The Nation April 23, 2012

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

News Omisore threatens to ‘search’ Aregbesola’s convoy Sports Eagles star Odemwingie’s strike shocks Liverpool Business CBN pays N90.5 billion to fuel marketers in 25 days

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VOL. 7, NO. 2102 MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

N150.00

N41.9b subsidy: 18 angry firms launch legal battle House: we’ll take them to people’s court Tambuwal shuns marketers

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ROM the floor of the House and the public domain, the test of integrity sparked by the subsidy probe report is set for the court room.

Eighteen companies asked to refund over N41.9 billion, have hired a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Mike Ozekhome, to lead their legal battle against the House of Representatives and the House ad-hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy.

But House spokesman Zakari Mohammed has said the lawmakers will take the oil marketers to the court of public opinion.

To ensure transparency, Mohammed said, the House will allow major television stations to relay live the debate of the report

THE COMPANIES AND THE CASH THEY ARE TO REFUND •Mobil Oil Nigeria (N14.934b) •Somerset Energy Services (N3.015b) •AX Energy Limited (N1.471b) •CAH Resources Association Limited (N1.052b) •Crust Energy Limited (N1.192b) •Fresh Synergy Oil Limited (N1.417b) •Ibafon Oil Limited (N4.687b) •Techno Oil (N1.036 b) •Oil Bath (N1.019b) •Mut-Hass Petroleum Limited (N1.2b) •Stonebridge Oil Limited (N1.784b) •Petrotrade (N1.471b) •Lucky Energy (N1.7) •Rocky Energy (N1.620b) •Lottoj Oil (N1.427b) •Oakfield Synergy Network Limited (N988m) •Prudent Energy and Services Ltd (N1.360b) •Nepal Oil and Gas Service (N2.353b) From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

of the Farouk Lawan led Committee when it begins its consideration tomorrow.

The House may also bar its members from going to the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Texas, United States on any marketer’s ticket.

Oil marketers have been bombarding Speaker Aminu Tambuwal and the leadership of the House with requests for visiting appointments, but the lawmakers have shut their doors against them.

A principal officer in the House said all attempts by marketers to use friends and

relatives to woo the Speaker and frustrate the debate of the Committee’s report have failed.

The source said: “To stave off pressure, the Speaker decided to honour all social engagements outside Abuja.

“And all his phone calls are limited to key aides, associates and friends. He believes

Nigerians must get to the root of the fuel subsidy scandal.

Some of the oil marketers, who have relocated to Abuja since Friday, have not had access to the Speaker.

“And the Speaker’s aides and those of other principal officers have been cautioned against any act that could jeopardise the debate.”

It was also learnt that some oil marketers are offering some members of the House sponsorship to the OTC Summit in Houston.

The trip is one of the strategies being adopted to scuttle the House Ad Hoc Committee’s Report, it is believed.

The principal officer, who spoke in confidence, said: “Although the Houston Conference is an annual event, we may bar members from being sponsored by any oil marketer.

“If it is unavoidable, the House may pick the bill of members.”

Mohammed, who is the Chairman of the House Committee on Media, confirmed the pressure on the Continued on page 4

Five factors likely in new revenue formula

By Our Reporter

A

S part of its plans to review the controversial revenue allocation formula, the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission may adopt five factors, it was learnt yesterday.

But the commission may stay action on the review of the 13 per cent derivation because it is not constitutionally empowered to tamper with the principle. Only the National Assembly can review the derivation principle.

RMAFC has tentatively fixed April 29 for the verification of the five factors, which it will use in determining revenue allocation to each of the 36 states, the FCT and the 774 local government areas.

The commission has raised committees for a month-long exercise to verify the five factors.

Continued on page 4

•Group Chief Executive Officer, Notore Chemical Industries Limited, Mr Onajite Okoloko and Senior Vice President, Division Chief Operating Officer, Commodity Chemicals Division B, Mitsubishi Corporation, Shinichi Nakayama (seated) pose with other executives of both companies in Tokyo, Japan just after the signing of the Notore-Mitsubishi Corporation Joint Venture Agreement for the development of the Notore’s Train II ammonia, urea and other petrochemicals plant billed for Notore Industrial Complex, Onne, Rivers State. Story on page 11

•POLITICS P17 •SPORTS P23 •CEO P32 •JOBS P37 •CITYBEATS P6

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

2

NEWS SUBSIDY PROBE REPORT

Lawmakers, M

• Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi (right) listening as the founder, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola (SAN) answers reporters’ questions during Babalola’s condolence visit to the governor over the death of his mother in Ado-Ekiti... on Saturday.With them is Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation Mr. Funminiyi Afuye.

EMBERS of the Lagos State House of Assembly and environmental rights activists have urged the Federal Government not to limit the punishment of subsidy probe to refund of money as recommended by the House of Representatives Adhoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy Management.

Deputy Whip of the House, Hon. Rotimi Abiru and member representing Eti-Osa 2 constituency, Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu, said the committee has done a good job by asking all those found culpable to make refunds, but pointed out that “asking them to refund some amount of money is not enough.”

Abiru said:“Asking the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to make refunds is not sufficient; the Goodluck Jonathan government must ensure that these set of culprits are brought to book.

They must be punished to serve as deterrent for those that might want to commit such crime in future.”

The lawmaker expressed disappointment that the NNPC could make unconstitutional deductions from the country’s oil income and pay to some people.

By Oziegbe Okoeki

Yishawu said: “Some of us had canvassed that the purported figures bandied by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led Federal Government as justification for the removal of subsidy in January were fraudulent.

“Now we have been proved right by the report of the Farouk Lawan committee submitted to the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

To me, it is a monumental disgrace that the agencies of the Federal Government such as NNPC, PPPRA apparently operated as laws unto themselves.

“The subsidy regime, as we suspected, had been turned into a huge bazaar, a free-for-all market where all manner of unwholesome activities were being perpetrated.

“It is unfortunate that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other law enforcement organs are only just being prompted to investigate such level of criminality allegedly perpetrated by one Accountant General who paid out N999 million 128 times within 24 hours to unknown entities.”

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria

How Saraki started it all

T • Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun (right) and his Deputy Chief • Former Ekiti State Governor Ayodele of Staff, Mr. Shuaib Salisu during a condolence visit to Governor Fayose during a condolence visit to Dr. Fayemi over the death of his mother in Ado-Ekiti... on Saturday.

Fayemi...yesterday

•From left: Dame Amina Yakowa, Managing Director, News Agency of Nigeria, Dame Oluremi Oyo and Dame Esther Oyeyi, during their investiture as Papal Dames of the Order of St Gregory the Great by Bishop of Kano Diocese, Most Rev. John Osa at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Kano...yesterday

• Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State (left) with the Minister of State for Education Nyesom Wike (right) during the minister’s visit to the Governor’s Office in Ibadan...at the weekend. With them is the Deputy Executive Secretary (Services), Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Prof. Rasheed Aderinoye.

HE need to look into the books of subsidy payments was first raised at the National Assembly by Senator Bukola Saraki. The senator last year initiated a motion in the Senate, seeking an investigation into the N240 billion budgeted in the 2011 Appropriate Act for fuel subsidy.

Saraki, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, representing Kwara Central Senatorial District, acted pursuant to Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 constitution, which empowers the National Assembly to probe any sector of the country’s economy, to ensure that corruption was exposed and waste of public funds checked.

In the 2011 budget, N240billion was to subsidise petroleum products. It was feared that actual expenditure could be up to N1.2 trillion by the end of year, owing to corruption and other sharp practices.

Saraki’s motion stated that N771billion is 700 per cent above the budgeted sum, contending that if the current rate of expenditure was allowed to continue, N1.2 trillion would have been spent by one agency of government by December, this year and exceed the total capital budget of N1.1 trillion for the 2011 fiscal year.

Senator Saraki suggested the setting up of a committee to investigate how the funds were sourced.

He was worried that the first three months of the year, both NNPC and Independent Marketers did not exceed N62billion monthly, but wondered why within the last three months, figures had ranged between N159 billon and N186 billion.

According to him, of the N20 billion monthly allocation, N11.2 billion was voted for domestic fuel subsidy (NNPC) and N8.8bn for domestic fuel subsidy (market).

Saraki observed that although N20 billion was set aside for subsidy on a monthly basis in the 2011 Appropriation Act, a total sum of N165 billion was expended in August, 2011 out of which NNPC got N88 billion and independent marketers N77.7 billion.

He also observed that although N240 billion was budgeted for the entire year, N931 billion had been spent as at August ending.

•Dr. Saraki

“With this trend, by year-end, we will have a fuel subsidy bill of over N1.2 trillion as against the N240 billion budgeted for the programme in the Appropriation Act,” Saraki said, adding “this expenditure is treated as a first line charge, and by implication, all other expenditures, including capital expenditures and even distribution to the states and local government, which we represent, is secondary.”

He noted that “the processes, audit, scrutiny and value for money in the entire subsidy management system lack transparency and control as the costs have continued to maintain an upward swing.”

Saraki said: “If nothing is done to address this situation urgently, we risk the non-implementation of the 2011 budget and the hopes of Nigerians that much can be achieved this year will be a mirage.”

There have been suggestions in political and business circles that Saraki’s reported invitation by the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) over some past business dealings may have been the result of his role in the subsidy crisis. This could not be confirmed last night.

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

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NEWS SUBSIDY PROBE REPORT

activists urge action on Lawan Report

•Yishawu

•Bassey

(ERA/FoEN) said Nigerians would not accept any attempt to impede the implementation of recommen-

dations of the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy Management.

ERA/FoEN, in a statement issued in Lagos, gave thumbs up to the Farouk-led committee for what

it described as a “courageous job”, and demanded that the executive arm of government demonstrate genuine commitment to its anticorruption crusade by bringing individuals and companies which ran foul of the law to book and recovering all the stolen monies.

ERA/FoEN Executive Director, Nnimmo Bassey said: “While we hail the House of Representatives for this courageous job, we are totally shocked by the shameful collaboration between government officials and their importing collaborators who have over the years stole our people blind. We will not go to bed until every dime stolen from Nigerians under the corruption-streaked so-called subsidy regime is recovered.

“Aside recovery of the funds, that the committee also established that if local refineries were able to refine 235,000 barrels of the 445,000 barrels they are allotted daily, they would still be able to refine 40 million litres of petrol and 10 million litres of kerosene, vindicates our position that lies and thievery with the consent of top government officials is indeed responsible for the shortfall in supply of petroleum products

across the country.”

Bassey said the final computation of oil borne by consumers is yet to be arrived at and fraught with lies. He said the ecological costs such as communities whose farmlands and rivers are regularly polluted without remediation have not been factored into the entire cost.

Bassey said: “The findings of the committee are indeed telling because we now know that it is the polluted communities in the Niger Delta and the ordinary Nigerian on the streets that actually subsidise the thieving companies and their friends in government who deploy some of their proceeds to the political parties.

“Nigerians refuse further punishment in the much-touted fight against corruption in the fuel import scam. We register our support for the full implementation of the recommendations of the Faroukled committee. All monies stolen must be recovered and the identified perpetrators whether politically appointed or career civil servants presiding over these events should resign or be immediately fired. Anything short of this will not be accepted.”

Winners and losers of the subsidy probe The probe of subsidy administration in the country has thrown up winners and losers. They include institutions and individuals, write OLUKOREDE YISHAU and OLUKAYODE THOMAS Nigerians

‘

FOR many, the major winner of the probe of the fuel subsidy administration is the ordinary Nigerian who the Goodluck Jonathan administration made to go through hardship early this year, with its sudden withdrawal of subsidy on petrol—instead of checking the fraud that kept the subsidy bill ever on the rise.They took to the streets of Lagos, Abuja and elsewhere in January to register their displeasure over the government’s action. Now, they are vindicated with revelation of how money has been wasted-- all in the name of subsidy payment.

The major winner of the probe of the fuel subsidy administration is the ordinary Nigerian who the Goodluck Jonathan administration made to go through hardship early this year, with its sudden withdrawal of subsidy on petrol—instead of checking the fraud that kept the subsidy bill ever on the rise

Lawan and co.

Not a few also consider the chairman of the Adhoc Probe Committee, Farouk Lawan, and members of the committee as winners for standing their ground, despite pressure from the cabal fleecing the country to make them turn deaf ears to news of rot in the sector.

Losers galore The losers are many. They include institutions, such as: the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), many oil marketers, Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Authority (PPPRA) and two accounting firms, Akintola Williams Deloitte and Adekanola and co, who have been axed by the Federal Government from verifying subsidy claims.

Akintola Williams Deloitte It is the oldest indigenous firm in Nigeria. It was established in 1952

by Mr. Akintola Williams, the doyen of the accountancy profession. Information obtained from its website said: “Through astute management the firm has grown in size and scope of services to become the largest professional services firm in Nigeria.

“The firm started operations in Nigeria as Akintola Williams & Co in 1952. Between April 1999 and May 2004, two mergers with existing accounting firms were consummated which resulted in its being the largest professional services firm in Ni-

•Farouk Lawan

geria with a staff of over 600. The firm adopted the business name “Akintola Williams Deloitte” on July 30, 2004.

“Over the years, Deloitte has built up a strong representation in several major African cities and has successfully undertaken a variety of business advisory and consulting assignments for clients in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa.

“With the potent combination of extensive local knowledge, countrywide representation and international expertise, we are able to offer our clients the best services and solutions to meet their needs.

“Akintola Williams Deloitte is part of Deloitte’s West and Central Africa cluster, which is a member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, an organisation of member firms devoted to excellence in providing professional services. We are focused on client service through a global strategy executed locally in over 140 countries. With access to intellectual capital of 170,000 people worldwide, our member firms deliver services in four professional areas: audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services. Our members serve more than one-half of the world largest companies, as well as large national enter-

•Oniwon

prises, public institutions, locally important clients, and successful, fast growing companies.”

Olusola Adekanola & Co. It is also an institution on its own, which has been ‘castrated’ by the latest development. According to its website, it “is the largest wholly indigenous accounting services firm in Nigeria, in terms of staff strength , spread of offices and in particular, the number of qualified chartered accountant. Notwithstanding this enviable position, we are still seeking to expand on the continent, blaze new trails in the industry and enrich the quality of our professional service delivery capability while forging new alliances/affiliations.”

The company said: “We provides industry-focused services for public and private clients. Our experienced staff, combined with our global network, allow us to provide the support you need—wherever you need it, at home and abroad, whatever the size of your organisation.

“Our expertise in the field of auditing is legendary. Our plethora of seasoned auditors deploy innovative modern approach to auditing of accounts both in the private and public

‘

•Williams

sector of the economy, from medium scale industries to large multinationals, irrespective of the sector of the economy.

“Over the years, we have worked with clients in implementing a wide array of value-added tax planning and compliance services to meet their need and requirements. We look forward to the opportunity to apply this experience and perspective to developing effective strategies and implementing them to achieve your financial goals. We have developed a progressive, proactive approach to tax planning, tax compliance and tax controversy resolution for the benefit of our clients. By carefully analyzing the facts, circumstances and underlying law and regulations, we can achieve the most beneficial result for our clients. We endeavor to ensure that our client’s tax’s positions are sufficiently supported by substantial authority under the law and regulations to minimize their exposure to penalties and interest. “

NNPC It is another loser struggling to untangle itself from the web of the probe. It is the organisation through

which the Federal Government of Nigeria regulates and participates in the oil industry; it is the nation’s cash cow.

Last December, the government released the report of a forensic audit conducted by KPMG. The audit, commissioned by the Ministry of Finance following concerns over NNPC transparency, it detailed sharp business practices, violation of regulations, illegal deductions of funds belonging to the state, and failure to account for several billions of naira that should go to the federation account.

Auditors found that between 2007 and 2009 alone, the NNPC over-deducted funds in subsidy claims to the tune of N28.5 billion.

PPPRA It is also in deep mess like the NNPC. The PPPRA was established by the Federal Government in 2003 to monitor and regulate the supply and distribution, and determine the prices of petroleum products in Nigeria.

However, almost a decade after it establishment, Nigeria is still battling with deregulation of the downstream sector.

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THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

NEWS Firms launch legal battle Continued from page 1

leadership.

He said: “Yes, the Speaker and the House leadership have been undergoing tremendous pressure from oil marketers. But we will not compromise with anybody.

“But the Speaker, being a man of his words, will not allow anyone to influence him.

They (these oil marketers) will meet brickwalls, if they make any advance.

“As for the House, the House leadership will ensure that the recommendations are debated and implemented. We have decided to transmit our debate live on television stations as from Tuesday so that Nigerians will judge whether the Ad Hoc Committee has done a good job or not.”

The 18 firms threatening to go to court over the report were asked to refund N41, 936,140,005.31.

The report said: “The following companies (18) that participated in the Scheme refused to appear before the committee and never submitted the required documents as was repeatedly announced during the hearing are to refund the various sums against their names.

“It is believed that these companies deliberately refused to appear because they had something to hide. The relevant anticorruption agencies should ensure full recovery.”

The companies are: Mobil Oil Nigeria (N14.934b); Somerset Energy Services (N3.015b); AX Energy Limited (N1.471b); CAH Resources Association Limited (N1.052b); Crust Energy Limited (N1.192b); Fresh Synergy Oil Limited (N1.417b); Ibafon Oil Limited (N4.687b); Techno Oil (N1.036 b);Oil Bath (N1.019bn); Mut-Hass Petroleum Limited (N1.2bn); Stonebridge Oil Limited (N1.784b); Petrotrade

(N1.471b); Lucky Energy (N1.7); Rocky Energy (N1.620b); Lottoj Oil (N1.427b); Oakfield Synergy Network Limited (N988m); Prudent Energy and Services Limited (N1.360b); Nepal Oil and Gas Service (N2.353b).

According to Ozekhome (SAN), who spoke with reporters on the phone last night, the firms will “sue for over N100 billion damages”.

He said: “Most of these oil firms were never invited by the House Ad Hoc Committee but they were indicted.

“I will lead the team; the oil firms have reached out to me.

In as much as I am against corruption and that those who mismanaged the oil sector should be dealt with, I also believe there must be fairness and justice.

“I am also a lawyer; I owe an obligation to the legal profession to ensure justice. Even God gave Adam and Eve fair hearing in the Garden of Eden. These companies were neither invited nor interacted with in any manner.”

The office of the Accountant-Genera of the Federation also took exception to the House report which asked it to explain the over payment of NNPC subsidy receipts by N1.205 billion.

In a statement, the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) Mr J. O. Otunba said his office is not involved in the operation and management of accounts for government agencies.

But, to Mohammed, the oil marketers are “afraid”. Well, we are in a democratic process; they are free to go to court,” he said, adding: “Nigerians have given us a duty, we have discharged it creditably. We will start debating the report from Tuesday.

So, we are also taking them to the court of people’s opinion.”

•From left: Chief Economic Adviser to the President, Prof. Nwanze Okidegbe; Director General of Bedget Office, Dr. Bright Okogu; Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Managing Director of IMF, Christine Lagarde; Gov. Peter Obi of Anambra State and the CBN Governor, Mallam Lamido Sanusi during the IMF 2012 Spring meeting at IMF Headquarters, Washington ... at the weekend

Five factors likely in new revenue formula Continued from page 1

A document obtained by our correspondent revealed the factors, which may be adopted.

Excerpts from the document reads: “It will be recalled that Section 32(b) Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Commission had set the stage for the review of revenue sharing formulae and principles so as to conform to changing realities.

“This, at all times considers such determining factors as diverse geographical or physical configurations, demographic spread and concentration, social development factors, regional revenue drives and efforts among others.

“In specific terms, the purpose is to cause improvement in the economic conditions of the people in the face of changing trends and dynamics of those variable factors.

Such changes include, inter alia, the responsiveness to both natural and man-made

FACTORS AND THEIR PERCENTAGES PRINCIPLE ALLOCATION •Equality 40% •Population 30% •Internal Revenue Generation Effort 10% •Landmass and Terrain 10% •Social Development Factor 10% •Education 4% •Health 3% •Potable water 3% environmental configurations which clearly here represent changes in Landmass and Terrain.

“It should be noted that the Horizontal Revenue Allocation Formula translates into indices for the sharing of revenue among the states and among the Local Government Councils (including the FCT Area Councils) from the Federation Account.

A source in the commission said: “Barring last-minute change of mind, RMAFC commissioners and staff have been directed to begin the verification of the factors from April 29.

“We are still trying to sort out issue of funds but we are hope-

ful that the exercise will start as proposed. We are going to the field to correct raw data.

“These data will eventually assist RMAFC to determine the overall revenue allocation percentage to be allocated to states and local governments in the vertical arrangement.”

At present, the revenue allocation formula is as follows: Federal Government (52%); States (26.72%); and 770 Local Government Areas (20.60%).

But a committee raised by the Nigerian Governors Forum, headed by the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, has recommended a drastic reduction in the Federal

Government’s allocation.

The governors want this new formula: Federal Government (35%); States (42%); and Local governments (23%).

The RMAFC source added: “The field work we are embarking on will assist us to ascertain if the demand of the states and the LGAs is justifiable. It will enable us to know the revenue allocation percentage to recommend for these two tiers of government.

“The five factors will also assist us to determine how revenue should be shared to states, LGAs.” A highly-placed source in the commission said: “What RMAFC can only do is to advise the President on derivation principle - in the light of the outcome of our field work. It is only the National Assembly that can review the derivation principle.

“We are aware that there are divergent proposals on the review of the derivation principle. Some geopolitical zones have been demanding the review from 13 per cent to 25, 35 and 50 per cent.”

House Probe: NNPC denies withdrawing N844.9b from CBN Sack of auditors not enough, says Falana

F

•NNPC chief Austin Oniwon

T

HE Management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday denied taking N844.9 billion from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

In a statement issued in Abuja, the corporation’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Dr. Levi Ajuonuma picked holes in the House Committee probe report on subsidy payment, which indicted NNPC of alleged financial malfeasance in the petroleum products subsidy scheme.

He stated that contrary to the allegation contained in the report, which accused NNPC of withdrawing from

OR activist-lawyer Femi Falana, stopping two auditors – Messrs Akintola Williams & Company and Adekaonla & Company - over the alleged sharp of practices in the oil sector is scratching the issue on the surface.

According to Falana, the firms should be made to refund all monies they collected as professional fees without uncovering the massive fraud perpetrated by oil sector players.

The House of Representatives adHoc Committee, which probed the controversial oil subsidy, indicted the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and oil marketers of mismanagement.

Reacting to the suspension of the auditing firms, Falana urged the Federal Government to sanction them, even as he described the government action as a welcome development.

The statement reads: “The Federal From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

two sources simultaneously to recover its subsidy claims, the Corporation at no time made such double withdrawals.

“Such a claim is totally unfounded and absurd .We challenge both the CBN and Ad Hoc Committee to provide evidence that such payments as alleged were made to NNPC. They must show

From Vicent Ikuomola, Abuja

Government acted in the national interest by terminating the services of the two auditors -Akintola Williams & Company and Adekanola & Company - which engaged in the massive cover-up of the grand fuel subsidy scam.

“The action is commendable as it is a practical demonstration of the determination of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration to bring to book all the economic saboteurs involved in the looting of the fuel subsidy fund.

“However, the mere termination of the auditors’ services is not commensurate with the gravity of the economic crime committed by them.

“In the first place, the auditors should be made to refund the billions of naira collected as professional fees for colluding with the fuel importers to swindle the nation.

“Secondly, the indicted auditors

authorisation for the payments as well as breakdown of the amount, purpose for the payments, beneficiary accounts in which such payments were made and the utilisation of such payments,” he said.

The NNPC spokesman explained that rather than collecting such payments from CBN as alleged, the NNPC applied such subsidy approvals as credit due to it for domestic crude allocation.

should be reported to the EFCC for investigation and prosecution for conspiracy to defraud, fraud and obtaining money by false pretence.

“Thirdly, the report of the House Committee on the fuel subsidy scam should be sent to the relevant professional body for appropriate disciplinary action.

“However, the appointment of the Imokhuede-led panel to verify the 2011 subsidy claims is diversionary, wasteful and unwarranted.

“Having regard to the concurrent probes of the fuel importation fraud by the House of Representatives, Senate and the EFCC, there is no justification for setting up another body to investigate the limited subsidy claims of 2011.

“The resort to permanent investigation of the fuel subsidy fraud is a clever design by the Federal Government to shield certain sacred cows. The official diversion should stop without any further delay.”

Said Ajuonuma: “For the purposes of clarity, subsidy payments to NNPC is not based on cash remittance.

The mechanics of subsidy recovery by NNPC is not fund – based but by way of deduction from crude cost due. As a matter of fact, from the commencement of the subsidy regime, there was never a time when CBN paid any money to NNPC in respect of subsidy claim.”

Ajuonuma lamented that

despite the fact that all documents and information were given to the Probe Committee, it still made an “unfounded” allegation against the Corporation.

“For instance, NNPC presented to PPPRA approvals for 2011 totalling N981 billion, out of which only N844.9 billion has been credited to NNPC. But surprisingly, the Committee claimed that PPPRA approved only N504 billion and that the bal-

ance was excess payment to NNPC. What logic?” he said.

The NNPC said the Committee’s intention was really not to clarify the subsidy payments but to malign and damage the reputation of the Corporation as well as other key players of the industry.

He also picked holes in the Committee’s query of NNPC’s deduction of subsidy payment as a first line charge.

Ajuonuma said: “The basis for the deduction of both cash calls for Joint Venture operations and NNPC’S subsidy payments as a first line charge on the income of the Federal Government is statutory and founded on the Appropriation Act, which was passed by the National Assembly. Under the said Appropriation Act, certain budgetary items, including subsidy payments to the NNPC are listed as first line charges on the income of the Federation.”

“The Committee accepted the Cash Call as first line charge, yet alleged that the subsidy aspect was illegal.

“It is clear that the tune of the Committee’s report is not only damaging to the Corporation but to the entire nation.

At this stage, it is pertinent to ask the question, whose interest is this committee serving?”

ADVERT HOTLINES: 01-280668, 08070591302, 08052592524 NEWSROOM: LAGOS – 01-8962807, ABUJA – 07028105302 COMPLAINTS: 01-8930678

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THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

NEWS

We’ll stop and search Aregbesola’s convoy, says Omisore A PEOPLES Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, has threatened to stop and search the convoy of Governor Rauf Aregbesola.

The former lawmaker alleged that the governor was not using men of the State Security Service (SSS) for his security personnel. He addressed reporters in his IleIfe home at the weekend.

Omisore said: “We will stop his convoy, search and remove all the arms his thugs are using.

“It is unethical to use thugs as security.

Aregbesola should explain why he goes about with thugs. During the last elections, he rigged with the aids of thugs, but this time round, we are ready for him.

“Who wants to kill him?

(Asiwaju Bola) Tinubu is more important than he is.

He is a common radio technician. If Aregbesola does

•Govt: no harm should happen to governor

From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

not trust the SSS, let him resign. We are going to stop his convoy and search him.

“His action is an embarrassment. He is just one of the 36 governors; how can his case be different? Tinubu was governor for eight years, he did not use thugs as security.

“Together with Aregbesola we were in the Alliance for Democracy (AD).

We know ourselves very well. Aregbesola was just one of the thugs shouting outside when we held crucial meetings. If not for Justice Ayo Salami, whose judgment favoured Aregbesola and he is now paying for it by being at home wasting away, who knew Aregbesola?”

The former senator said it was not an allegation that Aregbesola was training and

using members of the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES) to commit alleged electoral fraud.

He vowed “to crush any OYES member found in any voting centre in the next elections”.

According to him, the politics promoted by the PDP in the Southwest from 2003 to 2011 brought succour to the zone and would advance the Yoruba interest faster than the regional integration of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

But the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Sunday Akere, asked in what capacity Omisore would act, if he plans to stop and search the governor’s convoy.

Describing Omisore’s outburst as a direct confrontation, Akere said: “We shall see how he will do that and get

•A vandalised car

•One of the victims...at the weekend.

away with it.”

The commissioner, who said no harm must come to the governor, noted that the former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige, was murdered despite the security provided for him by the government.

He said: “If Omisore should be bold to say he would search the governor’s convoy, the whole world should note it. And we are demanding that no harm should happen to the governor. We don’t want to take him for granted.”

Akere said the PDP was a bad loser for referring to OYES instead of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the superintendent of elections.

He added that the PDP had performed abysmally.

PHOTOS:DAMISI OJO

Cleric condemns attack on guests at Adefarati lecture

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HE Bishop of Owo Diocese, Rev. James Oladunjoye, has condemned the disruption of the fifth memorial lecture for former Ondo State Governor Adebayo Adefarati at the weekend.

Hoodlums had, on Friday, attacked Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governorship aspirants, chieftains and other guests at the BTO Hall in Akure, the state capital.

The thugs were allegedly sponsored by the state government. They injured many people and vandalised vehicles.

Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi, who was to deliver the lecture, had to detour when he received a security report on the situation.

But scores of progressives attended the memorial church service held on Saturday at Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Akungba-Akoko, Akoko South West Local Government Area.

The cleric berated some politicians for unleashing violence in their states, saying it is absurd for office seekers to force themselves on the electorate.

At the service were ACN chieftain, Dr. Olaiya Oni; governorship aspirants, including Jaiyeola Ajatta, Ifedayo Abegunde, Chief Segun Ojo, Chief Tayo Alasoadura, Mr Olurotimi Akeredolu (SAN) and Mr

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

Olayato Aribo.

The ACN chieftains included former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Chief Wumi Adegbonmire (aka Omo Ekun); Dr. Paul Akintelure, traditional rulers and political associates of the late Adefarati.

Rev. Oladunjoye said: “You don’t need to force yourself on people. It is bad to insist that you must rule by force. The sittight syndrome by most of our politicians and public officers is undemocratic. They should note that no condition is permanent in life.

“I was invited as one of the guests, and my wife was one of the old students of Adefarati when he was a teacher. But I thank God that I could not make it to that event.

“It was later I read in newspapers that some thugs suspected to be loyal to the ruling Labour Party (LP) vandalised some vehicles and stopped the event from holding.”

The cleric, who quoted from Revelation 13 vs 14-17, described the late Adefarati as a lover of peace.

He said: “That was why they called him Baba Peace (father of peace). Baba

Adefarati was one of the last dependable politicians in the country and a leader who had listening ears. He wanted the best for the poor masses.

“His concern during his administration, between 1999 and 2003, was how to make the state one of the best in Nigeria. When he was in the saddle, he created industries and constructed roads, among other laudable programmes.”

“Adefarati was trustworthy and humble. That’s why he always trusted those who were close to him, including his aides and political associates, when he was governor. But he was betrayed by those he believed was loyal to him. Some of his commissioners kicked against him and ensured he failed when he was re-contesting for the governorship seat.

“I am appealing to politicians to stop attacking innocent people. You cannot kill people you are planning to rule. Violence must stop in Nigeria and Ondo State as we move towards election period.”

The bishop decried incessant killing of Christians in the North by the Boko Haram sect.

Senate doubts INEC’s ability to try 1m electoral offenders

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HE Chairman, Senate Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Andy Uba, at the weekend expressed doubt over the ability of the electoral umpire to prosecute over one million alleged electoral offenders.

Uba told reporters in Abuja that there was need

From Sanni Onogu, Abuja

for holistic reform of INEC before similar issues could be tackled successfully.

INEC Chairman Prof.

Attahiru Jega said the agency would soon begin the trial of over one million persons who violated the Electoral Act in last year’s elections.

On Diaspora voting, the

former Anambra State governor said the Federal Government needs the political will and a change of attitude from Nigerians to make this possible.

Uba, who represents Anambra South Senatorial District, decried the annulment of his election. He noted that the rerun, which he won, was not a good experience for him.

He said: “Well, it is still an issue, which I said was part of the electoral reforms we must carry out. First, do we have the prisons that can accommodate one million offenders in this country?

Secondly, does INEC have the capacity to prosecute all these electoral offenders?

Can our conventional courts cope with the volume of the cases?

Group joins Ondo ACN From Leke Akeredolu, Akure

POLITICAL pressure group, Independent Campaign Group (ICG), at the weekend joined the Action Congress in Nigeria (ACN) in Ondo State.

The group has over 146 members. It vowed to ensure that ACN wins the October 20 governorship election.

Led by their President, Mr. Benjamin Akinbobola, the ICG members were received by the Vice-Chairman of Ile-Oluji/ Oke-Igbo Local Government Area, Mr. Rufus Adefulire, at the party’s secretariat.

Akinbobola said the state has been going backwards since the ruling Labour Party (LP) took over its administration.

He said the Olusegun Mimiko administration has put the state in a deep debt through loans, despite inheriting billions of naira from the previous administration.

Akinbobola said: “We won’t like Ondo State to be left behind in the developmental train moving around the Southwest through the support of the only progressive party in Nigeria the ACN. The group will join other forces that are preaching the gospel of progressivism on why the state should pitch its tent with the ACN. “The LP is not a relevant party again in Ondo State and it will finally pack up from Nigerian politics immediately the governorship election is conducted on October 20. I am very sure Ondo will join other progressive states in the Southwest. Ondo State people are eagerly waiting to experience the joy earlier given to them by the progressive forefathers like the late Adekunle Ajasin and Chief Adedayo Adefarati, who have ruled the state.”

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Police repel attack on Ogun bank

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PERATIVES of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and the Quick Response Squad (QRS) under the Ogun Police Command yesterday repelled armed bandits who attacked a new generation bank at Kuto, Abeokuta, the state capital.

It was learnt that the robbers arrived the bank premises about 5.38am and attempted to break the security door and the Automated Teller Machine (ATM).

They were said to have used hammers, chisels and methane/acetylene gas for the operation.

The security personnel attached to the bank and some members of the public reportedly noticed the suspicious activities of the hoodlums and alerted the SARS and QRS. The police units reportedly mobilised to the scene and dislodged the robbers.

From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

In a statement in Abeokuta, police spokesman Muyiwa Adejobi confirmed the incident.

He said SARS and QRS engaged the robbers in a gun duel, using the newly acquired security equipment.

Adejobi added that the SARS team received a backup from the QRS and forced the robbers to flee with bullet wounds. The robbers were, however, said to have abandoned their operating tools.

“Police Commissioner Ikemefuna Okoye has ordered an immediate investigation: combing of the vicinity and probing the attack.

“The command is on top of the security situation in the state and we are assuring you of maximum security of life and property.

Please, go about your normal businesses without fear,” Adejobi said.

Afe Babalola lecture holds today

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ELTA State Deputy Governor, Prof Amos Utuama (SAN), will today be the guest lecturer at the second Afe Babalola Annual Lecture series.He will speak on: Law, security and Social Order in Contemporary Nigeria.

The three-day event, which will hold at the Aare Afe Babalola Bar Centre, High Court Complex, AdoEkiti, Ekiti State, will be opened by the Acting Chief Judge of Ekiti State, Justice Ayodeji Daramola.Host Governor Kayode Fayemi and Prof T.A. Adeniran will be the special guest of honour and the Chairman.

By Adegunle Olugbamila

Tomorrow, a lecture, entitled: The Place of Law and Order in the National Transformation Agenda, will be delivered by lawyer/activist Michael Opeyemi Bamidele.

A former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Ikeja branch Chairman, Dr Dele Adeshina (SAN), will be the chairman. On Wednesday, there will be a Moot/Mock trial competition between students of the Ekiti State University (EKSU) and the Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) with Justice A.K. Fowowe as the presiding judge.

World leaders have failed in quest for peace, says Adeboye

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HE General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, yesterday said world leaders have failed in the quest to restore global peace and resolve conflicts.

The renowned cleric spoke when he was hosted at a day of tributes, tagged: This Is Your Life, by interfaith groups from Israel, Korea, Indonesia, Austria, the UK, U.S. and Nigeria to mark his 70th birthday anniversary in London.

He said: “It is clear that politicians have failed to solve the problems of conflicts and violence all over the world.

OUR ERRORS The headline on Page 25 should have read:World Bank removes Nigeria, others from aid list.

Also, Dr Mike Adenuga(Jnr) was wrongly referred to as Mr Ayodeji Karim in a photo caption on Page 35.

The errors are regretted.

Editor

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

6

CITYBEATS FirstBank sponsors sixth Lagos Economic Summit The First Bank of Nigeria Plc is partnering with the Lagos State Government on the sixth Lagos State Economic Summit tagged Ehingbeti 2012.

The Summit, which opens today, at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, is tagged “From Brics to Brincs – Lagos holds the key.”

It will focus on investment opportunities in Power, Agriculture, Transportation and Housing (PATH), and designed to attract and support investments that will reduce infrastructure gaps, create employment and improve the living standards of the increasing population in the state and also provide opportunities for all stakeholders to network, examine and propose policies and implementation programmes to achieve strategic goals and objectives.

FirstBank’s Head of Marketing & Corporate Communications, Mrs. Folake Ani-Mumuney, spoke of the imperative of collaboration between the private and public sectors.

She said while the private sector is the major driver of economic growth, government is responsible for providing an enabling environment for private initiatives to thrive.

NEXIM partners Black Ivory

By Ovwe Medeme

BLACK Ivory Communication has become the first beneficiary of the Goodluck jonathan’s intervention fund for the entertainment industry.

The fund is being managed by the Nigerian Export and Import Bank (NEXIM).

Presenting Black Ivory’s production, Dr Bello, at a press conference at Radisson Blu Hotel, Lagos, over the weekend, NEXIM’s Managing Director and Chief Executive, Mr. Roberts Orya, said the partnership symbolised the flag-off of NEXIM’s support for film production.

“The Nigerian creative arts and entertainment industry has done creditably well in the socioeconomic development of the nation. The industry has, by recent estimates, created over one million jobs directly and indirectly and generated a minimum of $500million in revenue annually. The industry is also widely adjudged as the most prolific in the world, producing over 2,500 films yearly in the past three years,” Orya said.

Tony Abulu of Black Ivory Ltd, said Dr. Bello is set to take the movie industry to the next level.

“With what we are witnessing today, I can assure you that Nollywood is about to fly. We cannot continue to depend on our oil revenue. We have to begin to make products ourselves and we have to begin to package it for the international market, and those stories must be of international standard,” Abulu said.

08033054340, 08034699757 E-mail:- ynotcitybeats@gmail.com

Court remands nursing mother in prison for husband’s alleged murder MAGISTRATE’S Court in Ebute-Meta, Lagos, has

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remanded a woman, Mrs. Chikaodile Anakwe, in prison for allegedly killing her husband, Ifeanyi.

The nursing mother, was ar-

By Precious Igbonwelundu

raigned on a one-count charge of murder.

She was accused of unlawfully killing her husband last February 16, about 11pm, at 32, Yusuf Erinfolami Street, Ago Okota,

Lagos, thereby committing an offence punishable under Section 221 of the Criminal Code Laws of Lagos 2011.

Her lawyer, Adinuso Iheonu, told the court that the accused had been on administrative bail since her arrest because she is

Flood victims allege neglect

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ESIDENTS of Ogijo, a boundary community between Lagos and Ogun states have yet to get over the hangover of the seven-hour downpour that ravaged the area last Thursday. They are still counting their losses from the flood.

Those who could afford it, are seeking refuge in hotels; while many are managing in their flooded apartments. Yet others have relocated to neighbouring villages and their states of origin.

It was learnt that Harmony Estate, Eyita and Malatori (all in Ogijo) were badly hit by the disaster, which also affected three neighbouring communities.

The flood, sources said, was informed more by human factors than nature.

There are no good drainage, culverts and roads, leaving residents to defecate and dump refuse anyhow.

The entrance to Harmony Estate, the fast growing town beside the Community High School on Shagamu - Ikorodu road , is still flooded, resulting in a traffic gridlock and paralysis commercial activites.

According to a resident, Mrs Owolewa Abolore, the “Thursday flood destroyed five buildings (uncompleted ones inclusive), many soccerways , cars and motorcycles were swept off road, many houses were destroyed. So, it is high time government constructed a drainage system that will channel the flood properly. Look our roads are destroy by the flood . They are not motorable again,” she said Condemning the non-provision of amenities for the com-

•Flooded Community Grammar School, Ogijo...at the weekend

By Paul Oluwakoya

munity, Wasiu Bamigbelu, Secretary Oba of Council Ogijo and Olayinka Adenuga Baale Chief Eberated the government for sharking its responsibilities since the Gbenga Daniel’s administration days.

“We have not enjoyed the dividend of democracy in Ogijo since the last administration up to now. “ We spent over N6 million to make the roads in Eyita and Malatori, , our communities buy and replace transformer by themselves, do you know that there is no single drainage in the villages, the one the community dredged many years ago is filled, government has this poor attitude towards our plight passes. We have written series of letters to the commissioner of en-

vironment but to no avail,” they said.

Adenuga appealed to the governor to provide a proper drainage system for us starting from hospital road down to Melofen to Eyita, Malatori to Odo. The project is large beyond the capacity of the communities. We also appeal for good roads in the entire Ogijo and adjoining towns. If the government had addressed the problem before now by channelling the rain water to the Ogun river drainage system, by constructing good drainage and culvert system in all the communities our roads would not have collapsed…”, he said According to another resident (Mrs Saka Olabisi, “I have been living in this area for about five years. Can you imagine that

Police deploy armoured vehicle in Mile 12

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OME traders at Mile 12 in Ketu, Lagos, have threatened to shut down the market over what they called plans by the Ikosi-Isheri Local Council Development Area (LCDA), to impose a new leadership on them.

They said they would resist theattempt to impose a new leadership on the Perishable Commodities Section of the market.

The Financial Secretary of the traders’ association (Perishable Commodities Section), Alhaji Sheu Usman, said:”We are capable of selecting our leaders.

“We may need a new leader, but certainly not by imposing a stranger on us.

•Traders threaten to shut market “There is no crisis in the association. Any attempt to impose any new leadership will be resisted.”

According to him, all the sectional associations are fully behind the current chairman, Haruna Mohammed.

“All the associations in the various sections-tomatoes, onions, dried pepper, okra and others-are behind the current chairman, Haruna Mohammed,” Usman said.

The Chairman, Mr Abdulfatai Oyesanya, said the Mohammedled executive was a caretaker committee constituted six years ago.

“The committee was inaugurated following the House of Assembly’s recommendation.

“The recommendation still subsists. The association is the council’s revenue agent whose yearly agreement lapsed last year.

“There is no agreement yet in 2012; so the council has the right to put in place a new executive and re-organise the association,’’ he said.

The police have deployed an Armoured Personnel Carrier and anti-riot policemen to the market to prevent a breakdown of law and order.

LAGOS EMERGENCY LINES STATE AGENCIES 4. KAI Brigade Phone Nos: 080-23036632; 0805-5284914 Head office Phone Nos: 3. LASTMA Emergency Numbers: 01-4703325; 01-7743026 080-75005411; 080-60152462 5. Rapid Response Squad (RRS) 080-23111742; 080-29728371 Phone Nos: 070-55350249; 080-23909364; 080-77551000 070-35068242 01-7904983 080-79279349; 080-63299264

1. Fire and Safety Services Control Room Phone Nos: 01-7944929; 080-33235892; 080-33235890; 080-23321770; 080-56374036.

2. Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Lagos Zonal Command Phone No:080-33706639; 01-7742771 Sector Commander Phone No: 080-34346168; 01-2881304

breastfeeding a baby.

