The Nation April 9, 2014

Senate okays 10 years jail for pension thief

NEWS

Page 6

Newspaper of the Year

News One dead in Ilorin street brawl Sports Chelsea beat PSG to hit semi Business Senate to probe NNPC accounts

•Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

VOL. 9, NO. 2812 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

P11 P53

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TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

EKITI 2014

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•Fayemi: expect more gains •Battle for Southwest begins •Fayose: my supporters didn’t attack Fayemi’s convoy SEE PAGES •No credible alternative to Fayemi, says Rep •9,39,40&64 •From left: Lagos Deputy Governor Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire; Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun; Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola; former President of Georgia, Mr Mikheil Saakashvill; Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered Bank, Mrs Bola Adesola and Lagos Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Mr Ben Akabueze at the 7th Lagos Economic Summit…yesterday.

Story on page 11 PHOTO: NAN

House furious over killings

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AWMAKERS have summoned the Minister of Defence, Gen. Aliyu Mohammed Gusau, the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) and the Inspector-General of Police, Muhammed Abubakar over the Zamfara State killings.

They are to appear before the House of Representatives joint Committees on security to explain the recent

From Victor Oluwasegun, Abuja

killings of villagers, allegedly

by Fulani herdsmen in Zamfara State as well as the escalating attacks by herdsmen in various parts of the country.

The lawmakers also condemned the spate of killings around the country.

The resolution of the House followed a motion brought before it by a member, Hon. Ibrahim Shehu Gusau (APC-Zam-

Sanusi gets May 20 verdict date in suspension suit

fara), under matters of urgent national importance.

Gusau, moving the motion, said the attacks resulted in “the wanton destruction of lives and property”, adding that about 15 villages were raided and over 200 villagers killed in cold blood.

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He said: “Mr. Speaker, honourable colleagues, the past 72 hours have witnessed unprovoked attacks on innocent villagContinued on page 4

From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

USTICE Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court, Abuja has fixed May 20 for judgment in the suit by suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

The judge picked the date yesterday after a six-hour legal battle by lawyers to parties in the case. Proceedings began at 11.30 am and ended around 5.30pm.

The court took arguments on both the defendants’ preliminary objection and the substantive case.

Sanusi is challenging his suspension by President Good•Sanusi

Continued on page 4

Jonathan under attack over poor state of economy NLC, governor, The Economist knock GDP rebasing ICAN: it’s okay

T •Dr. Jonathan

HE President and his Finance experts were under attack yesterday over the “necessary” but “unrealistic” rebasing of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The rebasing makes the country Africa’s largest economy.

To Labour, a good GDP without jobs is meaningless. A governor advised President Goodluck Jonathan to face the reality in the land – hunger, unemployment and poverty – instead of

Unemployment figures are frightening...the government should urgently address the problem —NLC

President Jonathan should be more practical in governance and desist from fiction —Kwankwaso

From John Ofikhenua, Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja and Kolade Adeyemi, Kano being carried away by the rebasing.

The position of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is a continuation of the assessment of the rebasing an-

nounced on Sunday by the government.

World Bank economists have also cautioned that a large economy does

Using these bases, you can see that we have moved into our proper position —ICAN President not guarantee foreign investments.

“What matters is living standards for everyone and the productivity that gurantees those living standards,” Continued on page 4

•LIFE P15 •SPORTS P24 •MONEY P26 •INVESTORS P28 •POLITICS P45

THE NATION WEDNESDAY APRIL 9, 2014

2

NEWS

NATIONAL CONFERENCE

‘Let oil •Human Resources Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc., Mr. Victor Famuyibo (left); Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Nicolaas Vervelde; Sales Director, Mr Hubert Eze and Marketing Director, Mr Walter Drent, at the company’s Pre-AGM news conference at the Civic Center, Victoria Island, Lagos... yesterday PHOTO: MUYIWA HASSAN

•Lamido of Adamawa, Dr Muhammadu Barkindo Mustapha...yesterday.

M •Director-General, National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Paul Orhii (second left) greeting Deputy Managing Director, Swiss Pharma Nigeria Limited, Abbas Sambo when they visited the World Health Organisation Good Manufacturing Practice Compliant Facility in Lagos... yesterday.

With them are Chairman, Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria Chief Bunmi Olaopa (left) and Seun Omoba of WHO. PHOTO: ABIODUN WILLIAMS

•From left: Analyst, Events, Etisalat Nigeria, Martina Ogbebor; Vice Chancellor, Anambra State University, Prof Fidelis U Okafor and Analyst, Youth Market Segment, Etisalat Nigeria, Michael Nwoseh during a courtesy call on the VC as part of the Etisalat Cliqfest at the institution’s Igbariam campus.

•Managing Director, Nigerite Limited, Mr.Frank Le Bris (left); President of Professional Carpenters and Furniture Association, Lagos State, Comrade Anthony Aluko and Head, Roofing and Ceiling Sales Unit, Nigerite Limited, Chris Adegbile, at the unveiling of Nigerite product-Solo Xtra Roofing Sheets at the company’s premises in Lagos... yesterday.

ANY delegates to the ongoing National Conference were taken aback yesterday when His Royal Highness Lamido Adamawa Barkindo Aliyu Mustapha said that oil-bearing states should be allowed to receive 100 per cent revenue accruing from their resources. Mustapha also said that states that do not have oil should be allowed to receive 100 per cent revenue from their land resource.

He noted that the implication of his proposal is that ownership of all land should revert to the states.

The monarch however opposed assigning traditional rulers any roles in the constitution. He said, “Mr. Chairman, I have observed that some people have started jumping the gun by commenting on issues like resource control, resource ownership and so on. In this case, let me also jump the gun and say that states who don’t have oil should allow states which have oil to take 100 percent revenue.

“And states that don’t have oil should take 100 percent land resource. That means all lands should revert to those states. And anybody who wants to use the land or the structure on the land must pay rent to those states or the traditional owners of the land. For example, the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT). As for traditional rulers, I don’t support the idea or opinion to give us any role in the constitution; our roles are conventions like the British constitution and we have been performing them for years and in some places, for more than one thousand years.

“What traditional rulers in Nigeria want is recognition. So I urge this Conference to please, include in the constitution, a provision that will entrench the National Traditional Rulers Council of Nigeria, whose membership will be three traditional rulers from each State, including the President of the council from that state. The other day I heard an ethnic nationality delegate saying that his people are marginalized, because a District Head was appointed in the area, which they don’t support.

“We should not listen to these ethnic chauvinists because if we agree with their argument, we will end up in a situation in Nigeria whereby every ethnic group will demand that the next president,

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor, and Dele Anofi, Abuja

governor, Emir, Obis, Obas, Ministers, Chairman of Local government. We better thank God the major tribes in Nigeria are tolerant, considerate and magnanimous.

Otherwise, we would have found ourselves in a different situation in Nigeria today.”

On President Goodluck Jonathan’s address, he said, “In his address, he almost laid down the challenges facing this country and went ahead to advise us to be moderate, tolerant, considerate and magnanimous in our discussion. I will like to advise us once again to take a cue from Mr. President’s speech and not the so-called civilized people from the West, who always tell us there are no permanent friends but permanent interests and who advocate same sex marriages.”

Former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, and former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chibudom Nwuche, yesterday said that the on-going Conference should consider restructuring the country in line with existing six geo-political zones. The two former principal officers of the National Assembly said that the way out of the country’s myriads of problems was to make the geo-political zones federating units of the country.

Nnamani specifically noted that the issue of local government should be left to the zones “so that if a zone feels it wants to make each family a local government, it should feel free to do so.” He, who urged delegates to focus on the future of the country, insisted that the federal government should be decentralized.

Nwuche, on his part, said that those opposed to restructuring of the country missed the point. He noted that the subsisting structure of the country has made everybody a loser. Insisting that the zones should be the federating units, Nwuche said that the states are too weak and small and could easily be pocketed by respective chief executives. The problem with Nigeria, he said, is the structure which “compels corruption, youth unemployment and other vices,” adding that, “The current status quo has made everybody a loser. The cur-

THE NATION WEDNESDAY APRIL 9, 2014

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NEWS NATIONAL CONFERENCE

states have 100% revenue’ Titbits Delegates protest conflicting information on allowances

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Senator John Braibamfa (left ) with Ms Ankio Briggs...yesterday

PHOTOS: ABAYOMI FAYESE

,,

So whoever wants to maintain the status quo must have a serious rethink. Either those who want to keep the status quo have not done the analysis or they are keeping a blind eye to the negative effects. Otherwise it is self-evident that this status quo is not working and it will not work.

,,

rent structure has produced corruption, inefficiency, unemployment, lack of power, bad roads, poor economic system and others.

“So whoever wants to maintain the status quo must have a serious rethink. Either those who want to keep the status quo have not done the analysis or they are keeping a blind eye to the negative effects.

Otherwise it is self-evident that this status quo is not working and it will not work. Therefore, I strongly support the agitation for restructuring. To make Nigeria work, we must restructure.

“People who are advocating for the status quo to remain either they haven’t read history or they haven’t taken time to analysis even in their own short lifetime why Nigeria has deteriorated. In my lifetime, Nigeria has gone down; the system is not working for us. I believe that those opposed to restructuring are in the minority.

Go out there a s k the

youths who are unemployed what they want, they will tell you they want change.

“The fact is the minority will have its say while the majority will have its way. Most Nigerians want change. We can’t allow a few irredentist minorities to hold us back.

Nigeria is at a crossroads and must be overhauled. I advocate for the zones to be the federating units, the states are too weak and small they can easily be pocketed by the respective chief executives. The local governments are too small; they should be expunged entirely. So I advocate for zonal structures, not states with weaker centre. The federal government should handle common issue, common currency, foreign affairs, and general oversight.”

Retired colonel Tony Nyiam, in his contribution, said the negotiation at the conference is between those who wanted the existing system to continue and those want a change from the status quo. And for Professor A.B.C. Nwosu, who also spoke about the need for devolution of powers, the federal government has over-burdened itself with responsibilities. He said, “We must stop ‘do or die affair’ through devolution of powers.”

While meta-

phorically describing the conference as the assembly of lions, chickens, cobra and scorpions in one room, Maj. Gen. Alexander Mshelbwala said delegates should be honest to themselves “so that at the end of the day, we can arrive at equity and justice.” But Fati Eunice Ibrahim promptly raised Point of Order to challenge Mshelbwala over the reference to the conference as an assemblage of dangerous animals.

In his contribution, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Na’Abba said to fix the country requires good leadership. He noted that more than anything else the country required good leadership, adding that the quality of leadership in the country is declining and needed to be rescued. Na’Abba also emphasized that political parties should take the issue of internal democracy seriously.

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor, and Dele Anofi, Abuja

ROCEEDINGS began yesterday with complaints over the quality and quantity of food provided for lunch at the conference. A delegate was livid and said N4,000 cost per plate was rather exorbitant. He suggested that the contractor should be dropped for a new one with modest cost and quality food. But the Chairman, Justice Idris Kutigi, stemmed further discussion on the issue, saying he knew nothing about the food, adding that the Secretary, Valerie Azinge, would address the issue. Nothing was heard till the end of proceeding.

Plenary proper however commenced on a lighter mood when Erelu Olusola Obada, former minister of state for defence, protested the inclusion of ‘Mrs.’ In her name, asking that it should be deleted. “Please delete ‘Mrs.’ from her name. Erelu is now ‘Iyom’ number two,” Justice Kutigi said amidst laughter. Discussion soon shifted to other matters, including conflicting information on remunerations of delegates at the Conference. Delegates are agitated over the actual financial remuneration accruing to them and asked for public disclosure of the total package by the leadership of the conference yesterday. According to an aggrieved delegate who pleaded anonymity, contrary to what they were meant to believe, each member is going home with less than N4m per month. The delegate said the leadership of the conference would be asked for the balance of the money.

Lending credence to the insinuation, after the last speaker had made his contribution, Binta Musa, a Federal government delegate, raised a point of order that media reports have been contradictory on the actual amount paid to delegates and that the leadership should disclose it to the media for Nigerians to know. She said there was nothing clandestine about what they were doing and the leadership should not be afraid to make it public immediately. The entire floor was in support of immediate disclosure. The Chairman, who was surprised that members do not know what they were paid, however promised that the Assistant Secretary Administration and Finance, Prof. Mohammed Yakubu, would address the issue today.

It was also gathered that Lagos State delegates have rejected the allowances from the Federal Government. Instead, they are being paid by the state government, citing undue secrecy surrounding the allowances. But the Assistant Secretary, Media and Publicity, Akpandem James, said he was not aware that Lagos delegates rejected their allowances. “What I know is that three members from Lagos and six in all rejected their allowances on the basis that it was a privilege to be chosen for the conference and would rather not burden the government with the financial obligations. They said they were ready to see their participation in the conference as part of their contribution to national development. So, I am not aware that Lagos delegates rejected their allowances,” he said.

When he raised a point of order, Tunde Bakare of the Save Nigeria Group (SNG) reverted his earlier objection to addressing delegates in languages other than English. He said he was impressed with a delegate who interpreted the Islamic prayers he offered before his speech and that as such he has gained more knowledge with that. The cleric urged his colleagues to emulate such in order for others to benefit. Major general Alex Mshelbwala also caused a stir when, in his submission, he said bringing lions, chickens, goats and cobras together in a gathering like this is risky. A woman delegate would not have anything like that as she protested that there were no cobras or lions and chickens in the conference. But she was shouted down by her colleagues for not understanding the import of the language.

Engr. Bob Njemanze from Imo State saw no reason why President Goodluck Jonathan’s inauguration speech was being applauded by almost all the delegates. He said: “I don’t see much that has required such applause in this speech, if the man has done exactly what he was supposed to do. But we are now converting privileges to rights and rights t privileges.

“It is our entitlement; we should have good governance. So if a President comes out here and announces here things that would make for the betterment of our people, I don’t see why we should be sycophantic as those who were found in the two million-man march. There is nothing so particular that we have not found in other speeches. What I think is most important in this circumstance is the implementation of those things that the President has enumerated. And we should praise the speech writers who have captured the mood of the nation and the mood of the President. We should list our priorities and our privileges.”

While commending the Chairman for handling proceedings excellently so far, Njemanze however faulted him for the undue attention and time allotted to Lamido of Adamawa because there are some Nigerians that cannot be subjected to intimidation in an assignment like this one. “I wonder why my Governor even nominated me, and I asked my wife. She said you know you are not a team player. I asked her, after four children with you, my team mate, what other thing do I need to prove that I am a team player?”

The tone of discussion changed when the Labour Party leader, Dan Nwanyanwu, noted that tribalism and religion were the major causes of challenges confronting the country. According to him, aspiring and brilliant Nigerians would not be supported either by the government or communities where he did not come from. He also said corruption has dealt a serious blow to the psyche of the country. Nwanyanwu was however taken on by a media representative, Sani Zoro, who debunked assertion that tribalism and religion were the causes of the country’s problems. He said Nwanyanwu, while contesting for the presidency of a trade union, was supported by a leading power block who was a Northerner. “Tribalism and religion were no barriers when he was being supported by a Northerner. All of a sudden now, they have become our problems,” he asked sarcastically.

A woman delegate was angry that Gen. Ike Nwachukwu was said by a delegate to have flogged a woman head of school in the past. “If it were to be a man, he wouldn’t have flogged him,” she said. On a lighter note, Vice Chairman, Prof Bolaji Akinyemi said, “It’s a pity that Gen Nwachukwu has left the hall to defend the veracity of that allegation. We set up a tribunal to be headed by Mama Market and will have their sitting tomorrow morning.”

Chief Ajibola Ogunsola also caused some buzz round the hall when he proposed that parents that have more than three children should be declared as contributors to the problems of Nigeria.

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

NEWS Counter-terrorism: Military not targeting Muslims, Fulani, says DHQ

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•Members of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP), Yaba College of Technology chapter protesting the eight-month strike PHOTO: MUYIWA HASSAN on Ikorodu Road, Lagos…yesterday.

Sanusi gets May 20 verdict date in suspension suit Continued from page 1

luck Jonathan. Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) are co defendants.

Plaintiff’s lawyer, Kola Awodein (SAN) argued that the President lacked the powers to unilaterally suspend the CBN Governor despite his alleged offence.

He argued that the President’s exercise of the executive powers provided in the Constitution was subject to the Act of the National Assembly.

He contended that in this case, the President was expected to exercise his power to remove the CBN governor in accordance with the provision of the CBN Act. “There is contention that there is no power to suspend the CBN governor under the CBN Act. The ACT in section 7(4) has provided when somebody can act in the place of the CBN governor,” he said.

Awodein argued that the since there is no provision for the suspension of the CBN governor in the CBN Act implies that the President has no powers to suspend the governor.

He further argued that the express mention of one thing is

the exclusion of the other, to support his position that the non-reference to suspension in the Act implies that it is not allowed.

