thousand. Ilorin that was closest to Kano with a population of 38,388 was for all intent and purposes a Yoruba town. As a matter of fact by 1931 when Ibadan had a population of about 400,000 and Lagos about 130,000, the most densely populated town in the old eastern region was Onitsha with population of about 18,000; ( P. Amaury Talbot “The People of Southern Nigeria(London 1935)vol.iv.)

Oba Akinolu is greatly misunderstood. He has not threatened the Ibos. He was merely carrying out his responsibilities to his people. As Thomas Hodgin has explained, ‘Yoruba Obas are constitutional monarchs who ratify decisions made by council of hereditary lineage chiefs who had consulted the wishes of their people’. Not much has changed in Yoruba land since that study. Except that we live in denial, even the United Nations recognized the right of indigenous people and has since December 23, 1994, dedicated 9th of August every year to the celebration of The International Day of Indigenous People.

Violence as threat to democracy-1

By Ayo Akinola,arpa cratic rule on May 29, 1999, which culminated in the birth of the Fourth Republic. The republic, which started amidst great hope and expectations, is yet to significantly convince the generality of the Nigerian populace its democratic success especially with respect to the conduct of free, fair and credible elections devoid of election violence (pre and post). The block votes for failed President Jonathan recorded from the south east and south-south in the just concluded 2015 election leaves a sour grape in the mouth regarding incessant geo-ethnic loyalty in voting patterns. This has however put the zones in a disadvantage position in the unfolding power sharing and political relevance. The threat of violence by militant leaders, especially by Asari Dokubo, in the zone is a sad commentary that must not be allowed to endure.

International Foundation for Election Systems (2011) defines electoral violence as “any violence (harm) or threat of violence (harm), like that of Asari-Dokubo, that is aimed at any person or property involved in the election process, or at disrupting any part of the electoral or political process during the election period.”

These above definitions of electoral violence typically captured the deeper nature and stages of electoral violence in Nigeria especially since the birth of the Fourth Republic in 1999. The first and immediate post independence electoral violence in Nigeria occurred during the 1964 general elections, the first election to be conducted after independence. The Northern People’s Congress needed the elections to consolidate its power at the centre. The Action Group (AG) also needed it in order to dislodge Chief S.L Akintola from power in the West. The NCNC on its own also wanted to improve its bargaining strength in the East.

It became obvious that all the major political parties were anxious to participate in the elections (Falola et al, 1991). By the middle of 1964, two major political alliances had emerged from all the manoeuvres. The NPC and the NNDP founded the Nigerian National Alliance (NNA). The AG and the NCNC constituted themselves into the United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA). The 1964 federal election was contested between these major alliances (Ige, 1995). Two main coalitions contested these elections: the Nigerian National Alliance (NNA) made up of the NPC and some other minor parties; the United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA) comprising the NCNC, AG, NEPU and UMBC (Falola, et al, 1991).

The campaigns by these coalitions generated much bitterness,

acrimony and violence, especially in the west. The elections which were said to have been massively rigged through different means lead to widespread violence/conflicts in the west following the announcement of results by the Chairman of Federal Electoral Commission in person of Mr. Esua. This argument could be corroborated with the address of president Nnamidi Azikiwe and the then Inspector General Police, Mr. Louis Edet. Azikiwe in his dawn broadcast to the nation. The head of state condemned the way and manner the electioneering was conducted and expressed his disappointment.

The politicians in power have no right to employ instruments of power in order to perpetuate their stay in office. The president cited instances where Nigerian citizens were deprived their constitutional right to freedom of association. In a similar view, the inspector general of police, Louis Edet made a nation-wide broadcast reporting that incidents involving violence had reached alarming proportions. He appealed to the politicians to protect Nigeria’s enviable reputation as a bastion of democracy in Africa (Anifowose, 1972).

As it was in the west, so also it went on in the Middle Belt. A good example was the second Tiv riot of 1964 (Anifowose, 1972).

The last straw that broke the camel’s back was the elections into regional assembly in the west in October 1965. The announcement of the election results by the Federal Electoral Commission, which led to the purported victory of Chief S.L Akintola of the Nigeria National Democratic Party (NNDP) as against the wishes of many people who expected that Chief Adegbenro of the UPGA led to large-scale widespread violence in the whole of western region on the ground that there were irregularities in the election results. The decision of the federal government to recognize the election thus gave Chief Akintola the power to form a new government. This however made UPGA to embark on a spontaneous and violent demonstration known as “operation wet e” – an operation which required the spraying of houses, cars and persons with petrol and then setting fire to them (Ige, 1995).

There were series of protests and demonstrations carried out by angry students, market women, farmers and other groups in most towns and villages throughout the western region, and these were accompanied by looting, arson, killing on an unprecedented scale and burning of houses, vehicles and shops.

Anti-governmental placards were displayed, party slogan- Awo! Awo! UPGA! UPGA! -as well as war songs were advanced. In some cases, the demonstration ended in clashes with anti-riot police squad, who did not hesitate to shoot. (To be continued.)

• Akinola wrote in from Lagos

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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COMMENTS

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E, the masses of the southwest are living in poverty – a degree of poverty unknown before in our history.

For us, independent Nigeria meant poverty and more poverty. We are not used to living in poverty and we cannot stand it much longer.

The agency that hampers struggle and success in all parts of Nigeria today is the federal government. It was not so in the 1950s. From the time when our country became a federation in 1952 and until 1962, the federating units of our federation (the then regions), had enough autonomy and enough of control over their own life and resources to make progress in all directions. The federal government was not an obstacle then, as it is today.

And the federal government was by no means weak. There was a careful and sensible balance between the powers of the federal and regional governments. The regions were empowered as seats of detailed development while the federal government was empowered to stand above all, protect the regions, defend our country and speak for our country in the world. That was the kind of sane and sensible arrangement that our leaders (our Awolowo, Azikiwe and Ahmadu Bello) agreed upon. Each region had its own Coat of Arms, its own flag, even its own representatives in London to see to its affairs abroad. It was not perfect but it was good enough – and it worked very well.

It was under this sensible arrangement that the genius of our Awolowo could blossom in our western region. He was a thinker, planner and achiever above all others. Our region was free to breathe and live and thrive.

Awolowo and his team of capable colleagues were able to make miracles happen. That is how our region became “First in Africa” in a lot of developmental achievements.

But the other regions were proudly achieving too. Gradually, in the eastern region, a culture of small industrial businesses raised its head. The northern region was starting far behind the western and eastern regions in education. But, under its great leader, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the northern region embarked upon a very admirable development progress in many directions too.

In the midst of all this excitement, we celebrated independence in 1960. Our Nigeria was growing and prospering and heading for the highest in the world. And we young Ni-

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IS small trim figure and frail frame belie the enormous strength it carries, and does not in any way reflect his true capacity. It is a sort of decoy. As a result of his frail physical makeup, many unsuspecting minds see him as one who is to be ignored. However, many who have ignored him have done so at their own peril.

What actually is it about men with a little physical frame? Historically, it has been revealed that men with tiny physique are dynamites. In football circle, Argentine Diego Maradona is a personage. Short and stocky, Maradona took the soccer world by storm such that his exploits on the soccer field have become a legendary tale. Ditto for Lionel Messi, his equally pint-sized countryman, who has become a soccer idol to many football fans across the globe. German Adolf Hitler also readily falls into the category of pocket-sized men who held the world awestruck, albeit negatively. There was also the Emperor of France, Napoleon Bonaparte, who once ruled the entire continent of Europe. Let me quickly add that Asiwaju is not diminutive, he’s a frail weight.

In the contemporary political landscape of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu remains a force to be reckoned with. His fragile physique notwithstanding, Asiwaju has the heart of a lion. He dares to follow the path that lesser mortals tremble to trail. His audacious confrontations with the military are partly responsible for the restoration of democracy in our country in 1999. But then, Asiwaju is not all about boldness without vision. He combines a bold heart with a sound mind. He is blessed with an unusu-

‘At last, the progressives were ready to confront the PDP for the political soul of the country. In a most keenly and fiercely contested presidential election in the political history of the country, the PDP bit the dust. Thus, ending its sixteen years of infamous and impunity laden grip on power at the centre’

What the southwest wants! gerians proudly bragged to our friends in the countries where we were studying abroad that our Nigeria would soon become the Blackman’s world power of modern times.

Then came 1962 – yes, 1962. In that year, the people in power in the centre thought that the western region was just too successful on its own strength, too confident, too proud.

Therefore, they decided that the western region needed to be humbled and subdued.

Our young people of today do not know the story but they need to know it. I was young then. I had just graduated from University College Ibadan. The day I finished my last BA degree examination, the car sent by my employers to bring me to my new job was waiting for me in front of the exam hall.

By evening, I was a proud person in my new job. That was the way we citizens of the western region lived in those days.

After graduating, we were immediately ready and able to start supporting the parents who had supported us through school and university and to start helping our younger brothers and sisters to get higher education too. Our life was orderly and sure. We walked the earth with assurance and pride. Then suddenly, the federal plot struck at our region.

Everything started to crumble all around us. It was awful!

Leaders of the eastern region should have advised against the attack on our region but they chose to support it. They calculated that our fall would benefit them somehow. Our pacesetter region was overrun and brutalized.

At last, in desperation, we the youths of the western region rose in a mighty revolt which shook Nigeria to its foundations.

And from that time, there followed a series of military coups and military dictatorships going on until 1999. Like the people who had held federal power in 1960-62, the military dictators also destroyed our federal arrangement and replaced it with a strongly centralized arrangement. They created more and more states until we reached 36.

But that was not their real intention. Local demands for states gave them the opportunity to splinter the country into small weak

states that the federal government could easily dictate to. For instance, claiming that the new small states were simply too small and too weak to hold the assets and development products of the former three regions, (highways, universities, control over export products, etc), they seized all for the federal government.

They even went as far as to listing our local governments in the Nigerian Constitution and provide that they should deal directly with the federal government – so that the federal government may be able to manipulate them. The federal system we had at independence disappeared and Nigeria became essentially a country ruled by an unruly federal government.

As things stand today, there is hardly anything the federal government does not interfere in. The Federal Government has stopped some states from building or improving roads, claimed to be the sole controller of all natural resources, taken over taxes paid by companies doing business in the states, marched soldiers into states without any consultation with the state governments, insisted on determining the number of local governments in states, rejected decisions of courts and even used its unlimited power to rig elections across our country.

The federal government presumes to have the right to sack the elected governors of states and to dictate the minimum wages that state governments will pay to their employees. The federal government is the mighty power behind the culture of corruption that has pulverized Nigeria and wrecked Nigeria’s name in the world. The federal government is the enormous agency that promotes and guarantees poverty in Nigeria.

The federal government stands in the way of states that are ambitious and eager to fight poverty. If we do not urgently curb the excessive powers and presumptions of the federal government and restore considerable development competence to the federating units of our federation, poverty will rise to such heights that Nigeria will not be able to contain the anger it generates.

Tinubu and resurgence of progressive politics

By Lateef Raji ally sharp and uncanny mind.

Asiwaju’s intellectual prowess is legendary. He is a deep thinker and a pragmatic philosopher in his own right. He combines unbelievable intellectual depth with amazing spiritual profundity. His bat like fullsize eyes prods deeply at everything in sight with the calculated precision of a predator going after its prey. They are, perhaps, responsible for the depth of his vision. Asiwaju sees far ahead of time.

Asiwaju is, indeed, a complex character.

Late Afro beat maestro, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, was popularly referred to by his teeming fans as ‘Abami Eda’ (the Strange One).

Asiwaju could equally be likened to an ‘Abami Eda (a Strange Creature). The more you think you know him, the more intriguing he becomes. It is mostly when his adversaries think they have pinned him to the wall that he bounces back even stronger, like the proverbial cat with nine lives. ‘O sewo, eyin Ologbo ki bale’. It is impossible to give the cat a pin fall. Asiwaju is that cat whose back doesn’t touch the floor. Even when it does, he bounces back in record time.

Impossibility is a common word in the dictum of fidgety and skeptical souls that abandon their visions in the face of the slightest challenge. However, for Asiwaju, impossibility is a doorway to possibilities.

Hence, he sees profound opportunities in every seeming impossibility.

Prior to the successful merger of the various political parties that transformed into the All Progressive Congress, APC, merging of political parties had not been a successful venture in the country’s political terrain. In the Second Republic, for instance, the progressives led by the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Alhaji Aminu Kano, Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim and others tried fruitlessly to form a formidable progressive inclined political party

that could wrestle power from the then ruling National Party of Nigeria, NPN. These frontline leaders of the progressives held several meetings at that time but with insignificant success.

It was, perhaps, this history of failures by the progressives to forge a common front that initially made political observers and pundits to be skeptical about the feasibility of the APC project. Indeed, some prominent PDP members swore by their mothers and grandmothers that the merger was not going to work. However, with the unwavering and calculated focus of a lion in pursuit of its prey, Asiwaju and his fellow progressive leaders, who are today’s heroes of democracy, forged ahead like Trojans who are sure of their destination.

The one who has become a spectacle does not act as a spectator. So, Asiwaju and his compatriots refused to be distracted even when the sound of the drummer at the market place became quite vicious and notorious. The one with a mission at the market does not pay attention to the noise of the market. So much noise came from the PDP’s organs such as the Nigeria Television Authority, NTA, Africa Independent (?) Television, AIT, and much more, but Asiwaju and co surged on. The rest, as they say, is history.

Now that the night is over, no one should deny Asiwaju the right to click the glass and pump champagne. It is his right. He deserves it after sixteen years of focusing on the prize.

In 2003, when the Alliance for Democracy, AD, lost all its controlled states in the South West, except for Lagos, the only attractive option for Asiwaju was to jump ship and move to the ruling PDP. That is the natural path in African politics because playing opposition politics in this clime is hazardous and unattractive. But such a choice is for men with blatant opportunistic disposition.

Gbogun gboro That is why we the citizens of the southwest, as one people, want the Nigerian federation to be restructured without delay. In our regions or states, we can beat poverty and return to a life of progress and prosperity.

This is not a selfish demand. All Nigerians will benefit. Nigeria will benefit.

So, we say to all our Southwestern politicians, governors, federal and state legislators: Pool your energies and influences to get the Nigerian federation restructured now. The present so-called federation is an imposture.

‘The federal government presumes to have the right to sack the elected governors of states and to dictate the minimum wages that state governments will pay to their employees. The federal government is the mighty power behind the culture of corruption that has pulverized Nigeria and wrecked Nigeria’s name in the world’ So, Asiwaju forged ahead and Action Congress, AC, came on board, later paving way for the emergence of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN. Though the road was rough and tough but with the ACN came the recovery of lost states in the southwest. Edo state was to later come into the fray. Now, the ACN has arrived. That was the thought of some of Asiwaju’s apostles. But, like the visionary leader, he is, Asiwaju knew that the journey has just started, and nothing has been won.

In order to achieve the long-term mission of the progressives in the nation’s political landscape, ACN, with its relative success must die. Thus came the death of the ACN. The funeral ceremony took place in Lagos.

But other deaths were equally recorded along the way. The Congress for Progressive Change, CPC as well as the All Nigeria People’s Party, ANPP also died. However, these parties did not die in vain. With their death came the birth of the APC, a formidable opposition party. At last, the progressives were ready to confront the PDP for the political soul of the country. In a most keenly and fiercely contested presidential election in the political history of the country, the PDP bit the dust. Thus, ending its sixteen years of infamous and impunity laden grip on power at the centre.

Many who do not really know him bear false tales about his person. Others hate him just out of vicious envy and jealousy. But those that are privileged to know him are conscious of his unquestionable patriotic zeal and uncommon commitment to the emancipation of the downtrodden. Many who used his political influence and benevolence to achieve political success have betrayed him. But for Asiwaju, there is a price to pay for every prize that one desires. The more inestimable the prize, the more bristly the price.

Without a doubt, fiercer political battles lie ahead for Asiwaju and his progressive co-travellers. But of what essence is life without battles? That is the stuff that champions are made of. Ride on Asiwaju! May your light never go dim. Long live the progressives!

God bless Nigeria!

• Raji is Special Adviser, Information and Strategy, Lagos State.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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THE NATION

EDUCATION

THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

It was one year on Tuesday that over 200 Chibok school girls were abducted. Some managed to escape and are back in school on scholarship. But, their hearts bleed for their colleagues, who are still in captivity, reports KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE.

• The Burnt Chibok school building - AFP. Inset: inside one of the burnt buildings Washington Post

Our hearts still bleed, say escaped Chibok girls •’They are studying for WASSCE, UTME’

T

HE nation is yet to recover from the trauma of the abduction of about 276 pupils of the Government Girls Secondary School (GGSS) in Chibok, Borno State, by Boko Haram insurgents on April 14, last year. Fiftyseven managed to escape, but there has been no news of the others since then. The government just keeps promising that they

would be rescued. When will that be?

That is the big question because it was one year last Tuesday that the girls were abducted.

A report by the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) titled: “Missing childhoods: The impact of armed conflict on children in

‘

Nigeria and beyond, released on Monday, noted that the insurgency, which has deliberately targeted students and teachers, led to the destruction of more than 300 schools and the killing of 196 teachers and 314 school children between January 2012 and last

The school is yet to be rebuilt; but on 6th March, the minister of finance went to Chibok to lay foundation for the school. We went together with the army when they awarded the contract to them

INSIDE

Fond memories of a renowned historian, Prof. Tamuno

-Page 27

‘Save us’, UNIUYO Law graduate, 71 others cry to NYSC DG

A LAW graduate from the University of Uyo, Mr Ede, Joshua Oritsegbemi, and 71 other graduates of the university have appealed to the DirectorGeneral of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brig-General Johnson Olawumi, to prevail on...

-Page 37

CAMPUS LIFE UNICAL’s plaza of controversy -Page 29

’

December.

The kidnap of the Chibok girls attracted global attention which forced the Federal Government to mount a military assault to rescue them. But, so far, the girls have not been found.

For many, it is disappointing that the government has been unable to rescue the girls.

Those who escaped are enjoying a new lease of life.

GGSS Principal Hajiya Asabe Ali Kwambula told The Nation on phone that she is in touch with 54 of the 57 escaped girls who are now studying on scholarship.

"I am in touch with 54 of the girls that escaped.

The girls I am in touch with are doing fine.

Forty-one of them are in the same school; and 13 are in other schools. I am in touch with especially those the state government sent to school because I used to visit them in their schools; and they also visit me at my home before travelling to Chibok," she said.

President of the American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola Dr Margee Ensign says 21 of the girls are in the school.

•Continued on page 26

•A 10-page section on campus news, people etc

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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EDUCATION

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HE Academic Staff Union of Research and Allied Institute (ASURI) has faulted the appointment of Prof Monday Tommy Joshua as the new Registrar and Chief Executive Officer for National Examination Council (NECO).

The protest of NECO chapter of the union was contained in a letter signed by its chairman, Comrade Agwu Arisa, and addressed to the Minister of Education, a copy which was made available to journalists in

NECO workers fault Registrar's appointment From Jide Orintunsin, Minna

Minna.

The letter reads, "For the avoidance of doubt, may we remind you that since the inception of our institution (hereinafter refereed to simply as "NECO"), there has been two Registrars/Chief Executive Officers to wit: Prof Dibu Ojerinde who was

the pioneering Registrar, from the Southwest region of Nigeria, and after serving out full his full term the out-going Registrar, Prof Promise Okpala, from the Southeast region of Nigeria was thereafter appointed, who has now not only served out his term, but enjoyed a period of extension of tenure

without due process being complied with.

"In the present circumstances, and bearing the principle of federal character, it would only be fair and reasonable to expect that the next appointed to the office of registrar should come from the northern zone of the country.

"The union has been reliably informed that one Prof Monday Tommy Joshua who is now being considered for appointment as the next Registrar, is not only not from the northern zone of Nigeria, he was never recommended by the Honourable Minister to the President for such appointment".

One year later, still waiting for Chibok girls •Continued from page 25 In an interview in Lagos, she said the girls were being prepared for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), which began last week. She said compared to when they arrived in the school - during which they could not speak English - they have made tremendous progress that impresses her. Had they written the examination last year if they had not been kidnapped, she said, they would not have passed. But the reverse is the case today.

"Seriously, they are example of what a great education can be.

Twenty-one of them are making progress. They are making major gains academically… A few of them didn't speak much English, but now they can speak, they can write, they can read, they are doing their maths, they are in different levels. As we prepare all of them for JAMB, WAEC, they will all take them this year, because we don't want any of them not to succeed," she said.

Additional information on the AUN website showed that the girls are undergoing individualised academic programmes in three groups (advanced, intermediate and beginner). They study from 9am-5 pm. For some of them, it would take two years of remedial studies (estimated at $5,000 per year) to prepare for the Ordinary level and entrance examinations before they are admitted for degree programmes at AUN. If they pass, they would be admitted into AUN for programmes of their choice. Dr Ensign said many foreign universities have offered them places - even for postgraduate studies.

She said: "A University in Canada has just come forward to say when you finish with them we will take them for free for graduate studies which is really exciting. That is the next phase. There is a lineup of universities around the world that would take them.”

The girls, she said, have blossomed and now have big ambitions, particularly to develop their community after their education.

She said: "They are doing intensive English, maths science, social studies.

But when you ask them what they are going to study it is medicine, dentistry law, they have got very big dreams. What was most extra ordinary when we asked them: 'Where do you want to be?' 'What are your dreams?' they say: 'I want to be a doctor so that I can go back to Chibok and take care of the health care for them;' 'I want to be a teacher so that I can go back and make sure Chibok comes back.' So this is exactly what we hope for our students, we give them education and you go back and give to the society."

To feel the pulse of the girls one year after the kidnap, The Nation requested to interview the girls by email. The response that came noted that when Dr Ensign asked the girls to write what education means to them, 17-year-old Mary (not full name), wrote that their experience at AUN was a superior advantage which they feel guilty about, especially because their peers are still in captivity.

"It is hard to explain what it is like

to be taken captive as we were and as many of our friends still are. We feel sad even with the advantages we now have because so many from our hometown do not have these advantages. We are determined to use this good education we are getting and then go home and improve Chibok. When the insurgency struck, I was devastated, but little did I know it was going to be a blessing in disguise. I want more now. I have great plans for myself, my family, Chibok town, and my country and I will not give up on those dreams," she said.

Nineteen-year old Sarah says the abduction has been a blessing in disguise which she believes would benefit her hometown in the long run.

"It has been a horrible journey yet we believe that coming to AUN is for a purpose, which is to be an instrument of positive change in our hometown, where many have been victimized because of the insurgency in our country. My parents are farmers and their major source of income is based on what we harvest and sell on our farmland, yet Boko Haram chases people from the fields," she said.

For another girl, Blessing, this experience has only ignited the vision of a bright future that the Boko Haram tried to kill in its campaign against western education. She said only quality education can make such future possible.

"Education is the only road forward for Nigeria. Nothing else is possible until that happens. At the American University of Nigeria (AUN) - where we are receiving a real education we can perceive the bright and excellent future we have ahead of us.

It was not always that way," said Blessing.

Their former principal, Hajiya Asabe, indeed agrees that education is important for their hometown to grow.

She said the Chibok community is looking forward to the school being rebuilt, as promised by the Federal Government.

"The school is yet to be rebuilt; but on 6th March, the minister of finance went to Chibok to lay foundation for the school. We went together with the army when they awarded the contract to them. They said they will start it without delay. I am sure it is because of the election nothing has been happening so far.

"I know that if the school is rebuilt, all the students will be back in school. And everyone wants the school to be rebuilt because it is the only school in the local government.

You know education is more important than wealth and if you educate girls, they can secure a better future," she said.

She hopes that the new government would complete whatever is left of the project by the time Dr Goodluck Jonathan lives

• Dr Ezekwesili (left) leading a ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ (BBOG) protest in Abuja.

• Some of the BBOG ambassadors.

office and Gen Muhammadu Buhari takes over as President on May 29.

"Education is education - new government or old government they all know the importance of education; and I believe that from where the former president stops, the new government will take off. I know that Gen Buhari will definitely act," she said.

Even after one year, the principal has not given up on the 219 girls being found. She said intercessions have not stopped to the almighty for their rescue, and urged the Federal Government to do more to find them.

"Since the abduction, we have not heard anything about them. We do not know whether they are alive.

There is nothing we can say rather than to pray for them wherever they are - that God will help them. But we are pleading with Federal Government to help us get them back and because they are the leaders of tomorrow," she said.

•Hajiya Asabe

•Dr Ensign

Other Nigerians have not given up on the girls either. To mark the first year anniversary of the abduction, the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) group, co-founded by former Minister of Educationl, Dr Obiageli Ezekwesili, did a series of activities, including

getting 219 Chibok Girls Ambassadors - teenagers to march to the Federal Ministry of Education (FME) in Abuja to demand for the girls' rescue on Tuesday. Wearing red tshirts, each of them bore a board with the name of each of the missing girls.

The world's youngest Nobel Laureate, Malala Yousafzai, also wrote a letter to the girls on Monday in which she said she had set up a fund for their education.

Urging them not to give up hope, she said: "I look forward to the day I can hug each one of you, pray with you and celebrate your freedom with your families. Until then, stay strong and never lose hope. You are my heroes."

‘They are doing intensive English, maths science, social studies.

But when you ask them what they are going to study it is medicine, dentistry, law, they have got very big dreams. What was most extraordinary when we asked them: 'Where do you want to be?' 'What are your dreams?' they say: 'I want to be a doctor so that I can go back to Chibok and take care of the health care for them’

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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EDUCATION Emeritus Professor Tekena Tamuno's death last Saturday invoked fond memories of his brilliance, humility and kindness. Friends and family share some with TAYO JOHNSON and SIKIRU AKINOLA in Ibadan.

Fond memories of a renowned historian, Prof Tekena Tamuno

T

HE cold hands of death visited the renowned emeritus professor of History, Tekena Nitonye Tamuno on Saturday, drawing the curtains on five decades of academic excellence in History.

He was the first alumnus Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan (UI).

A former president of the Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL), Tamuno died at 83.

Since then, sympathizers, mostly fellow academic giants, former colleagues, friends and neighbours, have been thronging his Ibadan residence to commiserate with the family.

The house, tucked in the heart of Agodi Government Reserved Area (GRA) near the Oyo State Secretariat, is as simple as the deceased.

The University of Ibadan, where he schooled and taught History until his retirement, mourned an illustrious alumnus, teacher and vice chancellor.

Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Isaac Adewole, in a statement by the Registrar and Secretary to the university's Governing Council, Mr. Olujimi Olukoya, said Tamuno made giant strides in the areas of infrastructure, staff development and academic empowerment during his tenure as Vice-Chancellor.

Adewole said Nigerians would really miss him, particularly his immediate constituency, the academic community.

"It is significant to note that "TNT",

as he was fondly called, was the first alumnus of the University of Ibadan to become its Vice-Chancellor.

"The man, Emeritus Prof. Tamuno would continue to live in the memories of the university communities, where they had the benefit of his services as the ViceChancellor or Pro-Chancellor, especially at the University of Ibadan where he stood out for his effective leadership" , Adewole said.

The VC further described the deceased as a brilliant scholar, renowned academic, world-class professor of History, university administrator par excellence, visionary national planner and a Nigerian who had contributed to Nigeria's development. He said that the university honoured him with the Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)

Honoris Causa at the institution's 2014 convocation and 66th Foundation Day last November 17.

"Tamuno and the famous Ibadan School of History ignited the fire of African historical scholarship, which keeps burning well. Tamuno's place in African historiography is cast in stone and it will always continue to be celebrated. He was a legend in African history," Adewole said.

A former Head, Department of History, Prof. Oludayo Adesina described "TNT" or "Baba Tamuno" as he was referred to by younger scholars "who are three or four generations behind him" as a 'gentleman-scholar' who was dedicated to historical scholarship

and humanistic studies.

"He was one of those who pioneered the famous and glorious Ibadan School of history. His footprints would remain indelible in several institutions of learning across the country and in other parts of the world; at the Institute of African Studies; the great University of Ibadan, and of course, the Nigerian Academy of Letters - the Apex Academy of Scholars in the humanities," he said.

Adesina also appreciated the way Tamuno encouraged younger academics.

"During our training years as historians, his books and articles became our constant companions. I particularly remember him as that established and self-effacing scholar who came up to me one day in the mid-1990s to commend me for my weekly column, 'The Diary of a Don' in the National Concord. He told me he was one of my admirers and that had the immediate effect of lifting my spirit immeasurably. He had also written a personal letter to me when I was promoted to the rank of Professor. I was elated. He was not that kind of person who put you down with their intellectual arrogance or stand-offish attitudes.

With his passing, the Nigerian academic community has not only lost a distinguished historian and academic, but also a great friend, father, and administrator. His greatest assets were his humility, his detribalized nature and his faith in humanity. He was an awe-inspiring figure. He will be sorely missed," he said.

Another academic, Prof Tam DavidWest, who described Tamuno as dear friend of his, said his shoes could not be filled. He also lamented that despite his humaneness, Tamuno was not well appreciated because of tribalism in the university system.

David-West said: "He was very close to me. He was a great human being. Throughout the years I knew him, I never heard him quarrel with anyone. Nobody can step into his boots - both as a person as a scholar.

He was the first UI alumnus to become vice chancellor. He did well as vice chancellor. He was supposed to return for a second term but a lot of campus groups - people who

•The late Prof Tamuno

should not be in the university system - tried to pull him down.

"During his valedictory speech delivered in the Trenchard Hall, he said his Swan song was: 'All Things Bright and Beautiful; All creatures great and small, Nigeria kills them all'.

"That tradition is still continuing till today. Our universities are marred by tribalism. If a taxi driver or market woman display tribalism, it is understandable; but not academics. Pettiness and tribalism are still in the university system.

A family source, who spoke in confidence, said the late professor was principled and very humane.

He said: "Those working at the gate and the drivers can testify to this.

They can die for him. To him, they were his children. He was someone who did not care about where you came from; he did not discriminate.

He had friends everywhere. He looked at people as human beings," he said.

The source said as vice-chancellor Tamuno did not allow his children to switch on the light unnecessarily despite the fact that they were not paying.

"He would put a note 'put off the light'. You could not put the fan on unnecessarily. When we were about to sleep, he would say, 'It is all over; no light for the night.'"

The source also said that the deceased never used his official car for unofficial events. He even bought a 'keke elemu' (bicycle used

‘During our training years as historians, his books and articles became our constant companions. I particularly remember him as that established and self-effacing scholar who came up to me one day in the mid-1990s to commend me for my weekly column, 'The Diary of a Don' in the National Concord’ •Portraits of the late historian.

T

HE pioneer and immediate Vice Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Professor Sidi Osho, has urged the Polytechnic Students across the country to embrace skill acquisition rather than dwelling on disparity between the BSC and Higher National Diploma (HND).