He prayed the court to grant the accused bail to enable her take proper care of her baby.

Magistrate O. Olatunji rejected the bail plea, holding that the Court lacked the jurisdiction to grant the accused bail since she was charged with a capital offence.

The magistrate adjourned the case to June 6, pending receipt of the state’s Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) advice.

070-55462708; 080-65154338 767 or email: rapidresponsesquad@yahoo.com 6. Health Services – LASAMBUS Ambulance Services Phone Nos: 01-4979844; 01-4979866; 01-4979899; 01-4979888; 01-2637853-4; 080-33057916; 080-33051918-9; 080-29000003-5.

PHOTO: PAUL OLUWAKOYA

government has not done anything for us and we have been complaining about this flood and other environmental challenges? Now that rain has started our children won’t go to school again, the school premises, just like other places are flooded.

“Look at Seun, my son; see how dirty he is, he has been picking up most of his books and school materials from the flood to tell you how bad the flood affects us. I thank God that Folake’s primary school certificate was laminated it would have been soaked along with other valuable documents. We just had the space to spread our mattress. We couldn’t help it.

The flood entered our building, my electronics, furniture are all stinking“, Mrs Olabisi said.

Boy, 13, held for robbery

By Jude Isiguzo

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13-year-old boy Samuel Akanji, of Bala Street Ajegunle, Lagos, has been arrested for armed robbery.

The Junior Secondary II student. was arrested alongside a Mechanical Engineer simply identified as Okonkwo.

They had gone to Anjorin Market armed with knife and a makeshift gun, to steal handsets from a phone shop.

They ordered the sales girl to hand over all the phones in the shop.

The sales girl it was learnt, packed all the dummy phones in the shop and handed over to the robbers who left the shop, while she followed them, grabbed Okonkwo and raised the alarm.

Policemen where invited and the suspects apprehended.

Police spokesman Mr Jaiyeoba Joseph said the suspects will be transferred to the State Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) for investigation.

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

CITYBEATS

08033054340, 08034699757 E-mail:- ynotcitybeats@gmail.com

Two women held over boy’s death

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WO housewives are being interrogated by the police over their alleged roles in the death of a 10-year-old boy, Akaniyene Effiong.

They were arrested last week at Ajegunle by policemen attached to Layeni Police station.

It was gathered that Effiong died after he left home for an unknown place on February 10, because he was being maltreated by Mrs Comfort Peters, who brought him to Lagos from Akwa-Ibom about two years ago.

He was found dead two months after he left her. The circumstance of his death is still hazy.

Mrs Comfort Peters (50), and Mrs Victoria Nwaju (31), were arrested by the police over alleged negligence.

Peters, in a statement, told the police that she conducted a futile search for Effiong after he left her home.

She said she was shocked when she discovered that the boy was being harboured by Mrs Nwaju.

By Jude Isiguzo

Her statement led to the arrest of Mrs Nwaju in whose custody the boy allegedly died.

Mrs Peters said: “On January 7, 2010, I brought the boy from my village to live with me. I later enrolled him at the Oremeje Primary School at Ajegunle. On February 10, 2012, I returned from a journey to discover that Effiong had left home, but his school uniform was in the kitchen; my brother who was at home then told me he saw him when he came back from school; we made frantic effort to look for him and I went to the welfare homes at Ikotun and Alakara, to look for him but we did not see him” Mrs Nwaju said she saw Effiong wandering at the Cemetery market at Ajegunle and took him home.

She said: “Sometimes last month, I cannot remember the date, I came to my stand (stall) at the cemetery market about

6.00am and I saw this boy under my table sleeping, I was scared, I thought it was a goat but when I later saw it was a boy, I brought him out and as I was about to ask him any question, he ran away.

Some weeks later I saw him playing in the market and I made efforts to call him but he ran away again. One market day, I saw people gathered and I went to see what was happening, that was when I discovered that it was the same boy that slept under my table, he had a big cut on his forehead, which he sustained while playing and blood was gushing out. I was moved with pity as I have a boy his age at home, so I told the people gathered that I know him and I took him to my house, I bathe him, gave him food to eat and later took him to the hospital.”

Mrs Nwaju said she took the boy to the hospital where his wound was treated but three days later the injury became severe.

“The doctor said the wound has

•Dredging of Elere canal at Agege...on Friday. INSET: Bello (right) issuing directive to Ministry Officials PHOTO: OMOSEHIN MOSES

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Govt to demolish structures on canal channels

HE Lagos State government has ordered the demolition of all defective structures along canal channels in Agege.

The Commissioner for the Environment, Mr Tunji Bello, gave the directive when he led some officials from his ministry to inspect on-going construction of drainage channels in the area. He said it was important for the government to act now in order to avert disaster.

A building on Odejobi Street, on the old Abeokuta road, around Pen Cinema, which has shown signs of distress, was ordered to be pulled down by the commissioner. He said the ministry

By Miriam Ndikanwu

would discuss with other agency to ensure speedy response.

Bello called on residents to always verify the drainage level in their area before building.

“People should verify the drainage level of their area and obtain invert level of the major roads before constructing their buildings, to ensure that houses are not submerged. Those who build their houses below the drainage level will usually experience perennial flooding,” he said.

Drainage projects inspected in-

clude Elere Drain in Agege, running through Odejobi (350.00m long), Agunbiade/Alfa Nla (1650.00m long), which is expected to de-flood Iju Road, Elere Street, Alfa Nla Road, Agunbiade Road, Odejobi Street, Old Abeokuta Express way.

Others including, Awori- Moricas alignment, Adealu alignment, Oduduwa Street drain and Fani Kayode, Sobo Arobiodu alignment, linking various local governments and Local Council Development Areas and improving the social economic activities in those areas.

been infected by tetanus and on April 7, after he was rushed to Tolu Medical Centre at Ajegunle, he died,” Mrs Nwaju said.

The case was reported at Layeni Police Station at Ajegunle, and police investigation led to the women’s arrest for negligence.

A police officer, who pleaded anonymity said the women, would be charged withnegligence leading to death.

“When the boy left home, his guardian should have reported his disappearance to the police and when the other woman picked him up from the street, she ought to have reported the case to the police. That way, the matter would have been officially documented and they would not be in this mess, because it is lack of care for this boy that led to his untimely death” Police Public Relations Officer Jaiyeoba Joseph, a Superintendent, said investigation is on-going.

Bello expressed satisfaction with the work done so far adding that government will continue to monitor the progress to ensure that it is in line with the approved standard.

He explained that the government is working on a network of drainage channels as a measure of tackling the challenge of flood during the peak of the raining season.

He frowned at the activities of traders along the drainage channels, noting that the government will not only arrest offenders but ensure that they are prosecuted in line with the state environmental law.

“The government is expending so much money to construct and rehabilitate these drainage channels in order to tackle flood problem in these areas and we are not going to fold our hands and allow these traders destroy what we have spent so much to build.”

He said the government will activate its enforcement team and arrest anyone caught trading along the drainage channels. “We will not arrest and demolish their make shift structure but will also take them to court. We have setbacks which must be adhered to,” he said.

He said the government is still facing constraints with the management of the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC), whose cooperation it usually seeks in some areas where the drainage channels passed through the rail line.

“We are still discussing with them and other government agencies and I assure you that the situation will soon be resolved. We have identified about 34 areas where we have collectors meeting the rail point and all we seek is for their corporation so that we can have a permanent solution to the environmental problem in that area. “

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Assembly probes market

By Jude Isiguzo

THE Lagos State House of Assembly is investigating the alleged frivolous petitions written bya factional leader of the Aguiyi Ironsi International Market, Ladipo, Mushin, against some individuals, ministries and council officials.

The Office of the Public Defender (OPD), said the petitions were lies.

"The man had gone to the OPD, an organisation that is well known for defending the oppressed to seek justice. The agency, however, discovered that the man was trying to be smart. It was at this juncture that they alerted the lawmakers", a source at the House of Assembly, who craved anonymity said.

The suspect and others mentioned in the petitions have been summoned by the House.

‘Non-custodial sentence only for lesser offences’

By Adebisi Onanuga

THE proposed non-custodial sentences will only be cover lesser offences, the Lagos State government has said.

Under the reform introduced into the administration of criminal justice law, convicts will be sentenced to community service instead of being jailed.

The Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye made this clarification while declaring open a training on community service noncustodial sentences organised for magistrates and community officers at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of Lagos (UNILAG) Akoka.

Mr. Ipaye said non-custodial sentence is not a replacement for prison sentences as persons convicted for serious criminal offences or considered dangerous would still be sentenced to terms of imprisonment.

He said the reform has also not taken away the power of magistrates to sentence hardened criminals to prison terms but added to their powers to sentence those who are convicted of lesser crimes or are unable to pay fines to community services.

“The law does not take away magistrate’s power to pronounce prison sentences on convicted persons. It is just an alternative to sentencing people to prison” he said.

Aside from heavy case loads leading to detention of many awaiting trials, he said that the problems of overcrowded prison is exacerbated by the fact that a large proportion of those incarcerated were convicted of minor offences.

Ipaye stressed that the new order was introduced because of the problems associated with criminal justice in Lagos and to reduce prison congestion.

Hoodlums attack police, community leader who resisted bid to snatch cash

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COMMUNITY leader in Agege, Lagos, Adebayo Adeniyi, is lying critically ill in an the hospital, following machete cut wounds inflicted on him by hoodlums.

Adeniyi was attacked when he refused to part with the money he withdrew from the bank.

It was gathered that the hoodlums trailed Adeniyi to a bank last Friday, where he went to withdraw money from an Automated Teller Machine (ATM).

Sources said the hoodlums attempted to snatch the N50,000 he collected, but he resisted them.

By Jude Isiguzo

The hoodlums descended on him with dangerous weapons.

A source, who simply identified himself as Kunle, said: “Adeniyi was on a commercial motorcycle, popularly called okada, last Friday, when he was trailed by the hoodlums to his bank’s ATM at Oyewole area in Agege. The hoodlums attacked him after he withdrew the money and they collected everything from him, but when he attempted to stop them from collecting the money he kept in his pocket, the hoodlums got wild

and they attacked him with broken bottles and other dangerous weapons.”

It was gathered that the case was reported at the Alabo Police Station at Dopemu and the police trailed the hoodlums to their hideout at Abule-Onigo at Ilejide bus stop along Iyana-Ipaja, a notorious den for miscreants.

“Abule–Onigo is a notorious hideout for all hoodlums, thugs and armed robbers. The police traced the boys to that place but the hoodlums attacked the police with broken bottles and other dangerous weapons. They aborted

their mission to avoid being killed,” Kunle said.

It was learnt that the police reinforced and swooped on the miscreants, arresting two of the gang leaders who are being detained at the State Anti-Robbery Squad.

(SARS), Ikeja.

Another resident, who do not want his name in print, blamed the gang war and frequent break down of law and order at Abule-Onigo and Oyewole on hoodlums who have political leaders as godfathers.

“Residents of Abule-Onigo and environs do not sleep or walk in

peace as these hoodlums usually attack anybody they see even at day time. The police are afraid of them and they do not come to the area even when a distress call is made to them, because, the boys are many and they attack people and the police with broken bottles, which they have in surplus.

So you can see that residents live in perpetual fear due to these bad boys in the area. They do anything they like because they have politicians backing them up and whenever they are arrested, these politicians will go and secure their bail,” the source said.

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

8

NEWS I won’t collect salary as governor, says Ondo aspirant

By Emmanuel Oladesu, Deputy Political Editor

A GOVERNORSHIP aspirant of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Ondo State, Mr. Segun Abraham, yesterday said the party would lead the Sunshine state to the Promised Land.

The aspirant said he would not collect salary from the state, if elected governor. He said his goal is selfless service.

Abraham said: “ACN will turn around this potentially great state into an industrial hub in accordance with the vision of the founding fathers. Ondo has been slow in development, despite its huge potentials. Ondo must bounce back. An ACN government will develop the state’s agricultural resources and create jobs.

Ondo has for long been retarded by bad governance and the time to rescue it by ACN is now.”

Another aspirant, Mr. Felix Rawa, the only aspirant from Ilaje, stressed the need to build the party’s structures across the 18 local governments.

Speaking with reporters in Lagos at the weekend, Rawa said: “It is important for the ACN leadership to give consideration to the fact that Ondo’s strength lies in Ilaje, where the oil comes from.

And since no Ilaje has occupied the Alagbaka House before, it is the turn of the oil-rich sub-zone.

Ondo State cannot be left behind as the wind of change is blowing across the Southwest. “ Other ACN aspirants are Dr. Olu Agunloye; Senator Robert Boroffice; Mr. Segun Ojo; Dr. Tunji Abayomi; Comrade Sola Iji; Mr. Saka Lawal; Chief Jamiu Ekungba; Dr. Joseph Ajatta; Mrs. Jumoke Anifowose; Chief Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN); Mr. Wale Akinterinwa; Chief Awodeyi Akinsehinwa-Apata; Senator Olorunnimbe Farunkanmi; Mr. Tayo Alasoadura; and Mr. Aribo.

Train crushes three-year-old From Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

A TRAIN yesterday crushed a three-year-old boy, simply identified as Quadri, to death in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

The incident occurred in Alajiki, Adifase, Apata.

The father of the deceased, simply identified as Alowonle, is a commercial bus driver, who plies Apata to Dugbe. The child’s mother assists a smoked fish seller at Ogbagba in Apata.

The late child and his 11year-old sister, Kabirat, were coming from Ogbagba, where they had gone to collect smoked fish, when the incident occurred about 2:30pm.

The late Quadri was crushed while trying to cross the railway line. While Kabirat successfully crossed to the other side, an eyewitness said Quadri was crushed by a train.

It was learnt that his remains have been evacuated by the family.

Kidnapped girl resurfaces after seven years

Why Tinubu is loved, by Abayomi From Kamarudeen Ogundele, Abuja

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KIDNAP victim, Funmilayo Adewole, has been reunited with her parents after seven years.

Funmilayo, who was 12 years old when she was abducted, is now 19 years of age.

Narrating her ordeal, Funmilayo said she was kidnapped in Asaba, Delta State, on March 2, 2005, while running an errand for her parents.

She said her abductors dumped her in Lagos when they learnt of her speaking and hearing impairment.

Responding to questions from this reporter, Funmilayo said she was taken to Alakara Police Station by a good Samaritan, after spending some days on the streets of Lagos.

She said she was then taken to The Arrow of God Orphanage at Okeira-nla in Ajah, Lagos State, where she spent seven years.

According to Funmilayo, her attempts to explain to the authorities of the orphanage that she was kidnapped from Asaba failed.

She said she ran away from the orphanage when she was asked to go and learn a trade outside the home.

She said: “On the day I finally left, I got N5,000 from my friends and sneaked some

•Adewola

•Mrs Adewola

•Funmilayo From Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

of my things outside the orphanage. I boarded a bus to Asaba and went to my parents’ house at No 19, Aniahaba Cable Point, popularly called Old Maha.

“But when I got home, I discovered that my parents had relocated. The neighbours and old friends recognised me and welcomed me. I was later taken to the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, where my father was attending a meeting.”

Her father, Mr. Sunday Adewole, thanked God for

sparing Funmilayo’s life.

He also thanked the authorities of The Arrow of God Orphanage and the police for taking care of his daughter.

But Adewole said he left Asaba for Ibadan owing to a threat to his life by Mrs. Emmanuel Ogor from The Arrow of God Orphanage.

He said: “I called immediately my daughter came in to express my gratitude and find a way to visit the orphanage, but I was shocked when the woman threatened to make life miserable for me and my wife, if I failed to re-

turn my daughter to the orphanage within 24 hours.

When The Nation contacted Mrs. Ogor, who claimed to be the founder of the orphanage, she denied the allegation. She said: “I never threatened them. I said I would report them to the police, if they refuse to come the following day. I was only trying to find out whether they are her parents or murderers pretending to be so. You know kidnappers are everywhere now.

“If they are really her parents, they should come over and do the right thing.”

Ekiti Judiciary workers begin strike

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HE protracted struggle

by Judiciary workers in Ekiti State for a salary increase ended at the weekend, as the workers under the aegis of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) embarked on an indefinite strike.

To show their seriousness, the workers dared policemen on guard and chased judges and lawyers out of the courtrooms.

They said the government has not taken their call for the increment of their minimum

From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

wage from N16,000 to N25,000 seriously.

JUSUN Chairman Michael Ibiyemi said: “We feel slighted by the way the government rebuffed the two ultimatums earlier issued by the union. We will not suspend the strike until government takes our demand seriously.”

Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation Funminiyi Afuye urged the workers to direct their griev-

ances at the Judiciary.

He said the Judiciary enjoys financial autonomy and it will be tantamount to intimidation for the state government to determine the salary of judiciary workers.

Afuye said: “The Government of Ekiti State, led by Governor Kayode Fayemi, believes in the Rule of Law and separation of powers.

The Judiciary in Ekiti enjoys independence and financial autonomy, and it will be wrong for the government to interfere by setting wages

standard for an arm that is not directly under it.”Today in Ekiti, departments, parastatals and ministries receive a minimum wage of N19,000 and we have just increased it by 20 per cent across board.

This government is committed to workers’ welfare.

“We appeal to our people in the Judiciary to embrace dialogue in the matter. The state government is ready to intervene to ensure that the right things are done in the matter, but we are not going to overstep our boundary.”

Ogun safe for investors, says Acting IGP

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CTING InspectorGeneral of Police (IGP) Muhammed Dahiru Abubakar has said Ogun State is safe for investors.

He praised the efforts of Governor Ibikunle Amosun in fighting crime.

Abubakar spoke at the weekend in Abeokuta, the state capital, while receiving five Armoured Personnel Carriers

From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

(APCs), 125 vans and other equipment purchased by the State Government for the police.

He said the donation demonstrates the government’s determination to tighten security and assured residents that the Police are ready to combat crime.

Abubakar said: “This is the first time in the history of this Nigeria that this kind of donation would take place. I have served the six geo-political zones, so I can confidently say that no state in this country has made this kind of donation once.

“I was opportune to be here as an Assistant InspectorGeneral of Police in charge of

this zone and I know what I went through without these equipment.

“I thank the governor and the people of the state for this gesture and I invite both foreign and Nigerian investors to come to Ogun State, because the state government, by this donation, has taken giant strides to strengthen security.”

GOVERNORSHIP aspirant of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Ondo State, Dr. Tunji Abayomi, has explained why former Lagos Governor and ACN National leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is “loved by all”.

The lawyer said: “Asiwaju is unique and has shown a great level of humility.

When you look at the sacrifice he is making in leadership, the energy he is putting into it, his vision and drive for one man one vote, which brought about the minimum gains we have in terms of electoral reforms, you must salute his leadership quality.”

Abayomi said this in Abuja while speaking with reporters on his aspiration to contest the October governorship election in Ondo State.

The rights activist said his background gives him added advantage over other aspirants.

He said the administration of Governor Olusegun Mimiko has failed to deliver good governance to the people.

Abayomi said: “I believe the people will vote for the ACN’s candidate. When we consider the state’s resources, the governor has done nothing. He has failed in terms of respect for the rule of law, resources management and reformation of the institution of governance.”

Describing himself as “the governor of the masses”, Abayomi lamented that Mimiko has failed to give account of his stewardship to the House of Asembly.

He said: “Our people deserve a government that will work for them. I think somebody, who has fought the battle against dictatorship and has been detained, yet stands by his principles, qualifies to serve the people. Of all the aspirants, I am the only human rights activist.

Abayomi said those who accused Tinubu of wielding enormous influence on Southwest governors of being ignorant of the workings of government.

He said: “Government is regulated by law and not by individuals outside the authority. The problem is that we tend to confuse relationship for influence. The fact that many governors relate well with Asiwaju Bola is not a definition of his influence, but show that he is appreciated.

‘Rep Abegunde’s life under threat’

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POLITICAL group in Ondo State, Abena Campaign Organisation (ACO), has raised the alarm over an alleged plan by some notable politicians in the state to eliminate the lawmaker representing Akure North/ South Federal Constituency at the National Assembly, Mr. Ifedayo Abegunde, a.k.a Abena.

In a statement yesterday by its spokesman, Mr. Kayode Ojo, the group made reference to the invasion of BTO Hall by thugs last Friday, during

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

the Fifth Adebayo Adefarati Memorial Lecture.

ACO said: “What happened last Friday at BTO Hall was a show of shame. It portrayed the Labour Party (LP) and Governor Olusegun Mimiko as desperate.

“Their mission is to create crises in the state and extend it to other Southwest states.

As early as 8am, LP thugs seized the venue of the lecture singing war songs.

“They were shouting

‘where is Abena? We need his head’. This prompted Abegunde to come to the centre amid tight security. The thugs, led by a notable LP leader in Akure South Local Government, insisted that Abena, who recently declared his governorship intention, should stay off the venue, just because he dumped LP for ACN. How can the lawmaker keep off a programme holding in his constituency?

“A few days ago, an LP thug went to Abegunde’s mother’s house with a knife and threat-

ened to kill the octogenarian, if she didnot call her son to order.

“The case was reported to the police and the suspect was arrested. But he was released within five minutes on ‘orders from above’. We are concerned about how the governor is using his childhood friend, a Judge, against the opposition.

“The judge has ordered magistrates to deal with opposition party members by not granting them bail when arrested, even when their of-

fence is bailable.

“This is a dark era in the history of the state, when thugs beat up a former minister and vandalised his vehicle with impunity in the presence of top security officials.

“We do not see the difference in Mimiko’s activities and that of Boko Haram; violence is violence. It can lead to mayhem that will spread beyond Ondo State.”

The group urged President Goodluck Jonathan to call Mimiko to order.

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

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THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

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NEWS

Aregbesola: God prevented chaos in Osun

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SUN State Governor Rauf Aregbesola yesterday said the allegations of secession and Islamisation against him would have destabilised the state, if there was no divine intervention.

He noted that if not for God’s intervention and the people’s support, the state would have been disrupted by some political adversaries.

The governor was addressing the League of Imams and Alfas from the Southwest, Edo and Delta states, led by its President-General, Sheikh Mustapha Olayiwola Ajisafe, in Osogbo, the state capital.

He said: “If the plan to upset peace in Osun State had worked, the state would have been in chaos and disorder.”

Aregbesola said the plans to breach the peace in the state started months ago with allegations ranging from untrue reports that he had a broken leg; that he suffered a terminal disease; and later that they doubted his sanity status.

The governor expressed gratitude to God for intervening and thwarting the “enemy’s evil plot”, saying the three-man American delegation and the Speaker of the House of Representatives’ visits showed the state was free and peaceful.

He described the Muslim leaders’ visit as an affirmation of the support and confidence the people reposed in his government.

Leaders of the state Christian Association of Nigerian (CAN) made a similar visit last week to reaffirm their support for the administration.

Aregbesola said: “Your visit has once more confirmed to the whole world that there is no tension in Osun State. During the week, American delegates and Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, visited the state. This was an indication that the state is peaceful.

“The visit has exposed the lies by those who wanted the state to be engulfed in chaos. This game plan

•Allegations against governor senseless, says Ajimobi •‘Stop witch-hunt of governor’ •Group urges SSS to prove allegations From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

did not start yesterday. It has been on for long. The first rumour they peddled was that I had broken my leg. Later, they claimed that I had a terminal ailment. And when this did not work, they alleged that I was insane and demanded my physician to make public my health status. This one too died down like the previous tales.

“Again, they alleged there was a rift between me and my deputy. All these lies crumbled like a pack of cards. Then, they played the religion card, claiming we wanted to Islamise the state and that Christians and Muslims have stood up in arms against each other. But for the intervention of God, the state would have been on fire. There was never a time I held any secret meeting with leaders of any religion.

This government has treated all the religions equally. One thing I know is that Yoruba people are accommodating. They have never fought over religion and it will never happen.”

Sheikh Ajisafe thanked the governor for his leadership quality and the open-door policy of his administration.

He noted that since Aregbesola came to power, his administration has recorded huge success in job creation, agriculture and channellisation of some floodprone areas, among other programmes.

To Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi, it is senseless and unthinkable for some people to accuse Aregbesola of planning to secede from Nigeria.

The governor addressed reporters at the weekend in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, after a condolence visit to Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi on the death of his mother, Mrs. Dorcas Aina Fayemi.

‘Of course, they see Aregbesola as the arrowhead of our great party’s march towards making the Southwest a role model in developmental governance for others in the country. The security report was aimed at weakening him and other ACN governors and leaders’ Ajimobi noted that those behind the rumour were disgruntled politicians who were feeling jittery over Aregbesola’s outstanding performance.

According to him, the Osun State governor has transformed the state to the consternation of his detractors.

He described Aregbesola as a patriotic and Godly Nigerian, who remains committed to the unity and progress of his fatherland.

Ajimobi said: “Those who are saying these are politicians of yesterday who could not win elections; who are afraid of the performance of Aregbesola. See how he is changing Osun State! For anyone to turn round and say he wants to secede; how is he trying to secede?

“It is a very pedestrian accusation and I think Nigerians are wiser now. Nobody can deceive them with all those insinuations.”

On the hoisting of Osun State flag by Aregbesola, the Oyo State governor said there was nothing

abnormal about it, as some other governors also do so.

“In fact, I am going to start flying my state’s flag from next week,” Ajimobi said.

The governor hailed the late Mrs Fayemi. He said she lived a godly and fulfilled life.

“We shall miss her wise counsel at all times. But we take solace in the fact that she lived a religious and fulfilled life,” Ajimobi added.

Some politicians have urged the Federal Government to tackle the ravaging poverty in the land instead of a witch-hunt of Aregbesola.

They noted that the allegations against the governor in a supposed security report were meaningless.

A member of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Abiodun Muniru; a lawmaker in the Lagos State House of Assembly, Wahab Alawiye-King; and a local government chairman, Adeyemi Taofeek Alli, condemned “the stigmatisation of the governor just for the Federal Government to nail him”.

Muniru, who represents Oshodi/ Isolo Federal Constituency 2, said the security report was an attempt to weaken the genuine developmental plans of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the Southwest.

“Of course, they see Aregbesola as the arrowhead of our great party’s march towards making the Southwest a role model in developmental governance for others in the country. The security report was aimed at weakening him and other ACN governors and leaders,” he said.

Alawiye-King, who represents Lagos Island Constituency 2 and Alli, who is the Chairman of Odiolowo/Ojuwoye Local Council Development Area, noted that the allegations were political.

“They just want to give a dog a

bad name to hang it. What has Aregbesola got to do with secession? These people are jesters,” Alawiye-King said.

“It is a shame that the Federal Government can descend to this level. After ruling the country for over a decade with nothing to show for it, the Federal Government under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is crying foul where there is none. This is a mere diversionary method. But thank God, Nigerians and the world have seen through their deceit,” Alli said.

The ACN chieftains urged the Federal Government to tackle the problems facing the nation rather than engage in unnecessary witchhunt.

A socio-political pressure group, the People’s Welfare League, has challenged the Department of State Security (DSS) and the PDP to prove its report on the alleged Islamisation and secession plot by Aregbesola.

In a statement by its Coordinator, Comrade Abiodun Agboola, the group noted that if the authors of the report have no evidence, they should bury their heads in shame.

The statement reads: “The leadership style of Aregbesola, which has elected to promote a culture of self-esteem, hard work and community development, coupled with religious tolerance, has engendered lasting peace and tranquility in Osun State as against the ‘tension’ story published by a national newspaper.

“If the crest and state flag, designed by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Western Region and adopted by Aregbesola were symptoms of secession and Islamisation, then some sections of the media must retrain their reporters on citizenship education and governance.”

•Marketing Director, Nigerian Breweries (NB) Plc, Mr Walter Drenth (second left) after the presentation of keys to Mr and Mrs Moses Edewor - winner of the Maltina House in Lagos yesterday. With them is their son displaying the keys

Ex-OSOPADEC chief Omojuwa, LP, PDP supporters join ACN

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VER 5,000 loyalists of the former Chairman of the Ondo State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (OSOPADEC), Chief Adewale Omojuwa, in the ruling Labour Party (LP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the weekend defected to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

The defectors, under the

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

aegis of Igba-Otun Peoples Congress (IPC), said they aligned with the ACN to liberate the state from what they described as oppression and deprivation by the Olusegun Mimiko administration.

Omojuwa said the defectors quit their former parties for the ACN because of the

virtues and political ideology of its leadership.

The ex-OSOPADEC chief was a caucus member of the state PDP and a former chairman of the party in Ilaje Local Government Area.

He sent his resignation letter to the PDP chairman in Ugbo Ward 3 in Ilaje Local Government Area.

A copy of the letter, which was given to reporters, reads: “I sincerely thank the leadership of the party for giving me the opportunities to serve at various capacities in the past 14 years existence of the party.

“I want to believe that I have made my impact felt to my people, having served the party meritoriously...”

Activists praiseWike 11

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

NEWS

Activists praise Wike E DUCATION Civil Society activists under the aegis of Civil Society Coalition for Education For All (CSACEFA) and African Network Campaign on Education For All (ANCEFA) have commended the Minister of State for Education, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, for kick-starting the process of ensuring Nigerian children have access to quality education.

The activists, who are in Nigeria to attend the Meeting of African Education Ministers, conferred on the minister “Education For All (EFA) Policy Award”.

CSACEFA Board Chairperson, Mr Aboki Nawani said: “This is an appreciation of the commitment and dedication of the Minister of State for Education to promoting basic education and the fundamental aspects of EFA goals

in Nigeria. We have followed his activities and we believe that he needs encouragement to continue with his positive works”.

Presenting the award, ANCEFA Board Chairperson, Jennifer Chiwela urged the minister to maintain the tempo of his service to the education sector .

Wike, who was represented by his Special Assistant (Media), Mr Simeon Nwakaudu, said in the next four years, the Federal Government would have laid the relevant structures for Nigerians to access quality education.

He noted that both infrastructural and curricula structures are being developed in the basic education level for Nigerian children. The minister added that higher levels of education were also being strengthened for the overall development of the nation.

•Nwakaudu receiving the award on behalf of the minister from Chiwela...at the weekend. With them is: President, Change Manager International Network, Mrs. Felicia Onibon

Notore to increase fertiliser production

ACN: Rising debt profile shows PDP conned Nigerians with ‘debt relief’

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HE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has decried the country’s rising external debt, saying it negates what the Federal Government told Nigerians when it paid 12 billion dollars to get a debt relief of 18 billion dollars in 2005.

In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said it is saddened to learn that less than seven years after the much-celebrated debt relief, external debt has risen to 5.9 billion dollars.

To service this debt in 2012 alone, it said, some 559.6 billion naira (more than the allocation to education and power combined in the budget).

The statement reads: ‘’It is time to ask questions about the gains of the debt relief that Nigeria got in 2005.

Where is the better life that the PDPled federal government promised Nigerians after the debt relief?

Where are the massive foreign investments promised? Where are the jobs that Nigerians were told will be created since the country would no longer need to spend billions of naira to service its debt? What did Nigeria gain from paying 12 billion dollars that could have been used for, if nothing else, massive infrastructural development? ‘’We are bound to ask these questions because all we have heard is

that Nigeria’s debt profile is rising alarmingly again, that huge funds are still being spent to service the debt, and that the debt could rise by another 7.9 billion dollars as President Goodluck Jonathan has forwarded a request to the National Assembly to approve a plan to borrow that amount.’’

Obasanjo, in 2005, said: ‘’There is nothing like freedom, freedom from debt and the image that the debt relief and exit from Paris Club debt give to Nigeria .The debt relief has brought benefits to Nigerians and that it first represents a direct saving on debt-service repayment, interest, surcharges and other fees. It also improves the country’s worthiness in the global community and builds credible financial confidence for transactions. More investment would start to flow into Nigeria knowing we are no more classified as a bad and doubtful debt country. The debt relief is expected to create jobs and new wealth with new investments, which would translate into improved standard of living.’’

Okonjo-Iweala, at the time, also said: “The fact that we have this debt reduction and we will be able to pay off the balance of whatever is left will leave Nigerians free, to start on a new slate. I mean it will be like a second independence, a rebirth, if you will, giving us the freedom to

‘We are also urging the Federal Government to stop violating the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007, by pegging its borrowing at an approved limit. Let no one assault our sensibilities further by saying that the current total external debt sum is still within the so-called threshold of what is acceptable internationally’ focus squarely on our economic activities. It means that generations who would have been paying these debts in future will not have to pay it. And I think that is something that our children will appreciate and thank the President and thank the team and thank every one who has contributed to these all.”

ACN said contrary to the picture of Utopia painted by then President and his Finance Minister, Nigerians are sadly worse off today than they were in 2005.

The party said:‘’This is why we are now calling on the National Assembly to step in to investigate why

•Mohammed

Nigeria has reaped pains instead of gains from the much-ballyhooed debt relief, and to stop this freewheeling borrowing before the country becomes fully ensconced in another debt quagmire, after which Nigerians will then be conned into making another huge payment to secure yet another meaningless debt relief! ‘’We are also urging the Federal Government to stop violating the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007, by pegging its borrowing at an approved limit. Let no one assault our sensibilities further by saying that the current total external debt sum is still within the so-called threshold of what is acceptable internationally. That cannot provide any succour for a people who have been laid prostrate by poor and irresponsible governance since the country’s return to democracy in 1999!’’

Economists fault CBN’s foreign currency substitution policy

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S the practice by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of substituting foreign currencies paid into the Federation Account with naira before distributing the funds among the three tiers of governments a violation of section 162 of the Constitution?

This is the issue two economists, Henry Boyo and Adaighofua Ojomaikre have placed before the Federal High Court, Lagos for determination in a suit they filed against the CBN. In the suit filed by their lawyer, Femi Falana, the plaintiffs set two issues for determination and are seeking four declarative reliefs and two orders including an order of perpetual injunction restraining the CBN from further substituting or changing the revenues paid into the Federation Account in foreign currencies to naira.

They are equally seeking an order directing the CBN to pay and distribute any amount standing to the credit of the Federation Account to the three tiers of government on such terms as may be prescribed by the National Assembly.

•Take apex bank to court

By Eric Ikhilae

The plaintiffs want the court to determine whether the revenue accruals from the sale of crude oil and other revenues collected by the Federal Government shall not be paid into the Federation Account pursuant to Section 162(1) of the Constitution.

The plaintiffs are also urging the court to determine whether the CBN is competent to substitute foreign currencies paid into the Federation Account with naira funds before distributing same among the Federal, State and Local Government Councils.

They are seeking a declaration that all accruals from crude oil sale and other revenues collected by the Federal Government in foreign and local currencies shall be paid in the original currencies into the Federation Account in line with the provision of section 162(1) of the Constitution.

Boyo and Ojomaikre are also

praying the court for a declaration that all other revenue accruals and payments made to the Federal Government in foreign currencies shall be paid into the Federation Account in the original currency pursuant to Section 162(1) of the Constitution.

They also seek a declaration that, by virtue of section 162(3) of the Constitution, any amount standing to the credit of the Federation Account shall be distributed among the Federal, State Governments and the Local Governments in each State of the Federation on such terms and in such manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly.

The plaintiffs also want the court to declare that the CBN is not competent to substitute, replace or change revenues in the Federation Account in foreign currencies to naira by virtue of section 162(1) of the Constitution.

Boyo said in a supporting affidavit that the practice by the CBN of converting all Federal Government’s earnings to naira before distribution was inimical to the

nation’s economy.

He stated that such practice “inundates the system with hundreds of billions of naira, which the banks leverage on, to create a huge credit expansion that produces over a tenfold the naira value of the monetized captured dollars, which later become available for sale.

Boyo stated that both plaintiffs have authored books and articles, detailing the shortcomings of the current practice. He highlighted the various benefits derivable at the scrapping of the policy. He averred that the nation’s economy will be well enhanced should the policy be suspended.

He faulted the CBN’s argument that the policy was intended to prevent capital flight, arguing that such apprehension had been taken care of by the Money Laundering Act. Boyo stated that the adoption of the constitutionally compliant process of paying allocations in currency of origin will promote the achievement of the CBN’s mandate of price stability.

The case is yet to be assigned fro hearing.

NOTORE Chemical Industries Limited (Notore), owner of the only urea fertilizer plant in sub-Saharan Africa, has just signed a Joint Venture Agreement with Mitsubishi Corporation at Mitsubishi’s corporate headquarters in Tokyo, Japan to develop an ammonia, urea and other petrochemicals project at its existing facility at Onne, Rivers State, Nigeria.

Mitsubishi Corporation is a global integrated business enterprise that develops and operates businesses across virtually every industry including industrial finance, energy, metals, machinery, chemicals, foods and environmental business.

The project will involve the construction of an integrated plant complex with production capacities of 1,700 metric tons per day of ammonia, 3,000 metric tons per day of urea, and 1,500 metric tons per day of other petrochemicals, respectively.

An agreement was also signed with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) in Japan to carry out the preFront End Engineering Design (FEED) for the project. It is expected that early works (including FEED) should be concluded in the first quarter of 2013. The early works phase will be followed by 36 months of Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC). The new plant, owing to its advantage of being built on a “brown-field” site with existing gas facilities and other infrastructure, is expected to come onstream by 2016.

Notore commenced production of commercial quantities of ammonia in January 2010 and granular urea in April 2010 at its 300,000 Metric Tonnes (MT)/annum ammonia and 500,000 MT/annum urea capacity plant. Today, the company has achieved nameplate capacity of its factory through a refurbishment and operational excellence programme that it embarked upon. A debottlenecking exercise is planned for Q4, 2013 which will further increase annual output to 430,000MT of ammonia and 750,000MT of urea.

Notore’s successful penetration into the Nigerian fertiliser market was as a result of the establishment of an efficient nationwide distribution and sales network aimed at supplying fertiliser directly to Nigerian farmers. The company has also engaged previously unemployed youths in over 25 states as private extension workers through a “Train-the-Trainer scheme” where selected farmers (Village Promoters) are educated by Notore staff about best practices in fertiliser use and application. These farmers then train other farmers in their locality.

The company plans to increase the number of village promoters from its current number of over 900 in 25 states to 5,000 nationwide by 2015.

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THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

NEWS Banks to close in Ekpoma

Five die in accidents in Delta

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

OLLOWING incessant robberies, banks in Ekpoma, Esan West Local Government Area of Edo State have threatened to close in Ekpoma and its environs.

They said they would suspend all services, including Automated Teller Machines (ATM) services, until adequate security is guaranteed in the area.

This was contained in a communiqué by the Ekpoma branch of the Bankers Forum at the end of its meeting yesterday.

The Forum Chairman, Raphael Ibodeme, blamed inadequate security in the area, saying that there was significant reduction in the number of Joint Task Force (JTF) members drafted to the area, despite monthly dues paid by the banks for the purpose.

“We implore the commissioner of police, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Zone 5, to look into the poor security situation in Ekpoma and its environs.

“We have also demanded that more JTF personnel be deployed to the area and that such officers must conduct their duties professionally.”

But the Divisional Police Officer, Amos Apadoja, said he was surprised at the decision of the bankers.

The DPO, who condemned the action of the bankers, said efforts were on to combat crimes, especially bank robbery in the area.

F

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GRIAGBENE community in Bomadi Local Government Area of Delta State is mourning the death of four men, who died in a speedboat mishap on River Ramos.

According to a survivor, eight passengers were aboard the speedboat when it collided with another speedboat.

He said the bodies were recovered the following day.

A member of the community, Clovis Tuodonye, said two of the deceased were siblings, whose parents are petty traders.

He said another was a

•Police arrest kidnap suspects From Polycarp Orosevwotu, Warri

politician, who won the Ward 4 chairmanship of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Congress in the council.

A man, identified as Collins, at the weekend, died in an accident on Ovwian Road, Udu Local Government Area.

A source said Collins was among five passengers in a car, who were returning from a wedding at Emadadja, a neighbouring community.

However, the remaining passengers survived.

The source said Collins, who was driving, was trying to overtake a car at a bend when he ran into an oncoming vehicle.

His remains have been deposited in a morgue at Ovwian.

The police in OvwianAladja Division , in collaboration with a vigilance group also at the weekend, arrested two kidnap suspects, in a failed kidnap bid.

The suspects attempted to

kidnap a lady (names witheld) at her residence on DSC Road, Ovwian, Udu Local Government Area.

A police source said members of the vigilance group informed the police of the plot, following a tip.

He said: “About 9pm, members of the vigilance group laid ambush around the premises of the lady, when the kidnappers broke into the lady’s house and were apprehended after a gun battle involving the suspects, vigilance group and the police.

"The suspects were overpowered and arrested."

Displaced Fulani return home From Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

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VER 3,000 Fulani, who took refuge in Obanliku Local Government Area of Cross River State a month ago left for their homes in Taraba and Benue states at the weekend.

It was gathered that their departure was informed by the return to normalcy in their communities.

They thanked the Cross River State Government, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the host communities of Utanga, Bebi, Becheeve and Bendi for accomodating them.

They departed in 25 buses and two trailers guarded by armed policemen and other security personnel.

Their cattle and goats, numbering over 20,000, left on foot with some herdsmen.

Group mobilises for Oshiomhole

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GROUP, the Coalition of Young Voters in Edo State said it would educate voters not to sell their voters cards to desperate politicians.

Its Coordinator, Ohabune Jimoh, spoke yesterday when the group visited the Secretary to the State Government, Simon Imuekemhe, said: “We are out to educate those who were not captured in the voter registration in 2007 and get them registered.

“We are professionals who thought it won’t be wise to leave our people unguarded in this election. We want to educate the people properly to avoid void votes and we are doing this campaign door-to-door.

“We also want to educate our people not to sell their voters card to desperate politicians, who do not have the interest of the state at heart.

“We will tell our people to cast their votes for Governor Adams Oshiomhole because of his good work. We have embarked on this measure to make sure Oshiomhole wins on July 14, “ the group said.

Imuekemhe urged the group to ensure that those eligible to vote are registered.

“What is interesting is that this is a voluntary venture you have embarked upon with members who are professionals.”

‘Take care of the environment’ By ‘Kemi Ojobo

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ESIDENTS of Lagos have been urged to separate and sort their waste for recycling.

This advice was given by the Recycling Manager, Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Mrs. Tolu Adeyo, at a waste recycling seminar organised by LAWMA and the United States Consular Office at the weekend.

The seminar, which was organised to commemorate Earth Day, was attended by envrionmental activists, reporters and stakeholders.

Mrs Adeyo said: “Recycling is the in-thing. The world is going green. Lagos and, indeed, Nigeria has to join. We cannot afford to be left behind.

“LAWMA has waste collection banks in some parts of Lagos.

Residents are urged to take advantage of this. We have facilities for recycling papers, cans, plastic bottles and pure water sachets.

“The aim of recycling is to conserve and preserve the environment. LAWMA is really taking this seriously. We have advocacy teams, which visit markets and schools.

“Over 9,000 metric tonnes of waste is generated in Lagos daily. Lack of proper disposal is harmful to the environment.

LAWMA has a buy-back project.

“We buy dry pure water sachet, nylon, glass, plastic, which are recycled into other products. Some of the end-products are fabrics and even plastic.”

The Public Affairs Manager, Coca Cola NIgeria, Clem Iroche, said his firm has also adopted the recycling mantra.

“Coca Cola has recycled one billion PET bottles since 2005.