“If it was the intention of the law to give the President the power to suspend, it would have expressly provided that,” he said, stressing that the CBN Act has effectively prohibited the President from suspending the governor of the CBN. He argued that under Section 1(3) of the CBN Act, the bank is made an independent body with the intention of making the bank operationally independent, so that there will not be interference of any sort in its operations, except as permitted under the Act. Awodein contended even if the President was to exercise control over the bank, which include the suspension of its governor, such must be done with the support of 2/3 majority of the Senate.

He urged the court to hold that his client has made out a proper case for the court to void his suspension.

Responding to the defendants’ objection to the suit, Awodein argued that the defendants misconstrued the plaintiff’s suit.

He contended that the suit simply seeks the court application of its interpretative powers to interprete the provision of the CBN Act vis a vis the action of the Pres-

ident.

Awodein argued that the defendants were in error when argued that the case was employment related and should be struck out.

He argued that as against the position of the defendants, the plaintiff. Is not an employee of the President to have qualified that case as a dispute between an employee and an employer.

He said his client is an employee of the CBN, He urged the court to dismiss the defendants’ objections.

Defence lawyers - Fabian Ajogwu (SAN), Mike Ozekhome (SAN) and Solomon Umoh (SAN) had while arguing the preliminary objections, urged the court to strike out the suit because it was employment related.

They argued the by virtue of Section 254(1)(c) of the Constitution, the Federal High Court lacked the jurisdictional powers to hear the case.

The defence lawyer further argued that the plaintiff’s claims were caught by the exclusivity confered on the National Industrial Court by 4ection 254(1)(a) of the Constitution.

On the main suit, they argued that the suspension of the plaintiff by the President was within his powers. They contended that

the CBN was an agency of the Executive arm of the Federal Government, whose powers as contained in Section 5 of the Constitution is vested in the President.

They contended that the plaintiff is a public officer and an employee of the Federal Government by virtue of his appointment, was not immune to the control of the President.

They argued that the President, in suspending Sanusi did not terminate his employment, but merely asked him to step aside to enable the Financial Regulatory Council (FRC) a statutory body, perform it’s it’s role of investigating allegations of procedural and financial breaches raised against him.

The defence lawyers noted that the suspension was intended to enable an unbiased investigation of allegations that Sanusi awarded contract of about N163billion, amounting to 63 per cent in excess of the CBN’s authorised share capital.

They urged the court to hold that the President acted within his powers and dismiss the suit.

Before the commencement of proceedings, the judge denied insinuations that he was under pressure from the defendants in his handling of the case.

Continued on page 58

HE Defence Headquarters yesterday said the military is not targeting either Muslims or Fulani for elimination in its counter-terrorism strategy.

It said the military has remained non-partisan and nonsectarian.

The Director of Defence Information, Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade, faulted allegations of religious and ethnic cleansing by Jama’atul Nasril Islam (JNI).

The DHQ said: “The statement issued by the Secretary General of Jama’atul Nasril Islam (JNI), Dr Khalid Abubakar Aliyu alleging extra-judicial killing of Muslims and people of Fulani ethnic group by the Nigerian military is spurious and inflammatory.

“Much as the military is reluctant to join issues with a respectable religious organisation like JNI, the need to set the records straight makes this response imperative.

“The Nigerian military remains non-partisan, non-sectarian and will continue to be the symbol of patriotism and a unifying factor in the face of threats to national sovereignty.

“If this wild allegation was meant to cause disaffection or brew disharmony within the military, then it has woefully failed as the Nigerian military does not operate along religious or ethnic lines.

“Contrary to the false claims, no law abiding individual, faith, ethnic group or organisation is being targeted as alleged by JNI.” The Defence Headquarters advised JNI not to join propagandists who are trying to run down the military.

The statement said: “It is unfortunate that the unjust imputation is coming from respectable and responsible organisa-

House furious over killings Continued from page 1

ers by Fulani herdsmen who now organise themselves on motorcycles with sophisticated weapons ranging from sub-machine guns, assorted rifles, automatic weapons to unleash terror on helpless and defenceless villagers.

“The most surprising thing is that these attacks can go on for hours without any form of intervention from the security agencies in and around the state as

Jonathan under attack over poor state of economy

Continued from page 1

World Bank Chief Economist, Africa Region, Mr. Francisco Ferreira, said.

The government said the long-overdue rebasing – the last one was done in 1990- places Nigeria’s GDP at $509.9b as against South Africa’s $370.3b.

In a report, the Economist said in spite of Sunday’s announcement of the rebasing, “Nigerians are not richer than they were on Saturday night. The majority of the country’s 170 million people live on less than a dollar a day”.

In a statement by NLC’s acting President Promise Adewusi titled “Good GDP without sustainable and viable jobs: A time bomb”, the labour said the GDP will only make meaning to the labour family if it translates into improved living conditions for the ordinary Nigerian, which is not the case at the moment.

Adewusi said the living conditions in the past couple of years have been progressively nosediving and pathetic.

Deriding the data, the congress said: “Nigeria being the biggest economy in Africa ought to make no news if vital national statistics, such as population, natural resources etc,

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

tion like JNI. “We urge the body not to join in the fray of propagandists bent on discrediting genuine efforts at finding solutions to the nation’s security challenges.

“The military will continue to be driven by patriotism and commitment to the cause of the nation and its law abiding citizens.

“All responsible organisations are requested to cooperate in the efforts at addressing the nation’s security challenges rather than compound the problem.

“Individuals with similar prejudices are advised to abandon such biases as the challenges at hand call for prayers and support of all well-meaning organisations and groups instead of trying to turn the public against the military.

“Rather, all responsible organisations should be more interested in seeking solutions to the nation’s security challenges.

“It must be noted that the Armed Forces comprises Nigerians from all religious persuasions and cannot be used against any particular religion as purported. The military will not be distracted by unfair imputations from any quarter.

The DHQ assured Nigerians that it would not shield anyone from justice.

It added: “For the avoidance of doubt, the Nigerian military and other security agencies do not have any policy, agenda or plans to perpetrate massacre or extra judicial killing of law abiding citizens.

“The authorities have no reason to take side or shield anyone from justice.

“Individuals apprehended in the course of counter-terrorism campaign will continue to have access to justice as provided by law.” the attackers do whatever they like with their victims, include raping of women.”

While calling for a review of strategies in the fight against terrorism, the lawmaker said the security agencies need to be more committed in the way they handle various situations.

The Green Chamber resolved to summon the minister and the IGP, who incidentally are from Zamfara State as well as the Continued on page 58

How Nigeria’s economy grew by 89 per cent overnight

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N Saturday, April 5th, South Africa was Africa’s largest economy. The IMF put its GDP at $354 billion last year, well ahead of its closest rival for the crown, Nigeria. By Sunday afternoon that had changed. Nigeria’s statistician-general announced that his country’s GDP for 2013 had been revised from 42.4 trillion naira to 80.2 trillion naira ($509 billion). The estimated income of the average Nigerian went from less than $1,500 a year to $2,688 in a trice. How can an economy grow by almost 90% overnight?

Nigeria has a deserved reputation for corruption, so a sceptic might think the doubling of its economy a result of fiddling the numbers. In fact it is the old numbers that are dodgy. An economy’s real growth rate is typically measured by reference to prices in a base year. In Nigeria the reference year for the old estimate of GDP was 1990. The IMF recommends that base years be updated at least every five years. Nigeria left it far too long; as a result, its old GDP figures were hopelessly inaccurate.

The new figures use 2010 as the base year.

Why was the upgrade so big? To come up with

were to form the requisite assumptions for assessment.”

The congress added that economic growth without jobs and food on the table, meant nothing in reality.

“Unemployment figures are frightening. We have found it necessary to warn time without number that the army of the un-

an estimate of GDP, statisticians need to add together estimates of output from a sample of businesses in every part of the economy, from farming to service industries. The weight they give to each sector depends on its importance to the economy in the base year. A snapshot of Nigeria’s economy in 1990 gave little or no weight to fast-growing parts of the economy such as mobile telephony or the movie industry.

At the time the state-owned telephone company had a few hundred thousand customers. Today the country has 120m mobilephone subscriptions. On the old 1990 figures, the telecoms sector was less than 1% of GDP; it is now almost 9% of GDP. Motion pictures had not shown up at all in the old figures, but the industry’s size is now put at 1.4% of GDP. Nigeria’s numbercrunchers have improved the gathering of statistics in other ways. The old GDP fig-

employed youths constitutes a veritable army of the disparate, the desperate and the angry, and that government should urgently address the problem.

“So far, nothing has illustrated this fear better than the recent Immigration recruitment tragedy. We do not need any economist or diviner to tell us that life

ures were based on an estimate of output.

The new figures are cross-checked against separate surveys of spending and income.

The sample on which the data are based has increased from around 85,000 establishments to 850,000. Only businesses with a fixed location are included: the traders who weave precariously between the traffic are not captured. Even so, many small businesses are now part of the GDP picture.

Of course, Nigerians are no richer than they were on Saturday night. The majority of the country’s 170m people live on less than a dollar a day. What the revised GDP figures show is that its economy is far more than just an oil enclave, exporting crude to pay for imported goods from richer countries. The oil industry’s share of GDP is now put at just 14%, compared with 33% according to the old figures. Manufacturing is much larger than previously thought. Services are booming.

It is still a tough place in which to do business. But any company or investor who wants exposure to Africa’s fast-growing markets cannot afford to pass the continent’s largest economy by.

has improved, because it has not.”

A GDP, said Adewusi, could not be said to have significantly improved if our industries are virtually shut and the operating environment increasingly hostile. Government should worry that the performance index of industries dropped from 46.08 per

cent to 25.81 per cent while service industry more than doubled to 50 per cent from 23.03 per cent. “ The NLC submitted that this represents a significant change in the economy, a negative change that points to consumption to the exclusion of production.

The NLC said Finance Minis-

•Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala

ter Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, for good measure, added: “We did not set out to become the biggest economy in Africa. We set out to measure how much the economy has changed. And that is the outcome. Becoming the largest economy on the continent is a positive development, but that is not the destination ...”.

“As cheering as this news may be, however, we at the Nigeria Labour Congress are not completely swayed by the latest GDP figure, nationalist as it seems.”

The statement added: “As we Continued on page 58

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

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NEWS

EFCC re-arraigns three oil marketers

By Adebisi Onanuga

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HE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday re-arraigned three oil marketers over alleged N789.6 million subsidy fraud.

Those re-arraigned are: Adamu Maula, George Ogbonna and Emmanuel Morah.

The accused were arraigned alongside their companies Downstream Energy Sources Limited and Rocky Energy Limited - before the court, presided over by Justice Lateefat Okunnu.

They are facing a 26-count amended charge bordering on conspiracy, obtaining money by false pretences, forgery and uttering.

The defendants were earlier arraigned on February 26, last year, on an eight-count charge.

They pleaded not guilty to the charges and were granted bail for N50 million each with two sureties in like sum.

The EFCC counsel, Mr Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), alleged that the defendants committed the offences between March 2011 and January 2012 in Lagos.

He alleged that they fraudulently obtained N789.6 million from the Petroleum Support Fund for a purported importation of 14.2 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit from Europe to Nigeria.

They were also accused of forging documents, including bill of lading, certificate of quantity, certificate of origin and cargo manifest, which were allegedly used in committing the fraud.

Jacobs said their offences contravened Section 1 (sub-sections 1, 2, 3) and Section 8 of the Advanced Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2006.

According to him, it also contravenes Sections 363 and 364 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State 2003.

The defendants again pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read to them.

Justice Okunnu ordered that they continue to enjoy the bail conditions earlier granted them by the court.

She adjourned the matter till June 10 for the beginning of the trial.

‘Anti-graft agencies haven’t curbed corruption’ From Jide Orintunsin, Minna

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HE Chairman of Northern States’ Governors Forum (NSGF) and Niger State Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu yesterday passed a verdict of failure on all anti-graft agencies in the country.

The governor accused them of not doing enough to curb corruption because the menace was increasing at an alarming rate.

Aliyu spoke in Minna yesterday when he hosted the Fiscal Responsibility Commission, led by its Acting Chairman, Mr Victor Chinemere Muruako.

The governor regretted that the efforts of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Fiscal Responsibility Commission had not reduced corruption.

Mixed reactions trail proposed merger of aviation agencies

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HERE were mixed reactions yesterday on the proposed merger of three aviation agencies– Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET)–into the Federal Civil Aviation Authority (FCAA).

Scores of aviation workers discussed the fate of their jobs, if the government implements the merger.

The workers were scared that should the merger hold, they would lose their jobs.

An industry player, who spoke in confidence, said the proposed merger was at variance with Article 8365 of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

The article stipulates that the aeronautical agencies should function and exist independently.

By Kelvin Osa Okunbor, Aviation Correspondent

The operator noted that at a time global aviation was going digital, Nigeria returned to the Stone Age. He said industry players were still studying the technicality of the issue to know the position to take on the matter.

It was learnt that some stakeholders might contact ICAO President, a Nigerian, to prevail on the Federal Government to reverse the proposal.

Aviation sector unions held an emergency meeting on the effect of the proposed merger.

But some airline operators said it was a welcome development because the affected agencies were within the same purview in developed world.

A former Airport Commandant at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Group Captain John Ojikutu, said whoever advised the gov-

ernment to merge NAMA and NIMET with NCAA did not understand the reality in the sector.

The advisers, he told reporters, probably forgot to include the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) in taking the nation back to the era of self-regulatory.

Ojikutu said: “(Steve) Oronsaye must have been wrongly briefed by some egg heads. How do you merge operators of the industry with the regulator? This merge completes what (former Aviation Minister, Ms Stella) Oduah started: bringing the industry under the jackboot of the government. Must the government drive the policy, regulate and operate the industry?

We must be in a world of our own and out of the Earth planet.

“We should get the private operators to invest more in the industry or

commercialise government operators, such as FAAN and NAMA, as recommended in the Privatisation and Commercialisation Act of 2000. The government, instead, is appropriating the industry to itself alone.”

The General Secretary of the Nigerian Aviation Professional Association (NAPA) Comrade Abdul Rasaq Siedu said the decision was shocking because a similar step in the past was unsuccessful.

He said: “It didn’t work by the former minister, Air Marshal Nsika Eduok (retd). It was practised and it failed.

Secondly, the recommendation of Steve Oronsaye cannot work in our aviation industry because Nigeria’s aviation is not for Nigeria alone. Aviation is global and it is regulated by international bodies, such as ICAO, IATA and others. If they do that, Nigeria will lose Cat-

egory One.” Captain Dele Ore, President of the Aviation Round Table, a think tank group in the industry, said: “What the government is planning to do is wrong. It will take us back to the 1995 era. And whether we like it or not, I give them two years, they will return back again.”

“You don’t merge a regulatory body with a service provider. NAMA and NIMET are service providers; you cannot merge them with NCAA, which is a regulatory body, this is at variance from international laws laid them

by ICAO and other relevant international bodies.

“Who are the experts who did the report. Did they even give consideration to international convention and international best practices? Those are the questions one would love to ask. And whatever they do may be a big slap to our faces.”

Insurgency: North’s governors allay fears From Jide Orintunsin, Minna

•President Goodluck Jonathan (second right) with Deputy Vice President, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Titus Soetan (left); Vice President, ICAN, Chidi Ajaegbu (second left) and ICAN President, Kabir Mohammed, during the ICAN leaders’ visit to the President at the Presidential Villa, Abuja...yesterday.

PHOTO: AKIN OLADOKUN

Over 1.5m candidates to write Saturday’s UTME

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NE million, six hundred and six thousand, seven hundred and fifty-three candidates will write the 2014 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) across Nigeria and abroad on Saturday.

The examination, which will end on the May 17, will hold in 392 examination towns in Nigeria and seven overseas.

The Registrar/Chief Executive of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, spoke yesterday in Abuja on the examination.

He regretted that only 35

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From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

per cent of the 1,735,892 candidates who sat for the 2013 UTME secured admissions in Nigerian universities.

Ojerinde addressed reporters in Abuja to announce the beginning of the examination date and preparations for the task.

The registrar blamed the poor admission placement in the universities on the management of the institutions who he said did not utilise the prescribed carrying capacities of 50 per cent.

He said: “Most Federal

universities do not admit up to their carrying capacities.

The government has opened up accesses but universities’ management chooses not to utilise the spaces in their institutions. For instance, some departments may have space for 250 students, but the school may admit only 180, thereby denying admission to 70 students.

“I have spoken to most of these institutions but if I am pushed to the wall, I will not hesitate to publish their names in the national dailies.”

He said this year’s examination would be in three

modes: Computer-Based Test (CBT), Dual-Based Test (DBT) and Paper Pencil Test (PPT).

The JAMB chief insisted on the 2015 deadline for PPT, adding that the board would ensure that only CBT examinations are conducted all over the country from 2015.