She said both the Polytechnic and University students should see education as the bedrock of successful career.

The Don who spoke on Tuesday at an education summit tagged "The Nigerian Education System-The

Urge poly students to embrace skills Jeremiah Oke and Sikiru Akinola, Ibadan

Role of the SOF Education" held in Ibadan said her foundation has created opportunities for many students to adopt self-reliance rather than depending on government for survival.

She said: "We set up this summit to encourage our polytechnic students to embrace skill

acquisition rather than depending on the federal government for survival."

The guest speaker and the representative of the World Bank at the event, Dr. Olatunde Adekola spoke of the effort of polytechnic and vocational education in transforming National economy.

He urged government to invest in technical education especially the teachers and lecturers in such institutions.

"We need to trust our technical instructors and their ability to deliver. Nigeria should support our institutions with fund so as to improve their teaching skills.

"Some advanced countries of the world like Singapore, South Korea and Finland have discovered the role of technical education in national development and it has contributed to the development of their economy," he said.

by palmwine tappers) for his eldest son.

"The eldest son was at the International School, while the second one was in a primary school.

He had two official cars - one Mercedez and a Peugeot 504; and a Volvo. He would ask his driver to park his official car and take his private car to pick the youngest son while he bought a bicycle for his eldest son to be using as a means of transportation. People used to make jest of the boy, saying, 'how can a son of the VC use a bicycle?' That was his character. He was not concerned about what people are saying. He would say 'This is my own life; I don't need to live like anybody,'" he said.

On why he did not have many houses to show his status in the society, the source explained: "The position of a VC is not like that of a local government chairman. He was content with what he had. Even when he retired, he used his car for more than 20 years until we told him throw it away and get a new one."

The source said that though the family wanted him to live longer, Tamuno was ready to leave when he did and had already chosen his burial place.

"Whenever I told him that he has more years to live, he would say no, that a lot of his friends have gone," he said.

Born on January 28, 1932, in Okrika, Rivers State, the late Tamuno studied History at the University of Ibadan from 1953 - 1958 before leaving Nigeria to study at the University of London and Columbia University.

In 1963, he joined the Department of History at Ibadan where he rose to become a professor in 1971.

At UI, Tamuno served as Head of History Department (1972-1975); Dean, Faculty of Arts (1973-1975), and Vice-Chancellor (1975-1979).

He was the pioneer Principal of the University of Ilorin when that institution began as a university college of Ibadan.

The late emeritus Tamuno served as Chancellor, Redeemers University; Chairman of the Presidential Panel on National Security (October 2001-December 2002), and Panel on Policing Nigeria Project (2002-2003).

He was a recipient of the national honour of the Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR) and Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters (FNAL).

Tamuno is survived by his wife and four children - two boys and two girls."

•Additional report by Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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EDUCATION Mike Okonkwo Essay Contest begins

UNILAG FILE VC launches Ombudsman committee AUTHORITIES of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) have inaugurated an Ombudsman Committee to investigate the grievances of workers of the university.

The four-man Committee was inaugurated last Tuesday by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Rahamon Bello, who charged its members to do a good job by restoring the confidence of workers in the university. The committee, which will serve for two years with effect from February 9, 2015, is chaired by Prof F.A.D. Oyekanmi of the Sociology Department.

Mrs. Helen Oribayo is the Secretary to the committee, while Prof O. Omidiji (Cell Biology) and Prof A. Fagbenro-Beyioku (Medical Microbiology & Parasitology) are members.

The committee’s terms of reference are to: “examine complaints and petitions on various issues as it relates to staff of the University; evaluate any other related issues that may be forwarded to the committee; and advise management on how to properly address all complaints/petitions.”

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC, Academic and Research), Prof Babajide Alo; DVC (Management Services), Prof Duro Oni; Registrar, Dr Taiwo Ipaye; Director of Academic Planning Unit, Prof Oluwatoyin Ogundipe and Director of Quality Assurance, Prof Solomon Okunuga were at the inauguration.

New ‘Lag bus’ inaugurated THE UNILAG Management has inaugurated the 18-seater bus donated by the Lagos State government to the newly elected UNILAG Students Union (ULSU).

Speaking during the event last Tuesday at the Senate House Car Park, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Rahamon Bello, said the University Management was committed to the smooth inauguration and take off of the new student leaders.

He congratulated the Dean of Student Affairs, Prof Babatunde Babawale for the successful conduct of the ULSU election, which held on March 26, 2015, describing it as a template for the elections in Nigeria.

Describing the donation as a good omen and good note to start, he wished the new leaders a successful tenure and charged them to discharge their duties diligently and protect the university’s image.

“Discharge your duties very well, it has a way of rubbing off on your personality when you graduate,” he said.

VC meets with Kegites club HE UNILAG Vice-Chancellor, Prof Rahamon Bello and the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Management Services), Prof Duro Oni met with the new executive committee of Kegites Club, UNILAG Chapter, penultimate week.

Bello expressed pleasure with the meeting and praised the club for its commitment to showcasing the cultural diversity of Africa’s Heritage.

He promised that the club would have the opportunity to play a major role during this year’s Chancellor’s Cocktail, which is a part of the convocation coming up later this month.

He explained that the inability of the university to involve the club in past convocations was due to the vacant chancellor’s position.

The Vice Chancellor, however, urged the club to present a formal proposal on its plan to spice up this year’s Convocation to the Chairman, Ceremonies Committee, Prof Timothy Nubi.

From Jide Orintunsin, Minna

T

•Executive Secretary, Ikorodu Local Government Area, Wasiu Adesina (middle) flanked by his wife, Bolanle (right), and Mrs Kudirat Owolabi, deputy secretary during the Spelling Bee qualifying programme for schools in the local government at the secretariat.

No fee hike in LASU, says Ambode

L

AGOS State governor-elect, Mr Akinwumi Ambode has promised not to increase tuition fees at the Lagos State University (LASU).

LASU school fees was reduced by Governor Babatunde Fashola from between N198,750 and N348,000 to N25,000 last August after a threeyear agitation by students for a reduction.

Ambode said he would not increase fees during a radio programme on UNILAG FM anchored

by Dr Ayo Ogunsan, who runs a higher education training firm, Executive Trainers Limited (ETL). “‘I want to assure all the students of LASU, we would not increase school fees,” he said.

However, he added that something must be done to guarantee the quality of education delivery at the university.

He said: ‘’If there is anything we must do, we would sit down together and see what can be done, and even review the fees they are paying now. I am a product of a lot of Ivy League schools, I have been to different schools, and I understand and know the kind of standard and quality of education I have been able to benefit from those

HE Governing Council of the Federal Polytechnic, Bida has approved the appointment of Dr. Abubakar Abdul Dzukogi as the Acting Rector of the institution.

The appointment followed the expiration of the tenure of the immediate past Rector, Mr Abdullahi Sule, an engineer, who served for a period of nine years from January, 2006 to March, 2015.Registrar of the institution Chief Bisi Adeyemi in a statement said Dzukogi’s appointment took effect from Monday March 23, 2015.

Dzukogi was, until his appointment, the Deputy Rector from March, 2011.

He had served the Polytechnic in various capacities, includind Head, Department of Mass Communication; Director, Academic Planning; and Director, Directorate of Continuing Education among others.

The new acting Rector holds a Doctorate Degree in Mass Communication from Benue State University Makurdi and joined the Federal Polytechnic, Bida in 1984.

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

schools.

“If we say Lagos is a centre of excellence, we must then strive deliberately to ensure that whatever it is we are providing in terms of infrastructure, curriculum and content, the students actually benefit, because they are actually the future leaders of this country.”

Ambode, an alumnus of the accounting department of UNILAG, said as governor, he had great plans for education in Lagos State – plans to correct what he described as the worrisome quality of graduates churned out by Nigerian higher institutions.

He said the quality degenerated because of the poor attention previous governments have paid to higher education. ‘’We have a major programme for higher education in our manifesto.

We will pursue that together with the national government when we win the election on Saturday,” he said during the programme held before he won last Saturday’s gubernatorial election.

He continued: “The truth is that if we don’t start a succession plan from our higher institutions, then

•Govenor-elect Ambode (right) and Hassan.

we are joking, because it is not about the people who are almost getting to 50 or 60 years and are going away. It is actually about the younger ones whose capacity we really need to start to build and then allow them to take over from us. ‘ “I am going to take advantage of

my social capital, being in the party at the centre; combined together to allow us use it for the improvement of higher education in Lagos state.’’

Ogunsan’s firm has organised training for vice chancellors, rectors, provosts and other top executives in tertiary institutions to be more proactive.

ABU launches in-house software projects

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HE Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) in Zaria has launched software applications developed by the university to handle various tasks.

The inauguration was well celebrated as the 25 members of the software development team that created a dozen software applications covering students, personnel, alumni and bursary were presented with certificates of appreciation.

The software was inaugurated by the Vice Chancellor, Prof Abdullahi Mustapha, who described them as 'worthwhile'.

He urged workers and students to take advantage of the initiative to enhance their capacity.

Mustapha said the lack of appropriate ICT software was a huge challenge he faced when he took over as Vice Chancellor.

To address the problem, he said the first thing he did was to assemble the best hands available from the institution's ICT unit to carry out the projects.

"I commend the effort of the software development team for making the university proud. It is now left for the staff to accept the positive transformation in their

•Rewards 25 developers From Abdulgafar Alabelewe, Kaduna

own best interest," he said.

Mustapha also said one of the reasons the university vigorously embraced ICT was to transform the institution's general operations into paperless mode for ease of work.

"If we are ICT compliant, things will be easier for us," he said.

He said it informed the university's decision to establish a state-of-the-art Computer Based Test (CBT) centre to enhance the institution's examination record keeping and make things easier for lecturers, registry and students in all matters relating to examinations.

Leader of ABU Software Development Team and Director of Institute of Computing and ICT, Prof Sahalu Junaidu, gave an overview of the initiative and demonstrated how some of the applications worked.

He said in 2006 the university outsourced development of an EDUPORTAL that included student registration system, examination processing software, timetabling software, bursary support and human resource management to a firm. However, he said it led to dramatic increase in registration fees collection.

He said the university's software development committee came into

‘One of the reasons the university vigorously embraced ICT was to transform the institution's general operations into paperless mode for ease of work’

being on May 27, 2011 following approval of a proposal for developing an alternative. The team produced the portal within six months and it became operational during 2011/2012 session for postgraduate students.

He said the committee also developed over a dozen software applications in addition to engaging in commercial software development, saying it realized a total of N30 million as InternallyGenerated Revenue (IGR) for the university.

The team leader, who said the committee attracted a research grant of N25 million from the Nigerian Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), also listed a number of benefits of the initiative that included saving costs, leveraging and developing local skills base, data localization, as well as freedom, independence and flexibility.

Junaidu, however, said the team faced challenges, including lack of complete data for some applications, lack of a purpose-built CBT centre, attitude of applications users and lack of advocacy on developed applications for both local and commercial purposes.

Why Nigeria fought Biafra, by Gowon

Medical students get leaders Page 34

Page 31

*CAMPUSES *NEWS *PEOPLE *KUDOS& KNOCKS *GRANTS

THE NATION

CAMPUS LIFE 0805-450-3104 email: campusbeat@yahoo.com THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

Website:- http://www.thenationonlineng.net

email:- campuslife@thenationonlineng.net

The University of Calabar (UNICAL) has ordered traders to stop trading in classrooms and hostels and move into the newly completed shopping plaza. Some have moved; others won’t, alleging high rents and slow trading at the plaza. EMMANUEL SHEBBS (Graduate School) and IKECHUKWU OFILI (300-Level Public Administration) report.

•A trader selling fruits in the hostel corridor

UNICAL’s plaza of controversy I

T was conceived as a solution to indiscriminate trading and hawking at the University of Calabar (UNICAL), but it is generating ripples.

The need to tackle the menace made the former Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Bassey Asuquo, to think of building a shopping plaza.

But, he could not complete the project before his tenure ended. His successor, Prof James Epoke, continued with the project.

Last month, the plaza, located close to the Halls of Residence, was opened but many traders refused to move in, alleging high rents.

Some of the traders, who initially occupied Malabo Complex, had wooden kiosks and shanties. Others used corroded

zinc sheets, tainting the campus’ beauty.

Those, who could not erect makeshift shops, stayed in hostels’ corridors and walkways.

Before the plaza’s completion, Malabo area was a beehive. An old student, Gabriel Akam, said: “Malabo area was a noisy place.

One could hardly read in the hostel because of market activities and the traders’ noisy generators.”

Because of the belief that business booms there, some traders in off-campus location moved to the hostels. One of them, who simply identified himself as Chike, said: “Malabo is a good place to make sales.

Students patronised us very well, especially during Christmas. There is no holiday here.

I made quick turnover and big profits.”

On assuming duties, Epoke evacuated the traders from Malabo and the use of generators was controlled. The traders were not happy; they were forced to relocate to the plaza, which was then under construction.

They were allocated uncompleted shops but some of them rejected the allocation, citing low patronage. They preferred to hawk around the hostel corridors. Students also complained that the plaza is far from their hostels.

Despite the complaints, the management stuck to its guns.

It appears the traders have complied with the directive. When CAMPUSLIFE visited the plaza, activities were in full swing, with students doing their shopping.

A trader, who did not mention her name, said trading is booming contrary to the belief that students’ patronage would be low at the plaza. She said: “The new environment has been favourable for business.”

Ms Archibong, who owns a grocery store, told our reporters: “Commercial activities have taken off competitively. The patronage has improved. Students have started coming in and this place is more comfortable than the former place.”

But, some complained that people come into the plaza to pilfer their wares when it is dark. Effiong does photocopy. He said his properties usually get missing.

•Continued on page 30

•110 expelled for poor performance P32 •UNIBEN hails The Nation-P33

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

30

CAMPUS LIFE

Tekena Tamuno: A tribute Pushing

E

MERITUS Professor of History and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Tekena Tamuno, passed on at the age of 83 last week. An erudite scholar of international repute, he was rightly described by President Goodluck Jonathan as “an edifice of knowledge, epitomising the capacity of Nigerians to be among the best in the world in their chosen profession.”

I never met the late scholar in person, but I had the opportunity of “meeting” him in the numerous books he published, mainly on Nigerian history and the historical and political actors involved in shaping events from pre-colonial times to present day Nigeria. Going through most of his books, I cannot but agree with the Secretary Nigerian Academic of Letters (NAL) and fellow historian, Prof. Olutayo Adesina, who said the Nigerian academic community and indeed the nation had lost “an extremely cerebral historian and foremost scholar of the humanities, who combined both the rigour and flexibility needed for a better understanding of his field…They don’t build them like that anymore; he was a study in humility.”

That, in a capsule, sums up the life of this erudite historian who has contributed immensely to the discipline in Nigeria, Africa and the world. As a tribute to this great historian I will be looking at one of his books that made an impact on me.

In “Stakeholders at War in Nigeria: From Lord Lugard to President Goodluck Jonathan,” a two volume book Prof. Tamuno provide a dissection of this ‘war’ and multiplicity of ‘wars’ to assist in explaining and laying the foundation of the socio-historical perspective about Nigeria. The book is basically about how Nigeria - a country that has all it takes to be amongst the best and greatest in the world - has always found itself on the verge of disintegration. Its plight is such that most of those born immediately after independence in 1960 do not know what it means to live in an orderly society. The book paints a diachronic picture of how different stakeholders contest the ownership of the Nigerian state by beating on ethnic and religious war drums.

We saw that played out in the run up to

UNICAL’s plaza of controversy •Continued from page 29

“The other day, I lost my generator. I left it in the corridor, but when I came back the next day, someone had cut the chain and taken it away”.

A barber said: “The plaza is safe.

The structure is constructed in a way that makes burglary impossible. Nobody can break into the wall and the metal doors.”

Yet, some traders are found around the hostel. Our reporters saw some of them selling pawpaw, oranges, pineapples and cucumber, among others. Some underage bread and groundnuts hawkers were also seen around the hostel. They came from outside.

One of them, who brought fruits, said the plaza is not fit for her kind of goods. “What I sell here are perishable food and fruits. They cannot be preserved.

For instance, if these peeled oranges and pineapples are not sold today, I would be at a loss. I cannot go inside the plaza to display them. That place will not help me because students cannot see what you have until they locate you there. I pay for this place (the hostel corridor). I don’t stay here free of charge.”

Prices of goods at the plaza are now expensive, John Okon, a final year Education student, said.

“Initially, a plate of food is sold for N150. Previously, you could negotiate with the seller and go for ‘no-meat’, which went for N100. The food vendors in kiosks sold cheaper food before moving to the plaza,” John said.

Out

the recently concluded elections. The voting pattern in some sections of the country clearly shows that with ethnicity is still a strong force to reckon with in Nigeria. Dubious politicians knew this and they tried all 08116759750 in their power to play this up, but just like the phoenix, Nigeria has a (SMS only) way of recreating itself, events of the •aagboa@gmail.com last few months has shown that.

In the book, Tamuno reflects on the Nigeria-Biafran civil war, incidents of ethnic the country was a concern throughout the and religious conflicts, the military intrusion book. He deplores a situation in which secret into Nigerian politics, elite fragmentation, societies are gaining more clout in Nigerian political brinksmanship and security society, shrinking the space for people to live racketeering in Nigerian society. The author a civic existence in “open society”. The issue identifies as the foundation to all these prob- of the Ombatse cult in Nasarawa State and lems the quackery of the 1914 amalgamation others readily comes to mind. of the North and South by Lord Lugard. Since Following this line of reasoning, he dovethen, the Nigerian project has been one trau- tailed into the sociology of violent cultism in matic work in progress. the country. With focus on the Okija shrine The first volume of the publication com- reports in 2004, Tamuno wonders why Nigeprises eight sections while the second is made rian society seems helpless about dealing with up of four sections bringing everything to the dangers posed by cultism. Part of the probtwelve sections. In the first section, the term lem, according to him, is the fact that the “stakeholder” is defined as “a supporter, de- courts of law still find it difficult to convict fender or protector with a stake”. But do several of the people tried for cultism. Hence, stakeholders need to destroy what they claim most of those arrested at Okija in 2004 and to own? This question leads the scholar into 2005 never got convicted on the grounds that differentiating between fake and genuine “Ogwugwu shrine is not a secret cult under stakeholders. He argues that the term “stake- the Nigerian law.” The Okija shrine is licensed holder” is today misrepresented in Nigerian by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). society and this is the epicenter of our probTaking a critical look at the events in Nigelems. ria since independence, Tamuno argues that Of significance is where he delves into the 1960, 1963, 1979, and 1999 constitutions where and how Nigeria actually missed the seemed to have done nothing but provide ofopportunity for sustainable nation building. ficial sanctions for the blind to be led by the According to him, Nigerians oftentimes be- blind and for criminals to be granted official have as though they reject God’s own plan protection. This led to the secessionist threats and blueprint, which is, in the biblical phrase, of the 1950s; the political crisis of 1966; the to make Nigeria a land flowing with milk and Nigerian civil war; and the insurgency of the honey. Many so-called stakeholders in Nige- likes of the OPC, MASSOB, Egbesu Boys, ria even go as far as invoking false oaths in MEND and now the Boko Haram. the name of God, not to mention the ConstiSo real is the problem for us that we cantution, only to keep themselves busy in ac- not even take solace in the demise of that tivities that turn the “Nigerian project” into doomsayer, Muammar Gaddafi, who in 2010 a veritable nightmare in which ordinary citi- made the suggestion that Nigeria break into zens are caught up in the deadly crossfire of two along religious lines as though there were real and surreal missiles being continually a clear-cut North-South dichotomy in the hurled by the elite class who are fragmented country in relation to the location of religious along egoistic lines. adherents of whatever faiths.

Nigerians’ big appetite for criminality and Our history in relation to these problems, the egregious failure in law enforcement in Tamuno reminds us, is that Nigeria learns

The high cost of goods and services in the plaza, Mr. Praise Mfonobong, a trader, said, may not be unconnected with the high rent. “We pay higher rent in the plaza than when we were in kiosks. The management told to pay N60,000 per annum,” he offered.

Another trader, Mrs Lucy Eka, blamed the high prices on inflation. “Things are very expensive these days in the market. You cannot expect me to sell lower than my cost price. The problem is from the government and not our fault. I have my children in the university here. I will have to take care of them. Fuel and transport are costly. So I have to make profit to augment my investment,” she said.

A student in the Faculty of Management Science, Ben Ikashi, urged management to check high prices in the plaza. “The management should not allow the traders to exploit students,” he said.

But a trader, who simply gave his name as Mr. Samuel, said: “It is not the duty of the management to decide how we sell our goods. The school has collected its rent at its fixed rate; we must be allowed to sell at whatever price we wish. The students are buying and they are happy.”

The Director of Welfare of the Students’ Union Government (SUG), John Alawa, assured students the union would issue a pricing document before the expiration of its tenure. “We will work with the campus Task Force to ensure prices of goods are controlled,” he said.

Agbo Agbo

no lessons from any of its past mistakes and it seems every new regime in the country works towards surpassing its predecessor in creating new problems for the nation. In the contest to monopolise power and the benefits that accrue from it.

Nigerian politics has been reduced to cabals holding sway, with the various security agencies in the country either looking the other way or putting up a theatrical performance in the form of legal prosecution of the destroyers of our commonwealth. Under the present situation, Tamuno says that only a few Nigerians and Nigerian leaders and “elder statesmen” opt to be on the path of righteousness.

Yet, Nigeria aspires to be one of the best twenty economies in the world by the year 2020. He argues that the Biblical manna stopped falling from heaven long before the Nigerian state was created; development does not come out of the blues, it has to be worked for.

The relationship between the Nigerian civil war and the emergence of non-state actors and armed groups in recent times also engaged his attention. The historical connections that may have been lost on many of us are made to command central attention in order to drive home the thesis, to paraphrase Chinua Achebe that the rain started to beat us a long time ago.

In every decade since the 1950s, Tamuno’s account shows that Nigeria has faced major crises one after the other. We may want to think to ourselves that it has survived these numerous crises and has thus grown stronger. But the opposite seems to be the case.

Among other things, he is particularly worried about the present marginalization of the Igbo in Nigerian politics and argues that the much awaited light at the end of the dark tunnel might not come now as the Igbo are never united even on how to improve their condition. They act individually rather than corporately. This, according to him, would continue to fuel MASSOB’s secessionist threats.

From this, it appears Tamuno wrote prophetically about the Igbos who have again found themselves on the wrong side of our unique politics. The conclusion drawn by my colleague Olakunle Abimbola on Tuesday is quite apt. “It is high time their leaders had some introspection, if they must attain their ultimate in the context of a just, fair and equitable Federal Nigeria.”

ESSAY CONTEST FOR UNDERGRADUATES The Nation, Nigeria, in collaboration with African Liberty Organisation for Development (ALOD) and Network for a Free Society (NFS), is calling for entries into the 2015 essay competition.

Details are as follows: Topic: Government regulations and controls are the biggest threat to jobs in Africa today. Discuss using pratical examples Participants must discuss the topic using contemporary examples.

Qualification: Participant must be a student in any tertiary institutions (university, polytechnic, college of education and technical schools) in all African countries. The format of the text should be in Microsoft Word and not more than 1,500 words.

Interested student can visit: www.networkforafreesociety.org for useful background materials on the theme of this contest. Be informed that no participant is allowed to lift materials directly from works of any author and claim to be his/her own. Plagiarism automatically disqualifies any entry, which contains work of another author.

If any text or sentence is copied from another author’s work, it must be shown in quotation marks and writer must credit the original author at the bottom of the paper.

On the first page of the completed essay, participant must write his/her full names, department, and year of study and name of institution. Also include your email address and functional mobile phone number.

All entries should be sent to: adedayo.thomas@gmail.com Entries will be received between March 26 and June 26, 2015. Late entries will not be accepted.

Winners will be announced on July 29, 2015.

PRIZES 1st-George Ayittey (Platinum Prize): $1,000 and scholarship to the 2015 Liberty Camp in Kenya from August 5-9, 2015 OR Students and Young Professional African Liberty Academy (SYPALA) in Ghana from August 19-23, 2015 2nd-Anthony Fisher (Gold Prize): $700 and scholarship to the 2015 Liberty Camp in Kenya from August 5-9, 2015 OR Students and Young Professional African Liberty Academy (SYPALA) in Ghana from August 19-23, 2015 3rd-Franklin Cudjoe (Silver Prize): $500 and scholarship to the 2015 Liberty Camp in Kenya from August 5-9, 2015 OR Students and Young Professional African Liberty Academy (SYPALA) in Ghana from August 19-23, 2015 4th- The Nation CAMPUSLIFE (Media Bronze Prize): $300 and scholarship to the 2015 Liberty Camp in Kenya from August 5-9, 2015 OR Students and Young Professional African Liberty Academy (SYPALA) in Ghana from August 19-23, 2015 We also have eight consolation prize of $50 each.

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

31

CAMPUS LIFE Former Head of State Gen Yakubu Gowon was guest lecturer at the sixth Convocation of the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojuwkwu University (COOU) in Uli, Anambra State. To Gowon, the event was a “booby trap” of sorts to get him to give insight into his much expected Civil War memoirs. EMEKA CHUKWUEMEKA reports.

Why Nigeria fought Biafra, by Gowon

F

ORMER Head of State Gen Yakubu Gowon was the star attraction of the sixth convocation of the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU) in Uli, Anambra State, where five graduating students bagged First Class.

The event, which held at the Igbariam campus, was also graced

by Senate President David Mark.

Other guests included top government officials and traditional rulers.

Gowon delivered the pre-convocation lecture titled: No victor, no vanquished: Healing the Nigerian nation.

He said he thought the invitation to deliver the lecture was a “booby trap” for him.

His words: “When I speak of a booby trap, I refer to the possibility that some brilliant professors may have deemed this a good time and platform to get me to make an early public presentation of my memoirs.

I reckoned that the organisers may easily have been persuaded to believe that it would be near-impossible for me to do justice to the theme of the lecture without sharing critical insights into my story vis-a-vis the history of Nigeria, especially in respect of my role in the 30-month civil war that gave rise to the first part of the topic of this lecture”.

Gowon said the civil war occurred not out of hatred for the late Ojukwu or the Igbo, but was based on the principle of a commitment to a robust Nigeria.

He said: “It is wrong to conclude that the civil war broke out, following the failure of the Aburi Accord; it was the direct result of a unilateral decision of independence for

Eastern Nigeria. If there was no secession plan, there would have been no war. It was a reluctant war waged to unite the country. I would like to state categorically that, from the onset, it was never out of hatred for the Igbo or animosity against my late comrade and colleague, Chukwuemeka, but on principle of commitment to one Nigeria.”

Gowon denied having any problem with the late Ojukwu until the latter died in 2011, saying: “Let me quickly clear the speculations that my late comrade and I continued our animosity until his death. We achieved reconciliation about four decades ago when we had our first post-civil war physical meeting in the late 1970s in his room at the Mont Calm Hotel in London. Before then, he had reached out to me through his friend, Frederick Forsythe, who rang the house and spoke to my wife.

“My wife sent the message to me at Warwick University where I was pursuing my post-graduate degree at the time. When I got back home at the weekend, I called him (Ojukwu) and arranged to meet. We eventually met at the hotel…we engaged in heart to heart discussion, reminiscing on the past and expressing hope that we could soon returns and join forces with our compatriots back home to build a better Nigeria.”

Gowon said he was confident that the university had expanded the worldview of its graduates and equipped them to face the challenge of living in a tough world, which punishes laziness or rewards hard work.

He added: “The management of education in Nigeria today requires

•Graduands at the event

•From right: Gowon, Gov. Obiano, Orodje of Okpe Gen. Felix Mujakperuo, Prof Okafor and Registrar A. Okechukwu at the event

all citizens to contribute their quota, so that we can have minds that are not only literate but that can maturely grasp the issues that define contemporary reality. One of such realities is democracy. One fact that many people may not immediately grasp is that without democracy, economic development can hardly be achieved because a host of the needed support structures, such as education, which is the foundation of progress.”

If democracy must work, he said, people must be more than willing to explore possibilities beyond their immediate environment.

The Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Fedelis Okafor, said Governor Willie Obiano had provided

conducive teaching and learning environment for students of the university.

The VC disclosed that the institution continued to advance in all frontiers of learning, adding that its programmes were fully accredited and some due for re-accreditation. In research, he said the university made good contribution to knowledge, which earned it international awards and recognition.

Gov. Obiano, who hailed Gowon for honouring the school invitation, promised to improve on the successes recorded by his administration in making education attractive to the youth in the state.

Speaking on behalf of the graduands, the overall best gradu-

ating student, Michael Iyebeye, said the institution had inculcated good moral values in them and trained them to achieve academic excellence.

He graduated at the Department of Statistics with Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.75.

Other First Class graduates are Ekene Okafor, Statistics with CGPA of 4.66; Kingsley Enekanma, Electrical and Electronic Engineering with CGPA 4.65; Anthony Uzor, Public Administration with CGPA 4.57 and John Onuzulike, Law with CGPA 4.52.

There was also conferment of the honorary Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) on the late Ojukwu. It was received by his wife, Bianca, on behalf of the family.

The ever-bubbling June 12 area of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) was empty during the just-concluded general elections. Students went home for fear of electoral violence. EZEKIEL EFEOBHOKHAN (400-Level Pharmacy) reports.

T

HE June 12 area of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) is a beehive when the institution is in session. It is the commercial nerve-centre of the campus. On a normal day, the June 12 area hosts thousands of people, including members of the university’s host community.

During the just-concluded general elections, the area was a ghost town.

No student or trader was found there. Shops and kiosks locked.

Students left the campus for home for fear of violence .

During the elections, Clement Idoha, a final year student, who remained on campus, said the school was deserted because students were eager to exercise their franchise. Although, he said some students may have other reasons for leaving the school.

“As you can see, students are now politically oriented. No one can cheat a student. All those who know the value of their votes left to vote for their choice candidates.

I would have travelled too but I did not get my Permanent Voter Card (PVC). This is why I remained on campus. But many students travelled for different reasons,” he said.

Speaking on telephone with CAMPUSLIFE, some students, who travelled home, said they did so for

Deserted •The empty June 12 area during the election

fear of possible post-election violence. Mike Edoghogho, a sophomore student, said his parents forced him to come home. His parents, he said, feared there could be violence in the state because of volatility of its politics. He added that there were threats by the supporters of the major contenders for the president, which made

many students to leave.

Mike said: “My mother told me to come home. I tried my best to convince her that I would remain on campus during the election and that, it would be safe. She did not want to hear that. Since she is my mother, I had to oblige her and returned home.”