We have a policy to treat our packaging not as waste but as valuable materials for future use.”

The Consular General, Joseph Stafford, thanked LAWMA for partnering the consulate to make Lagos cleaner.

He said: “We thank you for these beautiful baskets which you have provided. I want to assure you that the consulate will put them to proper use.”

Earth Day is celebrated April 22 each year to increase awareness and appreciation of the earth’s natural environment. It is celebrated in more than 175 countries.

•Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan (middle) expalaining a point to the Deputy Governor, Prof Amos Utuama(left) and Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Harold Demuren when the NCAA DG visited the Asaba International Airport...at the weekend

Subsidy probe: House to approve panel’s recommendations

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HE House of Representatives will approve the recommendations of the fuel subsidy probe panel this week, the Chairman of the Committee on Judiciary, Ali Ahmad, has said.

A member of the Ad-hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy said some governors and ministers are involved in the oil subsidy scam.

Ahmad told reporters at the weekend in Ilorin, Kwara State, that there was a plot to impeach the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal.

He said the people were not happy with the Speaker’s decision not to intervene in the fuel subsidy committee’s assignment.

The lawmaker, who repre-

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

sents Ilorin East and Ilorin South, advised the Federal Government against delaying the implementation of the report.

Ahmad said: “We learnt some of them (oil cabal) have started mobilising against Tambuwal to impeach him because they have seen that he didn’t disturb us throughout the probe.

“And Tambuwal said the report will be debated live so that there is nothing hidden.

“Remove Tambuwal or not, the House and Nigeria remain the same. Even Tambuwal is unremovable.

You know he was not elected from outside. He is from

inside.”

“The oil business is like a secret society thing. If you don’t belong, you don’t belong. Oil industry is so small, but so powerful.

“I’m even surprised I haven’t started seeing advertorials here and there.

They have lots of money and nothing to do with it,”he said.

Ahmad said the implementation of the report would bring about standardisation in the prices of petroleum products.

“Petroleum products should not be N60 today, N80 tomorrow by one government and another government comes with N100 or N140.

“We could achieve stan-

dard price on petroleum and that’s what this report is all about.”

He alerted Nigerians on the plan by Federal Government to increase money spent on oil subsidy before the end of the year.

“The Federal Government doesn’t need to spend N888 billion in the budget for oil subsidy this year.

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Sanusi Lamido has said even the N888 billion will not be sufficient. They’ve started and Nigerians should wake up.

We are just in April and Lamido is saying that. So, it means we might see another one trillion or two trillion before the end of 2012.”

Group condemns NIGCOMSAT bill

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GROUP, Leadership and Role Model Foundation (LRMF), has condemned the bill setting up the National Communications Satellite Corporation, which empowers the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT) to become a regulator of satellite communications services in the country.

Its President, Omife Omife, said NIGCOMSAT management and sponsor of the bill, Ibrahim Shehu-Gusau, reportedly lobbied the National Assembly to ensure its enactment.

He described it as “an attempt to foist another monopoly carrier in the nation’s telecommunications indus-

By Adline Atili

try.”

The Bill, which has passed Third Reading in the House of Representatives and scaled through Second Reading at the Senate is aimed at divisive regulations in the telecoms sector.

But NIGCOMSAT has described the allegations that the bill seeks to confer sole regulatory powers on it as “false, malicious, mischievous and misrepresentation of the truth.”

Assistant General Manager, Corporate Communications,

Sonny Aragba-Akpore said it was preposterous for anyone to comment on a legislation that was still before the National Assembly.

He said it is not true that the bill would make NIGCOMSAT a regulator of satellite services.

Running mate for Edo PDP candidate

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HE governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State, Maj-Gen Charles Airhiavbere, has picked a former member of the House of Representatives, Johnson Agbolagba, as his running mate.

This was announced at an enlarged meeting of the PDP held at the residence of Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia.

State Chairman Dan Orbih, who an-

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

nounced the decision of the party hierarchy at the meeting, said it was a step towards winning the election.

Agbolagba promised to work hard for the victory of PDP in the state.

Ogbemudia said the PDP would put on the best show to win.

He said the party will ensure that everything is put in place to achieve its dream.

RENEWAL

CAMPAIGN

PROJECT

Slum gets facelift

‘How to stop women marginalisation’

Lawmaker trains graduates

Lagos

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Ekiti

MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

Lagos

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Email: news_extra@yahoo.com

Thatched classrooms give way to modern buildings Residents hail governor

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GUN State Governor Ibikunle Amosun has put teachers and pupils of remote communities in the state out of their pain. For instance, his administration is building modern classrooms at the Community Primary School, Ita Oriejo to replace the thatched huts in which the teachers and pupils have been studying since its founding in 2002. Ita-Oriejo is located in Imeko-Afon Local Government Area of the state.

Academic business had been seriously hampered in the school. The pupils lacked basic learning tools. They had little furniture but even what they had was unflattering. Years of neglect have torn up parts of the thatched roofs such that when it rained the children and their minders were drenched. The situation hurt everyone in ItaOriejo as well as those in Idofe whose children also studied in the school. But they endured.

The grief is over as the governor has stepped in with help.

One observer said it was unthinkable that the same Ogun State which sired the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo who gave the old Western Region a head-start in education over other parts of Nigeria, could regress this low in the quality of teaching and learning.

Amosun saw the challenges of the community firsthand during his governorship campaign last year. This was corroborated by one Toyin Adebisi who said the

•The team touring the project sites

Joy as Amosun rebuilds neglected schools From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

governor resolved to make a difference if he won the election.

Amosun has lived up to his promise, and residents of Idofe and ItaOriejo are happy.

At the Community Primary

School, Ita Oriejo, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Bashorun Muyiwa Oladipo, who toured the area to monitor the construction of a block of two classrooms being executed by the administration through the Local Government

Transition Chairman, Hon. Jide Ogunwese, discovered that the 175 pupils in the school were studying in dilapidated huts made of palm fronds.

Oladipo was stunned to learn that many pupils of the school could not correctly answer such questions as:

what is your name or how old are you.

Explaining, the Head Teacher, Mr Akeem Fassasi blamed their plights on long periods of neglect by the past government but expressed the confidence that things would improve with the Ibikunle Amosun administration.

“They don’t come to school,” Fassasi said. “Some would prefer farm to learning under this structure. We often go to the farm to rescue them and bring •Continued on Page 49

Lawmaker helps slum residents O fewer than 31 residents of Ajeromi Ifelodun 02 Constituency have benefitted from the economic empowerment scheme of their representative at the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Adbdoulbaq Ladi Balogun.

At an impressive ceremony in Ajegunle, the lawmaker gave out drums containing 200 liters of kerosene each to 25 of them at N80 per liter and deep freezers to six others. Ladi Balogun said he intends to make oil merchants out of his constituents.

The lawmaker who was a staff of Oando oil before coming to the

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•Abdoulbaq (right)and other dignitaries at the event

By Oziegbe Okoeki

House said he is giving the kerosene to the beneficiaries at N80 per liter which they can now sell at the prevailing price of N150 per liter and make about 90 per cent profit.

“The market is there and it is a very scarce commodity here, so they will sell, recoups the money.

I am not going to take the money from them, but I am going to introduce an agent to them who will be supplying them on a regular basis at the same rate so that they can continue the business and some of them may become

oil barons tomorrow. That is my dream and vision for them and that is why I started from the industry I know very well.

“I am also giving out deep freezers to six of them, because from their proposals I could see that some of them want to be selling iced drinks and water which is a thriving business here also because of the population. So with that they can start their business”, Ladi Balogun said.

The lawmaker who has concluded plans to inaugurate a soft loan scheme in conjunction •Continued on Page 49

THE NATION MONDAY APRIL 23, 2012

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Amosun’s wife harps on quality education

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•Mrs Amosun

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IFE of Ogun State Governor, Mrs. Olufunso Amosun has described education as a veritable tool for national development, saying every child must be educated to enable them realise their potential and contribute meaningfully to the progress of the society.

She said this at the opening ceremony of the 8th biennial delegate conference of the Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations in Nigeria (FOMWAN) at Alagbe Esibi Royal College in Ado-Odo, Ogun State. The conference has as its theme: “Education, A Tool to National Development.”

The governor’s wife tasked all the stakeholders to address challenges facing the nation’s educational system in order to ensure

Monarch seeks infrastructure

HE Oloto of Oto-Awori kingdom in OtoAwori Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Oba Josiah Aina Olanrewaju has appealed to Governor Babatunde Fashola to come to the aid of his community through the provision of infrastructure.

He made the appeal in a chat with journalists during the celebration of the 5th year Anniversary of his coronation which took place in his palace recently at Oto-Awori.

According to him, though the state government has done much for his kingdom, there are still so many challenge that needs the government attention.

He said: “despite the fact that the government has done much such as the miniwaterworks project, we still need more •Oba Josiah

By Oziegbe Okoeki

infrastructure to better the life of the people in my kingdom”.

The areas the Kabiyesi would want the state government to assist his people is in the provision of more schools, construction and rehabilitation of roads, provision of transformers to ease light problem and maintenance of streets and drainages, adding that, “we want to enjoy like the urban areas”.

The Oloto who said that his five years reign has been very peaceful, pointed out that “Aworis are landlords in Lagos and that is why we must be considered, we need alot of help from the government because as landlords we are entitled to it”.

He used the occasion to appeal to his people to pay their taxes as and when due, “so that the government can have funds to assist everybody that needs its assistance and also embark on projects that will better the lot of the people.

Oba Olanrewaju further praised the state government over the on-going expansion of the Badagry road which passes through his kingdom, saying it will ease problem of transportation and also stimulate business in the area. “We appreciate the government’s effort”, he said.

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Ogun meaningful development in our society, explaining that the state government placed a high premium on quality education at all levels.

According to her, “Providing quality education is a major priority of the present administration in the state and it is committed to the realisation of free education for all children particularly at the primary and secondary levels and this will ensure a brighter future for our children as we prepare them for adulthood” Mrs. Amosun described education as a right of every child, noting that any attempt to deprive them of it would bring about setbacks to development of our society. She said children must be nurtured in an enabling environment that would help them realise their potentials for a better tomorrow.

She urged members of the association to join hands with government in its mission to rebuild Ogun State and draw out modalities during their deliberations that would assist in boosting the education sector.

Speaking earlier, the Amira FOMWAN, Dr. Aishat Lawal, charged members and other stakeholders in the education sector to rise up to the challenges facing education in the country and contribute their quota to ensure that the falling standard of education is reversed.

•From right: Lagos State House of Assembly Vice-Chairman Committee on Local Government Administration and Chieftaincy Titles, Hon Olumuyiwa Jimoh; Chairman, Coker-Aguda Local Council Development Area, Hon Omobolanle Akinyemi-Obe and her Mosan-Okunola counterpart Hon Abiodun Mafe during a seminar for Lagos Council Chairmen in Accra, Ghana.

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S part of activities to mark its literacy month and 25th anniversary, the Rotary Club of Okota has donated ITN mosquito nets, food items, detergents and used cloths to the Lagos Cheshire Home for the disabled.

The club didn’t stop at that , it went went further to present 10 Desktop computers and Printers to 10 secondary schools in Lagos.

The schools include: Metropolitan College, Isolo, Matori Senior Grammar School, Mushin,

Council presents budget

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PROPOSED budget of N2, 776,600, 000.00 has been presented by the Chairman of Oshodi Isolo Local Government, Hon Bolaji Idris Ariyoh to the legislative arm for approval.

The council chief said the budget tagged: ‘Budget of Development’ is meant to bring development to the residents of the council.

“This proposed year 2012 appropriation bill christened budget of development contains a package of services the local government intends to render to the electorate for uplifting their well being this financial year”, he said.

“The budget will be funded by the revenue accrued to the local government from both the federation account, state account and the internally generated account”.

According to the budget the internally generated revenue is N105, 430, 000. 000, Statutory Allocation from Federation Account is N 1,074, 300, 000. 00, Statutory Allocation from State Account is N 279, 070, 000. 00 and Value Added Tax is 917, 800, 000. 00.

The council’s recurrent expenditure is given as Personnel cost (council staff) N560, 000, 000,

By Amidu Arije

teachers salary (primary schools) N470, 000, 000, over head cost, N607, 350, 000, and the estimated capital expenditure is N1, 135, 250, 000.

He gave stock of his administration since inception of office.

Ariyoh stated that his administration within the short period has rehabilitated eight roads considered deplorable before his assumption of office.

The council chief went further: “It is imperative •Members of Rotary Club, Okota with the beneficiaries to note that since assumption of office our administration has been able to give the local government and its environs a face lift by embarking on roads rehabilitation and renovation of offices,” he said.

ARELY two months after acquiring He said his administration would not rest on a grader machine, Ejigbo Local its oars even while bringing development to

By Duro Babayemi Council Development Area has the residents of the council.

“We are not going to stop at these, projects taken delivery of a road maintenance N140,000 per day, but with the machine in our highlighted which cut across the seven wards equipment, backhoe loader, at the cost of possession, we will save a lot of cost and we will of the local government would be embarked N16.5m. be able to rehabilitate most of our roads”. upon. For the year 2012 proposed budget, four Receiving the equipment from the He added that the backhoe loader is a roads in each wards have been shortlisted for council”s Vice Chairman, Alhaji multifunctional machine used during road construction and drain repairs,” he said.

Monsurudeen Bello-Obe, the chairman of construction to excarvate earth drainages on both the council, Mr Kehinde Bamigbetan sides of the road and also load materials like stated that his administration decided to laterites from one place to another. acquire the equipment to further demonstrate the council’s readiness to provide good roads for its residents.

The council chief said: “With the acquisition of this equipment, our council now has two tractors and a backhoe loader as necessary machineries required to pursue the rehabilitation and construction of roads in our locality”.

Bamigbetan explained further that the council is also planning to purchase a roller machine in no distant future.

The roller machine will be used to solidify the road after the laying of asphalt or spreading of laterites on it.

While assuring residents of the council that his administration is committed to meeting their expectation on provision of good roads, Bamigbetan stated that the backhoe loader will reduce the cost ` • From left: Brand Manager, Campari, Victor Ikem; National Sales Manager, Brian Munro; of building roads by his administration.

Paul Omekwe Managing Director, Proximily Communication, Rotimi Olaniyan and DirecHe said: “The cost of hiring this tor Brian Muuro, Mr Brian Vokes at Campari, “Dare to Mix” promo Media unveilling in equipment is between N120,000 and •Backhoe loader Lagos PHOTO: BOLA OMILABU

Council gets road tools

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Lagos

IFE of Ekiti State Governor, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, has urged women to be more engaging in repeling repressive onslaughts of men.

She said women would have to demonstrate more bravery in fighting the multiple menace of marginalisation.

Speaking during her investiture as the Ekiti State Patron of The Nigerian Girls Guild Association at the association’s Founder’s Day ceremony, Erelu Fayemi stated it is bravery more than any other measure that can contain sundry abuses of women.

Pledging to redouble efforts towards fighting the age-long oppression against the womenfolk, Erelu Fayemi added that the Ekiti Development Foundation (EDF) has continued to champion gender equality and women empowerment.

She said this bravery had worked for current Malawian President, Mrs Joyce Banda, whose doggedness, more than any other factor, was responsible for her emergence as President.

She noted her new title as the Association’s Patron would afford her opportunities to advance the cause of women in Nigerian society, describing the association as “one

Rotary donates to schools, home Lagos

By Medinat Kanabe

Ijeshatedo Senior Grammar School, Ijesha, Oke-Afa Secondary School, Ansa-ud-deen Comprehensive School, Okota Junior High School, Okota Senior Secondary School, Okota Junior Secondary School, Bolade Senior Grammar School. They all received their computer sets at the Metropolitan College Library which was donated by the club last year.

Speaking at the Cheshire Home, Mr Adebambo Abimbola, Admin Officer at the home, said they were very grateful and happy.

He said they usually get gift items from religious organisations, clubs and corporate organisations but still need the assistance of government.

He appealed to government to help with the development of their permanent site at Igbese, Ikorodu. “This place is too small to take all of us, so some of them have to come from their homes while some stay here,” he said.

He hinted that some of the disabled attend schools while some learn handwork, saying some of them are professional cobblers , while some of them make beads.

Also speaking at the event, President of the club, Mr Paulinus Puis Umeh, said instead of celebrating alone, they decided to celebrate with the schools and home.

He called on private companies and government to assist them in the good work because they cannot do it alone. “Everything you see here today was donated by members of the club. We tax ourselves ever time we meet,” he added.

In her own speech, Mrs Titi Badejo, the club’s Service Project Chairperson who introduced the items said they were pleased and very happy to celebrate with the less privileged.

In her own remarks, the Principal, Metropolitan College, Mrs Omodara Claris, said she had tasted, experienced and is still experiencing the club. She said they have taken the school to another level.

She said: “They have filled in the gap that the government could not fill.”

Govt votes N38m for Ikorodu-Sagamu road

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FTER almost two decades of neglect of Ikorodu-Shagamu road, this is good news for motorists, commuters and other road users that the Presidency has approved a sum of N380 million for its rehabilitation.

The road, it was said, would be given urgent attention for its rehabilitation before this year runs out.

Making the disclosure in Shagamu, Ogun State during the flag-off of his empowerment programme tagged: ‘Sen. Kaka Foundation’s three-day health programme’ to all the nine local governments (Shagamu, Remo North, Ikenne, Odogbolu, Ijebu-Ode, Ijebu North, Ijebu East, Ijebu North-East and Ogun Waterside) which kicked off at the party’s secretariat of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Makun, Shagamu, Sen. Adegbenga Kaka said he and his colleague, Sen. Gbenga Ashafa, representing Lagos East district lobbied for its attention before the presidency could approve the rehabilitation of the bad road.

Owing to its economic importance to both the two states (Lagos and Ogun) and the federal government, with the attendant strategic location of Lafarge Cement, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), PZ Cussons and other factories along the route, the erstwhile Ogun State deputy governor noted that the intervention had become imperative to ameliorate the sufferings motorists, commuters and other road users have been going through on the road in the past years.

To complement the efforts of the Federal Government , the Upper House legislator pledged to initiate the construction and rehabilitation of 15 kilometre roads between Ogijo and Buruku road. Also, he promised to provide 500KVA transformer each to Buruku, Likosi, Ita Sanni, Sotunbo, Shiwama and other villages to boost electricity supply in their respective communities.

Not left out in the kind gesture, Kaka said

Ogun

By Dada Aladelokun

he would construct a new bridge, to replace a culvert between Agbowa-Ikosi (Lagos) and Ayepe (Ogun) which he noticed during his electioneering campaign in March 2011 to link Lagos state especially to ease traffic congestion often occasioned along the everbusy Lagos/Ibadan and Lagos/Benin express roads.

As Senate vice chairman on agriculture, he pledged to use his office to procure seedlings for interested farmers in his district to buy for the new planting seasons and boost food production.

On education, Kaka promised to reward only indigent but brilliant undergraduates in his district with scholarship which would begin in 2013.

He, however, counselled ACN members and their supporters to eschew discrimination among themselves and work in unity for the victory of the party in the forthcoming local council poll in the state.

“Let us stop discrimination among us. I am in Senate today and tomorrow, I may not be there. So, let us work for the common

‘How to stop women marginalisation’ Ekiti of the most reputable organisations that had worked for the advancement of women across the world.”

The governor’s wife lamented the preponderance of cases of rape and sundry abuses of women in the country, despite persistent advocacy against the ill.

“Women, as partners in progress in leadership and the overall development of any country should not be subjugated.

“They have to be bold, so that they can be reckoned with in any sector of the economy,” she said.

She said further: “We can even draw our inspiration from the new President of Malawi, Mrs Joyce Banda, who was sidelined and

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CHIEFTAIN of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Ogun State and chairmanship aspirant in Ijebu-Ode Local Government Area, Mr Gbolade Ola Oduwole,an architect, has promised to transform the council area if elected into office.

Speaking to NewsExtra on his plans for the council area, Oduwole explained that residents of the area had suffered enough infrastructural neglect during the last administration.

“Politics is all about service to the people and I want to start with Ijebu-Ode Council Area because I am a grassroots person and that is the best place to make a difference. You see, each time I go to Ijebu-Ode; I feel sick and I asked myself, is this my home town? Are we developing or retrogressing? Or are we growing at the rate we are supposed to grow.

Those are some of the questions that have kept begging for answers and I am in the race to provide answers to these posers.

On his vision for the council if elected, he said: ”I want to address the issue of infrastructural decay by initiating transformational agenda that would lead to provision of good roads, equipped health centres and a friendly environment for the youth to exhibit their potentials for excellence through job creation. I will also ensure provision of adequate security of lives and property.”

“Ijebu-Ode has been in existence for over 500

humiliated as Vice President to the late President, Bingo Wa Mutharika, because of succession fight.

“When Mrs Banda felt cheated, she dared the former President and formed an opposition party, so that she can contest.

Aspirant promises to transform council

By Kunle Akinrinade Ogun years and the United States of America is just over 200 years old, yet it has become the reference point in terms of development and availability of basic things of life. That is what I also want to do by making Ijebu-Ode a reference point for development in this country.”

He praised Governor I b i k u n l e Amosun, for changing the face of governance in Ogun State within the short period that he came on board, adding that the ACN remains the only party in Nigeria, with welfarist •Oduwole agenda.

Rainstorm: Council chiefs count losses

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XPECTATIONS were high when the cloud was dark in Oyo town recently. Farmers had been waiting for the rains to come, the indigenes who are non-farmers were praying for it to mitigate the hot weather but when it finally came, the experience was not too pleasant.

Many were rendered homeless with their roof tops blown off while many farmlands were destroyed,leaving many farmers hopeless .Most of these victims are in Atiba and Kajola Local Government Areas.

Moved by the level of destruction, the Transition Committee Chairman, Atiba Local Government, Prince Akeem Adeyemi and Chairman of Kajola Local Government, Dr. Sunday Ogungbenro, who personally conducted journalists round the affected areas appealed to both the state and Federal governments to come the to the aid of the affected communities.

According to Ogungbenro, about 5,000 people have been displaced by the heavy rain storm. “The

Police warn vehicle owners THE Lagos State Police Command have warned owners of vehicles parked at the Badagry Division to remove them immediately or forfeit same through auction.

1. Nissan Sunny-LT443KJA 2. Toyota Corolla- CB658GGE 3. Passat-CU174MUS 4. Nissan Castan pickupXX810AGL

•Mrs Fayemi

• Some victims of the rainstorm

rain started about 6:30 pm on that fateful day, before we knew it, the heavy rainstorm had caused so much damage to the communities at Okeho, Ilero, Ayetoro-Oke, Ilaji-Oke and IwereOke in the local government. As it is right now, aged people and children have been rendered homeless.”

The chairman, who was moved by the level of destruction, appealed to those that had been displaced to stay calm, promising that government would do something about their plight.

The Atiba council chief while inspecting the level of damage done appealed to the state government to assist in dredging the Isuwin stream at Koso. He frowned at the situation whereby some people dump refuse in the stream which inhibits the free flow of water.

In Atiba Local Government Area, about 74 buildings were damaged at Bashorun Area, Ogbagba stream, Sabo and Ojegbolu.

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

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THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

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POLITICS THE NATION

E-mail:- politics@thenationonlineng.net

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) are mounting pressures on Accord leader Senator Rashidi Ladoja to join forces with them to alter the political calculation in Oyo State. Deputy Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU examines the implications of the options before him.

Ladoja and dilemma of choice R

ASHIDI Adewolu Ladoja, prominent Ibadan chief, Third Republic Senator and former governor of Oyo State, appears to be in a fix.

At the twilight of his political career, he is confronted with a dilemma of choice between the two parties that are wooing him. Yet, not making any choice at all may do him more political harm than good. Three options are on the card; retracing his steps to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), joining forces with the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) or driving the faulty Accord Party (AP) vehicle.

Analysts contend that, currently, Ladoja is relevant in Oyo State politics because he is a towering figure in a small party that is giving the ruling and main opposition party a nightmare of sorts. Big wigs in PDP and ACN are making overtures to the engineer-turned politician. It is evident that they need the political bride for different reasons.

According to sources, PDP is wooing him and his fragile party to alter the geo-political calculations in the state, to the detriment of Governor Abiola Ajimobi and ACN. Of the 32 members of the House of Assembly, PDP has 11, ACN, 15 and AP, seven. If Ladoja defects to PDP and AP members follow him, the table may turn against ACN. As it happened Adedibu’s days, the impeachment hammer may dangle before Ajimobi. ACN is, therefore, not leaving anything to chance. The party is wooing Ladoja to consolidate its grip on power in the Pacesetter State.

Everyday, whether he is at home in Ibadan, on the farm at Yakooyo, or his ‘shipping’ office in Lagos, Ladoja’s phones are bombarded with calls. His movements are monitored by top politicians in the state across the divides.

Prominent actors, including his erstwhile deputy-turned successor, Chief Adebayo AlaoAkala, former Senate Leader Teslim Folarin, PDP elder Dr. Dejo Raimi, former deputy governor Taofeek Arapaja, and former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who plotted his impeachment in 2005, have visited him.

When ACN saw the handwriting on the wall, the party promptly dispatched Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola to Ibadan to talk with Ladoja. For PDP, the rejected stone is now fit to become the cornerstone. Yet, ACN stalwarts appear more persuasive. Sources said Ladoja is being reminded of his political antecedents as a co-traveler on a truncated progressive voyage on the Social Democratic Party (SDP) ship and role in the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) which fought the military to a standstill.

Many associates also remind him of his turbulent past, when he was rescued by the court when the PDP hawks shoved him aside in a carefully planned impeachment hatched by the late Ibadan kingpin, Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu.

His party, Accord, is also polarised by the issue. Three strands of opinion tend to create intra-party tension. Sources said some party members want the status quo to remain in the interest of peace and to prevent a relapse to crises that enveloped the state from 2003 to 2011. To these people, Ladoja is rich and comfortable, and since his motivation in politics is not materialism, he should concentrate on building AP to an enviable opposition party fit for power in the future.

Another group within the party, which objects to this line of thought, believe that, Accord should either dissolve into ACN or remain its partner in progress. They premise their argument on the fact that top ACN leaders have never been hostile to Ladoja and Accord Party, adding that Governor Ajimobi was ready to give concessions to Ladoja’s men, although he appears to be slow in this regard.

“During the impeachment problem, which lasted for 11 months, AC leaders stood behind him (Ladoja), on principle, despite the fact that he was in the PDP. He has a bigger bargaining power and chance in ACN than PDP, although we perceive differences between him and the

‘During the impeachment problem, which lasted for 11 months, AC leaders stood behind him (Ladoja), on principle, despite the fact that he was in the PDP. He has a bigger bargaining power and chance in ACN than PDP’ •Ladoja

governor (Ajimobi)”, said a member of the group who added: “PDP has let Ladoja down.

They said they would make him the national secretary, if he defected. They reneged on the promise. Instead, they created divide-and-rule in his family by making one of his wives an ex-officio member from the zone”.

The source warned that, if Ladoja goes back to PDP without proper consultations, his group would be balkanised. “Some followers will not see the need to go back with him”, he said.

However, the third group, mostly former defectors from PDP, want Ladoja to return to the ruling party at the centre. Their calculation is that, since major state appointments have eluded them, they would find accommodation in the PDP, especially now that Project 2015 is about to begin. Asked to shed light on the project, a member of the group said: “The President wants to remain in power beyond 2015 and he is most likely to begin his underground Southwest campaigns from Oyo State, where his party appears to retain a sizeable followership, in spite of the 2011 power shift”.

Besides, some felt that, in the PDP, there will be occasions to accord him the respect of a

founding member.

It is not the first time Ladoja would be under severe pressure to make a political statement.

But the eminent politician has not lived up to the billing of a successful manager of crowd and opportunities.

In 2007, the former governor was undecided when ACN beckoned on him to switch camp and fly its governorship flag. He buried himself in the illusion of hope that, as the sitting PDP governor, he would be crowned as the candidate. Although he has the traits of a pseudo-progressive politician, he prefers to distance himself from progressive arrowheads.

Wealthy and cool-headed, Ladoja retains a curious look of a commoner. As governor, he maintained decorum and honour, refusing to misuse state resources. He loathes thuggery and discourages the disreuption of public peace. But a sleeping giant, when tribulation arose and Adedibu turned the hit on him, many of his followers dispersed.

As a secondary modern school boy, he had been exposed to politics when his father and

Adedibu fought for a councillorship seat in Ibadan Divisional Council in the fifties. Ironically, in 2003, he became governor on Adedibu’s terms, although he failed the three questions posed to him. Adedibu put Ladoja on the weighing scale and asked: “Can you kill a fellow human being for politics? Can you tell lies to rope in a political foe? Can you swear by the Quran and deny it afterwards?

Ladoja’s answers were in the negative. While orally denying the devil and turning around to dine with him, Ladoja became a man of contrasting personalities.

Top leaders of Accord Party, who spoke on the prolonged PDP/Accord negotiation confided that it will take a long time before agreement is reached. “PDP has problems and we don’t want to go into a party with that kind of problem. Again, they have done their convention and congress. What will be the lot of Accord defectors? We are yet to reach any agreement”, said a former senatorial hopeful in AP. “It is true that our leader has been convinced

by Obasanjo, but can he move without his followers? Many issues must be resolved before a final decision is taken. We don’t want to jump from frying pan to fire. We are not blindfolded “, he added.

If ladoja joins PDP, he will still be a sheep in the midst of wolves. Recently, former Adedibu’s aide, Afeez Gborarunmi, allegedly said that, if he returns, he would not be allowed to be a landlord to eject any tenant.

Observers contend that Ladoja would return into a divided party. Besides, since PDP has a bad reputation in the Southwest, his followers are really concerned about the implication of re-joining a bad company.

It is an understatement. Apart from its diminishing prestige, Oyo PDP is divided. Three leaders are locked in war of attrition over the soul of the party in the state. They are Oloye Jumoke Akinjide, minister and arrowhead of the party, Alao-Akala, and Teslim, who is backed by Senator Hosea Agboola. The polarisation is now headache to the new zonal leader, Mr. Segun Oni. who is facing similar in-fighting at home.

At the weekend, party sources hinted that the new PDP zonal leadership may meet the former governor again at Ibadan. Also, individuals in ACN who are Ladoja’s personal friends and old SDP associates are dissuading from contemplating a wrong step. What is next for Ladoja? Time will tell.

• Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola presenting gift to the leader of a three-man diplomatic delegation from the Consulate of the United State of America in Nigeria , Mr. Robert Folley, at dinner party organised for them in Osogbo, the capital. With him is the deputy governor, Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori.

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

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POLITICS Oyo assembly passes 15 bills From Bisi Oladele and Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

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HE Oyo State House of Assembly has passed 15 bills out of the 27 bills presented on the floor of the House in the last 10 months.

The Speaker of the 32-member assembly, Hon. Monsurat Summonu while delivering her acceptance speech for the Award of the Best Speaker of the Year 2011.

Hon. Sunmonu explained that the House has been promoting the interest of the people by passing laws including those that established six new ministries, the Oyo State Security Trust law which has given way to the joint security outfit code named “Operation Burst” and the passage of the 2012 Appropriation Bill among others.

She said:” The legislature is not a Law making business alone as the legislators have carried out other duties such as oversight functions by various Committees on the Ministries, Departments and Agencies. Also treating letters of appeals and petitions during plenary session as well “ She promised that the seventh Oyo State House of Assembly shall work collectively to make the House the grandfather of all the assemblies in Nigeria.

Eulogizing Madam Speaker, Governor Abiola Jimobi described her as an achiever. He said Hon. Sunmonu should be praised for leading the House peacefully in spite of the fact that it is peopled by legislators from three political parties.

Various speakers at the occasion including Oba Otudeko and Chairman of First Bank, Chief Ajibola Afonja, also praised speaker for her godliness and fortrightness, saying she is a good leader.

The occasion also featured the 53rd birthday ceremony of the legislator as well as celebration of her emergence as the Deputy Chairman, Conference of Speakers in Nigeria.

Lawmaker says PDP want to destablise Southwest

By Musa Odoshimokhe

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OUSE of Representatives member Hon. Rotimi Makinde has described the religious extremism leveled against the Osun state governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as plan to destabilize the Southwest.

Makinde, who spoke to reporters in Lagos, said the PDP was merely chasing the shadow in order to gains relevance in the Southwest. In his words: “The false alarm from the PDP is the usual but failed antics and ranting of looters who were shamefully sent packing by the people.”

He said: “It is a plan by the opposition and the enemies of progress who are not at peace with the steady progress being experience in Osun State. At the moment there is no tension to suggest possible anarchy but profound streaks of successes recorded by the administration.”

Makinde explained that it was comical to see those legally deposed of power turning around through subtle evil machinations against the people with the intension of whipping religious sentiment they could not defend just to distract the peaceful atmosphere in the state.

He described Aregbesola as a cosmopolitan leader who associates freely irrespective of religion, colour, language or race. While urging security agents to be proactive in their duties, he advised them not to be sentimental in the discharge of their duties.

Makinde who just returned to the country from an official visit to Brazil, said that the people of the state are now more vigilant to the antics of those that were desperate for power.

“This and other plots to distabilise Osun State and its people have failed. I will not be surprise if these enemies of the people start their stock in trade of throwing bombs here and there in an attempt to hang it on Aregbesola but they will never succeed,” he affirms.

‘Senators did not demand N2b from Pension Task Team’ From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

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HE Pension Reform Task Team has refuted reports that the some members of the Senate joint committee probing the fraud in the pension process approached the team and demanded N2 billion bribe.

A statement issued in Abuja by the Information and Media Relations Officer of the team, Hassan Salihu said: “The attention of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT) has been drawn to a media publication that PRTT that some members of the Joint Committee approached the task team and allegedly demanded N2 billion bribe”.

“The Pension Task Team would like to distance itself from this statement credited to it and emphatically emphasize that at no time did the team make such a statement against the distinguished Senate committee.

“Even as the distinguished Senate committee alleged that the Pension Reform Task Team attempted to bribe it, the team boss, Malam Abdulrasheed Maina while reacting to this baseless allegation at a well attended press conference says: “I want to believe that the distinguished senate committee did not make this allegation. The team members have the highest regards for the leadership of the Senate for which we respect. I believe they did not say it because they would not lie”. Maina added, “We do not give nor do we accept bribes. The Senate committee itself knows the truth”.

“It is important for Nigerians to note that the pension task force respects the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria especially for its credible and patriotic leadership, Senator David Mark.”

•Mark

Lagos State House of Assembly member Hon. Olumuyiwa Jimoh (Apapa Constituency 11) spoke on his activities, agitation for the creation of local governments in Lagos State and other partisan issues. Senior Correspondent OZIEGBE OKOEKI met him

‘The military made Nigeria in their own image’

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S a representative of the people, what have you been able to do and in what areas do you think the government can come in to help the people of the Constituency ?

My area is semi-urban, we have a lot of youths and they have not been getting much, so we want to pre-occupy them in the area of sports. We have problems on employment, the government cannot employ everybody and we want to educate the people on the differences between the legislature and the executive.

The major problems of the area are unemployment, education and the rest. I can assure you that by June this year, we are starting a computer training programme, we have just ended a sporting programme that started in December last year and ended on February 6, 2012. The other issue is that I want to provide two boreholes in each ward and I have succeeded in erecting two in seven wards and I can assure you that before the end of my tenure, I will deliver all.

I have just completed an educative programme on Lassa Fever and there are still a lot of programmes we are doing. I am having a study group for undergraduates. The retrenchment from the ports affected the people of my area a lot after it was privatised. A lot of the youths, who were working under the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) as labourers and contract staffers were sacked. The private company has reduced the staff strength, especially those you call casual workers, but as a communist, I won’t call them casual workers.

As a young man, did you consider the negative implication of the Nigerian politics seen as dirty and risky before venturing into it?

I belong to the generation of prodemocracy activists, who fought for the freedom of the people during the military era. I belong to the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR). I was the Public Relations Officer of the students union at the University of Ibadan. I had a training as a socialist in the country through the likes of the late Comrade Ola Oni, human rights activist, Mr Femi Falana, these were the people that trained me, when I was an undergraduate. I discovered that if we don’t build the nation, we will continue to find ourselves in a mess. It is not by accident that people like Walter Rodney wrote a book titled; “How Europe Under-developed Africa,” it is not by accident that we are in politics.

Any game that comes, apart from the game of gamble, you can play it. I don’t see politics as a dirty game. I don’t dispute the fact that there are dirty politicians, but there are so many neat politicians.

As you have the bad ones, so you have the good ones. It was Abraham Lincoln, in a letter to his son’s teacher, that told him that as you have bad politicians, so you have good politicians. Not all politicians are bad; to me politics is an advocation, not a profession.

We have 20 local governments and With 37 LCDAs in Lagos State and many people believe that the local governments in Nigeria generally are not viable, but you are

• Jimoh

saying Lagos should have more, how do we reconcile this?

Our democratic governance in Nigeria is emerging. The military have made Nigerians in their own image, we are just getting out of that contradiction. As far as I am concerned, we have 57 local governments in Lagos State, not LCDAs. Kaduna was created in 1976 out of that Katsina was created, Kaduna retained 23 local governments, and Katsina has 34, add that together. Lagos has been a state since 1967. We even need more than 57 LGs in Lagos; the state is equivalent in population to other countries. What is the population Botswana, Solomon Island, Cuba. Let’s go to the Scandinavian, the western world, Norway is 9 million, Sweden is 10 million, Belgium is 9 million compared to that of Lagos, which is 18 million. The United Nations enumerated that 419 groups are in Nigeria and all the ethnic groups are represented in Lagos State.

However, the expectation of the people on the local governments is too high; some who are agitating for employment are not employable because they don’t have the minimum pre-requisite.

I am not trying to defend any local government, but our expectation, compared to the money does not commensurate. They need to increase the allocation they are being given by the Federal Government. In Apapa area of the state, for instance, I know how many trailers pass through our roads

‘We even need more than 57 LGs in Lagos; the state is equivalent in population to other countries.

What is the population Botswana, Solomon Island, Cuba. Let’s go to the Scandinavian, the western world, Norway is 9 million, Sweden is 10 million, Belgium is 9 million compared to that of Lagos, which is 18 million’

and this affects the bitumen used for the roads, the texture, the soil of the roads compared to other states. Some don’t have such challenges and they collect more allocations all in the name of fiscal federalism.

Do you agree that the local government account should be separated from that of the state government?

Yes, they are the third tier of government, they should be separated, we should give them independence, and unfortunately the 1999 Constitution puts them under the purview of the state government. Until we do that, they will continue to be under the state government, I am aware freedom is not free, not even in Freetown.

As a Marxist, how do you think the gap between the rich and the poor can be closed?

What we are doing is part of the process, I can assure you the gap is getting closer because if it gets widened, there will be problem.

But you as a person, what is your guiding philosophy as a member of the ruling class?

I don’t belong to the ruling class.

The fact that I am a legislator does not make me a member of the ruling class. When you are talking of the ruling class, you are talking of the few oligarchy. I listen to the people, what they request for, if I cannot do it, I will tell them, I don’t turn them down.

How will you comment on your leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who just marked his 60th Birthday?

Let me start by saying that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is a valued leader, I came to know him during the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) days, I was still an undergraduate in the university then, we were the field workers, the foot soldiers for the group.

I discovered that he had a lot of visions for the nation then. Even before he emerged as the state governor then, we knew he had a vision, not just for Nigeria, but for Sub-Saharan Africa. He emphasized mostly on nation building. I want to talk about one of his numerous projects, not roads, not transport system, LASTMA or anything, I will talk about Office of the Public Defenders (OPD). That is the first in Sub-Saharan Africa. I met Professor Mahmud Bandani in a conference in the United States of America (USA), he was speaking about this idea Asiwaju started that was completed by his successor, BRF, this was first initiated by Mahmud in Uganda and he said if I see Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, I should greet him on his behalf. It is part of what I am going to say if I see Asiwaju. He said he proposed the same idea to his people as far back as 1989, but it was not accepted, but if Asiwaju can now implement it, he said it is a very good project, a big, gigantic structure along Funsho Williams Avenue. It is one thing to have idea; it is another thing to realize it.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your constituency I am Honourable Olumuyiwa Jimoh, I represent Apapa Constituency 2 in the Lagos State House of Assembly. I am a graduate of philosophy from the University of Ibadan.

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

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EDITORIAL/OPINION EDITORIAL FROM OTHER LAND

COMMENT

Shareholders take a stand on pay

Tardy as ever •With Budget 2012 signed after Quarter 1, how much time is left for implementation?

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PRIL 13, President Goodluck Jonathan finally gave his assent to the 2012 budget, a month after it was passed by the National Assembly.

Last year, it was signed into law in May. Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Ngozi OkonjoIweala, attributed the delay to two factors: first was the delay from the National Assembly which came in the change in the crude oil benchmark price from $70 to $72 per barrel; second was the need by the executive to scrutinise the details of the budget as passed in the aftermath of the changes made by the lawmakers.

The delays would not stop the President to propose amendments five days after signing the budget into law. In a letter to the National Assembly, he claimed that the amendment was borne of the implications of the lawmakers’ adjust-

‘In the situation, we do not see the 2012 budget as holding any promises different from those before it. To start with, the window period to implement the capital projects is as short as ever – particularly those provisions relating to road construction and rehabilitation. In a few days, the nation should be in the thick of the rainy season – which means that no substantial road projects can be done’

ment of the benchmark price of crude from $70 to $72 per barrel. He wanted the lawmakers to adjust the accruals to the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, the Universal Basic Education, UBE since those are normally computed as percentage of revenue accruing to the Federal Government. He observed that the lawmakers inadvertently retained the old figures, resulting in a shortfall of N1.91 billion for NDDC and N1.97 billion for UBE. On the Subsidy Re-investment Programme, SURE-P, the President wanted the programme separated from the rest of the budget as he insisted that this would make it easier for the SURE-P board to “effectively perform their monitoring mandate”.

The issue here is not about amendments which may have – or may not have – basis in law. It is, rather, the tradition of tardiness that has been associated with our budget process. This tradition, as troubling as it is unnerving is what threatens to make the exercise a farce. For instance, both the executive and the legislature ordinarily know that a budget cycle is 12calendar months. While the cycle is not necessarily cast in stone, it says a lot about the discipline of those charged with the formulation and passage that they have been unable to bring to bear the principle of timeliness on the process since the Fourth Republic berthed.

As we know already, when budgets are not passed on time, the result is predictable: it presents implementing ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) ready

alibi to excuse their failures to implement the budget.

We note for instance that the 2012 budget was not presented to the National Assembly until mid-December, despite assurances made by the executive to deliver the proposals on time for the legislators’ consideration. Again, both arms of government have remained fundamentally at odds on parameters despite so-called consultations at formulation stages. And to imagine that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the party of the executive holds the dominant majority in the legislature; we expected that necessary consultations for a smooth sail would have been made. We are learning yet again late in the day that progress is far from being made in this direction.

In the situation, we do not see the 2012 budget as holding any promises different from those before it. To start with, the window period to implement the capital projects is as short as ever – particularly those provisions relating to road construction and rehabilitation. In a few days , the nation should be in the thick of the rainy season – which means that no substantial road projects can be done. It is therefore not unlikely that the 2012 budget cycle would be extended just like in 2011.