The foreign centres for the 2014 UTME include: Accra in Ghana; Buea in Republic of Cameroun; Cotonou in Republic of Benin; London in the United Kingdom (UK); Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Johannesburg in Republic of South Africa and Abidjan in Cote d’Ivoire.

THE Northern States’ Governors’ Forum (NSGF) yesterday urged Nigerians, especially those living in the North, not to despair over the persistent attacks on innocent citizens.

The chairman of the forum and Niger State Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu spoke in Minna, the state capital, in reaction to last weekend’s attacks in Zamfara State where about 200 people were reportedly killed.

The governor urged wellmeaning Nigerians not to stop praying to God to end the spate of killings in the region.

In a statement yesterday in Minna by his spokesman, Mallam Danladi Ndayebo, the governor, on behalf of the NSGF, noted that the recent attacks in the North negated the efforts of security forces to stop insurgency in the region.

The statement reads: “The NSGF expresses shock and sadness at the attack in which about 200 persons were killed in Yar Galadima village in Maru Local Government (of Zamfara State) at the weekend.

“It is regrettable that the attack came a few days after several people were killed in a similar attack in a community in Zurmi Local Government of the state.”

The forum commiserated with families of those killed or injured during the attacks.

It urged security agencies to double their efforts in protecting the lives and property of the citizens.

SSANU slams FUTA for ‘false’ publication

HE Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU) has condemned an advertorial published in a national newspaper on April 2 by the Registrar of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Dr Modupe Ajayi, on behalf of the Vice Chancellor, Prof Adebiyi Daramola.

In the advertorial, the Registrar reacted to a visit to the VC by the leadership of SSANU, on March 28, which ended abruptly due to what he described as the un-

•FUTA: Allegation false

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan and Damisi Ojo, Akure

friendly attitude of the vice chancellor.

Ajayi urged SSANU executives to stay away from the university and not incite the staff against the management.

SSANU’s Southwest National Vice President, Comrade Alfred Jimoh, addressed reporters at the University of Ibadan (UI) on the matter.

He said Ajayi was not

present when the union leaders visited the university and was not competent to publicly comment on what transpired at the meeting.

According to him, the accusation that the union was belligerent is misplaced.

Jimoh said the vice-chancellor had always been belligerent and unfriendly towards SSANU. The union leader, who was among the unionists at FUTA during the visit, alleged that

Daramola did not respect any of the unions, particularly SSANU and its officers, otherwise he would not be treating them badly.

“If Prof Daramola would not respect a SSANU team, comprising the Vice-President, Deputy National President, National Treasurer, National Public Relations Officer and other zonal officials, if he could shut down the leadership of the union the way he did in his office, we wonder who then was belligerent.

“The FUTA advertorial on February 10, 2014, discussed the issue of illegal redeployment of career directors in FUTA. The Registrar, with the VC, submitted that the university’s Governing Council had taken a decision on the matter. Raising this point in the advertorial, the VC inadvertently betrayed the root of his anger against us. However, the VC and his management are being economic with the truth over the matter of the directors,” Jimoh said.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

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NEWS CJN, NJI chiefs frown at ‘delayed’ justice dispensation

How to secure Nigeria’s future, by ex-ambassador

By Nneka Nwaneri

•Seek improved ICT deployment to courts From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

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HE Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloma Mukhtar, and the Administrator of the National Judicial Institute (NJI), Justice Umaru Eri, have expressed discomfort over the slow pace of justice delivery in the country.

They blamed this on the low application of computers and other information and communications devices in the operations of the court.

The duo advocated an improved application of information and communications technology (ICT) in the operations of the court to ensure prompt disposal of cases.

Justices Mukhtar and Eri spoke in Abuja at an ICT workshop for magistrates, with the theme: Enhancing the Capacity of the Magistrate Courts Through the Use of ICT. Justice Mukhtar said: “The issue of delay in disposal of cases in our courts is of great concern me. There is an urgent need to increase the speed of disposal of cases.

Consequently, the use of ICT has proffered solutions to this problem.

“The computerisation of the Judiciary will allow for easy integration and cost effective solutions to capture, organise and retrieve a wide range of information across many locations and easily exchange data effectively with colleagues and court users.”

The CJN, who was represented by Justice Suleiman Galadanci, noted that in a democratic setting, the ultimate goal of any government, especially the Judiciary, was the provision of an enabling environment for an un-impeded access to justice and the sustenance of the framework to preserve the rule of law.

•From left: Prof. Ogunsanwo (left) with and President and Chairman of Council of Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM), Dr. Nelson Uwaga, and Prof. Munzali Jubril, at the centenary Management Day lecture of the institute in Lagos...yesterday.

Senate okays 10-year jail for pension thieves

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HE Senate yesterday endorsed a 10-year jail term for anybody convicted of stealing or misappropriating pension funds.

It also stipulates N10 million fine to be paid by any pension fund administrator which fails to meet its obligations to contributors.

Convicted offenders would be made to forfeit the assets they acquired with the funds, the Senate proposed in a Bill to punish acts of malfeasance in pension funds.

The Bill proposes that each of the directors of a pension firm would pay N5 million fine, if found complicit.

From Sanni Onogu, Abuja

This followed the consideration and adoption of the report of the Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service on Pension Reform Act Cap P4, LFN 2011 (Repeal and re-enactment) Bill 2014.”

The Bill, which was read the third time and passed, also accommodates employees of private firms in the contributory pension scheme.

The passage of the Bill automatically repealed the Pension Reform Act 2004, thereby making it possible for every

person who worked in either the public service of the federation, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), states or local governments and the private the sector, receive pension benefits as and when due.

The scheme covers private organisations with at least three or more employees.

The lawmakers, after an exhaustive debate on the Bill at its committee of the whole house, voted for its passage into law.

They urged President Goodluck Jonathan to assent to it as soon as possible.

The Bill, among others

punishments, prescribes a 10-year jail term for anyone who misappropriates pension funds, besides refunding three times the amount embezzled by him or her.

It also stipulates that whoever attempts to misappropriate the fund, on conviction, would be liable to the same punishment for the full offence under the Act. It adds that all the funds received as penalty by the Pension Commission would be paid into the Pension Protection Fund whose establishment was provided for under Section 82 of the Act.

I asked God to allow me reach 40, says Mark

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ENATE President David Mark yesterday said he used to ask God to allow him attain the age of 40.

The senator representing Benue South spoke yesterday

•Jonathan, Senate hail Mark at 66 From Sanni Onogu, Abuja

at the National Assembly in Abuja during the celebration of his 66th birthday.

He said: “As a young man, I asked God to allow me attain the age of 40. There was no reason for 40; I just chose the figure of 40. But by the time I was 40, I had already been chairman of abandoned properties, a military governor, a minister and a member of Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC).

“When I attained the age of 40, I asked for five more years. I wanted another five years to attain the age of 45, and by the time I was 45, He sent me on exile.

“Maybe if I had not asked

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for more five years, I would not have been sent on exile.

But God has done so well for me that all I can do at this stage is to do the things that please him.”

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday hailed the Senate President for his role in stabilising the nation’s democracy.

Jonathan’s wishes were contained in a birthday letter read by Mark at plenary.

Also yesterday, the Senate eulogised the Senate President as he attained the age of 66.

This followed a motion

by Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, who said Mark’s 66 th birthday was beyond the number of years

•Mark

he has lived.

He said: “Rather, it is about the life of productive service to God, the nation and humanity. His life has benefited the nation greatly.

“He is one of the few Nigerians who have played very active roles in the nation’s political life under the military and democracy.

I have often likened him to the Biblical Paul.

A FORMER Nigerian ambassador to the European Union (EU), Prof Alaba Ogunsanwo, yesterday said Nigeria should return to true federalism to secure its future.

He said power should be devolved to the second tier of government based on the existing geo-political zones.

Ogunsanwo spoke in Lagos as the guest speaker of the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) centenary Management Day lecture.

He spoke on the theme: Defining Nigeria’s Nationhood at 100 Years: The Viewpoint of Management.

The former ambassador to Belgium said the first step Nigeria should take in securing its future is going back to the basics “in terms of our federal system of government and its bastardisation over the years”.

He said the unification decree and the abolition of the federal system in 1966 and the years of military rule from then on caused a rapid centralisation of power resources and responsibilities, which made the struggle to control federal power a matter of life and death.

Jonathan approves deployment of Perm Secs PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has approved the deployment of some Permanent Secretaries.

They are: Mr Linus Awute, from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), General Services Office, to Ministry of Health; Malam Mohammed Bukar, from the Office of the SGF, Special Duties, to the Office of the SGF, General Services Office, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, was deployed from the Ministry of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs to Ministry of Science and Technology; Mrs. Rabi Jimeta, from the Ministry of Science and Technology to the Ministry of Environment.

Mr Taye Haruna, was moved from the Ministry of Environment to the Ministry of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs.

The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF), Alhaji Bukar Goni Aji, directed that all handing and taking over should be completed on or before Wednesday, April 16.

LUTH doctors plan indefinite strike

HE Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) chapter of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), Idi-Araba, Lagos, has given a 21-day notice to the management of the institution to begin an indefinite strike.

This followed its allegation that the hospital’s management had not yielded to any of its demands, despite a three-day warning strike that began on Monday.

The main reason for the action, it said, was the demand that there should be downward review of “arbi-

By Oyeyemi Gbenga-Mustapha

trary increase in the hospital’s fees” with its ripple effects.

The chapter’s ARD President, Dr Olubunmi Omojowolo, explained that the sudden increases in the hospital’s fees were driving away patients in negation of the hospital’s vision and mission.

He said: “The association is deeply concerned about the recent hike in hospital fees and the new policy, which states, for example, that patients must pay before surgery, even in an emergency.

We deem this insensitive to the plight of Nigerians. The management should revisit the decision, given its attendant negative effects on the image of the hospital, residency training and, above all, the security implication.

“The management has been given four weeks to address the issue of gross shortage of working materials and consumables after which residents will no longer be under any obligation to work in such areas or circumstances. The situation is as terrible as asking house officers to buy work-

ing materials and consumables.

“Our residents are henceforth directed to stop compelling house officers to buy working materials and consumables.”

The union’s Secretary General, Dr Moronkola Ramon, said other areas of contention the association wanted addressed in the next 21 days include immediate withdrawal “of the contentious letter of employment given to new residents and a new letter issued with all the strange and provocative clauses expunged”.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

CITYBEATS

7 CITYBEATS LINE: 08023247888

•The vandalised car

How soldiers assaulted us, by lawyers

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WO lawyers, , have petitioned the Army for their alleged assault by some soldiers attached to the 81 Division, Lagos.

Benson Olagbade and Maduka Onwukaeme alleged that on March 31, the soldiers who drove an escort van marked NA2428B05 around Marina, Lagos Island beat them up and damaged their vehicle in a traffic gridlock.

According to the petition, the incident happened when Olugbade, one of the lawyers who drove the car, tried to negotiate a bend after the Apongbon Bridge on their way to Marina.

Onwukaeme recounted: “It was at about 8:07am. We were on the left side of the bridge when a green Nigerian Army open-back Pick-up van marked NA2428B05, which was being roughly driven, suddenly appeared behind our car. The van was not in a convoy.

“The width of the road made it impossible for us to make adequate way as demanded and the car directly in front of us was not moving too because of the traffic. Abruptly, the van overtook us and blocked our vehicle. Instantly, the driver and two other soldiers dressed in camouflage uniforms jumped down and started beating Mr Olagbade Benson who was driving.

“The driver was flogging him with horsewhip while the other soldiers were hitting him with fists and the butts of their AK47 rifles even as they threatened to shoot him.”

Onwukeme said the soldiers

If lawyers going about their lawful duties could be savagely assaulted, nearly killed and their car vandalised by uniformed soldiers who should protect them, we wonder what would be the fate of the common man...

,

By Precious Igbonwelundu, Staff Correspondant

attempted dragging Olagbade out of the car. Olagbade, he said, was injured, blood gushing out of his nostrils.

Calling for the prosecution of the soldiers, the lawyers said the incident made them miss two important proceedings at the Lagos High Court.

They described the soldiers’ actions as disgraceful, brutal, near-fatal and extremely traumatising. “Protests by other motorists, including a naval officer, did not deter them in their murderous rage.

They left Olagbade bleeding profusely from the nose.

Olagbade, who was already badly injured, asked me to take their vehicle’s number for us to be able to file a report against

them, since we could not dare bring out our phones, “On hearing this, the soldiers came back. The driver brought out a dagger from a pouch and threatened to stab me, but he was prevented by Olagbade who quickly wound up the window glass automatically.

“Instantly, the soldiers completely broke the window glass with the butts of their AK47 rifles, giving them chance to pond me severally. This left me with injuries on my hands, face and neck. The officers drove off towards Victoria Island,” he said.

Onwukaeme told The Nation that they reported the matter at the division’s headquarters at Kofo Abayomi, Victoria Island same day.

He said: “For the fact that we did not meet the General Officer Commanding (GOC) the day we went to complain, we decided to also put the complaint in writing to his office to forestall a recurrence.

If lawyers going about their lawful duties could be savagely assaulted, nearly killed and their car vandalised by uniformed soldiers who should protect them, we wonder what would be the fate of the common man in the society.

“Copies of our petition were sent to the Lagos State governor and to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) because we want this ugly issue investigated.”

The spokesman for 81 Division, Colonel Abraham Ochagwuba, told The Nation that he was not aware of the issue.

Ojora family wins land case

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Lagos High Court has declared that the Ojora Ruling House has the statutory right of occupancy of a vast parcel of land that has been a subject of litigation.

The property includes a substantial part of the land hosting the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) in Ijora; Iganmu, Ebute-Metta, OrileIganmu, part of expressway and container terminal at Ebute-Metta.

Justice Kazeem Alogba handed down the verdict in a 21-page judgment in Suit No. LD/443/2002: Oba Fatai Aromire (Ojora of Lagos) and two others versus Chief Ogunyemi, Fredrick Orokoto and Mrs Oladunni Stella Olasehan.

Oba Aromire had prayed the court in year 2002, for among others, a declaration that his ruling house is entitled to the statutory right of occupancy of the disputed

land, particularly, those delineated and edged Red on Survey Plan No: BAL 192, dated October 25, 2001.

He sought an order setting aside the purported sale of part of the land to the other defendants by the NRC and a declaration that the defendants are trespassers on the land.

The monarch also sought an injunction restraining them from further trespassing on the land.

In her defence, Mrs Olasehan said her father was from IgboOlomi, now in the Ibeju-Lekki area of the state. She said that in 1963, he joined his friend, the 4th defendant, to settle in the marshy Badia area.

She said the area was later acquired by the federal government in 1929 for NRC, adding that her father never paid rent to the Ojora Family because he was not its tenant.

Justice Alogba noted that the defendants never denied the

•Oba Aromire

claim by the claimants that they were trespassers on their land in Portion B and C in Exhibit C7. “Consequently, the purported letting of the said portion to 3rd and 5th defendants by NRC was ultravire, null and void and of no effect and I so hold. I finally make an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants from further trespassing or disturbing the peaceful and quiet enjoyment on the said land,” Justice Alogba said.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

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NEWS Oyo council chief bans night parties From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

THE Transition Chairman of Ibadan North West Local Government of Oyo State, Wasiu Olatunbosun, has banned night parties and clubbing in the council.

This followed a violent clash between some hoodlums at a party on Thursday night.

Olatunbosun spoke with reporters yesterday after the council’s security meeting.

He said: “The hoodlums started their problem at IdiOro, which later extended to Ogunpa, Idi-Ikan, Popoyeosa, Oke-Padi and Dugbe. We feel it is our responsibility to provide a lasting solution to it and that is why we have banned night parties and clubbing in the council indefinitely.

“We implore security agencies to patrol trouble spots and share information. We urge them to beam their searchlight on the suburbs, where hoodlums gather to foment trouble, to unravel the identities of those behind the clash and block their weapons supply.”

Olatunbosun urged residents not to panic and assured them of security.

Ondo by-election: ‘Obanikoro militarised Ilaje’

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CHIEFTAIN of the Labour Party (LP) in Ondo State, Prince Banji Okunomo, has asked Minister of State for Defence Musiliu Obanikoro to explain what he was doing with soldiers on the day of the Ilaje Ese-odo Federal Constituency by-election.

He urged the authorities to probe Obanikoro’s presence in Ilaje on the election day.

Okunomo warned that the declaration of the byelection inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would “spell doom”, if it is not reversed.

Speaking yesterday on Sun Rise Daily, a programme on Channels Television, the former Ilaje

•INEC’s decision’ll spell doom for Jonathan, says LP chieftain Local Government chairman said should INEC be allowed to hold a supplementary election, “despite the fact that a winner emerged in the election”, the commission would be leaving a precedent that will affect the ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 presidential poll.