The often-bubbling female hos-

tels were empty and Victory Imague, who stayed back, was happy about it. Victory said she was happy the hostel was silent.

This, she said, boosted her morale to study and revise her notebooks.

This would not have been possible if students were on campus, she added.

For Samuel Ogiemwonyi, the

government should have given election break to students to enable them vote. The 300-Level student, who could not travel home, said: “In a civilised clime, no student will be found on campus because we all have to vote. Academic activities should have been suspended till after the elections to enable students participate fully in the electoral process. I wrote a test on Friday and it was not possible for me to travel on Saturday during the election. Next time, the government should make provision for students to vote.”

The government may have had its reasons not to close down schools during the elections, Casandra Imogu, a 500-Level student, said. “Closing down schools may have ominous undertone,” she said.

A senior lecturer, who pleaded for anonymity, said students may have left the campus because of the presence of polling units in the school. He said: “Some of them would have thought there could be break down of law and order on campus because of the presence of polling unit here. It was expected that students would leave because of the charged political atmosphere and some of them registered in their various states. We hope they return on time because the school is not on break.”

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THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

CAMPUS LIFE Corps members give pupils writing materials

N

O fewer than 40 pupils of L.G.E. Community Nursery and Primary School in Iyano-Share in Ifelodun Local Government Area Kwara State have received writing materials from Corps members serving in the town.

The materials were donated as part of the Corps members’ Community Development Service (CDS).

The Corps members said they felt the urge to respond to the pupils’ need through charity. Their leader Onyedikachi Ibezim advised his colleagues to continue to promote peace and development in their places of primary assignment.

He said: “We must promote peace and harmony in our area of assignment. By doing this, we will promote development, because when we love and care for one another needs, we exhibit love to our nation.”

The Headmaster, Mr. O. Ojibo, said he was overwhelmed by the gesture,

•The pupils displaying the writing materials

From Ifedioranma Umahi NYSC ILORIN noting the Corps members showed rare kindness and care. He said the school had been battling with dilapidating infrastructure and

teaching facilities, among others.

The school, he said, need classrooms and teaching materials that would enhance learning. His words: “The roofs of some of the classrooms have been blown off by wind and we expect the government and good-spirited in-

dividuals to come to our rescue, so that the pupils can learn in a conducive environment. The government only promised to do it but nothing has been done.”

A teacher, who did not want her name in print, hailed the Corps

members for the gesture, saying it was a good way to give back to the society. She said the pupils’ parents would be happy about it.

A pupil, who spoke on behalf of the beneficiaries, thanked the Corps members for their gesture.

•

•Prof Adediran (third left) with the students’ leaders after unveiling the mirrors

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N fulfilment of their campaign promise, members of Law Students Representatives’ Council (LSRC), representing the 200-Level class, have fixed mirrors in all classrooms of the Faculty of Law of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State. The purpose is to make students maintain good look dur-

N

ATIONAL Association of Students’ of English and Literary Studies (NASELS), University of Lagos (UNILAG) chapter, has organised an intra-departmental debate and public speaking contest for its members.

The event was held at the Arts Theatre. It was attended by students and lecturers in the Department of English.

NASELS President Ibrahim Yusuff said the aim of the contests was to serve as a platform for students to improve their debate skills and public speaking.

“The aim of this event is to serve as a platform in discovering good debaters and public speakers among students, who will represent the department in the coming Faculty of Arts Inter-

Students instal mirrors in Law classrooms From Opeoluwa Sonuga OAU ing lectures.

The three full-size mirrors were unveiled by the Dean, Prof Olu Adediran, who praised the stu-

dents’ leaders for fulfilling their promises. The Dean said the gesture was first of its kind in the faculty, encouraging the students not to relent in their resolve to be worthy representatives.

The 200-Level class governor hailed his colleagues for the project, urging them to continue to show good examples as leaders.

A LSRC member, Felix Uzoma, said the gesture was to complement the faculty’s efforts in

English students hold debate, public speaking contest From Ibrahim Yusuff UNILAG departmental Debate,” he said.

Emmanuel Afolabi, a 200-Level student, won the debate; Fredrick Okonji, a 100-Level student, came second.

Olakunbi Fagbongbe, a 300Level student, is the public speaker; Adeola Adetoye, a 400Level student, came second.

Emmanuel said the content of his arguments gave him an edge over his opponents, urging his col-

leagues to imbibe the spirit of determination.

His words: “I am happy because the efforts I put into the debate are not in vain. I believe it is the extra efforts I put to my arguments that gave me an edge over my co-debaters and this made me to stand out. The logical presentation of my arguments also contributed to my win.”

Lecturers at the event include Dr Austin Nwangbara, Dr Yewande Ntekim-Rex, Mr Nurayn Alimi and Mr Charles Akwen, among others.

instilling good dress sense in students. “It is not in the best interest of Law students to flout the dress code as the faculty is one of the leading examples in morality and dressing style,” he said.

Other members representing the class include Idris Olusola and Motunrayo Fregenealero.

110 expelled for poor performance

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HE University of Ibadan (UI) has expelled 110 students for poor academic performance. Their expulsion is coming weeks after the institution expelled 12 students and suspended 23 others for examination malpractice and other offences.

In a statement, the Registrar, O.I. Olukoya, said Senate approved the students’ withdrawal at its March 9

From Stanley Ibeku UI meeting.

The students, it was learnt, failed to maintain minimum Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) after two sessions. Some of the affected students’ CGPA did not go beyond 0.5 on a 7.0 scale after two years in the university. The Faculty of Agriculture is worst hit as 27 students were advised to withdraw.

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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CAMPUS LIFE Rotary Club honours provost

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HE Rotary Club of Enugu has honoured Provost of Federal College of Agriculture in Isiagu Prof Justina Uzoma.

It organised a special event for Uzoma, who is a member of the club, at New Haven Hostel.

Tony Egbunonu, the club chairman, eulogised the honoree, describing her as an uncommon achiever. Egbunonu described the Provost as a “woman of substance and a distinguished Nigerian” in the field of Agriculture.

A member said: “Prof Uzoma is a focused and articulate university teacher, who has distinguished herself and showed the world her good attributes. The fact that she defeated men in the race for Provost attests to her excellence. I have no fear that she will

From Emmanuel Ahanonu NYSC ENUGU transform the college.”

Mr Dadson Jon-Nwakalo, a member of the club in Maryland, United States, described the honoree as a woman of impeccable dignity, substance and mentor.

Responding, Prof Uzoma thanked the club for the honour.

She narrated how her experience as chairperson of ESUT Matriculation and Convocation Board aided her appointment. She promised to run an open-door policy and rapid infrastructural development the college.

In attendance were Udi Local Government chairman, Prince Nwoyo and Prof Pius Eze, among others.

•Prof Osagiede with Ezekiel (left) and Eddy

UNIBEN hails The Nation

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EAN of Students’ Affairs (DSA) of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), Prof Francis Osagiede, has hailed The Nation for giving students the opportunity to practise journalism while in school.

He gave the commendation last Thursday while receiving CAMPUSLIFE correspondents in the school, who were in his office to congratulate him on his appointment as the DSA. The student-reporters are Eddy Uwoghiren, a 300-Level Medicine and Surgery student, and Ezekiel Efeobhokhan, a 400-Level Pharmacy student.

Eddy said the purpose of the visit was to avail the DSA on the activi-

From Emmanuel Edigberhi UNIBEN ties of campus journalists and build a cordial working relationship with Osagiede to promote understanding.

He said: “Over the years, our practice has been hindered by our inability to gain access to top management staff. Whenever we report events that require comment from the management to balance our stories, we are unable to do so because of the administrative shield. This is why we have come to intimate the Dean with our activities.”

Responding, Osagiede hailed the student-reporters for their courage and independent mind. He urged

them to be professional in their writing by ensuring proper investigation of any event before publishing it. This, he said, is necessary in order not to portray the school in bad light.

He said: “You might not see the benefit of your practice now, but with time, you will begin to enjoy the benefit. It is good to know how both of you are combining professional courses with your practice as campus journalists. Please keep developing yourselves.

Osagiede added: “I am an avid reader of The Nation and I must commend the media firm for giving students platform to develop their writing skill and explore their energy in productive venture.”

•Joseph displaying the laptop

Poly student wins essay contest

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STUDENT of Rufus Giwa Polytechnic in Owo (RUGIPO), Ondo State, Joseph Ezekiel Temitope, has emerged winner of Mama Ye Essay Competition held for tertiary institutions in the state.

Joseph, a HND II Mass Communication student, came first in contest, which had participants from tertiary institutions in the state. The theme of the essay was: Political office holders, aspirants to deliver on promises for maternal and new born project.

At the prize presentation and award ceremony held at Mega School Hall

From Richard Adura-Ilesanmi RUGIPO in Akure, Joseph was presented with a laptop and three-month internship that would open opportunity for him to gain experience in Non-Governmental Organization (NGO).

MamaYe Project is an NGO which is seeking to harness the participants’ contributions to implement its strategies.

The competition, according to the state coordinator of the MamaYe Project, Mrs. Adenike Badiora, was aimed at involving the youth towards improvement of maternal and newborn health in the state.

Other institutions that took part in the competition included Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo and All States College of Education, Ero.

Mass Comm. holds assembly

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•The inductees being presented to members of the club

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HE Rotaract Club of the Federal Polytechnic in Auchi (AUCHI POLY) has inducted no fewer than 35 members. The inductees took the oath at an event held on the campus last week.

The club’s Assistant Governor in Edo State, Yekini Sadoh, said told the new members that the activities of the club were not centred on profit but humanitarian service.

He said the club had spent billions to eradicate polio, hoping that the disease would be kicked out of Nigeria.

Sadoh said: “As members, you should live by example by becoming a role model in your class, hostels, house and your community.

Everything you do must be centred on service to humanity.”

He enjoined the leaders of the club to be transparent and account-

Club inducts members

By Sampson Unamka and Richard Obote able, stressing that openness would AUCH guarantee confidence members have in them.

The club president, Yesufu Lawani, advised the inductees to avail themselves of the opportunities offered by the club for self-development and get actively involved in its activities.

He said: “I will advise you to ensure you work with other members and participate in all activities of the club. You have to create time and use your talent to impact people and touch the lives of others.”

Lawani said the club renders humanitarian service to the less privi-

leged and frequently visits orphanages and schools for selfless causes.

Joining the club, he said, will help the inductees academically.

An inductee, Stanley Welegi, a student of Mass Communication, said: “I love humanitarian work and I have compassion for the less privileged. My motive is in line with the objective of the club. This is why I join the club to touch the lives of the less privileged. I always find fulfillment in making others smile. I am happy to be inducted as a Rotaractor today.”

The occasion was graced by Rotarians, including Dr Sule Ohikhena, President Rotary Club in Auchi, Andrew Eborieme, Izuagie Mario and Jatto Usaro.

HE Department of Mass Communication of the Nasarawa State University in Keffi (NSUK) has been moved from the Faculty of Arts to the Faculty of Social Sciences. But, the reason for this was not clear to many students.

To explain the reason for the action, students held a congress at the university’s 100-seater auditorium, where they were told that the university’s Senate had approved the transfer since February.

The former Head of the Department (HOD), Mallam Sani Rabiu, it was learnt, sent a memo to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Akaro Mainoma, seeking the transfer of the department because the discipline was carved out from Sociology, which is a Social Science field and that theories of Mass Communication came from the Sociology, Psychology and Social Psychology.

Other reasons adduced for the action stated it was learnt, were the research methods used in Mass Communication were adopted from the Social Sciences and that National Universities Commission (NUC) listed course under So-

From Ahmad Muhammad Auwal NSUK cial Sciences.

Rabiu told staff and students of the department that the reasons were fundamental and not sentimental. He explained that Mass Communication must be under Social Sciences faculty, noting that full accreditation of the department by the NUC may be delayed if it remained under Arts.

Rabiu also showed the audience a 24page research paper titled: Why Mass Communication belongs to the Social Sciences to back his claims.

The Dean Faculty of Social Sciences, Andrew Zamani, an Associate Professor, welcomed staff and students of the department to his faculty.

He said the Faculty of Social Science comprised five departments, saying Mass Communication would be the sixth department.

The HOD, Dr Tonnie Iredia, urged students to embrace the department’s relocation to Social Sciences, saying the action was done in school’s best interest.

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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CAMPUS LIFE

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EDICAL students of the Imo State University (IMU) in Owerri have gone to the polls to elect their leaders . The election was held on the Owerri and Orlu campuses.

Preclinical students voted at Histology Laboratory in the Anatomy Department in Owerri; clinical students did theirs at the medical complex of Imo State University Teaching Hospital (IMSUTH) in Orlu.

Forty-six students in 300-Level and 30 others in 400-Level were accredited when the process started at 10.45am.

While the first 46 accredited voters was casting their ballots, more of their colleagues in 300Level arrived for accreditation.

They were told to wait at noon.

Their 100-Level counterparts took their turns at 12.45pm.

A fresh ballot box was reserved for all clinical students in Orlu during the exercise to enable them vote separately. The first round of voting ended, after all preclinical students had voted. The same process was adopted at the IMSUTH where clinical students voted.

The Electoral Committee Chairman, Elochukwu Obi, a final year student, ended the process at 1pm, and collation began. Over 253 students voted in Owerri; 215 voted in Orlu making a total of over 469 voters.

When the results were announced, Bright Nwatamole emerged UMSA president, with

Medical students get leaders Members of Imo State University Medical Students Association (UMSA) went to the polls last week to elect their leaders. EKENE AHANEKU (300-Level Medicine and Surgery) reports.

•The medical students voting on Owerri campus

275 votes to beat Ebube Eze, who got 187 votes. Edith Nwadike emerged Vice President 1 unopposed, but the Vice president

II, Tobenna Ofor, beat Nelson Ogu with total votes with 390 votes.

Miracle Echebiri is Assistant Secretary General; Declan Abams,

Director of Welfare; Uzoma Obasi, Assistant Director of Welfare; Jackson Nwosu, Director of Socials; Clinton Uzukwu, As-

sistant Director of Socials and Vivian Eguogwu, Assistant Financial Secretary.

Love Amaugo, an unopposed candidate for Assistant Treasurer, could not garner the constitutionally required 75 per cent of votes. The electoral committee chairman advised her to go for by-election.

Bright hailed his colleagues for electing him as their leaders, saying: “The whole process took time and resources. I feel very happy, because at the end of the day, I emerged victorious. I really thank all medical students for considering me worthy to lead them.”

Ebere Okpara, a member of the electoral committee, said: “We have done our job without fear of favour from any quarters. The contestants have described the process as free and fair. But, it was not easy travelling from Owerri to Orlu every day to sensitise students on the electoral process. The just concluded election will be followed by another round of elections for Student Representatives’ Council members. After this, we can now go back to classroom for our studies.”

Nnamdi Okpara, a 300-Level student, said: “The best candidates have emerged in a free and fair election. I can say without fear of contradiction that there was no irregularity in the exercise. But, even if there is, it could not be more 0.1 per cent, which is insignificant.”

Freshers’ night Students’ Union Government of the Federal College of Education (Technical) in Akoka, Lagos has organised a Freshers’ Night for new intakes. OMOLARA OGUNWALE (ND II Journalism, Nigerian Institute of Journalism) reports.

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HOUGH it ended before midnight, it was a long night celebration for fresh students of the Federal College of Education (Technical) in Akoka, Yaba Lagos. It was the welcome party for new intakes.

It also featured talent hunt and beauty pageant where Mr and Miss Jambite were crowned.

During the pageant, the female contestants, in elegant dinner gowns, cat walked to the admiration of their colleagues.

The boys wore well-tailored dark suits with Jeans to match. They all danced to the music of Woju O, the song of the moment by Kiss Daniel.

On the aim of the event, President of Students’ Union Government (SUG), Tolulope Bolumade, a final year student of Building Technology Education, said the party was a ritual to initiate new students to be members of the college community.

Tolulope advised the freshers not to forget their purpose in school, urging them to work hard to achieve success.

•The contestants during the pageant

To make the event memorable, the union invited upcoming hiphop artistes and dancers to entertain the students. The atmosphere was animated by the musical performances.

The contestants were asked to display their singing and dancing prowess. Seven of the female contestants played talking drums to the admiration of the audience and panel of judges.

Afterwards, they appeared in traditional attires, with the judges assessing their sense of culture. The judges asked the contestants questions to assess their Intelligence Quotient (IQ).

At the end of the session, Frank Etim, a Fine and Applied Arts student, was announced as Mr Jambite.

“I was shocked when the judges announced my name as the winner,” Frank, who is also a model,

‘I want to improve the social life on campus by organising concert for upcoming artistes. I will also empower the physically-challenged among us and ensure they take part in social and academic activities to the fullest’ said. Asked of his pet project during his reign, Frank said: “I want to improve the social life on campus by organising concert for upcoming artistes. I will also empower the physically-challenged among us and ensure they take part in social and academic activities to the fullest.”

Adelapo Adeola, a Primary Education Studies student, was announced Miss Jambite , promising to wage a war on campus prostitution and examination malpractice. Ruth Ogunkoya, the first runner up, became Miss Model.

Chidimma Nwosu, also a Pri-

mary Education Studies student, won Miss Photogenic, saying: “I feel great and I need to show good behaviour, so that bad students can turn a new leave.”

Other winners are Demilade Waye (Mr Model) and Samuel Adeosun (Mr Photogenic). The winners were presented with prizes and gifts, including school bag, iron, fan and kitchen utensils, among others.

The union Social Director, Quadri Ajibola, a final year Computer Physics student, praised the sponsors of the show, which include Tecno Mobile, Panda Consultant, Gidi Culture and Olofofo City.

Some of the freshers, who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE, described the show as the best event they attended after their matriculation, hailing the union officials for the party.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

CAMPUS LIFE

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WRITE to draw attention to a growing culture of favouritism and nepotism, which may have been in the gazette as official policy in the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Its branches across the nation are giving undue advantage to people who do not merit to being absorbed into the system at the expense of people with good expertise and knowledge.

While it could not be confirmed if favouritism is official policy at the NNPC, it is interesting to know that the management of the oil firm has denied several students an opportunity to undertake their Industrial Training (IT) and gain adequate knowledge on their fields of study.

The reason for this discrimination may have been because the rejected students do not have highly-connected parents, uncles or insiders in government to influence their placement and fix them at juicy sections of the corporation. But many underserving students, who have connections and insiders, are given placement for the same

A word for NNPC programme without any stress.

To say the action is unpatriotic is to restate what is obvious, but it is pertinent to state, here, that many brilliant students are being denied opportunities to showcase their genius and expertise without cogent reasons. This is rather sad and it exposes the flaws of a country that is craving for development but not ready to explore the knowledge of its best brains.

This piece is written to draw attention of the Minister of Petroleum Resources and the NNPC management of the ugly trend being practised in the firm.

It is alarming to know that a few opportune Nigerians are now running this public corporation as though, it is their personal estate.

The so-called “Directors-inCharge” at NNPC subsidiaries are denying brilliant students placements to acquire industrial experience. At NNPC, you have to know senior directors or powerful

insider to either be employed or considered for training. Where is the place of merit?

I have never believed this happens until I became a victim. I am a student aspiring for the best education couple with world-class experience. I had thought the best place for me to hone my business and investment skill is NNPC. I believed it would be the right place to actualise my career objectives and I have no hidden motive for my choice.

I, therefore, applied to one of NNPC’s subsidiaries in charge of investment for a year Industrial Training as mandated by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE). After I submitted all the requirement letters as specified by the NNPC’s General Manager for Services, my application was forwarded to the Human Resources Department for further processing. I was informed I would be contacted.

After waiting for more than a month

By Abiodun Jimoh of no response, I decided to check back at the corporation and find out what may have caused the delay. I directed my enquiry to Human Resources Unit and a staff member treating my enquiry checked her computer to verify. She returned to tell me that

Hope for a new Nigeria

By Damsa Ahangba

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N the last few weeks, the focus of international community has been on Nigeria as the nation held its general elections, which saw the emergence of a new leadership for the nation’s highest office. Before the election, expectations were high and there was panic about the possible breakup of the country, which has been fractured along ethno-religious line.

For Nigerians, it was historic moment to make or mar the country.

The two main presidential contenders, President Goodluck Jonathan and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, were made to sign a peace accord to forestall possible violence that could arise after the election.

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Some saw the Peace Accord as a formality and predicted there would be violence. The elections have come and gone, Nigeria remains an indivisible nation contrary to the belief that it would cave in. we have come out stronger and we have shamed our detractors that we can manage our differences and forge common front.

The challenges we face as a nation are not peculiar to us alone. It took the United States (U.S.) more than three century to resolve the challenge of racial domination and discrimination. The black people in the U.S. struggled against their white compatriots for years to gain political and economic relevance.

President Barrack Obama broke the jinx in a history election, which saw a black man leading the most powerful nation.

Sixteen years after our transition from military rule to civilian government, the just-concluded general elections have taken our nation to higher rung on the ladder of democratic stability. The process sent a strong message across Africa, that democracy and peaceful change of government is possible in a free and fair election. The success of the polls has reawakened our spirit and in-

duced patriotism.

The exploration of technological advancement, which saw the introduction of card readers to our electoral process, has ended an era of violence that usually followed elections. This has brought sanity to the system and chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega, deserved commendation for this.

I was born a year before June 12, 1993 elections acclaimed to be freest and fairest polls to be held in Nigeria’s history. But, that election was annulled by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, the then Head of State.

Given the peaceful atmosphere under which the just concluded elections were held, one wonders how free June 12 election would have been.

The manner with which Nigerians at home and in diaspora conducted themselves during and after the election despite the threat of violence shows the nation is advancing on its democratic course. It is good to praise the commitment of the people as they endured under scorching sun to exercise their franchise to the end. My earlier article published on January 15 on this space in which I categorically ad-

vised the youth on their choices drew flaks from readers, who accused me of inconsistent argument.

But, I only played my part as a citizen and today it has come to pass that the collective will of Nigerians is reflected in the outcome of the results. Some key persons who played good part in this process of change and deserve commendation include President Jonathan, who exhibits uncommon spirit of statesmanship by conceding defeat to avoid violent reactions from his supporters. Also, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, a former Head of State, who brokered the Peace Accord and Prof Jega, who becomes the hero of the peaceful election.

The late Rev. Martin Luther-King Jnr. once said: “One of the greatest liabilities of history is that, all too many people fail to remain awake through great period of social change, every society has its protectors of status quo and its fraternities of the indifference who are notorious for sleeping through revolution. Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake to adjust to new ideas to remain vigilant and to face the challenges of change.”

Now that change has come, we

my application had “no approval” status. I asked what she meant by no approval? She replied pointblank: “If you don’t come through anybody here, you cannot get placement here.

I am sorry my dear, that is how it works here, you must know somebody inside.”

I was dazed by her response and I felt gravely disappointed because such a public corporation that is collectively owned by all Nigerians has now been hijacked by a group of people who have decided that only their relatives and family members alone can benefit from our collective resources. From further inquiry, I discovered that many other brilliant students have been denied placement at the corporation due to the culture of nepotism and favoritism being practised in this reputable organisation.

I hope the Minister and NNPC management would look into this issue and call the subsidiaries’ directors to order. They must stop this culture and give brilliant students opportunity to improve their knowledge through unconditional offer of industrial training.

•Abiodun is a student of Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ), Lagos seek a new way forward to advance our aims as a united country. We need to pick up ourselves from the bad side of history and arrest the core challenges we are facing in security, corruption, bad economy, declining education standard, which are the bedrock for sustainability.

We have to put the past behind us, especially the recent past; we must forget the old battles and past grievances and forge ahead.

The president-elect, Gen. Buhari, has a lot of work to do and there are high expectations from Nigerians. His post-election speeches have given a clue on how he is going to govern Nigeria and people are keen to see what will begin to happen after May 29.

The president elect has pledged to govern the country with the rule of law and promised a zero tolerance for corruption to end the era of impunity and insecurity. He was quoted to have said: “We will spare no efforts until we defeat terrorism.” He has also stretched a hand of fellowship to outgoing President Jonathan for a proper transition.

This is a sign of new hope for our country. The youth will no longer see their future hanged in the balance.

This is a new era of progress; there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

•Damsa, 300-Level Physics Education, UNIAGRIC Makurdi

Arresting declining reading culture

EADING, whether for pleasure or for academic purpose, is an essential habit that forms the bedrock of human greatness, regardless of age, gender or status. This fact is hardly disputed.

A popular saying describes readers as leaders. However, imbibing the culture of reading and accepting its importance seem uncommon among the youth.

The habit of reading among students and even adults is gradually declining. Some stakeholders in education sector have attributed the drop in reading culture to the lack of adequate awareness on it importance, inadequate library facilities, poor access to books and other reading materials, among other factors.

Added to this are the distractive and wrong application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) device and the high cost of books.

As good as ICT is, many observers say it has also caused some measure of negative effect on Nigerians, especially on their reading habit.

By Adaeze Leonard This is more so, as internet obsession is making many students to waste valuable times surfing the web for wrong reasons.

The introduction of the Global System of Mobile Communication (GSM) in Nigeria has been viewed as one progress that has come with certain negatives tendencies that are detrimental to the culture of reading.

The Executive Director of Institute of Media and Society, Mr Akin Akingbulu, describes reading in two dimensions. To one end, he says reading is for self-development, and to the other, he thinks of it as a means to passing examinations. He said another factor that contributes to poor reading culture is the prices of books, which are on the high side.

Nigerian environment has also contributed to the decline in reading culture among youths. Young people have been exposed to culture of materialism, given their exposure

‘There is no cutting corner about success. If one is going to be successful, he has to work hard for it. Students should know that the primary reason they are in school is to study; every other thing is secondary’ to high-profile corruption by leaders, who embezzle public funds to expend on inconsequential things.

The youth take the habit becoming indolent and resent hard work. They will say: “Let me just look at a short cut to make money and feel good.”

The youth now have time for foreign football leagues and spend their precious time at football viewing centres. Some play computer games for hours, with little or no time for reading.

A senior lecturer at the Department of Science and Laboratory Technology of the Federal Polytechnic in Bida (BIDA POLY), Niger

State, Mr Demola Sadiq, said his experience as a teacher made him to discover that there is a decline in study and reading habit of students.

He further explained that there is a sharp difference between reading culture in the 90’s and what is obtainable now. He noted that there has been a drastic drop in time which students have to study their books and the urge to study, he said, is no longer strong unlike before.

These days, students prefer to spend time on irrelevant things like partying, watching movies, sleeping and watching soccer.

There is no cutting corner about

success. If one is going to be successful, he has to work hard for it. Students should know that the primary reason they are in school is to study; every other thing is secondary.

The government and the school management also need to embark on value orientation. They must equip library and provide materials that will help students improve their reading culture. It is not out of place to organise symposium and talk show to encourage students on reading and we should adopt method where students will be encourage to participate in debates, competition and get good reward. This way, they can be encouraged.

An attempt to arrest the decline in reading habit made President Goodluck Jonathan to launch the “Bring Back the Book” campaign in 2011, with the aim to re-awaken students’ spirit and open their eyes on the importance of reading. A reading nation is an informed nation.

•Adaeze, HND II Mass Comm., BIDA POLY

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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CAMPUS LIFE

Man O’ War recruits members

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O fewer than 25 students have been recruited into the Man O’ War cadet at the University of Benin (UNIBEN).

The recruitment was held for two days at a hill behind the institution’s Senior Staff Club known on the campus as ‘Mount Kilimanjaro’.

The exercise, which was coordinated by the club’s commandant, Emeka Nwaede, a 400Level Medical Physiology student, lasted for six hours, with the recruits being taking through physical fitness, such as push-ups, rolling, high jumps, frog jump, endurance trek and mounting climbing.

This was followed by oral interview, where the recruits were assessed based on their intelligence quotient and academic records.

Emeka said: “The oral interview was basically to test the IQ of the students to know how broad their thinking capacity is. We also need to know their and academic performance, because we would not recruit students with poor academic records.”

While observing that there no casualty injury during the exercise, Emeka said some of the recruits, who developed fear for altitude adapted to the task.

“Having gone through this rigorous screening exercise, I officially welcome you to the club. You must be disciplined. Do not

From Eddy Uwoghiren UNIBEN see the club as an outfit of intimidation against your fellow students. You must be good ambassadors. Anyone who defaults our rules will be penalized,” Emeka said.

A recruit, Chinedu Ejechi, a 200-Level Philosophy and Religion student, said he was happy about the success of the exercise. He promised to use his experience to help make the campus peaceful.

‘The oral interview was basically to test the IQ of the students to know how broad their thinking capacity is. We also need to know their and academic performance, because we would not recruit students with poor academic records’

On and Off Campus By Solomon Izekor 08061522600

•Freshers at the orientation

Get successful mentors, VC advises freshers

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HE Vice Chancellor of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA) in Ondo State, Prof Igbekele Ajibefun, has advised freshers to shun vices that can cut their dreams short and hamper their academic pursuits.

The institution, he said, has zero tolerance for misconduct and act that can bring its reputation to disrepute.

Prof Ajibefun gave the advice at the orientation organised for the new students at the institution’s multipurpose hall.

He congratulated them on their admission but told them to work hard to achieve excellence. Describing the school as the best

From ‘Yomi Ayeleso AAUA state-owned university, the VC said the institution had trained graduates to compete anywhere in the world.

He said the orientation was to integrate the students into the system, stressing that excellence could be achieved by any student who desired to work hard for good grades.

The VC encouraged them to use their time for their studies.

Prof Ajibefun also admonished them to get successful people in their various fields for mentoring. He urged the freshers to set good goals and pursue their education with passion.

The Dean of Students’ Affairs, Dr Olujide Ajidahun, told the students to be serious with their academics. He advised them to complete their registration on time.

President of the Students’ Union, Olukayode Ogunade, urged the freshers to put their trust in God as they started their journey in the university.

Law students elect leaders

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EMBERS of the Law Students’ Society (LSS) of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State, have elected their leaders.

The elections started with screening of candidates by the electoral committee. There was a presidential debate and manifesto night at which contestants wooed students for votes.

Voting started at 9am at the Moot and Mock Court in the faculty basement and ended at 5pm. The race for president, General Secretary and Principal Liaison Officer was tough.

Quadri Olaniran emerged the presidentelect, polling 491 votes to beat his rivals, Kayode Olugbemi and Abiola Odetomi, with 351 and 136 votes.

Daniel Adedigba scored 329 votes to emerge Principal Liaison Officer, beating four others. Tola Akinduro is the General Secretary and Fikayo Ademola, Vice President.

Others are Ajibola Olanrewaju, Sports Director, Olusegun Adeniran, Financial Sec-

•Quadri

From Opeoluwa Sonuga OAU retary, Christianah Aiyeetan, Treasurer, Kolapeju Fagnewasa, Director of Socials, Olugbenga Adeyeye, Public Relations Officer, and Uthman Aderibigbe, Assistant General Secretary.