We remind, for the umpteenth time, that the disciplined way to go is for the executive to forward its spending plans well ahead of time for the lawmakers to have enough time to do a thorough job on them.

Tax evasion •Foreign airlines exploit Nigeria’s porous regulatory climate

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POROUS business climate, goaded by official laxity is denying the country of tax revenues that should further compliment her oil earnings. This fact was amplified through astonishing revelations that emanated during a public hearing organised by the Senate Committee on Aviation. The public hearing looked into violations of aviation laws by foreign airlines.

Kola Olayinka, Country Manager of British Airways (BA) made a startling revelation; “no airline, as we speak, is remitting five per cent Passenger Fuel Surcharge (PFS) charged on air fares to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

It is not only BA.” His Air France-KLM Nigeria counterpart, Christian Herpi, equally stated that his company engages in this criminality of tax evasion because there is no existing law in the country to compel his airline to pay five per cent from the PFS. The remittance however is required by global aviation practices.

The surprising thing is that these airlines, especially the BA, enjoy tax relief as a result of the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) between Nigeria and Britain. It is incomprehensible to imagine that what the airlines will not attempt to do in their countries of origin is what they have turned to a pastime in Nigeria.

This is obviously because of the inherent lapses in the nation’s system that allow for such criminality. It has continued, sadly, to this level because the serious

issue was overlooked over time.

While commending the Senate Committee on Aviation for unravelling this fraud against the country, we want to call on it to ensure that these wrong corporate deeds being perpetrated by the airlines are put right and thereafter sustained. The actions of these airlines on this matter have clearly shown that they do not have the country’s interest at heart.

Otherwise, why should they wait to be compelled to remit what is due to the country before they do so?

More importantly, the NCAA should realise that the revelations emanating from the two top managers of these foremost foreign airlines are an indictment of its failure to effectively discharge its responsibility to the nation. It is inconceivable that such huge revenue source to government has for this long been ignored by the authority. No other words can best describe this act of the NCAA other than to say that the authority is absolutely negligent.

We would not subscribe to any institution of probe by the authority. Such might amount to a waste of time and scarce public funds. In the past, probes had been counterproductive. If indeed the authority is truly worth its name as a regulatory agency, it does not need any probe before unearthing all the atrocities and excesses of especially the foreign airlines. After all, what is the job of its supervisory department if these criminal

excesses persist? What is being witnessed is that these airlines just capitalise on the institutional lapses to make illegal money for their owners.

The foreign airlines must realise that it is compulsory for them to respect the laws of Nigeria, otherwise they would be liable under the corporate criminal liability principle, if found wanting and duly arraigned before a court of law. They must observe internationally stipulated standards and practices when operating in the country.

We call on the NCAA to forthwith commence the recovery of arrears of taxes from the airlines. Any of them that refuses to pay should be prosecuted.

‘The NCAA should realise that the revelations emanating from the two top managers of these foremost foreign airlines are an indictment of its failure to effectively discharge its responsibility to the nation. It is inconceivable that such huge revenue source to government has for this long been ignored by the authority. No other words can best describe this act of the NCAA other than to say that the authority is absolutely negligent’

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HE definition of a bonus is something extra, a payment on top of what is expected or strictly due, as a reward for exceptional performance. But when bonuses are paid to chief executives for “providing leadership” or for “building strong relations with the board”, one wonders what job they were hired for in the first place.

Large shareholders have at last started to flex their muscles over spurious performance targets and from New York to London they are demanding change. Bob Diamond, chief executive of Barclays, has been forced to make concessions – minor though they may be – on his £25m pay packet after investors threatened to vote against it at next week’s annual meeting. The climbdown follows the very public humiliation of Citigroup’s Vikram Pandit, when a majority of investors rejected his $15m pay award.

This new activism is to be welcomed and encouraged. Shareholders have for too long taken a passive approach to their responsibilities as owners. Their action now may have been spurred by meagre investment returns in the post-crisis period. But their past inaction contributed to the emergence of a culture that pays for ordinary or poor performance, especially in the financial services sector.

It is particularly encouraging that the mood appears to be changing on both sides of the Atlantic at the same time. This is in part a result of the happy confluence of new “say on pay” legislation in the US and strong political pressure in Europe for shareholders to take a more active role. The hope must be that the transatlantic activism will create a lasting change in attitudes among companies and their investors.

The fear of public naming and shaming has already prompted some companies to take proactive measures on pay. The danger is that once the good times return, shareholders will relapse into inaction. It is in their interests not to.

In the banking sector in particular, they have been the biggest losers from the executive urge to pile on the bonuses. In the UK, for example, as the share of profit going to executive pay has risen, so the share paid in dividends has fallen. The pressure on pay should encourage a re-evaluation of this model. HSBC has shown the way in aiming to distribute an equal share of profit to investors, pay and investment. This division may not be right for everyone. But a fairer balance needs to be restored.

Investors, however, will have to make sacrifices too. They were guilty in the pre-crisis era of encouraging banks to unsustainable levels of profitability, by turning a blind eye to risk. If executives have to be more modest in their demands, shareholders need to rein in expectations on returns. That is in the longterm interests of investors, the banks and the financial system as a whole.

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

• Executive Director (Finance & Administration) Ade Odunewu

•Deputy Editor Lawal Ogienagbon

•Advert Manager Robinson Osirike

•Deputy Editor (News) Adeniyi Adesina •Group Political Editor Bolade Omonijo •Group Business Editor Ayodele Aminu •Abuja Bureau Chief Yomi Odunuga •Sport Editor Ade Ojeikere •Editorial Page Editor

• Gen. Manager (Training and Development) Soji Omotunde •Chief Internal Auditor Toke Folorunsho •Senior Manager (sales) Akeem Shoge

•IT Manager Bolarinwa Meekness •Press Manager Udensi Chikaodi •Manager, Corporate Marketing Hameed Odejayi • Manager (Admin) Folake Adeoye

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23 2012

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9EDITORIAL/OPINION

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IR: The comment made by Mr.Johnnie Carson, the U.S assistance secretary for African Affairs that poverty is fueling Boko Haram menace is very unfortunate because no section of Nigeria is living in opulence. With the dearth of infrastructural development, 90% of Nigerians are permanent tenants of crippling poverty.It is very glaring in all the six geo-political zones.Armed deviants do carry out robbery operations in banks,street,market place,church,mosques and other choice targets,that can be linked to poverty as result socio-economic alienation or other societal factors.

But bombing innocent citizens while praying in churches, street, market place or their homes should never be linked to poverty by any rational mind. It just doesn’t add up because poverty in Nigeria has the same crippling effect across the federation.

Boko Haram menace is organized crime and it cannot thrive or blossom without the tacit support, knowledge, cuddling of the elite and community. So far Boko Haram has never made any political or economic demands as basis to cease fire, neither has it explored or exhausted any channel of communication before embarking on mass murder. Instead its constant demand is islamization of Nigeria through act of terrorism and it has never shifted ground on this demand. By the way,does killing of people in churches, street or market places improve the condition and living standard of poor citizens? Extensive profiling of terrorists across the world revealed that 95% of top, middle and low members are from influential and rich background.The convicted U.S. al-

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Boko Haram not all about poverty leged plane bomber, Farouk Muttalab from Nigeria is a perfect example.

Audio videos posted online are strong evidence that Boko Haram menace is ideological warfare. The motives are to control the levers of power and introduce Taliban style of government with Islamic laws as legal code. We have seen it before in Iran, Pakistan, Sudan, Mali, e.t.c, and surprisingly the world is now coming to terms with one glaring fact that the Arab spring revolt is more of radical and religious elements (Islamic Brotherhood) tak-

ing over the reigns of power in Arab World. Unfortunately, Nigeria cannot afford such revolt because, we are a secular nation! Any attempt to push Boko Haram beyond its base will lead to an endless war that will never favour any section.

Yes,dialogue is a powerful tool for conflict resolution. But to dialogue with veteran and premeditated murderers under the banner of religious ideology is recipe for disaster. Any careless, ill-thought out engagements with Boko Haram

IR: One unique characteristic of President Goodluck Jonathan is his unusual ability to accept the fact that he was not the best material for the post he currently occupies.This, he has said several times, directly or indirectly.

Yet, the gods of godfatherism, quota system, electoral manipulation and millenial poverty have always favored him to the detriment of those who actually want to transform the country. This is the paradox of the Nigerian conundrum, the least having an upper hand above the best in a transparently dishonest contest. So sad!

Since the inception of our epileptic return to democracy in 1999, the

man from Otuoke kingdom has been a major force to reckon with.Yet, so far, no substantial achievement is attributed to his credit as a way of deepening the democratic process and raising the bar of human capital development.

It is, therefore, a big surprise that such a man is presiding over the affairs of the most populous black nation in the world. He counts his good luck as the reason for this.

While this may work for him as an individual, it sure does not work for our country. For now, it is a big ill-luck for us if we are to go by the numerous woes bedevilling the nation. No slight intended to the President!

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crimes in Nigeria.

There is no doubt that the timing for the merger of the EFCC, Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Code of Conduct Bureau is very wrong and will be counter productive and therefore unhealthy for the economic well-being of Nigeria.

As a Nigerian abreast of the corruptive tendencies of the people of this country, I want to sincerely posit that one anti-graft agency

• Akinola Muiz Verona-Italy.

2015: The road not taken

No to EFCC, ICPC merger IR: Initially I wanted to take the news of the proposed merger of economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and other agencies as a rumour until I read in the papers that the Oransanye committee recommended the merger to the Federal Government.

This is shocking to the ears as the whole world is waiting for the EFCC to continue in their unrelenting efforts at fighting corruption, economic and financial

will portend serious consequences which could lead to endless war.

America should be careful not to push Nigeria in the direction of Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq and other failed states. We are all living witnesses to how America’s involvements, ignorance, flawed, false evaluation and arrogance led to dirty endless wars in all these countries. Aterall, proliferation of arms and other sophisticated weapons in Nigeria originated from America.

For every killing field, some mer-

chants of death and contractors are smiling to the bank. The build up to Iraq war with false information, assessment, ignorance and arrogance is still in our mind. American foreign policy and influence is based primarily on her interest.

Like a menu, it could be positive or negative with attendant destructive consequences.

Multi dimensional approaches that are in tandem with our sociopolitical and economic history, well scrutinized western and other external inputs are the best methods to stem the tide of Boko Haram menace. Nigeria is no stranger to conflict resolutions. We have done it before in Liberia, South-Africa, Congo, ex-Yugoslavia, SierraLeone, Mali, Guinea Bissau e.t.c. We are better than America or western powers in this area.

cannot fight not to talk of eradicating corruption and economic crimes in the land.

If you ask me, I will say there is no need for the proposed merger of these agencies. The EFCC and the ICPC should be left to perform their constitutionally established duties, which I believe differ from one another. One is curbing corruption, the other, economic and financial crimes.

• Rachel Fola Lagos

The story of the shoeless boy fishing in the creeks of Bayelsa to the Chief Priest in Aso Rock is all too familiar that an average primary four pupil can recite it. In fact, some families have started naming their new born babies ‘Goodluck’ irrespective of the gender! This is in spite of his unlimited indequacies as the president of the country.

Without a doubt, our nation is not working and everybody can feel it except for those looting and plundering our commonwealth.

So soon, he has started paving the way for his re-election again in 2015 with so much gusto and energy. We all can glean that from the assertion of his presidential overbearing influence in the PDP and the body language of his sycophantic apologists with just some few inches into his first term in office.

Nobody denies the fact that he is entitled to a second term. The constitution allows for it. But does his performance recommend him for a second term?

This is where our headache lies.

The tragedy of a quota system and the forces of an- all- too powerful president who can get whatever he wants including the presidency at will. The South-south geopolitical zone, his own portion of tribal enclave has started raising their voices for his re-election. This has noth-

ing to do with his below the average performnce. It is simply their turn!

At this juncture, factoring in the history of presidential elections in Nigeria and the tendency of the incumbent to win against the will of the majority, President Jonathan will most likely win a second term in office. Except a radical departure from the past occurs. This may sound too patronising of the President but the current realities lend credence to it. The opposition parties are simply not doing enough to present alternatives to him. It is beyond their occasional verbal outbursts in the media. It needs proper articulation of purpose, realignment of political forces across the six geopolitical zones. The ACN cannot do it alone nor the CPC. Some synergy is needed to root out the monstrous PDP and its catalogue of national inadequacies of which President Jonathan is the principal beneficiary. It is a Herculean task. But it is doable. The President has started working, the opposition and the civil society groups too should be alive to their responsibilities lest we come around again to blame our unlucky stars in 2015...

• Akinboyo Temidayo Igbotako, Ondo State

21

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

EDITORIAL/OPINION

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AY I start this piece with my conclusion: Congratulations, on the Senate’s probe of the criminal misappropriation of pensioners’ fund. It is a probe well

over due.

Where people or government need to be praised, we do so; where they need to be criticized or condemned, we also do so.

For many years, the issue of government laxity in the payment of gratuities and pensions, as at when due, has attracted both national and international condemnation. It has become a prodigious shame of the nation called Nigeria. For several years people had cried out, expended gallons of ink in newspaper reports and write-ups-all of them falling on deaf ears! It was just as if Nigeria has no government that cares for its citizens or, if it has at all, it is just so on paper.

Events in the pension house of horror began to take shape from 2007 when pensioners all over the country began to complain seriously about non-payment of their gratuities and pensions. When the complaints grew louder with various publications in the newspapers, the Federal Government, through its Pension Office, paid half of gratuity in arrears, but without the monthly pensions. The remaining half of gratuity they kept in fixed accounts yielding fat interests to be stolen by pension officers, probably from the very top to the bottom. After they had made much money from pensioners’ money, they released the remaining half and made sure pensioners were deliberately short-changed to the tune of millions of Naira. This they kept in fixed accounts until they were ready to release the cleverly short changed amount of money payable to pensioners all over the country, and without interest!

Then came the payment of monthly pensions. These selfish and wicked rogues neither had conscience nor believed in God. They kept the monthly payment away from those who desperately needed it for survival. They then took the advantage of the e-payment by selecting banks of their choice to which they reluctantly sent the pensioners’ fund. The banks then kept the money for a period of time in order to make money from accruable interests. In some cases, the banks deliberately sent a pensioner’s money in an Ile-Ife bank to the same bank, or a different bank, in Kano so that it would take some time to be rectified while the interest continued to grow.

Atrocities like these had been committed on regular basis and, in fact, incessant bases for years with impunity. But the senate has now thought it fit to listen to the cries of retirees by instituting a stinging probe from which startling and mind

‘What kind of government do we have in this country that allows its pensioners to die slowly because of corruption in the pension house of horror?

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HERE have been a deluge of comments and subjective reportage in the media over allegation of an uncompleted building with wooden scaffold allegedly owned by Edo state Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole by Edo State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

My interest is the negative slant that was introduced to it and which did not only made the reporter vulnerable to mischievous politicians hell bent in causing disaffection between Oshiomhole and the good people of Edo State in the build up to July 14 governorship election but revealed the weaknesses of the masterminds and the unprofessional media outfit’s foolery.

Quickly, let me clarify that the sponsors of the publication are jobless old men in the People Deceiving People (PDP) in Edo State. We know that this is a calculated attempt to run down the government of Edo State. We know better than them.

The report not only portrayed the reporter as a scruffy outsider in the polity of Edo State, the state government and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) but one who refuses to see through the lies he was told and as such, deliberately and unprofessionally reported same.

I think that some people are so daft in reasoning that they don’t know the value of N10 billion.

I have watched the purveyors of the untruths from afar and my humble conclusion is that they are too childish in reasoning to imagine that Edo people would believe these cooked-up stories in the build-up to elections.

They are too dull and foolish that they brought themselves to the market place to dance naked.

I have said this over and over that Dan Orbih of the PDP talks too much and that the day he will have something credible to say, nobody will listen because he is full of falsehood.

Painfully enough, he continues to exhibit falsehood in all ramifications.

Permit me to recall that modern journalism began around 1890 with the advent of a national system of communication and has had a pretty long run but it’s time now seems to be about up. With this report published in

Pensions: Memo to Senator David Mark

By Moses Makinde boggling revelations have now emerged.

We thank you sir, and say congratulations!

We have in the past been treated to revelations like that of a Level 4 pension officer in whose bank account a huge sum of N200m was discovered after her death. Later discovered were N12m and another N18m which led to the arrest of the Director of Pensions in the office of the Head of Service, Dr. Teidi Shuaibu now facing trial. About N4bn and N2bn were also discovered in each of the accounts of two teachers in Kebbi State. We also heard about the N24b swindled by an officer of the pension house of horror. There was also the reported case of a man who wanted to collect his dead father’s gratuity but was asked to cough out 40%, which he reluctantly did, before his father’s gratuity was paid to him. The wicked, barbaric and unending screening of pensioners was designed to make money from pensioners through various bribes that were usually taken in order to facilitate the screening of helpless pensioners. We cannot begin to count the number of people who had died during the wicked screening exercises. Even after the exercises, pensioners still did not receive their pensions and, if and when they did, it was too late because some of them had died of hunger, disease and frustration while waiting for pensions that would never come. Those who killed the pensioners forgot that they too would die one after another. If they ever meet their victims in heaven or hell, it would surely be a good occasion for a battle of sweet revenge!

The current senate probe, the first of its kind in the history of corrupt practices in the pension’s house, has done a lot of good to the aggrieved pensioners all over the country as well as the ugly image of the federal government on pension matters. It has done so much in exposing the barbarism and primitive accumulation of institutional rogues in the offices of the Head of Service, Director General of pensions and gratuities, Accountant General of the Federation, Pension Administrators and their willing allies in the conspiracy of stealing and fixing of pensioners funds, keeping the interests to themselves instead of paying such interests to pensioners whose funds had been stolen and fixed for monetary gains.

Even as I am writing this piece, pensioners’ monthly stipends have been seized by these shameless rogues to the extent that pensions are never paid as at when due, but always in arrears of one to two months. Usually, pensioners are paid the following month after regular salaries had been paid. This is to say, December 2011 pensions which pensioners depended on for Christmas and the New Year celebrations were not paid in December, 2011 but in the middle of January, 2012 while workers, including the pension officers, got their salaries before Christmas. The question now is: what kind of gov-

ernment do we have in this country that allows its pensioners to die slowly because of corruption in the pension house of horror?

But sir, we are disturbed by the news going round that even Senators and House of Representative members are involved in the pension scam. It is alleged that they “shared from £8.9bn pension fund” (Tribune 12 April, 2012 front page). We can only hope that this is not true.

Now, to our Honourable Senate President. We appreciate your serious efforts to see that pension funds are never diverted or stolen from now on. We also appreciate your resolve to punish severely all the crooks in the pension house of horror. We cannot but agree with your observation and conclusions about the likely fate of pension fraudsters when you said, in palpable anger, that money stolen from pensioners is blood money, and that they would not escape from the wrath of God. We believe and wish that, after their deaths, hot hell is their ultimate destination. Congratulations on your spectacular gesture.

Sir, we propose the following lines of action, through legislation, on gratuities and pensions matters: 1. From now on (or retroactively if you so wish), all arrears of gratuities and pensions should be paid with accrued interests, even for one day’s default, after payment is due, i.e. payment as at when due.

2. From now on, pensioners should be paid on the same day when regular workers are paid or, better still, that salaries should not be paid until pensioners are paid every month and certainly not one day in arrears!.

3. Payment of pension in arrears should be outlawed. It is wicked and inhuman.

4. Finally, payment of gratuities and pensions should be decentralized. Pensioner’s money should be lodged with previous employers/ institutions annually or on a quarterly basis. In this way, the responsibility of paying pensioners will now rest on their previous employers from where they earned their salaries regularly when they were in service.

Pensioners have either been cheated or their pensions delayed by the e-payment system. If arrears of gratuities and pensions are paid with accrued interests to the beneficiaries, the habit of fixing pensioners’ funds for making quick money through accrued interests on pensioner’s fund will no longer be attractive, as the interests would be seen as belonging to the pensioners and not the rogues who indulge in making quick money by delaying, through fixing, pensioners’ gratuities and pensions.

Over to you, Mr. Senate President.

• Professor Makinde, FNAL, is of Department of Philosophy Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife

That report on Oshiomhole’s alleged N10b mansion

By Chief Bamidele Olaniyi a newspaper which unfortunately again, presented and surrendered itself to the agents of anti-Oshiomhole and the positive development going on in the state, the future of the journalism cannot be anything but disturbing.

I see this as an unusual fire set up by unusual people for unusual blackmail of the innocent for cheap and unusual popularity because, I simply do not see why anybody would be in a hurry to smear the image of a performing governor whose performance rating is so glaring and generally applauded.

The series of anti-Oshiomhole articles published by Compass and sponsored by Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is simply benumbing.

Edo people must refuse to swallow the trash published by unusual people who are already sinking in shallow waters and looking for those that will perish with them. Their mission to pull down state functionaries should make us to be more resolute to rise and protect our mandate since they have lost relevance and as such resorted to cheap blackmail.

As a frequent visitor to Edo state, I have seen how the state infrastructure has improved tremendously since the past three years. Only the shallow minded will believe this falsehood that exists in the imagination of Dan Orbih and the reporter and I know that Edo people have grown beyond cheap deceit as the performance of Oshiomhole has guaranteed his re-election.

To present distorted portrayals and negative stereo-types that are at best an irritant and at worst, dangerous is how Compass reporter undermine professional authority and institutions.

Should any right thinking person believe this N10 billion report especially now that

the people of Edo have taken their destiny into their hands? Oshiomhole’s era is a golden opportunity that we cannot allow to slip away; we cannot allow vampires to occupy Edo Government House because Oshiomhole remains the clear leader among them all.

Permit me to say that the sensationalism and the unprofessional reportage by the Compass newspaper have not only weakened the standard but has enfeebled its public spirit. The cancer must be checked and stopped or else, journalism will be in serious trouble because, these stories are either misleading, biased and unprofessional- without basis in fact.

Journalism has hosted a wide range of characters; unfortunately too, everyone from dedicated pursuers of truth to renal tycoons and confidence men just as the barriers of entry have been very low, so is the exit as against law or medicine.

However, there are journalists who are heroes, just as others are scoundrels. A lover and a fighter, a gossip and a sage and a defender of the common man and the corrupt instrument of power-hungry politicians like the ones who sponsored the Compass story through its reporter; a crooked and drunken journalist trying to reconcile the irreconcilable.

The question is; whose interest does this report serve; public interest or selfish interest? Isn’t this an unwarranted media attack to cause disaffection and bad blood where none exist? Isn’t this a sponsored report by a hatched writer trying to justify his pay? Isn’t this notoriously wicked, preposterous, mischievous and sycophantic? Isn’t objectivism sacrificed here on the altar of subjectivism?

It is therefore not an arduous task for me to classify the group of journalists this re-

porter belongs to; a renegade, and one who relishes on the fakeries, the falsities of society. One who cannot facilitate constructive change through careful investigation and reporting of the truth? I urge him to be responsible professionally and be a respectable, upright member of society who works for the common good.

I wonder what the PDP is trying to get by making up lies; this Orbih can be very mischievous. Go to Delta, Rivers and even Bayelsa State after your tour, come back to Edo state and compare the various Government Houses and report back to Nigerians who is fooling who?

Governor Oshiomhole is one of the best I have seen in Nigeria today. One can, at best, sympathize with PDP for looking for a way to ridicule the Peoples’ Governor. I am not from Edo State, but I have seen roads and other structures which are testimonies of a working government.

In fact, such an allegation coming from the most shamelessly corrupt party in the land makes the allegations against Oshiomhole unbelievable. PDP has lost credibility in Edo State as they even make the Comrade Governor more popular with their allegation and thereby earning him sympathy votes.

Finally, there is what can be described as conflict between objectivism and subjectivism in the N10 billion mansion report; the tension that arises when a journalist tries to remain neutral in covering the news and the other who uses systematic and scientific methods to paint a non-existing issue sold to him by failed politicians thereby practicing arm-chair , junk and cash and carry journalism.

• Chief Olaniyi writes from Iju Ishaga, Lagos State

‘PDP has lost credibility in Edo State as they even make the Comrade Governor more popular with their allegation and thereby earning him sympathy votes’

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

22

EDITORIAL/OPINION

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IVEN the crushing unemployment in the country in the face of debilitating poverty, the immediate attention of the public to the recent submissions of the Oronsaye panel on the rationalization of parastatals, would expectedly be on its overall impact on unemployment. This is to be expected especially with the panel’s recommendation for the scrapping of as much as 38 agencies, the merger of 52 and the reversion of 14 to departments in the relevant ministries.

The immediate result of all this is that thousands of jobs will be lost. For a country where a majority of citizens live below the poverty line, the consequences of a massive job loss can be very devastating. Because it is estimated that for every employed Nigerian, there are at least three other dependants, the wider repercussions of such a huge job loss are better imagined.

Thus, the staggering savings of N862 billion expected to accrue to the coffers of the federal government on account of the exercise may not make sense to those who will be shut out of employment. There is everything to suggest that those whose jobs will be compromised will prefer to retain them than whatever benefits such savings will portend for the nation. This view is bound to find ample support in a clime characterized by high level profligacy in government quarters.

Instead of the purported savings which sundry buccaneers will turn round to loot, is it not better they are paid out as salaries to workers who may be producing below capacity one may argue? Is it not the duty of the government to provide job for its teeming unemployed population so that they can survive? These and more are some of the posers that are bound to be thrown up by the panel’s report which seemed to concentrate more on conserving money for the government irrespective of its deleterious effects on those who will be relieved of their jobs. The recommendations could also be faulted for lacking a human face. These are some of the immediate things that will engage the attention of the general public as they await the white paper on the report.

That is not to say however, that there are no merits in the submissions of the panel.

There is no doubt there are overlaps in functions of some of the parastatals, agencies and commissions. Their effect on high cost of gov-

S

ENATOR Liyel Imoke, the ebullient and hardworking Governor of Cross River State is quiet, self – effacing, media-shy but dynamic. He is so gentle and unassuming that he could easily be classified as a man who cannot hurt a fly. This quiet and simple disposition as a man not given to the loudness and pomposity of the average Nigerian politician has become a defining factor in his political career. For those very close to him, Imoke believes that it is not important for one to advertise oneself. This belief, perhaps, may have been responsible for the lack of visibility of his towering achievements as governor of Cross River State in the popular press. Again, certain members of the critical clan believed that since Imoke’s immediate past predecessor, Donald Duke allegedly achieved so much in the state, with the exit of the latter, the state would collapse in Imoke’s hands.

Unfortunately, not many realized that under Duke the state was in huge debt while most of his projects were uncompleted.

Also, not a handful of those critics knew that before Imoke, developments were largely concentrated in Calabar the state capital much to the detriment of the rural areas where more than 70 per cent of the people dwell. Not many knew that several communities were not accessible as they had no motorable roads; even as the people were still living without potable water and at the mercy of sickness and diseases. Today, the story has changed. Imoke’s humanism fa-

‘The sense of energy and optimism generated by Imoke’s bold attempt to create a brave new model state could have easily given way to disillusionment if his government did not turn visionary rhetoric into something rather more substantial’

Emeka OMEIHE 08121971199 email: EmekaOmeihe@yahoo.com

Oronsaye’s report and true federalism ernance without commensurate delivery in public goods and services is also not in doubt.

Equally not in doubt is the fact that for this nation to make meaningful progress, the twin issues of efficiency in performance of the workforce and reduction in the high cost of governance must be realistically addressed.

That point had long been realized. What has been in short supply has been the attendant political will to see it through.

Oronsaye’s panel failed to address the connection between the problem it set out to address and the factors that give rise to it. In so doing, it appeared to have focused largely on the symptoms rather than the cause of the ailment. That being the case, it will not take long before the seeming malignant ailment rears up its ugly head again.

That seems to be the major flaw in the panel’s report. It treated the duplication of agencies as the problem rather than a manifestation of a deep seethed structural ill. It would have been more helpful to identify the root cause of the duplication so that therapeutic response to it can be evolved.

It is not enough for the panel to have identified as a fundamental flaw in the practice of good public sector governance the creation of “a new agency or institution as a response to the seeming failure or poor performance of an existing agency in order to suit political or individual interests” It would have been more helpful had the panel told us the connection between that phenomenon and the type of federalism we

currently practice. Such an approach would have been more useful and more futuristic in our overall understanding of the innate complexities of the matter. That would have been of more value in our assessment of the overall impact of the panel’s recommendations and their capacity to endure overtime.

Though the panel recognized that most of these replications arise due to the failure or poor performance of existing agencies, it did not tell us all. In other words, why is it that such agencies fail to perform thus necessitating the setting up of new ones? The answer is largely rooted in the type of federal system we practice in this country. The omnipresence and omnipotence of the federal authority has been such that it has virtually taken over functions better performed by other tiers of government. With such over concentration of powers, it is not surprising that performance will be less than optimal in many areas.

Take the issue of the Nigeria Police Force which the panel identified to have given birth to four agencies. There is no doubt that the Nigerian Police as presently constituted, cannot be expected to perform optimally the current roles assigned the FRSC, EFCC, ICPC and the Civil Defense Corps. If we have had state police as has been vigorously canvassed, some of these agencies would have been superfluous. The inability of the police authorities to reach all segments of the country in the desired manner gave rise to some of these agencies. Today, it is hard to believe

Imoke: Quietly transforming Cross River

By Desmond Ojiakor

• Imoke

vours an assertion of the dignity of man against the asceticism of medieval misanthropy. Given Imoke’s legendary love for his people, his élan, his charisma and his capacity to hold even his political adversaries in thrall, few can behold even this quiet governor and not feel a sense of shame or inadequacy. His basket-baller frame aside, Imoke exudes a sure – footedness or confidence that wows. But it is his superlative intelligence quotient that endears many people to him.

The saying that one’s class is in one’s language easily manifests itself when he speaks the English language.

Imoke’s grasp of issues and his insights are simply astounding. If the insights he proffers are penetrating, his quest for excellence is unrelenting. But, again, it is his vision and determination to provide comfort for his people, especially those who have never felt government presence before that is the thrust of his political philosophy. It takes an astute

politician with a consuming love for his people to see the faceless antagonism of fifth columnists as a challenge and thus employ his manifest gusto to prove the bookmakers wrong. The sense of energy and optimism generated by Imoke’s bold attempt to create a brave new model state could have easily given way to disillusionment if his government did not turn visionary rhetoric into something rather more substantial.

Of course, Imoke’s mastery of political mood-music is not to be sniffed at. But he does not blow his trumpet and would not want anyone to blow it for him. That, probably, accounts for why his state appears grossly under reported. To be candid, Senator Imoke does not have a bad press; yet it is only those who have visited Cross River State that can testify to how he is silently transforming that agrarian state to one of the first eleven among Nigeria’s 36 states.

After the sense of drift that was the lot of the people in the past in spite of intensive media hypes, it is a refreshing change.

The administration of Senator Imoke inspires widespread confidence. Like Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State or Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, to mention just a few, Imoke has managed simultaneously to accept much of the legacy of his predecessor while creating public excitement about the idea of change. He is attacking excruciating poverty and under-development head on. While it is impossible to articulate the cumulative magnitude of Imoke’s developmental strides in one piece, this one may actually be a convenient factual aid to the bare construing of Imoke’s staggering achievements in Cross River State. Besides asphalting a network of more than 800 kilometres of well developed closely knit roads across the state, his gov-

that scrapping the FRSC will be popular.

Perhaps, this point is underscored more poignantly in the case of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), the Nomadic Education Commission (NEC) and the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education (NCMLA) which the panel said all perform functions related to the provision of basic education. The NEC and NCMLA arose to attend to the educational peculiarities of some segments of the country. The motivation could be political. It could also be part of the urge to share from the national cake.

Whatever it is, the point remains that had there been proper devolution of powers, states and local governments would have been in a better stead to perform some of these functions. In effect, the problems Oronsaye and his colleagues set out to address have their roots largely in the defective federal structure we currently operate.

As long as the governance framework we have in place is an aberration of true federalism, so long will the conditions that propel such duplications subsist.

They crop up due to the usurpation and inadequacies in the capacity of the federal authority to respond to functions that are better performed by the component units. The solution lies in the whittling down of the awesome powers at the center. Then, there will be no need to fund professional bodies/ councils and the multiplicity of boards that serve politicians. That is one key issue the Oronsaye panel fell short of admitting.

‘Had there been proper devolution of powers, states and local governments would have been in a better stead to perform some of these functions. In effect, the problems Oronsaye and his colleagues set out to address have their roots largely in the defective federal structure we currently operate. As long as the governance framework we have in place is an aberration of true federalism, so long will the conditions that propel such duplications subsist. ernment has given a face-lift to education.

To accentuate his priority on education, not only has he built and renovated several schools across the state, he has re-introduced scholarship awards for indigenes to study at home and abroad. An attempt to encode some of these projects would definitely not leave the inimitable ones among the lot.

Urban and rural roads, airport bye-pass, urban and rural water schemes, Tinapa Knowledge City, Smartgov and Electronic Citizen Identification Scheme easily come to mind.

Others include: International Convention Centre and Hotel, International Specialist Hospital, Riviera Resorts, International Golf Course, model schools, Port-side Industrial Park, Housing Estates, Mother & Child Free Healthcare Programme (including 96 health centres covering all the 96 wards in the state), GIS and Land Registration Reform, etcetera.

Aside from the admirable cordiality between government and organized Labour in the state despite meager financial inflow having ceded its 76 oil wells to Akwa Ibom State by the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Imoke’s capacity for prudent husbandry of resources remains a mystery. Yet, this miracle cannot be divorced from the governor’s strategic templates which include a creative facilitation of the flow of private investor money into the state’s unproductive assets to make them operational thereby lifting the state’s tourism economy. Another one is the transformation of the rural economy through lifting road access restrictions to rural entrepreneurial potentials. Added to this the transformation of the system of governance into the new digital age for efficiency and attainment of the optimum in the aggregation of potential revenue resources of the state, excluding oil. Above all, the establishment of strategic assets across sectors, namely, healthcare, education, agriculture, electrification, water, urban and rural transportation to regenerate the rural and urban economy, among others. Such has been Imoke’s quiet approach to the massive transformation of Cross River State since the past five years.

• Dr. Ojiakor is an Abuja-based public affairs analyst.

24

41

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

25

BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net

ISSUES

T HE CEO ‘We won’t copy any regulator in

Nationwide blackout: Sabotage or operational hiccups?

- P. 27 News Briefing

Guinness, others great places to work TWENTY companies have emerged as great places to work in Nigeria. In a survey of about 250 firms, conducted

by Great Place To Work

- Page 26

Banks chase cheaper funds FIRSTBank of Nigeria, United Bank for Africa and Diamond Bank last week, indicated interest in issuing Eurobonds

- Page 31

Will Conoil’s dividend stir the bulls?

For now, what we want to communicate here is that we are going to rigorously pursue any hindrance to power supply. And to ensure that we clean up the system, we have to make sure that we deliver more reliable power to the country.

- Prof Barth Nnaji, Minister of Power

solving insurance problems’ - P. 32

World Bank removes Nigeria, D others from aids’ list EVELOPING countries including Nigeria are no longer candidates for charity and aid from developing countries, the World Bank has said.

The outgoing World Bank President, Robert Zoellick, disclosed this at the on-going International Monetary Fund/World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington DC, United States of America.

Specifically, he said since the “developing countries have provided two-thirds of global growth over the past years, these are no longer charity cases.”

Noting that developing countries “are vital to the world economy,” Zoellick, whose five-year tenure elapses on June 30, this year,

From Ayodele Aminu, Group Business Editor(in Washington DC)

nonetheless, stressed the need for both developing and developed countries to focus on structural reforms that will be the drivers of future growth, “otherwise the world will keep stumbling along.”

In Sub-Saharan Africa, the World Bank chief said the countries must work to remove barriers to the great economic potential of the region and seek to achieve regional integration, which he said is the way to go.

Giving an appraisal of his tenure, Zoellick said: ”Our initiatives for open information, open data, and open access to knowledge may turn out to be the most important legacy of the past five years.”

The outgoing World Bank boss noted that he took over the World Bank presidency at a crisis period and his tenure has had three phases starting from a turnaround from trouble times.

He said about $250 trillion have been spent is support of countries across the globe for food, fuel and to mitigate financial crisis.

In addition, he disclosed that modernisation of the Bank for the future was initiated during his tenure.

This, he said, is in addition to the first large recapitalisation of the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) in over 20 years, and two record-breaking International Development Association (IDA) replenishments totaling more than $90 billion with an AAA rating.

Speaking on the effects of the Arab spring, Zoellick said the Tunisians’economy is under severe stress since

Imo targets N1b monthly IGR

THE NSE oil and gas index is trailing behind the benchmark index and other key sectoral indices at the Nigerian stock market.

- Page 35

CCNN: Improving profitability

From Emma Mgbeahurike, Owerri

T

CEMENT Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) Plc recorded a well-rounded performance in the past year.

- Page 36

DATA STREAM COMMODITY PRICES Oil -$107/barrel Cocoa -$2,686.35/metric ton Coffee - ¢132.70/pound Cotton - ¢95.17pound Gold -$1,800/troy ounce Rubber -¢159.21pound MARKET CAPITALISATIONS NSE JSE NYSE LSE

-N6.503 trillion -Z5.112trillion -$10.84 trillion -£61.67 trillion RATES Inflation -10.5% Treasury Bills -7.08% Maximum lending-22.42% Prime lending -15.87% Savings rate -2% 91-day NTB -15% Time Deposit -5.49% MPR -12% Foreign Reserve $35.8b FOREX CFA 0.2958 EUR 206.9 £ 242.1 $ 156 ¥ 1.9179 SDR 238 RIYAL 40.472

the country lost a lot to the uprising; just as Libya now needs capacity to build its enormous resources.

He noted that the North African economies’ transformation is going to take a while.

On his successor, Zoellick said: “I think he will do a great job”and wished him and others success.”

Earlier in his congratulation message, Zoellick, said: “Jim has seen poverty and vulnerability first hand, through his impressive work in developing countries. and his rigorous science-based drive for results will be invaluable for the World Bank Group as it modernises to better serve client countries in overcoming poverty.”

•From left: Chairman, Enterprise Bank Limited Mr Emeka Onwuka; Chairman, Ineh Mic Motors Chief Mike Inegbese; Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ahmed Kuru and a customer, Chief Fatai Lawal Olumegbon, at the Customer Forum, at the Oriental Hotel, Lagos …Friday.

Subsidy: CBN pays N90.5b to oil marketers in 25 days

T

HE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) paid out N90.5 billion as subsidy to oil marketers between February 10 and March 6, this year.

Documents obtained by The Nation from the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), which were placed before members of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) last month, showed that on the February 10, the apex bank paid out N48.665billion to 23 oil marketers under “direct payment to independent oil marketers by CBN being redemption of Sovereign Debit Notes Under petroleum Support Scheme.

Eleven days later, the apex bank again paid another

From Nduka Chiejina Assistant Editor

N26.618 billion to 20 oil marketers under batch Z/ 11B payment programme.

Also in February, N49 billion was transferred to the domestic excess crude naira account for subsidy in favour of independent marketing companies responsible for the importation of petroleum products fixed at N155.70/$1.

According to the schedule of payment, on March 6, the N15. 219 billion was paid to 13 oil marketers under the batch B/12 payment plan of the subsidy arrangements.

These payments brought the total amount paid out in 25 days to 56 oil marketers to N90.5 billion.

The Federal Government has set aside N656 billion for petroleum subsidy this year. As a result of the partial removal of subsidy, the Federal Government budgeted N888 billion to finance petroleum subsidy, with N232 billion earmarked for last year’s outstanding payments.

Given the rate deductions for payments to oil marketers are made, state governments recently complained to the Federal Government, lamenting the massive payments, saying the payment is denying them funds that they could deploy to provide basic infrastructure for their people.

Officials of the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant-General of

•CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido

the Federation declined to speak on how or when the government would settle what is outstanding to the oil marketers.

HE Imo State government is to increase its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to about N1 billion, the Commissioner for Finance, Deacon John Chike Okafor, has said.

Currently, he said the state rakes in about N800 million, as against the N300 million, which was the monthly generated revenue by the previous administrations, adding that the government has put in place the necessary modalities to realise the goal.

Okafor told The Nation that the government has charged all ministries and parastatals to imbibe its commercialisation policy by engaging in aggressive tax collection and other ventures that would bring in the required revenue into the state.

He said, henceforth, they should generate funds that would off-set their salaries and emoluments as the state’s share of the federal allocation would be channelled to capital projects.

“Government has made it possible for each ministry and parastatal to generate enough resources through taxes and rents, to pay salaries, so that the state’s share of the federation allocation from Abuja will be meant for only capital projects,” he stated.

He said the state is set for industrial revolution which is the second phase of the developmental agenda of the administration. He explained that the first phase was centred on massive road construction, rehabilitation and infrastructural development.

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

26

BUSINESS NEWS Flight Schedule

Money laundering: Nigeria gets 12-month deadline

MONDAY - FRIDAY LAGOS – ABUJA Departure Arrival 1. Aero 06.50 08.10 2. Associated 07.00 09.30 3. Air Nigeria 07.00 08.20 4. IRS 07.00 08.20 5. Dana 07.02 08.22 6. Arik 07.15 08.15 7. Chanchangi 07.15 8. Air Nigeria 08.15 09.35 9. Dana 08.10 09.20 10. Aero 08.45 10.05 11. Arik 09.15 10.15 12. Chanchangi 10.00 11.00 13. IRS 11.15 12.35 14. Dana 12.06 12.26 15. Aero 12.20 13.30 16. Air Nigeria 13.25 14.45 17. Chanchangi 13.30 14.30 18. Arik 13.45 14.45 19. IRS 14.00 15.20 20. Aero 14.10 15.30 21. Air Nigeria 14.50 16.10 22. Dana 15.30 16.50 23. Chanchangi 15.30 16.30 24. Arik 15.50 16.50 25. Aero 16.00 17.20 26. IRS 16.30 17.50 27. Arik 16.50 17.50 28. Dana 17.10 18.30 29. Chanchangi 17.30 18.30 30. Air Nigeria 17.35 18.55 31. Air Nigeria (T/TH) 18.30 19.50 32. Arik 18.45 19.45 33. Aero 19.20 20.40 1.

2.

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LAGOS – BENIN Arik 07.30 Associated 08.30 Aero 10.50 Arik 11.45 Associated 13.00 Aero 14.25 Arik 15.30 Associated 16.00

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1. Arik 2. Aero 1.

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LAGOS – CALABAR 07.30 11.20 12.50 16.00 LAGOS – JOS 10.55 11.15

LAGOS – KADUNA Aero 08.00 Chanchangi 10.00 Arik 10.00 Arik 15.10

08.30 09.10 11.50 12.45 13.40 15.20 16.30 16.40 08.50 12.40 14.10 17.20 12.15 12.45 09.10 11.00 11.10 16.20

LAGOS – PORT HARCOURT (CIVIL) 1. Aero 07.15 08.35 2. Arik 07.15 08.35 3. Arik 09.00 10.20 4. Dana 09.27 10.40 5. Aero 10.50 12.30 6. Arik 11.40 13.00 7. Air Nigeria 12.00 13.10 8. IRS 13.30 15.00 9. Arik 14.00 15.20 10. Dana 15.03 16.20 11. Air Nigeria 16.00 17.10 12. Arik 16.10 17.30 13. Aero 16.15 17.30 14. Arik 17.10 18.30 1.