He said INEC’s declaration of the election as inconclusive because there was no voting in Arugbo Ward 11 does not hold water because before the poll, the commission announced that election would not hold in the area because of the activities of militants protesting against the implemen-

tation of the amnesty programme.

Okunomo said nothing should delay the declaration of a winner in an election that held in 21 of 22 wards, adding: “The electoral body knew abinitio that there won’t be election in the affected area and that it would not affect the overall election. That was why it went ahead to conduct the election, only to turn around because it wants to do the bidding of some money bags and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) bigwigs.

“The environment was militarised by people who had no business in the area on the Election Day. Why

did Obanikoro lead soldiers to Ilaje on that day?”

On the possible consequence of INEC’s action, if not addressed, the LP chieftain said: “I am afraid that should the powers that be refuse to call INEC to order now and declare the LP candidate winner, this will create serious problem for the PDP in the presidential election.

“What that will mean is that if elections fail to hold in states where a state-ofemergency was declared in the Northern part of the country for security reasons, elections held in other parts of the country would be assumed useless.

“What is currently play-

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HE body of a 45year-old man, Abayomi Olanrewaju, has been found dangling from a tree in Akure, the Ondo State capital.

It was found on Monday morning behind the stadium on the Ilesha-Owo expressway.

It is believed that the late Olanrewaju, who was living with HIV, committed suicide after his wife and three children left the house.

Police spokesman Wole Ogodo said Olanrewaju’s remains had been released to his family.

From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

Court rules on Ondo Poly suit July 3 From Damisi Ojo, Akure

THE National Industrial Court (NIC), sitting in Akure, the Ondo State capital, will, on July 3, rule in the case filed by 32 sacked workers of the Rufus Giwa Polytechnic (RUGIPO), Owo, against the institution’s management.

Ten lecturers and 22 nonteaching workers, who were sacked last year, are praying the court to reinstate them.

They said they were laid off for no reason.

But the management said they were sacked because the institution needed to be re-organised and their services were no longer required.

Man, 45, commits suicide in Ondo From Damisi Ojo, Akure

Amosun, Dabiri, Shonekan for Anyaoku lecture OGUN State Governor Ibikunle Amosun and Chairman of the defunct Interim National Government (ING) Chief Ernest Shonekan are some of the guests expected tomorrow at the Fourth Chief Emeka Anyaoku Lecture holding in Abeokuta.

The theme of the lecture is: “Youth and education: Securing our future.”

Amosun is the chief host.

Shonekan will chair the occasion.

House of Representatives’ member Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa is the guest speaker. Former ViceChancellor, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Prof.

Ibidapo Obe, will deliver the key note address.

The organiser is the Youth Affair International Foundation.

ing out in the Ilaje/Ese-odo by-election is an agenda by some people, who want to prove they are popular where they are not. Ondo State is not a place where people can come to show their might. The bitter lesson learnt by those who tried to do same in the October 20, 2012, governorship election should be enough warning that Ondo is not a place to occupy.

“The rational thing to do at this time to protect our fragile democracy is to allow wisdom prevail and declare the LP candidate, Mr. Kolade Akinjo, who polled the highest votes in the by-election, winner.”

Yoruba elders mourn Ajayi •Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola holding a plaque after he was made a Life Patron of the Nigeria Union of Tailors in Osogbo...yesterday. With him are his deputy, Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori (left); President, Nigeria Union of Tailors, Osun State chapter, Alhaji Kasali Akinloye; and the Vice-President, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Abiola Alabi.

Industrial court halts Ekiti doctors’ strike

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HE National Industrial Court (NIC), sitting in Abuja, has restrained members of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) in Ekiti State from going ahead with their planned strike.

NIC President Justice B.A.

From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

Adejumo, who gave the interim restraining order yesterday, said the government and the people of the state may suffer irreparable losses, such as death, if the

doctors go on strike.

The state government approached the court seeking an interim injunction restraining doctors from going on strike, pending the determination of the motion on notice filed by the

government.

Justice Adejumo granted its application, saying: “The respondents are hereby restrained from embarking on any strike in any manner pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.”

‘Nothing wrong with Ekiti monarchs’ compendium’

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HE Oore of Moba Kingdom, Oba James Popoola, has said there are no fallacies and “outright lies” in the compendium on Ekiti monarchs.

Oba Popoola was reacting to a statement by the Ewi of AdoEkiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe, who disowned the compendium of historical facts issued by monarchs across the state’s 16 local governments.

The Ewi said traditional rulers should not improvise stories to “distort historical facts”.

But Oba Popoola, in an advertorial in this newspaper, said the Ewi’s attack on the compendium was aimed at him.

He said: “I am of the opinion that it would have been more appropriate if one had read more of these ‘fallacies’ made by other royal fathers

in respect of their persons and royal stools and some of the notable questionable claims he alleged to have read in many released memoirs and publications, including the just published Ekiti Historical and Royal Compendium.

“Unfortunately, the Ewi focused on my person and the institution of Oore of Otun and this has clearly revealed the intended target.”

Oba Popoola said there are historical facts to back the position in the compendium that the Oore of Otun was the number one monarch in Ekiti and has a special relationship with Ife, adding that he never claimed to lead Yoruba Obas.

He said: “Otun-Ekiti has a very rich and enviable history, which cannot be distorted, irrespective of

‘Otun-Ekiti has a very rich and enviable history, which cannot be distorted, irrespective of whether the world has advanced in age or has moved to a stage of aggressive democracy.’ whether the world has advanced in age or has moved to a stage of aggressive democracy.

“All authorities, both oral and written sources, confirmed that Oduduwa and the Oore had a relationship and the relationship subsists till today between the Oore

and the Arole Oodua, Oba Okuande Sijuwade.”

The Ewi, in his statement on the compendium, said: “The Oore cannot and must not claim to be co-existent, co-substantial or co-equal with Oduduwa. This may be a brazen assault and, indeed, an abomination, which can only be contemplated by an outsider, who has no Yoruba Royal blood in him.

“In this advanced age, when the world has moved to the stage of aggressive democracy, when even in the Commonwealth of Nations, the Queen of England is no longer the head, it is unfortunate that his ambitious claim of being the number one Oba in Ekiti State is gradually disturbing the existing happy relations among the people and Obas of our peaceful state.”

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GROUP, the Yoruba Council of Elders, has described the late Chief Godwin Olusegun Kolawole Ajayi (SAN) as “a quintessential and unique lawyer and elder statesman”.

In a condolence letter to the widow yesterday, signed by its President, Maj.Gen. Adeyinka Adebayo (rtd.), and Secretary-General Chief Idowu Sofola (SAN), the group said: “With heavy hearts, the Igbimo Agba Yoruba, a.k.a. Yoruba Council of Elders, commiserate with you and the family on the demise of your dear husband and friend, G.O.K. Ajayi, the Oodole of Ife. “He was an untiring and astute legal icon, a colossus of the first generation of lawyers, a great legal mind and a titan of the legal profession in every sense of word.

“He was an indefatigable lead counsel in several wellcelebrated political and nonpolitical suits. Your husband and father, an epitome of professional competence, was definitely a force to reckon with and the marks he left will remain indelible in the hearts of many.

“G.O.K. will be greatly missed by the legal profession, the Yoruba race and Nigeria as a whole. He was fearless. He was a dear friend and mentor to many.

His exemplary life was dedicated to thorough and transparent contributions to the development of the law and service to humanity.”

9

THE NATION WEDNESDAY APRIL 9, 2014

NEWS

Fayemi: expect more gains E KITI State Governor Kayode Fayemi has pledged to execute people-oriented programmes, if elected for a second term on June 21.

Fayemi made the pledge yesterday while campaigning in Ekiti East Local Government Area.

He said projects executed by his administration were having desirable impacts on the people’s lives, adding: “We urge you to vote for our party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), to enable us add to our list of achievements in the last three-anda-half years.”

The governor, who visited Omuo, Eda-Ile and Isinbode, among other towns, was received by traditional rulers, community leaders and other interest groups.

Fayemi urged the people to be vigilant as the election approaches to prevent antidemocratic elements from

EKITI 2014

From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

stealing their votes.

Expressing confidence that beneficiaries of the Social Security Scheme for the Elderly; the Volunteer Corps scheme and free health programmes in government hospitals would vote for him, he said this was necessary to enable his administration continue “the good work”.

At Omuo, Fayemi said his administration renovated and equipped the Omuo General Hospital, as well bought a new ambulance and drugs for it.

He said his administration bought and installed a new transformer, which happens to be the sixth in the community, to boost power supply.

Fayemi said the community benefited from the fivekilometer road projects car-

•A crowd of Fayemi’s supporters at Omuo...yesterday.

ried out by the local council, adding that work had commenced on the OmuoIsinbode-Agbado Road and an ultramodern market.

Explaining that more dividends of democracy are still in the offing, Fayemi said: “Keep your voter cards. Do not forget it at home on the Election Day. We are ready to work harder. Please re-

main resolute. I know you will not let us down. You have enjoyed the dividends of democracy from a progressive government and I know you want this to continue. We are ready to work harder to improve the standard of living.”

At Eda-Ile, the governor pledged to link the only major road in the commu-

‘My supporter’s didn’t attack Fayemi’s convoy’

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KITI State Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) governorship candidate Mr. Ayo Fayose has denied claims that his supporters attacked Governor Kayode Fayemi’s convoy in Ado-Ekiti on Monday.

In a statement, Fayemi’s media aide, Mr. Yinka Oyebode, said the gover-

From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

nor’s convoy was attacked around 6pm by hoodlums who came out of Fayose’s campaign office.

He said the thugs threw stones and bottles at Fayemi’s campaign train, injuring some All Progressives Congress (APC) members and smash-

ing the windshields of their vehicles.

Denying the claims, Fayose alleged that suspected APC members attacked his campaign office in Adebayo.

In a statement, PDP Publicity Secretary Pastor Kola Oluwawole alleged that suspected APC members shot at and threw stones into

Fayose’s campaign office without being provoked when the governor’s convoy drove past.

Oluwawole said about 10 suspected hoodlums returned to Fayose’s campaign office and shattered windows and vehicles on the premises with bullets.

He said the police were investigating the incident.

Obanikoro’s soldiers seal off another Lagos project

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OLDIERS invaded yesterday another site of the Lagos State government’s housing project and stopped contractors from working.

The Secretary of the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC), Babajimi Benson, told reporters that the soldiers claimed to be the Presidential Task Force.

Benson said: “We are developing a large parcel of land opposite the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) building in Ikoyi. We are building three structures. One is a multistorey car park that is expected to accommodate 850 cars.

“We are about 40 per cent into the project. The car park has a facility to accommo-

S

By Miriam Ekene-Okoro

date the physically-challenged. In the same building, we are building offices that will accommodate the Lagos State Waterways Authority’s (LASWA’s) Head Office and a world class jetty that will be used by all Lagosians.

“At about 10am (yesterday), we got a call from our partner, who is funding the project and has expended about N7 billion on it. The project is not being funded by tax payers’ money. When we received the call, we rushed to the site and saw soldiers, who asked us to show the proof of ownership and title of the land.

“The Certificate of Occupancy is vested on LSDPC. We have been on this land since 2010 and no one has ever come to disturb us.

They ordered everybody out and sealed it up.”

Managing Director of the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) Yinka Marinho said the current trend of stopping peopleoriented projects in the state was worrisome, adding: “It is unfortunate that we find ourselves in this situation because a lot of work has gone into it. We have put a temporary jetty at Falomo, pending the building of a new jetty.

“It happens to be a major stop for commuters who use the waterways, especially those who work around Ikoyi and Obalende. This project started in 2010 and we have almost finished the first floor, but to our surprise this morning (yesterday), they ordered everyone

out of the site and sealed it.

“From what we gathered, they are a task force from the Presidential Implementation Committee. We implore whoever is in charge of this committee to allow our men to go back to work.”

Commissioner for Information Lateef Ibirogba blamed the “cold war” between the state and the Federal Government on the Minister of State for Defence Musliu Obanikoro.

He said the minister wants to use his newly acquired position to settle scores with the state government.

Ibirogba said it was painful that Lagos gave President Goodluck Jonathan, “who appointed Obanikoro to destabilise the state”, over 1.2 million votes in the presidential election.

•From left: Fayemi addressing the people...yesterday. With him are his deputy, Prof. Modupe Adelabu; House of Assembly Speaker Adewale Ominrin; Secretary to the State Government Ganiyu Owolabi and the Deputy Speaker, Chief Adetunji Orishalade.

nity to neighbouring communities.

He listed the Town Hall, construction of the medical workers’ residential quar-

No credible alternative to Fayemi, says Rep

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OUSE of Representatives Communications Committee Chairman Oyetunde Ojo has urged the people of Ekiti State not to be deceived by “the aberrant populist attitude” of a former governor of the state.

Ojo spoke with reporters in Aramoko-Ekiti while inspecting ongoing work on a 20bed ward he donated to the Aramoko General Hospital.

The lawmaker representing Ekiti West/Efon/Ijero Federal Constituency said it was “a confused strategy of governance” for a governor to distribute money to people on the streets.

He said: “How many would receive such money and how much has been budgeted for such a happygo-lucky attitude, where someone suddenly stops his car at a market place and begins to eat roasted plantain with the traders?

“While a governor can do that occasionally if occasion demands, as Governor Kayode Fayemi has been doing, this does not equate real governance through which development can be brought to the people.

“In the case of the former governor, this was all he spent three years doing, leav-

I’ll press assault charges against Omisore, says Adeleke

UPPORTERS of former Osun State Governor Isiaka Adeleke have said Senator Iyiola Omisore’s joy over his emergence as the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) governorship candidate will not last.

Adeleke was allegedly beaten up by Omisore and Minister of Police Affairs Jelili Adesiyan last week.

Adeleke’s loyalists, including PDP chieftains, such as former House of Assembly Speaker Adejare Bello; PDP Secretary Maj. Raphael Towobola (rtd) and former

From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

PDP Secretary Yinka Adeojo, met at Adeleke’s Ede country home.

One of the PDP chieftains recalled the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s comment that “the joy of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN) after its phantom victory in the 1983 presidential election would not last”, noting that “truly, their joy was aborted”.

Addressing his supporters, Adeleke said the meeting

was to make them understand his stand on things and urge them not to be discouraged.

Narrating his ordeal in the hands of Adesiyan and Omisore last week, he said the duo felt threatened by his popularity.

Adeleke said: “I was called upon to join the race because our leaders knew that whoever emerged the party’s flag bearer might not be able to deliver the state to the PDP. Before I accepted the offer, I made consultations.”

He described his attackers

as “unfit to live in a civilised society”, adding: “When I got to the hotel in Osogbo last week, I met about five people lying face down. The police put guns to their heads, claiming that they were thugs. I checked them out and discovered that they were my people. One of them was a former council chairman in Ede North.

“I told the police that they were not thugs and were my people. They later released them to me and I went inside to ask what was going on, but rather than explain,

ters, renovation of the Community High School and the school hall as legacies of his administration in the town.

Adesiyan, Omisore and Sogo Agboola started beating me.

At a point, about seven guns were pointed at my head.

“I am going to press charges against these people. They put off the light in the hotel so that the cameras would not be able to record their atrocities.

Thank God we use infrared to aid our recording. This they did not know. They said I have been bought over by the All Progressives Congress (APC), but that is a lie. I remain in the PDP because it is a party I joined others to build.”

From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

ing the actual governance of the state to the demons. This is why today, the former governor has been going in and out of court to answer questions on an amount of money he mismanaged, which would have been enough to make many lives meaningful today.

“Our people now know and see what it takes to govern a state well. The opposition should not believe that Fayemi will be voted out because he does not dole out money on the streets.

“Fayemi’s achievements speak for him and will speak for him when the time comes. With the way he has executed his eight-point agenda, I see no credible alternative to him among the contestants.”

The legislator said Fayemi, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), “remains the best among contestants for the June 21 governorship election because of his unpretentious and blunt attitude to governance.

PUBLIC NOTICE OKOH

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PUBLIC NOTICE ABIMBOLA

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10

THE NATION WEDNESDAY APRIL 9, 2014

NEWS Bayelsa oil firm gets MD

Clark blames Okah, brother for son’s abduction

BAYELSA State Governor Seriake Dickson has approved the appointment of Fubara Fah as the new Managing Director of the Bayelsa Oil Company Limited.

He takes over from Jimmy Agbeyei, who has been relieved of his appointment.

Fah has over 35 years work experience in the oil and gas sector both within and outside the country.

JAW leader Chief Edwin Clark yesterday blamed the travails of his son, Ebikeme, on the leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Henry Okah.

Okah is serving a jail term in South Africa for the October 1, 2010 bombing of Eagle Square in Abuja.

Clark, who spoke with reporters in Abuja, said his son’s kidnap was engineered by Okah and his brother, Charles.