Representatives of classes were also elected.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

CAMPUS LIFE

‘Save us’, UNIUYO Law graduate, 71 others cry to NYSC DG

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LAW graduate from the University of Uyo, Mr Ede, Joshua Oritsegbemi, and 71 other graduates of the university have appealed to the DirectorGeneral of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brig-General Johnson Olawumi, to prevail on the NYSC website manager, Sidmach Technology Limited, NYSC National Head of ICT and other concerned authorities, to correct the anomalies in their records to enable them register and be mobilised for the Batch A 2015 service commencing in May. A visibly worried Ede with Matriculation number: 08/LA/870

From Uyoatta Eshiet, Uyo

who visited The Nation’s Office in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, said he resorted to the media after several correspondences to UNIUYO and the NYSC did not yield any result to make the latter correct a minor error in his JAMB registration number.

He said: “I am a victim of wrong JAMB registration number, which is (82946368CC). This has hindered me from registration, which lasted between March 2 and April 4, 2015.

My correct JAMB registration number which is 82946568CC, has been forwarded by my university’s mobilisation officer and NYSC Akwa Ibom State Head of ICT to

NYSC National Head Office in Abuja severally, but to no avail.”

Ede said the error was not from him and without it being resolved, his hope of being mobilised in May would be dashed.

He further explained that despite being discovered early enough within the original registration time frame, the error was not corrected.

In a second letter sent to the NYSC DG last week, titled: “A letter of complaint associated with non mobilisation of University of Uyo graduates for 2015 Batch A NYSC service year”, Ede said he and 71 other UNIUYO graduates were properly mobilised with other

graduates by the university for 2015 Batch A NYSC service year, but were rejected by NYSC because of JAMB registration number.

He said on NYSC request, the UNIUYO mobilisation officer resent the names of the affected graduates to NYSC on March 3, 6 and 30, but NYSC has still refused to effect the correction which will enable them on the NYSC registrar website.

Ede said he learnt that graduates from the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State and some other schools, who had similar

problems had been cleared wondering why UNIUYO graduates should be treated differently.

He appealed to the NYSC DG to extend the time for the online registration “to allow the affected graduates register or create a stream or slot 2 Batch A 2015 as was done in 2014 Batches B and C’’.

Ede said since the problems associated with online registration for Batch A 2015 corps members were numerous, a second stream, if floated, can cater for the online registration victims and go a long way to reduce the numbers of prospective Batch B Corps members since 2015 will have only two batches.

of Technology Students for the School of Technology before SLT was placed under the School of Applied Sciences. I combined that with my academics. I was also involved in church activities. It was not very easy, but I am grateful to God everything turned out well for me,” she said.

Dignitaries at the event included the Commissioner for Education, Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye and former registrar, Princess Olabisi Kosoko.

•Nenuwa

Create jobs, Fashola counsels LASPOTECH graduates

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AST Thursday’s convocation at the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), Ikorodu, was the last for some of the principal officers and government functionaries, who graced the occasion.

It was the valedictory convocation for the Rector, Dr Abdulazeez Lawal, whose tenure ends in June. It also served as the last for the Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, as moderator of the institution. He leaves office on May 29 after a two-term tenure of eight year as governor.

Though not present at any of the convocations held during his tenure, Governor Fashola’s speech was read by his representative, the Special Adviser on Education, Otunba Fatai Olukoga. The crux of his message to the 7,045 graduates was for them to embrace entrepreneurship rather than add to the number of unemployed youths in Nigeria in their bid to get ready-made jobs.

Fashola reminded them that the jobs they would seek were created by entrepreneurs years ago and urged them to put their training to good use.

He said: “We want our students to leave school as well-rounded people, able to stand on their own, able to not only work, but create jobs for others. The unemployment rate in Nigeria is quite high, with data pointing to half of the youth population being unemployed.

“The Lagos State Polytechnic has given you the tools you need to excel in your fields. Now, I want to encourage you to have the confidence not to settle for just any job, but do that which you have learnt and also create you own small and

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

medium enterprises.”

The governor also urged the students not to be in a hurry to get rich, but to be committed to hard work.

“I want to encourage you to be focused as you go out into the real adult world. Don’t get distracted by the pursuit of money or fame. Focus on doing good work and making a difference in the lives of others and the society,” he said.

In his speech, the rector thanked the government for its support and acknowledged the role played by government agencies, particularly the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) in enhancing physical infrastructure and manpower development in the institution.

He said 10 of the 15 projects ongoing on the campus were funded by the TETFund, as well as providing over N2 billion for staff development.

Lawal, however, appealed to the government to provide funds to build the institution’s administration block, and increase its subvention. According to him, the polytechnic is forced to use the school’s library building as a makeshift administrative building.

“Although we forwarded our drawings and bills in respect of the proposed administration block to the state government secretariat, Alausa, in line with a letter we received recently, we are yet to have any response on the issue. The present arrangement, where we use a lot of space in the library block as administrative offices is indeed, not ideal and quite unbecoming of an institution of our standing. To this end, we will sincerely appreciate any

‘We want our students to leave school as well-rounded people, able to stand on their own, able to not only work, but create jobs for others’

•Cross section of graduands.

urgent assistance we could get from the state government or our funding agencies or other stakeholders in this regard,” he said.

The highpoint of the event was the presentation of prizes to outstanding students. Zainab Adedipe, a Chemical Engineering National Diploma (ND) graduate and Evelyn Nenuwa, a Science Laboratory Technology (Chemistry) Higher National Diploma (HND) graduate, won many of the 89 prizes presented.

Evelyn, who won prizes worth over N155,000, had a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 3.89; while Zainab had a CGPA of 3.92.

In an interview, Evelyn, who also made a distinction during her ND, attributed her success to God and her parents.

“I owe my gratitude to God because without him, I will be nowhere. I am indebted to my parents for their moral and financial support,” she said.

She also said her ability to manage her time well despite her involvement in politics and church activities helped.

“Students should learn to face their studies very well. I engaged myself in politics as a student. I was the Speaker of the National Association

ADO POLY FILE Poultry house inaugurated THE Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State has taken delivery of a new poultry house that can accommodate 2000 birds.

The facility would be managed by the poultry unit of the school’s Centre for Entrepreneurship Development of Vocational Studies (CEDVS).

Unveiling the new cages and the 2,000 layers’ bird in the new block penultimate Thursday, the Rector, Dr. Taiwo Akande, praised the unit for using its savings to add the new layers-egg production lines.

Dr. Akande was conducted round the facility by the Director of the CEDVS, Mr. A.A. Jimoh, who said Nigeria should diversify her economy by embracing entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship, according to her, was the only way out of the nation’s economic woes, particularly with the dwindling oil prizes in the world market.

The Rector said she was proud of the achievements of the poultry unit, which moved from having just 600 birds at inception to 2,000 within a space of 18 months. On his part, the Director of the Centre, Jimoh, thanked the management for its support, and promised to do more.

Second semester exam holds April 20 FULL time students of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti will hold their second semester examinations for the 2013/2014 academic session between April 20 and 30.

The time-table was released as a result of the revision of the academic calendar by the polytechnic’s academic board for the conclusion of the second semester of the 2013/2014 academic session.

Following the examinations, students would begin their Students Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) on Monday, May 4; while marking and recording of examination scripts and project defense would be between May 1 and 10. The results are expected to be approved and released by the Academic Board on May27. Meanwhile, lectures for newly-admitted ND I and HND I full-time students are expected to begin on May 1.

Lecture-free period for Fridays

•From left: Prof. Charles Uko, former Deputy Vice Chancellor, Administration, University of Uyo (UNIUYO); Dr. Linus Asuquo [Ag. Dean, Engineering]; Prof Umana Itaketo [43rd Inaugural lecturer];Prof. Comfort Ekpo[Vice Chancellor; Mrs Edak Umondak [Registrar]; Prof. Trenchard Ibia [DVC, Admin]; Prof Enomfon Akpan [DVC, Academics] and Prof Felicia Etim[University Librarian], at the 43rd Inaugural lecture of the university.

THE management of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti has re-emphasised the setting aside of 1pm to 3pm of every Friday as lecture-free periods to enable Muslims (both staff and students) attend the Jumat Service. A circular signed by the Deputy Registrar, Academic Affairs Registry, Mr. S.O. Adeniyi, noted that it had become a matter of policy for the polytechnic to avail Muslims in the institution the opportunity to attend their Jumah Service every Friday.

It enjoined workers and students to comply with the directive.

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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CAMPUS LIFE ACE FILE

Provost emphasises research TEACHERS of tertiary institutions in Nigeria have been challenged to show more interest in researches in order to enhance learning and boost intellectual advancement.

The Provost of Adeyemi College of Education (ACE) Ondo, Prof Olukoya Ogen, gave the advice at a workshop organised by the College of Humanities, Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU), IkejiArakeji, Osun State.

Ogen suggested ways by which societal problems could be identified and necessary solutions proffered.

Speaking on the conference theme: ”Managing time, the great secret of productivity’’, Ogen told researchers in tertiary institutions to manage their time efficiently and effectively, saying that this would help them contribute more to productivity and national development.

He urged them to set goals in their effort at producing thesis, which he said could make them get invitation to international conferences, aside enhancing their writing skills.

He harped on the need for teachers to prioritise their goals and exhibit originality in their work so as to differentiate it from others.

Earlier in his welcome address, JABU’s Dean, College of Humanities, Prof Richard Olaniyan, said the workshop was organised to promote academic excellence and achievement of the mission and vision statements of the institution.

Registrar, workers harp on dedication THE Registrar, ACE Mr. Felix Aderinboye, has advised workers to rededicate themselves to discharging their duties to the over 50years institution to aid its further development. Aderinboye gave the advice while addressing workers in the Registry unit.

He said regular meetings being held are meant to interact with workers in order to foster mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence. Aderinboye, who praised them for their dedication to duty, also appealed for continued support and cooperation.

He emphasised the need for them to constantly seek self development, assuring them that the school’s management would continue to provide an enabling environment for them to exhibit their skills maximally through capacity training, workshops and seminars.

He assured them of the management’s determination to reward those who are diligent, faithful and hardworking through regular promotion, asking them to shun absenteeism and be punctual.

SCHOLARSHIPS APPROACHING DEADLINE Edinburgh Global Health Academy Master's Scholarship in UK, 2015 THE University of Edinburgh is offering one full-time Master's scholarship. The scholarship is available for students pursuing one of the Global Health Academy programmes. Scholarship will cover the UK/EU "home" rate of tuition fee of up to £8,100. The scholarship will be awarded to a student who is accepted for admission onto an eligible Global Health Academy programme at the University of Edinburgh commencing in 2015-2016. The scholarship will be awarded on the basis of academic merit. The application deadline is 29 May 2015.

Study Subject(s): Scholarship are

awarded in the field of Anthropology of Illness, Family Medicine, Global Health, Global Health and Public Policy, Global Health and Anthropology, Health Inequalities and Public Policy, Health Systems and Public Policy, Science Communication and Public Engagement, Public Health Course Level: Scholarship is available for masters level degree at University of Edinburgh.

Scholarship Provider: The University of Edinburgh, UK Scholarship can be taken at: UK Eligibility: -The scholarship will be awarded to a student who is accepted for admission onto an eligible Global Health Academy programme at the University of Edinburgh commencing in 2015-2016.

•Applicants who have already commenced their programme of study

on the closing date are not eligible for this scholarship.

•Applicants intending to study parttime or online distance learning courses are not eligible for this scholarship.

Scholarship Open for International Students: Applicants must be both nationals of and resident in one of Nigeria.

Scholarship Description: Edinburgh Global Health Academy Master's Scholarship The University of Edinburgh will offer one full-time master's scholarship for eligible programmes offered by the University.

Number of award(s): It offers one full-time Master's scholarship Duration of award(s): Not Known What does it cover? The scholarship will cover the UK/EU "home" rate of

tuition fee of up to £8,100.

Selection criteria: The scholarship will be awarded on the basis of academic merit. Candidates must have, or expect to obtain, a UK first class or 2:1 Honours degree at undergraduate level or the international equivalent.

Notification: A Selection Committee will meet in late June 2015 to select the scholarship holders. All applicants will be notified of the outcome in July 2015.

How to Apply: The mode of application is online.

Scholarship Application Deadline: The application deadline is 29 May 2015.

Read more: 2015 Master's Scholarship at The University of Edinburgh, UK Scholarship Positions 2015 2016 http://scholarship-positions.com

UTME-CBT: JAMB short-changes cyber cafe owners, others IXED reactions have trailed the recently held 2014/2015 Joint Addmission and Matriculation Board (JAMB)’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations-Computer Based Test (UTME-CBT) as praises and condemnations are coming from various quarters on its conduct.

Aside the ease, flexibility and capability to minimise examination malpractices attributed to it, many institutions and cyber cafe operators whose centres were used for the exercise appear not to be too happy with a deal which made them to lose everything to JAMB. According to them, it was a ‘rip off’.

Director of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) of the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (AOCOED), Oto/Ijanikin, Lagos, Mr. Victor Akinola, who shared this sentiment, urged JAMB to up its financial commitment to resource centres used for the last examination for subsequent editions of the examination to be more successful and encouraging.

Akinola, who spoke to The Nation, said a situation where a candidate obtained the form at N4.500, but JAMB paying only N600.00 per candidate to the centres, is not fair and is capable of discouraging institutions that would want to offer their services to JAMB. The examination body, its bid to minimise examination fraud and introduce technology in line with global best practices, introduced the Computer-Based Test (CBT), the Paper-Pencil Test (PPT) and the

M

By Adegunle Olugbamila

Dual-Based Test (DBT) a few years ago. The Registrar of the board, Prof Dibu Ojerinde, announced in 2013 the phasing out of other mode of writing the examinations and endorsed the CBT, which has become operative.

Counting AOCOED losses, Akinola explained why the institution has to deploy over N3 million on re-equipping its ICT centre ahead of the examination.

“The money JAMB gave out to centres, did not even provide for the diesel used to power the computers during the examinations.

The fund could not even provide for the servicing of computer and internet connectivity in the various centre,” he lamented.

Under the new arrangement JAMB provided N600 per candidate (depending on the capacity of each centre) in addition to the Visat software for uploading JAMB question papers. Similarly, designated centres must provide other facilities ranging from CCTV monitor(for security), computer desktops, power and venues, among others.

Using AOCOED as an example, Akinola said the college ICT centre not only gave away their facilities, but had to deploy more cash for facility upgrade.

“We (AOCOED) acquired 80 new desktops and 20 laptops. The laptops were to support the desktops in the event of any failure. In all, we spent over N3m to get our centre perfectly okay despite that what we received (from JAMB) was not up to N3m,” he said.

Akinola said those who officiated during the exercise were not given any financial motivation. He said the institution had to provide over 120 litres of diesel daily to enhance uninterrupted power supply and mitigate the effect of epileptic power supply.

“We have 3870 candidates in this centre, and we ran 180 students per session; that simply translates to 180 desktops per session. In addition, we have 20 laptop computers to support the 180 desktops in case any of the desktop malfunctions,” he said.

“We had about 18 centres, and that is three sessions every day for 16 straight sessions except the last two on the last day, ‘’he added.

Showing The Nation some of the burnt circuits during the exercise,

•Akinola

Akinola lamented how the college server shot down due to heavy pressure from the computers being used, saying that it resulted into a fresh financial burden on the college in fixing them.

Akinola’s joy, however, lies in the fact that despite pockets of technical hitches, AOCOED ICT centre scaled the hurdles.

FUNAAB Zoo Park now recreational hub

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S part of efforts at making residents of Abeokuta and its environs feel the impact of wild life for recreational and educational purposes, the management of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), has transformed its Zoological Park into a recreational hub.

Students from the Department of Hospitality and Tourism, College of Food Science and Human Ecology (COLFHEC) and those from the Colleges of Environmental Resources Management (COLERM), Plant Science and Crop Production (COLPLANT), Animal Science and Livestock Production (COLANIM) and Veterinary Medicine (COLVET), visited the park.

According to Dr. Adeniyi Egbetade of COLVET, students had the opportunity of embarking on routine observation of wild animals in the zoo, as part of what they were expected to learn in their first degree courses.

In a related development, authorities of Arish Nursery and Primary School, Abeokuta, have expressed their intention to collaborate with the park in the construction of an aquarium. The intention of the school was made known during the Annual Fish Tank Day celebration, where the Director of Zoological Park, Dr. Moses Oyatogun, taught the staff, parents and pupils skills how to construct an aquarium.

FUT Minna produces 34 First Class graduates

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• From right: Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye, Lagos State Commissioner for Education; Otunba Fatai Olukoga, Special Adviser on Education; Dr Abdulazeez Lawal, Rector, Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH); Mrs Ronke Ige, Registrar; Mr Samuel Sogunro, Deputy Rector (Administration); Mr Tajudeen Sonayon, Deputy Rector (Academics); Mrs Aderonke Bello, Polytechnic Librarian; and Mr Kolawole Ashade, the Bursar, at the 23rd Convocation of the polytechnic.

VER 3, 400 students will be conferred with bachelor’s and higher degrees at the 24th convocation of the Federal University of Technology (FUT) Minna, on Saturday.

The Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof Musibau Akanji, said 2,903 of the graduands are bachelor’s degree holders, while 105 and 453 would be graduating with Post Graduate Diplomas and Masters’ degrees. An additional 29 graduates, he said, will bag doctorate degrees.

Akanji further said 34 of the first degree graduates made first class, while 811 are in the second class upper, 1,363 are in second class lower and 648 got third class categories with 47 others making the pass grade.

From Jide Orintunsin, Minna

Akanji said in fulfilment of his promise on assumption as the Vice Chancellor of the institution, certificates would be issued to all graduates after Saturday’s ceremony.

Activities to mark the convocation began with a Juma’at prayer last Friday and a special church service on Sunday. An exhibition of academic exploits holds today at Suleimanu Kumo Convocation Square, main campus, Gidan Kwano, while the Convocation lecture titled: “The role of law in the enhancement of socio-economic growth of the nation” will be delivered tomorrow by the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi.

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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Winners emerge in maiden Abacus Smartkids Challenge

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UPILS of Dome Private Schools Lagos State recently tested their speed and accuracy in solving mathematics questions during the maiden edition of Abacus Smartkids Challenge, an inter-school competition.

At the end of the competition, which held at Princeton Schools, Lagos, winners emerged in various categories, all showing dexterity in the use of Abacus, a device made up of strings of beads within a frame used for counting. It is reputed for helping those trained in its use to solve mathematics problems mentally with great speed.

Varrier Devesh, Director of Training, Edusoft Associates, organisers of the competition, said the contest provided a platform for schools to test the skills and speed of their pupils when given mathematics challenges.

He added that Abacus will eliminate the phobia associated with Mathematics and replaces same with interest in the subject in a bid to lay a solid foundation for a lifelong pursuit of scholarly activities.

“Beyond the use of Abacus as a tool to enhance the speed of thought, is the confidence its use gives pupils. And when they are not with the Abacus tool, they have already been imbued with the training so much so that their speed of thought is greatly enhanced as the kids have clearly demonstrated,” he said.

Alhaji Jimoh Are, Chairman, Lagos State Chapter of the Mathematics Association of Nigeria (MAN), who was the grand judge of the competition, said the Abacus Smartkids Challenge is a welcome addition to the Mathematics calen-

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

dar in Nigeria. “Abacus is so important to the counting system of the entire foundation of Mathematics that its importance cannot be overemphasised. The logo of the association, for instance, is an abacus,” he said.

He enjoined Edusoft Associates to consider taking the competition nationwide in order to avail schools from other regions the opportunity of participating.

“MAN has accepted that the competition should be nationwide so as to cover a larger segment of pupils.

Children trained with Abacus are smarter and more intelligent,” he added.

At the end of the Second Grade category of the contest, Goodluck Arowojolu (Princeton Schools) emerged winner, while Okereke David (Heyday School) and Ayanfe Atoki (Grandmate Schools) came second and third. Third Grade had these winners: Onuorah Williams (Heyday Schools), first; Onyeka Iwegbu, second, and Abudu Opeoluwa, (both of Princeton Schools), third. The fourth grade had Ike-Orji Kelechukwu (Heyday Schools) emerged as winner; Chisom Epundu (Grandmate Schools), first runner-up, and Okere Kelechi (Princeton Schools), second runner-up.

Chukusom Anyasom (Grandmate School) won the fifth grade category; while Ajayi Ayomide (Heyday Schools) and Denzel Bucknor (Princeton Schools), came second and third.

Winners of various categories were presented with their awards.

•Pupils of Christ Divine Favour Junior Secondary School, Alagomeji, Yaba, Lagos, with the school's proprietor, Albert Ndem (right), during their Cultural day programme.

Clerics uncover loopholes in education

By Oluwatoyin Adeleye

B •Rt Rev Adegbite

•George (centre middle) flanked by the Principal of Dolphin Senior High School Samuel Olufemi Akinkubi (right) and a teacher in the school Mrs Abiola Oladogba surrounded by the pupils displaying the book.

L.I.F.E Initiative holds seminar in Lagos Island schools •Distributes motivational book

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NEW book, Power Teens’ Success Habits was given to pupils across Lagos Island, who featured in a seminar organised by L.I.F.E initiative, a non-government organisation(NGO), which focuses on making youths rediscover themselves through motivational talks.

The yearly seminar tagged: ‘Leading with Impact (LWI) par-

By Adegunle Olugbamila

ticularly targets senior secondary school pupils. The venue was Dolphin Senior High School.

Some of the schools in attendance included,School Hall, Dolphin Senior High School; Okesuna Senior High School; Boys Senior Academy; Girls Senior Academy; and Ebute-Elefun

Senior High School.

Others were: Epetedo Senior High School; King Ado Senior High School; Isale Eko Senior Grammar School, as well as Eko Akete Senior Grammar School, among others.

Founded by Obafemi George in 2000, L.I.F.E Initiative via the LWI, has impacted thousands of youths.

“L.I.F.E Initiative is acronym for Leadership, Inspiration, Family and Entrepreneurship Initiative,”

•Prophet Akande

said the founder Obafemi George.

“We are thinking along and have heard about what it means to help youths to develop a career that is personally and socially beneficial.

We seek to infuse into the youth a self-belief system that gives them inner will to weather the unknown world that awaits them before and after school by inspiring them.”

George gave the rationale behind the ‘Read to Lead’ which is the theme of this year’s LWI seminar.

“Knowledge is not limited to what is taught in school, this seminar spoke on creating leaders out of readers. With discipline and following success principles, the sky is a starting point. The book Power Teens’ Success Habits, was distributed at the seminar. It teaches students success principles, and answers teens’ questions in its work book,” he added.

Explaining why he complemented the seminar with free books to participants, George lamented that the burgeoning failures among secondary students in major examinations would continue except something is urgently done to arrest the declining reading culture.

“Did you know that 31.28 per cent representing 529,429 students only, passed with five credits in WAEC in 2014? A decline from the 36.57 per cent recorded in 2013 and 38.81 per cent in 2012, all very poor and worrisome figures.

It is one of two things, either students’ have lost the zeal to read, or they need to focus on what makes them champions by concentrating simply on what lies within them,” he said.

Copies of the book, according to him, can be obtained at the UNILAG Bookshop, Laterna Ventures, Oko Awo V.1 and Glendora Bookshop at Ikeja City Mall.

ISHOP of Methodist Church Nigeria, Owo Diocese, Rt Rev Solomon Adegbite, has clamoured for a conducive learning environment for pupils.

Rev. Adegbite expressed disappointment at the state of many public schools where poor facilities have dehumanised pupils and teachers.

In a telephone chat with The Nation, the cleric said: “Education must be done in a conducive atmosphere. Some so-called classrooms are no class rooms at all. The poor facilities are not supposed to be.

People should learn only in conducive environment. Even if it is not 100 per cent, let it be minimally conducive. Anywhere that people would be dehumanised should not be used to teach our children.”

Once the nation gets it right at the basic education level, the cleric is optimistic the rate of illiteracy would reduce and people would be more enlightened.

Also speaking, Presiding pastor of Ori Oke Baba Abiye, a Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) prayer mountain in Ede, Osun State, Prophet Funso Akande, who condemned delays in teachers’ salaries, advised the incoming government not to toe the same line.

Akande said many teachers are losing their zeal to work because of poor motivation, hence they now channel their efforts to other businesses, rather than their professional calling.

He said: “Teachers are not being paid well so the efforts they put into their job is only 20 per cent, while the remaining 80 per cent goes into their private businesses.

That is why they sell goods in schools. But if they are well-paid and as at when due, they will show more concentration on their jobs.”

The cleric advised the incoming government to imbibe the fear of God and fulfil their promises to the people since they will still need them in future.

“It is the same door with which you come into your house that equally serves as an exit. So if you shut the door violently against them (the people) when you enter and it gets spoiled in the process, that door may just not be available when next you need it,” he said.

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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EDUCATION

CRUTECH ASUU demands salary arrears •Blames govt for strike

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HE Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH), chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), is not happy with the Cross River State government over salary arrears owed members.

Workers of the university have been on strike since November to protest the alleged neglect of the institution by government. The action has completely paralysed academic and other activities in the university.

The union in a statement jointly signed by Dr. Nsing Ogar (zonal coordinator); Dr Stephen Ochang (chairman, ASUU CRUTECH); Dr.

From Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

Aniekan Brown (chairman, ASUU UNIYO); Dr. Tony Eyang (chairman, ASUU UNICAL) and Ochi Ejimofor (Chairman, ASUU ABSU), berated the government for the crisis in the university.

The union’s zonal leaders noted that CRUTECH lecturers were forced to withdraw their services due to nonpayment of their salaries. They insisted that academic activities would not resume in the university until workers’ salaries are paid.

“We demand for the immediate payment of arrears of the four months

(December, 2014 – March, 2015) salaries.”

The union is also demanding ‘the release of a special grant of N2.3 Billion to enable the university pay sundry arrears owed workers’ and “increase in monthly subvention to the university from N169 million to N250 million for effective running of the university.”

Other demands included the “release of adequate funds to the university for National Universities Commission (NUC) accreditation visit while staff salaries (including deductions) should at least be paid latest by 30th of every month.”

Dr Ochang said the state government had been adamant despite entreaties from the union.

He said the recalcitrant attitude of the government led to the invocation of “ASUU National Executive Council (NEC) resolution that allows branches to withdraw their services if salaries are delayed beyond the second working day of a new month”.

•Pupils of Treasureland Nursery and Primary School, Ilupeju, Lagos, and their teachers, Mrs Kemi Abdulsalami (left) and Mrs Bunmi Areago (right) during their cultural day programme.

Greensprings, Kanu Foundation trains future footballers

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REENSPRINGS School has opened its Lekki campus gates to primary and secondary school pupils within the ages of five to 17 for the annual Greensprings/KanuFootball Camp on Sunday.

The camp, which is in its fourth edition, will last for one week during which participants will be coached by coaches from Netherlands and England.

Greensprings’ Head of Sports, Oluseyi Oyebode, assured parents of security during the camp.

“We want to assure every participant and parents that the camp will

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

open from noon on Sunday. Adequate security has been in place for all participants while the atmosphere is also conducive for the camp this year,” Oyebode said.

He noted that the foreign coaches from the English Premiership and Dutch leagues will manage the training with the assistance of indigenous coaches. This year’s camp promises to be exciting as the clinic coincides with the school’s 30th anniversary.

The Director of Education,

Honour for varsity president

T

HE President, Oduduwa University, Ipetumodu, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Chief Ramon Adedoyin, has been honoured by the Nigeria University Students Association (NUSEA) for his contributions to the development of education in Nigeria.

At the event, Dean, Faculty of Education, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Osun State, Prof. Phillip Jegede, congratulated Adedoyin for being a life patron of the association and urged stakeholders to emulate his generosity and commitment to education in Nigeria.

In a paper titled: “Tertiary Education in Nigeria: Prospects and challenges”, Adedoyin stressed the need for academic integrity in tertiary institutions, which he said would prevent academics from falling from the higher rung on the ladder when they least expect.

“The maintenance of academic integrity helps foster an academic environment dedicated to long life commitment to learning,” he said.

He recounted his experience as a student, at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife, who was

not contented with just the class room lectures, but was interested in being different, which led him to giving home service tutorial to children of lecturers.

Adedoyin further decried the inconsistency in the educational system in Nigeria, describing it is a major lapse in our educational system. Others are high cost of tuition, lack of government encouragements and funding, dearth of educationists, inadequate private universities, lackadaisical attitude of the public and insufficient accreditation bodies.

Prof. (Mrs.) Aladejana one of the recipient of the awards, said she is so excited having studied education and being honoured with the award of excellence in Education from the Faculty of education.

Her words: “Work hard because there is still space at the top to occupy.”

She said she had earlier in her undergraduate years, thought of studying some other courses, adding that she is happy she never did. She said she has written lots of journals and articles on education, sponsored and funded by World Bank.

Greensprings School, Harry McFaul, said there is more sponsorship for children to participate in the camp this year. He added that the school will also hold a day clinic in downtown Abesan, a Lagos suburb, with a bid to identify new talents among school-aged children.

“The camp will be larger offering more opportunities to potential football stars from all over Nigeria.

We have had enquiries from farther afield than ever before with large numbers of sponsored places offered to boys and girls, who have potential, but maybe not the financial means to attend. In furtherance of Greensprings’ corporate social responsibility, there will be an outreach programme in Abesan Community, Lagos where Kanu Nwankwo will lead all the foreign coaches and their Nigerian counterparts on a day football clinic for residents in the area. What makes this year’s event unique is that there will be more time allocated to coaching and training of coaches so that even more people will ultimately benefit from the camp in the longer term,” McFaul said.

McFaul said the camp has added value to the lives of many talented children.

“The camp has grown in popularity and success over the years and many students have blossomed as a result of being at the camp. In recent years a number of players were spotted and offered scholarships at Greensprings where they have been highly successful academically as well as on the football pitch. Some have been fortunate enough to gain places at football academies in England after attending the camp. There is a lot of excitement and anticipation surrounding the camp this year and we pray for a great time of fun and fulfilment for all who attend,” he said.

EDUTALK

with

So it's already one year since Chibok!

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IME is indeed a funny phenomenon. There are circumstances when five minutes - or even less - seems so long Kofoworola a time to wait. How many times have we waited impatiently for the traffic light to turn from red Kofosagie@yahoo.com to green? Ironically, the most we 08054503077 (SMS only) have to wait for that change is usually 90 seconds. But it sometimes feels like a lifetime. It also seems to take so long for a water closet to refill with water when you just want to flush and get out.