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LAGOS – OWERRI Aero 07.30 Arik 07.30 Air Nigeria 13.40 Arik 14.00 Arik 16.30

08.40 08.40 14.55 15.10 17.40

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LAGOS – WARRI 08.15 11.50 11.55 14.55

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LAGOS – KANO Air Nigeria 07.10 IRS 08.00 Dana 08.10 Arik 12.20 IRS 14.00 IRS 18.15

08.50 09.45 09.40 14.00 15.45 19.55

LAGOS – OWERRI 07.20 14.00 16.30

08.30 15.10 17.40

LAGOS – UYO 10.35

11.35

1. Arik 2. Arik 3. Arik 1. Dana

LAGOS – MAIDUGURI 1. IRS 11.15 13.15 2. Arik 15.50 18.00 LAGOS – ILORIN 1. Overland 07.15

08.00

LAGOS – ABUJA SAT/SUN Arik 7.15; 10.20; 2.20; 5.20pm – 7.30; 9.15; 10.20; 2.20; 4.50; 6.45 Aero 07.30; 09.35; 13.10; 14.50; 20.20 – 07.30; 09.35; 13.10; 14.50; 20.20 Air Nigeria 08.15; 14.30; 17.15; 18.30 – 08.15; 13.30; 14.30; 17.15; 18.30

By Akinola Ajibade

N

•Olaoye (right), presenting an award to Human Resources Director, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Wale Adediran. With them is Employee Engagement Manager, Pal Osunwoke, at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Guinness, FirstBank, 18 others emerge great places to work

T

WENTY companies have emerged as great places to work in the country.

In a survey of about 250 firms, conducted by Great Place To Work, (GPTW), Nigeria, Guinness Nigeria Plc and FirstBank of Nigeria Plc, came out in the first and second positions, with Guaranty Assurance following up.

Other firms that made the list, are Accenture, Fidelity Bank Plc, Lagos Business School, Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC), Total Nigeria Plc, Access Bank Plc and Glaxosmith Beecham Plc. Ten institutions were adjudged best for creating conducive environments that stimulate workers’ efficiency.These include Accion Microfinance Bank Limited, Adic Insurance, Red Star Express Oando Plc, Skye Bank Plc, Microsoft and Skye Bank Plc. Speaking during the first-ever 20112012 Best Workplaces Awards in Lagos, the Managing Director, Great Place To Work in Nigeria, Kunle Malomo, said Trust Index and Culture Audit were the two parameters

By Akinola Ajibade

used in selecting the best two companies. The firm, an affiliate of Great Place to Work, San Fransisco, in the US, specialises in analysing, understanding, selecting and publishing Best Workplace lists in the country.

Malomo said over 225 companies were nominated for the awards, adding that a lot of input were derived from employees of the affected organisations.

He said the 20 firms that emerged winners have entered a global database where their performance can be benchmarked against other companies in 46 countries globally, adding that the selected companies have created a trust-based relationship with their employees to achieve success.

Malomo said change can best be achieved by encouraging organisations to aspire to become their best rather than demanding that they fix what is wrong. “That’s why our approach is positive. By focusing on the examples set by great workplaces, we spread the good news that any company anywhere can follow

in their footsteps.”

He said from studying Nigeria’s best workplaces, “we have learned that trust is the key differentiator.

Trust defined as a combination of Credibility, Fairness and Respect.

This applies to all organisations regardless of regional culture, industry, size or age. By raising the level of trust in the workplace, companies everywhere can improve their business results since cooperation and innovation depend on trust,” the GPTW boss, stated.

Also, the Chairman, Ghandi Olaoye, said the participating companies in Nigeria are now part of a global community of over 5,500 companies that take part in the Best Companies to Work Surveys.

Olaoye said employees of the participating companies in Nigeria are now part of a global employee pool of 2.5 million people who take part in the Trust Index Survey, the largest employee survey in the world.

He said companies would increase their profitability when workers are allowed to function in a conducive environment.

BRICS seeks more powers from IMF

T

HE BRICS nations have demanded more voting powers from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as written in the G20 communiqué to recognise their growing clout on the international financial scene.

BRIC is an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India and China, deemed to be at a similar stage of newly advanced economic development.

They are frustrated over delays particularly in the United States in implementing an agreement to reduce Europe’s sway at the fund and lift China into the number three voting slot.

“What we want and demand in every meeting is that this commitment be reaffirmed,” Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega, said after a meeting of officials from

From Ayodele Aminu, Group Business Editor in Washington DC

the BRICS nations.

Mantega drove the point even more forcefully in a speech prepared for delivery last Saturday to the IMF’s steering committee at the ongoing IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington DC, saying it was no longer enough to simply repeat that voting reforms are crucial for the effectiveness of the IMF. “Progress on this front has been limited and slow,” he said in the text.

Meanwhile, the Group of 20 nations are poised to commit at least $400 billion to bulk up the IMF’s war chest to fight any widening of Europe’s debt crisis.

The Fund has been aiming to raise

at least $400 billion, which would double its lending capacity, to ensure it could come to the aid of countries facing economic and financial fallout.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde said the fund had won pledges of at least $357 billion, but a final figure appeared likely to go much higher.

“We have been aiming at around $400 billion or beyond, and I am confident we will reach this objective,” EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn told Reuters.

A G20 official, familiar with a draft of the communiqué the group of advanced and emerging countries was preparing for release on Friday, said there would be “firm commitments to increase resources available over $400 billion.”

Abia okays private investors for firms

T

HE Abia State Government has given its nod to the management of Golden Guninea Breweries Plc and Modern Ceramic Industries, Umuahia to seek financiers to rehabilitate the ailing firms, the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry Dr Sampson Orji, has said.

By Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie Asst. Editor

He told The Nation that the government is against direct involvement in the affairs of the firms, since they only have its small holdings.

He said this is to ensure that the firms do not become moribund and

face de-listment from the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE).

On the Modern Ceramic Industries, he claimed that the company the concessionaire to could not revive it.

He regretted that nine years after, the investor has failed to turn around the fortunes of the company.

IGERIA has a year to tackle worst its money laundering cases, or face sanctions, the Director-General, Inter-Governmental Action against Money Laundering (GIABA), Dr Abdullahi Shehu, has warned.

Speaking to The Nation, Shehu said Nigeria is still engaged in 21 predicate offences that assist the growth of money laundering, adding that this has put the country in a very precarious situation.

He listed the offences to include human trafficking, drugs trafficking, currency trafficking, proceeds from advance fee fraud, oil bunkering, bribery, embezzlement of public funds, investment of ill-gotten wealth on real estates, cybercrimes, kidnapping, smuggling, importation of contrabands and wire transfers to offshore branches.

He said: “After our mutual evaluation programmes recently, we discovered that Nigeria is yet tackle the 21 predicate offences outlined in the Financial Action Task Force (FAST) plans. Failure to tackle one or two of the predicate offences means that the country is battling with serious cases of money laundering.

“One of the offences must not be left out, if a country wants to free itself from money laundering.It is easier to get into the list of countries with worst cases of money laundering, if one is not doing the right thing.

However, it is difficult to get out of it. For this reason, Nigeria would need at a least a year of rigorous policy formulation and implementation before it can come out of the danger zone.”

He said the country was blacklisted a few years ago, noting that it has put in place some checks. He said the measures yielded little results, as the country still battles money laundering.

“Though Nigeria has moved from her blacklisted position, the country is yet to get there. Its still facing challenges in the areas of addressing predicate offences that lead to money laundering. Based on this, the country is still in a threatening spot. Nigeria needs a minimum of 12 months to tackle these issues, before its name can be removed from the lists of countries with worst money laundering abuses,” he added.

Don canvasses adequate infrastructure

By Daniel Essiet

A

BSENCE of proper infrastructure is posing huge challenge to exporters using the airports, an expert has said.

A consultant to African Development Bank (AfDB),Prof Biyi Daramola, said if the government is giving a serious thought on reviving the export sector, the country needs to provide functional infrastructure at the various transport modes to propel economic growth.

He told The Nation that exporters need cold storage area at the airports to move perishables such flowers, fruits, vegetables, fish caught from the farms.

He said top quality products are required by international importers for agricultural export commodities. This relates not only to production and harvesting techniques, but also to processing, packaging, (pre-) cooling and (airport) handling procedures.

According to him, the quality of exported fruits and vegetables does not only depend on proper crop husbandry, but also on the harvesting time and post-harvest handling.

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

27

ISSUES For years, Nigerians have been getting promises of regular power supply, but nothing has come out of such promises. What they often get are system collapses, the most recent being that of last month, which led to a nationwide blackout. Three Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) chiefs were sacked over it. The sack irked workers, who are blaming the sector's problem on the government.

EMEKA UGWUANYI reports.

• Power transmission facility

Nationwide blackout: Sabotage or operational hiccups?

F

OR about two months, there has been a continuous drop in power generation. By the end of last month, the grid had lost over 1,200 megawatts (MW) of electricity, resulting in public outcry amid a nationwide blackout. When the problem appeared insurmountable, the government found a scape goat in three top officers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN)-Akinwumi Bada, Chief Executive Officer, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Uzoma Achinanya, Market Operator and Executive Director, Human Resources (PHCN) and Olusoga Muyiwa. The trio were fired, an action which drew the workers ‘ ire. The government believes that some people are sabotaging its efforts to ensure regular power supply. But the workers do not buy the sabotage theory. They believe the officials were “unjustly punished” for the government’s inadequacies.

The sack is still creating ripples within the PHCN, with the workers protesting at its headquarters in Abuja.

Why they were sacked The Minister of Power, Prof Barth Nnaji, told the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the 18 successor-companies from the unbundled PHCN that government will no longer tolerate delays in the implementation of the power sector reform. He promised continuous reorganisation of the power industry until government achieves efficiency and effectiveness.

He said: "It is just a few people that are internally trying to tinker with the system.

But we are in good shape. We are moving forward with the reform." After the sack, he warned unaffected chief executives to, henceforth expect decisive response from government if they fail to live up to the service agreements they signed on power delivery.

A top official of the Ministry of Power, who spoke to our correspondent in confidence, confirmed government's fear of sabotage as the cause of the woes in the power sector.

On the fate that befell the trio, he said

Muyiwa was sacked because he failed to act on petitions by the public on corruption and extortion in PHCN. Muyiwa, as the Head of Human Resources, was expected to take disciplinary action, but according to the source, he didn’t. Besides, there were allegations that some workers remained in service beyond their retirement, by as long as 18 months.

The official cited the General Manager, Project Management Unit at the PHCN Headquarters. These were people who should have retired, he said on ground of age, or years of service. But after attaining the 60 year retirement age being in service for 35 years, they still worked for 18 months on full time basis and not as contract workers or consultants.

The official defended Bada as being technically sound and at home with his job. But he faulted him for being a weak leader, saying his staff took advantage of his weakness to undermine the system. The official cited the fire that occurred at the Benin transmission station on March 23 and 26, suspected to be

the major cause of system collapses, that led to the nationwide backout. The official noted that TCN workers were not affected by PHCN’s privatisation; wondering why they spearheaded the protest against the power sector reform when the job is not at risk.

Achinaya was accused of lack of synchronisation in the payment of staff salaries. The official said there was disparity in the payment schedules of the workers, alleging that while members of staff of transmission and generation companies were paid promptly, the salaries of their distribution companies counterparts were delayed. Besides, the 11 distribution companies are still being paid at different periods. Asked why transmission, generation and distribution companies were paid differently, Achinaya reportedly said it was meant to ginger distribution companies to work harder and generate more revenue for the government.

The argument, it was learnt, didn't click • Continued on page 28

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

28

ISSUES tion, which I don't want to stress, also has direct relationship with increase in demand for power. The infrastructure have been over-stretched and that is the reason if any little thing happens in the system, there is a breakdown. You must have seen wire cuts in different parts of the country that killed human beings and destroyed properties.

This happens because the wire is overloaded hence there is need for massive infrastructural network improvement and we even recommended how it should be done. We even included that if the government has no money to do it, private sector people can come in and do it."

• Continued from page 287

with government as the staff of generation companies that were out of operation were paid the same as those in operation. The development was seen as marginalisation of the distribution companies and breeding industrial disharmony. The action was seen by the government as punishment for staff of distribution companies.

Workers’ position The General Secretary, Senior Staff Association of Electricity And Allied Companies (SSAEAC), Comrade Abiodun Ogunsegha, condemned the sack. He said: "Our position is that for government to tend to believe that the sacking of top management of PHCN, as it is now will be an immediate solution to the problem in power, is absolutely wrong. It is absolutely wrong to rest the fact that this problem would be solved only when you remove unceremoniously the entire leadership of PHCN as constituted now. That is our worry. We want to also mention that the problem that has bedevilled the corporation over the years is caused largely by government itself.

"There has been a criminal neglect of the sector for a very long time. It is only the Jonathan and Obasanjo administrations that helped to improve the sector. But while that is going on, we must be very careful not to heap the blame on staff. It is not the staff that buy the machines, it is not the staff that initiate the repair of machinery and equipment. It is not the staff that say machines that were manufactured in 1964 should still be kept running now. And because the machines now broke down, you say the staff should be held responsible for a machine that has completely outlived its usefulness. It is the same staff that have kept these old machines working while the neglect was going on. So, this is not the time when we are trying to reform the sector, this is not the time for us to now begin to pick career civil servants who have been on the job for more than 30 years and have risen to the peak of their career for minor issues, like breakdown of equipment.

"The system collapse in question couldn't have been caused just by the position of the CEO of transmission. We are aware that the Minister said he has put up a committee to investigate the system collapse. System collapse has been a common feature with PHCN for a long time. If we want to erase system collapse, we will not get the best result by removing those who are capable of doing the job. We want to suspect that the minister has not told us all the reasons for sacking them.

“The CEO TCN for instance, is not responsible for the inadequacies of gas supply to generation stations, breakdown of machines that are 40 years old and the inadequacies that we witnessed in transmission, which he was helping to correct, and the same applies to the Executive Director, Human Resources. He couldn't have been responsible for gas supply and was not responsible for inadequacies of the hydro-stations to operate efficiently because of problem of flooding. We want to believe that the reason given by the minister is incorrect.

What we think happened is that he wants to get back at the staff by all means by heaping the blame and inadequacies of the system on the staff.”Ogunsegha added: "We have been talking about agreements with multinational oil companies and the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) to supply gas to the thermal stations that form about 70 per cent of the country's source of power supply. It has taken the minister more than three years to perfect that arrangement. All we read in newspapers is certain level of generation will be achieved within a given period of time when the primary issues involved in getting these things done are not done.

The NGC has not been able to supply gas; the minister, I know, has been there for more than one year. He was the special adviser to the president on power. We wonder why these agreements were not perfected and gas made available to thermal stations. He only turned around and heaped these inadequacies and blames on top management staff who were trying their best to keep the system running.”

Allegations of sabotage The President-General, Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC), Comrade Bede Opara, said: "I do not believe that there is any sabotage. I'm a professional engineer and work in trans-

Will there still be a strike?

•Barth Nnaji

•Comrade joe Ajaero Secretary-General, National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE)

Blackout: Sabotage or operational hiccups? mission. If there is any problem, failure or breakdown, it can be investigated because it is an engineering thing, it is not theory.

People were charged to investigate the reason for the failure and the investigation didn't reveal that anybody sabotaged anything. At the time of the system failures, gas to thermal stations was very low. The figures are there. The Delta power station is thermal, you can investigate and know how many units that were running that time and if all the units were running, what was the reason. Is it gas or something else?

“We must also know that a generation station is different from a transmission system. Also the problem that happened at Kainji can be investigated. Around that period, Kainji was shut down because of massive leakage of water into the dam. Whoever is sabotaging, was the person sabotaging at Kaniji and at the same time at the gas end? I also learnt we are not in service at Sapele power station.

Opara said the problem is that the quantum of energy in the grid is low. This, he said, has made the grid or power system network fragile. “This means that the quantum of power in the grid was so small compared to the consumption, therefore any tripping in the circuit, for example, there was a tripping between Onitsha and Benin, at that time when the network was so fragile, will collapse the system and there was such tripping and such tripping is not man-made. If that tripping happened when the system is a bit robust, may be when the generation is up to 4,000MW, it wouldn't have collapsed the system. Therefore, to single out the man in transmission and blame him for low generation that caused the system collapse is not right. We know they are management team but they are not politicians, they are career civil servants who grew in the system. I mean the sacked managers. We don't feel this action of sacking these people is justified unless there is something we don't know. But as far as this issue is concerned, we don't think there is sabotage.”

Causes of system failure But what caused the system failure that led to the nationwide blackout. Opara said: “You could have heard that equipment exploded at Benin transmission. We also went into investigation because we were interested because whatever concerns Nigerians also concerns us. That equipment that exploded is called a current transformer and it was manufactured in 1964. What is the life span of a current transformer? If this

kind of equipment lives up to 30 years, it has tried, but the equipment in question had lived beyond that. But you may ask the question, since it is old, why not change it?

"We have over 60 per cent of PHCN equipment as old as that or older than that. At Kainji most of the machines are due for turnaround maintenance. Some of the machines have not undergone turnaround maintenance since they were installed over 30 years ago. Is that the fault of workers? Is it not the government that gives out contracts for turnaround maintenance? What I want to say is that the problem in the power sector didn't start with this administration because there has been neglect of the sector for a long time.”

Before the Obasanjo administration came in 1999, the sector, he said, had suffered neglect for about 20 years. “It was the Obasanjo administration that started making initiatives to improve power, which the present administration continued with. We appreciate that but the neglect of the sector for such a long time is not what will be solved overnight. For these career men to be punished for government inadequacies, is not the best. We don't feel good about it.

They are not politicians, they are career civil servants but they were occupying more or less political positions. They have been in the organisation all these years and there is no reason whatsoever to sabotage the organisation they strived to build and sustain. The organisation is like our farm, we cannot destroy it. If we destroy it, where do we go to? That is why we suggest liberalisation of the power sector.

On the workers' efforts toward improving supply, Opara said: "We have presented to government our submissions on what we feel should be done to make the power sector better. We have told the government that the infrastructure are over-stretched and that there is need for massive reinforcement of the infrastructure. We said the infrastructure you have 20 years before Obasanjo regime in 1999, which didn't get attention because there was total neglect of the sector, needed to be reinforced.

“Within this period, development of the network was stagnant; there was continuous increase in demand for power. The demand for power has never been stagnant even when development is stagnant. The increase in demand for power was overstretching the existing infrastructure. Therefore, the development of the power sector was not going along with the increase in demand for power. The increase in popula-

‘We have gone to the extent of telling the government that if it insists on privatisation, let us negotiate and know what belongs to workers and you pay them. We are on that negotiation now’

On whether the electricity workers will embark on strike because of their sacked colleagues in order to compel the government to recall them, Opara said " No, it may not be right to do that but we want to let government know the implication of what it has done. During the military regime, we saw management of organisations sacked on television and newspapers and that increases corruption in the system. If a man you have appointed knows by tomorrow you will throw him away, he can do anything. It will not bring stability to the system because he will not work with the right state of mind.

That is sending a bad signal into the sector."

The workers are not averse to reforms.

“For your information, we are not against reforms. We have our reservation for privatisation because privatisation will not solve the problem." He said there is need for reforms in the power sector. "We have gone to the extent of telling the government that if it insists on privatisation, let us negotiate and know what belongs to workers and you pay them. We are on that negotiation now. He said to insinuate that workers are sabotaging the system is wrong.

“We cannot sabotage the system irrespective of the fact that we have our reservations about privatisation because we believe it will not solve the problem of power in the system. We think so because we want the kind of thing in the telecom and media sectors to happen in the power sector and that is liberalisation.”

The way forward Opara noted that in the telecom sector, MTN had no business buying NITEL before it raised its masts to generate signals for people to make calls and so was Globacom and other telecom companies. “They installed their own infrastructure and there is competition among them. Even as we are talking, NITEL has not been privatised, so what is happening in the telecom sector has nothing to do with NITEL. If NITEL was not beheaded the way government beheaded it, the cost of making calls today would have been very low,” Opara said.

He said in Uganda the telecom sector is privatised, yet the national telecom company still exists alongside the private companies. "We want a situation whereby the private sector will come, participate in power production and compete side by side with PHCN infrastructure. Once it is so, there will be healthy competition. If PHCN is not doing well, it will die a natural death and the private sector will take over, but even at that, government still generates power in America as well as in other countries, while the private sector operators also do their own. " Even if the injection of the private sector operators is not for competition, let it be for the purposes of complementing what exists in the system, because what exists now is grossly insufficient. Even at 5000MW or 4000MW we are currently generating, it is grossly insufficient. Even if we generate 20,000MW now, there will be market for it, why not produce it since there is market for it. Besides, we have a regulator, let the regulator be effective in doing its work, that is what we feel will make the power sector better," he said.

Need for turnaround maintenance Opara said infrastructure decay resulting from archaic equipment, inadequate gas supply and low water level at the hydro plants, among other problems, constitute the power sector woes. He said inadequate gas supply, infrastructural decay or over-stretching of the existing infrastructure led to the decay. Some of the machines are irretrievably bad. Some of the machines that are supposed to have gone for turnaround maintenance to bring them back to life, are so stretched that they have become irreparably bad.

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

29

PERSONAL FINANCE Investor’s Worth

Leading by example

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under the chairmanship of his majesty. He also chairs the boards of Diamond Bank and Universal Insurance Company Plc. This has not only seen Igwe Achebe exerting influences on socio-political development as the chairman of Anambra State Traditional Rulers Council, but his personal investment portfolio and active participation in corporate decision-making have placed him in vantage position to lead the muchmore important cause of economic empowerment and sustainable living.

With just about five per cent of the Nigerian population participating in the stock market and equally worrisome, less than one-fifth would even think about equity investment even where they have the wherewithal, the traditional institutions could serve as major mobilisation and enlightenment fronts for investment education and inclusive economy. There is no gainsaying that Nigerians still mostly revere their traditional rulers as role models, and this can be found positive expression in following their investment habits.

Educated at the Stanford University, Igwe Achebe is one of the archetypes of what being a royal entails. Well-educated, Achebe attended the Stanford

HE Obi of Onitsha, His Royal Majesty Nnaemeka Alfred Ugochukwu Achebe is a strong advocate of economic empowerment. Igwe Achebe is known to have shareholdings in many companies. At the last count, his seven-digit shareholding ranks him as one of the 591 shareholders who control about 87 per cent equity stake in Diamond Bank Plc. Diamond Bank has some 130,000 shareholders. He also holds appreciable shareholding in Unilever Nigeria where his five-digit shareholding ranks him within the 5,256 shareholders who control about 86.5 per cent equity stake in the global conglomerate. Unilever Nigeria has more than 100,000 shareholders out of which Unilever Overseas Holdings holds the majority stake of 50.04 per cent. He is also known to have equity interests in the insurance industry and other segments of the economy.

Besides committing his money to equity investments, Igwe Achebe has also increasingly become an influential force in shaping the corporate direction of Nigeria. His recent appointment as chairman of Unilever Nigeria, Nigeria’s second most capitalised conglomerate, brings to three the number of quoted companies

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•Igwe Achebe

and Columbia Universities in the United States of America for his first and advanced degrees respectively. He also attended the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Study (NIPSS), Kuru. He had a threedecade career with the Royal Dutch Shell companies in Nigeria and overseas. He was once the executive director at Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and later served as senior corporate adviser to the London-based Shell International Company Limited.

With such portfolio diversification from finance to manufacturing, Nigerian-owned to foreign-controlled, Igwe Achebe has no doubt hedged against risks on many fronts; including the risk of want that turns the majesty into plaything of politicians and unscrupulous money bags.

Ask a Broker

What is private placement?

A

PRIVATE placement refers to securities offer to select private investors through the networks of the issuer and its professional advisers. Usually the unit of subscription for private placement is higher than public offer while private placement must not be marketed in any way that suggests invitation to subscribe by the general public. As such, private placement’s prospectuses are only made available through

select chain of investment bankers. Private placement is used variously to raise seed capital for the formation of a company, increase the capital base and exit or introduce new investors into the business. A company undertaking private placement may not apply to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) for screening of its documents if it does not intend to list its shares in the immediate period. It is important to note this distinction

since several investors had been deluded into private placements in recent period with the expectations that the shares would be listed. The issuer is expected to write boldly on the prospectus of a private placement the main conditions for the issuance of the securities while further disclosures, which constitute the legally binding terms of placement, are usually made available under statutory and general information, memorandum and article of association (MEMART) and subscription and allotment rules.

Ways and Means

Making safe deposit and higher return

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HE two main objectives of investment management are safety and adequate return. Every investor is primarily concerned with the safety of his principal capital and then appreciation of the capital in forms of returns.

However, achieving safety of principal investment and good return may be difficult, especially in a sluggish market. It even becomes more difficult in a recessive or declining market like has been witnessed in Nigeria in recent years. With high political risks, social insecurity, uncertain macroeconomic direction and poor infrastructures, an economy such as Nigeria’s particularly pose significant challenge in terms of ensuring safety of investment alongside a reasonably high above average return.

Notwithstanding these challenges, discerning investors and value-minded institutions and individuals can explore opportunities offer by high-yielding guaranteed investments, which combine the two main advantages of fixed-

income securities- safety of principal and guaranteed return, with above average return. One of the most invaluable value-adding instruments in a period of recession and economic uncertainties like now is the Certificate of Deposit (CD).

Certificate of Deposit (CD) is a saving and investment product that evidenced a deposit by an investor for a fixed period based on agreed interest. Thus CDs combine the attributes of savings accounts and investment in that they are guaranteed and virtually risk-free such as savings accounts while at the same time offering interest or coupon just like bonds, treasury bills and other fixed-income investment products. The tenor, or period, of a CD can range from short to medium to long term. As such there can be a CD for three months, nine months, a year, two years and so on. The defining attributes are that the tenor, the accruable interest and the security of the principal must be clearly spelt out. Once

Process of changing shareholder’s details of a deceased

these terms of issuance are accepted by the issuer and the customer and the CD is executed, it becomes an enforceable contractual obligation.

Though CDs generally have similar core attributes, each financial institution may offer additional benefits to enhance the attractiveness of the instrument. These benefits may include a variable interest rate such as index-linked or inflation-linked rates rather than the generally fixed interest rate as well as cross-trading of the CD for products and services within the issuing financial institution and related companies. Besides, CD can come in form of a negotiable or non-negotiable instrument as well as discounted or undiscounted certificate. Negotiable CDs (NCDs) are tradable like bonds, equities, etc on the secondary market. Discounted CD (DCD) is a form of CD that is issued at a price lower than the par value, the face value. A CD holder may also choose to rollover the CD upon maturity or opt for redemption.

HE major task in changing the shareholder’s details of a deceased that left a will is the proof that the will is authentic by a competent court of law. This is technically referred to as probate. Probate is used both for the testing process as well as the official copy of a will with the certification that it has been proved. Section 148 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (Cama) states that: the production to a company of any document which is by law sufficient of probate of the will, or letters of administration of the estate, or confirmation as executors, of a deceased person having been granted to some person, shall be accepted by the company as sufficient evidence of the grant, notwithstanding anything in its articles to the contrary.

With the presence of the probate, the entire transfer process becomes a lot easier. Alongside the Photostat of the probate, the claimant will additionally provide the following documents to the registrar: photostat of death certificate, banker confirmation of specimen signature(s) of the claimant(s), which usually includes passport photos, CSCS statement of account and or all original share certificates, photostat of newspaper obituary when available, and a covering letter stating the request and confirming all documents attached and the current address of the claimant(s).

The main function of the registrar in this case, like in any other process, is to subject all documents to exacting test of veracity. The registrar may request for the originals of all documents for sighting and it is also legally advisable to formally confirm the probate from the court of origination. A registrar may charge cost for the confirmation of the probate.

This varies from institution to institution as well as locations.

The registrar may also request the physical presence of the claimant(s).

In-house, the confirmation process of the registrar starts from checking that the probate certificate bears necessary details including the name and particulars of the court of origination, the full name of the deceased, the date of death, names of the claimant(s), the date on the probate certificate, list of the shares related to the probate and more importantly, the seal of the court and the signature of the registrar. Where the registrar has proved correctness of all details and authenticity of all documents, the shares are there and then transferred to claimant(s), who thereof can exercise all authorities on them On the other hand, changing the shareholder’s details of a deceased that died intestate re-

Company Nestle Nigeria Access Bank Poly Products

Paints & Coatings Nigerian Brew

By Taofik Salako

quires a much more windy process, although in many steps similar to the process for a deceased with a will. The overall objective of share registration and registrarship is the protection of ownership and to ensure that the rights and mandates (or desires) of the shareholder are protected including right to transfer whatsoever volume to identified beneficiary. Without a written will, it becomes quite complicated to realise this objective. In dealing with death intestate, there are broadly three issues to resolve: the family, legal and registrar. The family issue is by far the most onerous and conflicting issue and goes a long way to determine the easiness of the two other issues, which are quite distinctive and have industry-wide best practices.

There are many reasons that make the resolution of the family difficult. The type of ‘nuclear’ family; monogamy or polygamy, relationship with extended family, the role and status of the deceased, religion, social influences among others usually create a labyrinth that requires utmost wisdom, tolerance and God’s guidance to successfully pass through. It is always very important that the family speaks with one voice.

The objective of the two other parties, the law court and registrar, is to find a common ground within the family and where such exists before commencing the share transfer process; it hastens and makes the process less cumbersome. In this regard, there is no single approach to resolve the family issue. However, a common advice is that the family members meet, deliberate on the assets and liabilities of the deceased, the responsibilities left behind and in the spirit of oneness and fairness arrive at an equitable way for the administration or sharing of the net assets. With dialogue, fairness, tolerance and Godliness, the family members should be able to achieve a middle-point that all parties will concede to without the agony of a rancorous legal battle, the only option left if the family fails to decide on its own.

Assuming the family decided on its own, the best practice is to detail the resolutions of the meeting in a communiqué-like format and request all parties to sign the proofread and final copy. To confirm the signatures, a banker’s confirmation of each signature should be attached to the resolution. With this, the family can approach the court for letters of administration.

Where the family fails to arrive at a common ground, then the court will decide for parties. The court judgement thereon will form the basis for letters of administration.

Letters of administration is an

AGM Date AGM Venue 26-04-12 Muson Centre, Lagos 27-04-12 To be Advised 30-04-12 Ilupeju Recreational Hall, Lagos 15-05-12 To be Advised 16-05-12 Muson Centre, Lagos

official court document appointing administrator(s) for the personal estate of a deceased that died without a will. The letters of administration can also form the basis for distribution of the estate by specifying the number of assets to be registered in the name of each beneficiary. Although there are six different types of letters of administration, the common form of letters of administration in Nigeria is the general grant of administration, which is a more inclusive type.

With the letters of administration, the transfer process becomes much easier. Section 148 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (Cama) states that: the production to a company of any document which is by law sufficient of probate of the will, or letters of administration of the estate, or confirmation as executors, of a deceased person having been granted to some person, shall be accepted by the company as sufficient evidence of the grant, notwithstanding anything in its articles to the contrary.

The two major differences between the requirements for change of shareholder’s details of a deceased with a will and that without a will are that in the case of the latter, letters of administration replaces probate and the submission of the original copy of the newspaper advertisement placed by the court in respect of the application for letters of administration to the registrar. The importance of the newspaper advertisement is to ensure that adequate publicity and opportunity was given to all parties to make their claim(s), if any.

Alongside the Photostat of the letters of administration and original copy of newspaper advertisement, other documents to be forwarded to the registrar include: Photostat of dearth certificate, banker confirmation of specimen signature(s), which usually includes passport photos, CSCS statement of account and or all original share certificates, Photostat of newspaper obituary when available, and a covering letter stating the request and confirming all documents attached and the current address of the administrator(s).

The main function of the registrar in this case, like in the case of a probate, is to subject all documents to exacting test of veracity. The registrar may request for the originals of all documents for sighting and it is also legally advisable to formally confirm the letters of administration from the court of origination. A registrar may charge cost for the confirmation of the letters of administration.

This varies from institution to institution as well as locations.

The registrar may also request the physical presence of the administrator(s).

Time

Div (kobo) Closure

11.00am -

1,105 30

16-04-12 13-04-12

11.00am -

1 for 24 8

16-04-12 29-03-12

11am

300

21-03-12

Feedback/Comments: Email: taofad2000@yahoo.co.uk; SMS only: 080-2833-0861

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

30

MONEY LINK NEXIM calls for diversification of economy

Data quality critical in implementing Basel II Accords

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HE implementation of Basel II Accords will require banks and other financial institutions, to painstakingly address the issue of data quality, Head, Risk Management Practice, H. Pierson Associates, Dhananjoy Misra, has said.

He said availability of data, data history and quality have to be checked and balanced at every stage of implementing the accord.

Speaking during a breakfast session on Basel II, on the theme: “Basel II Implementation - Strategic benefits, Challenges and Solutions,” in Lagos, he said the programme continues to provide some of the best

Stories by Collins Nweze Snr. Finance Correspondent

initiatives for effective risk management for forward-looking financial institutions. He said, challenges of implementation continue to pose barriers to its full usage by concerned institutions.

Basel Accord, analysts said, is a set of agreements set by the Basel Committee on Bank Supervision (BCBS), which provides recommendations on banking regulations with regards to capital risk, market risk and operational risk. The Basel II which is to be fully implemented by 2015, fo-

cuses on three main areas, including minimum capital requirements, supervisory review and market discipline, which are known as the three pillars.

He said although banks cannot be stopped from taking risks associated with their businesses, they must put in place structures and processes that will hedge against loss, stating that banks are in the business of taking risks. He said without risk, taking the possibility of making money becomes illusive.

He said the process where banks manage their market risk, reputational risks, environmental

risks, and all other risks that face financial institution, in a disparate form may not produce the best result.

He advised regulators are all regulatory processes to ensure that banks comply with risk management procedures.

Also, risk officers are advocating for processes that will allow banks jointly implement the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) and Basel II Accords. Analysts insist that how much a bank achieves in terms of data integrity and efficient financial reporting is hinged on its application of IFRS models and Basel Accords.

Union Bank supports groundnut production

UBA Benin funds $50m power, telecom projects

U

NITED Bank for Africa Benin Limited, a subsidiary of the United Bank for Africa Plc, has facilitated the grant of $50 million syndicated loan to fund power and telecoms projects.

The bank acted as lead arranger to the $18 million syndicated mid-term loan for the National Electricity Company of Benin Republic . It also co-arranged a $32 million syndicated mid-term loan to MTN Benin.

In a statement, the bank said the $18 million facility to the National Electricity Company has contributed to improve power distribution with positive impacts on the economy. “This transaction makes UBA Benin to be referred to as the major energy financing Bank of the coun-

try.

Also, the facility to MTN was to facilitate the acquisition of the Third Generation (3G) Telecommunication License from the Government,” it said.

Managing Director of UBA, Benin, Mrs Gwen Abiola Oloke, said the transactions underscored UBA’s commitment to supporting the growth and development of the economy by financing large ticket transactions for corporate customers, thus stimulating economic activities.

“UBA Benin has played key roles in project finance, innovative banking services and jobs creation. It is the same commitment that we have in all counties in Africa where we have presence,” she added.

poor people of the semi-arid tropics.

According to him, the impacts made by ICRISAT’s research work on the peasant farmers in India and East Africa and some parts of West Africa would work in Nigeria.

Ikeazor is particularly keen on transferring the watershed irrigation technique piloted in India and the recent groundnut revolution in Malawi, which had seen a thriving export of improved groundnut to the United Kingdom.

Recalling how Nigeria was once the world’s leading groundnut exporters in the 1960s with the crop accounting for about 70 per cent of the country’s total export earnings, he said that by working with farmers to grow improved varieties of groundnuts with more resistant to disease, Nigerian farmers would significantly boost groundnut production and sales.

•GMD Union Bank, Mrs Funke Osibodu

HE Executive Director, Corporate, Investment Banking, and Treasury of Union Bank of Nigeria, Philip Ikeazor has called for the collaboration of Nigerian farmers and International Crop Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in groundnuts for export.

Speaking in India at the Governing Board Meeting of ICRISAT , he said that last six years with ICRISAT made him realize that agriculture is critical in alleviating poverty and creating significant income streams for the

T

FGN BONDS

DATA BANK

Tenor

Amount N

Rate %

M/Date

3-Year 5-Year 5-Year

35m 35m 35m

11.039 12.23 13.19

19-05-2014 18-05-2016 19-05-2016

WHOLESALE DUTCH AUCTION SYSTEM Amount Amount Offered ($) Demanded ($) 150m 150m 138m 138m

MANAGED FUNDS Initial Current Quotation Price Market N8250.00 5495.33 N1000.00 N552.20

NIDF NESF

Price Loss 2754.67 447.80

7.9-10% 10-11%

PRIMARY MARKET AUCTION (T-BILLS) Tenor 91-Day 182-Day 1-Year

Amount 30m 46.7m 50m

Rate % 10.96 9.62 12.34

Date 28-04-2011 “ 14-04-2011

GAINERS AS AT 20-4-12 SYMBOL

O/PRICE

NB TOTAL ASHAKACEM ZENITHBANK UNILEVER FCMB NCR UBA NASCON PAINTCOM

104.00 132.71 8.01 13.02 28.50 5.25 14.34 2.68 4.77 0.84

C/PRICE

109.20 139.34 8.41 13.67 29.92 5.51 15.05 2.81 5.00 0.88

113m

NGN USD NGN GBP NGN EUR NIGERIA INTER BANK (S/N) (S/N) Bureau de Change (S/N) Parallel Market

Current Before

C/PRICE 3.08 6.18 0.58 3.76 1.99 4.18 0.50 0.79 1.20 5.00

CHANGE 0.16 0.32 0.03 0.19 0.10 0.21 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.16

29-2-12 27-2-12

113m

155.7

22-2-12

C u r r e n t CUV Start After %

147.6000 239.4810 212.4997

149.7100 244.0123 207.9023

150.7100 245.6422 209.2910

-2.11 -2.57 -1.51

149.7450

154.0000

154.3000

-3.04

152.0000

153.0000

155.5000

-2.30

153.0000

154.0000

156.0000

-1.96

DISCOUNT WINDOW Feb. ’11

July ’11

March 2012

MPR

6.50%

6.50%

12%

Standing Lending Rate ,, Deposit Rate ,, Liquidity Ratio Cash Return Rate Inflation Rate

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 1.00% 12.10%

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 2.00% 12.10%

9.50% 5.50% 30.00% 2.00% 12.6%

NIBOR Tenor 7 Days 30 Days 60 Days 150 Days

NSE CAP Index

27-10-11 N6.5236tr 20,607.37

Date

Rate (Previous) 4 Mar, 2012 9.0417 9.6667 11.2917 12.1250

Rate (Currency) 6, Mar, 2012 10.17% 11.46% 11.96% 12.54%

28-10-11 N6.617tr 20,903.16

% Change -1.44% -1.44%

MEMORANDUM QUOTATIONS Name

LOSERS AS AT 20-4-12

SYMBOL O/PRICE VITAFOAM 3.24 BOCGAS 6.50 GOLDINSURE 0.61 ETERNAOIL 3.95 ACADEMY 2.09 AVONCROWN 4.39 WAPIC 0.52 CONTINSURE 0.82 STERLNBANK 1.24 CCNN 5.16

Exchange Rate (N) 155.8 155.8

CAPITAL MARKET INDEX Year Start Offer

CHANGE

5.20 6.63 0.40 0.65 1.42 0.26 0.71 0.13 0.23 0.04

113m

Amount Sold ($) 150m 138m

EXHANGE RATE 6-03-12 Currency

INTERBANK RATES OBB Rate Call Rate

C

HIEF Executive Officer of Nigerian Export – Import Bank (NEXIM Bank), Robert Orya, has said there is need to diversify the economy from oil. The bank chief executive, spoke on the upcoming Nigeria Development and Finance Forum (NDFF) 2012 conference.

Nexim Bank is the Lead Sponsor of the NDFF 2012 conference which would hold on May 24 and 25 in London. During the conference, Orya will be speaking on the topic: “The Transformation Agenda: Economic Diversification of Nigeria and the role of NEXIM Bank.”

Nexim Bank is designated by statute as Nigeria’s export credit agency, and is also the country’s sole trade policy bank. In these roles, the bank has focused on its mandate of providing financing, risk-bearing facilities, market information and valueadded advisory services to businesses towards deepening exportoriented investments in Nigeria’s non-oil sectors of manufacturing, agro-processing, solid mineral and services.

Explaining the thematic issues to be addressed by his presentation at NDFF 2012 conference, Orya said: “A major characteristic of the Nigerian economy is the dominance of the oil sector in its contribution to export earnings and government revenues.

However, over the past five years, while oil sector growth has declined, the non-oil sector has grown consistently at about 8.5 per cent. The non-oil sector has also contributed more to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with Agriculture alone accounting for about 42 per cent”.

Offer Price

Bid Price

ARM AGGRESSIVE 9.17 KAKAWA GUARANTEED 1.00 STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE 122.59 AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND 100.06 THE LOTUS CAPITAL HALAL 0.75 BGL SAPPHIRE FUND 1.08 BGL NUBIAN FUND 0.89 NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL DEB. 1,694.93 PARAMOUNT EQUITY FUND 8.13 CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST 1.39 CENTRE-POINT UNIT TRUST 1.87 STANBIC IBTC NIG EQUITY 7,259.48 THE DISCOVERY FUND 193.00 FIDELITY NIGFUND 1.67 • ARM AGGRESSIVE • KAKAWA GUARANTEED • STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE • AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND

9.08 1.00 122.48 99.58 0.72 1.08 0.88 1,689.75 7.74 1.33 1.80 7,071.36 191.08 1.62

Movement

OPEN BUY BACK Previous 04 July, 2011

Current 07, Aug, 2011

Bank

8.5000

8.5000

P/Court

8.0833

8.0833

Movement

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

31

MONEY MARKET REPORT

Eurobonds: Banks chase cheaper funds abroad F

IRSTBank of Nigeria, United Bank for Africa and Diamond Bank last week, indicated interest in issuing Eurobonds worth $1.2 billion.

The offers, which will be completed this year, will see both FirstBank and UBA issuing $500 million each, and Diamond issuing $200 million.

FirstBank has already appointed Goldman Sachs and Citi Bank to manage the sale of a $500 million Eurobond, its chief financial officer, Bayo Adelabu, said. The new bond would replace a $175 million Eurobond, which it retired last month. “We’ve appointed advisers for the bond - Goldman Sachs and Citibank- to launch the $500 billion Eurobond,” Adelabu said.

These moves, are part of strategic moves by the lenders to access cheaper funds at the international market, to enable them to fund infrastructure and other long-term projects.

Head, Market Risk, Greenwich Trust Limited, Babatunde Obaniyi, said banks are adopting a new strategy in deposit mobilisation because funds are cheaper at the international market. He said the cost of funds in the country is very high, and such funds cannot finance infrastructure or support real sector businesses.