The Ijaw leader said contrary to claims by MEND that the Delta State government parted with N500 million, his son’s release was effected without any money paid Clark thanked the Federal Government for its support.

He also thanked the Delta State government, the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki; the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar; the Director-General of the Department of State Security (DSS), Ita Ekpeyong and the Chairman of the Delta State Waterways Security, Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo).

Clark said he was comforted by his father’s words that: “no harm comes the way of an innocent man.”

The Ijaw leader dismissed the allegations that he and his son arranged the abduction.

He alleged that the Okah

‘Pray for peace’ CHAIRMAN of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum, Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), yesterday urged clerics to pray for God’s intervention in the problem of insecurity confronting the nation.

Akpabio gave the charge when he led his counterparts on a visit to host Sule Lamido, in Dutse.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the governors are in Dutse for a meeting of the forum.

Akpabio said the level of security needs God’s intervention for solution.

The governor said people now hide under the insecurity bedeviling the nation to inflict mayhem on political opponents.

Govt to partner developers

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

THE Oyo State government has started building low-cost housing schemes across the state.

Commissioner for Lands, Housing and Survey Isaac Omodewu said this at the dedication, handing over and foundation laying of CEDARHAUS Court Estate, Bodija, Oluyole, Ibadan.

Omodewu said the partnership ensures that government provides a discount on the land for the project, while the developer provides the funding.

The commissioner said the government, in collaboration with some developers, has begun building low cost housing schemes at Lagos/Ibadan Expressway, Ibadan/Oyo Road, Agodi, Jerico, Onireke.

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Delta denies paying N500m ransom

HE Delta State government has debunked claims by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) that it paid ransom to the abductors of Ebikeme Clark, son of Ijaw leader Chief E.K Clark.

In a statement by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Ovouzourie Macaulay, the government denied paying the kidnappers, stressing that ransom payment is against government policy.

He said the state had previous cases of high profile persons kidnapped, adding that in those cases the government did not pay ransom.

Macaulay said the amount mentioned was ludicrous, stressing that the logistics of moving the money was impracticable as there were only two working days during the period.

The statement reads: “The Delta State government wishes to state that it did not part with any money as ransom for the release of Ebikeme Clark.

“It is government policy not to pay or encourage the payment of ransom by families as this encourages more From Victor Oluwasegun, Abuja

brothers had approached him in the past, seeking collaboration in their efforts to sabotage the Federal Government.

Clark denied participating in the militancy which occured in the Niger Delta between 2006 and 2009.

He said he did not benefit from the proceeds of the Federal Government funds meant for the amnesty programme.

Clark claimed that MEND and Jomo Gbomo do not exist.

From Okungbowa Aiwerie, Asaba and Bolaji Ogundele, Warri

kidnappings.

“The government has had previous cases of high profile kidnappings, where the victims had been kept much longer than Ebikeme. The government did not pay any ransom.

What then is so special about Mr. Ebikeme Clark that will make the government pay ransom?

“Secondly the volume of money being mentioned. N500 million makes the allegation very foolish. For anyone who knows how government runs and the logistics of that volume of fund movement, it is impossible. There were only two working days during the period.”

He accused MEND of attempting to blackmail not only the government but Chief E.K Clark.

“The tactics of blackmail, falsehood, rumour mongering and intimidation in the region are gone.

“The region is in a phase of infrastructure and human capital development, which will ultimately ensure peace in the region.”

“It is Charles Okah that is using the name along with his supporters,” he said.

Ebikeme, reliving his ordeal, said a call from Tompolo’s deputy, Boro Opudu, led to his release.

The younger Clark, who showed reporters the injuries he sustained on his head, broke down in tears.

He said he has forgiven his abductors.

Giving a graphic description of his stay in the kidnappers’ den, he described them as “very organised in the business”, adding that their grouse

with the government was that the government “always talk in millions,” and they are yet to see the millions.

The younger Clark said the kidnappers asked for N50 million from his father and vowed to “kill all politicians.”

A member of the House of Representatives, Ndudi Elumelu, who was at Clark’s home, thanked President Goodluck Jonathan, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan and Tompolo.

He said the President provided an enabling environ-

ties,” and awarded N25,000 to the claimant as incurred cost in the suit.

The claimant had filed the action by originating summons on March 21 last year.

It prayed the court to determine whether having regards to the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the Trade Union Act of 2004 and letters written to the university’s management, NASU had not expressly indicated its willingness and duty to unionise its members in the university’s employment.

NASU also prayed the court to determine whether, by virtue of the laws and notification letters, the union is not entitled to automatic recognition by the defendants.

It also asked the court to determine whether the defendants’ action in not recognising the union does not amount to unfair labour practice.

The university, in its defence, had urged the court to determine if NASU can un-

ionise its workers when they had not voluntarily consented to its membership.

The defendants also asked whether the claimant had the locus standi to file the action when it was yet to unionise its staff.

The university claimed that, in line with Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution, membership of any union is voluntary and its non-academic staff cannot be compelled to become members, as such would amount to an infringement of their rights.

Dismissing the defendants’ arguments, Justice ObasekiOsaghae held there was documentary evidence that NASU informed the university of its intention to inaugurate the branch, adding that the union’s inaugural meeting had 46 attendees.

“The right to trade unionism is a fundamental right of workers. The right is so important that employers are enjoined not to interfere with its exercise in any way,” the

From Grace Obike, Abuja

society, we have bad elements and direct confrontation is not the best way to resolve it.

“The way they are calling us insurgents is not right, people sponsoring the nomads are beyond the nomadic brains of our people tending to our cattle in the bush.

“Our people were killed in their homes, which they have inhabited for over 30 years without committing any crime.

“We are convinced that there is a grand plot to eliminate the Fulani.

“What we demand is a holistic and unrestricted inquiry into the circumstances leading to the massacre of our people.”

ment for security agencies to “showcase their experience in tackling this incident.”

“I think that the youths should emulate Tompolo, who is helping the government to curb youth restiveness.”

Elumelu said the youths should “know that it is important that they do something.

“They can’t achieve anything by carrying guns. What is important is for them to find something and fix themselves into the empowerment programme of my governor.”

Court orders Akwa Ibom varsity to recognise staff union

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HE National Industrial Court sitting in Calabar has ordered the Akwa Ibom State University and its Vice-Chancellor to recognise the university’s chapter of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Education and Associated Institutions (NASU).

In an April 1 judgment, Justice O.A Obaseki-Osaghae declared that the claimant indicated its willingness to the university’s management to organise its non-academic staff.

“The defendants are here-

By Joseph Jibueze

by ordered to accord immediate recognition to the claimant and its branch in the first defendant (the university) and not interfere with or obstruct its right to operate and carry out its trade union activities,” the judge held.

Justice Obaseki-Osaghae said the claimant has established a branch in the university, and that the institution’s conduct in not according recognition to NASU is an unfair labour practice.

The judge held that the union is entitled to union dues from its members in the university’s employment.

“The first defendant is hereby ordered to begin deduction of union dues forthwith from the members of the claimant in its employment and remit same to the claimant,” the judge said.

The judge ordered the defendants “to provide a conducive atmosphere for the claimant’s trade union activi-

We are not insurgents, say herdsmen

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EMBERS of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association in Nasarawa State have said they are not insurgents.

They warned the Federal Government not to create another Boko Haram in Fulani herdsmen.

They alleged that they are being set up by external forces.

The association insisted that the nomads involved in the attacks are being sponsored by outside forces.

The group’s Secretary, Mohammed Hussaine, said this at a briefing in Abuja yesterday.

He called the raid of Keana community in Nasarawa State a genocide, which will

not be swept under the carpet.

Hussaine said they are ready to take the government to the International Criminal Court, unless it apologises and compensate the families of the victims.

He said: “Is the punishment for grazing on farmlands death by firing squad?

“This is simply genocide and we cannot allow this one to be swept under the carpet.

“We are aware there is an ongoing propaganda against the Fulani by ascribing to us crimes we neither committed nor know anything about.

“Let the government not create another Boko Haram in Fulani herdsmen. In every

judge said.

The court further held that the union should also not be stopped from deducting union dues from its members in the university’s employment.

According to the judge, Section 17 (a) (b) of the Trade Union Act provides that the employer shall make deductions from wages of every worker who is a member of any trade union and remit the money to the union.

“This provision stipulates compulsory deduction of union dues. No room for doubt and where the check-off dues deducted is to be remitted. It is to the registered office of the claimant. This is the law,” the judge held.

17 suspects arrested in Adamawa From Barnabas Manyam, Yola

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ASKED soldiers have arrested 17 people at a popular shopping complex in Yola, Adamawa State.

Eyewitnesses said the soldiers stormed the market at 12:30pm and started arresting marked people, including men of the Civilian Joint Task Force (JTF), who are helping the military in their operations against Boko Haram.

A trader said: “When the soldiers stormed the market, they started searching for the people they wanted to arrest as if they were marked.”

Another trader said: “The market was shut down for one hour as a result of the anxiety generated.

Army Public Relations Officer (APRO) Capt Jafaru Nuhu said the arrests were part of a routine security operation.

He said the suspects have been released.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

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NEWS Fani-Kayode visits Jonathan From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

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FORMER Aviation Minister and a major critic of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, Chief Femi Fani-Koyode, yesterday met with the President behind closed-doors at the Presidential Villa.

At the end of the visit, the former minister declined to give details of his discussions with the President.

He said: “This is a presidential villa. The President is the president of Nigeria. Every single person in this country who is a Nigerian is entitled to come here from time to time, when the doors are open to come and pay their respect to the wonderful people here. As a Nigerian, I have done that today and I’m delighted to be here.

On his description of the president, he said: “I have always believed that every Nigerian, regardless of the side of the political divide he or she belongs, and as a Nigerian myself, I believe that we disagree on an issue from time to time. The most important thing is for us to be able to resolve these issues, come together and move this country forward.

“I think every right-thinking, responsible person should be able to do that. They should also be able to come to the Villa from time to time and see how they can help to move the country forward.”

Asked about what he discussed with the President, FaniKayode said: “I won’t go into that.”

On whether he was leaving the All Progressives Congress (APC), he said: “The step I will take will be made known to Nigerians at the right time. The most important thing, and I think you are fully aware of this, is that I cannot and I will not be associated with a situation whereby any group of people is promoting a religion above another.

“I think all of us have gone past the stage of religious politics in this country. We must treat the Muslim community with utmost respect and we must treat Christian community in the same way, and even the non-religious.”

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Oduduwa Varsity faults Osun tax office

HE management of Oduduwa University, Ipetumodu, Osun State has faulted Monday’s sealing of the University by the Osun State Board of Internal Revenue.

In a statement by the Registrar, Comrade Bernard Ifonedo, the university said having been granted licence in November, 2009, and started operations in 2010, expecting it to pay income tax from 2006 is unfair.

He said as a responsible institution, aware of its civic duties, Oduduwa University had been remitting its monthly Pay As You Earn (PAYE) income taxes since 2011, adding that by calculation, what the institution was due to pay was Two million, five hundred and twenty six thousand, five hundred and thirty one naira thirty kobo (N2,526,531:30) and not One Hundred and Seventy Three million, three hundred and five thousand, four hundred and fifty nine naira, six kobo which the state internal revenue services is demanding.

He explained that the institution had been in continuous correspondence with the board over the issue and described the sealing off of the institution as a serious embarrassment capable of creating tension among the students.

Ehingbeti: Tackle corruption to address Nigeria power problem, says ex-Georgian president

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IGERIAN leaders got yesterday some home truth about the appalling power situation. Tackle corruption, they were advised.

It was all at the on-going 2014 Ehingbeti Summit in Lagos, with the theme “Powering the Lagos economy: Real Opportunities, endless possibilities”.

Former president of the Republic of Georgia, Mr. Mikhail Saakashvil, spoke of the need to tackle corruption as a prelude to resolving the power crisis.

He said corruption was not peculiar to Nigeria, noting that the rate of the menace in Georgia when he took over that country’s leadership was so prevalent that nothing was done by government officials without demanding bribe.

Saakashvil, who was President of Georgia from 2004 to 2013, said if Georgia could metamorphose from nearly a failed state a few years ago to an economic stable country, Nigeria could also overcome its challenges with greater commitment and sheer will from its leaders.

He adopted a radical approach to governance by sacking the Georgian Police as well as all those in the Customs, and replacing them with fresh blood.

He said many thought that sacking the entire police would engender a high level of crime, but that ironically there was drastic reduction in crimes.

By Miriam Ekene-Okoro

Saakashvil said his reforms took his country to the top as one of the most efficient economies in Europe and one that is least corruptible adding that the best way to fight corruption is to build strong institutions that would outlive any president.

“When I became president, we were ranked the 127th economy, but we moved up to 8th and became the first developing country to enter into the top 10 World Bank economic index of the world. By 2004, corruption rate was 96 per cent, but by 2007, it was less than 2 per cent.

“Foreign direct investment was coming into Georgia because it was easy to do business. As at 2004, we used to have 100,000 tourists visit, but now we have about six million tourists yearly,” Saakashvil said.

He described Nigeria as a country of great prospects, saying with the right leadership, the country would be one of the best economies in no time.

Saakashvil urged Nigerians to believe in their country and be committed to its progress. Leaders, he advised, should take measures towards changing the country’s fortunes.

In his keynote address, Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola said the recent rebasing that placed Nigeria as the biggest in Africa and 26th largest in the world was

pertinent to ensure that the figures were based on current realities.

He, however, said with a revamping of the power sector, the economy will not only blossom but impact more meaningful on the lives of the citizenry.

He said: “The place to start will be first to express an understanding and concurrence to get economic figures right; so, if the Nigeria economy has been stated on 1990 figures, it makes imminent common sense to restate them on much more contemporary figures that capture sectors that were hitherto omitted, like telecommunications, entertainment, arts, music, Nollywood and so on. That said, the reality is that size only matters if it is efficient size.

“If it’s big and suboptimal or inefficient, it really doesn’t achieve the purpose. How to put that size to work is really the key and it’s a no brainer to power will be defining for it. The estimates that suggest themselves by assessment, is that the power demand here(Lagos) is in the region of 10,000megawatts and more at a snapshot and an economy that is giving 25 percent to the GDP with 1000 and below megawatts just shows what we can unleash if we ramp up power supply.”

Fashola spoke of some initiatives to improve power supply. They include the establishment of Island, Adiyan and Alausa Independent Power Plants. Two other plants are

in the pipeline.

The projects, Fashola said, has not only made lives better in the state but helped businesses to thrive.

Corroborating him, Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun said Nigeria must be ready to tackle power supply to aid manufacturing, if indeed it wants to witness impactful economic growth. The Gross Domestic Product(GDP) is not driven by the manufacturing sector, the governor said.

“If one looks at the component of the GDP, one will realise that truly it isn’t the real GDP that the country has done well in. Look at services alone; I think it is over 50 percent while manufacturing is under 10 percent. What does that tell us? It shows that something is missing.

That isn’t the best way. I will have been happier to see to the thing swapped and maybe about 50 or 60 under manufacturing. That will mean real growth. And we cannot achieve all of these without power.

Amosun went on: “Indeed the key to solving the challenge that we have today is power. Everyone needs power to do his or her business. And that is why the theme of this summit is better at this time. And until we solve power challenge, we will continue to have this GDP that is more of service based. And that is why the current GDP doesn’t translate into reducing unemployment and putting food on our table.”

Lawmakers, governor’s wife hail YO State House of As- Oyo Speaker at 55

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sembly members and the governor’s wife, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi, have congratulated the Speaker, Mrs. Monsurat Sunmonu, who turns 55 today.

Lauding Mrs. Sunmonu’s exemplary leadership, Mrs. Ajimobi described her as “Godfearing, warm and humble”.

She said: “She is a committed and professional politician, who has the interest of the state at heart. That is the reason the executive and legislative arms of government have been having a smooth relationship. She has exhibited exemplary leadership traits and a deep commitment to ensuring that the Restoration Transformation and Repositioning Agenda of our governor, Abiola Ajimobi, becomes a reality.

“She has shown that women can successfully hold political offices like their male counterparts. Madam Speaker is a passionate woman, who sincerely wants to make a difference. She is diligent and a goal-getter. I pray God will continue to help her as she oversees the affairs of the House.”

Majority Leader James Oyeniran said: “Madam Speaker is a leader. Whether she’s on seat or not, I always give kudos to her for her outstanding performance. She has been very good to us and likes to refer to us as her 31 husbands.

I have never seen such a woman

From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

before. Her resolve to give credence to the saying that ‘what a man can do, a woman can do better’ is commendable.

“With the way she has conducted herself, I believe we need to give women more chance to do things better. We have been ignoring them for years but now, in the Seventh House of Assembly in Oyo State, a woman has been performing excellently well. She has been carrying everyone along.”

Minority Leader Rafiu Adekunle described Mrs. Sunmonu as a unique leader.