Yet, on the average, with a toilet that has good pressure, it may be less than one minute.

Yet, there are other situations in which time simply mounts on wings and disappears. It was there all this while, you knew, but suddenly, it is gone, just when you need more of it.

On Tuesday, it was exactly one year since Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls from the Government Girls' Secondary in Chibok, Borno State. It was unbelievable that 365 days had gone by - just like that and the girls had not been found. It was like we blinked our eyes and a year was over. Was it not just recently that various versions of Madam First Lady's "All this blood that we are sharing; there is God o!" was making rounds on the social media in the wake of the abduction? Did not the global outcry over the missing girls contribute to the belated military offensive against the Boko Haram insurgents?

Indeed one year is gone. What do we have to show for it? Thankfully, greater military control protecting the integrity of our territory. On another bright note, some of those who escaped, especially those who are schooling at the American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola, are enjoying high quality education that they did not get before the incident. Their new experience has exposed them to what quality education is all about and they can now confidently aspire to become anything they want to be because they are in an environment that supports their dreams. Goodwill is flowing their way from all over the world. People are donating to fund their education at AUN through the university's website. They even have scholarship waiting for them to go further after their undergraduate studies. The AUN President, Dr Margee Ensign, said universities are falling over themselves to take the girls.

Their story is a testimony that the plans by the Boko Haram sect to kill western education has failed. They are now more determined that education is the way out, and have bigger dreams than they did before. They would become a force to reckon with by the time they are done. We should expect them to become seasoned professionals who would lift their communities up from the doldrums and contribute to nation building as a whole.

However, that 219 girls are still missing is a sad fact. While we pray to still be able to rescue them, the time lapse makes it unlikely that they would all still be together. Except by some miracle, which many are still praying for, we may not be able to get all of them back anymore. On my way to work on that day, I listened in on conversation by commuters who wondered aloud about how many of the girls may have become mothers since their abductions.

Testimonies of the lucky few that escaped about their suffering while in captivity and how they escaped are grim, not to mention the stories of those still in captivity. There have been stories of rape, deaths, enslavement, deployment as lookouts, and other misfortunes that have befallen the girls. Our earnest prayer is that they be found because a lot of good awaits them. We pray they return to be re-united with their families and to enjoy the scholarship fund that Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenage Nobel Laureate, is raising for them.

However, beyond prayers, we challenge our government to intensify efforts to find the girls. If they have been able to recover territories from Boko Haram, then they can rescue the girls. They and other children, men and women in captivity, do not deserve the hell they must be going through being held against their will.

We also urge the government to fix the education sector so children can enjoy better quality education; provide counselling for children who have been victims of insurgency so they can overcome the trauma and live normal, fruitful lives.

Belo-Osagie

‘Their story is a testimony that the plans by the Boko Haram sect to kill western education has failed. They are now more determined that education is the way out, and have bigger dreams than they did before. They would become a force to reckon with by the time they are done.

We should expect them to become seasoned professionals who would lift their communities up from the doldrums and contribute to nation building as a whole’

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THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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‘

We are still suffering from it up till today. Those who advised him to do so were able to sell that idea to him because they discovered that given the way things went, his mind was receptive to such a thing

‘

The declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that the April 11, 2015 governorship election in Imo State was inconclusive is generating controversy. A veteran journalist and former Special Adviser in the state, Evang. Ethelbert Okere, spoke on the matter in Owerri, the state capital.

‘Imo governorship election has been won and lost’

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HAT is your take on the political logjam in the state?

Logjam? Is there one?

We mean the stalemated governorship election in the state...

I don’t really see it as a logjam because as far as I am concerned, the matter is not difficult to handle. Re-run elections have been scheduled and once that is done, the whole problem would be over.

A similar thing happened in 2011 and you were a key witness. Is history repeating itself?

What happened in 2011 is quite different from what is happening now. In 2011, there was a grand conspiracy against the sitting governor.

And the conspiracy was conceived and executed by outsiders. They merely used the good people of Imo State to commit a crime as I stated in the book I wrote on that episode. This time around, it is a straight fight between two top gladiators in the state, and the people are directly involved.

You don’t see any conspiracy in the current case?

I can’t see any conspiracy; if you do, show me one. For me, we have a clear case where the people have expressed their preferences. Unlike in 2011, there are no outside influences trying who determine who will win the governorship election in Imo. All the interests are internal.

But, the results of the governorship election are being contested in several polling units and the INEC has scheduled a re-run in those units.

That does not amount to a conspiracy. INEC has already accepted and announced the results that distributed more than three quarter of the total votes cast. So, we should focus on that to give the Imo electorate kudos for peacefully expressing their preferences. It is not good that the impression is being given that the governorship election in Imo is not successful because of about 127,000 potential votes. It is not fair to the people who toiled under the sun to take part in the exercise. The statement was unnecessary.

As far as I am concerned, INEC in Imo over dramatised the matter. It should have declared a winner with what it already had.

With over 144 votes in contention?

Well, in principle, yes, but, as far as I am concerned, INEC was wrong in basing its calculations on registered voters. It should have used the number of PVCs collected across the state.

And if that is used, a re-run would have been unnecessary. Although the electoral law says number of registered voters, but I feel that the INEC returning officer in Imo should have been

more proactive and base his decision on the number of PVCs collected. What is the need talking about registered voters who cannot vote? The whole thing requires pragmatism.

Across the country, INEC released PVCs for only 80 per cent of registered voters. In my view, it is superfluous to talk about registered voters in a situation like this.

But, the two major parties concerned have agreed to go for a re-run...

That’s ok, but I think Imo people should have been saved all that problem. As far as I am concerned, the governorship election has been won and lost.

But, your party, the PDP is seriously contesting it. Are you not part of that?

It is not about party now. I am basing my argument on what is on ground. Even party members concede defeat when they lose. That doesn’t make them bad party members. President Jonathan conceded defeat even before all the results of the March 28 presidential election were released. That does not make him a bad party member.

The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Olisa Metuh, has called for the cancellation of the governorship election in Imo. What is your take?

Well, Metuh, like any typical politician, is reacting the conventional way: cancel election if things do not go your way. I read the report where he claims that majority of Imo people wants the election to be cancelled. That is not correct at all. He was even making incorrect allusions, like referring to Owerri South Local Government Area. There is nothing like Owerri South Local Government Area in Imo State.

This type of inaccuracy shows that he is not well informed about what is on the ground. You can see that the whole place is peaceful. Personally, I wouldn’t like anybody to mislead the people into taking untoward actions. The people have voted. Going by results released officially by INEC, the governor won in 20 out of 27 local government areas. Except in a few L.G.As, he won with very wide margin. The asymmetry is striking.

But, there are allegations that his party rigged the election...

Allegations of rigging is not new in such elections. You and I know that rigging is never an exclusive act. All the parties usually get involved.

Nigerians are no longer surprised when you allege rigging. If you read my article after the March 28 presidential election, I stated that it was obvious to Nigerians that the election was rigged

• Okere

in several parts of the country. Once the card readers failed to work, politicians saw another opportunity to write the results. The point I was really trying to make was that contrary to the assurances by INEC, the results of that elections were not error proof because the electronic voting system that was supposed to do that failed.

The situation on April 11 might have improved, but parties still tried to sabotage electronic voting because it makes rigging easier.

But, having said that, I am certainly not in a position to say where irregularities took place in Imo State during the governorship election.

I can only talk of my own area. In my booth, there was no rigging. And I can assure you that there was no rigging in the whole of Ngor Okpala Local Government Area where I come from. If you go there today and say that the election should be cancelled as the likes of Metuh suggest, the people will be mad with you. The result was a close margin between the APC and PDP, but I can assure you that that is how it is in the area.

The PDP candidate, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, has represented the people effectively for 12 years and our people like him. So, it is safe to say that it is not possible to rig election against him in Ngor Okpala. It is also not possible for our people to have voted the way they did because of money. We are not like that. We are steadfast.

So, what do you think happened?

The people simply decided to vote the way they did for reasons that are perhaps outside the scope of this discussion. If we extrapolate the argument, it is also safe to say that plus and mi-

nus, voters in other areas voted largely according to their preferences. Imolites generally do not allow rigging. Agreed, desperate politicians try to rig but we Imolites are not known for that.

In other words, you believe the results reflect the real feeling of the people.

If they are not, Imo people would have since reacted. As I said earlier, the whole place is calm.

Imolites would have since reacted if they were not the people who gave the governor majority of the votes in 20 out of 27 local government areas. The result is quite striking. If the people were not part of it, they would have since reacted.

Sir, your posturing suggests that you have sympathy for the governor.

That is a very ordinary way of looking at it.

Basically, I am an apostle of peace. I do not want what happened in 2011 to happen again this time around. The election in 2011 was too rancourous and at the end it was the people that lost. Because of the way things went, the incoming governor then, Okorocha, was perhaps too bitter that he took certain steps I still believe he should not have taken. Take the sacking of the local government councils, for example. We are still suffering from it up till today.

Those who advised him to do so were able to sell that idea to him because they discovered that given the way things went, his mind was receptive to such a thing. I was even a direct victim. He stopped our salary of two months even when we had already worked for that. Till date, he refused to pay our severance allowances. All that was because of the bitterness generated from the election. Imo people should not be made to go through that type of thing again.

They expressed their preference and from what we have on ground, that preference was Governor Okorocha. To drag the matter is for me needless. I agree that the election should be reconducted in the problem wards but I am against creating the impression that the entire election is of no use. That is creating unnecessary tension and rancor.

Contrary to the posturing of some politicians, it is an assault on the collective psyche of the people to say that Governor Okoorcha has lost the election even after they have given him majority of the votes in 20 out of the 27 local government areas. Now, I understand that going by the latest release by INEC just about 127 votes are to be vied for at the re-run. Technically, none of the candidates has been declared winner but at the same time it is misleading to tell the people that it is not actually Okorocha that is leading. Imo people are too sophisticated for such lies. INEC in its wisdom accepted the results that gave the governor the lead with almost 80,000 votes. The least we can do is to accept the situation as it is now.

If the table turns after the re-run, the people will also see.

The Deputy Director-General (Operations) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Organisation, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, spoke with Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN on the challenges that will confront the incoming government and other issues.

W

HAT factor aided the victory of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in the presidential election?

A lot of things were responsible.

I will ascribe it first to God in His infinite Mercy that it was time for the liberation of this country. The second thing is what I will call the strong will of the people coupled with the zeal and the commitment of the people to effect change. Don’t forget the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been in power for almost 16 years now (1999-2015), the party that has over the years installed the reign of impunity, brigandage and anything goes in the country.

You will recall at a point in time, one of the former chairmen of the PDP, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor to be specific, boasted that the party will rule the country for 60 years.

They did whatever they like and could not be bothered about the people who voted them into office.

Buhari ‘ll be fair to all zones They squandered the goodwill invested in them as a party. They dashed the hope and aspiration of the people to a point that the generality of the people of Nigeria were yearning for a change and a new lease of life, hence the birth of a strong opposition as provided by the All Progressives Congress (APC). This is the first time in the history of Nigeria that we are having a very strong, formidable and focussed opposition party that could give PDP a run for its money.

I must commend all leaders of APC that weathered the storm and made the formation or emergence of APC possible.

In spite of all attempts to scuttle the formation of the party, the leaders were able to make its emergence a reality. I have always belief that

the hand of God was in the entire project that eventually led to our winning the presidential election. I must warn right from the outset that APC must learn from the fate of the PDP so that we as a party do not make the same mistake PDP made while in power. Care must be taken because we will even more vulnerable because the expectations of the people are very high. Nigerians may not be as patient with us as they were with PDP that was tolerated for 16 years as experience had shown that as people we are generally impatient.

What should the APC government do to avoid the PDP mistakes?

APC government needs to hit the ground running immediately after inauguration. We must get our priorities right so that people do not

lose confidence in us. We should begin to address the needs of the people immediately. We must tackle issues of insecurity, corruption, economy, youth unemployment, power supply situation and infrastructure. All these are our major promises to the people. These are the things the people will judge us by. We will have no excuses not to deliver the promises freely made to the people.

What does Gen. Buhari’s victory portend for the country?

Essentially, it signifies the change which is the slogan of our party (APC) and the mantra of our campaign. For me, the components of this change are: rebirth, rebuilding and restoration of the country. The country needs rebirth is like a new beginning. We also need to rebuild our institutions and when I talk of restoration we are looking at societal and national values as enshrined in the constitution. We also

•Mamora

need to restore the dignity and the pride of every Nigerian and Nigeria as a country. We need to take our rightful place in the sub-region (ECOWAS), in the continent of Africa and in the international community as a whole. We will no longer be referred to as giant with clay feet.

THE NATION THURSDAY APRIL 16, 2015

46

of this state and our common belief in what ‘weThecanlove accomplish, our belief in what this state already is and in what it is destined to become binds us together in a social and moral contract of high purpose

‘

Lagos State Governor-elect Akinwunmi Ambode gave his acceptance speech at the party secretariat, Lagos. MUSA ODOSHIMOKHE was there.

Ambode savours euphoria of victory

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HE secretariat of the Lagos State All Progressives Congress (APC) on Acme Road, Ogba, Ikeja was a beehive of activities last Sunday. The Lagos State Governor-elect, Akinwunmi Ambode, was expected to deliver his acceptance speech at the venue.

This was the first time a governorelect would be performing the ritual at the APC secretariat.

It was, therefore, imperative to raise the bar of the official acceptance ceremony and make the event worthwhile. The urgency of the ceremony was underscored by the short notice the party gave stakeholders who witnessed the historic event. Given the political mudslinging and campaign of calumny that characterised the 2015 elections, the ceremony was necessary to douse the tension.

The musical band that performed that night came to the secretariat around 2.20 pm, to make preparations for the envisaged victory party.

The preparations started when news that Ambode was coasting to victory went viral on the social media. Lagosians were in jubilant mood. In commercial vehicles, beer parlours and eateries, the celebration had already started.

The APC faithful all over the state were in estatic mood; it would have been inconceivable for Lagos not to align with the incoming party at the centre.

The celebration was a purely party affair; it was time to rekindle the kindred spirit which bound lovers of democracy together. It was time to thank God for a victory well deserved and above all to commit the incoming governors to the hand of God for protection.

Some large containers were being filled with drinks, bottled water and beverages. The caterers equally tried to do their best, by ensuring that the delicacies were sumptuously prepared.

But, the atmosphere became more animated when the live band began to entertain the crowd, which was increasing in leaps and bounds. The party official slogan, ‘APC change’ was relaxed for ‘APC continuity’.

The mood of the people suggested that they were happy with the APC-

led administration in Lagos.

By now people were anxious to see the arrival of the Governor-elect.

But, he was to arrive the venue much later, after celebrations have reached high gear. This, notwithstanding, there was no dull moment for those who gathered to witness the event.

The celebration reached a crescendo, when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) eventually declared Ambode the winner of the governorship contest.

Then, news filtered in that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate Jimi Agbaje had conceded defeat and congratulated the Governor-elect.

By 8.15, Ambode made a triumphant entry into the secretariat. The Deputy Governor-elect, Dr. Idiat Oluranti Adebule, who came some 15 minutes earlier, was still felicitating with the crowd when Ambode came in. The shout Ambo, Atide rent the air momentarily, throwing the venue into a wild jubilation.

He stepped out of the car and hugged Dr. Adebule and other dignitaries. The surging crowd refused to create passage for the Governor elect. But, his aides and security men had to make way for him to enable him move to the office of the Lagos State APC chairman, Otunba Dele Ajomale.

The victory party started formally 30 minutes later, when party leaders took their seats at the podium.

The Lagos APC Publicity Secretary Joe Igbokwe announced the commencement of the ceremony and urged everybody to be seated. For about five minutes the live band thrilled the audience, hailing APC as the new hope for the ordinary man.

Igbokwe, who served as Master of Ceremony, called on the party chairman, Otunba Ajomale to address the audience. The audience listened to the message, but the shouts of Ambode interrupted the address from time to time.

Ajomale thanked Lagosians for their resolve to vote APC, saying the party would not disappoint them. He paid glowing tribute to

•Ambode

The people of ‘Lagos have spoken. With one voice, they have chosen continuity over an uncertain future

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party leaders and the governor, Babatunde Fashola (SAN. He said: “Let me thank our Governor Fashola for his tireless role in ensuring that we emerged victorious during the election. We are equally thankful to our party leaders Jagaban Borgu, Asiwaju of Africa who made it possible for this day.

“I thank all the Lagosians for defying whatever obstacles that were put on their ways, who have confidence in us and voted massively for our candidate who today has emerged as the governor elect.

“I want to invite the Governorelect, who is the symbol of the party to present his speech to Lagosians.

I want you all to listen to him as we cart a new course,” he said.

When the Governor-elect stood up to make his speech, the audience took to the dance floor, dancing to the admiration of the newly elected governor in waiting.

He could not suppress his feeling and had to join them in response to the music emanating from the speakers. When the noise finally died down, the Governor-elect de-

livered his emotion-ladden speech, which bookmakers described as suitable for the occassion.

The Governor-elect thanked all those who made the dream a reality for him. He singled out two persons, Asiwaju Tinubu and Governor Fashola, for praise. But, he craved the indulgence of those he could menction, noting that they were equally very important.

Ambode said a new dawn has come where nobody will be discriminated against just like previous administration under the umbrella of the progressive’s mandate.

He said: “The people of Lagos have spoken. With one voice, they have chosen continuity over an uncertain future. You came out peacefully to cast your vote. Not even the threat of our opponent to unleash mayhem could have kept you from having a date with destiny.

“And because you have answered our call to come out and vote and handed our party, APC victory at the polls you have sealed a pact with democracy and good governance.”

Ambode expressed humility for the trust and confidence reposed in him, to mover the Centre of Excellence to the next level. “The love of this state and our common belief in what we can accomplish, our belief in what this state already is and in what it is destined to become binds us together in a social and moral contract of high purpose.”

He promised to honour the pact he had with Lagosians, stressing that the state will witness growth, prosperity and development under the new deal.

He added that he would build on the legacy of the former governor of the state, Asiwaju Tinubu and Governor Fashola, stressing that he would employ the best hands to assist him the in task ahead. He said appointment shall be based on merit, promising to tow the line of his predecessors.

“The people of Lagos have demonstrated that Lagos is not about ethnicity or religion, but about a common desire to enthrone good governance. Lagos under my watch will not discriminate. It has not in the past. And will not in the present.

Not even in the future. There will be no political victimization.”

Ambode thanked the electorate for refusing to reward the PDP, which had failed at the national level, adding that the people would be rewarded for their unwavering faith in the Common Sense Revolution.

• Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State (second left), the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi (second right), the Eleruwa of Eruwa, Oba Samuel Adegbola, and Iba of Kisi, Oba Moshood Aweda (left), during the re-election congratulatory visit to the governor by traditional rulers from Oyo, Ibarapa, Oke-Ogun and Ogbomoso led by the PHOTO: OYO GOVERNMENT HOUSE Alaafin...yesterday.

•Udom

Uyo agog for Udom

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UBILANT youths, women and supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) thronged the streets of Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, on to celebrate the emergence of Mr. Udom Emmanuel as the governor-elect.

The crowd, which matched from Uyo Township Stadium, Ibom Plaza to the Millennium Globe at Wellington Bassey Way end was received by Governor Godswill Akpabio and the governor-elect, with other PDP executives, who joined the crowd to celebrate the victory.

Governor Akpabio, who was driven in an open van with the Governor-elect, acknowledged cheers from the crowd who waved at him along the streets.

Addressing the gathering, Governor Akpabio, who was accompanied by the wife, Ekaette, said it was not a day of speeches, but a day of celebration. He said he would be handing over to a competent, man who would drive progress to the door steps of the people.

He described the road walk as the people’s way of showing greater support for the PDP and the emergence of Mr. Emmanuel as Governor-elect.

The governor lauded the people for supporting continuity and transformation and assured that Akwa Ibom State can never be the same again with the emergence of Mr. Emmanuel, a seasoned banker.

The governor thanked the State Executive Council members, the PDP state exco, the campaign team and the generality of Akwa Ibom people for the massive support given his administration and by extension the victory of Emmanuel at the poll.

He said he has laid the foundation for the transformation of the state in the last eight years and expressed the hope that the incoming administration of Mr. Emmanuel will consolidate on the gains.

The Governor-elect said would ensure continuity, wealth creation for the people, noting that his vision would be to collaborate with the stakeholders to bring in development without relying on the government at the centre and thank the youths for standing by the divine mandate which was the slogan for his campaign.

He assured the people that he would never be cowed by what he called satanic propaganda but would rather secure the future and employment of the youths.

He also stated that his vision would be built on surpassing and sustaining superior performance, while building bridges of unity across the state.

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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THE NATION

NATURAL HEALTH CLINIC DAY

E-mail:- health@thenationonlineng.net

The goggle search engine, www.care2.com, provides the answer to the first question while the Corporate Manager, Paxherbals, Lagos, Mrs Bolanle Alabede, answers the second question.

Exercises for better posture

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ANY of us spend the day sitting in front of the computer, and this can be hard on our bodies! We tend to lean in and slouch a bit, which over time can impact our posture and our health. It puts our bodies out of balance and can lead to back and neck pain, and sometimes even more serious issues.

If computer use is impacting your posture, though, don’t fret! Here are some ways to help you bounce back. It might be a bit much to do all of these things on the same day, so maybe try doing just a few at first, working up to all ten as you’re ready. If you experience pain while doing any of these exercises, back off for a while. As your body gets used to these moves, it will get easier. You don’t want to set yourself back with an injury!

A full length mirror is really helpful for a lot of these exercises, so you can see if your body is properly aligned.

•Start in a standing position with your feet hip distance apart. Imagine a string running up your spine and toward the sky, pulling your back up straight. Roll your shoulders up and back, pressing your shoulder blades together gently. You can leave your hands at your sides or bring them into prayer position. Hold your belly in to help support your lower back, and stay in this pose for up to 30 seconds, taking slow, deep breaths.

•Come onto your hands and knees with your neck in a neutral position. Inhale, and raise your right arm and left leg so that they are parallel to the floor. Stretch your arm forward, and point your left toe, stretching that leg back as straight as you can. Release on the exhale, and repeat this 10 to 12 times, then repeat with the left arm and right leg.

• Still on hands and knees, take a deep breath as you arch your back, tilting your head back so you’re looking up. Press your shoulder blades together. Exhale, releasing your neck and arching your back. Press onto the floor with your hands and curl your tailbone toward the floor. Repeat this cycle 10 to 12 times.

• Move to a cross-legged position, sitting up straight with your abs contracted. Roll your shoulders up and forward 10 to 15 times, taking deep breaths. Come back to neutral, and then roll them up and back 10 to 15 times.

•Lay on your belly, resting with your arms stretching out perpendicular to your body.

Bend your arms 90 degrees, so your fingers are pointing in the same direction as your head with the palms facing down. As you inhale, pull your shoulder blades together, lifting your arms off of the floor. Exhale and release. Repeat this eight to 10 times.

• Come back to a seated position, stretching your legs out straight in front of you.

Engage your abs and sit up as straight as you can, rolling your shoulders back and tilting your chin up slightly. Stay in this active, seated position as you take 10 slow, deep breaths.

•Bend your legs, so you’re sitting on your knees, and then shift your bottom to the right, so it’s on the floor beside your feet.

Place your left hand on your knee, and twist your body to the right. You can either place your right hand on the floor behind you or bring it around to the right behind your back to deepen the stretch. Hold for 10 deep breaths, then shift your bottom to the left side of your feet and repeat in the other direction.

•Come back to standing, and raise your arms above your head, palms facing each other. Inhale and straighten your spine, and as you exhale, bend your knees as if you were about to sit down in a chair. Get your thighs as close to parallel to the floor as you can without causing strain to your knees.

Straighten your legs on the next inhale, and repeat this move 10 to 12 times.

• Stand up straight with your back up against a wall and your feet about 123 away from the wall. Raise your arms up by your

•Flying monkey start

Questions 1) My friends observed that I am developing a bad posture.

Any tips on maintaining a good posture?

•Yinka Olawale, 17-year- old student, Lagos 2) Can you give me some details on Father Anselm Adodo’s forthcoming lecture in London?

•Chinyere Okoro, Imo

•Plank style

sides, pressing them against the wall and bending at the elbow, so your fingers are pointing toward the ceiling and your palms are facing outward. Slowly raise your elbows until you feel a stretch in your sides, and then lower them back to neutral. Repeat 10 times, keeping your back, neck, and arms pressed gently against the wall the entire time.

• While still in a standing position, lift your right foot off the floor, holding on to

•Side arm balance

your knee. If you’re comfortable here, move your foot slowly and place your right foot on the inside of your left thigh. Bring your arms up over your head, palms facing each other. If possible, touch your palms together.

Focus here on lengthening your spine and breathing deeply for 10 breaths. Repeat on the left side. If you have trouble balancing in this posture, you can start out doing it up against a wall.

Once you’ve completed this set of moves,

it’s a good idea to give your body a little bit of recovery. Sit on your knees and bend at the waist, resting your belly on your thighs and your forehead on the floor. This will help release some of the tension built up in your back. Stay here for about 30 seconds, and then change to a reclined position on the floor with your feet hip distance apart and your arms resting palms up. Lay here and breathe for as long as you like.

Adodo delivers paper abroad

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OUNDER, Paxherbals, Father Anselm Adodo, is billed to speak on his practical philosophy for community development and the transformative and curative potential of herbal medicine, on Thursday, 23rd of this month, from 6pm to 8pm at Africa Research Institute, 55 Tufton St, London, SW1P 3QL. The theme is: ‘Africa’s Natural Remedies The transformative potential of indigenous knowledge’. Drinks and light refreshments will be served Twitter hashtag: #AfricaHerbals. Registration is free.

Father Adodo, a Benedictine Monk of Ewu, Edo said the essence of the program is to elucidate on the potential of traditional medicine in Nigeria, “In Nigeria, ‘natural resources’ usually mean oil and gas. But not

so at Paxherbals, the nation’s leading homegrown manufacturer of herbal medicine.

‘Pax’ has combined scientific rigour with indigenous knowledge to establish a modern and innovative African business.

“Over the past two decades, Pax has created jobs and a vibrant economy in Ewu, Edo State.

It sells affordable treatments for common ailments and diseases. With more than thirty government-certified products, Pax has built trust and challenged negative or outdated perceptions of natural remedies with a professional, transparent approach. It has successfully preserved indigenous knowledge and harnessed it for the benefit of the local community and all Nigerians. The forum will afford us to let the world know more about our indigenous herbal-plants.”

•Father Adodo

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

48

NATURAL HEALTH

Anti-aging tips for Buhari in change era (2) T

HE tea party will soon be over, all foggy, dreamy vision will clear and the questions will begin to ring out loud and clear: where are we heading?

Of course, we are in the year of the Lord 2015 and will soon be in the hands of a new President.

This one doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke, isn’t into women, is a man of few words and doesn’t, like a spendthrift, throw money away and around as if it comes by as easily as grains of sand and pebbles.

Welcome to the cockpit, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari (rtd).

AS I suggested last week, work has to begin in earnest if the no nonsense Buhari myth is not to be fractured. Ethnic tensions must be doused and ethnic wounds healed. In addition, weak links in the ALL progressives congress (APC) has to be expertly soldiered if the President is to have an effective and efficient political machine to work with. Currently, the crafts can be said to be composed of different parts from different manufacturers, some of them not fitting properly. Many strange bed fellows had come together solely to wrest power from a dilapidating establishment.

Only a few days ago some election victors in the establishment party, the People Democratic Party (PDP), defected to the victorious opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).The message is clear. In this cross-over, there is no question of political ideology. It is all a question of avoiding being in the Opposition. How will the motley crowd be blended into one organic whole?

And at what cost in terms of the demands on the energy and health of a 76-year-old President?

There are many other energy and health zappers to worry about before we suggest to the President how he can build his energy and health to ride the energy and health storms the demands of office may bring to him. Whenever I think about how feeble an aging human body may become under whatever stress, I always remember the lamentations of former U.S. President Bill Clinton. Today, he looks more than 20 calendar years older than his biological age. While in office, he suffered blockages in his heart arteries which subjected him to coronary artery bypass surgery. That meant the blood vessels which supply blood to his heart were so blocked that his heart was not receiving enough blood to keep it alive and functioning properly that a new supply route had to be opened up in the surgical room. Bill Clinton was later to lament after leaving office that he never really took care of his health while he was president. He had no time for real food or, better still, organic foods, subsisted largely on meat pie, hot dog and other white flour fast foods most probably washed down with sodas (soft drinks), that speaks volumes about the home front. Luckily for the incoming president Buhari, he has a home front wife of the ilk of the wife of current U.S President Mubarak Obama. Mrs Obama cut a picture, different from Mrs. Hillary Clinton’s in the White House. She converted some of the loans to gardens where she farmed organic crops and herbs for her family meals. She made them pilot or experimental farms for high school children in the neighbourhood. The idea was that, if they got hooked to the principles of organic foods and took the news to their families, the deadly Standard American Diet (SAD) would be exchanged for live health building foods and, over sometime the health of Americans would improve. Gen. Buhari’s wife resembles Mrs. Obama in some order respects. She is not obstrusive or domineering, does not stand before her husband as a bouncer running mate and offers to him that wifely content missing in many of todays wives. She should therefore in this respect see his health, and not any spoils of office, as her first priority. I suspect the challenges Gen. Buhari’s mental and physical health would fail in the first year of his Administration are five pronged, namely: •Creation of four millions jobs •Stabilisations of non-stop electricity supply nationwide •Funding of free education from primary school to the University, and •An anti-corruption crusade .

•Security, which may involve depoliticising the Armed Forces and making them more professional. These were some of his foreshore election campaign promises anchored on the voter’s change expectations. If only to prove the point that he hasn’t been seeking to be the president merely for the purpose of being so-called, Gen. Buhari (rtd) is expcted to drive himself and the State machinery towards achieving these promises. For a man over seventy calendar years of age, his dream will definitely take its toll on physical and mental health. Among other exertions of energy and health, it would involve thinking more than he now does, sleeping less than he now does, becoming more agitated than he now does and, perhaps, exercising less and having less time than now for leisure.

Buhari and Us

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ANY of us can see ourselves in the President Buhari picture we are painting. We sleep late, wake early, rush through meals, have many files to attend to, do not exercise well enough, hardly walk, are driven in cars from home to the office and back, attend long meetings, bear far too many things in the brain than we probably should, disarrange our sleep mechanism and can hardly sleep without the help of sleeping pills which suppress, our brains rather than nourish them before we can catch little sleep, suffer from backache because of long periods of sitting, constipation, poor posture, arthritis or prostate enlargement or prostate cancer.