“For banks to approach international community to access funds, means they are confident about their financials. The steps will not only enhance their earnings in the long run, but means bigger returns for shareholders as they embark on super projects with the funds,” he said.

Citibank Country Officer, Emeka Emuwa, said Nigerian banks had stabilised after a financial crisis that led to a $4 billion bailout of nine lenders in 2009 and several mergers in 2011. He said some of the banks were looking to tap international debt markets to issue bonds to support their businesses and continue to grow.

“Over the last year or two, we’ve seen a number of mergers. We have seen the banking sector stabilise, and post this stabilisation. I expect to see a number of banks to go out to raise capital,” Emuwa said. “We will be working with a number of banks raising capital in international markets primarily Eurobonds,” he said.

Also, the Federal Government plans to raise between N210 billion and N290 billion ($1.33 billion $1.84 billion) in sovereign bonds ranging between three and 10 years in the second quarter of the year, the Debt Management Office (DMO) said. It also said it would auction between N15 and N25 billion in a three-year paper this month, N30 to N40 billion worth in five-year and 10-year bonds each in the same month.

Next month, the debt office plans to issue between N30 and N40 billion worth in five-year and 10-year bonds, while in June, it would raise between N25 to N35 billion in fiveyear, seven-year and 10-year paper.

Interbank On Friday, the country’s interbank lending rates climbed marginally to an average of 14.50 per cent, compared with 14.33 per cent the previous week as the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) recalled a portion of its deposits with banks, draining liquidity from the system. The corporation sold about $800 million to some banks last week and has gradually transferred the naira proceeds to its account with the central bank, putting pressure on the liquidity level in the market.

“We expect that rate will ease a little this week because of the pos-

By Collins Nweze

Domestic credit to the private sector (% change)

sible release of last month’s budgetary allocations to government agencies, but that might be countered by large offering of debt instruments by Central Bank and Debt Management Office (DMO),” another dealer said.

On Wednesday, the naira rose to its highest level in five-and-half weeks against the dollar after the NNPC sold $400 million to some lenders, which boosted dollar liquidity in the market.

The local currency closed trading at 157.30 to the dollar on the interbank market, firmer than the 157.50 it closed at on Tuesday, gaining 20 Kobo.

On Monday, the naira weakened slightly against the dollar on the interbank market, as confusion over state-owned energy firm NNPC’s planned dollar sales put dollar supply in doubt, but the local unit strengthened slightly at the official Central Bank auction. The naira closed at N157.45 to the dollar on the interbank, weaker than the 157.40 it closed at on Friday.

Marginal rate at FGN bonds auctions (%)

T-Bills The Federal Government plans to issue N140.61 billion in treasury bills ranging from three months to one year maturities at its regular monthly debt auction this week, while the DMO announced plan to raise N90 billion from debt auction.

Dealers said demand from investors could be strong at the two auctions this week due to the amount on offer, while cash flows to the debt instrument purchases and other transactions could minimise the impact of possible budgetary disbursal on cost of borrowing.

The secured Open Buy Back (OBB) fell to 14 per cent, from 14.50 per cent last week, due to the impact of repaid matured treasury bill. It was 200 basis points above the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) 12 per cent benchmark rate, and 400 percentage points above the Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) rate.

Overnight placement was down to 14.50 per cent from 15.25 per cent, while call money traded at 15 per cent, lower than the 15.50 per cent.

World Bank The World Bank last week, chose Korean-born American health expert Jim Yong Kim as its new president, maintaining Washington’s grip on the job and leaving developing countries frustrated with the selection process.

Kim, a physician and anthropologist, who makes for a somewhat unorthodox choice to head the global anti-poverty lender, won the job over Nigeria’s widely respected finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, with the support of Washington’s allies in Western Europe, Japan and Canada - as well as some emerging economies. It was the first time in the World Bank’s history that the United States’ hold on the job was challenged.

The decision by the World Bank’s

•Sources: Debt Management Office (DMO), FBN Capital Research 25-member board was not unanimous, with emerging economies splitting their support. Brazil and South Africa backed OkonjoIweala, while three sources said China and India supported Kim.

Reserves Foreign reserves jumped by 3.63 per cent to $36.05 billion on April 12, their highest in more than one year. The reserves stood at $34.47 billion a year ago and were at $34.74 billion a month earlier.

Though the reserves have seen declining in the past three years despite rising oil prices, gradual reduction in demand for dollars at the bi-weekly forex auction this year has meant the central bank spends less of its reserves to support the naira.

NUBAN The CBN has set May 31, this year as deadline for all banks to comply with its directive on Nigeria Uniform Bank Account Number (NUBAN). In a circular addressed to all banks, and signed by CBN Director, Banking and Payment

‘

Banks are adopting a new strategy in deposit mobilisation because funds are cheaper at the international market. He said the cost of funds in the country is very high, and such funds cannot finance infrastructure or support real sector businesses

’

System, T.O. Fatokun, said banks must comply with the NUBAN directive by that date. Also, it said effective June 1, this year, any payment that is not NUBAN compliant will not be allowed to pass through the Automated Clearing System.

Also, it warned that any bank that violates the rule will be sanctioned accordingly. The new account number scheme has facilitated better electronic payments, among banks, which is cost effective compared to cheque payments.

The apex bank had in April last year; released three-digit codes for banks to enable them to comply with the newly introduced NUBAN scheme. The action, the CBN said, was to facilitate smooth and successful implementation of the uniform customer bank account numbering structure among all commercial banks.

Monetary Policy The Federal Government has no reason to exceed the N880 billion allocated to fuel subsidy in this year’s budget, the CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has said.

He reiterated his opposition to the country’s massive oil subsidy, which he said, is unsustainable.

Sanusi advised President Goodluck Jonathan to spend no more than the earmarked amount for the subsidy in the budget. “I would simply like to see that the government does not pay a penny more than that, no matter what happens”, he said.

Sanusi expressed strong confidence in the monetary stance of the bank. He said this policy could, however, be overturned if the government breaks the provisions of its 2012 budget. He indicated that

at $72 a barrel, the budget was calculated at $2 more than the level recommended by the apex bank.

Bank to bank report Enterprise Bank Limited (EBL) has extended MoneyGram and Western Union money transfer services to both its existing and prospective customers. The process, which has been tagged Third Party Referral (TPR), allows an account holder of another bank to reference a money transfer recipient who does not have account with the bank.

In a statement, the bank said TPR system enables it to establish the authenticity of the recipient and effect payment without further delay.

FirstBank of Nigeria Plc delivered an impressive performance in 2011 as profit before tax rose by 48 per cent to N50.1 billion. Other highlights showed a 27.6 per cent growth in gross earnings to N296.3 billion as against N232.1 billion recorded in 2010. The bank also secured a 45.6 per cent growth in operating income to N259.2 billion contrary to N178.1 billion the previous year.

Fidelity Bank of Nigeria Plc has announced a profit before tax of N7.67 billion for the year which ended on December 31, 2011. This represents a drop of 11.3 per cent from its N8.65 billion profit the previous year.

Gross Earnings increased by 25 per cent to N70.05 billion for the compared to N56.05 billion in 2010.

Net Interest and Discount Income grew by 9.6 per cent to N29.08 billion from N26.54 billion recorded in 2010, though average interest income on average earning assets dropped from 11.6 per cent in 2010 to 10.7 per cent in 2011.

32

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

THE CEO

Despite the call for sanctions to sanitise and strengthen insurance firms, the helmsman of the industry, Mr Fola Daniel, has said the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) would not adopt strategies used by other regulators, particularly the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to solve the sector’s challenges. CHUKS UDO OKONTA met him.

‘W a

• Daniel

‘We won’t copy any regulator in solving H insurance problems’

AS the last recapitalisation made any impact on the insurance industry?

The last recapitalisation exercise has made some significant impacts on the insurance industry. One of the major issues confronting the industry prior to 2007 was financial capacity. The lack of financial capacity, of course, translated into insurers not having technical capacity and sufficient human capacity. Let us take it from the bottom, to have first class brains to manage an institution, you really need to be able to pay a lot of money. You need to deploy a lot of significant efforts in training and upgrading staff skills. So, with low resources, no insurance company would be able to devote sizable funds to training people, acquiring information and technology support. But the aftermath of 2007 has seen an insurance industry with huge financial capacity. We have grossed between N500 billion and N600 billion in the sector, so the financial incapacity has completely disappeared.

What are the gains so far?

The recapitalisation has enhanced financial capacity and has manifested in the industry being able to meet claims which occurred. The robust financial capacity was put to test two years ago, when some companies paid the biggest claims ever in the industry that of Nigerian Bottling Company which gulped about N10 billion. The companies paid without hassles. In fact, the industry ought to have celebrated that feat, but because insurance practice is based on the principle of utmost good faith, which imposes a duty of respect of privacy of contract on the industry. This is because if there was no fanfare when we collected premiums from companies, and when it’s time to pay claims, we begin to advertise everywhere, the firms may not be too comfortable with it. The important thing is that we

had a huge claim of that magnitude and the industry paid effortlessly. That is one of the gains of the recapitalisation. Also, financial capacity helps in building technical capacity and one of the technical capacities is reinsurance. A firm must have a decent balance sheet to be able to attract the support of reinsurance, particularly foreign reinsurance. The 2007 recapitalisation has enabled the industry access greater technical capacity. Note that technical capacity is not what you achieve in a day. You need to build it.

This is because if a company needs to send 10 of its staff to acquire better skills, that is building capacity, it cannot be bought at the shelf.

How close is the industry to achieving its N1 trillion premium income target?

The issue of how close or far the industry

is from achieving the target would not have a straight answer. I think what we need to do is really go back to the fundamentals of the figures behind that target we gave ourselves. On the basis of what we have in the nation, should we really be talking of N1 trillion income? Five years after recapitalisation, should we not be talking on something more than N1 trillion? If we deploy N500 billion to N600 billion to do business, should we not be looking at doubling that amount of money? Or even making it triple? I think we have the wherewithal to generate income in excess of N1 trillion. How much of it we have got, I cannot say, because the 2011 account has just reached the commission. I do believe that by the time we get most of the accounts, we would be able to say yes, this is where we are exactly. I think the underlining thing should be, do insurers have the capacity?

Do we have a business environment that can support the premium income of N1 tril• Continued on page 33

33

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

THE CEO •Continued from page 32

‘We won’t copy any regulator’ lion or even N2 trillion? And the answer is yes.

What is the industry’s capital base?

The industry as at 2010 had between N500 billion and N600 billion gross income.

How has the industry’s Market Development and Restructuring Initiatives (MDRI) fared?

The MDRI focuses on highlighting existing compulsory insurances which were not properly implemented except motor insurance which people are used to. But there are other classes of compulsory insurance, so, we brought the MDRI to highlight, create awareness, implement and engage in enforcement, which is the last resort. One of the key objectives of the MDRI which is creating awareness in people has been considerably attained.

Four to five years ago, when you ask people to take compulsory insurance for their buildings, they would ask you to explain, which laws make it mandatory for them to buy the policy. Today, most Nigerians cannot claim ignorance of these compulsory insurances. So, we have reasonably created awareness and awareness is a continuous thing, which one cannot stop or have had much of. We will continue to create awareness until most of the people naturally accept these products as a must buy. Reasonably, we have been able to sensitise people to buy insurance.

Why are insurers not underwriting big risks in oil and gas?

Most of the underwriters have shown enthusiasm over leveraging on the opportunities afforded by the Nigerian Content Act. The Act as it relates to insurance states that 70 per cent of all insurable under the oil and gas business must be domiciled with Nigerian insurers. And the insurance industry has risen to the occasion; they are seizing that opportunity to write more businesses in oil and gas. Because people suddenly find themselves with capital of N6 billion or N7 billion, does not mean that everyone knows about oil and gas. The operators really need to make a deliberate effort to train personnel to understand the oil and gas business, otherwise, they will go and state the risk, which they lack the required knowledge. That will be a blind date, which could crash and it will be inimical to the organisation and the industry.

People are eagerly building capacity and we are making good progress. Five years ago, you can point at a number of Nigerian companies that are doing something in oil and gas. But today, we have a good number of them that are really striving to build capacity so that they can take advantage of the Nigerian Content Act as it relates to insurance.

What is the percentage participation of insurers in oil and gas underwriting?

On the question of 70 per cent, which was ceded to local operators, I think we need to be a bit careful here. The question is 70 per cent of what? The Nigerian Content Act stipulates that we should insure 70 per cent of anything under oil and gas. But some of these businesses come in billions of dollars. Do we have immediate technical capacity to take 70 per cent? The answer may be no, not all the time. So, we are looking at 70 per cent on case-by-case basis. And if you look at it at case-by-case basis, there are situations where as a regulator we say to the oil industry, no, this is not a case of 70 per cent. Seventy per cent is a prescribed minimum. We can do 100 per cent. So, there are situations where we can do 100 per cent absolutely, which means, there is no need to cede anything abroad. There are situations we can take 90 per cent. Then there would be situations naturally, where because of the quantum of the value’s risks, 70 per cent would not be retainable in the country. It must be noted that, in spite of the law, insurance is about spread of risks.

So, where it becomes expedient for us to take less than 70 per cent as a result of the large volume at risk, we take less than 70 per cent. This is because we must not take a value that would choke the industry. We must not accept a sum insured in a way that where there is a claim, we begin to give excuses. Insurance is moving forward and it is about making promise, and redeeming that promise is very important. So, we take

• Daniel

‘But I want to confirm to you that, from time to time, we sanction insurance operators and if it is important for the public to know we let them know. Our sanctions are largely remedial. What is upper most in sanctioning an insurance company is the protection of policy holders’

• Daniel

objective view of cases as they come. As I have said, it is not about 70 per cent for there are several situations where we were able to take 100 per cent.

To which extent will the proposed insurance bill aid regulation of the industry?

In the last three to four years, the industry has adopted developmental strategy than regulatory. We believe that unless the industry is developed; there is vibrancy; the regulator over time will become idle as there will be nothing to control or regu-

late. So, we have focused more on developing the industry and that was why we introduced the MDRI programme. The focus has been on development and that is where we are going. The law that is in the offing will support our developmental efforts. It will also create jobs. One of the cardinal policies of the present administration is to create jobs – reduce unemployment and restiveness in the society. Graduates who are not employed may be available for mischief. We believe that any new law that is

fashioned that does not support President Gooluck Jonathan’s quest to create employment and reduce poverty is not a good one.

The proposed bill has been done in a way to support the government’s quest to reduce poverty in the economy. As to time line when the law will be out, we do not have control over when legislation is passed. I can say that within the next few weeks, the executive should be in a position to send the bill to the National Assembly. When it gets to the National Assembly, how long it will take, we do not know.

I can say that the insurance environment is lucky. The relevant committee of the National Assembly that has oversight function on insurance is very eager to do anything to support insurance growth and development. And if one of the tools to ensure rapid development is the review of the law, they have assured us that as soon as they see the bill, they would do what is needful to ensure that there is no unnecessary delay; and I believe them. That is why I said we are lucky. The executive is eager to ensure that insurance occupies its rightful place. The legislators are very willing and waiting to support the growth of insurance in our environment.

Why has NAICOM not been proactive in sanctioning errant operators?

I know the public would want the National Insurance Commission to be like CBN as regards sanctions. The method of the Central Bank is not a cap that fits all. It is not a medication that cures all ailments. The approach of the bank has its own merits, which is - do it publicly and let Nigerians be aware of what is happening. Of course, the Central Bank was confronted with a different scenario that needed the remedy it applied.

The problem of the insurance industry is not exactly the same. So, we may not be able to borrow that medication to cure a different ailment. When you have diarrhoea, you have to take drastic medication to stop it, because it could embarrass you.

Whereas somebody who has headache would take panadol, two of them are medications intended for different purposes. And the effects look different. So, we salute the Central Bank for what it is doing. But I want to confirm to you that, from time to time, we sanction insurance operators and if it is important for the public to know we let them know. Our sanctions are largely remedial. What is upper most in sanctioning an insurance company is the protection of policy holders. If I sanction an insurance company and put it on the papers of newspaper, without obtaining a remedy, how does that help the policy holder? But if I can effectively sanction an operator and the interest of policy holders is fully served, that means we are doing the right thing.

Let the Central Bank continue to do what it is doing, we have different problems and different approaches in resolving the problems. I assure you that we are not sweeping anything under the carpet or shielding any operator. As a matter of fact, in the last three months, I think there have been shouts and cries from the industry about the sanctions we have imposed on errant operators. We are acting as it becomes expedient and appropriate; we are not going to mimic any regulator so that the public will say we are doing something that would not be necessary.

Is the large number of operators really deserving, going by the low level of insurance penetration?

For a country that is as large as Nigeria, 600 that are brokers, indeed, cannot be said to be too many. We have 774 local governments excluding those that are not recognised by the Constitution. Assuming that we have 774 local governments and 600 brokers, that means that we would have 600 brokers for 600 local governments, 174 local governments would not be covered. So, the large number is not the problem. I think the problem, for all of us, is that given the huge population that we have, the active economy we operate and the political environment, insurers should be better than where they are. There should be more people buying insurance. Some 10 years back, the middle class was wiped off. It was either you belong to the upper class or the low class. But today, the middle class is coming up significantly, and that is why when you go to the villages, instead of seeing bicycles in primary schools you see cars. The middle class is growing and it is the middle class that buys insurance products. That is not to say that the upper and lower classes do not need insurance. Given the opportunities, the industry should be doing better.

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

34

EQUITIES NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 20-4-12

Equities gain N323b on positive corporate earnings

T

HE Nigerian stock market was extremely bullish last week as improved appetite for equities overwhelmed shares supply, leaving most stocks on the upside.

With turnover on the double, aggregate market capitalisation of all equities gained N323 billion to close at N6.938 trillion as against its week’s opening value of N6.615 trillion. The All Share Index (ASI)- the common value index for the market, appreciated by 4.89 per cent to close 21,756.50 as against its index on board of 20,743.16 points.

Most sectoral indices also trended upward showing a broad bullish rally. The NSE-30 Indexwhich tracks the 30 most capitalised companies, appreciated by 5.08 per cent to 995.93 points. The NSE Consumer Goods Index also improved by 4.52 per cent to 1764.26 points while the NSE Banking Index rose by 9.77 per cent to 313.95 points.

However, the NSE Insurance Index depreciated by 0.75 per cent to close at 125.71 points while the NSE Oil and Gas Index declined by 3.75 per cent to close at 179.34 points.

By Taofik Salako and Tonia Osundolire

The positive market situation was orchestrated by appreciable full-year and interim corporate earnings reports by several companies.

Nigerian Breweries Plc led the advancers with a gain of N11.20 to close at N109.20 per share.

Guinness Nigeria Plc followed with a gain of N10.16 to close at N235.25 per share. Dangote Cement placed third with a gain of N4 to close at N120.

On the downside, Nestle Nigeria Plc, which share price was adjusted for dividend payment, topped the losers’ list with a drop of N15.99 to close at N419. Conoil Plc followed with a loss of N2.26 to close at N20.96 per share. MRS Oil Nigeria dropped by N2.22 to close at N35 per share.

Total turnover stood at 2.049 billion shares worth N15.736 billion in 19,783 deals with the financial services sector accounting for 1.767 billion shares valued at N10.783 billion traded in 10,827 deals.

The banking subsector alone recorded a turnover of 1.414 billion shares worth N10.446 billion in 10,247 deals.

Volume in the banking subsector was largely driven by activity in the shares of United Bank for Africa Plc, First City Monument Bank Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc. Trading in the shares of the three banks accounted for 756.214 million shares, representing 53.49 per cent, 42.80 per cent and 36.89 per cent of the turnover recorded by the subsector, sector and total turnover for the week, respectively.

Six equities adjusted their prices during the week for dividend payments and bonus as recommended by their board of directors. Nestle Nigeria Plc was adjusted for a final dividend of N11.05 per share. Poly Products of Nigeria Plc was adjusted for a bonus issue of 1 for 24. Also, the price of UACN Property Development Company Plc was adjusted for a dividend of N0.65 per share while the price of Guaranty Trust Assurance was also adjusted for a dividend of 8.0 kobo per share. Afromedia Plc was adjusted for a dividend of 2.5 kobo and a bonus issue of 1 for 20 and Stanbic IBTC Plc was adjusted for a dividend of 10 kobo per share.

Also, a total of 10 million shares were added to the shares outstanding in the name of Poly Products Nigeria Plc due to a bonus issue of 1 for 24. With this, the outstanding shares of the company stood at 250 million shares.

NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 20-4-12

35

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23 , 2012

EQUITIES WATCH

Email: taofad2000@yahoo.co.uk

The oil and gas sector needs a thrust to drive the sectoral outlook, TAOFIK SALAKO reports that strong earnings and returns from Conoil could build the momentum

T

HE NSE oil and gas index is trailing behind the benchmark index and other key sectoral indices at the Nigerian stock market. With the benchmark All Share Index (ASI)-the common index that tracks changes in prices of all quoted companies, posting a modest year-to-date positive return of 4.95 per cent, NSE Oil and Gas Index's yearto-date negative return of -18.52 per cent significantly underperformed the overall market outlook. Return analysis of all the five subgroup indices at the NSE showed that only oil and gas subgroup and insurance subsector are falling behind the recovering market outlook. The NSE Insurance Index recorded a year-to-date return of -12.42 per cent. The banking subsector has been a major rallying force for the market with the NSE Banking Index delivering average return of 14.47 per cent so far this year. The NSE 30 Index, which underlines the performances of the 30 most capitalised companies, drew on the positive trajectories of several highly capitalised banks and other companies, to return 7.81 per cent.

Indefinite fundamentals The performance of the NSE Oil and Gas Index underlined the uncertainties that have characterized the petroleum-marketing subsector, especially with oil majors' fundamentals showing an indefinite outlook mixed between tepid sales outlook and declining margin. With four of the oil majors already out with their latest full-year corporate earnings and returns, the recent profit warning

by Oando Plc compounded the already delicate fundamental outlook of the industry's fundamentals. Audited report and accounts of Total Nigeria Plc for the year ended December 31, 2011 showed a modest growth of 8.3 per cent in sales but the oil major ended with 4.0 per cent decline in profit after tax. In similar vein, Mobil Oil Nigeria grew sales by 6.4 per cent but profit after tax dropped by 3.4 per cent. MRS Oil Nigeria recorded declines in sales and profit with 5.1 per cent drop in turnover magnifying into a 43.8 per cent decrease in net profit.

Total Nigeria posted a turnover of N173.95 billion in 2011 as against N160.60 billion in 2010. Profit before tax stood at N5.86 billion compared with N5.78 billion. However, profit after tax dropped from N3.97 billion in 2010 to N3.81 billion in 2011. Total Nigeria is paying dividend per share of N7.

Mobil Oil Nigeria's turnover improved from N58.34 billion in 2010 to N62.1 billion in 2011. However, profit before tax dropped to N5.52 billion compared with N5.72 billion in 2010. Profit after tax followed the downtrend at N3.75 billion in 2011 as against N3.89 billion in 2010. A combined dividend per share of N5 and bonus issue of one for five shares has helped Mobil Oil Nigeria to nearly take over as the industry's highestpriced stock.

MRS Oil Nigeria recorded turnover of N70.95 billion in 2011 as against N74.78 billion in 2010. With operating and interest expenses on the rise, profit before tax slumped to N2.03 billion in 2011 as against N2.89 billion in 2010. After taxes, net profit reversed from N1.85 billion in 2010 to N1.04 billion in 2011. MRS Oil Nigeria has recommended a dividend per share of 70 kobo. The board of Oando had recently warned that an exceptional item would considerably reduce its profit for 2011, putting the integrated oil and gas company within the same, albeit worst; perspective. With all these, dividend yield in the subsector currently stand at between zero and 7.0 per cent.

New fundamental perspective But the corporate earnings report of Conoil might provide a fresh rejuvenating window into the fundamentals of the downstream oil and gas industry. From all indications, Conoil might end the 2011 business year with a profit before tax of N5.5 billion, as the petroleummarketing company consolidated on its third quarter performance of N4.6 billion. From reliable estimates and industry confirmations, Conoil ended the year with profit before tax of some N4 billion and turnover of N161 billion as the oil major harnessed expansion in its business portfolios and consolidation of its market share. These indicated 57 per cent, 37 per cent and 43 per cent in

• Seven -year net profit/loss

Will Conoil's dividend stir the bulls? turnover, profit before tax and profit after tax respectively. Conoil's 2011 performance thus significantly set new growth levels in sales and profitability. Conoil had recorded turnover of N102.9 billion, profit before tax of N4.02 billion and profit after tax of N2.8 billion for the year ended December 31, 2010.

With profit after tax of N4 billion, earnings per share would be N5.76 as against N4.02 in 2010. Market analysts expected Conoil to increase cash dividend by at least 28 per cent, which could move dividend per share substantially above N2 paid for 2010 financial year.

Considering the company's profit trend, dividend payment policy and the relationship between earnings growth and dividend payouts over the years, several market pundits said there is a strong reasonable basis Conoil might increase its cash dividends to shareholders substantially.

As earnings per share increased from N2.62 in 2008 to N3.33 and N4.02 in 2009 and 2010 respectively, Conoil had increased cash dividend per share correspondingly from N1 in 2009 to N1.50 and N2 in 2009 and 2010 respectively. Average cash dividend growth thus stood at about 41.7 per cent in recent years.

Average payout rate also stood at about 44.4 per cent in the past three years with the company progressively increasing the proportion of profit after tax distributed to shareholders from 38.2 per cent in 2008 to 45.05 per cent in 2009 and 49.8 per cent in 2010.

Given the probable net earnings per share and percentage payout range, dividend per share for the 2011 business year could range

between an average of N2.56 and N2.87. A conservative estimate based on the average dividend payment policy in recent years indicates a dividend yield of more than 12 per cent for Conoil at current market consideration, a yield described by several analysts as highly attractive. But most analysts said Conoil may increase cash payouts beyond its average rate given the commitment of the company's chairman to ensure that significant growth in earnings translates into proportionate increase in returns to shareholders. Chairman, Conoil Plc, Dr. Mike Adenuga (Jnr.) had at the company's last annual general meeting assured shareholders that the board and management of the company would pursue strategies that would continue to deliver growth in earnings and dividends.

With the dividend range and yield, Conoil will enliven the oil and gas industry with one of the top-of-the-market returns. With a current inflation rate of 11.9 per cent, there is reliable estimate that Conoil, at current market consideration, will provide a positive real return, which placed the stock within the elite crop of inflation-beating stocks and top-range fixed-income securities.

Sustainable growth trend The full-year performance rests on an impressive growth trend during the year. Interim reports of Conoil have shown consistent growths with the 2011 third quarter report indicating 78 per cent increase in its profit before tax from N2.6 billion in 2010 to N4.6 billion in 2011. Profit after tax also

‘As earnings per share increased from N2.62 in 2008 to N3.33 and N4.02 in 2009 and 2010 respectively, Conoil had increased cash dividend per share correspondingly from N1 in 2009 to N1.50 and N2 in 2009 and 2010 ’

•Mr Ayodeji Karim

grew by 78 percent from N1.7 billion to N3.1 billion while turnover rose by 86 per cent to N120.3 billion from N64.8 billion.

Earlier in the second quarter, profit after tax had jumped by 98 per cent from N1.21 billion in 2010 to N2.4 billion in 2011.

Profit before tax also rose from N1.8billion to N3.5 billion, representing 97 per cent increase. Conoil starter the year with a good sprint as profit before tax leapt by 714 per cent in the first quarter from N214 million in 2010 to N1.3 billion in 2011.

Three-month profit after tax also showed the same trend jumping from N145.7 million to N1.2 billion.

Growth drivers In comments on earlier reports, Conoil said the foundation for its impressive performance was hinged on the huge investment it committed to the expansion of its businesses, the general overhaul of its facilities and equipment, the optimisation of its resources and total elimination of waste in its operations. One major component of the growth expansion initiatives was the massive investment in petroleum products depot in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, which has significantly helped to ease fuel supply in the southern and northern parts of the country. With its immense storage facility for all petroleum products, the depot has added value to government's effort at ensuring fuel availability nationwide.

Besides, Conoil's Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG)-produced and distributed from its state-of-the-art LPG bottling plant located in Ikeja, Lagos; has become a major source of industrial and domestic cooking fuel. The plant has the capacity to bottle 5,000 cylinders a day, boosting supply of cooking gas in the country.

The company has also consolidated its dominance of the high margin business of lubricants in the downstream sector of the industry with additional state-of-the art blending plants in Apapa and Port Harcourt which had pushed up its production capacity significantly.

With the stock market becoming more responsive to corporate earnings, Conoil's 2011 earnings and return could tickle the oil-marketing subsector's bulls and provide new rallying force for the subgroup's outlook.

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23 , 2012

36

DUE DILIGENCE

CCNN: Improving profitability C

EMENT Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) Plc recorded a wellrounded performance in the past year with significant improvements in profitability and strong balance sheet. Audited report and accounts of CCNN for the year ended December 31, 2011 showed a more efficient cost management and appreciable growth in sales underpinned substantial growth in profit and returns to shareholders.

With gross and pre-tax profit margins improving from 36.8 per cent and 15.7 per cent in 2010 to 45.2 per cent and 23.7 per cent respectively in 2011, return on equity increased from 26 per cent to 33 per cent while return on total assets improved from 16.3 per cent to 26.2 per cent. The report also showed considerable improvements in financing structure and liquidity, providing a positive balance sheet support that enabled top-line performance to trickle down into substantial earnings to shareholders.

On the back of 81 per cent increase in net earnings, the board has recommended distribution of N566 million as cash dividends for the 2011 business. The company did not pay any dividend for the 2010 business year.

Financing structure CCNN emerged with a better financing position with zero financial leverage and significant improvement in equity funding. The company's debt-to-equity ratio dropped from 23 per cent in 2010 to zero in 2011 while the proportion of equity funds to total assets increased to 56 per cent as against 45 per cent in 2010. Current liabilities/total assets ratio improved from 41 per cent to 31 per cent while long-term liabilities/total assets stood at 13.2 per cent in 2011 as against 14 per cent in 2010.

CCNN's total assets had increased by 17 per cent from N10.72 billion in 2010 to N12.6 billion in 2011. Permanent assets improved marginally by 5.0 per cent from

Fiscal Year Ended December 31 Nmillion Profit and Loss Statement Main Business Segment Total turnover Cost of sales Gross profit Operating expenses Interest and other incomes Finance expenses Pre-tax profit(loss) Post-tax profit (loss) Basic earnings per share(kobo) Gross dividend (Nm) Cash dividend per share (kobo) Net Assets per share (kobo) Balance Sheet Assets: Fixed assets Total long term assets Trade debtors Current assets Total assets Liabilities: Trade creditors Bank loans Current liabilities Long-term liabilities Total liabilities Equity Funds Share capital Total Equity Funds

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011 •MD, CCNN, Alf Karlsen

• Five-year pre-tax profit

By Taofik Salako

N5.41 billion to N5.68 billion while current assets grew by 30 per cent from N5.3 billion to N6.9 billion.

Total liabilities dropped marginally from 5.87 billion to N5.57 billion. Current liabilities had dropped by 11 per cent from N4.4 billion to N3.9 billion corresponding with similar increase in longterm liabilities from N1.5 billion to N1.65 billion. The paid up share capital remained unchanged at N628 million but shareholders' funds grew by 44.5 per cent to N7 billion as against N4.85 billion in 2010.

Efficiency CCNN recorded improvement in cost management and productivity during the year. Total cost of business-excluding finance charges, dropped by six percentage points from 88 per cent in 2010 to about 82 per cent in 2011. At constant estimate, there were improvements in employee productivity and overall productivity. However, there were no enough data to determine the actual average contribution of each employee in relation to staff cost in the

2011 12 months

% change

13,915 13,915 7,629 6,286 3,743 948 195 3,294 2,304 183 566 45 557

24.5 24.5 8.0 52.8 35.4 32.6 -37.4 88.0 81.6 81.2 #DIV/0! #DIV/0!

44.3

immediate past year.

Profitability Both actual and underlying profitability measures showed wellrounded improvement in profitability. With sales growing by 24.5 per cent, improved cost management impacted significantly on the bottomline as profit before tax jumped by 88 per cent. Turnover rose from N11.2 billion to N13.92 billion. Cost of sales meanwhile inched up by 8.0 per cent to N7.63 billion in 2011 as against N7.07 billion in 2010. Gross profit grew by 53 per cent from N4.11 billion to N6.3 billion. Operating expenses stood at N3.74 billion in 2011 compared with N2.76 billion in 2010.

Non-core business income improved by 33 per cent from N715 million to N948 million. Interest expenses however dropped by 37 per cent from N312 million in 2010 to N195 million in 2011.

With these, profit before tax nearly doubled at N3.3 billion in 2011 in contrast with N1.75 billion in 2010. Profit after tax also jumped from N1.3 billion to N2.30 billion, indicating earnings per share of N1.83 in 2011 as against N1.01 in 2010. The board of the company has recommended distribution of about 25 per cent of net profit to shareholders, translating into a 2010 gross dividend of N566 million and 12 months cash dividend per share of 45 kobo. Divi11,181 dend cover stood at 4.07 times. With the 11,181 company's earnings 7,067 retention policy, net 4,114 assets per share rose

2,764 715 312 1,752 1,269 101 0 0 386

5,683 5,683 619 6,886 12,569

5.0 4.6 44.6 30.3 17.2

5,413 5,435 428 5,286 10,721

1,943 0 3,912 1,654 5,566

-6.0 0.0 -10.6 10.6 -5.2

2,067 1,098 4,378 1,496 5,874

628 7,003

0.0 44.5

628 4,847

by 44.3 per cent from N3.86 to N5.57.

Besides, underlying profitability indices showed a generally positive outlook. Gross profit margin improved from 37 per cent in 2010 to 45 per cent in 2011. Average pre-tax profit per every unit of sales increased from about 16 per cent to 24 per cent. Return on equity appreciated from 26 per cent to 33 per cent while return on total assets increased from 16 per cent to 26 per cent.

Liquidity The liquidity position of the cement company improved considerably.

Current ratio, which broadly indicates ability of the company to meet emerging financing needs, improved from 1.21 times in 2010 to 1.76 times in 2011.

The proportion of working capital to total sales also improved from 8.1 per cent in 2010 to 21.4 per cent in 2011.

Debtors/creditors ratio stood at 32 per cent in 2011 as against 20.7 per cent in 2010.

Governance and structures CCNN is a wholly-owned Nigerian company with more than 36,000 shareholders. BUA International Limited-through its wholly-owned subsidiary-Damnaz Cement Company, holds 50.72 per cent majority equity stake. Nasdal Bap Nigeria Limited holds the second largest equity stake of 11.48 per cent. There were no major changes on the board and management of the company.

Alhaji Abdulsamad Rabiu, the president of BUA International, chairs the board of directors while Mr Alf

Fiscal Year Ended December 31

Karlsen is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

CCNN has signed on to the code of corporate governance. Broadly, the company complied with relevant provisions of the code.

Analyst's opinion The performance of CCNN in 2011 reflected the success of sustained growth initiatives and reassured on the prospects of the company in the years ahead. The continued optimisation of existing production capacity and planned erection of a new production line to increase production capacity up to 1.5 million tonnes per annum as well as investments in energy would come to bear on future performance.

Also, the planned recapitalization of the company, which is expected to inject N45 billion, would impact positively on the operations of the company, putting it in strong position to sustain expansive growth strategy without falling into the trap of financial mismatch. Over the years, CCNN has benefited from a stable management under a valueminded chief executive and the commitment of the core investor to long-term growth is expected to provide appreciable impetus for stable growth.

Overall, the growth initiatives by CCNN, the positive industry outlook of the cement industry; with local demand far in excess of production and stable and experienced management are reasonable basis to assume that CCNN would sustain improved performance in the years ahead.

2011 %

2010 %

Financing structure Equity funds/Total assets Long-term liabilities/Total assets Current liabilities/Total assets Debt/Equity ratio

55.7 13.2 31.1 0.0

45.2 14.0 40.8 22.7

Profitability Gross profit margin Pre-tax profit margin Return on total assets Return on equity Dividend cover (times)

45.2 23.7 26.2 32.9 4.07

36.8 15.7 16.3 26.2 Nil

Efficiency Pre-tax profit per employee (Nm) Staff cost per employee (Nm) Cost of sales, operating exp/Turnover

NA NA 81.7

4.88 2.99 87.9

Liquidity Current ratio Working capital/Turnover Debtors/Creditors

1.76 21.4 31.8

1.21 8.1 20.7

JOBS THE NATION

Website:- http://www.thenationonlineng.com

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

37

• Bio-Scientists at work

In the face of rising unemployment, pharmacists are required to use their ingenuity to create jobs. Experts argue that bio-pharmacy is an area that offers huge prospects for pharmacists. Against this backdrop, they have been urged to improve their skills in the field and make money, AKINOLA AJIBADE reports.

Fresh opportunities in organic medicine F

OR pharmacists, this is not the time to brood over fake drugs, high mortality rates, poor living conditions, decayed infrastructure and unemployment that have characterised the economy. In fact, this period requires that they make the best out of the hopeless situation by creating jobs for themselves.

Recently, the National Agency for Foods and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) advised them to explore opportunities in bio-pharmacy to create jobs and wealth. In its reckoning, bio-pharmacy offers huge prospects for practitioners and must, therefore, be explored - in line with the globally acceptable standards or regulations.

Bio-pharmacy is an area where people produce drugs through organic matters or natural methods. It ensures that drugs

are produced in a less cumbersome, expensive and synthetic manner. The idea ensures that pharmacists get natural substances, such as plants into the laboratory, analyse, process and turn them into finished products.

Unlike the conventional or chemicalised methods of producing drugs, bio-pharmacy enables practitioners to explore nature for herbs and roots. Through this, pharmacists use different organic materials to produce drugs that would otherwise have huge chemical concentrations. One area in which bio-pharmacists have established their influence is “Dermatology”.

This area ensures that herbal products are processed for the production of skin treatment, such as Aloe Vera, Dudu Osun and Ginseng, among others. Research has shown that bio-pharmacists use extracts from animal fats to produce drugs for muscular pain

relief, among others.

Experts argued that bio-pharmacy offers pharmacists a wide range of opportunities to choose from. They said the area offers a lot of prospects for pharmacists in search of improved sources of income. According to them, Africa is blessed with abundant natural substances, which can be used to manufacture drugs. To them, pharmacists need to be more proactive to explore the green nature of the Africa well. They advocated improved skills in bio-pharmacy to foster growth.

Speaking on the issue, a lecturer in the Department of Bio-Sciences and Bio-Technology, Backock University, Prof Dele Fapohunda, said people who want to go into production of bio-pharmaceutical products must be well grounded in Bio-Sciences. He urged them to know basic things about

plants, adding that a good understanding of compositions and functions of plants would help a lot.

He said: “There are a lot of things to extract from plants to treat diseases in human beings. Pharmacists need to know some plants well before they can extract ingredients from them for treatments.

The plants are potent enough to check morbidity, or the rate at which people are falling sick, when they are well processed. Bio-products or drugs are very lucrative. This implies that people that are producing such products stand a good chance of making something out of it,” he said.

He said makers of bio-pharmaceutical products enjoy a comparative advantage • Continued on page 38

38

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

JOBS

Opportunities abound in organic medicine • Continued from page 37

because they do not spend much on materials.

“The production of bio-pharmaceutical drugs is not expensive, compared to synthetic drugs. Based on this, practitioners in that field tend to gain more. They will make money. To the best of my knowledge, bio-products are lucrative,” he said.

He advised people that want to produce bio-pharmaceutical products to get certified to ensure acceptability, arguing that they cannot afford to produce goods that are injurious to the body.

“Since bio-pharmacists are dealing with human life, they need to form or belong to a professional body. They need to take the products to a regulatory body to ensure that the products are safe and good for consumption. This will prevent them from compounding the woes of the sick. I think these few steps would help people that are going into bio-production of drugs to record success,” Fapohunda added.

Also, a biochemist, Mr Chimezie Obialor, said drugs production is a technical area and, therefore, requires deep understanding of various component elements needed.

Obialor urged people going into bio-pharmacy to have a good knowledge of various organic materials, their dispositions, and the added values patients would derive from them.

He said plants have their peculiar characteristics, arguing that the

inability of people to understand these would defeat the purpose of producing bio-pharmaceutical products. He said a chain of reactions usually crops up in the course of producing traditional drugs, arguing that bio-pharmacy entails more than this.

“That is why prospective biopharmacists have some work to do. They need to conduct their own research to know the plants that would be meet the need of a particular patient. This will enable them to do their jobs well,” he said.

Similarly, the Director-General, National Agency for Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr Paul Orhii, said training people on how to regulate and control the production of bio-pharmaceutical drugs is necessary, in view of the recognition the drugs are gaining.

He said the development made the agency to organise a capacity building workshop on the issue recently.

He said: “Developing a framework to help us regulate and control this class of products necessitates that we build the capacity of the regulatory officers in this area.

The term “Biopharmaceuticals” refers to drugs that have unique qualities in the way that they are derived and manufactured as opposed to the traditional drug products.

“They are protein-based, maybe genetically engineered from bacteria or fungi (biotech drugs) or come from blood and plasma (biological). Therefore, they cannot be

• Orhii

produced generically. Sometimes, they are called follow-on biologics e.g Epogan, recombinant insulin, human growth hormones etc.

“Biopharmaceuticals represent a diverse group of products that includes proteins, peptides, nuclear acids, whole cells, viral particles and vaccines. In the last decade, there has been a sharp rise in the number of new biopharmaceuticals also referred to as subsequent entry biologics, similar biotherapeutic products or followon-biologics etc.”

He said there was the need to

• Prof Fapohunda

build regulatory capacity and have adequate guidelines in place to ensure processes are in line and keeping with global best practices.

In a related development, the Deputy Director, Registration and Regulatory Affairs, NAFDAC, Mrs O. N. Mainasara, noted that pharmaceutical innovation has advanced such that biological products which were originally extracted from tissues and secretions, often of human origin, are now prepared via industrial application of biotechnology from genetically engineered bacteria, yeast, fungi or

cells. The resultant complex biopharmaceuticals though provide hope for some life-threatening diseases, raise safety and immunogenicity concerns, she said.

“This workshop is the first step in addressing some of the needs and emerging challenges in the regulatory processes of both the innovator and similar biopharmaceuticals. For a good regulatory procedure to be put in place there must be good scientific knowledge and adequate skills for the regulatory authority through capacity building,” she said.

CAREER MANAGEMENT

Fishing out your dream job: Techniques and strategies

W

ELCOME to another Mon day and another series in our self-made avowal to empower individuals to get their dream job in the shortest possible time. The inspiration came from FAQ and feedback from numerous readers of The Nation.

You’ve got that great résumé in hand and you are rearing to get on and be on your mother of all searches: to find a job! But wait, it takes much more than having just a résumé and bristling energy to have a successful job search. You need a search game plan.

The job hunter or career changer can find job hunting to be a frustrating experience. Fact is, it’s a job finding a job! There are no set of rules for job hunting; no magic formulas or solutions. However, by utilising all the options available to us, we can make the job search more efficient and be successful inn the shortest possible time.