He praised her ability to keep the Assembly together in peace, in spite of the fact that its membership cuts across three parties.

Adekunle said: “Her selection as the Speaker is of God. She is a unique leader, an uncommon lady and so magnanimous. Anywhere you have a female leader like her, you are sure of peaceful co-existence. That is why there has been no rancour among us.

“Her people-oriented projects have improved the living standard of women and children in her constituency. I urge politicians to emulate the virtues of Mrs. Sunmonu, who is a visionary and kind-hearted mother.”

•Ebikeme, son of Chief Edwin Clark (left), narrating his ordeal in the hands of kidnappers in Abuja... yesterday. With him PHOTO: ABAYOMI FAYOSE are his father and a relation

Forum blames ex-NBA chief for Rivers Judiciary crisis Chelsea

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HE President of Rivers Peoples Forum (RPF), Charles Bekwele, has condemned the role of a former President of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and a member of the National Judicial Council (NJC), Mr. O. C. J. Okocha, in the leadership controversy rocking the Rivers State Judiciary.

In a statement yesterday, Bekwele regretted that Okocha was using his position to impose and install his elder sister, Justice Daisy Okocha, as the Chief Judge of Rivers State.

The statement accused the lawyer of “orchestrating

By Sina Fadare

and teleguiding the resolution of the meeting that called for the suspension of Rivers State Chief Judge, Justice P. N. C. Agumagu, to pave the way for the appointment of his sister, Daisy Okocha, as Chief Judge”.

The forum also accused Okocha of instigating and causing the NJC to write to judges in Rivers State not to accept any appointment from Governor Rotimi Amaechi to any judge as Acting Chief Judge.

It noted that “the imposition of his sister on the rest of us is most unacceptable”.

The statement added: “We condemn in very strong terms the role, disruptive and destructive activities of O. C. J. Okocha in the Judiciary brouhaha in Rivers State. It is very sad and indeed worrisome that a man of his standing in the state could resort to cheap ethnic blackmail of Governor Amaechi and whipping up ethnic sentiments in order to impose his sister on the Judiciary in Rivers State against all constitutional and legal provisions.”

The forum argued that the office of the Chief Judge of Rivers State was not a family stool where members of a particular family would succeed one another.

Ajudua: my kidney is about to collapse

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AGOS socialite Fred Ajudua has told a Lagos High Court, Ikeja, that his health is failing.

Speaking through his lawyer, Olalekan Ojo, Ajudua told the court yesterday that his only kidney is about to collapse.

The claim was contained in a Motion on Notice filed by Ojo, seeking Ajudua’s release on bail

By Adebisi Onanuga

to enable him seek medical attention outside the prison walls.

Ajudua is on trial before Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye.

He was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly defrauding former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Ishaya

Bamaiyi (rtd.), of $8.395 million while in prison custody.

Ojo filed another motion seeking a court order compelling the EFCC to obtain his clients statement and include same in the proof of service.

Justice Ipaye granted his request and adjourned the matter till May 9.

for semi final

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EMBA Ba’s late goal saw Chelsea through to the Champions League semi-finals with a 2-0 win over PSG, as a 3-3 aggregate draw gave the Premier League side victory on away goals.

Chelsea started slowly as both sides considered their approach, with PSG bringing a 3-1 lead into the match. PSG sat back, and Chelsea tried to encourage them forward in order to launch counter attacks.

Frank Lampard almost scored on 28 minutes, when a fiercely hit free kick from the wing deflected off the wall and Salvatore Sirigu dived right to save. Four minutes later, Chelsea had the lead when David Luiz flicked on a corner and an unmarked Andre Schuerrle slotted in a low shot.

In the second half, Chelsea almost had two when Willian squared a pass for Schuerrle to strike against the crossbar. A minute later it was Oscar’s turn when his free kick hit the bar.

Edinson Cavani had two chances for PSG but put them both over.

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Life

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The Midweek Magazine E-mail:- ozoluauhakheme@yahoo.com

Text only: 08023058761

ARROW OF GOD @ 50

•Winner of Arrow of God quiz competition Teddy (sitting right). With him are his Literature teacher (middle) and schoolmates

PHOTO:EVELYNOSAGIE

Achebe’s Arrow of God in Jonathan’s hometown

– SEE STORY ON PAGE 16

That the giver may live on – Page 49

Like father, like son – Page 50

‘Harness women’s potential for development’ – Page 49

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

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The Midweek Magazine

E-mail:- ozoluauhakheme@yahoo.com

ARROW OF GOD @ 50 The late Prof Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God is a political satire on leadership. The novel’s 50th anniversary is being celebrated in some parts of the world. The celebration train was in President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s Otuoke, Bayelsa State hometown. At the ceremony, leaders were advised to heed the book’s message to save the country from going under. EVELYN OSAGIE reports.

Achebe’s Arrow of God in Jonathan’s hometown

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MID tight security and the scorching sun, writers from across the country thronged President Goodluck Jonathan’s Otuoke hometown in Bayelsa State for t he anniversary of the late Prof Chinua Achebe’s book Arrow of God. The event was held at the Federal University, Otuoke (FUO).

It no coincidence that the epochal event, which is being marked across the globe, passed through Mr President’s town.

As a novel which literary scholars say holds lots of lessons for contemporary political, it is fitting that the train of literary festivities, including symposia, dramatic performances (stage adaptations of Arrow Of God) and quiz competitions, should land in the town, the organisers said.

With the theme: Literature, Leadership and National Unity, the celebrations began in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, where United States Political Scientist and expert on Nigeria politics Prof Darren Kew was the keynote speaker. The event will also hold in Abuja, Lagos, Awka, the Anambra State capital, Ogidi, the Anambra hometown of the late author, Sokoto and Port Harcourt, Rivers State, according to the National Organising Committee Chair, Dr Wale Okediran.

Just as in Ibadan, the Otuoke scholars examined the political significance of the novel, published in 1964, alongside its historical, cultural and environmental relevance.

In her keynote paper titled: Beyond the Boundary: Leadership and Abuse of Power in Achebe’s Arrow of God, Prof Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo said the work contains lessons for Nigerian leadership. She highlighted the negative effect of poor leadership skills and the abuse of power in society which the novel, Arrow of God, depicts, saying the novel also upholds that good leadership and proper management and use of power are indispensable to the well-being and development of the family and the nation at large.

Although the book, which was written at a time when political rivalry made the question of responsible leadership an urgent one to warn future Nigerians to avoid rancour and embrace peace and harmony, she observed that they do not seem to have heeded the warning at any given time. She urged the leaders to heed the warning to save Nigeria from dissolution.

She said: “Consider, for instance, the numerous disasters that have overtaken the country – civil war, military dictatorship, continued marginalisation and violation of women, militancy and terrorism in the form of political and religious violence and Boko Haram insurgency.

“It is not too late to heed Achebe’s wise advice and save Nigeria from disintegration.

Some Nigerians see the present National Conference as a way out of the woods. As the conference gathers momentum, the delegates who represent the different zones of the country must see the exercise as a viable way to salvage the country.”

Prof Adimora-Ezeigbo also underscored gender and patriarchy preoccupations in the work, saying the oppression and the marginalisation of women in the novel con-

•Mr Suowari; FUO VC Prof Aluko and Dr Okediran

•Cast of When the Arrow Rebounds

•Chief Ambakederemo and Dr Onyema

LITERATURE stitute Achebe’s critique of Nigeria’s maledominated society, saying: “Nigeria and its people must realise that the enhancement of women’s status in the society would not in any way reduce the social, economic and political standing of men. It is therefore in humanity’s interest to encourage rather than resist change”.

According to Prof. Diri I. Teilanyo of the FUO and the University of Benin (UNIBEN), “present-day political leaders have some lessons to learn from the implications and consequences of certain rhetorical utterances in the fictional world of Arrow of God, noting that the use and acting out of such could result in much loss both to status and to life.

PHOTO: EVELYN OSAGIE

While drawing parallels between the utterances of characters, such as Ezeulu, Nwaka and Ezidemili in Arrow of God and those of Nigerian political personalities like Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan, Ibrahim Babangida and Atiku Abubakar (the statements of the Nigerian politicians having been gathered from the mass media), she noted that literary works such as Arrow of God constitute a source of political wit and wisdom for politicians.

Dr Chris Onyema, who directed Emeka Nwabueze’s When the Arrow Rebounds, a dramatic adaptation of Arrow of God, spoke on environmental rights implications, the dislocation and trauma that the clash of cultures brings about in the work.

The Arrow of God Quiz Competition added an interesting twist to the event. The strug-

‘It is not too late to heed Achebe’s wise advice and save Nigeria from disintegration. Some Nigerians see the present National Conference as a way out of the woods.

As the conference gathers momentum, the delegates who represent the different zones of the country must see the exercise as a viable way to salvage the country’

gle for the first position was between 10 students, from the initial competition among 35 students from seven secondary schools across Bayelsa State, said the state chairman of Association of Nigerian Authors, Mr Emmanuel Frank-Opigo, who presided over the quiz.

At the end of the heated quiz, Aniso Teddy from Ayama Montessori won the N40,000 prize. Teddy said he hopes to set up a reading club with the proceeds of the quiz, saying: “I had sleepless nights trying to prepare for the competition. And so, I am happy that I eventually won. There should be more of this to help motivate us, the young ones to read and concentrate on our studies instead of watching films or playing games.

As a prefect, the novel has taught me to take recognition of the plights of those I am leading. I think our leaders need to read the book, too, because they don’t seem to care about the masses.”

Like Teddy, other contenders were not left out. The second prize winner went home with N20,000 while the third person got N10,000. All 10 contenders went home with a dictionary each.

The FUO Vice Chancellor, Prof Mobolaji Ebenezer Aluko, said he was impressed by the efforts and commitment of the pupils and the organisers of the event. According to him, it is a thing of pride and joy that FUO and Otuoke are part of the celebration train honouring Achebe’s work posthumously.

Though the institution is a very young one, he said: “It is determined to support literature in no small way as best as it can.”

From the cocktail, a night before the symposium, to the farewell dinner that evening, the university treated guests to lots of feasting.

For him, it was not just another event but a celebration of many firsts. He said it was the first international event in the town and the university and the first time both would host that number of writers. He added that it was also the first time they were using the auditorium of its adjoining Skills Acquisition Centre, which, he said, was quickly completed for the event.

And to show his commitment to promoting literature, Aluko, who is a lover of arts and one-time ‘student’ actor, directed the Yoruba choreography of the University Dance Troupe that was constituted chiefly for the event alongside the Theatre Troupe, which had only two weeks to prepare. “I am also a lover of arts and acted in many stage plays as a student,” he said.

In attendance were Bayelsa State Secretary General Prof Edmond Allison-Oguru; the Amananaowei Otuoke, HRH Lott Ogiasa, Oke X, who was represented by the Amananaowei of Imiringi, HRH Augustus Osomu; the Amananaowei of Tombia, HRH Christain Otobotere; Chief Simon Ambakederemo (ANA Bayelsa Patron); Elder Comish Ekiye (ANA Bayelsa Patron); Mr David Suowari (FUO Registrar); Mr Atonbara Ombu (FUO Bursar); Prof Philomena Ejele (FUO Dean, Humanities & Social Sciences) and Dr Okeke (FUO HOD, Humanities), among others.

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COMMENTARY FROM OTHER LANDS

EDITORIALS

Phantom statistics •Finance minister boasts with fanciful facts about jobs that Jonathan administration created

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R. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy during a meeting with delegates of the Arewa Youth Forum on issues of youth development in the northern part of the country, released a bombshell. She revealed that no fewer than 1.8 million graduates annually join the labour market in the land. She gleefully boasted that the data was generated by the National Bureau of Statistics ‘after two months of methodological work’, with the sole objective of availing the Federal Government the opportunity of establishing the level of youth unemployment and developing policies to check it.

We never believed that the serious issue of unemployment could be so trivialised until Okonjo-Iweala turned the matter into theatrics. She reeled out phantom figures of unemployed people and imaginary jobs.

She laughably declared: “We have a pool of 5.3 million unemployed graduates that have been accumulating over the years. I am happy to tell you that last year we were able to create 1.6 million jobs. So, we are getting close to the 1.8 million that enter the job market. So our strategy is to come up with policies that will cover the number of entrants every year before taking care of the backlog.” The number of unemployed graduates per year is quite higher and sadly, we do not see visible official efforts to arrest the situation.

As if she knew that the public would doubt her figures, she further reeled out paper job opportunities created by government, to wit: “Through YouWin pro-

gramme, we have had 3,600 winners, among whom 2,400 winners have created 27,000 jobs so far.. Through SURE-P, so far, we have created 120,000 jobs. While YouWin is geared towards graduates, the SURE-P is for those youths who may not have gone through school or did not complete their education … We are targeting 10,000 mortgages this year and for every house you build, you create five direct jobs and two and half indirect jobs, which can create another 75,000 jobs.” She equally boasted that more than 400,000 part-time jobs had been created and had become a source of good income for the youth in agriculture.

We are disappointed that someone of Okonjo-Iweala’s background/standing could lead the game of employment deceit against Nigerians by going about with unverifiable employment figures. Could she in all honesty come out and say that in all her years of being minister in the country, such high employment ratio has been generated by government? We would have expected her to come up with names of beneficiaries and those of agencies of government providing such employment. The minister wobbled in her futile efforts to post publicity stunts for her employer by not stating the quality of the so-called jobs created by the centre government.

We wonder whether the minister has not lost her coordinating grip over the economy. Otherwise, she would have realised that empirical and not phantom job creation could only convince Nigerians about the sincerity of this administration

to solve the astronomically high unemployment rate in the country. The problems are mounting daily. Is the minister aware that the banks are hemorrhaging and as such downsizing at a ridiculous rate; that the industrial sector has been greatly eroded; that private enterprise has nearly vanished while access to loans has become an official publicity stunt with no commensurate impact on agricultural harvests in the land? More devastating is the fact that the government has failed to provide stable power and security that are central to industrialisation and by extension employment generation and general development of the country.

Minister Okonjo-Iweala should henceforth desist from playing politics with the debilitating unemployment situation in the nation.

‘We are disappointed that someone of Okonjo-Iweala’s background/standing could lead the game of employment deceit against Nigerians by going about with unverifiable employment figures. Could she in all honesty come out and say that in all her years of being minister in the country, such high employment ratio has been generated by government?’

G.O.K. Ajayi: 1931-2014

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VERY now and then, a society is fortunate to witness in full blossom a person who comes to define the noblest aspirations of his age. Chief Godwin Olusegun Kolawole Ajayi, SAN, who passed on last week, can be said to be such a man.

Fondly known as “GOK”, after his initials, Chief Ajayi was the epitome of the progressive lawyer: the professional who consciously utilised his talents in furtherance of societal interests, rather than in the accumulation of personal wealth. The cases he has handled read like a litany of crucial points in Nigeria’s political history: the outcome of the 1979 and 1993 presidential elections, and a host of humanrights issues including the infamous Shugaba “deportation” case, the ZangonKataf civil disturbances and the regular defence of late legal luminary, Chief Gani

‘As a lawyer, Chief Ajayi was renowned for the thoroughness of his preparations, the comprehensiveness of his presentations and the depth of his research. It is not surprising that he was in great demand not only as a lawyer, but as a lecturer at the Nigerian Law School ...

He took many cases without payment, giving them as much attention as those that were paid for’

•A legal titan departs

Fawehinmi.

Chief Ajayi was born in Ijebu-Ode in 1931, and was educated at St. Saviour’s School and CMS Grammar School, both in Lagos. He proceeded to the United Kingdom for legal studies, and was called to the English bar in 1955 and its Nigerian counterpart two years later. Such was the distinction of the legal career that he had embarked upon that 21 years after being called to the Nigerian bar, he became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in 1978. His was the second set to ever take silk, and included outstanding legal minds like Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief R.A Fani-Kayode, T.A Bankole Oki, Chief Kehinde Sofola, Chief Olisa Chukura, Dr Mudiaga Odje, Chief Richard Akinjide, P.O Balonwu, and Professor Ben Nwabueze.

As a lawyer, Chief Ajayi was renowned for the thoroughness of his preparations, the comprehensiveness of his presentations and the depth of his research. It is not surprising that he was in great demand not only as a lawyer, but as a lecturer at the Nigerian Law School.

In an era when the law profession was synonymous with elitist pretensions and social snobbery, GOK Ajayi stood out for his quiet but determined social activism.

He took many cases without payment, giving them as much attention as those that were paid for.

This activist bent was seen in his involvement in partisan politics. As principal legal counsel to the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) he spearheaded the titanic legal battle against the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN). Such was the ferociousness of his legal acumen that the Supreme Court was compelled to de-

clare that the infamous “twelve twothirds” judgment by which President Shehu Shagari secured victory could not be used as a legal precedent.