There are far too many health challenges of overwork, especially in old age, that can visit an aging person than this page can list. They are all part of the aging process compounded by the busy-bee lifestyle.

The Aging Process HERE is nothing which comes into being that will not, someday, pass away.

Thus, we are born, mature, flower, wilt and pass away some day. It is a fulfillment of natural laws. We see it in the Law of Motion, which compels everything to be on the move.

It is inherent, also, in the law of the cycle by which everything in motion must return to its starting point. It partakes as well in the law of Development. For humans, the four temperaments exhibited by our bodies enable us, from time to time, to know where and how we stand on the Aging Scale. The temperaments denote, also, the four seasons in a person’s life: The temperaments These are: •Sanguine •Melancholy •Choleric and •Phlegmatic.

One dovetails into another, like morning of the day into afternoon or evening into night. We may also observe it in the weather.

Sanguine life is carefree life. A child does not appreciate the import of earthly life. He or she fed and clothed by his or her parents who bears his or her care. In Melancholy, the child arrives, figuratively speaking, at the beach of the expansive sea of earthly existence. He sees all the struggles for survival in this wild sea. Most of the forms he beholds are ugly and sickening. For a while, he is motionless. Then, in Choleric life, he is sucked into this ocean or plunges into it as of necessity to eke his livelihood. This is the rat race stage of earthly existence when the one who has arrived there must begin to build his estate, preparing for a future when, sapped of energy or health, he becomes helpless and falls upon the treasures he has stockpiled in choleric years for sustenance. The phlegmatic years are those of weak bones, failing memory, energy loss, sagging health, the years of wilting which presage passing away. In this age, there are reminisces of the sanguine, melancholy and choleric years, of lamentations of how choleric people are ruining the good or great legacies. Ones generation begun ethed to them. It is the little remembered that the phlegmatic generation ahead of one’s choleric generation said the same about that choleric generation.

Some people are luckier than others in that they enjoy a choleric, that is active, life with a longer span than others did.

The secrets are in the activities of the spirit and the radiations of the blood. Man is not bone and flesh but a human spirit who inhabits the physical body. These spirit gives rise to the blood and its circulation. It controls the body through the blood. That is why, like the finger print, each person’s blood is like his or her own identity card. This dawn more on man as his knowledge expands of the so-called mystery of the blood. The blood radiation depends on its composition from the nurture of the physical body, and from the glow of the indwelling human spirit.

When the spirit is good natured and spiritually (not religiously) active constant recomposition of the blood through dietary nurture supports healthy blood radiation as well.

Some people are lucky to be choleric right into their seventies or even beyond it. Some others become phlegmatic in their fifties. A President should be choleric. Where the choleric temperament is ebbing, a near phlegmatic President may still copy a choleric posture in public action if he surrounds his thinking machine with choleric persons. Who will help to sharpen his thoughts and electrify his actions.

The anti-aging health tips which are about to follow their origins from anti-aging research world-wide especially in Europe and the united states. They are ably reported in two books, I cherish in my library. One, titled STOP AGING NOW, was written by JEAN, CARPER with the subtitle: based on cutting-edge research revealing the amazing anti-aging powers of supplements, herbs and the book is described as the “authoritative new York times best seller.”

The other book , written by JUDU LINDBERG MCFARLAND with LAURA GLADY’S MCFARLAND, is tittled AGING WITHOUT GROWING OLD. The question they pose regarding our health and why we grow old at all, some-

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e-mail: femi.kusa@yahoo.com or olufemikusa@yahoo.com

times so rapidly to our amazement, are ably answered. They should be of help to the President-elect and every-one else who wishes to stay young irrespective of the aging process.

There is no doubt that the aging process overwhelms us when we are sad, damaging the biochemistry of our bodies, when we feed our bodies with junk food which is outside the plan of God’s creation as Dr (Rev) George Malchmus has shown in his HALLELUHAH ACRES, a book devoted to foods which helped him to conquer not only the dreaded cancer but other ailments as well. There is no doubt as well that we live in a poisoned environment, eating poisoned food, drinking poisoned water, breathing poisoned air and failing to adequately support our organs of detoxification or anti-poison organs with the right diet. Which mother nature provides us for them to do their work well. As we are likely to find in antiaging research, which in some cases has extended the lifespan of some animal species by as many as five times or more, giving humans the prospects of living up to 150 years, the major cause of physical and mental deterioration is a dangerous poison called the free radical. It is an unbalanced and “insane” molecule which attacks every cell of the body. It is in the air, food and water we ingest, it is in our stool.

Our body produces it from the food we eat, the air we breathe, or and water we ingest, even if it is not present in them by the time we consume them. It is the waste of anything we ingest which has to be eliminated through breathing, urination, sweating and defecation. Many of us do not use up to 50 per cent capacity of our lungs when we breathe.

That means we do not aerate the body well enough for robust health, and we do not expel enough of the waste products of the air we inhale, such as carbon dioxide, a reason it concentrates in the blood, prostate enlargement or swellings in the legs tell us the kidneys may not be working well, making us retain poisons which the urine should have flushed out. And many of us do not exercise enough to help the skin eliminate poison through sweating. At seventy-something we do not easily, remember names, places or dates easily, stay more indoors than outdoor, lose the zest for life, consume all sorts of pharmaceutical drugs to suppress all suits of symptoms instead of removing them at the root with food or herbs.

Free Radicals: Judy Linberg Mcfarland says: “A free radical is a molecule that has lost a vital piece of itself- one of its electrically charged electrons that normally orbits in pairs.

To restore balance, the free radical frantically tries to steal an electron from a nearby molecule or give away its unpaired electron. In doing so, it wreaks molecular havoc, careening into protein, fat, and the genetic DNA of cells, disfiguring and correding them . If the target is fat, the radical can set off widely destructive chain reactions that break down membranes, leaving cells to disintegrate. If it radicalise into proteins, it can destroy the cells ability to function. If it hits DNA, it can cause mutations that incite cells to aberrant behavior. Overtime, free radical damage leaves the body aged and diseased.”

Free radicals are root causes of breast tissue damage and cancer. When the brain is over used it generates free radical which, if unchecked, cause mental deterioration, including memory lose, short attention spans, sleep disorders or even brain tumors. The brain, like the breast, is a fatty tissue and subject to free radical damage, and Judy McFarland says, quoting anti-aging researchers, is an analogy, says Judy Macfalard. Bruce No Ames, Ph.D., university of California at Berkeley likens the production of free radicals to the smoke and soot by-products produced by wood-burning fireplace to extend the analogy further, the waste of a trod burning fire is easily channel away from your home’s interior by your fire place chimney, but in the body, free radical byproducts are not so easily eliminated. Certain free radical scavengers must help remove the harmful from radicals from the body.

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R Anes, quoted by Judy Mcfarland, says it is true we need some doses of free radicals to live, such as in deployment by the immune system against disease germs, but too much of them, when we do not have enough free radical scavengers, irradiate us. At “low levels all the time” he says: “they grind us down.” Dr Ames says every cell is bombanded by 10,000 oxidative hits, “every day by free radicals. The damage is immediately repaired in many cases.” “The point to be made of cause,” says Mcfarland, “is that even if we live in a pure environment, our human bodies would produce free oxygen radicals there simply is no way to avoid their presence within the body. Many free radicals are produced in our personal environment such as sunlight, smog, high attitude, exposure to x-ray, toxins in food and water, pollen, ozone, mould and dust, and so forth.

We can’t avoid free radicals. They are everywhere. What we can do is attempt to diminish their impact on the body. She says free radical damage is responsible for such degenerative disease’s as arthritis,” long gehirgs disease, alzheiner’s disease, some types of cancer, heart attack, hardening of the arteries, parkinson’s disease, central cerebral vascular changes that we know as selemity and many others.” Jean carper , whose book, “Stop aging now”, like Judy Mcfarland’s “Aging without groowing old”, I recommend for your library, says, of free radicals: “Free radicals damage cells, causing aging. Anti-oxidants help block aging. Once you have an intellectual grip on that, the rest is clear… find them, use them, stop aging, stay young, live longer. There are more anti-aging agents in the universe than you could ever dream of and probably more than science can discover in the next century.

Tel: 08116759749, 08034004247, 07025077303

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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THE NATION

BUSINESS LABOUR

NLC crisis: One office, two presidents The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is embroiled in a leadership crisis. Two officials are claiming its presidency, a development that is affecting its performance. The consequences of the crisis, experts say, will impact on not only the workers, but also the economy, TOBA AGBOOLA reports.

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HEN the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) held two separate inaugural Central Working Committee (CWC) meetings in Abuja and Lagos, presided over by Comrade Ayuba Wabba and Comrade Joe Ajaero, it only confirmed stakeholders’fears that the crisis rocking the number one labour movement has deepened.

The two factions have been holding meetings and issuing statements separately, a development that has left stakeholders worried over its obvious implications for workers and the economy.

For instance, the Wabba-led NLC, in a communique jointly signed by its General Secretary, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, at the end of its inaugural CWC meeting in Abuja, said the labour centre after exhaustive deliberation has resolved to picket the office of the Postmaster-General for unlawful and illegal diversion of the check-off dues of members of National Union of Postal and Telecommunications Employment (NUPTE) to another union without the consent of NUPTE. According to the communiqué, the Postmaster’s action is a violation of the Trade Union Laws and the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which guarantees freedom of association. It also resolved to constitute a committee of experts to formulate a cogent and coherent response to the emerging issues in the economy as well as advance an alternative development agenda that will address the concerns of workers. The group also commended the credentials

committee for conducting transparent, credible and unimpeachable elections during the 11th National Delegates’ Conference of NLC. Also, at a briefing in Lagos, the other faction led by Joe Ajaero examined some labour and national issues that affect affiliate unions and its members. Ironically, despite the crisis, Ajaero said its CWC re-affirmed its commitment to the unity of the labour movement in Nigeria based on the principles of trade union independence, fairness, strong internal democracy, equity, solidarity, gender balance and justice.

He, however, said it would not work with the reconciliation committee set up by the Wabba team, an indication that solution may not yet be visible.

Though the factional group congratulated the new Minister of Labour and Productivity, Senator Joel Danlami Ikenya on his appointment and promised to work with him based on mutual trust and respect, it advised the Minister not to dabble into the internal affairs of trade union movement, adding that it must respect ILO Conventions 87 and 98 on the rights of workers to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

Implications for workers TheDirector- General, Employers Consultative Association (NECA), Mr. Olusegun Oshinowo, described the NLC leadership crisis as ‘an unfortunate incident.’ He reasoned that the best thing that could have happened to the organised labour movement is to have a unified body

• Ajaero

• Wabba

• Oshinowo

that could talk on behalf of Nigerian workers. “But as it is now, bearing in mind that the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and other institutions recognise the right to freedom of association, the question of legality of the factions has to be sorted out, and this is where the ministry of labour through the office of the Registrar of trade union should come in to tell the public the authentic body as two unions cannot bear NLC. The other splinter group would either go to court or form its own centre,” he said.

Oshinowo said the problem would undermine the effectiveness of the NLC as the common voice of the workers. He, however, noted that he did not see workers missing out as there are structured industrial relations when it comes to relating with their sectoral employers.

“However, when it comes to issues that transcend the sectors to the national like the minimum wage, the unity of the organised labour as the voice of the workers is necessary,” he said.

National President, Chemical and Non- Metallic Products Senior Staff A s s o c i a t i o n (CANMPSSA), Comrade Abdul Gafar Mohammed, said it was not good for labour, as workers, no doubt, would be at the receiving

end.

He said: “Some employers, who have no respect for workers’ rights may capitalise on the crisis to undermine the interest of the workers. This is a kind of situation they want. It is in unity that we can better serve the interest of our members. Hence, I would implore the two sides to come together and resolve their differences, if actually they are doing this in the interest of the Nigerian workers as they claimed.”

Former President, NLC and Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, said the NLC has lost prestige and influence in the eyes of Nigerians, particularly the workers.

In his congratulatory message to Wabba, he said: “It must be obvious to you by now, Comrade President, that the labour movement, and in particular, the congress has lost a significant amount of prestige and influence in the eyes of the working people and the public at large.

“The people no longer see the congress as the voice of the voiceless and a bulwark against socio-economic and political oppression and injustices in the polity. The congress is essentially viewed as either being complicit or at best indifferent to the cries of the poor working class people and the middle class citizens, who are daily at the receiving end

of an unjust social order.”

Oshiomhole appealed to those who were aggrieved by the outcome of the congress election to sheathe their swords and extend a hand of fellowship to the new president to reposition the congress.

The first General Secretary of the NLC, Aliyu Dangiwa, described the development in NLC as a big shame. “It’s a big shame. Moreover, on the part of workers, we have to be more articulate and objective.

Apparently, we must look at ourselves. There are people working against us, people working for our adversaries in our midst. Whoever is responsible for this should be traced by workers for appropriate action,” he said.

Presiding Bishop, Rhema Christian Church and Towers, Bishop Taiwo Akinola, warned that the problem in NLC might spell doom for workers and the masses.

He said: “The effect will be farreaching for the workers and the masses. It means no more voice for the voiceless. When the government overreacted, labour in the past had a way of putting them in check, but now labour too has been politicised. I will advise that whatever their differences are, they should be resolved for the sake of the workers and Nigerians, who have always looked up to them in terms of crisis.”

Civil servants caution Buhari against retrenchment

NUPENG threatens strike over failure to pass PIB

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HE National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) has threatened to go on strike if the National Assembly (NASS) fails to pass the Petroleum Industrial Bill (PIB) into law.

President of the union, Comrade Igwe Achese, made this known during a briefing tagged: “What is the future of oil and gas sector?”

According to him, we will not use the word ‘strike’ to scare Nigerians, but we will withdraw our services across the country if the Seventh Assembly fails to pass the PIB. Igwe said the bill must be passed by the NASS to ensure transparency in the oil and gas business.

“We are not joking with this issue and I hope strongly that the assembly will do the needful,” he said.

The NUPENG chief also lamented the vandalism of pipelines, calling on the government to provide adequate protection for

them.

“For refineries in Kaduna to function properly, there is the need to secure them and others throughout the country,” he added.

Part of their demands include the rehabilitation of refineries to reduce massive importation of petroleum products, tackling the problem of outsourcing of workers in the oil and gas sector, road rehabilitation, security, inauguration of the PPRA board, among others.

The labour leader said the divestment of oil must be stopped and that the government must bring in new policies to sustain the sector.

On the scarcity of fuel in Abuja, Achese emphasised that NUPENG was not on strike and despite the insecurity in the country, they still ensured the distribution of the product across the country.

“The question of no fuel should be directed to the NNPC and others because we are committed to our jobs,” he said.

• Buhari

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HE Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has urged the President-elect, Gen Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), to discard the advice of experts, who are asking him to retrench civil servants.

In a statement, its Secretary-General, Comrade Alade Bashir Lawal, expressed surprise that an incoming government that pledged to create employment is already being nudged to sack workers under the guise that the civil service is bloated.

The union pointed out that Nigeria’s population of about 160 million, with 100,000 of it, that is, 0.06 per cent in the civil service is not too much.

“The public service itself, which comprises the core civil service, the Armed Forces and the Police, Immigration, Customs, federal universities, and so on, is about 970,000

(0.61 per cent of the country’s population). ”So, where do these ‘experts’ get their facts that the civil service is bloated. We challenge all those making this unsubstantiated claim to a public debate on the issue,” the union said.

The ASCSN urged Buhari to be wary of fifth columnists that are pushing every government to embark on anti-people policies, which invariably lead it to a collision course with the people. It wondered why these activists and experts maintained criminal silence while the treasury was being looted by the out-going Federal Government officials.

The union argued that it is the political office holders with their retinue of special and junior advisers; senior and junior assistants and other political appointees that took billions of public finances.

“It is common knowledge that political office holders, including lawmakers and members of the executive arm of government are the highest paid in the world. Most of them receive more than the President of the United States. So, if the All Progressives Congress (APC) government is desirous to make meaningful change, it should do well to drastically reduce the humongous emoluments of political office holders to bring it in tandem with the salary in the Public

Service and equally trim the innumerable number of sycophant politicians recruit as personal aides,” the ASCSN stressed.

The union pointed out that civil servants are the least paid in Africa, with a meagre monthly national minimum wage of N18,000, which is not being paid by many state governments in the country. ”As we write, civil servants and their dependants moan and groan under the pain and pang of poverty because their miserable pay-packets cannot cater for their basic needs in an environment where every citizen is running a mini-government for himself.

“It will, therefore, be an unmitigated tragedy if the incoming administration bows to the pressure of failed experts looking for relevance and recognition to throw thousands of civil servants into the over-saturated labour market,” the ASCSN added.

The union emphasised the need for self-appointed experts to be abreast of facts in any sector before rushing to the media to indulge in unproductive advocacy.

Recently, the former President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, urged the incoming Buhari administration to “decapitate the civil service because the civil service, is bloated and should be cut so that the government can have more money”.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

THE NATION

e-Business e-mail: e-business@thenationonlineng.net

Website:- http://www.thenationonlineng.com

lukajanaku02@gmail.com

In the telecoms and broadcast industries, frequencies are considered scarce resources. Their availability and judicious deployment are expected to deepen broadband internet services across the country. However, this depends on the release of broadcast spectrum known as ’digital dividends’ by the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), writes LUCAS AJANAKU.

Will ‘digital dividends’ ever come?

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ELECOMS global body, the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), says broadcast frequencies’ sale as a result of digital switch over (DSO) could fetch the country over $2 billion.

The group also said with the release of digital dividend spectrum, sub-Saharan Africa could grow its gross domestic product (GDP) yearly by $82 billion by 2025; earnings by about $18 billion in tax revenues and creating no fewer than 27 million jobs.

Digital dividends spectrum is the frequency band located in 700m egahertz (MHz) spectrum band. It has been internationally adjudged to be very useful in deploying highspeed internet services globally.

The spectrum was approved by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), an arm of the United Nations (UN), for mobile broadband deployment about three years ago for its member-countries.

In Nigeria and other countries, this spectrum bands is in the possession of the broadcast industry, which will implement the DSO of ITU by July 17, this year.

However, a pall of uncertainty hangs over whether Nigeria will join the rest of ITU member-countries to switch off analogue transmitters’ televison sets.

An official of the NCC, who craved anonymity, lamented that this all-important spectrum bands are still in the hands of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC).

“As at today, none of these frequencies has been released in spite of the fact that we are getting so close to DSO. Besides, we are not sure yet whether any of these broadcast media is ready for digital transmission,” the source lamented.

NBC’s Director-General, Emeka Mba, said the nation will achieve DSO, adding that more than 26 per cent of the population was already doing digital transmission while the huge mass with analogue transmitters and television sets have their fates hanging in the balance. Inview Technologies of the United Kingdom (UK) and a consortium of indigenous broadcasters, have been contracted to provide set top boxes and make available the software that will make the provision of key service available.

Since spectrum availability is closely linked with broadband infrastructure development, the freeing up of the locked 700Mhz frequency will, no doubt, complement current efforts by the country to increase broadband penetration from about eight per cent to 30 per cent by 2018. This is in line with the Federal Government’s target contained in the National Broadband Plan (NBP).

If the 700Mhz frequencies are taken over from the NBC, it will first be handed over to the National Frequency Management Commission (NFMC) which is the custodian of all frequencies in the country. It is under the Ministry of Communications Technology and currently chaired by Communications Technology Minister, Dr. (Mrs) Omobola Johnson.

The NFMC, then, decides what slots it gives out to the NCC for allocation according in line with global best practices, especially as stipulated by the ITU. President, Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Mr. Lanre Ajayi, said releasing the spectrum bands to inves-

•Dr. (Mrs.) Johnson

• CEO, NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah

• Mba

• Nwaulune

tors that will roll-out service on them will add a new fillip to the industry, especially now that the next revenue frontier of the industry has shifted from voice to data.

He said: “It will be an advantage for the country if these spectrum bands are released by the appropriate authority for NCC to allocate to would-be applicants.”

NCC’s Director, Spectrum Administration, Austine Nwaulune, said June 17 DSO deadline is a global phenomenon, stressing that any analogue station that failed to migrate ran the risk of losing ITU’s protection, warning that “and if Nigeria causes interference, it will be sanctioned.”

But the truth of the matter is that the digital dividends are not yet available and NCC cannot give what it does not have. In the light of this, the regulator said it has commenced consultation with stakeholders on the best way to allocate the spectrum bands ahead of its expected release by the NFMC.

Declaration of broadband year The Federal Government earlier declared this year as Broadband Year. For carriers, the most technically-advanced technology for broadband offering is the LTE or 4G. LTE, an acronym for Long-Term Evolution, commonly marketed as 4G LTE, is a standard for wireless communication of high-speed data for mobile phones and data terminals.

Online knowledge encyclopaedia, Wikipedia defined LTE as “the natural upgrade path for carriers with both GSM/UMTS networks and CDMA2000 networks. The different LTE frequencies and bands used in different countries will mean that only multi-

band phones will be able to use LTE in all countries where it is supported.

“Although marketed as a 4G wireless service, LTE (as specified in the 3GPP Release 8 and 9 document series) does not satisfy the technical requirements the 3GPP consortium has adopted for its new standard generation, and which were originally set forth by the ITU-R organisation in its IMT-Advanced specification. However, due to marketing pressures and the significant advancements that WiMAX, HSPA+ and LTE bring to the original 3G technologies, ITU later decided that LTE together with the aforementioned technologies can be called 4G technologies.

“The LTE Advanced standard formally satisfies the ITU-R requirements to be considered IMT-Advanced. To differentiate LTE Advanced and WiMAX-Advanced from current 4G technologies, ITU has defined them as “True 4G”.

Experts say LTE can support downloads at 300 megabits per second (Mbps) or more based on experimental trials. However, the actual network bandwidth available to an individual LTE subscriber sharing the service provider’s network with other customers is significantly less.

According to latest Ericsson Mobility Report, there will be 9.3 billion mobile subscriptions in 2019, adding that 65 per cent of the global population will have LTE coverage by that same year.

GSMA’s March last year report indicated that there were 279 commercially-launched LTE networks in 101 countries and 482 LTE network commitments in 147 countries.

Experts say for telecoms end-users, LTE services will give them a superior user experi-

ence when it comes to stability, throughput, and latency. The increased capacity will bring new and better services to users.

For carriers, LTE offers them the advantage of a proof network delivering capacity, throughput and redefined user experience that creates new business opportunities and revenues. The technology offers low long-term capital outlya and operational costs.

On the development, a telecoms analyst, Mr. Akin Akinbo, said: “The introduction of LTE is an evolutionary step, rather than revolutionary, as large parts of existing infrastructure is re-used providing a future-proof technology path for flexible migration of services between 2G, 3G and 4G mobile technologies. But in order to meet customer expectations and demands for capacity and speed tomorrow, all major players need to put an LTE strategy in place.”

In addition to the efforts being made to ensure the availability of 700Mhz, the NCC early this year convened a stakeholders’ consultative forum on the 70/80 Mhz band, in Lagos.

As it awaits the release of the spectrum bands, the NCC is working to fine-tune the document and release the rules for its bidding process soon.

Before the implementation of its open access broadband model, the regulator auctioned the 2.3 gigahertz (Ghz) spectrum band to an indigenous player, Bitflux Communications Limited to provide wholesale services. Its Managing Director, Biodun Omoniyi, said environmental issues stopped the firm from rolling out services on the spectrum it defeated national carrier, Gloobacom, to clinch. He, however, said the firm would commence commercial service any moment.

It is part of the regulator’s move to make adequate spectrum available for broadband services to a country where more than 90 per cent of telecoms services are deployed through wireless means.

Another effort to complement the 2.3GHz auction was the 2.6 GHz spectrum band auction, which had experienced two postponements.

Government sources said the NCC wanted to get it right before putting the spectrum on sale. “Recall that in 2001 after the Digital Mobile Licence (DML) auction, Communication Investment Limited (CIL), one of the winners, did not pay for the licence because the frequency allocated to CIL was believed to be encumbered and it lost the licence and the deposit for same.

“So, the NCC wants to clear the coast before another major licence round will take place. Let me assure you that the licensing round is work in progress,” the NCC official said.

Also, the Infrastructure Companies (Infracos) licencees have swung into action, as Lagos and North Central including Abuja licensing has already been concluded.

The other five zones, according to the NCC, are works in progress. The government, through the NCC, is dangling incentives to attract bidders to the zones considered less attractive commercially.

Besides, the Ministry of Communications Technology said tax holidays of between five and seven years, 30 per cent rebate on capital expenditure (capex) is also in the offing for the investors.

Additionally, the 5.4 GHz spectrum auction has already been advertised and applications are already being received by the NCC. Stakeholders say the NBC should put its house in order, raise the funding required for DSO, rise up to surmount the legal and logistical cobwebs on its way so that the digital spectrum band could be relaesed for national development.

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

55

MONEYLINK

March inflation may ease to 8.2%

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AST month’s inflation rate is projected to moderate to 8.2 per cent, 0.16 per cent lower than the 8.4 per cent recorded in February, Managing Director, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Bismark Rewane, has said.

In the FDC Economic Report released yesterday, he said the decline is surprising given the economic trends such as currency devaluation, a fiercely contested election and the commencement of the lean season.

In spite of these hitches, he said manufacturers, treasurers and the markets increased their inventories in anticipation of currency devaluation.

He said the impact of the decrease in money supply (M2) for January this year and the lower prices of international commodities relative to the same period last year are factors that weighed in favor of the price moderation.

He said there was speculative buy-

Stories by Collins Nweze

ing and fuel scarcity in March but had minimal impact on retail prices.

He said Lagos urban inflation index also declined to 10.26 per cent in March, 0.53 per cent from 10.79 per cent in February. The year-onyear food and non-food indexes decreased by 8.68 per cent and 11.06 per cent respectively, in March, from 9.99 per cent and 11.19 per cent in February. The decline, he added is in line with the projected headline inflation which is attributed to the sustained lower global commodities and consumer prices.

Rewane said headline inflation rate in April is expected to increase to 8.3 per cent due to the impact of currency devaluation and the intensity of the planting season. He said movement in sourcing of forex for raw materials from the Retail Dutch Auction System

(RDAS) to the interbank market effectively increased their costs by 13 per cent. He said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has maintained a tight liquidity policy in April which has seen rates in the interbank market spike to 70 per cent per annum.

“Our March outlook for inflation is unlikely to influence the exchanges rates. However, the naira will continue to experience volatility at the interbank and parallel markets as foreign investors continue to speculate and sustain the demand pressure in these markets.

“We estimate that the naira will trade within N197 to 199 to dollar at the interbank market against the dollar and may subsequently depreciate further should oil prices fall below $50 per barrel,” he said.

He said the equities market remained oblivious to inflation rate.

“Intuitively, given that we expect no significant change in the money market, we anticipate stock market

NDIC: no sensitive document lost in fire

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•Rewane activities will be impervious. However, stock price decline in March was due to capital flight initiated by foreign investors as the elections drew near. The bearish position held by investors was also driven by reversal of capital flows by hedge funds and international investors,” he said.

Union Bank pre-tax profit rises by 635% to N27.7b

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NION Bank of Nigeria has said its group profit before tax rose 635 per cent to N27.7 billion during the financial year ended December 31, 2014.

The lender’s total asset was stable at N1 trillion while net loans and advances to customers up 36 per cent to N312.8 billion from N229.5 billion the previous year.

Customer Deposits were up nine per cent to N527.6 billion from N482.7 billion as at December 2013 while Net Interest Income after impairment charge was up four per cent to N47 billion N45.2 billion as at December 2013.

“Profit Before Tax was up by N24

billion for the group and N16 billion for the bank, including N6.3 billion from sale of subsidiaries. Loan book grows by 44 per cent while there was significant growth in net operating income,” the bank said.

Its Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Emeka Emuwa said: “2014 was focused on implementing the foundational pillars of our transformation strategy with a vision to rebuild Union Bank into a highly respected provider of financial services in Nigeria. We optimised our talent base, making significant hires into key roles and ensuring we have the right people in the right functions, and aligned our staff compensation and

overall costs to be competitive within the industry. We also overhauled operations and processes in order to consistently deliver quality service to our customers, and established a Central Processing Centre to provide streamlined, cost efficient, and consistent processing of branch operations.”

He said going into this year, key financial indicators for the bank have been normalised and growth trajectory remains positive.

He said:“As we continue to execute strategic transformation initiatives, we expect to see continued improvement in both our financial and operational performance as we roll out

a new core banking platform which will markedly transform our customer service and product delivery capabilities.”

Its Chief Financial Officer, Mrs. Oyinkan Adewale, said: “Having substantially cleaned up our loan book in 2013, we were able to reduce net impairment charge by 75 per cent and improve Non Performing Loans ratio from six per cent in 2013 to 5.1 per cent in 2014.

“We have better leveraged our capital base, with a 44 per cent growth in the loan book, and growth in loan to deposit ratio from 48 per cent in December 2013 to 64 per cent at the end of 2014.”

HE Nigeria Deposit Insur ance Corporation (NDIC) said neither life nor sensitive document was lost in yesterday’s fire incidence at its Lagos office.

In a statement,its Head, Communications and Public Affairs, H. S. Birchi said the corporation did not lose any sensitive document because the fire mostly affected the Marina side of the building.

He said the incident occurred in the morning at the Mamman Kontagora House, Marina, Lagos.

“Luckily, no life was lost and no sensitive document was destroyed because the fire mostly affected the Marina side of the building,” he said.

Birchi said the NDIC Managing Director/Chief Executive, Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim and Managing Director of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Alhaji GimbaYau Kumo, have visited the building.

He said though the fire had since been put out, it had relocated all its workers to NECOM House, also in Marina, to ensure continuity of service provision and enable the fire service and other experts to assess the level of damage.

NDIC said: “It is hoped that the corporation’s normal activities will resume at the Mamman Kontagora House on Monday, April 20.

“The NDIC management wishes to thank the public for their sympathy and concern. It also wishes to thank the Lagos State Fire Service, Nigeria Ports Authority, Julius Berger, Union Bank and Federal Fire Service for their tremendous assistance in putting out the fire.”

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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CITYBEATS

CITYBEATS LINE: 09091178827

•Aderanti with Mrs Adebisi Orekoya and Aderomola...yesterday

•Ademola...yesterday at the hospital

•Adedamola...yesterday at the hospital •Aderomola...yesterday at the hospital

Jubilation as Orekoya kids return home

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HERE was joy on the Orekoyas’ Lawanson, Surulere, Lagos home yesterday following the return of their kidnapped children.

The children Ademola (6), Adedamola (4) and Aderomola (11 months) were released by their abductors on Tuesday night; they reunited with their parents around 9p.m.