A successful job search starts with thorough preparation and planning. This is true whether you are beginning your career, seeking reemployment or considering a more satisfying occupation. First assess your characteristics; take a good look at who you are and what you have done.

This will require time and effort, but the time you invest will be worthwhile. Self-assessment can help you to decide on a realistic job objective. The information you discover will also be helpful when writing your resume, completing job applications and preparing for job interviews.

In exploring career options the questions are:

By Olu Oyeniran

Do I want to remain in that field?

• Would the strengths I have serve in a related field of work?

• Would I consider returning to school to learn new job skills which are in demand?

• As a recent college graduate, could I translate my strengths into a career?

• Is self-employment a possibility?

• In answering these questions, carefully consider personal circumstances, your lifestyle, health, family circumstances and financial needs. Keep these factors in mind when making career plans.

• Considering everything you know about yourself, try to think of some career possibilities that you could do well arid would enjoy.

Organisation is key Staying organised in the hunt is imperative! It is extremely important to be organised. Maintain a notebook with contact sheets for recording names and information relative to your efforts. Keep copies of all job leads or ads that you respond to. Maintain a calendar or weekly plan of action for your job hunt and record and review the number of contacts made each week.

As stated earlier, it is job looking a job! If you are experiencing a career transition, staying in the routine of a job hunt is difficult. Remember, you are marketing yourself daily. Begin each day with the attitude that you are “open for busi-

ness.’ Follow the plan you established for yourself and keep with it until you’ve reached your goal.

Don’t unwittingly extend your job search time by limiting the techniques you use. There are several techniques and strategies for effective job fishing. We shall proceed to look at them.

Networking Networking is a key process in job seeking, job keeping, and position advancement, in the future it will be necessary to give greater attention to this process as competition for good jobs becomes keener and advancement opportunities become fewer. More and more, individuals must learn to develop and use networks of contacts if they are to best achieve their goals and career potential.

Networking in a nutshell, is nothing more than asking the people you already know to help you find out about the job market and meet the people who are actually doing the hiring.

The hard facts “Informal contacts account for almost 75 per cent of all successful job searches. Agencies find about nine per cent of new jobs for professional and technical people, and ads yield another ten percent or so.

Don’t hesitate to talk to friends, acquaintances, and neighbours about your job search in reality, you are asking for advice, not charity.

Most of the people you contact will be willing to help you, if only you will tell them how. You probably know more people than you think.

The key to making progress is to start asking the right people for the right kind of assistance.

The ultimate object of your job

search is to convince the person who has the power to hire you that you ought to be working for him or her. The one you want to talk to is not necessarily the president of a company; it is rather the one who heads the department that could use your expertise.

Direct contact with the hiring authority is far and away the most effective job-hunting method.

Your strategy and schedule should reflect that fact, and most of your energy should be devoted to direct contact. You may want to explore other methods of contacting potential employers, but that should take up no more than a quarter of your job – hunting time.

How do you find the hiring authority? If you are lucky, someone you know periodically will tell you whom to see and introduce you. Otherwise, you will have to do some homework. If you cannot find out who heads the department that interests you, call the company and ask the operator.

Do not assume you can get to the hiring authority through the personnel department. If at all possible, you will avoid filling out ally personnel forms until you have had a serious interview. The same goes for sending resumes. In general, resumes are better left behind after an interview than sent ahead to generate a meeting.

The informational interview The contacts you make during your preliminary informational interviewing will be the core of your network in your job hunt. You will also want to zero in on other contacts within your career area.

Your goal is to get referred to the person who has the power to hire you.

Here are some tips • Determine which organisations, positions, career path, or specific persons are of interest to you. Do enough research so that you will be able to talk intelligently to your new contact.

• Ask the individual when it would be a good dine to chat. Give a brief summary of your background and what you are seeking.

Focus on what you have in common. Have a goal in mind and state your purpose.

• Be flexible. If they offer time for a meeting, make every effort to make yourself available to their schedule.

• Ask for information, direction and advice, NOT A JOB! Be prepared and have a short list of questions or topics in mind.

• At the meeting, be sure to ask for referrals.

• Always listen attentively and take notes if necessary.

• Respond to any questions directed to you with comments.

• Be sure to bring your resume and ask for their critique of it.

• By all means, be courteous and thankful and he sure to follow-up by sending a handwritten note thanking him or her for their time.

Olu Oyeniran is the Lead Consultant, EkiniConsult & Associates.

Website: www.jobsearchhow.com E-mail: oluoyeniran@yahoo.com Tel 08083843230 (SMS Only).

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

39

BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL

US stocks rise on earnings’ reports, Europe optimism

U

NITED States’ stocks rose, snapping a two-day decline for the Standard & Poor’s

500 Index, as profits from companies including Microsoft Corp. and General Electric Co. (GE) beat estimates and German business confidence improved.

Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, jumped 5.4 percent while GE added 1.8 per cent.

Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB) and E*Trade Financial Corp. (ETFC) rallied at least 4.7 per cent as profits beat projections. SanDisk Corp. (SNDK) lost 13 per cent after forecasting sales that were less than some analysts estimated.

Robert Breza, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, talks about Microsoft Corp.'s fiscal third-quarter profit and the outlook for the company. He talks with Erik Schatzker, Scarlet Fu and Stephanie Ruhle on Bloomberg Television's "InsideTrack."

The S&P 500 gained 0.7 per cent to 1,385.85, after dropping one per cent over the past two days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 105.28 points, or 0.8 percent,

to 13,069.38.

“On the back of some weaker recent economic data, the earnings story continues to showcase that companies can wring out some profits here,”James Dunigan, who helps oversee $112 billion as chief investment officer in Philadelphia for PNC Wealth Management, said in a telephone interview.

“With the constant noise in the background of Europe we seem to be focusing more on the domestic story, at least today. That just gives more credence to the fact that the recovery continues to be in place.”

Profits for the 94 firms in the S&P 500 that have reported results so far are beating estimates by 8.5 per cent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The benchmark gauge for US equities has risen 10 per cent in 2012, even after the index lost 0.6 percent as home sales fell last month and jobless claims were more than forecast last week.

A report showed German business confidence, unexpectedly, increased for a sixth month in April,

adding to evidence that Europe’s largest economy can weather the sovereign-debt crisis.

The Group of 20 will announce new funding for the International Monetary Fund’s European reserves that will “satisfy” requests from Managing Director Christine Lagarde, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said.

Lagarde, who has called Europe the “epicenter” of risks to the world economy, is seeking more than $400 billion in new funding from member-countries.

All 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 advanced at least 0.2 percent today. They’re all on track to post advances for the week except technology shares, which have lost 0.4 per cent. For earnings so far, financial firms have beat estimates by 16 per cent, the most of the 10 industries.

Microsoft (MSFT) rose 5.4 percent to $32.68. The Redmond, Washington-based company reported net income of 60 cents a share, exceeding the 57-cent average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg amid better-than-ex-

pected sales of Windows and Office software for businesses.

General Electric Co. rose 1.8 percent to $19.48. The maker of aircraft engines and provider of financial services beat analysts’ earnings estimates as profit gains at its energy business, its largest industrial division, outpaced finance for the first time in two years.

Schlumberger, the world’s largest oilfield-services provider, gained 4.7 per cent to $73.11. The world’s largest oilfield-services provider said first-quarter profit rose 38 per cent as the number of US rigs drilling for oil reached a record. E*Trade gained the most in the S&P 500, rising 6.4 percent to $10.51, as quarterly profit and revenue exceeded estimates, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) climbed 1.7 per cent to $8.11. The second-largest maker of processors for personal computers said second-quarter sales will grow about three per cent from the first three months. That indicates revenue of about $1.63 billion, compared with the $1.59 billion aver-

age analyst estimate compiled by Bloomberg.

Honeywell International Inc. (HON), the maker of digital flight controls and work boots, rallied 2.9 per cent to $59.67 after the company posted a first-quarter profit that beat analysts’estimates and boosted its full-year forecast.

McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) added 2.5 per cent to $97.65. The world’s largest restaurant chain reported a 4.8 per cent gain in first- quarter profit as new menu items such as Chicken McBites attracted U.S. consumers.

SanDisk, which makes memory chips used in mobile devices, declined 13 per cent, the most in the S&P 500, to $35.08 after giving a second-quarter sales forecast that fell short of some analysts’ estimates.Chip production at SanDisk and its rivals is outpacing demand, causing prices to fall, Chief Executive Officer Sanjay Mehrotra said on a conference call with analysts. Some of the company’s customers also ordered fewer chips for mobile phones than SanDisk had predicted, he said.

Jobless data suggests slowdown in job creation

T

•Raymond and Thomas Kwuok, owners of Asia’s largest real estate development company, who being investigated for alleged corruption.

US home sales falls, as market stays weak

A

MERICANS bought fewer previously owned homes in March, a reminder that the housing market remains weak.

The National Association of Realtors said home sales fell by 2.6 per cent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.48 million.

That followed a revised 4.6 million sold in February.

A mild winter may have encouraged more people to buy earlier, essentially stealing sales from March.

The first three months of this month made up the best winter for sales in five years. The increase offers some encouragement ahead of the spring-buying season. Still, sales remain far below the six million per year that economists equate with healthy markets.

First-time buyers, who are critical to a housing recovery, rose to 33 percent of all purchases last month. In healthy markets, they make up at least 40 per cent.

The supply of homes on the market fell 1.3 per cent last month to 2.37 million, which could help drive up prices further in the coming months.

One reason is that home foreclosures declined, although they are still high. Homes at risk of foreclosure made up 29 per cent of sales, down from 34 per cent in February. In healthier markets, foreclosures make up less than 10 per cent of sales.

There have been other signs in recent months that the housing market is slowly improving.

Builders are laying plans to construct more homes this year than

at any other point in the past threeand-a-half years. More jobs and a better outlook among buyers could also make this year the first since 2008 that construction adds to the US economy.

The unemployment rate has fallen from 9.1 per cent in August to 8.2 per cent last month. Employers added an average of 212,000 jobs a month from January through March.

Mortgage rates are hovering just above record lows. And the median sales price of homes rose for the second straight month in March, to $163,800.

Sales fell across most of the country. They were unchanged on a seasonally in the Midwest, but fell by 1.1 per cent in the South, 1.7 per cent in the Northeast and 7.4 per cent in the West.

Germany sees upswing amid eurozone turmoil

A

KEY index of business optimism on Friday reinforced what an increasing number of economists are saying: Germany is beginning to see an upswing – even as the rest of the 17-country eurozone struggles with economic and financial turmoil over too much debt.

The Ifo Institute survey of business executives published Friday edged up to 109.9 points from 109.8 the month before, beating market expectations of a slight decline. That follows an unexpected fifth straight monthly rise Wednesday in the ZEW

index, which measures the outlook among investment professionals.

Both are leading indicators, suggesting where the economy might be headed in the next six months.

Economists say these and other data mean Germany may now have avoided a recession and this year will easily outpacing the euro zone as a whole, which is expected to shrink 0.3 per cent this year.

Leading economic institutes this week raised their forecast for

2012 to 0.9 per cent from a 0.8 per cent prediction last fall, and predicted 2 per cent growth next year.

Some economists now think the economy grew in the first quarter as well, avoiding a second straight quarter of contraction after a slight 0.2 per cent dip in the fourth quarter of last year. Two quarters of falling output is a technical definition of recession.

Both parts of the Ifo index – estimates of current conditions and expectations for the next six months – were up.

HE number of Americans claiming unemployment benefits for the first time fell only slightly last week, dampening hopes of a pick-up in job creation in April after March's slowdown.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 386,000, the Labor Department said last week. The prior week's data was revised to show 8,000 more applications received than previously reported.

The four-week moving average for new claims, considered a better measure of labour market trends, rose 5,500 to 374,750.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims falling to 370,000 last week.

"The number suggests that improvement is slowing down," said Subodh Kumar, chief investment strategist at Subodh Kumar & Associates in Toronto.

Stock index futures pared gains on the report, while Treasury debt prices rose and the dollar pared gains against the yen.

The claims data covered the week for April's nonfarm payrolls survey. The four-week average of new applications rose marginally between the March and April survey periods, suggesting not much change in labor market conditions.

Employers added 120,000 new jobs to their payrolls in March, the least since October, after averaging 246,000 jobs per month over the prior three months.

Most economists have viewed the pull-back in job growth as payback after the weather-induced gains in the previous months.

"Some of the improvement in labor market earlier this year was probably due to the unseasonably mild weather," said Jeremy Lawson, a senior economist at BNP Paribas in New York. "This data is consistent with the softer payrolls number in March."

A Labor Department official said there was nothing unusual in the state-level data.

The number of people still receiving benefits under regular state programs after an initial week of aid rose 26,000 to 3.30 million in the week ended April 7.

The number of Americans on emergency unemployment benefits fell 19,419 to 2.78 million in the week ended March 31, the latest week for which data is available.

A total of 6.77 million people were claiming unemployment benefits during that period under all programs, down 187,807 from the prior week.

Barclays backpedals on executive bonus pay

B

ANK shareholders have claimed another scalp. Earlier this week, over half of Citigroup’s shareholders voted against the United States’ bank’s executive pay plan.

Now Barclays, BCS-N, which was facing a similar uprising at its annual general meeting next week, has moved to avoid such a chastening outcome.

Investors were clearly hopping mad about Barclays’ decision to award chief executive Bob Diamond a £2.7-million ($4.3-million) bonus – 80 per cent of the maximum – for last year. The bank’s peace offering noted the “strength

of opinion” among shareholders.

No doubt, Citi’s humbling experience concentrated its mind.

Yet, as olive branches go, the one extended by Mr Diamond and Chris Lucas, the finance director, is rather limp.

Both will forfeit half their 2011 bonus unless Barclays lifts its return on equity – which was a lowly 6.6 per cent last year – above its 11.5 per cent cost of equity.

However, the two men effectively have three and a half years to hit the target. And investors will rightly ask why the other half of the payout is not subject to the same condition.

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

40

BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL

GCC oil revenue to reach $572b on higher prices, output

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IL revenue for Saudi Arabia and the five other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states will reach a record $572 billion this year on higher crude prices and output intended to replace Iranian exports, a banking association said.

The GCC countries, which account for about 25 per cent of global oil supply, will generate 6.3 per cent more revenue from crude than last year, the Washington-based Institute of International Finance said in a report. The Gulf nations will boost production by a combined 800,000 barrels daily to 17.3 million barrels, and Brent crude will average $114 a barrel this year,

the institute said.

“Saudi Arabia’s production has remained close to 10 million barrels a day since September 2011, despite the recovery in Libyan supply and weaker global demand for oil,” said analysts led by George Abed, the IIF’s director for Africa and the Middle East. “It is likely that Saudi Arabia’s oil production will increase further in the second half of this year to accommodate additional cuts in Iran’s oil production.”

The forecast increase in GCC production is comparable to the amount of crude Iran may not be able to export this year because of

sanctions over its nuclear programme, according to the institute, which represents more than 450 lenders. The GCC includes Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter.

Brent oil has risen 11 per cent this year as the United States and European Union tighten sanctions on crude sales by Iran and amid disruptions in output from Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

GCC nations are pumping more to compensate for losses from Iran, Organisation of Petroleum Export-

ing Countries’ (OPECs’) secondbiggest member. Brent closed at $118.78 a barrel on Tuesday. Economic growth in the GCC will slow to 4.9 per cent this year after expanding 6.9 per cent in 2011 due to higher oil output and a surge in public spending, the IIF said. Average growth for the six countries will ease again to 4.2 per cent in 2013, with oil averaging an estimated $105 a barrel next year, it said. Saudi Arabia’s break-even Brent crude price will decline to $78 or $79 a barrel from $82 a barrel as the kingdom increases production and cuts official spending from 2011 levels, the institute said.

The price needed to balance national budgets elsewhere is $53 a barrel for Kuwait, $94 for the UAE, and $135 a barrel for Iran, assuming Iranian exports of more than two million barrels a day decrease this year by a third, the IIF said.

“Political turbulence in the Arab countries, if it is prolonged, could infect the region with negative consequences,” though this is unlikely, the institute said.

“An escalation of the crisis into a military conflict with Iran could bring about untold damage to the economies, as such a conflict could easily spread.’’

IMF gets over $400b for Europe’s economies

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OVERNMENTS committed more than fresh $400 billion to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help it protect the world economy against deepening debt turmoil in Europe.

That sum is contained in the draft of a statement obtained by Bloomberg News which will be released by Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers after a meeting now under way in Washington. Specific country contributions will be decided ahead of a Mexican summit of G-20 leaders in June, Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said.

Stephen King, chief economist at HSBC Holdings Plc, talks about the European sovereign-debt crisis and growth outlook for the US, UK and China. He speaks with Owen Thomas on Bloomberg Television's "Countdown."

The near-doubling of the fund’s lending capacity is being coupled with warnings that it doesn’t absolve Europe of the need to intensify its own efforts to end a crisis now in its third year and which is still threatening global growth.

“Volatility remains high partly reflecting financial market pressures in Europe and downside risks still persist,” the G-20’s draft statement said.

Underscoring the need to reassure investors that euro-area nations can restore fiscal order without derailing their economies, Spain’s 10-year bond yield today passed six per cent for the first time in four days. Almost two years since Greece was rescued, the concern remains that more bail-

out cash doesn’t cure debt strains and may still not be enough to insulate Italy.

A bigger IMF war chest is “an added plus for the euro zone as it would complement its own firewall,” said Christian Schulz, an economist at Berenberg Bank in London. “But if Italy were to get into trouble it still wouldn’t be enough to defend it.”

In the draft statement, the G-20 said signs “point to a continuation of a modest global recovery” and that recent “tail risks” have begun to recede.

The latest draft is a revision of one late yesterday in which officials cited the “situation in Europe” first in a list of drags on the world economy, which it then said faced renewed stress.

“Growth expectations for 2012 remain moderate,” the group of rich and emerging economies said in the new draft.

The officials promised to be “vigilant” of high oil prices and stood ready to act if needed, while welcoming promises by crude producers to ensure adequate supply, according to the draft. Crude for May delivery today rose $1.55, or 1.5 per cent, to $103.82 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Finance chiefs said Europe should do more to raise its own defenses and meet the often conflicting goals of cutting budget deficits, supporting economic growth and shoring up banks. That lobbying came almost a month since Europe boosted its own firewall to 800 billion euro, meeting a condition for more overseas assistance.

US banks to be examined on overdraft fees

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WO years after regulators gave Americans more power to manage overdrafts of their checking accounts, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is reviewing bank practices to determine if the crackdown went far enough.

The agency, which will decide by the end of the year whether to write new rules, is scrutinising nine banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and Bank of America Corp., said four people briefed on the examination.

The inquiry focuses on how financial institutions persuade customers to enroll in what they call overdraft protection programs. Examiners are looking at online and mailed marketing material as well as scripts used by the banks’ customer-service representatives to determine whether they could be confusing to consumers, said the people.

Bureau examiners have conveyed “a tone of skepticism that this is really a good product for borrowers,” said Jo Ann Barefoot of Washingtonbased Treliant Risk Advisors, who counsels banks on dealing with federal supervisors.

While tighter rules could help US consumers, they also could threaten a major revenue stream for banks al-

ready struggling to replace income pinched by new regulations including a cap on debit-card “swipe” fees.

Last year bank customers paid $31.6 billion in overdraft fees, down from $33.1 billion in 2010, according to Moebs Services, a Lake Bluff, Illinoisbased research firm. About 15 million Americans overdraw their accounts 10 or more times a year, the firm said.

The bureau’s examiners also are reviewing the banks’ justifications for the size of overdraft fees, two of the people said. Large banks charge an average $35 per overdraft, compared with $25 at community banks and credit unions, Moebs reports.

When a customer who’s enrolled in overdraft protection writes a check or makes a debit that puts an account of the rest of the nine banks under scrutiny. Spokesmen for JPMorgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, PNC, Regions and US Bancorp declined to comment.

Richard Cordray, installed four months ago by President Barack Obama as the bureau’s first director, disclosed the overdraft inquiry in general terms on February 22. In a recent interview, he said the agency is looking at “a lot of data” as it coordinates with other federal regulators on the subject.

•World Customs Organisation (WCO) Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya with Japanese Minister of Finance Jun Azumi during WCO’s meeting in Tokyo.

Italy follows Spain in delaying deficit

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TALIAN Prime Minister Mario Monti pushed back his balancedbudget goal amid a deepening recession, six weeks after Spain helped reignite Europe’s debt crisis by abandoning its own deficit target.

The Italian government, which had vowed to balance the budget in 2013, now expects a shortfall of 0.5 per cent of gross domestic product next year, the Cabinet said in an e-mailed statement after meeting in Rome to revise its three-year economic plan. The deficit of 0.1 per cent previously estimated for 2013 won’t be reached until 2014.

“While much progress has been achieved, there’s still a long way to go” to reorder public finances, according to the statement. The new plan forecasts the economy will shrink 1.2 percent this year, more than double the 0.5 per cent contraction predicted in December, before returning to

growth of 0.5 per cent in 2013, the Cabinet said.

“The financial crisis is exacting a huge price on Italian families and young people,” Monti said at a press conference after the Cabinet meeting.

Italy’s backpedalling on its fiscal objectives raises fresh concerns over Europe’s recipe of enacting austerity measures in the face of a recession.

Monti pushed through a 20 billioneuro ($26 billion) austerity plan in December to shield the economy from the debt crisis, though the effort helped tip Italy into its fourth slump since 2001. Spain, which has passed about 40 billion euro of spending cuts and tax rises since December, is mired in a deepening contraction amid the highest jobless rate in Europe.

Bond yields for both countries, which had fallen after an injection of one trillion euro into the banking sys-

tem by the European Central Bank, have surged since Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced on March 2 that Spain wouldn’t meet its deficit goal this year. The yield on Italy’s benchmark 10-year bond erased gains after Italy announced its economic plan, rising 10 basis points to 5.53 percent. Rome time, compared with 4.9 per cent on March 2.

Italy’s economy probably shrank for a third straight quarter in the three months through March, the Bank of Italy said yesterday, complicating efforts to reduce debt. The government’s economic plan today forecasts the euro-region’s second biggest debt burden will rise to 120.3 per cent of GDP this year from 119 per cent in 2011, figures that don’t include contributions to Greece’s bailout and Europe’s rescue funds.

Dubai, Iran trade hits $9.8b

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UBAI’S direct foreign trade with Iran reached 36 billion dirhams ($9.8 billion) last year, boosted by an increase in the price of gold, a much-traded commodity between the two neighbours.

Imports and exports stood at five billion dirhams while re-exports were 31 billion dirhams, with mosttraded items including food, clothing, rugs, cars, diamonds and jewelry as well as gold, Dubai Customs said in an e-mailed statement today. It did not give comparative numbers for the previous year.

“Dubai is like a hypermarket for Iran,” Ahmed Butti Ahmed, executive chairman and director-general at Dubai Customs, told reporters in Dubai. In the United Arab Emirates, 80 per cent of non-oil trade is channelled through Dubai, the Middle East’s business and tourism hub, he said.

Iranians are suffering from the United States’ drive to isolate the Islamic republic’s $480 billion economy through sanctions aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear programme by targeting trade, banking and oil ex-

ports. Some imports have disappeared from the shelves and others have soared in price amid a run on the Iranian currency that saw its dollar value drop by half on the black market earlier this year.

The second-largest producer in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Iran, said in February it will accept payment for oil in any local currency or gold as new sanctions make it harder for trading partners to pay in dollars and euros.

Institutes raise German GDP forecast

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EADING economists have raised their forecast for growth in Germany despite the ongoing European debt crisis.

A group of top economic institutes have improved their outlook for this year to 0.9 per cent growth in economic output from 0.8 per cent in their last outlook in October.

In their twice-yearly group forecast released Thursday, they said low unemployment was making consumers in Europe's biggest

economy more willing to spend money. Meanwhile, business confidence and willingness to invest was rising because European leaders have succeeded in calming some of the market turmoil that reigned late last year.

However, they warned that the crisis over eurozone governments with heavy debts "continues to smolder and that Germany was still not doing enough to reduce its own

debt load of over 80 per cent of gross domestic product.

Eurozone leaders have signed a treaty to limit debt and new governments in Italy and Spain have started trimming deficits and taking steps to make their countries more business-friendly. More support came from the European Central Bank, which made (EURO)1.1 trillion ($1.4 trillion) in cheap loans to banks in December and February.

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•The old hut school •Continued from Page 13 them to the school. We have complained about our challenges, the condition under which these children learn but the past administration never responded. Now that we have enough teaching materials and modern block of classrooms nearing completion, things will improve and parents will be willing to release their wards for education.”

At the Community Primary School, Idofe a block of two classrooms has already been built for the 76 pupils population, courtesy of the Transition Committee Chairman, Jide Ogunsewe, under the

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•A new block of classrooms

Joy as Amosun rebuilds neglected schools present administration.

One of the pupils, Joseph Sowo told Newsextra that until the inter-

vention of the current government, it was a harrowing experience studying under thatch structures.

“It has been horrible in the past

Now that we have enough teaching materials and modern block of classrooms nearing completion, things will improve and parents will be willing to release their wards for education

having classes under the hut, which made some of friends stay away from school and opted to farming and hunting. They have returned now, but while I am in Primary Three, they are in Primary One,” Sowo said.

Commissioner Oladipo, who addressed journalists at Imeko/Afo after inspecting the projects executed there, said it is the desire of the present administration to bring development closer to the rural folks and give them a feeling that they are at of it.

Oladipo explained that the tour has been necessary in order to ascertain the level of compliance of the outgoing transition committees in line with the mandate given to them by Governor Amosun.

“They had been specifically directed to channel the funds allocated to the five cardinal points of the state government and as we can see

here, the council had really done fairly in area of education development.

“Hitherto, the people at the grassroots were cut off from the scheme of things and they rarely felt the presence of government but this Senator Ibikunle-led administration in Ogun State is making a difference.

“In this age of educational development, we saw the condition was not conducive for our children to study; it shows that the past administration with eight years in power did little or nothing to improve this crucial sector.

“But the present administration wants the rural dwellers to also enjoy the dividends of democracy hence the need to give them water where the people asked for water and a befitting blocks of classrooms in places where our people asked for it,” Oladipo said.

Ogun mediates in kingship tussle

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•Deep freezers and drums of kerosene given out

Lawmaker helps slum residents •Continued from Page 13

with some banks for traders in his constituency by June said he is motivated by the desire to serve.

“It is all about service, it is all about giving to the needy, it is about elevating the status of our poor in the society, it is about making some people happy and it is about empowering them to be earning income on a sustain-

able basis.

“They came to me for one assistance or the other and I told them to put on paper what they want to do and what they came back with showed that they just want to survive; they don’t have any means of income and they are suffering and these are the same people who voted for us, so I decided to do something to impact their lives positively”, Ladi Balogun said.

According to him, he has a project monitoring team made up

of both professionals and politicians to look after the beneficiaries and make sure they remain in business.

The lawmaker used the occasion to call on “some of us that God has blessed, we should be able to look at our environment and pick one or two people we can mentor them, serve as role model to them, empower them; we should teach them how to fish, not giving them fish to eat,” Ladi Balogun said.

GUN State government has commissioned an inquiry into the festering crisis among the Ruling Houses over the vacant stool of Onikoko ti Koko of Ebiye community in Ado/Odo Ota Local Government Area of the state.

Alhaji Fatai Ogunlana, Director of Administration and Supplies in Civil Service Commission, is charged with the task of determining the cause of dispute over selection of a candidate to fill the vacant stool of Onikoko ti Koko of Ebiye.

He is also to find out the number of existing Ruling Houses, the traditional order of rotation as well as identify the community’s kingmakers, among other things.

Ogunlana who was given a week to complete the assignment, would be assisted by Bose Olaniyan, Principal Administrative Officer in the Bureau of Establishment and Training as the Secretary.

From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

Inaugurating the body in Oke Mosan Governor’s Office, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Bashorun Muyiwa Oladipo urged Ogunlana and his secretary to come out with workable solutions that would end the kingship tussle in Ebiye community.

He said it was imperative to intervene in the matter as the present administration has resolved to do everything necessary to prevent any breakdown of law and order in the community that could hamper the selection process of the candidates.

Ogunlana promised to carry out the assignment with utmost dedication and sincerity in order to resolve the dispute amicably.

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OR the people of Badia, a seedy slum in the Apapa-Iganmu Local Council Development Area of Lagos, it is happy times again.

Their enthusiasm is borne out of a series of redevelopment projects being handled by the Lagos metropolitan Development and Governance Project (LMDGP), a World Bank intervention agency that is giving the place a new lease of life.

The LMDGP Project Director Mr. Bayo Kelekun said the projects which ranges from a number of roads, canal, primary healthcare centre, and school is expected to cost the agency over N3 billion.

Badia which enjoys strategic location and closeness to the Apapa port and the benefit of a railway line which ran through the community, linking it to other parts of the metropolis like other informal settlements is characterised by open drains and stagnant water.

It also lacked basic infrastructure and social services like water, electricity, schools and health care centres.

Kelekun said the agency focused primarily on Badia Central which until recently is underserved by public infrastructure. He said the agency’s main focus were the construction of a school, roads, canal, for the purposes of promoting hygiene and good sanitation.

According to him, the agency held consultations with community leaders, particularly executive members of Community Development Association (CDAs), on Gaskiya, Afolabi Alasia, Abete , Apata Alasia and Badia Central CDAs, in the identification of key projects.

Alhaji Mohamed Amuda, of Badia central said the living standards of residents of the community have

Lagos slum gets facelift The living standard in our community has changed drastically, especially, with the ongoing road construction and drainage facility •Badia before the intervention

By Yinka Aderibigbe

improved drastically as a result of the intervention by the World Bank assisted agency.

Amuda said: “The living standard in our community has changed drastically, especially, with the ongoing road construction and drainage facility.”

According to him, as at now, more families have access to potable water as a result of 11 boreholes with capacity to supply 5000 - 7500 litres of water daily. This include the provision of 2 500 KVA transformers to

boost power supply to communities around Ireti Owoseni Street and Fadaini / Bade Street Badia, apart from “a well equipped Primary Health Care Centre on Olojowon Street that is open 24 hours.”

Another community leader Mr. Adebunmi Olatunji, who resides in Baale Street, said it is expected that with effective management of the facility provided by the LMDGP by relevant agencies and the local government, good health care services will be continually available to women and children of Badia neighbourhoods”.

The LMDGP Project Director who

was at the site said the agency decided to de-silt and construct a canal to link the “System 5” drainage channel passing through Sari-Iganmu.

Also the agency plans to construct a new road that will run parallel to the canal to be constructed to create new access to Badia from Iganmu. “This will decongest the single access that exists through Ijora,” Kelekun said.

Kelekun whose tenure expired last month, said the canal and the new road, will be at least 1.2 kilometres long. “By the time the construction of roads and canal is complete, Badia will wear a new look and hopefully show more evidence of the beautiful piece of water front real estate that it really is characterised this despised,

but economically potential settlement.”

In the area of road construction, Kelekun said the project will focus on reconstruction using a recently introduced bioclimatic roads technology. “Geo textiles will be used in the construction of these roads work to prevent upward percolation of water from subterranean strata, which is the primary cause of erosion of road surfacing material like asphalt.

“To reinforce these roads and to ensure that that they last at least, 10 years or more, industrial size interlocking pave stones will also be used.

Using pave stones supports low maintenance since small areas can be isolated for repair if needed without affecting other sections of the road”, Kelekun said.

He added that work started on 16 streets in May last year, with the road measuring 4.63 km, while the canal is 1.2 km, with an additional access road of similar distance.

The streets to be reconstructed as bioclimatic roads are: Adefisayo, Adetola, Ajowa, Arewa, Daramola, Fadaini, Giwa and Ireti Owoseni Streets.

Others include Ladejobi, Lawal, Obale, Odofin, Odunuga and Ojora streets respectively.

Other facilities at the settlement include the provision of 2 500 KVA transformers to boost power supply to communities around Ireti Owoseni street and Fadaini / Bade street Badia A well equipped Primary Health Care Centre on Olojowon Street that is open 24 hours, including the ehabilitation of Ajeromi Primary School and construction of the Olojowon Primary Health Care Centre.

Vigilance group intensifies surveillance of border communities

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HE Oyo State Chapter of the Vigilance Group of Nigeria (VGN) has begun intensive surveillance of all villages and border communities.

It is also collaborating with traditional rulers and village heads on how to identify hideouts of criminals, especially illegal aliens, who reside in the border communities under the guise of farm labourers.

Addressing reporters in Oyo town, shortly after the monthly general meeting of the VGN, the State Commander, Mr. Sunday Olajide, said over 3,000 offices and men have already been deployed to border communities across the state to gather intelligence and data about the residents.

According to him, another 4,000 men have been drafted to remote villages, while the remaining 2,500

From Bode Durojaiye, Oyo

members would comb the township areas.

“We will leave no stone unturned in complementing efforts of other security agencies in combating upsurge in crime, especially the influx of illegal aliens who constitute security threats, as well as smuggled arms and ammunitions through the borders. We want to assure the people that we are fully trained and equal to the task.”

The VGN, which has about two million officers and men nationwide, and over 10,000 members in Oyo State, was inaugurated by the late President Umar Yar’Adua to, among other functions, ensure effective community policing with a view to checkmating prevalence of

crime in the country.

The vigilance group underwent several trainings on crime prevention and detection organised by the Federal Government.

The latest was security awareness and training seminars held at Adamasingba Stadium, Ibadan, the state capital, recently. The training which was organised by Abuja– based private security outfit, Absolute Security and Consultancy Services, owned by a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police, Felix Ogbaudu, in collaboration with the office of the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Zone 8, Mr. Uzor Amakalor.

At the occasion, Mr. Amakalor urged the police and VGN to close ranks in order to achieve the desired goal of a crime-free society.

Also speaking, the Commandant-

•From left: Chairman, Itire-Ikate Local Council Development Area Hon Hakeem Bamgbola; Secretary to the council, Pastor Gbenga Oyebode; Supervisor for Works and Housing, Femi Odukunle and his Education counterpart, Prince Yomi Lawrence during project inspection at Ikate.

General of the VGN, Usman Mohammed Jahun, who thanked the police for the training, warned his men against extra-judicial killings, disobedience of the laws of the land and constituting themselves into judges.

In his address, former Oyo State Police Commissioner Moses

Onireti appealed to the VGN men to eschew recriminations and vendetta.

According to him, “Police cannot do it alone. Security management is the joint responsibility of all security agencies, including the VGN, if truly we want to achieve the desired results.”

Monarch marks 10th anniversary

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HE Elewu of Ewu land, His Royal Majesty, Oba Shakirudeen Adesina Kuti, will from May 6 begin the 10th anniversary of his reign in Ewu land, Lagos State.

The week-long event will start with church service at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Oshodi/Isolo Local Government Area, Lagos. It will be followed by a visit to Old People’s Home on Monday, May 7.

On Tuesday, May 8, there will be a symposium with the topic: “The role of traditional rulers in a political dispensation,” to be held at the Oshodi/ Isolo Local Government Hall at 10am.

Wednesday and Thursday, May 9 and 10, will be busy with traditional rites and conferment of chieftaincy titles on deserving personalities at Elewu’s palace, while Jumat service comes up on Friday, May 11, at the Ewu Tuntun Central Mosque at 1:30 pm. The grand finale comes up on Saturday, May 12 with entertainment of guests, to be held at the Ewu Tuntun Grammar School field, Ewu

•HRM Kuti Tuntun.

Royal fathers expected at the grand finale include: His Royal Majesty, Oba Rilwan Babatunde Akiolu, Oba of Lagos; Oba Fatai Adisa Irawo Ogunsi, Oba of OdiOlowo; Oojon of Ejigbo, Oba Moruf Adisa Ojoola and a host of other traditional rulers in Lagos and beyond.

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Nigeria cannot achieve stable electricity until the nation employs right workforce to oversee the generation of energy for industry and homes

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IFTEEN engineering graduates have been selected to undergo training in electricity generation and distribution to help Lagos State in realising its dream of sufficient electric power.

The training was launched by Senator Gbenga Ashafa at Siemens House, Oshodi Lagos.

The graduates, who came from different states of the federation and cut across genders, were among thousands of applicants that applied for Lagos Youth Energy Career Programme sponsored by the senator representing Lagos East in the National Assembly in conjunction with Lagos State Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Lagos State Electricity Board and Siemens Nigeria Limited.

The courses for the programme are expected to run for six months, after which the trainees would be employed by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to apply the knowledge they acquired from the training.

Lauding Senator Ashafa for the initiative, which was said to be geared towards tackling unemployment among the youths, the Lagos State Commissioner of Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr. Taofiq Tijani, said the initiative was timely given the problems confronting the nation in the power sector.

He said: “These youths are being trained today to add values to our country. Because of unemployment, they were unable to apply what they have learned in school. However, Ashafa has engaged these youths through Siemens Power Academy, to impact positively on the nation in the area of power generation and distribution. Lagos State government is in support of this and we believe it will provide the needed manpower to solve the present power problem facing Nigeria.”

The Commissioner counselled the youths to committed and dedicated to the courses that would taught in the six-month programme.

Commending the federal government for opening spaces for states to generate their electricity, Engr. Tijani said the energy reforms would be a win-win move for all tiers of government, adding that federal government should take a cue from the programme and train manpower for power generation.

Ashafa, in his address, noted that the programme was designed to develop well-trained energy and power development professionals for im-

•Senator Ashafa (right) being shown some of the training facilities at Siemens

Senator trains graduates for Lagos electricity project

By Wale Ajetunmobi

mediate employment in the energy sector in Lagos State and beyond. He advised the selected youths to be serious with the training, adding: “training young Nigerians to solve of the most contending problems of our national development is energy rightly dissipated because in the long run, we all will be beneficiaries.”

The senator, who admitted that lack of adequate power supply is one of the reasons for Nigeria underdevelopment, stated that the federal government was right to have en-

gaged the state governments through Independent Power Project (IPP) partnership. He enjoined governors and National Assembly members to repeat the programme in their states, saying that if all hands were on deck, “the nation may have been on the path to solve its energy problem.” Ashafa added that another set

of graduates would be selected for another round of training immediately the present participants finished their courses.

A senior manager, Nasir Giwa, who spoke on behalf of Mr. Alain de Cat, the Chief Executive Officer of Siemens Nigeria Limited, said Ashafa had distinguished between

politics and service through the initiative. Reiterating Siemens readiness to partner with Lagos State government on energy generation, Giwa said: “Nigeria cannot achieve stable electricity until the nation employs right workforce to oversee the generation of energy for industry and homes.”

One of the trainees, Miss Dolapo Popoola, thanked Lagos State government and Sen. Ashafa for the programme, saying the launching of the training was an indication that Nigerian leaders were ready to engage the youths positively to develop Nigeria for the betterment of all.

Oyo council pays for pupils’ exam

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LL Senior Secondary III pupils of Orire Local Government area of Oyo State are to write this year’s NECO ex-

•Dr. Ken Ikpe, CEO, MediaCom and Dr. T.O.E. Ekechi, Chairman, Alternative Electrics Ltd with their wives at the thanksgiving reception of the Efobi’s in Lagos

From Bode Durojaiye, Ogbomoso

aminations free of charge, courtesy of the council authorities.

Already the local government has paid for a total of 606 SS III pupils who have been duly registered to sit for the public examination scheduled for May. Addressing a mammoth crowd including parents and guardians from the 10 wards in the area, the council chairman, Mr. Jacob Abidoye Bamigbose said since education is the route to individual uplift and societal transformation, any right-thinking government would not shy away from encouraging and developing its future leaders.

“The drawn-out debate over the very survival of the planet has stimulated people worldwide to think about the role of education in achieving sustainable development,” he said.

He disclosed that besides the construction of three units of three blocks of classrooms as Skill Acquisition and Vocational Training Centre, work would soon commence on the construction of another six blocks of classrooms at Elefun, Oolo, Ajelanwa, Isepo and Oko-Ile communities.

Bamigboye is a graduate of Guid-

ance and Counselling from the University of Ibadan, and recent recipient of the State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) award for exemplary leadership performance in public office.

He said the Ajimobi-led administration has approved the upgrade of four major roads in the area, pointing out that 15 boreholes, and five VIP toilets have been constructed in response to water shortage as well as preventing outbreak of waterborne diseases. Other programmes embarked upon the council also include routine immunisation (different from the Federal Government’s programme), measles campaign, and Child Health Week, among others.

“We have also provided grinding machines to 50 aged widows, while clinics have also been established for the aged women and widows. Council workers were also not left out, as their welfare has been receiving attention too.

Bamigboye also thanked Governor Abiola Ajimobi for the opportunity given him to serve the people. He enjoined the people to support the Ajimobi administration in its reformation agenda.

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NEWS Youths seek support for Tambuwal, Lawan

US, UK, Egyptian designers for Abuja fashion slow

From Sanni Onogu, Abuja

From Sanni Onogu, Abuja

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GROUP, Muslim Identity (MID) yesterday said leading international Islamic designers are billed for Abuja next week for the second edition of the Islamic fashion show organised by the body.

MID is an Islamic oriented business organisation based in Abuja.

It’s Chief Executive Officer, Abdulhameed Adetona told reporters in Abuja that international Islamic designers such as the Design House Aab and Modesty Active from the UK, Al-Farah, Artizara from America, Bokitta and Ostora from Egypt and Lebanon would grace the show.

Adetona said: “Although the Fashion meets Faith is exclusively for women, Lawung a designer based in the UK that specialises in male executive Jalabiyyah will also participate.”

‘Faith Meets Fashion’ Show is organised by MID in collaboration with its International Clothing Partner, Islamic Design House, (UK).

Adetona said the event “is aimed at extolling the beauty inherent in Islamic fashion and bringing together Muslim female personalities from all walks of life.”

Boy, seven needs surgery From Ugochukwu Eke, Umuahia

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SEVEN-year-old boy, Theodore Chidera Oliver, has been diagnosed of a heart problem. He needs to undergo surgery in an Indian hospital and it will cost N2 million.

His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ukpabi Oliver, cannot afford the amount and are appealing to kind-hearted individuals to help save Theodore’s life.

Your generosity will be appreciated. Please send your donations to: 1.

Account No. 02440520018525, United Bank of Africa (UBA), Account Name: Ukpabi Oliver.

2. Account No. 6012697757, Keystone Bank, Account Name: Ukpabi Oliver and Grace Oliver.

God will repay you for saving a soul.

•Former Inspector-General of Police Mike Okiro (second left); Catholic Archbishop of Abuja Rev. John Onaiyekan (third right); National Chairman, All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA); Chief Victor Umeh (second right); President, National Council of the Catholic Women Organisation (CWO), Mrs. Felicia Onyeabo (right) and others inspecting the prototype of the National Secretariat of the CatholicYouths Organisation of Nigeria (CYON), during a Fund Raising/Award Dinner in Abuja ...at the weekend.

‘Ekiti soon to emerge great state’ •Alawe gets Instrument of Office E KITI State Governor Kayode Fayemi at the weekend said all the government’s resources have been harnessed to “move the state from a potential power to an actual power”.

Fayemi spoke during the presentation of the Instrument of Office to the new Alawe of Ilawe-Ekiti, Oba Adebanji Ajibade Alabi.