Chief Ajayi’s resolute commitment to justice met with greater success in the case of Alhaji Abdulraham Shugaba Darman, the majority leader in the Borno State House of Assembly during the Second Republic. Alhaji Shugaba had been declared an alien and deported overnight by the NPN-led Federal Government.

Chief Ajayi took on the might of the Shagari administration and got the courts to restore his citizenship and pay costs amounting to N350,000. It was irrelevant that Shugaba belonged to the defunct Great Nigeria Peoples’ Party (GNPP), not the UPN. For Chief Ajayi, party affiliation was irrelevant; what mattered was the triumph of justice, equity and fair play.

During the military interregnum, with its ouster clauses and tribunals, Chief Ajayi’s legal acumen and uncommon courage shone as brightly as ever. When ex-Major-General Zamani Lekwot was brought before Zangon-Kataf Civil Disturbances Special Tribunal in 1992, it was clear that the Babangida regime wanted nothing less than the general’s life for daring to challenge the political orthodoxies of the state. In spite of the overwhelming odds pitted against him, Chief Ajayi ensured that General Lekwot escaped the hangman’s noose.

Chief G.O.K. Ajayi was a lawyer’s lawyer, a man whose towering stature was merely the outward manifestation of unimpeachable integrity, formidable intellect and unwavering courage. May his soul rest in perfect peace.

South Sudan cannot starve

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STAGGERING 3.7 million people, roughly one-third of the population, are facing starvation in South Sudan, where a civil war has created a humanitarian catastrophe. But many countries have ignored or given short shrift to the United Nations’ urgent appeal for aid.

They must do better.

Of the $1.27 billion the United Nations has requested for 2014, only $385 million has been received. Officials say South Sudan needs $230 million more in the next 60 days to avoid the worst starvation in Africa since the 1980s, when hundreds of thousands perished in Ethiopia. Along with food and water, seeds and farming tools are needed so crops can be planted before the end of May when rains bring the planting season to an end.

This should not be happening. Over two years ago, when South Sudan declared independence from Sudan, everyone knew the struggle to build a functioning state would be long and hard. But the new country had important supporters, including the United States, which strongly advocated its independence, gave considerable aid and was ready to work with South Sudan’s leaders as they moved forward and tried to resolve disputes with Sudan over borders and oil resources, which seemed to be the main challenges.

Since December, however, the more pernicious threat to stability has been homegrown. That is when a political rivalry between South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir of the Dinka tribe, and Riek Machar, the former vice president and a Nuer, erupted into violence. Thousands of people have been killed and one million have been forced to flee their homes.

The United Nations has accused both sides of mass atrocities. On Thursday, President Obama took an important step by issuing an executive order that allows the imposition of sanctions on South Sudanese officials and opposition leaders viewed as a threat to peace.

Other humanitarian disasters, including Syria’s, are taxing many countries.

But let’s face it, it is usually the same donors (the West and Japan) who can be counted on to respond to emergency appeals. In 2013 and 2014, for instance, America has funneled $411 million in humanitarian aid to South Sudan. China and Russia, the second- and eighth-largest economies, hardly ever appear on these lists. They should join the rest of the world in making sure that South Sudan’s people have enough to eat. It would be unspeakably tragic if they gained their independence only to starve to death at the hands of their leaders.

– New York Times TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief Victor Ifijeh

• Editor Gbenga Omotoso •Chairman, Editorial Board Sam Omatseye •General Editor Adekunle Ade-Adeleye •Editor, Online Lekan Otufodunrin •Managing Editor Northern Operation Yusuf Alli •Managing Editor Waheed Odusile

• Executive Director (Finance & Administration) Ade Odunewu

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CARTOON & LETTERS

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IR: President Jonathan and his cronies never miss an opportunity to show just how completely detached they are from the real concerns of ordinary people.

They have never fallen short of celebrating mediocrity; sacrificing achievement for a transient insignificant claim. Once again, we have demonstrated our national foolishness in the name of a rating that Nigeria cannot show its proofs. In sharp contrast however, successful countries would not accept a rating that has no bearing on the living standard of their people. It is only here that the machinery of government would be deployed to all media to celebrate paper tiger accolade.

Who else would, in the face of a collapsing economy, catastrophic economic mismanagement, educa-

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SEND TYPEWRITTEN, DOUBLE SPACED AND SIGNED CONTRIBUTIONS, LETTERS AND REJOINDERS OF NOT MORE THAN 800 WORDS TO THE EDITOR, THE NATION, 27B, FATAI ATERE ROAD, MATORI, LAGOS. E-mail: views@thenationonlineng.net

Africa’s biggest economy, world’s poorest people tional misfortunes, unabated corruption, inaccessible health care programmes, political hypocrisy and youth abandonment policy, be carried away with empty achievement? It is unthinkable that the government could be bold to accept that Nigeria economy is the biggest in Africa. Of what benefit is an economy that does not in any way translate into job and food security,

improved health conditions and robust educational system. While families across the country are struggling daily to make ends meet, worried about jobs; security of lives and property, the government is celebrating emptiness, an economy powered by generators. What a shame!

The founding fathers of Nigeria did not contemplate such a slow

motion growth that we are celebrating. They envisioned a virile nation that was endowed with all it needed for a catalytic growth in all aspects of life. They sacrificed their future and well being to jumpstart a country that was designed to bring succour to the suffering people of Nigeria. Fifty-three years on, we are still confronted with hunger, bad roads, epileptic electricity, deadly

hem on its communities. Communities across lay in waste and in ruin across these states as they terrorize, maim and kill innocent civilians who are unfortunate to be on their path of terror and violent destruction. Women and children in most cases are the victims of these wanton destruction of lives and properties with little regard for the children and the psychological effect this experience would have on them and on their future.

Despite the state of emergency in these states, violent and coordinated attacks on innocent citizens persist almost on a daily basis and one is left to wonder at this riddle.

These men display such fine prowess using sophisticated weapons and machinery at their disposal, they seem to be highly trained for combat and to survive the jungle and harsh weather conditions

adapting so perfectly like they are “ghosts” but the trail of wanton destruction of lives and properties is a rude wake-up call.

The battle between Fulani herdsmen and farmers at first started in Benue State and then spread to Kaduna and Nasarawa states with severe and often violent clashes and attendant loss of lives and properties and yet no lasting solution has been proffered from either the federal government or the stakeholders and everyone is watching as this is becoming a “Horror Movie” right in our faces. The dust is yet to settle down and again the storm blows and this time its Taraba State and in each clash “Death walks away with its victims who are speechless not realizing that they have a new home now” and the casualty keeps rising as more and more villages are attacked and innocent lives lost.

Whether we choose to acknowledge the truth staring at us in the face, or continue ignoring it even with the mounting facts and evidence that assail our eyes and ears on a daily basis, the ominous signs are on us and we have to find lasting solution to these incessant attacks and devastating loss of lives and properties before genocide stares at us right back in the face. It was once upon a time in April that the Rwanda Genocide occurred and took everyone’s breathe away.

As Africa and indeed the world reminisce and marks of the 20th Anniversary of Rwanda’s genocide, there is urgent need for us to reflect on the lessons from the April 1994 massacre, in order to re-evaluate Nigeria’s security challenge.

bers plying Igbo Ora - Abeokuta Road in Ogun State.

We have noticed that some touts bearing daily tickets of N200 denomination for each of the federal ministries mentioned have been compelling our members to pay for the ticket or have their wares either seized or damaged.

In our efforts at confirming the authenticity of these tickets, we have met officials of the ministries involved at the Federal Secretariat, Abeokuta but mum was

the response. We were directed to make our findings at Abuja.

Our resolve to make these enquiry stems from the fact that no where in the entire country is such ticket being issued to traders except here in Ogun State. It is on this ground that we are asking if the tickets is specifically for only traders and motorists in Ogun State.

We want to crave the indulgence of our honourable ministers in the affected ministries to

Insecurity: Remembering Rwanda

IR: It started suddenly in April of 1994 in the beautiful city of Kigali the capital city of Rwanda. The day took off like every other and families woke up without any premonition of what the day would bring. Kids prepared for school and parents preparing for work all oblivious of how the day would turn out. The sun was bright and it the day was full of promises but no-one was to know the day would turn into night and before it was over one million Hutu’s were dead, the world especially the United Nations had turned a deaf ear to the cries and pleas from these people when they needed help urgently. The day lay wasted with corpses thrown everywhere as the perpetrators marched on the streets chanting war songs and brandishing dangerous weapons as they went, entering homes forcefully pulling people out into the streets and killing them simultaneously.

The earth experienced a river of blood unlike any other in the history of the world.

Here in Nigeria, extremists called “Boko Haram” which means “Western Education is prohibited” came into the country under the disguise of fighting for the “Sharia law”.

They came like a mist and suddenly became powerful yet invincible that people still think they are a myth.

They have overtaken the Northeastern part of the country comprising Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states unlashing terror and may-

• George Olalekan Jimoh, Ilorin

hospitals, malaria, substandard educational system, corrupt leadership, ill-equipped police, aggressive armed forces, battered retirees, tribalism, favouritism, nonexistent water supply, political thuggery, government induced violence, religious intolerance, avoidable road accidents, environmental degradation, youth restlessness, armed banditry and every other vice. What, then, is the basis of our celebration?

For the government to accept such a rating with no corresponding effect on the citizenry shows that our leaders are parochial, ideological obsessive, lacking the maturity, courage and vision of other countries that have given their people hope and reason to believe in continued existence of their nations. Our leaders’ smugness and disconnection is personified in the government and its ragbag of officers. At the moment, Nigeria, for certainty, is plagued with avalanche of problems that cripple us as a nation and our common priority should be how to fix some of these avoidable and self inflicted problems. A good manager would not fantasise a rating that has no bearing on the people.

Instead of celebrating, we should be cataloguing our failures and begin to fix them. We should look back and see where and how we derailed.

We should take stock of our woes and bring to book those who took us to this point. We have no basis to roll out the drums if many of us could not afford average and decent living, when our young men and women are jobless, when both old and young are sickly and malnourished. What is the basis of the celebration when the government lacks the will to turn things around for better?

• Tola Osunnuga, Dublin, Ireland

Works, environment and investment ministers must hear this

S

IR: Foodstuff traders in Ogun State under the umbrella of Isokan Foodstuff and Yam Dealers Association of Nigeria are compelled to openly demand explanation from the honourable ministers in the following ministries: Federal Ministry of Works, Federal Ministry of Environment and Federal Ministry of Trade and Investments to please clarify the issue of revenue tickets been issued to our mem-

please urgent reply to this demand of ours as we cannot continue to be subjected to illegal revenue collections by any group under the guise that 90% of traders are unlettered.

The various collections on the roads are part of the reasons why there is always hike in food prices as it is the general public that eventually bear the brunt.

• Abiodun Taiwo & Chief Jimoh Ilo, Sango Otta, Ogun State.

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COMMENTS

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Death; NLC Housing; UK harmattan; Delegates local travel; State vs federal party

OO many deaths and kidnapping, more than 80 this week: ethnic, mindless violence, road and boat accidents, robbery, Fulani cattle related, for body parts!

Tony In response to ‘Nigeria Marinho needs 17million homes’, the NLC/TUC building project in Abuja is fantastic and should be replicated. Lagos is also working in this direction if the federal government will hands-off interfering. Too many associations waste money on expensive AGMs, dinners and five star hotels mimicking wasteful National Assembly (NASS) politicians. All states and associations should build as well, because the federal government may never build enough housing quickly enough!

We have had zero allocation of power for one month+ but Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and states joyfully tax and levy citizens and business while banks charge 25% for loans. But no rebate for patrol purchases during no power!

Maximum suffering and no smiling on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway under construction companies not interested in adequate two lane alternative routing for impatient drivers too willing to ‘face me-I face you’ at a moment’s inconvenience.

Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) is too busy gathering N10-16billion in number plate money, particulars check and TV appearances for simple traffic control. And now there is hamattan in London caused by local smog and dust from the Sahara. Wow! As part of ‘The National Learning And Healing Process’, National Conference Nigerians can learn to bridge ethnic and religious differences by travelling locally. Young delegates from the North should visit the South including gas flares at night and oil spill dead farms and fishing villages of the Niger Delta, erosion in the East and the Lagos-Ibadan and East-West roads. All South delegates should visit the North including the huge farms, a night on the caked dry shore of Lake Chad,

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HE avoidable deaths of Saturday, March 15, when more than 18 unemployed persons were trampled upon and lost their lives at the kangaroo Nigeria Immigration Service recruitment exercise, have, once again, brought to the fore the dismal statistics of and the raging debates on the state of unemployment in Nigeria. However, amidst the calls for resignation, suspension, dismissal, the tragedy should not be a platform to vent pent-up anti-establishment feelings or try to score cheap political points. I think what went wrong should be something that will sensitise the government and the generality of the citizenry, towards finding a lasting solution to unemployment in the country. This issue has remained unaddressed in view of the wanton job preference that is usually displayed by the teeming number of employable youth when openings are either advertised or announced.

The unfortunate incident should form the fulcrum on which a solid programme of employment generation – at both the public and private domains – should revolve, not one that should be subjected to the application of fleeting palliatives. A system that allows impoverished job seekers to pay money to obtain job application forms, which, in the main, does not even guarantee them a job, is sheer robbery by the privileged. According to the International Labour Organisation, ILO, unemployment statistics for 2012, there are 197 million persons currently out of work worldwide, which accounts for six percent of the total world workforce without a job. In the Nigerian context, the issue of unemployment is traceable to many factors that include the soaring population figure; proliferation of educational and vocational institutions; structural and frictional unemployment; and the one that has flourished for over four decades the preference by many graduates (and non-graduates alike) for socially-el-

the borders of the Sahel to witness the desertification and decay in family life. Mingle with both herdsmen and farmers! Such a trip meeting locals, not Emirs and chiefs, will improve inter-ethnic, religious and mutual respect.

The Non Sovereign National Conference (NSNC) must counter negative development strategies of federal ministry officials and ministers occurring because the central federal party is not the state party. Federal employees are sometimes teleguided against the state’s progress instead of creating symbiosis for development creating abandoned federal projects and neglect. The federal government is not supposed to be a party government for the benefit of only ruling party states. Federal punishment for states having a different party has been around forever. President Shagari promised the Third Mainland Bridge to Lagos living Nigerians, only if he was re-elected. PDP Obasanjo depriving AC Lagos of N10b.

A presidential legacy president should develop all citizens.

Look at the East-West Road, Second Niger Bridge and the Lagos-Ibadan and Ore-Benin roads problems. Indigenes of states sit at ministerial meetings where their state is brought up for ‘dirty tactics’. Did someone actually say ‘Hey guys, how can we destabilise Lagos State? Any ideas, you Lagosians?’or maybe ‘I have an idea to destabilise my State Lagos’. And did someone “phone a friend” in Lagos and reply ‘Let us seize some land and tie them up in court so they cannot build those 1000+ flats. Let’s stop that Lekki bridge, Ha ha!’ Would a united northerner do that? Using Federal soldiers in your own state in a civilian era speaks of desperation, poor democratic credentials and zero respect for the rule of law. Are federal Lagosians no longer Lagosians when even the NSNC is wrestling to decentralise power, no matter what party is federal -North, South, Muslim, Christian? Look at the Rivers State imbroglio. Federal ministers should not be at war with the ‘other party’ state party officials. Admit good done by opponents and suggest you will do better. Do not rubbish progress. The people will not take bribes instead of services for ever.

Nigeria and its states, even Lagos State with all its Fashola progress and struggle to be glamorous, are far behind their expected position in 2014. Lagos State is larger than 50 coun-

tries in population and income and should be allowed to act like a country. So why should a Lagosian in politics get to the NASS or Federal Executive Council (FEC), using his birth certificate as a Lagosian, and conspire to retard Lagos? Is it just for cheap federal political points in the political game?

That is how the some SDP states foolishly forced good NRC Shagari federal housing schemes to be built in the inaccessible bush. The political game is killing and depriving people of housing, food, power, water, education, health, jobs, railways and roads. Do those in the United North countenance such self-destruction? No. Only the South destroys its home states. Yet it is that state wherein their own relations suffer power failures. It is not just Lagos. Ekiti and Osun are hotting up, murderously. How many lives will be lost for political power, this 2014-15?

No one should single out his state for devilish destruction.

We Lagos State citizens call on all Lagosians in federal power not to execute- with or without soldiers- negative plans. This ‘State Pledge’ is common to other states. No official in the federal government, originating from Kano, Plateau etc would ever do anything against their state. Of course they could refuse to educate or provide health and infrastructure for citizens but they would not block funds or progress getting to the state. State development must not be sacrificed by federally based state citizens because of party affiliations.

‘Using Federal soldiers in your own state in a civilian era speaks of desperation, poor democratic credentials and zero respect for the rule of law. Are federal Lagosians no longer Lagosians when even the NSNC is wrestling to decentralise power, no matter what party is federal -North, South, Muslim, Christian?’