It was learnt that the family paid a ransom for the boys’ release. The undisclosed amount was paid into a bank in Sagamu, Ogun State, before the children were released in Shasha, Egbeda, Lagos.

Their parents were told to where to pick them up.

On realising that the Orekoyas could not afford the initial N13 million ransom, the kidnappers, it was learnt reduced the sum and told them of how to make it available.

A source told The Nation that the search for the kids climaxed on Tuesday, with their father, Adeleke Orekoya, going to Sagamu to pay the ransom.

The family, the source said, met the toddlers unclad at the address given by the kidnappers later that night.

But, the police are claiming to have outgunned the kidnappers to rescue the boys.

The kidnappers, police spokesman Kenneth Nwosu, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), claimed fled under police superior fire power, and abandoned the children.

The police, he said, swooped on the abductors following detailed intelligence and cutting edge technology.

Nwosu said no one was killed or injured in the encounter. No arrest was also made.

Reliving how the kids were

•Police: we rescued them •Family paid ransom, says aunt

OLX: it’s unfortunate

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For the first time since the incident happened, OLX, the e-commerce portal through which the Orekoyas got the maid who abducted their children, yesterday spoke on the matter.

Its country manager, Lola Masha, said it was unfortunate.

It said in a statement issued before the kids’ release: “This is an unfortunate situation and our sympathies go out to the victim and their family. OLX is an online classifieds site that brings buyers and sellers together to promote trade. We take steps to moderate and review all ads but we do not participate in the negotiations between buyers and sellers. Transactions are performed directly between both parties. In all our marketing campaign, we continuously urge our users to take necessary precautionary checks when using OLX. “We continue to innovate and improve our review process with tighter measures that would help to minimise future occurrence of negative incidents. We also need our users to help us kick out bad players and ask them to report any dubious activity or user on the site for immediate action. Our customer support team can be reached at 0700-CALL-OLX (0700-22-55-659) or at support-ng@olx.com.

“We sincerely hope that the 3 kids are returned safely to their loved ones. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and we will provide all help within our capacity to facilitate the quick reunion of the 3 children with their family.”

By Tajudeen Adebanjo and Precious Igbonwelundu

found, their aunt, Mrs Adesumbo Alabi said: ‘’It was after they called the family on (Tuesday night), I can’t be specific about the time but it was in the night that they found the children. They were all naked on the road. They were asked to go and pay some money at a bank in Sagamu. After paying the money, in the night they now called them (Orekoyas) and told them to go to Egbeda.

They described the place for them. ‘’So they went there in the night

and found the children. They were all naked and alone. Immediately they got there and saw the children, they took them to the hospital, (Cottage Hospital/Comprehensive Health College, inside Police College, Ikeja). ‘’The kids were not well fed by their abductors. They looked malnourished, traumatised with rashes and mosquito bites on their bodies. They were left bare footed but we thank God that they are alive.’’

The children’s grandfather, Apostle Adegoke Adekunle while jubilating over the safe return of the

•The Cottage hospital..yesterday

boys, claimed that the police initially frustrated rescue efforts.

He said but for the intervention of the Commissioner of Police, Kayode Aderanti, who ordered the Divisional Police Officer, Itire to act swiftly, policemen were unwilling to take the kids’ mother’s complaint. ‘’I am happy today because I know I have not done evil to anybody. God whom I serve has rescued my grandchildren for me.

When I was called that they have been kidnapped, I did not know what to do but I knew I have God. I went to churches to pray and I thank God today that they are safe. ‘’We did many things with police.

The commissioner came here. He was the one who called the DPO demanding an investigation into the case. The Investigating Police Officer (IPO) who recorded my daughter’s statement just dropped the paper until the commissioner called the DPO about the matter. ‘’After the commissioner’s call, both the DPO and station officer came to the house and I scolded the IPO who took the first statement for his unprofessional attitude. So, another policeman was sent to come and take statement and a police

Fire guts Mamman Kontagora House in Lagos

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HE 11-storey Mamman Kontagora House in Marina, Lagos, housing some Federal Government agencies and private firms, went up in flames yesterday.

The building was hitherto to be occupied by the Federal Ministry of Workers before it relocated to Abuja.

The office of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), and Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), on the fifth and seventh floors were razed.

The fire was said to have started from the third floor which serves as the generator room.

It was gathered that the generator was serviced (on Tuesday) and may have exploded because of some leakages.

By Basirat Braimah

By 12.30pm, the fire had spread to the eighth floor.

A NDIC worker, who declined to give his name, said they had just resumed when the fire started.

“Our office is on the seventh floor. Around 9am, we all heard fire! fire!! We didn’t know where the voices came from but we ran out of the building. I am afraid some of our documents have been damaged because most of us couldn’t take anything out of fear,” he said.

He also confirmed that there was no casualty.

FMBN Managing Director Gimba Kumo said: “The building occupies two sides which are the Broad and Marina Streets. Noth-

ing happened to the Broad Street side and I have been informed by the NDIC’s Executive Director that no major document was lost. We shall still find out.”

Kumo said NDIC occupies 60 to 70 percent of the building, adding that while FMBN has two floors.

Head of operations, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) Femi Giwa said the hazard analysis and risk assessment were being carried out.

He said: “The inferno started from the generator room which also had a surface tank filled with diesel and smaller drums. As we tried to quench the fire, it spread to the diesel tank and drums coupled with electrical cables. We were surprised as it exploded from the third floor to seventh.”

Director, State Fire Service Rasaq Fadipe said his men responded immediately they received a distress call. He advised private establishments to always consult the agency on how to prevent such incident.

He said: “The call came in at 9.13am and I dispatched the fire truck from Onikan and responded promptly with 10,000 litres of water and an area ladder that could combat the outbreak of water on high-rise building. The fire trucks were further complemented with other trucks from the state fire service. With the assistance of LASEMA, I will advise the companies to always open their doors to fire service so that we can offer advise. It is important that the fire equipment in companies are regularly serviced.”

team was sent from Alausa as well,’’ he said.

In the morning yesterday, it was celebration galore at the Orekoyas’ home as well-wishers gathered to thank God. The Orekoyas in a Thank You message posted on social media around midnight gave God the glory.

The message reads: “We give God all the glory. Our Orekoya missing kids have been found. Thank you so much everyone for your prayers, moral and financial support all along. The list is endless, of awesome mothers, sisters, colleagues, business partners; father’s and even kids too. You have been amazing!

May God grant all your hearts’ desires too? Much love always. You will not lose your children.”

Shouts of congratulations!

“Thank you, God,” rang out at the Orekoyas’ home during the jubilation.

“God has answered our prayers.

He did not disappoint us with the rescue of the children. This, we pray, will be the beginning of uncountable good things from God to this family,” an in-law of the Orekoyas said.

There were praise songs and worship; some had theirs in the sitting room; the kids’ grandparents and few family members stayed in a bedroom.

Adekunle thanked The Nation for its consistency on the reports, saying, the paper did well.

The Nation observed that the children have shortly after their return home yesterday, the children promptly got back to their routine and were happy to be home.

Ademola, who opened the door for our reporters, was busy playing with an IPAD on the dining table with his brother, Michael; Adedamola jumped from one part of the house to the other.

Ademola, a Basic one pupil, told our reporters that their abductors did not torture them but removed their clothes.

Mr Orekoya addled 11-monthold Aderomola and declined interviews because he is still bonding with his children so as to “observe changes in them”.

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

57

NEWS BUHARI’S VICTORY Two killed as Fulani, indigenes clash in Kwara T WO people have died in a clash between the indigenes of Oro-Ago in Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State and Fulani (Bororo) settlers.

The clash, which occurred on Monday, resulted in the destruction of property worth millions of naira.

Ten motorcycles and five vehicles belonging to the Fulani were burnt by youths.

Four people were injured.

It was learnt that the fracas was allegedly caused by the settlers’ refusal to obey the rules disallowing them from bringing arms, ammunition or sticks from their settle-

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

ments to Oro-Ago on market days.

The Nation gathered that the Fulani traders entered the market with arms on the fateful day and men of the vigilance team and hunters accosted them, seized the weapons and kept them at a place in Oro-Ago. A source said the seized weapons were allegedly taken from where they were kept by the Serikin Fulani (leader of the Fulani) and

given back to his people.

The source added: “Attempt by the locals to retrieve the weapons from the Fulani was resisted, leading to a clash.

“A youth, Sogo Babarinde, who repaired phones in the market, was killed by the Fulani.”

Another source said youths killed one of the Fulani, before they were chased away from the community.

The Nation learnt that security operatives, comprising

military and policemen, had been drafted to the community to restore peace.

It was gathered that men of the vigilance group were assisting the security personnel.

Police spokesman Ajayi Okasanmi confirmed that two persons were killed and not seven as speculated. He said men and officers of the command had restored peace.

Okasanmi said the Ifelodun Local Government authorities had constituted a committee, comprising the indigenes and the Fulani to resolve the matter and prevent a recurrence.

El-Rufai: I’ll develop Kaduna •Gets Certificate of Return From Abdulgafar Alabelewe, Kaduna

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ADUNA State Governor-elect Mallam Nasir ElRufai yesterday received his Certificate of Return from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

He said he would work hard to make the state recover from the last eight years of stagnation.

The governor-elect said he had no time to exult in his victory, as there was much to do to make Kaduna great again, “therefore I have to swing into action immediately.”

El-Rufai, in his acceptance speech, reaffirmed his commitment to make the state great again.

“We shall be doing so under serious constraints. Kaduna is indebted at a time when oil prices are low. Our state has not seen development in the last eight years. We must work twice as hard with half the resources of the last eight years to catch up with our neighbours. We must be disciplined, focused and prudent to do so.

“In accepting my election as governor of Kaduna State, I pledge to move our state forward, beginning from today. As soon as I’m sworn into office and I constitute an Executive Council, we shall begin work to meet your expectations.”

Noting that he is aware of the people’s expectation, which he described as justifiable, the governor-elect demanded patience, sacrifice and support to enable his administration reform the institutions.

He said: “We will fulfil the promises in our manifesto, the Kaduna restoration programme. Our commitment to transparency will be manifest as we reform the public sector to be an efficient deliverer of services.

“The All Progressives Congress (APC) takes seriously its responsibility to build a harmonious society. We are committed to fostering a secure, peaceful environment that gives confidence to the residents. We will uphold the rule of law and the equality of concern for citizens. We intend to work with all communities. We are equal partners and stakeholders. There will be no discrimination in Kaduna on the basis of gender, ethnicity or religion. Appointments and nominations will be on the basis of integrity and determined by competence, capacity and capability.’’

One arrested with explosive detonators From James Azania, Lokoja

•Director-General, Consumer Protection Council, Dupe Atoki, being received by the Secretary of State of the State of Georgia, USA, Mr Brian Kemp, before her conferment with the Honorary Citizen of the State of Georgia in Atlanta.

Politicians attacked me, says Gombe monarch

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HE ruler of Bodor in Funakaye Local Government Area of Gombe State, Alhaji Saleh Tinka, has alleged that he was attacked by politicians because he stopped them from perpetrating electoral fraud last Saturday.

He alleged that during accreditation, he queried some

•Alleges electoral fraud

By Vincent Ohonbamu, Gombe

politicians giving voters N1,000 and N500.

The monarch said they pounced on him and manhandled him and tore his regalia in the presence of his subjects.

He said he explained to them that his action was to ensure a free and fair election and not an expression of political interest, but they would not listen. “Instead, they humiliated me.”

Alhaji Tinka said the politicians accused him of ask-

ing his subjects to vote a particular party, “which is not true because I’ve never been a politician. I’m a father of the people.”

The ruler said the situation would have degenerated into a crisis, but for his appeal to his subjects not to resort to violence.

He said he was yet to report the matter to the police.

Bwacha urges INEC to declare Ishaku governor-elect

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HE senator representing Southern Taraba, Emmanuel Bwacha, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to announce the governorship election result in Taraba State and declare Darius Dickson Ishaku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner.

The senator, who briefed reporters in Jalingo yesterday, faulted the cancellation of the governorship election results in parts of Taraba by INEC. He described as “wrong and unlawful”, the cancellation of the result in his local government, Donga, by the Returning Officer, Prof.

Mohammed Kyari.

Ishaku won the poll in nine local governments, with 317,198 votes.

Senator Aisha Alhassan of the All Progressives Congress (APC) won in six councils, with 262,386 votes.

But Prof. Kyari declared the poll as “inconclusive”. He said the number of rejected votes was more than the number of the difference in

From Fanen Ihyongo, Jalingo

votes (margin) between PDP and APC. He ordered a rerun in areas where results were rejected.

Bwacha accused Kyari of bias, saying he cancelled the results to ensure APC won.

He said the results of 20 polling units in Bali were rejected, but Kyari did not cancel them.

“He, however, hastened to cancel the result of 165 polling units in Donga when only five polling units had problems.

“Let me say, without any fear of contradiction, that the action of the INEC Returning officer has put a question mark on the process in the state.

“This is because he has no powers, under the law, to cancel the election in Donga.

“Now, if he had acted in error by cancelling the result, all he should have done was to call for the acceptance of the result, entered the figures and an-

‘He has no reason, whatsoever, to cancel the results. And having been told that he acted in error, he decided to ask us to go back for them to conduct a fresh election’ nounced what we had on ground.

“He has no reason, whatsoever, to cancel the results.

And having been told that he acted in error, he decided to ask us to go back for them to conduct a fresh election.”

The senator said he was making reference to the situation, not because the PDP is afraid of the rerun, slated for April 25.

“If the election is conducted 10 times, the people who voted, will still not change their position or

opinion on the candidates.

Our worry, however, is the flagrant abuse of law and the process, which clearly manifested.

“We are worried that his action is capable of casting doubts on the hard-earned integrity, which Prof.

Attahiru Jega worked for during the elections.”

He said Prof. Kyari erred as a messenger for INEC, but as law-abiding citizens, who did not disobey establishments, they were ready for the rerun.

Bwacha added that as a serving senator, he would not keep quiet when he sees a flagrant abuse of law and a process, such as the election, which is adjudged as fair across the country.

“Whatever the motive that the cancellation was intended to serve, that motive has been defeated, and the PDP will still win.

“President-elect Muhammadu Buhari got votes here because of his good personality and integrity, not because the APC has structures here,” he said.

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OLICE in Kogi State said yesterday that it arrested one person with eight stolen explosive detonators on the eve of the House of Assembly election.

The command, in a statement by spokesman Sola Collins Adebayo said other people were arrested with locally-made guns.

He said the development would have spelt doom for the state if the police were not proactive, adding that those arrested would be arraigned after investigation.

NNPC increases fuel truck to Abuja

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HE management of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has assured the public that the queues at filling stations in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and its environs will soon ease. It said the corporation had increased fuel truck-out from the Suleja depot to Abuja to solve distribution challenges.

From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

The corporation, in a statement by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ohi Alegbe, noted that the artificially-induced distribution challenge in the FCT was caused by the few days lull in the loading gantries, following the elections.

Lawmakers-elect get INEC Certificates From James Azania, Lokoja

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HE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday issued Certificates of Return to the winners of the National Assembly election in Kogi

State.

The INEC Commissioner in-charge of Kogi, Nasarawa and Plateau states, Dr. Abdulkadiri Oniyangi, did the presentation in Lokoja.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) won the three senatorial seats.

It also clinched five of the nine House of Representatives seats, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won three.

Election in Dekina I was declared inconclusive.

The senators-elect given Certificates of Return are Dino Melaye (Kogi West), Mohammed Salami Ohiare (Kogi Central) and Abdulrahman Abubakar (Kogi East).

The five APC House of Representatives-elect, who received Certificates of Return are Abdullahi Bello (Okene/ Ogorimagongo), Lawal Idris (Ajaokuta), Hassan Omale (Ankpa/Omala), Buba Jubril (Lokoja/Koto-Karfe) and Kabiru Mohammed Ajana (Okehi/Adavi).

The three PDP Reps-elect, who received Certificates of Return, are Emmanuel Egwu (Idah/Ofu/Igalamela/Ibaji), Sunday Karimi (Yagba) and Tajudeen Yusuf (Kabba/Ijumu).

Speaking on behalf of the members-elect, Melaye pledged their commitment to service.

He said: “We are all going to be senators and House of Representatives members in our respective capacity, but we will work together for the interest of Kogi State.

“We will not work as APC or PDP lawmakers, but as representatives of our people and show that change has truly come.”

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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NEWS

Sylva: APC’s maturity prevented bloodbath in Southsouth

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ORMER Bayelsa State Governor Timipreye Sylva has said the maturity of All Progressives Congress (APC) members in the Southsouth prevented a bloodbath in the March 28 and April 11 general elections.

Addressing reporters yesterday at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, Silvia noted that APC members in the zone were faced with a choice between winning the elections and protecting its members when they were being attacked, intimidated and killed.

The former governor said it was glaring from the outset that the ruling Peoples Dem-

From Tony Akowe, Abuja

ocratic Party (PDP) planned to rig the elections and cause violence while the APC only prepared for free and fair elections.

He said this explained why APC members remained peaceful, despite the attacks on and intimidation of its members.

Sylva, who contested for the Senate, said the party’s members in the Southsouth had shown their commitment to the party, despite the intimidation and attacks by PDP members.

He said: “I am sure the nation knows that those of us from the Southsouth who are

members of the APC are committed. What happened was not because we are not committed; it is a situation of choosing between the lives of our people and the death that PDP brought.”

Sylva described APC’s victory in the general elections, especially in the North, as a victory for Nigeria.

The former governor noted that the party’s victory had rescued the nation from the precipice because Nigeria was already at a dangerous point.

According to him, if the PDP had won the presidential election, the country would not have survived another four years, given the level of mess

in the country.

Sylva said: “Nigeria has once moved away from the precipice. We were so close to chaos. When you look at every sector of this country, the Lord has once again shown His mercy to Nigeria.

We are very grateful to God.” The former governor said APC’s chapters in the Southsouth would focus on its next line of action.

He said: “They just grabbed election materials and went away. Of course, they intimidated. In some instances, they killed people. They filled in the the results papers. That is not an election. An election is when people come out and they are allowed to vote.”

•From left: Vice Principal (Academic), Eva Adelaja Secondary School, Gbagada, Lagos, Mrs Ogoro; winner of the first phase of Teens Can Cook competition, Ibrahim Temitope of National College, Lagos; his Food and Nutrition Teacher National College, Mrs. Osinubi and former General Manager, LPG Oando Marketing Plc (OMP), Jhingran Sunil, in line with the company's engagement of teenagers to embrace cooking with clean cooking gas.

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HE Chairman of Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Agbodion, has been suspended, following allegations of financial mismanagement and sundry administrative irregularities.

Governor Adams Oshiomhole announced Agbodion’s suspension yesterday when he addressed members of the Local Government Executive Council and Councillors at the Government House in Benin, the state capital.

He said: “We have tried in the past to call the Chairman to have a good working relationship with his executives. We have decided to set up a panel of enquiry to investigate these allegations financial and non-financial in line with the provisions of the appropriate legislations of the local government law.

I have decided to exercise the powers vested in me to suspend the Chairman during this period for the committee to investigate all the allegations and submit the report to me.

“So, with immediate effect, the Chairman is suspended and a committee of enquiry is set up. In line with the rules, the Vice Chairman will act as the Chairman of the local government.”

The local government’s Vice Chairman Reginald Okuns will act as the Acting Chairman pending the out-

From Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia, Benin

come of the investigation by the Committee of Enquiry.

Oshiomhole added: “I direct the suspended chairman to stay away from the premises of the local government. When the committee is ready to sit, it will invite you and you will have ample opportunity to defend yourself against the allegations...”

Oshiomhole yesterday set up a four-man Commission of Enquiry to investigate the allegations levelled against Oshiomhole yesterday set up a four-man Commission of Enquiry to investigate the allegations levelled against Agbodion.

Inaugurating the commission in his office, the governor said: “We decided to set up this committee in line with the provisions of Section 20, sub-section 11 of the Local Government Law, as amended, 2006.”

Chief Tom Uloko is the panel’s Chairman and Mrs. Regina Osagajah its Secretary. Other members are: Maj.-Gen. Charles Omoregie (rtd) and Tunji Aroya.

Uloko said the panel would be firm and fair in its investigation.

He said the panel would apply legal ethics to accomplish its assignment and submit its report as soon as possible.

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

• His name has been removed, says commission

From Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

leged that Tambo was appointed to enable the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) hijack the results of the election.

They accused the state government of planning to arrest opposition candidates and 15 of their frontline supporters before Saturday’s elections.

The opposition candidates named some of their supporters allegedly marked for arrest by the government, using security agencies.

They are: Kwesi Zikiye, Gesiye Isowo, Sylvanus Abila, Inemo Oruebimiekumo, Chamberlin Ikidi and Jackson Suokiri.

Others are: Inemotimi Angalapele, Ibarakumo Ikosomi, Pereowei Agura, Victor Vianana, Ebikeme Okoringa, Akpoegberi Ogidiga, Ikuro Igarando and Alex Oruebim-

iekumo.

The spokesmen said the government once arrested persons perceived to oppose the PDP and “unlawfully” detained them for two weeks in Yenagoa, the state capital, and Zone 6 in Benin, the Edo State capital.

According to them, APC’s candidates for Kolokuma-Opokuma Constituency I, Mr. Taripredou Aketi and APGA’s Yenagoa Constituency I, Mr. Kingdom Blessing, suffered the same fate.

They said: “Emboldened by its ‘Operation-arrest-and-detain-our-opponent’ strategy, the Bayelsa State Government has perfected plans to visit the same fate upon us and our supporters in Kolokuma-Opokuma.

“The government also plans to flood Kolokuma-Opokuma on Election Day with thugs,

fake military officers and policemen, essentially to cause violence and bloodbath with a view to generally intimidating our supporters from voting.”

The spokesmen urged INEC to withdraw Tambo and replace him with a university lecturer who has no connection with the state government.

They also urged the commission not to release any essential electoral material for Kolokuma-Opokuma to the government or its agents.

The parties’ spokesmen appealed to INEC and security agencies to prevent Dickson from touring Kolokuma-Opokuma on the Election Day to avoid a crisis in the area.

Kpagih acknowledged receiving a petition written by APGA candidates on Tambo’s appointment.

The REC said Tambo’s name had been removed from the

Gunmen kidnap Delta community leader’s wife HE wife a leader of Ugborodo Community Trust in Delta State, Mrs Caro Botosan, was abducted yesterday by a four suspected gunmen near Okere in Warri.

One of the kidnappers was arrested on the scene while the other escaped.

Mrs Botosan, who is the wife

• Oshiomhole inaugurates probe panel

INEC reschedules Edo constituency’s poll

‘INEC appointed Dickson’s brother as Collation Officer’ OLITICAL parties in Bayelsa State yesterday accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of appointing the brother to Governor Seriake Dickson as a Collation Officer for the April 18 rescheduled elections.

Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Baritor Kpagih shifted the House of Assembly election in eight constituencies, citing insufficient electoral materials.

But the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the All Progressives Congress (APC) and other parties, said INEC appointed Dickson’s brother and General Manager of the State Newspaper Corporation, Mr. Charles Tambo, as the Collation Officer for KololumaOpokuma Constituency I. On behalf of other parties, APGA’s candidates for Kolokuma-Opokuma I and II, Preye Ozoro and Ebire Tarabina, al-

Edo council chair suspended over alleged corruption

From Bolaji Ogundele, Warri

of Isaac Botosan, was driving her car near her home when she was snatched by the hoodlums.

It was learnt that her abductors waylaid her, seized her car and took her away in the car.

But youths in the communi-

ty blocked the car conveying the kidnappers as its driver attempted to reverse on the oneway road.

The driver was caught by the angry youths as he attempted to flee and was reportedly beaten up.

He was said to have confessed that the kidnap gang was

from Agbarho in Ughelli North Local Government Area.

Mr Botosan reportedly invited the police from ‘A’ Division in Warri to arrest the suspect.

His mother was abducted last year by some gunmen and was released after several weeks.

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HE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared inconclusive the House of Assembly election into Orhionmwon Constituency in Edo State.

Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Mike Igini, who spoke on the matter yesterday in Benin, the state capital, said a rescheduled poll would hold next Saturday (April 18) in the constituency.

Candidates for the poll are: Friday Ogierhiakhi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Roland Asoro of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Igini said the commission resorted to a rescheduled poll because election did not hold in many polling units.

The REC said the actual winner of the poll could only be determined after the completion of outstanding poll.

He noted that the margin of win by the leading candidate was far less than the number of people who had not voted.

Igini said 4,813 voters in 12 units of four Registration Areas were qualified to vote in the rescheduled election.

He said: “We are now at appraisal and retrieval level.

We are in the process of documentation and review of our performance. There were challenges, but we achieved more successes than challenges.”

The APC has won 20 seats while the PDP won three seats.

LP candidate wins Delta constituency’s Assembly seat

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HE Labour Party (LP) candidate for Udu Constituency in Delta State, Peter Okagbare Uviejitobor, has been declared winner of the House of Assembly’s election for the constituency.

Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC’s) Returning Officer for the constituency, Prof Sunday Akparobi, declared Uviejitobor the winner at the Otor-Udu collation centre.

The INEC chief said Uviejitobor won with 8,948

votes.

At the signing of the declaration of results, Prof Akparobi, said: “...Chief Peter Okagbare Uviejitobor of Labour Party, having satisfied the requirements of the law and scored the highest number of votes, is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected.”

Uviejitobor thanked the people of Udu for voting massively for him during the election.

The lawmaker-elect promised to fulfil his electioneering promises to them.

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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NEWS ‘Buhari didn’t walk out Custom’s CG’ From Tony Akowe, Abuja

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RESIDENT-ELECT Muhammadu Buhari yesterday dismissed reports that he walked some government officials out of his Daura, Katsina State home.

Director, Media and Publicity of the APC presidential campaign, Mallam Garba Shehu said in a statement that the incident only took place in the writer’s imagination.

“It was a false and an inaccurate presentation of the facts of what transpired when some government officials visited the Presidentelect at his Daura country home. It is totally out of Buhari’s character to ask his visitors out.”

Shehu stated that the alleged visit by the Comptroller-General of Customs, Abdullahi Inde only happened in the imagination of the said publication, saying ‘he did not come visiting at any time.’

On the visit of the Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Dr. Ade Abolurin, Shehu said the Buhari was in another meeting when the Commandant-General came and there was no way the Presidentelect could receive the new visitors.

“He was merely passing through the town and thought to stop by. As a matter of fact, words were promptly sent to the gentleman and his delegation that Buhari was unable to meet them owing to the fact of angoing meeting.

“The president-elect welcomes positive suggestions from every Nigerian about how to bring progressive change to the country. He will not walk anyone who had come to discuss ways of developing the country.

Courtesy and civility will not permit that to happen.

It is equally not his character.”

Professionals hail Jonathan, Buhari

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HE League of Anambra Professionals (LAP) has congratulated Presidentelect, Muhammadu Buhari on his victory. They also hailed President Goodluck Jonathan for conceding defeat, describing it as an eternal investment in the peace and progress of Nigeria.

In a statement yesterday, LAP President Willy Nzewi said: “We congratulate the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari on his wellearned victory. We also congratulate President Goodluck Jonathan on his graceful submission to the will of the majority.”

Nzewi said the League is particularly pleased with the peaceful outcome of the election, since there can be no meaningful development in an environment of bitterness and insecurity.

LAP urged Buhari to give priority to the fight against corruption and ensure rapid development of infrastructure as promised in his acceptance speech.

APGA, APC: cancel Abia governorship poll

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HE National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Victor Umeh, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to cancel the governorship results in three councils Obingwa, Osisioma and Isiala Ngwa North.

Returning Officer Prof Benjamin Ozumba had can-

From Ugochukwu Ugoji-Eke, Umuahia

celled results of the three councils, alleging malpractices and violence.

Speaking with reporters in Umuahia, Umeh said the Returning officer, who earlier cancelled the results, was allegedly prevailed upon by top Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members to rescind his decision.

Umeh wondered how Ozumba could generate 82, 240 votes when the same council gave President Goodluck Jonathan only 16,000 votes.

He said results from the three councils should be cancelled.

In the same vein, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has called for the cancellation of the elections over alleged electoral fraud.

APC asked INEC Chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega, to investigate the alleged role of the PDP, APGA and INEC officials in the alleged malpractices.

The party’s candidate, Chief Anyim Nyerere, made the call in Umuahia.

Nyerere decried the high rate of ballot box snatching, shooting and other forms of violence.

•Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha (middle), Prof Elvis N Ogbonna (left) and representative of Imo League of Professional USA, Mr Desmond Duruiheoma during a soldarity visit to the governor

Abia urges INEC to release governorship results

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BIA State government has called on the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega, to order the release of the governorship election result and declare the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate winner.

Speaking with reporters in Umuahia, Commissioner for In f o r m a t i o n Dr Anthony Agbazuere condemned the attitude of the Returning officer, Prof Benjamin Ozumba, during declaration of the results.

Agbazuere said Ozumba was biased and compromised by unilaterally deciding to cancel the results of Obingwa,

Abia stakeholders seek release of result

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TAKEHOLDERS in Abia State have asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to release results of the alleged inconclusive election.

Speaking with reporters after a meeting in Aba, Dr Emmanuel Adaelu, described the action as a ploy to rob Dr Okezie Ikpeazu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of his victory.

Adaelu said the people would not watch their mandate stolen, adding that the delay is causing undue tension.

“From booth to booth, local government From Ugochukwu UgojiEke, Umuahia

Osisioma and Isiala Ngwa North where the PDP had strong support.

He said it was wrong for Ozumba to cancel the re-

From Ugochukwu Ugoji-Eke, Umuahia

to local government, election results were made public to the electorate, while party agents signed without violence, under the watch of security agents, so why should the election be described as inconclusive?”

The elder statesman noted that in the history of election, this kind of development had never arisen before and urged the National Executive of PDP to prevail on INEC to release the results and declare Ikpeazu winner of the election to avoid crisis.

sults based on the advice of international observers, pointing out that international observers had no place in Nigerian laws to direct the cancellation of election results.

The commissioner said Ozumba erred when he can-

celled those units since security agents contained the violence and party agents signed the results.

Agbazuere held that Ozumba had no right in law as a Returning officer to tamper with the results in those councils.

Forum decries Enugu council Assembly poll

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GROUP, Save Awgu Forum Enugu (SAFE) has called for the cancellation of last Saturday’s House of Assembly elections in Awgu Local Government Area.

The group alleged that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) used the military to intimidate candidates of the People for Democratic

From Chris Oji, Enugu

Change (PDC).

Leader of SAFE, Baywood Ibe said: “The big politicians in PDP brought military men to intimidate the PDC candidates. That is why we are calling for a cancellation of the result.