He said his administration has put in place the mechanism for the exploitation of the state’s investment opportunities.

Noting the link between economic development and the people’s freedom, the governor said his administration is patnering private investors to turn the state’s economy around.

He said: “The government is also conscious of the abundance of investment

From Sulaiman Sulaiman, Ado-Ekiti

opportunities in the agro sector, where Ilawe stands out.

“We are working with some private investors in this regard, with an assurance of quick interventions, following the eagerness of this administration to make a turn around in our economy, with particular attention on industrial agriculture.”

Fayemi said despite the state’s meagre resources, his administration will continue to seek ways to improve the living conditions of the people.

He said the government has started work on the Ilawe/Ado; Ilawe/Igbara-Odo/Ibuji; and Ilawe/Ikere roads.

The governor said the 16

local governments, with support from the state government, would soon complete the mandatory 5km township roads in each council.

He said the Ilawe–Erinjiyan Road has been completed and the area is now open to investors.

Urging the people to support this eight-point agenda, Fayemi said a steel rolling mill would be established in the state.

He said: “When it becomes operational, the rolling mill would create jobs for youths.”

The governor thanked traditional rulers for their support and assured the people that his administration would eradicate poverty in Ekiti.

Congratulating the new monarch, Fayemi said he is

happy that the struggle for the “stool” did not degenerate into uncontrollable controversies.

He urged Oba Alabi to work harmoniously with members of the community to speed up development.

Fayemi said: “I believe that with your antecedents, it would not be difficult for you to bring your people together to build a strong and development-focused town.

“I appeal to the good people of Ilawe to allow the spirit of oneness and sincerity of purpose to reflect in your support and cooperation with the Kabiyesi.”

Oba Alabi pledged to treat his people with respect, irrespective of religion or social status, and ensure the community’s growth.

He said reconstruction work is on going at the palace.

60 arrested as EBSU shuts campus

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HE Management of the Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, at the weekend shut down the Presco Campus of the College of Health Sciences, following a protest by students of the institution.

The students were protesting the lack of water, electricity, toilets and other facilities in the school.

But the protest, which began peacefully, degenerated into a crisis when security operatives were deployed in the area.

It was learnt that the security men shot canisters of teargas

From Ogbonnaya Obinna, Abakaliki

into the air to disperse the students.

Sources said the students regrouped and started throwing stones at the security agents.

It was gathered that many security operatives were injured and about 60 students were arrested.

The protest disrupted movement on the EnuguAbakaliki Expressway between 7am and 2pm.

One of the protesters said: “On March 26, we peacefully protested the poor

facilities, such as the epileptic power supply and inadequate water supply, which has plagued our university for quite some time. The management promised to address the issue, but nothing was done.

“We are preparing for our exam now. How do we read without electricity? There is no light and no water. The toilets are a mess. But the management is insensitive to our plight.”

To prevent a further breakdown of law and order, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof.

Francis Idike, announced the closure of the campus.

An Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) and mobile policemen have been stationed around the campus.

But the President of the Students’ Union Government (SUG), John Ogbu, said the protest was hijacked by hoodlums.

He called for the release of the arrested students and urged the school’s management to look into their demands.

Efforts to speak with Police spokesman John Eluu proved abortive.

Abia farmers to get N1b CBN loan soon

A •Theodore

N1 billion agricultural loan received from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will soon be disbursed to farmers in Abia State.

The state government broke the news in Bende Local Government Area during the inauguration of the 2012 Cropping Season.

From Ugochukwu Eke, Umuahia

Governor Theodore Orji said the government has also paid its counterpart funds for the FADAMA III, the IFAD– NDDC–FGN–CommunityBased Natural Resources Management Project and the Agricultural Development Programme.

Orji, who was represented by his deputy, Sir Emeka Ananaba, said the 55 tractors procured by the government would be sold to farmers at subsidised prices.

He said the government is determined to create jobs, reduce poverty, ensure food sufficiency and facilitate rapid economic and rural

transformation through agriculture. Orji said the government would subsidise farm inputs through the Growth Enhancement Support Initiative Scheme.

He said the privatisation of the Abia Rubber Company and Nkporo Oil Palm Estates would soon be completed to ensure optimal productivity.

IGERIA Youth Alliance Network (NYAN) yesterday vowed to support House Speaker Aminu Tambuwal and the Farouk Lawan-led subsidy probe panel to ensure justice.

President and Registrar Olufemi Lawson and Atani John, in a statement in Abuja said the House leadership deserve commendation for not succumbing to pressure during the probe which report is now a public document.

The statement reads: “The NYAN has taken a critical look at several burning national issues and we are hereby compelled by this resolution to come out with our position on the various issues particularly on the security situation in Nigeria and the anti-corruption campaign.

“We want to categorically applaud the House of Representatives for always standing on the side of the people on issues of concern such as the recently concluded probe of the fuel subsidy regime in the country.

“We must commend the Hon. Farouk Lawan-led House Ad-hoc committee for going against all odds in ensuring that the probe was effectively conducted and now Nigerians can even access the outcome of the findings of the committee.

“Our special commendation goes to the Speaker Hon. Aminu Tambuwal for his determination towards ensuring the autonomy of the Farouk Lawan-led committee without any interference from his office despite the barrage of condemnations and pressures mounted on him during the probe period.

Ekiti mourns three students From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

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THE Ekiti State Government has sent its condolences to the Federal Polytechnic, AdoEkiti, and the families of the three students who died in an accident on Friday.

The students were returning from an excursion to Lagos, when the incident occurred in Aramoko-Ekiti.

Five of them were injured.

It was gathered that a truck ran into the bus conveying the students.

In a statement at the weekend, Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation Funminiyi Afuye described the deaths as “an irreparable loss”.

He said: “Governor Kayode Fayemi, on behalf of himself, family, government and people of Ekiti State commiserate with the Rector and the polytechnic community on this unfortunate incident.

Four of those injured have been discharged, while the fifth has been released to his mother, a nurse, who insisted on taking him to the hospital where she works in Akure, the Ondo State capital.

He was conveyed to Akure in an ambulance.

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

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NEWS Belgore: Nigeria can be among best From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

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IGERIA can become one of the five best economies of the world if the country is well managed, former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Alfa Modibbo Belgore, has said.

The jurist spoke yesterday in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, during the visit of Vice-President Namadi Sambo to his home.

Sambo, Governors of Bauchi and Kogi states Isa Yuguda and Idris Wada and others visited the former CJN to commiserate with him on the death of his wife.

Hajiya Fatima Belgore died last Thursday in Abuja after a brief illness.

Justice Belgore added: “Nigeria is one of the greatest countries on earth. All we need to do is to ensure stability, but our detractors don’t want the country’s stability. This nation can become one of the greatest five economies of the world if well managed.”

He urged the government to ensure constant power supply and create employment for youths.

Belgore noted that the presidential visit will be remembered by the family because of its importance.

Others on the entourage were Ministers of Police Affairs and Solid Mineral Resources, Navy Captain Caleb Olukolade (rtd) and Musa M. Sada. The Deputy Governor of Kwara State Peter Kishira and Senator Bukola Saraki led the delegation to Belgore’s home.

Five Boko Haram members die in Biu explosion

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T was a day of reckoning yesterday for five members of the Boko Haram group. They died when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) they were preparing in some parts of Borno State exploded.

The Joint Task Force (JTF) in Maiduguri, the state capital, confirmed the incident, which occurred in Biu Local Government, one of the five council areas placed under the state of emergency by the Federal Government since January.

But a Third Brigade, Kano, soldier was shot dead by gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram members on Saturday night.

Speaking on the Biu explosion, the JTF Field Operations Officer in Borno, Colonel Victor Ebhaleme, said: “We got information that some Boko Haram terrorists were planning to invade Maiduguri from Biu town, 187 kilometres away, with a view to causing crises.

“This prompted the JTF, 331 Battalion, in Biu town and the Department of State Security Services (SSS) to

•Sect kills soldier in Kano Bomb kills football fans in Yobe From Duku Joel, Damaturu

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BOMB blast on Saturday night allegedly killed many people watching a football match at a viewing centre in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital.

But the Yobe State Police Commissioner Moses Onariti told our correspondent that nobody died in the explosion.

The bomb blast occurred at Nayi-Nawa, a suburb of Damaturu, during a match between two Spanish football clubs, Real Madrid and Barcelona.

An eyewitness said the victims were burnt beyond recognition.

Some of the fans who were not affected by the bomb blast reportedly ran away midway into the game, leaving their shoes behind.

Commissioner of Police Onariti said the bomb blast would teach people a lesson that it is wise to avoid large gathering because of the insecurity in the North.

From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

mobilise our men to Biu town where we found pieces of human parts numbering about five destroyed by Improvised Explosive Device (IED).”

According to Ebhaleme,

three GPMG,5 AK47 9 magazines, 73 rounds of ammunition and some Improvised Explosive Device making materials were recovered from the Boko Haram suspects.

“Besides, we were able to arrest two of the suspects try-

ing to flee the bomb making factory.”

The soldier killed in Kano, whose identity was not disclosed, was said to have been killed at the Sharada Industrial Estate.

Members of the dreaded sect had reportedly killed a civilian earlier. The victim was simply identified as a photographer.

JTF spokesman Lt. Ikedichi Iweha said the deceased was not on military assignment when he was attacked.

Eyewitness said the soldier was visiting a relation. He was in mufti when he was killed by the gunmen, who were believed to have trailed him.

The soldier’s death raised the number of those killed in gun attacks to three in seven days.

Last Friday, the sect’s members attacked a police checkpoint in Sharada Industrial Estate, where they killed the photographer.

Two police officers sustained gunshot wounds in a similar attack last Thursday.

From Isah Idris, Katsina

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•From left: Prophet Solomon Alao, Chairman, Southwest chapter of the Organisation of African Instituted Churches (OAIC); Archbishop Magnus Atilade, Chairman, OAIC, Ojodu chapter; Special Apostle James Akinadewo and Secretary, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Lagos State, Bishop George Amu, at the OAIC Lagos chapter 21st Anniversary Thanksgiving Service and Induction of newly-elected officers at the Chapel of Christ the Light, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos...at the weekend.

Bomb factory discovered in Kogi

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IGERIAN Air Force (NAF) jet fighters at the weekend raided the hideout of suspected terrorists in Okene Local Government of Kogi State and discovered a bomb factory in a cave on a mountain.

It was learnt that the Nigerian Air Force jet fighters, the Nigerian Army, Nigeria Police

SUBEB meets From: Adamu Suleman, Gusau

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AMFARA State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) will tomorrow hold a one-day stakeholders’ interactive session on basic education.

The session, which will start by 11am at the J.B. Yakubu Secretariat, Gusau, the Zamfara State capital, has Governor Abdulaziz Yari as the special guest of honour.

The stakeholders’ session will anchor the presentation of the interim report of the state’s primary education assessment committee under the chairmanship of Dr. Ahmad Modibbo Muhammad, the Executive Secretary of UBEC in Abuja.

From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

THE National Planning Commission (NPC) has said it would partner the Population Media Centre (PMC) to achieve the Vision 2020 and the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan, using entertainment–education in Nigeria.

The Minister of National Planning Commission, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman, while playing host to the founder of PMC, William Ryerson in his office at the weekend, hailed the achievements of PMC in Nigeria in the area of curbing maternal mortality and family planning issues using entertainmenteducation.

“I am impressed with your programme because it helps to curb maternal mortality in Nigeria and address family planning,” he said.

According to Usman, Nigeria would like to emulate Bangladesh in the area of managing the population well.

Niger to establish refinery From Jide Orintunsin, Minna

Katsina to conduct poll ATSINA State Government has concluded plans to conduct local government poll to elect chairmen and councillors in the 34 councils.

The Chairman of the Katsina State Independent Electoral Commission (KAIEC), Alhaji Abubakar Lawal Malumfashi, who addressed reporters yesterday in Katsina, said the commission has received electoral materials and vehicles for the exercise.

He said officials of the commission are committed to conduct free and fair elections.

Malumfashi said: “We have made 70 per cent preparation and we are ready to conduct the poll as required by law.

“Government has bought three vehicles and 34 motorcycles to transport election materials to polling units.”

NPC to partner PMC

From Mohammed Bashir, Lokoja

and State Security Service stormed the cave at Usome, a community in Okene, and discovered the bomb factory.

A top security operative told reporters that the battle lasted for several hours.

He said the joint security team raided Kabba, Okene

and Ogaminana, discovered bomb factories and killed terrorists.

Items recovered included a gas cylinder, 43 fabricated bomb canisters, double barrel gun and one 1.5 KVA generator.

Others are iron grinder, wires, ammonia, gun powder, time bomb devices, re-

mote starters for motorcycles, batteries, canisters, iron cutters, clamp, welding material, gloves, super glue, tools, bottles, syringe and needles.

The source said the Federal Government is doing a lot to combat terrorism.

He said nobody was arrested during the operation and no casualty was recorded.

Appeal Court orders fresh poll in Kwara

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HE Court of Appeal sitting in Ilorin, Kwara State, at the weekend ordered a fresh election within 90 days in Balogun Alanamu and Oloje wards of Ilorin West/North Constituency.

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and its candidate, Mr. Ayelabegan Kayode Abdul, are challenging the declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Salman Fattah is the winner of the poll in the Ilorin North/West Constituency.

The ACN and its candidate alleged non-compliance with the Electoral Act during the election.

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

The first panel of the tribunal said ACN proved the allegation of non-compliance with the Electoral Act and held that a fresh election be conducted in Balogun Alanamu and Oloje wards within 90 days.

The new three-man tribunal,

headed by Justice S.O. Itodo at the retrial proceedings, struck out the petition.

Mr. Ayelabegan through his counsel, Messrs Babatunde Irukera and Bashiru Ramoni, filed a notice of appeal on November 29 last year. The appeal succeeded and the petition was sent back for retrial.

The panel at the Appeal Court presided over by Justice Tijjani Abdullahi with other justices castigated the new panel for raising the issue of applicability of the Supreme Court decision in ANPP v Goni delivered on February 17 without allowing the appellants to be heard.

Suswam blames Tiv backwardness on elite

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OVERNOR Gabriel Suswam of Benue State has blamed the Tiv elite for the backwardness in Tiv land In his address at the First Tiv National Conference in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, he said disunity among the Tiv elite is the greatest undoing of the Tiv political leadership, as it has negatively affected Tiv land.

He said: “We have elders in Tiv land who in-

From Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi

terpret leadership within the purview of personal aggrandisement instead of altruism.”

The governor decried the level of acrimony which trailed his re-election to the extent that his mandate is still being described as a “ stolen mandate” by the opposition parties. He urged the Tiv to unite.

NIGER State Government has said it would establish a petroleum product refinery at the Colonial Port at Baro in Katcha Local Government, following the positive outcome of the oil prospecting research carried out at the Bida Basins by some geologists.

The Secretary to the Committee on Bida Basin Development (CBBD), Yabagi Yusuf Sani, made this known at the weekend while giving the progress report on the Bida Basin Hydrocarbon Exploration Research at Agaie.

According to him, government decision to establish the refinery was informed by the progress made in crude oil prospecting research carried out at the basins and in order to ensure that oil discovered is processed very close to the discovery area, thereby tackling the menace of pipeline vandalism associated with existing refineries in the country.

NEMA consults Benue, Taraba From Franca Ochigbo, Abuja

THE National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has appealed to the Cross River State Government to hold back its evacuation of the displaced Fulani nomads taking temporary shelter in the state, as the agency has begun consultation with the governments of Benue and Taraba states to facilitate a better process for their return and rehabilitation.

The Chairman of NEMA Special Committee on Displaced People, Mr. Mike Adeyanju, made the appeal in Calabar during a visit to the Cross State Governor Liyel Imoke.

He said: “The agency has set up a special committee to meet with the Governors of Benue and Taraba states to discuss the re-absorption of the Internally-Displaced Persons (IDPs) to the communities where they had earlier fled.”

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

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NEWS Northern governors greet Jonathan THE Northern Governors Forum (NGF) has congratulated President Goodluck Jonathan, for making the list of 100 most influential persons in the latest edition of Time Magazine rating.

Niger State Governor and Chairman of the forum, Dr Babangida Aliyu described the recognition as an acknowledgement of Nigeria’s relevance in the international community.

In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Danladi Ndayebo, Aliyu said the listing of Jonathan is an affirmation of the fact that giant strides were been taken by the Jonathan administration to transform the nation despite huge challenges.

“This recognition should spur the President to work harder in ensuring that the transformation agenda is achieved,” the statement said, urging Nigerians to use the Time Magazine nomination of President Jonathan to imbibe the virtues of love for God and the country, and to strive consistently for the development of the nation.

The forum said it is optimistic that Nigeria can become a world power if we all work hard for the good of the country.

Aliyu congratulated the President and Nigerians for the recognition and prayed to God for quick solutions to the security challenges confronting the nation.

Jonathan orders 24 hours ports operations

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has ordered a 24-hour operations at the ports.

The move is to reduce the number of days for clearing of goods as well as make the ports more competitive.

Finance Minister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala made the disclosure at an interactive session with reporters at the spring meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC, United States.

The minster, who addressed reporters in the company of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Mallam Lamido Sanusi, Anambra State Governor Peter Obi and Executive Director of the World Bank, Dr. Mansur Murthar, also said her bid for the President of the World Bank was well received by the international community and has boosted the profile of not just Nigeria but Africa as a whole.

Lamenting that Nigeria is the only country whose ports does not operate 24 hours, the minister said the country has been losing revenue as goods are being shipped to neighboring countries with efficient ports.

From Ayodele Aminu, Group Business Editor, in Washington DC

Her words: “We are the only port working from 9am to 5pm in the world. Other ports operate 24 hours and that is why their ports are cheap because importers do not have to pay high demurrage.

“Apart from reducing the number of agencies in the port, which we have done, we also need to remove the bureaucratic requirements.

“Besides, we need to make more investment in modern technologies and machineries. So, this is what we are pushing the concessionaries to do.”

Corroborating the minister, Obi said the ports concessionaires have actually not made any meaningful investment.

Noting that 60 per cent of goods shipped into West Africa are meant for Nigeria, he said it was cheaper to ship goods to Ghana than Nigeria.

According to him, empty containers litter the ports because once the goods in them are off-loaded, they are not reloaded for exports and the shippers would rather abandon them.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala said the

Nigerian delegation to the spring meetings was besieged by delegates from Africa and other emerging markets with congratulatory messages, saying that her bid for World Bank’s president has reshaped the relationship of multilateral institutions with the developing countries.

She said her participation has boosted Nigeria’s image and has been very beneficial to the country since the Nigeria delegation arrived in Washington.

On what Nigeria stands to benefit from the spring meeting, the minister said the team came to rob minds with others and to share ideas of what is happening at the global economy to help in planning and preparing for what others are forecasting about the global economy.

She said: “It is vital for us, Nigeria does not exist in isolation, about 60 per cent of Nigeria export goes to Europe and America. So, we need to hear what is happening in other economies to be able to calibrate how we might be imparted.

“What we are taking away from this meeting is that there is fragile recovery of

the US economy, though there recovery is fragile, unemployment is still high above eight per cent, the Euro zone is even being more fragile, the sovereign debt crisis is still overhanging.

“In addition, Spain is now joining the whole configuration of countries that are having problem with sovereign debts.

“As you know, things are very tough in Spain, unemployment is about 23 per cent and youth unemployment is 50 per cent, so one of the big economies in Europe is having problem in addition to ireland and Portugal.

“So, when you hear that the global economy is fragile, U.S. is recovering but still very difficult, that gives you information with which to calibrate what you need to do.”

The minister stressed the need for the country to diversify the economy; implement structural reforms in the power sector; continue with the ports reforms; develop sources of growth in agriculture and housing as well as improve the exportation of other products.

“We do not need to depend on oil only, which is sent to

‘How peace can return to Ekiti PDP’

By Emmanuel Oladesu, Deputy Political Editor

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Fayose, monarch, FERMA boss condole with Fayemi Former Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose, the Oluyin of Iyin-Ekiti,Oba Ademola Ajakaiye and Federal Road Maintenance Agency(FERMA) chair Jide Adeniji at the weekend commiserated with Ekiti State Governor, Dr.Kayode Fayemi over the death of his mother, Madam Dorcas Fayemi.

Fayose said Madam Fayemi’s death was a loss especially when Dr. Fayemi has a lot of responsibilities.

Fayose, who thanked God for granting the Governor long life to outlive his parents, said his mother would be missed especially for the moral support she used to give him.

“We don’t know what we have until we lose it, especially coming at a time when you have so much on your shoulder.

She lived a good life and left at a very ripe age”, Fayose said.

Oba Ajakaiye, in his condolence message said: “Mama is a mother in a million”.

these economies. We need to diversify trade to African countries; to growing economies such as India, China and Brazil and other emerging markets. These are the key message. It just reinforces the part we are already on.” Sanusi also reiterated the need for structural reforms to be put in place.

He said: “We need to protect ourselves because of the vulnerability of our economy to the price of oil.

“This reinforces the need to save at the time when oil prices are high because if these dark clouds translate to fall in oil prices, Nigeria is going to have major problems. This is the whole idea of saying let us look at the excess crude account, let us save now when prices are over $100, it is basically not because we have a problem now. “But if something happens and something may happened based on what we beginning to see, we are going to have problems in both the fiscal and the exchange rate sides.

“We have seen oil fall to $37 per barrel and we all know what the country went through. We will continue engaging until all the tiers of government agree that we have to safe.”

, former Governor of Kwara State, Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki (left) and former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Alfa Belgore during a condolence visit to the former CJN over the death of his wife in Ilorin...at the wekend.

Boko Haram a passing phase, says Abaribe

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HAIRMAN of the Senate Committee on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Enyinnaya Abaribe, yesterday described activities of Boko Haram as a passing phase in the history of the country.

He urged Nigerians, particularly Christians not to be discouraged by the security challenges posed by the ‘’fundamentalists’’.

Abaribe, who spoke at the inauguration of the North Central Nigerian Conference of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Gwagwalada, Abuja, said he was convinced that with prayers, Nigeria will overcome the current security challenges.

He appealed to Nigerians to cooperate with security agencies by giving information on activities of dubious elements in their vicinities, saying, “as Christians, we should not only pray, but watch and pray as directed

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor

by Jesus”.

The lawmaker called for the establishment of Seventh-Day Adventist University in Abuja to boost the education policy of the Federal Government.

The church has a flourishing university, Babcock, located in Ishara, Ogun State.

But Abaribe insisted that “we look forward to a day when we shall have in Abuja an Adventist University like Babcock: Adventist Hospital in Ife and Jengre.”

He said: “I am aware that the mission of the SeventhDay Adventist Church in the North has been passing through a tortuous journey inundated with challenges that are best imagined.

“It is therefore so heartwarming to witness such expansion that can as at today give rise to such re-organisation by which this new

District is created.

“I urge all the clergy and laity in the ministry of the church in the North to put in their best endeavour and the Lord will prosper His ministry.

“This Gospel of the kingdom as expounded by the three Angels’ message of Revelation Chapter 14 must be preached.

“All necessary re-organisation directed to this purpose must be encouraged.

We look forward to the day when we shall have in the city of Abuja an Adventist University like Babcock, Adventist hospitals like we have in Ife and Jengre, this will help the work to grow.”

Those inaugurated to oversee the new Abuja South District included Sunday Omosor, Meshak Yahanna, Elder Manga, Evang Ioryna Clement, Mrs. Nwanyi Obasi, Elder Charles Ogidinta, Ishuka

•Abaribe

Orike, Victor Alozie, Femi Arowolo James, Michael Bale, MG Ochuko, Moses Barnabas, Sandra Benson and Kayode Adewunmi.

Others are Bose Adewunmi, Funke Onatunde, Mathew Isaac, Ezenwanyi Armstrong, Adebayo Idowu, Elder Ohuonu, Mukan Iliya, Udochi Nwachukwu, Solomon Dauda, Joseph Bizza, Dauda Jabba, Crescent Ogenyi, Elder Adeniyi, G. O. Nwachukwu.

KITI State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain Chief Olu Awolumate yesterday declared that peace will return to the troubled chapter, if the Southwest leadership desists from raising a parallel executive committee against the authentic Chairman, Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe.

He advised the zonal leadership to respect the ratification of the election of Ogundipe and his team by the national Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, who had chided efforts to raise any factional PDP executive committee in the state.

Awolumate, in a letter of appreciation to the PDP national leadership said Tukur had laid a new foundation for Ekiti PDP, which should not be dismantled by desperate politicians, adding that the Ogundipe-led committee has confidence in his ability.

The party chieftain also thanked the national secretary, Brig-Gen. Olagunsoye Oyinlola, for his role in resolving the intra-party crisis, adding that it underscored his avowed commitment to peace in the party in the Southwest.

Awolumate warned against alleged clandestine moves by a group to create confusion by insisting that a factional executive committee exists in Ekiti State, despite the affirmation of Ogundipe’s election at the congress.

He said: “The losers should respect the decision of the National Working Committee and subject themselves to the Ogundipe-led SWC. That would serve a better purpose than lobbying around to make the SWC change its decision in Ekiti”.

Awolumate praised Tukur for his forthrightness and patriotism, stressing that PDP would grow under his leadership.

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

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FOREIGN NEWS We’re set for Ehingbeti, says Akabueze

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•SYRIA, HOMS : An handout image released by the Syrian opposition’s Shaam News Network allegedly shows Free Syrian Army Captain Ayad al-Dik (L) holding the hand of a UN observer during their visit to Rastan in the restive central province of Homs ...yesterday. Syrian government troops shot dead six civilians in Homs despite the presence of UN observers in the rebel province to pave the way for a 300-strong mission approved by the Security Council, monitors said.

PHOTO:AFP

Sarkozy loses in first round of election

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RENCH Socialist Francois Hollande has won most votes in the first round of the country’s presidential election, early estimates say.

He got about 28% of votes, according to projections based on partial results, against about 26% for centreright incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy.

The two men will face each other in a second-round runoff on 6 May. The election has been dominated by widespread anxiety over the French economy and the wider eurozone crisis.

The estimates - based on

votes counted in polling stations that closed early at 18:00 (16:00 GMT) - were announced by French media when all voting ended at 20:00.

It is the first time a French president running for re-election has failed to win the first round since the start of the Fifth Republic in 1958.

Sarkozy - who has been in power since 2007 - was facing a total of nine candidates in Sunday’s first round.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen came third with almost 20% of the vote - more than the breakthrough score achieved by her father and predecessor, Jean-Marie Le Pen in 2002, when he got

through to the second round with more than 16%.

After Sunday’s vote, Ms Le Pen told jubilant supporters that the FN’s result was “only the start” and that the party was now “the only opposition” to the left.

Leftist candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, who was supported by the Communist Party, came fourth with almost 12%.

Centrist Francois Bayrou, who was hoping to repeat his high 2007 score of 18%, garnered only about 9%.

There was a high turnout, estimated at about 80%.

Wages, pensions, taxation, and unemployment have been topping the list of vot-

ers’ concerns.

President Sarkozy has promised to reduce France’s large budget deficit and to tax people who leave the country for tax reasons.

He has also called for a “Buy European Act” for public contracts, and threatened to pull out of the Schengen passport-free zone unless other members do more to curb immigration from nonEuropean countries.

Hollande has strongly criticised Mr Sarkozy’s economic record.

The Socialist leader has promised to raise taxes on big corporations and people earning more than 1m euros a year.

Afghanistan, US sign new military deal

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FGHANISTAN and the United States yesterday agreed a draft of a long-awaited deal that will define the scope and nature of a U.S. presence in the country for up to a decade after the pullout of most NATO combat troops in 2014.

The U.S. Ambassador to Kabul, Ryan Crocker, and Afghan national security adviser, Rangin Spanta, initialed copies of the agree-

ment, paving the way for President Barack Obama and his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai, to review it.

“After much hard work together, we are pleased that we are close to completing negotiations on (the) Strategic Partnership,” a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Kabul told Reuters.

“Our goal is an enduring partnership with Afghanistan that strengthens Af-

ghan sovereignty, stability and prosperity and that contributes to our shared goal of defeating Al Qaeda and its extremist affiliates. We believe this agreement supports that goal,” he said.

The deal, under negotiation now for more than nine months, comes at a time when relations between Washington and Kabul remain badly strained by a number of incidents involving U.S. soldiers that have

infuriated public opinion.

It spells out the framework for a future U.S. role in Afghanistan, including aid assistance and governance advice.

But it will not specify whether a reduced number of U.S. troops - possibly special forces - and advisers will remain in the country after NATO’s 2014 withdrawal deadline, with that issue to be covered in a separate status of forces agreement.

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nationally regarded as part of Sudan. The 10-day occupation by the world’s newest nation met widespread criticism, including from UN chief Ban Kimoon, who called it illegal.

South Sudan’s President

Salva Kiir on Friday announced his forces would carry out “an orderly withdrawal” from the area. On Sunday, a Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) spokesman said all southern troops had left.

The SPLA “completed its withdrawal from Heglig

yesterday” spokesman Philip Aguer told AFP. But, he charged, as the withdrawal was ongoing, Khartoum’s air force “continued bombing on the night of the (Friday April) 20th and in the morning of the 21st”.

UN to military: restore order in Guinea-Bissau HE United Nations (UN) Security Council has called for immediate restoration of constitutional order in Guinea-Bissau, as well as the reinstatement of the country’s legitimate government.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that soldiers in Guinea-Bissau seized power earlier in the month.

The putsch came ahead of

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the presidential run-off election that was slated for yesterday, between Prime Minister Carlos Junior and a former president, Kumba Yala.

The country has a history of coups, misrule and political instability since it gained independence from Portugal in 1974.

The 15-member Security Council, in a statement at the

Australian speaker steps aside

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USTRALIA’S parliamentary Speaker has stepped down following claims of sexual harassment and fraud.

Peter Slipper is being sued by a former male colleague who says he received explicit text messages and unwanted sexual advances.

Slipper is also being investigated by police over claims that he misused public-funded taxi services.

He denies all the allegations but says he is standing aside pending the outcome of the police investigation.

Correspondents say the case has the potential to damage Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s fragile government.

Former parliamentary staff member James Ashby, who is openly gay, has launched legal action against Mr Slipper over alleged sexual harassment.

Slipper, who is married, arrived back in Australia from an overseas trip and released a statement “emphatically” denying the allegations.

“The allegations include both a claim of criminal behaviour and a claim under civil law,” he said.

“As such, I believe it is appropriate for me to stand aside as Speaker while this criminal allegation is resolved.

“Once it is clear they are untrue I shall return to the Speakership. In relation to the civil matter, there will be an appropriate process that will resolve the matter in due course.”

LOSS OF DOCUMENT This is to inform General Public of the fire incident that led to the damage of the Original Certificate of Occupancy Registered as Number 60 at Page 60 in Volume 1981, The Deed of Assignment Registered as Number 60 at Page 60 in Volume 2072 and The Deed of Assignment as Registered as Number 89 at Page 89 in Volume 2097 of the Lagos State of Nigeria Lands Registry in the Office at Ikeja belonging to Mr. Olumuyiwa Fagbola and Mrs. Wonuola Fagbola in respect of the Property known as Plot 537 Block XXI, Omole Residential Scheme II, Lagos State of Nigeria.

This publication is for official and record purposes.

PUBLIC NOTICE

South Sudan pulls out of oil fields OUTH Sudan’s army said yesterday it had completed its pullout from an oil field seized from the rival Sudanese regime, ending a bitter standoff which forced thousands of civilians to flee.

South Sudanese officials said the withdrawal from Heglig had been ordered to avert a return to all-out war. But they accused forces of the Khartoum-based Sudanese government of carrying out aerial bombardment on the departing troops.

The South’s troops seized Heglig on April 10, claiming Khartoum was using it as a base to attack the South’s oil-producing Unity State.

Although South Sudan disputes it, Heglig is inter-

HAIRMAN of the Lagos Economic Summit Group, the organising committee of the sixth Lagos Economic Summit (EHINGBETI 2012), Ben Akabueze, yesterday said the state is set to host the best economic summit.

Briefing reporters at Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Akabueze who doubles as the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, said this year’s summit would be the best, assuring prospective investors of the enormous investment opportunities that abound in Lagos State. ‘‘We are as prepared as we can be. We’ve planned very well; we’ve planned carefully, we’ve put the necessary things in place and we believe that we will have the best economic summit so far.”

The Commissioner said the Summit will hold from today to Wednesday, adding that the Summit would focus on four key sectors namely Power, Agriculture and agro-allied, Transportation as well as Housing and urban renewal (PATH).

He explained that massive investments in these four sectors would serve as the springboard for the overall development and growth of the economy of the state on one hand and the nation as a whole. ‘’Each of these sectors serves as an enabler for all other sectors of the Nigerian economy because anything that touches on power, food security, transportation and housing definitely affects the generality of the people’’, he said.

end of its meeting yesterday, also demanded the immediate and unconditional release of some political leaders currently detained.

These are the interim President, Raimundo Pereira, Junior and some other officials.

According to the council, the release of the officials would enable the completion of the presidential and legislative elections.

Mut-Hass petroleum Ltd was shocked and highly embarrassed to have read on the pages of newspapers of their non-appearance at the Ad hoc committee panel on Fuel Subsidy issues as a result is was assumed that we have something to hide and also should make refunds of the subsidy collected.

We wish to state that Mut-Hass was not invited by the Committee and neither does Mut-Hass Petroleum heard any announcement of their summon not to talk of deliberately refusing to appear because they have something to hide.

That for the fact that Mut-Hass did not appear before the Committee does not mean that the job was not delivered. Mut-Hass did a very good and legitimate job which was delivered and hence attracted the subsidy.

Mut-Hass wishes to state that they were only invited by EFCC to appear before them in their Abuja Office on 28th January by 2pm via a letter dated 22 nd January, 2012. This invitation was honoured. There was no invitation from the Ad Hoc Committee on Fuel subsidy to Mut-Hass Petroleum. We honoured EFCC’s invitation, why would we not honour the Committee?

Mut-Hass Petroleum would have even loved to appear before the Investigating Committee since they are very sure of the job they did and that all due process was followed right from the onset of the contract agreement with PPPRA. Mut-Hass Petroleum discharged 9503.453M/Tons of PMS into Masters energy storage facility in Port Harcourt on 06-09-2011 at 1800hrs and completed the product discharge on 08-09-2011 at 0500hrs. This job is for the subsidy received.

Mut-Hass Petroleum is a reputable Company that has been in the Oil and Gas Business for over 15 years.

Signed: Mrs. Toyin Adeoshun (Dir. of Operation)

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THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012

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MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

TOMORROW IN THE NATION

‘From the Akure debacle have come spin and counter-spin.

But wherever he is now, Pa Adefarati must be smiling in his grave. Talk of the rejected stone becoming the cornerstone of Ondo gubernatorial relevance in an election year!’

OLAKUNLE ABIMBOLA

VOL 7 NO 2,104

C OMMENT & D EB ATE EBA

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ERY often we are reminded that we practise democracy but many in the play betray a military cast of mind.

That was what came to mind when I read about the SSS report on Osun State, claiming that the governor was plotting secession. To make the story even juicy, the governor’s enemies added that he was planning to islamise the state.

This sort of mendacious filth was predictable. His enemies are desperate.

Desperation thrives on lies and blackmail.

They grew up in Goebel’s school of propaganda, which states that if you want to lie, try a big one and keep repeating it until it becomes commonplace and even boring.

I have read a number of commentaries on the ongoing events or nonevents in Osun, and a few points have missed some otherwise sapient interventions. One, there is concern by some commentators on the personality of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. Two, they have forgotten to roll out in their minds the highlight reels of his strides in the over one year he has been in office. The second point pivots the nervous folly of his enemies.

Aregbesola has never apologised for being a Muslim. Neither should he, as some who call for his so-called moderation imply. Those asking him to moderate his piety have no grounds for that. He has never issued a bigoted statement in public, neither has he acted either symbolically or actually to present an image of a bigot or apocalyptic Muslim. For Christians, I should remind them of St. Paul’s declaration that “I am not ashamed to declare the gospel and it is the power of God unto salvation.” No one has accused Paul of fanaticism. The engineer of Osun progress has not even gone that far. He declared in his inaugural speech as governor that he is not a governor of Muslims or Christians.

He is a feisty man, driven to excitement about his dream for his state. He also has uttered very pointed statements about his predecessor and the ineptitude that ruined governance prior to his coming.

All of these could easily have driven his enemies to a state of desperate stupefaction. That is what is going on in the state.

They say he calls his state the state of Osun, and in their view this means secession. To me, those who give play either in opinionating or reporting to such a febrile spin disappoint profoundly.

It is linguistic ignorance and a failure to understand the character of syntax that

SAM OMATSEYE

IN TOUCH

intouchsam@yahoo.com 08054501081(sms only) •Winner, Informed Commentary 2009& 2010 (D.A.M.E)

Osun State and its enemies

•Aregbesola worries them. What is the difference between Osun State or State of Osun other than that one has more words and the other is probably more elegant and majestic sounding like the state of New York. It is not only trifling, it is puerile and riddled with mischief.

To say that because he sent some people to Cuba for training means he was planning secession. Have they come with the content of the training? Is it so easy to plot secession? History of secession implies either a longstanding complaint or agenda against the centre like in Ireland or south of the United States or a sudden

slam of injustice as in Biafra. Osun did not experience this, and neither has anything in the profile or history of Rauf Aregbesola suggested this. If he was planning secession, why would he facilitate transportation of agricultural and other goods between Osun and Lagos? And why would he have signed a groundbreaking contract to construct a new road that eases communication within the Southwest so as to reduce the logjam on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. A secessionist would plan only internal roads and weave a methodical strategy to physically cut off his state.

So, the mental overload of foolishness behind this allegation reflects the desperation to tarnish a man. But more fundamentally, it is only a psychologically disturbed set of people who can come up with such casuistry that an anthem implies sovereignty. Even football teams have anthems. I won’t go further than that.

That is where I refer to the military cast of mind. Let us not forget that Osun State was a virtual military camp prior to Aregbesola’s triumph. On a whim, many innocents were arrested, maimed, mauled and killed. The police was a lord unto itself, and the rule of law was adhered to in subversion. Those are actually the features that predate secession.

But because these people think like soldiers in the pre-democracy dispensation, they see any act that promotes federalism as undermining the centre. It is because they are still under the spell of our military past that they don’t understand that a federal state disavows concentration of powers and activities in the centre as we have it today. If we ran a true federal system, even the SSS would have understood the

hollowness of its so-called security report. The military mind is unitary, not federal. They are trained not only to be arbitrary but to be anti-democratic.

If a state has an anthem, and calls itself a state, and hoists a flag and picks up the tempo of democratic rituals, how do they transform to secession or plots of same?

What is wrong for a state to call itself a state!

On islamisation, they claim he asked the students to wear hijab. Where did that allegation come from? Is it because he asked an inter-religious council to look into the matter? This is another example of illiteracy on the part of the accusers.

Interreligious does not mean one religion, if I need to let them know this.

Again, was it not the same governor who hosted Enoch Adeboye, the overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and Patrick Ashimolowo as well as other Christian leaders? And the media reported all these.

If he plans to islamise the state, we should have seen him fire or raise tension with his Christian deputy governor, or send the Christians in his cabinet on tenterhooks of sack or marginalised. No one is complaining.

The kind of security report we expect from the SSS is not forthcoming. Boko Haram is ravaging the North, militancy is on the rise in Bayelsa and high crime in the Southeast, we need the SSS to do its work and not concoct tales like Sherlock Holmes’ “the giant rat of Sumatra,” a rat that was supposed to take over a ship.

The rat was only in the imagination.

I predict more of these fictional rats from the feverish depositories of lies.

They are not only foolish, they are scared.

They see the work the engineer of Osun’s progress is doing in the areas of financial re-engineering, education, infrastructure and agriculture and jobs. They just lost their flamboyance and power. They are fretting and therefore desperate.

Musdapher’s parting gift

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HE speculation spread online that Chief Justice Dahiru Musdapher had resigned and then came the rebuttal.

The fear was that he resigned to protest pressures prior to last week’s verdict on Bayelsa. But it was clear he gave an establishment verdict and the top court in the land affirmed impunity over justice. That is the legacy, one of the big ones, of the Musdapher era. Not much different from his predecessor.

RIPPLES

HARDBALL

UNEMPLOYMENT, NIGERIA’S GREATEST CHALLENGE-Saraki

Between reluctant and enthusiastic presidents

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...and where will you place CORRUPTION sir?

NTIL Gen Yakubu Gowon confirmed over the weekend that he had no desire to be head of state, a position he assumed in 1966 after the counter-coup of that year, we had thought the most famous Nigerian to become head of state reluctantly was Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. Gowon made the disclosure at a symposium on regional integration in West Africa held at the Nigerian Institute for International Affairs (NIIA) in Lagos. Of course we knew he did not plan the counter-coup, and so in some ways it was already obvious he did not plan to be head of state. Now that he has reminded us he had no desire to assume leadership when, as he put it, “it was bestowed on me, and I had to do what I had to do,” he leaves us to wonder whether there is actually no correlation between visionary leadership and desire to be head of state.

This wonderment arises because at least three other former Nigerian leaders also assumed the highest position in the country largely reluctantly. Chief Obasanjo, after the coup that saw the assassination of Murtala Ramat Muhammed, had famously declared he was assuming leadership “against his personal wish and desire.” Even though once he took power he was anything but reluc-

tant, it was enough that he at least brought nothing spectacularly new or forward-looking to government or governance. It is also recalled that soon after he assumed leadership he began his lifelong infatuation with office and power and, according to Gen TY Danjuma, even plotted to extend his militarily-imposed tenure in 1979, a habit he was to carry over to the latter part of his second time in office.

Of the other two reluctant presidents, Alhaji Shehu Shagari’s story appears more striking.

He had indicated interest in being a national parliamentarian, with no second choice as it were. But before the ink ran dry on his application, he had been dragooned by political wheeler-dealers into running for the presidency. He was an excellent gentleman, but he was also not prepared for the high office he assumed after the elections of 1979. He was a modest man, but he did not publicly express the sort of feigned modesty Nigerians now attach to Obasanjo’s first coming.

Strictly speaking, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, an incomparable orator, did not fit the mould of a reluctant president. But even he was just second-in-command to Sir Ahmadu Bello, leader of the winning party (coalition) in the election that ushered in the

•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above

First Republic. Balewa became prime minister only after the Sardauna of Sokoto, as leader of the Northern People’s Congress (NPC), declined to assume the position of head of government. He was also unprepared for the massive challenges of the time.

But forming a dangerous and extreme counterpoise to these reluctant leaders was a coterie of enthusiastic, even obsessive, military officers and civilians who took office equally unprepared. The pack was led by the inimitable Gen Ibrahim Babangida, and seconded by the rambunctious and misanthropic Gen Sani Abacha. Fourteen leaders later, Nigerians discovered to their dismay that lack of preparedness indeed formed the leitmotif of the leadership of all the men who have ruled Nigeria at one time or the other. There was not one military ruler who was prepared for office, and alas, there was also no elected leader who knew what he wanted to do once in office.

The only structured understanding of Nigerian leadership we have is that some reluctantly became rulers, and others plotted fanatically to take power. But all of them, without exception, were united by their common distaste for homework.

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