“The thugs snatched ballot boxes, falsified the results

in connivance with the military men. We have petitioned the Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Kenneth Minimah, Department of State Security (DSS) and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

“We will surely seek redress in court. Awgu people have been marginalised because of the antics of these

PDP politicians in Enugu West. They have moved to intimidate Awgu people.

“If you look at the result, the number of accredited voters did not tally with the result. They chased people away and declared bogus result.

“We have incontrovertible evidence on this issue and will challenge the matter in court,” Ibe said.

‘Fayemi didn’t discuss incoming govt’s policy’

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ORMER Governor of Eki State, Dr Kayode Fayemi has debunked reports of him saying President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari would end fuel subsidy and rationalise MDAs. A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Olayinka Oyebode, urged the people to disbelieve the report as it was false and misleading.

“The attention of Dr kayode Fayemi has been drawn to a fabricated and misleading report published in the April

15 edition of Thisday Newspaper, with the headline: “Buhari to End Fuel Subsidy, Rationalise MDAs. “Kindly note that the report is a distortion of Dr. Fayemi’s presentation at the Lagos Business School (LBS) breakfast meeting on April 8.

“While it is true that Dr Fayemi was Guest Speaker at the LBS Breakfast meeting, he was neither there a representative of the President-elect Muhammadu Buhari, nor was he introduced

as such.

“Aside this, the various ‘policies’ of the incoming administration, purported to have been disclosed by Dr Fayemi, were mere fabrications, as the thrust of discussion was essentially on the campaign manifesto of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and how it was successfully marketed to the electorate, culminating in the party’s victory.

“Aside the embarrassment which the misleading report

has caused the person of Dr Fayemi, there has been an avalanche of calls and emails by newspaper organisations to do a follow up on the story having considered it a “missed story”.

“We therefore considered it important to debunk the fabricated report.

“Certainly you have not missed any story as what is in circulation is mere fabrication. Please kindly disregard it in its entirety,” Oyebode said.

APC cautions against rigging From Chris Oji, Enugu

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HE Southeast Zone of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has warned the military and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against rigging the rescheduled Imo governorship and House of Assembly elections.

Briefing reporters in Enugu, Chairman of the APC, Dr. Ben Nwoye said they would resist attempts to manipulate the outcome of the rescheduled elections.

Nwoye said anyone, including INEC officials and soldiers, who attempt to manipulate the results of the elections would be prosecuted when the APC takes over the leadership of the country.

He hinted that once the APC takes over, legal process would begin to work, warning those with the intention of carrying out impunity that from May 29, impunity would seize to exist.

Supplementary election in Imo April 25 •Rerun in Abia also From Okodili Ndidi, Owerri

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UPPLEMENTARY elections in Imo State have been rescheduled for April 25. There was, however, a mild drama as the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr. Gabriel Ada, refused to give the accurate number of registered voters and Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) collected in the areas scheduled for the election.

While declaring the election inconclusive, Ada gave the figure of registered voters in the affected areas as 144,715.

But Ada, briefing reporters yesterday, could not confirm the figure or disclose the number of PVCs distributed in the areas.

Pressed further, the REC said “the number of registered voters is between 145,000 to 150,000.”

He was also not emphatic on the number of polling units but said: “The election will hold in over 200 Polling Units in 23 local government areas.”

The supplementary election in Abia State has also been rescheduled for April 25.

The rerun is to take place in 9 council areasAba North, Aba South, Bende, Isiala Ngwa South, Isiala Ngwa North, Umuahia South, Bende, Arochukwu, Ohafia and Osisioma.

Similary, April 18 has been slated for a rerun into the Umuahia North constituency. It will hold in three wards.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

FOREIGN NEWS Indonesia protests at execution of maid in S. Arabia

Cuba hails removal from U.S. state terrorism list

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UBAN officials and ordinary citizens alike hailed the island’s removal from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, saying the move by President Barack Obama heals a decades-old insult to national pride and clears the way to swiftly restore diplomatic relations. ”The Cuban government recognizes the president of the United States’ just decision to take Cuba off a list in which it should never have been included,” Josefina Vidal, Cuba’s top diplomat for U.S. affairs, said Tuesday night.Cuban and U.S. foreign-policy experts said the

two governments appeared to have taken a major leap toward the reopening of embassies in Havana and Washington after four months of complex and occasionally frustrating negotiations. ”This is important because it speaks to Obama’s desire to keep moving forward,” said Esteban Morales, a political science professor at the University of Havana. “Now there are no political obstacles.

What remains are organizational and technical problems, which can be resolved.”In a message to Congress, Obama said Tuesday that Cuba’s gov-

ernment “has not provided any support for international terrorism” over the last six months and has given “assurances that it will not support acts of international terrorism in the future.”Cuba will officially be removed from the terrorism list 45 days after the president’s message was sent to Congress.

Lawmakers could vote to block the move during that window, though Obama would be all but certain to veto such a measure.What remains to be seen in coming weeks is whether Cuba will allow U.S. diplomats to move around Cuba and maintain contacts

with citizens including dissidents, the second point of contention in the negotiations on restoring full diplomatic relations.Cuba is highly sensitive to any indication the U.S. is supporting domestic dissent and that issue may prove considerably tougher than amending the terrorism list.

The Obama administration made little pretense in recent years that it believed Cuba was supporting terrorism.Cuba was put on the list in 1982 because of what the U.S. said were its efforts “to promote armed revolution by organizations that used terrorism.”

U.S. to exhume Pearl Harbor remains for id

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ALVAGE crews managed to retrieve many of the remains from the USS Oklahoma The remains of nearly 400 US servicemen killed at Pearl Harbor are to be exhumed so they may be identified and given individual burials, the US says.

The sailors and Marines were aboard the battleship USS Oklahoma when it was struck by Japanese torpedoes in 1941.

Their remains were buried together in Hawaii. The identification effort will use advances in forensic and DNA testing, US defence officials said.

Japan’s attack on the US base at Pearl Harbor drew the US into World War Two. The Oklahoma was one of several warships targeted by Japanese submarines and aircraft in the surprise assault on 7 December 1941. More than 2,400

people were killed.

US department of defence officials said the identification effort would be aided by advances in forensic science and technology, as well as by genealogical help from family members.

Survivors of the attack return to a new memorial in Hawaii “While not all families will receive an individual identification, we will strive to provide resolution to as many families as

possible,” Deputy Secretary of Defence Robert Work said in a statement.

Only the remains of 35 of the 429 sailors and Marines killed aboard the USS Oklahoma have been identified so far.

The rest of the remains - retrieved during salvage operations from 1942 to 1944 - have been buried in caskets, marked as “unknown”, at a national cemetery in Hawaii.

Iran nuclear: U.S. Congress to have right to reject deal

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HE US Congress will have a say on a nuclear deal with Iran, under a new agreement reached with the White House.

President Barack Obama withdrew his opposition to a bipartisan bill that was unanimously passed through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

However, a Congressional No vote would not be binding and could be vetoed by Mr Obama.

An outline agreement on the future shape of Iran’s nuclear programme was reached after marathon talks in April.

The US, Iran, and five other nations have set a deadline of 30 June to finalise a deal which

would ease western sanctions in exchange for restrictions on Iran’s nuclear programme.

Mr Obama agreed to sign the bill giving Congress the right to reject any forthcoming agreement with Iran.

Some Republicans have argued against the deal, saying Iran has received too many concessions.

They have always insisted they must have a say if any agreement means economic sanctions levied by Congress against Iran will be lifted.

The Israeli government, which has been fiercely critical of the deal with Iran, welcomed the agreement between Mr Obama and Congress.

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NDONESIA’s government has summoned Saudi Arabia’s ambassador in Jakarta to protest against the execution of an Indonesian domestic worker.

Siti Zainab was beheaded on Tuesday in Medina after being convicted of stabbing and beating to death her employer, Noura al-Morobei, in 1999.

Neither Indonesian consular officials nor her family were given prior notice, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said.

President Joko Widodo and three of his predecessors had appealed for clemency.

Human rights groups had also criticised the sentence, asserting that Ms Zainab had been acting in self-defence and might also have been mentally ill.

Malawi to evacuate citizens from S. Africa

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ALAWI says it will repatriate its nationals from South Africa, following an upsurge in xenophobic violence.

At least five foreigners, including a 14-year-old boy, have been killed in attacks in South Africa’s coastal city of Durban since last week.

Some foreign-owned shops in the main city Johannesburg have shut amid fears that the violence could spread.

Zimbabwe has also condemned the attacks, blamed on locals who accuse foreigners of taking their jobs.

Tens of thousands of foreigners, mostly from other African states and Asia, have moved to South Africa since whiteminority rule ended in 1994.

At least 62 people died in xenophobic attacks that swept South Africa in 2008.

Over 400 migrants died this week off Libya coast

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HE U.N. refugee agency says the shipwreck in the Mediterranean this week, in which 400 migrants are presumed to have died, is among the deadliest single incidents in the last decade.

The tragedy comes amid an unprecedented wave of migration toward Europe from Africa and the Middle East.UNHCR Italy spokeswoman Barbara Molinario says 900 migrants have died or gone missing at sea so far this year, part of a phenomenon the agency has been tracking since 2011.

In most cases, no bodies are found and the deaths are presumed based on survivor accounts or, when no boats are recovered, reports by family members whose loved ones never arrive in Europe.The UNHCR estimates 3,500 migrants died in the Mediterranean last year, up from 600 in 2013.

NEWS ‘Condition for divestment of shares’ Continued from page 4

•Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (2nd right); his Deputy, Mrs Titi Laoye-Tomori (right); Chairman, Standing Commission of Inquiry on Disturbance of Public Peace, Justice Adekunle Adeigbe (2nd left) and a members of the Commission, Mrs Bose Dawodu, during the Submission of the Commission’s report at Government House, Osogbo, State of Osun

Rivers election petition tribunal to sit in Abuja Continued from page 4

people have been killed.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has alleged that there were no presidential and National Assembly polls and that the governorship and House of Assembly elections were marred by irregularities orchestrated by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) whose governorship candidate Nyesom Wike was declared winner. Wike’s election and those of federal and state lawmakers are to be challenged by the APC. In Makurdi, the National and State Election Tribunal has begun sitting. In the case challenging the election of Senate President David Mark, who was declared winner of the Benue South Senatorial District

for a fifth term, the Tribunal has granted the leave for his opponent Comrade Daniel Onjeh to inspect and obtain the materials used during the March 28 polls.

Onjeh sought the leave of the Tribunal through his counsel, Robertson Abel, for an order of the Tribunal permitting his

counsel to inspect materials.

Mark contested on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP). Onjeh ran as an All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate.

Tribunal Chairman Justice M .A. Dipeolu gave the order after listening to the argument of the APC candidate.

Justice Dipeolu, who granted the leave to move the motion also ordered among other things, that the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) should make all the electoral forms and other materials used for the Benue South Senatorial District available.

‘It’s time for PDP NWC to quit’

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PEOPLES Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart has called for the resignation of the members of the National Working Committee (NWC) members led by National Chairman Adamu Mu’azu.

Br Ben Onyechere, a leader of the party in Imo State, who was Special assistant to Chief Alex Ekwueme, during the formation of the PDP in 1998, said the abysmal failure of the party in the

general elections, calls for a regeneration.

In a statement yesterday, Onyechere said Mu’azu and his team ought to quit because they have “no reason to remain there other than to dissipate any image or credibility left of the party. It is quite clear that they compromised the integrity of the party or their private pockets particularly during the party primaries thereby bringing about the rude

shock as a result of the upset in ongoing election.

“As the former assistant to Dr.Ekwueme the foundation chairman of the party and as a contestant in the last party primaries, I will not stand by and watch a group of people lead the party to an irredeemable status and I’m sure l don't stand alone in this regard. The NWC members have no business remaining there a day longer.”

largely flat at N14.5 billion (2013: N14.8 billion) on the back of increased security challenges in the Federal Capital Territory and the effects of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).”

He added that operating profit also decreased by 24 per cent to N4.4 billion from N5.8 billion due to increased administrative costs-particularly on improving security due to violent attacks in Abuja as well as incremental cost of hosting the World Economic Forum in Africa (WEFA).

Managing Director/Chief Executive Mr. Valentine Ozigbo said because of the Ebola and security challenges, the company “lost about N1.2 billion in revenues due to cancelled bookings and lost patronage, particularly from foreign business travellers segment, due to negative travel warnings from various source markets. With credit to the efforts of the Federal Government, the EVD threat has been contained but the security concern remains”.

Despite the bearish state of the stock market in 2014, Ozigbo said the company was able to raise N4.18 billion represent-

ing 52 per cent of the N8 billion offer from its recent Initial Public Offer.

Transcorp Hotel, he said, would also acquire additional funding in the short and medium term to enable it execute its expansion drive.

He said: “We will be implementing a robust funding strategy, which includes the use of debt (bank and bonds), equity (third party participation) and quasi-equity over the next one to three years.”

He said the company would over the next five years engage in a phased approach to developing high-ends hotels in Ikoyi and Ikeja in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Warri, including a convention centre and apartment complex in Abuja.

Ozigbo added that Transcorp Hilton, Abuja would be upgraded this year to completely transform existing facilities and amenities and position it as clear leader in Nigeria’s hospitality industry.

Shareholders hailed the board and management for declaring a dividend of 37 kobo despite the hostile business environment stating that they “are happy for the dividend and even hope for better returns this year”.

‘There’ll be positive change’ Continued from page 4

team he said “I don’t even know the members myself, because we only made recommendations to the Presidentelect”, Mohammed said.

Speaking on the governorship elections, Mohammed said: “We are not satisfied with what happened in Akwa Ibom, what happened in Rivers, we are very dissatisfied with what

happened in Taraba state, we are waiting to see what is going to happen in Imo and I think tomorrow the candidate in Taraba state is going to address the media on what happened in her state”.

Asked to confirm reports the President elect will prone down the number of ministries, he said: “Nothing like that was ever discussed.”

THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

61

SHOWBIZ

08051101822

‘I bought fuel for studios to record my songs,’ says Yemi Alade

•Alade

R

ELAYING her life story on #MySuperStarStory, a platform which aims to celebrate stories of triumph over adversity among celebrities, pop diva, Yemi Alade, told fans about how she had to beg for free studio time because she did not have a dime

By Victor Akande

to pay for recording. According to her, there were even times when she would have to scrape some money together to buy fuel to run the studio generator before she could be recorded.

The sensational songstress, it will be recalled, came to

limelight as winner of an entertainment reality show, sponsored by Peak Milk.

She disclosed that her turning point was through the song, Johnny, which she said has changed her life forever.

“God brought that song my way without telling me He was going to bless me,” she said, beaming with smile.

“I’m looking for my Johnny. Where is my Johnny?” is one remarkable line in the song. And for anyone who follows African music, this song is easily one of the biggest tracks of 2014 with over 20 million views on YouTube, and with a remix in French, it has become an anthem in Nigeria and across West Africa.

To Alade, this song is more than just a successful track. It was a life changer – a culmination of years of struggle and thankless toil, she noted, as she sat down for the #MySuperStarStory session where she shed light on her journey in music up to this point.

The initiative encourages everyone to share their superstar story on social media, by using the hashtag #MySuperStarStory.

Charly Charly Boy Boy launches launches website website

By Joe Agbro Jr.

F

OLLOWING today’s trend of owning personal websites, musician, actor and producer, Charles Oputa, aka Charly Boy, has launched his personal website. To this end, fans of the avowed punk star can now get to check out the latest about him on www.charlyboy.org.

On the website, Charly Boy expresses his art in an entertaining manner with texts and pictures. He also has a section he dedicates to ‘Charly’s Virgins’ which contains salacious pictures of women and couple in love-making positions.

According to Charly Boy, the Charly’s Virgins’ section ‘is for those who understand that virginity is the purity of heart, purity of spirit and positivism of soul.’

The website maintains a section which publishes views of Charly Boy’s fans which is aptly titled ‘Viewers Opinion.’

In addition, the controversial Charly Boy also

•Charly Boy

maintains a blog where he writes in provoking manner.

Nomoreloss Live showcases talents this Saturday

B

UDDING artistes and those who believe they have what it takes to rock the Mic or the dance floor have an opportunity to do so at ‘Nomoreloss Live’, happening this Saturday.

According to the initiator of the weekly gig, Nomoreloss, the event which holds every Saturday at Rodizzio, Ikeja GRA, between 7pm and 11pm, is “a showcase platform for amateur and professional artistes to perform before a live audience.”

The weekly gig which has been going on for over two years also provides an ideal setting for relaxation, good music, live music, comedy and networking.’

By Joe Agbro Jr.

Speaking about the e v e n t , Nomoreloss said, “it is also a hub for networking, especially for the advertising profess i o n a l s within the Ikeja GRA axis.”

B o r n Olumuyiwa O s i n u g a , Nomoreloss, started off as a rapper and later delved into production of music and television

programmes. Some of his songs include, Ololufe and Iyawo Asiko.

•Nomoreloss.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

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THE NATION THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

SPORT EXTRA

B

ARCELONA opened up a 3-1 lead in their Champions League quarter-final tie with victory against Paris Saint-Germain at Parc des Princes on Wednesday night.

The hosts could have opened the scoring inside the first 10 minutes when Maxwell and Blaide Matuidi linked up, with the latter providing a cross for Javier Pastore, but the Argentine could not stretch to turn it in.

Barcelona soon started to cause problems down the other end as Luis Suarez played the ball to Lionel Messi on the edge of the box, leaving the striker to curl it towards the goal, only to see his

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Barca spanks PSG 3-1 • Porto stuns Bayern Munich finish kept out by the post.

The Spanish side were ahead inside the opening 20 minutes though as Messi pounced on a loose ball before finding Neymar, leaving the Brazilian to fire home from close range.

PSG's hopes were dealt a further blow a few minutes later when captain Thiago Silva was forced off injured, leaving David Luiz, who is also

carrying an injury, to take his place.

The French champions did threaten to equalise before the break as Matuidi charged forward, eventually finding Edinson Cavani, but his effort was blocked by Javier Mascherano.

Salvatore Sirigu had to remain alert down the other end though as Suarez tried to double the visitors' lead before

the interval, but his finish was straight at the keeper.

Pastore was quick out of the blocks again in the second half as he tried to catch out the keeper with a deflected effort from the edge of the box, but Marc-Andre ter Stegen was able to punch it away.

Meanwhile, Porto stunned Bayern Munich to claim a 3-1 win in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal on Wednesday night.

The home side had a chance

to open the scoring just three minutes into the tie when Manuel Neuer brought down Jackson Martinez in the penalty area after rushing off his line, leaving Porto with a spot kick.

Ricardo Quaresma stepped up to take the penalty, sending the keeper the wrong way to coolly slot into the bottom corner.

The winger picked up a second inside the opening 10 minutes after Dante failed to close him down, leaving Quaresma to burst into the box unmarked before rifling past Neuer for a second time.

Philipp Lahm tried to find Thomas Muller to get Bayern back into the tie, but Alex Sandro beat the striker to it,

while Bruno Martins Indi ensured that Robert Lewandowski could not get his shot away.

The German champions were back in the came before the interval though as Jerome Boateng charged down the right before crossing for Thiago Alcantara to tap in at the far post.

RESULTS UEFA Champions League FC Porto 3 - 1 Bayern PSG 1 - 3 Barcelona England - Championship N. Forest 1 - 3 Watford Italy - Serie A Genoa 2 - 0 Parma France - Ligue 1 Lyon 2 - 0 Bastia

THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

A

NOSTALGIC feeling pervades the land.

President Goodluck Jonathan has set up a transition committee to ensure a smooth transfer of power to the Muhammadu Buhari administration, which will take office on May 29. His team will be remembered as a damn good one that failed to perform. Even then, we will miss some key actors in the cabinet.

I disagree with those who claim that Dr Jonathan never delivered a profound speech in all of his six years. Those off-the-cuff remarks – “I am not a Pharaoh; neither am I a Nebuchadnezzar” – reverberated all over.

They won’t be forgotten so soon. Definitely not by those who forced His Excellency to define who a statesman is, those who claim to be statesmen but “talk like motor park touts”.

There have been speculations about his future. Will Dr Jonathan return to the classroom?

Can he still prepare lesson notes and get his slushy presidential palms messed up with chalk?

What becomes of those bowler hats and long dresses with glittering golden chains and buttons? They surely won’t be fit for the classroom.

Will His Excellency stay in Abuja and retire to his 94.04 hectares Abuja farm, the one with a helipad, a hilltop farm house and crocodiles, among other livestock? Will he just go quietly to Otuoke, the small town he put on the map, and set up a presidential library or a fishing company or a canoe–making company (to promote the family’s age-old trade)?

Lucky man; the possibilities are limitless.

Now that Dr Jonathan is free from it all, one thing seems sure – he will have time for his memoirs. I would like to suggest a title for the work,” Caged – for 16 years.”

My brother Reuben Abati should, naturally, get the job of editing the manuscript. Being a journalist, lawyer and writer of no mean repute, he will ensure that it is as compelling as any other in its class and free of libel so that nobody will need a court to stop the publication, denying us of the lurid details of how our president was captured and caged for all of 16 years. Who are his abductors? Men? Women?

Why did they choose to cage him? How did they cage him? A cage in the lap of luxury? A sure best-seller is on the way. I bet.

We will miss the First Lady. You may disagree with her style, her brusqueness and her couture, but give it to Dame Patience Jonathan – she surely knows how to wow the crowd. To many, there would have been little or nothing to enliven the polity and trigger a laughter in the Jonathan administration, but for Mrs Jonathan.

As a dazed world struggled to recover from the shock of the Chibok girls’ abduction, she summoned a meeting that turned into an inquisition at the Villa, scolding everybody, including the principal of the school from which the over 200 girls were abducted.

“Princepa, is there anybody dat can tell us dey coducted dat ezam; do u come with any? Princepa, na only you waka come? First Lady is calling you now… No…u wia not eform too eh? Ohkay.

Kotinew! No ploblem. God will see us. Dia ris God. Dia ris God in everything we ah doin!! Dose

RIPPLES

RIVERS APC SHOULD ACCEPT DEFEAT LIKE JONATHAN–PDP chieftain

You mean they should accept that DAYLIGHT ROBBERY?

VOL. 10, NO. 3186

TODAY IN THE NATION ‘We must direct our energy to industrialization, agriculture and exploitation of solid minerals as a way of diversifying our economy from over-dependence on oil and gas and when we have enough resources, we must radically transform...’

JIDE OSUNTOKUN

COMMENT & DEB ATE EBA

GBENGA OMOTOSO

EDITORIAL NOTEBOOK

gbenga.omotoso@thenationonlineng.net

•Editor of the Year (DAME)

We shall miss them all

•President Jonathan •Dr. Adesina blood that are shiarin in Boronu will answer! What of two teachers? WAEC. Now the first lady is kolli you, kwom, ah wan to hep you! Kom to fine ya child, ya missing child… will you keep quiet?

Chai..eh …chai-eh…Dia ris God o!! Dia ris God, Dia ris God, Dia ris God oh! The blors wia sharing.

Dia ris God ohhh … Dia ris God ooooooo.”

But a colleague said last night that we may not miss Mama Peace for long – if the authorities decide to probe why the rivers of blood in the March 28 and April 11 elections in Rivers State. Mrs Jonathan’s incendiary directive to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members to stone their opponents, in his view, deserves some insight.

Dr Ngozi Okonjo – Iweala was one of the stars of the Obasanjo administration . She is credited with securing the Paris Club debt relief that raked up so much controversy concerning who got what commission. To date, the matter remains unresolved. In fact, the popular view is that in her sudden movement to the Foreign ministry – Obasanjo eased her out of Finance - lies the answer. We really don’t know.

Jonathan brought Okonjo-Iweala back and added to her portfolio the nebulous title of Coordinating Minister for the Economy. Under her watch, fuel price went up as she insisted on cutting a non-existent subsidy. Prices went up. Cost of doing business rose exponentially just as cost of living headed for the roof. Companies closed shop as diesel turned gold. Job cuts came in thou-

W

HEN religion is mixed with politics, the result is what was offered by the Chaplain to President Goodluck Jonathan, Ven. Obioma Onwuzurumba. On Easter Sunday, after it was clear that Jonathan’s reelection dream had died, Onwuzurumba delivered a sermon at Aso Villa Chapel titled “Christ is risen indeed.”

According to an account, the priest said: ”This Jonathan they did not want, they will look for him. This Jonathan they despised, they will look for him. They will seek his advice.

He is not Jesus but he is like Jesus. I am not here to praise him. The disciples did not have the confidence that Jesus who did many things in their lives and that of the people was the messiah and if indeed he would resurrect again.”

It is puzzling what Onwuzurumba meant by “I am not here to praise him.” If what he said during the church service did not amount to praise for Jonathan, then he would need to redefine what he means by praise.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with singing the praise of Jonathan, particularly if he

sands. Due process became “dupe” process.

The government replied with SURE-P – a dubious programme that consumed so much and delivered so little. Nobody really can tell how much went down the drain in this strange venture under which youths were dressed up in black polo shirts and trousers, drilled like soldiers and sent onto the streets to cause traffic chaos in Lagos.

The pains became unbearable. But trust the ever inventive minister; she dug into her bag of tricks and whipped out a new formula.

Rebasing. Just overnight, the Nigerian economy became Africa’s number one. The criteria were as esoteric as its purveyors, but Nigerians were told to jump for joy. The giant of Africa has risen at last, Abuja said.

Okonjo wahala will soon leave. She told CNN yesterday that she would like to go on holiday; “no telephone”. I’m happy to report that Nigerians have given her a long, long holiday. We shall miss her modest fashion sense - the conservative headgear, the Ankara fabric and beads – a trait that many have sworn is a camouflage of sort.

Where is Oil Minister Diezani AlisonMadueke? She has not been seen in town since the PDP lost the election. A little bird told me she is somewhere in the Bahamas where she is gradually recovering from the hangover of the dizzying loss.

The more she tried to cut the fuel subsidy, the more the scheme became a huge canvass of fraud that attracted all manner of fraudsters, tricksters and gangsters who got paid billions for fuel they never delivered.

When former Central Bank Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi raised the alarm that some $20b oil money was missing, he was dismissed as an incorrigible alarmist. In fact, he was surreptitiously given the push and derided as a busybody. But fate – that unseen hand in human affairs – supervened. Sanusi is now Emir of Kano.

A committee set up by Okonjo-Iweala said $10b was actually missing. Accountants who were drafted in to untie the knot claimed that only $1b was missing. The other day we learnt that Mrs Alison-Madueke asked the behemoth, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to pay the $1b into the treasury, per-

haps to close the matter. Just like that?

Mrs Alison-Madueke will be remembered as our most powerful Oil minister ever. The more her critics cried out that she should be fired, the more entrenched in the system she got, confounding those who doubt the power of women.

Urbane, suave and ever dandy, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina is not your run- of- themill Agric Minister. Who will forget his sartorial taste, his tokunbo accent and his retentive power. We always wonder whether he is talking about Nigeria whenever he rolls out those figures – the 750,000 metric tons of home grown rice, as of last year, that has not just made us sufficient but has actually become a revolution. So successful was the rice revolution that some companies got waivers to import several tons of the stuff, perhaps to augment the shortfall occasioned by the “stomach infrastructure” policy in many PDP states.

Adesina will be remembered also for giving us the cassava bread. Will the stuff now be accessed by ordinary Nigerians, many months after it made its debut at the Federal Executive Council and became the favourite on the presidential breakfast table?

The duo of Doyin Okupe and Femi Fani – Kayode seem to be out of job now.

Does anybody need a character assassin? Nigerians will find it difficult to forget the way they did their jobs as spokesmen for the President and the PDP, jobs that were created ad hominem for them.

They manufactured a fake medical report for Gen. Buhari. When that failed to stick, they threw up the matter of his education, vowing that the man never went to school.

The army- oh, our dearest army - was drafted in to strengthen the doomed scheme.

Now that Fani-Kayode has enough time on his hands, he will surely drown his sorrows and return to the court where he is fighting the battle of his life against money laundering charges. Now, Okupe will have time to execute that juicy contract in Benue for which he reportedly collected a fortune as mobilisation fee. Fani-Kayode and Okupe will no doubt be missed for being so dramatic, eccentric and shameless while on the beat.

Only a thin line was left between Musiliu Obanikoro’s ministerial arrogance and gangsterism. If some will forget the disruption of work at Ilubinrin, Lagos, many will surely remember that voice ordering an army general around in the Ekiti poll rigging plot tape.

Now that Jelili Adesiyan will soon leave office as Police Affairs minister, Senator Isiaka Adeleke should watch it. The honourable minister, you will recall, once promised to beat him up upon leaving office.

There are so many others who will be sorely missed.

Who will complete the Centenary City, the one conceived by the committee headed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim? He and the others will surely be remembered for such grandiosity.

So much for a good team.

•For comments, send SMS to 08111813080

HARDBALL

•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above

President and priest

tion. Or what was Onwuzurumba talking about?

Interestingly, the cleric used the narrative of the resurrection of Jesus to imply Jonathan’s political comeback. One question: If the electorate had wanted him back, would he have been voted out of power in the first place? But to be fair, his recent electoral rejection doesn’t necessarily eliminate the possibility that he may be wanted back in the future.

Now, why did Onwuzurumba sound so politically predictable? The truth, which he recognised, must be that he also was most likely on his way out. An account said that at a point during the service, against the background of soul-lifting songs by “guest singers and the chapel’s choristers,” Onwuzurumba “looked straight at the President and said, “Mr. President, we will miss this choir ooo.”

The priest probably didn’t say the whole truth.

Much more than the choir, both president and priest would surely miss power. When religion is in a romance with politics, it may be too much to expect a man of God to say the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

deserves praise. But even deserved praise must be restrained lest it sounds like designed praise.

In this case, likening Jonathan to Jesus not only sounded far-fetched, it also had the sound of nonsense.

As regards the implication that Jonathan “did many things” in the lives “of the people”, it is worth considering whether Jonathan could be said to have done the right things, or more specifically, whether the things he is said to have done were the right things.

Jonathan’s implied messianic importance is even more intriguing, especially because a priest suggested it; never mind that Onwuzurumba sounded like a partisan. It is demonstrable that Jonathan has not governed like a messiah. The state of the nation today, politically, socially and economically, certainly doesn’t reflect any messianic interven-

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Editor Daily:08099365644, Marketing: 01-8155547 . Abuja Office: Plot 5, Nanka Close AMAC Commercial Complex, Wuse Zone 3, Abuja. Tel: 07028105302. Port Harcourt Office: 12/14, Njemanze Street, Mile 1, Diobu, PH. 08023595790. WEBSITE: www.thenationonlineng.net E-mail: info@thenationonlineng.net ISSN: 115-5302 Editor: GBENGA OMOTOSO