Jobs, not ‘Chinese Rice’

evating and wealth-creating positions in the banking and allied industry, mobile telecommunications; Customs, Immigration, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and other Para-military formations; foreign service etc which provides leverages for immediate financial and job fulfilment.

Perhaps, more than any other thing, the tragedy of this craze for “preferential unemployment” is that a large percentage of those unemployed persons seeking placement in these “lifechanging” working environments are least trained or suited for such positions. Therefore, one issue that is incidental to finding a lasting abatement to the issue of chronic unemployment is that of self-employment through job creation. Though not an end-all panacea for full employment, being one’s own employer provides self-fulfilment and the platform to manage available time and also create employment avenues for others. This is the ideal situation, and this is where entrepreneurship readily comes in.

Sometimes, when the various governments – federal, states or local governments – talk about creating jobs, I wonder about the magic wand they intend to employ to create these jobs when, in actual fact, what is on ground does not show any genuine commitment to either grow or support entrepreneurship in the country. Entrepreneurship or investing, in the Nigerian context, runs like a torture process, especially where basic and strategic infrastructures that will foster the holistic setting-up and growth of commerce and industry are lacking, grossly inadequate or outmoded.

Many unemployed persons who have attempted the self-employment solution have been constrained by bad roads; lack of constant and adequate

‘It would be a good thing if the delegates at the ongoing National Conference can do away with getting enmeshed in discussing such inanities as ‘Chinese rice’ and what they need to fill their stomachs, their craze for high-decibel but meaningless titles and all that’

power supply; non-provision of potable and regular water supply; stressfilled allocation process for suitable and adequate land in rural and urban areas, including the procurement of certificates of occupancy; the non-liberalisation of regulations, procedures and approvals for the formation of new commercial enterprises and industries; the dearth of professional advice with back-up services by the relevant government agencies. Above all, any prospective entrepreneur, especially those coming from the unemployment queue, are confronted with the most debilitating and excruciating hurdle: financial capital to actualise the dream of self-employment.

If these critical draw-back factors are surmounted by the willingness and resolve of governments at the various levels to provide the enabling environment for commerce and entrepreneurship to thrive, then the magnitude of the unemployment statistics will be greatly reduced. In tackling the everpresent ogre of unemployment with its attendant social problems, Nigerians have been greatly fixated on the Keynesian model that emphasises a preference for government’s intervention in the economy to reduce the spiralling cases of unemployment in all the strata of the production chain and those of service providers.

In reverse, there are certain government’s economic policies, programmes, actions and inactions, that tend to trigger recurrent shocks and disequilibrium that sometimes reduce the aggregate demand for goods and services, which, in turn, reduces the demand for workers. In essence, government intervention has more or less amounted to mere tokenism. They include job creation in the public service, financial stimuli to employers of labour in form of waivers, tax holidays, low interest rates, protective import restrictions etc.

Available statistics point to the inexorable fact that rather than creating long-lasting job opportunities for the teeming unemployed persons, the various levels of government tend to provide glorified “soup kitchen” alternatives that only address those is-

sues that expire or lapse with the tenure of such governments. These include street-cleaning; traffic and crowd-control; communal farming; revenue collection; business clusters and cooperatives and even thuggery or bodyguard gangs.

When viewed from the prism of the failure of various governments in their primary responsibility profile to cater to the welfare of its people, it is pertinent to say that the fear of the unknown and lack of focus in career choice for self-employment, contribute in no small measure to the frightening population of unemployed persons in Nigeria. Therefore, what should engage the attention of all Nigerians at the moment, is providing a holistic solution to what could have propelled 522,650 jobless youth to apply for, pay the sum of N1,000 each and be short-listed for 4,556 actual vacant positions in the Nigeria Immigration Service.

When we place undue emphasis on issues of reparation and restitution as atonement for the unfortunate death of the applicants, which are merely cosmetic and tangential, we only scratch the surface of the ingrained problem of acute unemployment rather than provide a satisfying and holistic solution. The nagging question has always been: why is a large proportion of our employable populace unemployed? The sore point of the unemployment bottleneck is that the unemployed, including those that lost their lives struggling to fill nonexistent places and extricate themselves from the millions-strong unemployed queue, are victims of the weak leadership modems at federal, state and local levels that lack the political will to create or enable platforms to reduce the frightening unemployment statistics which have overshot the irreducible indices of the ILO. It is glaring that we have lost the battle to provide decent jobs for our teeming population of employable youth, especially graduates of various disciplines who are roaming the streets after many years of graduation.

In retrospect, the tragic occurrences of

Dele Agekameh Saturday, March 15, were avoidable if proactive actions and due diligence were applied in the fateful recruitment exercise, rather than the commercialization of a process that would assuage the unemployment status of the 522,650 applicants.

The delegates at the on-going national confab should focus attention on the prime issue of unemployment in Nigeria, which should be given as much prominence as those tagged as contentious or important to the survival and continued cohesion of the Nigerian nation. It would be a good thing if the delegates can do away with getting enmeshed in discussing such inanities as ‘Chinese rice’ and what they need to fill their stomachs, their craze for high-decibel but meaningless titles and all that. Instead, they should concentrate more on the nagging issues of chronic unemployment among both the skilled and unskilled cadre of persons in the country, as well as, insecurity, especially the perpetually rising cases of ethno-religious conflicts all over the place. These should be part of the highpoint topics that should be in the same realm as that of fiscal responsibility and revenue allocation, devolution of powers, creation of local governments, elections and so on. In fact, unemployment in the country is a tinderbox waiting for a stray spark!

Send reactions to: 08058354382 (SMS only)

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

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COMMENTS ‘It is good we celebrate achievers, irrespective of party affiliation. I wished some government officials attended the birthday and heard the plight of citizens; they believe all is well in Nigeria. Bola Tinubu should be associated with over his doggedness in politics and other sectors. He deserves the encomiums. From Chika Nnorom, Umukabia, Abia State’

• Dr. Adesina (Minister of Agric) For Olatunji Dare Every kobo pumped into agriculture is merely cosmetic. We feel nothing at the grassroots; it’s just an Abuja stuff. Anonymous.

I think we should change our attitudes and believe the best for this country. Our attitude makes most government policies dead on arrival. Dr Adesina is a seasoned technocrat and so far he has the magic wand to transform the sector; let’s be optimistic, for once. From Nonye.

Dr Dare, I hate to confess, your predictions always come true. Please, did you find out that cassava bread was the main menu served the VIP Centenary Guests? From Tolu Mak. The Minister of Agriculture, like most socalled Diaspora, is full of bullshit. We have seen political rice, political cassava and now political wheat. Let them face what we have comparative advantage in. We still import beans, cows, goats etc. A visit to northern borders will confirm this. Go to any major market in Abuja, it is difficult to get Ofada Rice or the so-called Ebonyi Rice, imported and bagged locally. The deceit should stop; the reality involves more than bow ties and theatrical gesticulation in the media. Dr Adesina is limited; he came from a foreign organisation with no specific plan for us but a systematic approach to delaying us. If government buys excess produce, the farming community will get new entrants. Why import fertilisers when all the raw materials are here. The market must be created; ban total importation of food, give a backing to the government buying the excess through legal means and funding through banks, thus, keeping public funds. We will see magic. From Cardinal O C Arogundade.

Re-”The making of a boondoggle.” Whether or not the 1992 trial of a similar project failed, I think continuous trial on the same project is what Nigeria needs. One day, we’ll attain the required agricultural development. When you look at Minister Adeshina, the zeal, the focus and achievement target were always visibly written on his face. The earlier we give encouragement to serious minister(s), the better. Let us put them right by making growth suggestions. Succeeding in wheat production will be an agricultural enabler for Nigeria.

From Lanre Oseni.

When they want to deceive us, they cook up all this jazz! They know where the money is going. But I can assure only five per cent will

I

get to farmers - with some luck. Trust me.

From Anonymous.

Dare, your peice is a naked fact. Would they realise this fact? And save us from another waste of resources. From Sam Okoronkwo.

Dare, let me commend the repeat of your 1992 article in The Guardian on an unachieved dream of wheat production by Ibrahim Babangida’s military regime. We need such publications to help present leaders on why and how such projects failed at their first trials. Now you have provided the current minister with valueable information that would assist him in achieving the government’s objective. Let us assume that IBB’s programme failure was caused by his not having anything to lose because of his military status, your information have put the Minister of Agriculture, Adesina, on the spot. Nigerians watching how he would handle the programme henceforth. It is my hope that other media men who have such information, on past governments’ bungled projects that are being bandied by present governments, would borrow a leaf from “THE MAKING OF A BOONDOGGLE”. This is a proactive approach to bailing out Nigeria. From Lai Ashadele.

For Gbenga Omotoso “A guide to dream jobs in Nigeria.” The truth and nothing but the truth in contemporary Nigeria. It is all fun reading your piece.

However what is not funny is the fact that our attitude as Nigerians is the same. Can I apply for a job in any of your supposed decent states or party and get the job without knowing one big guy? From Kedi.

Mr Gbenga, your piece was rib cracking.

Thanks for making my day. From Henry Ekpe, Owerri, Imo State.

I join you in blessing God who gives you the brain and wisdom. Your “A guide to dream jobs,” is instructive, witty, entertaining, a classical sword in the heart of conscienceless power mongers. Keep the flag flying. From Tayo.

Re: “A guide to dream jobs”. I’m not surprised because, it can only come from a writer of your pedigree. The death of job seekers at the Immigration interview has given rise to a popular but funny cliche in our lexicon. It is called, Death for jobs. My worry about this cliche is: what wrong did President Jonathan do, in providing jobs for the next of kin of dead and injured job seekers? Would it have been better if he just consoled the living victims and the dead next of kin, and moved on like that. No. Good conscience demands that he provides a compensatory reward for the living victims, the dead and their relations.

Human error cannot completely be wished away in human existence. Rather, its occurence or frequency should be minimised. When it

occurs, any effort or gestures, aimed at soothing the effect of the calamity should be praised and not scorned!. Thank you. From Chukwuma Dioka.

In his column, “Editorial Notebook”, in The Nation of Thursday, April 3, 2014 (back page) the editor of the paper, Gbenga Omotoso, wrote on how to resolve the unemployment crisis in Nigeria, under the title “A guide to dream jobs”. Anybody who thinks the article would assist him/her to get a job would be disappointed as the first part of the paper talked about how politicians and those looking for plum jobs in the government try to use all sorts of tricks to convince or deceive, through clever lobbying of government officials to land deserved or undeserved jobs. It was full of sarcasm that one could not help thinking and laughing at the same time – a possibility; since one could think and laugh, just as one could laugh and think, simultaneously. Anonymous.

What I found the most intriguing is the second part which could easily be sub-titled “Death-For-Job”, as contained in the very last sentence of the piece. The writer said “many countries, including the industrial giants, who seem to have stopped thinking, I have just been told, are set to emulate what has been scorned here as “death-for-job”. This comment is one of the fallouts of the Immigration job debacle.

Although you may not believe it, what this writer is saying, rather paradoxically, is that you must die in order to get a job! If you died as a result of the carelessness, stupidity and greed of officials who had invited you to a stadium or coliseum for a job examination, that job is already yours in triplicate after your death although you are no longer there to take it. The job, which is given to you posthumously, would be transferred to three members of your siblings or relatives. So, if you want to get three jobs in a fell-swoop, you must be ready to die while looking for a job, and your death would be as good as getting that job in triplicate. What a way to think! That is the import of the message. Thank you, Gbenga Omotoso, for this thought-provoking piece, although it forced me to gnash my teeth. From

Prof Moses Akinola Makinde, FNAL, Ile-Ife.

For Tunji Adegboyega Re: “Meet the common man at Tinubu’s birthday”. Congratulations to Tinubu at 62.

May he live longer in peace, progress and successes (Ameen). He was a man of the people between 1994 and 1999 during Nigeria’s political logjam and political turbulence. To me, he loved common men. After his eight-year rule between 1999 and 2007 in Lagos, one expected him to deepen his love for the common man by picking any common man to become

•Abba Moro a senator. That way, the gap between the rich and the poor would be narrowing, if that was repeated by him and other powers in 15 succeeding regimes. Happy birthday to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; and many happy returns (Ameen). From Lanre Oseni Dear Tunji, the BAT Colloquium is for the common man. Is President Jonathan a common man? The Holy Book says ‘don’t look for the ‘living’ among the ‘dead’ ! From Chukwuma Dioka, Owerri, Imo State.

Even if the president was invited, he would have dodged the invitation because, if asked by journalists about the state of the nation, he would have mentioned his failed transformation agenda. If the president had gone to Asiwaju’s birthday and had seen the common man, he would have remembered his past and that would have been enough to make him sit right. As you said, let him obtain a copy of the video recording and watch in his office at Aso Rock and address the nation. From Hamza Ozi Momoh, Apapa, Lagos.

I am not a politician but you must be pigheaded to expect President Jonathan to attend Tinubu’s birthday. The APC who paid you to write will not perform up to PDP standard.

Disappointed fan, Ebonyi State.

It is good we celebrate achievers, irrespective of party affiliation. I wished some government officials attended the birthday and heard the plight of citizens; they believe all is well in Nigeria. Bola Tinubu should be associated with over his doggedness in politics and other sectors. He deserves the encomiums. From Chika Nnorom, Umukabia, Abia State.

I just read your article on Tinubu’s birthday colloquium. Very nice piece. However, in the third column, as against ‘life’ in relation to President Jonathan’s absence, it ought to be ‘live’ as in live broadcast. All the best! From Ejiro, Jos. Some of you folks in The Nation should not take Nigerians for a ride. So, you expected the president to attend Tinubu’s birthday party? Does your conscience tell you that you are honest or doing a paid job? From Ene.

Fayose: Backing the wrong horse

FIRST encountered Ayo Fayose quite a few years ago through a mutual restaurateur friend in South London. I think the man was known as Oluwayose back then, and I think he worked mostly as a cab driver around town. But even then, there was a certain energy, a certain swagger about the chap.

He was ambitious and talked big. Sort of reminded me of 50 Cents: Get rich or die trying. The next I heard of Fayose, he has turned up as Governor of Ekiti State – home of PhD holders.

But things quickly went sourh for Fayose in Ekiti. He and the PhDs didn’t quite see eye to eye. He was also accused of being rude and uncouth, a no-no in a place like Ekiti. There quickly followed ugly rumours about mindless corruption and the existence of a killer squad.

Things began falling apart in 2005 when Obasanjo arrived in Afao-Ekiti to commission a poultry farm. Obasanjo’s moustache twitched indelicately; the former President, a successful farmer, complained that he couldn’t smell the usual fragrance peculiar to poultry farms the world over. Turned out Fayose was pulling a fast one. Just the day

By Michael Egbejumi-David before, Fayose had hurriedly put up a few chicken cages. Then he placed some chikens he had hired from a farm in Ibadan in those cages. Obasanjo, not known for being overly subtle, promptly yelled out that Fayose should check himself and fear God. He also advised Fayose to leave the poultry business entirely to private firms and individuals.

Shortly after that, Fayose’s friend, one Gbenga James, and a former aide, Goke Olatunji, were arrested. They were nabbed for their involvement in what was known as the Ekiti State Integrated Poultry Scheme for which over N1.4 billion had been expended.

That was just one case of blatant corruption, but that poultry scam was nothing compared to the fraud Fayose allegedly pulled off in Ekiti with local government funds.

Despite Obasanjo’s initial reticence, Fayose and his Deputy were impeached and got kicked out of office in 2006. EFCC corruption charges are still hanging over Fayose like the Sword of Damocles.

It is incredible therefore that it is this same Fayose that has now been resurrected, dusted

up and chosen by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be its candidate in the upcoming Ekiti gubernatorial poll slated for June. In a party primary election conducted on Saturday March 22, by none other than Peter Odili, Fayose emerged overwhelming winner. It was a PDP-style landslide. Of the available 477 votes, Fayose got a whopping 462. The other three contestants managed to scrape-up only 11 votes between them. One contestant, Mrs Ogundipe got just one vote.

The choice of Fayose is a head-scratcher for me. That he was even allowed to participate in any credible political party’s primary was a surprise. I fear the PDP could be up to something again. I would have thought that a party in central government that doesn’t control any state in the Southwest would see the coming governorship election in Ekiti as one in which to put its best foot forward. I thought the PDP would be a little more serious about its ambitions in Ekiti, especially as 2015 looms. What am I missing?

Throughout his time as governor, Fayose exhibited a character and behavioural trait that were unfit and unacceptable for high office. Alas today, a few people in Ekiti look

back on Fayose’s three years as productive ones. They weren’t.

Rather, unfortunately, it has become common practice in Nigeria for all major political parties to cheat during elections. The biggest rigger always wins unless the courts step in to save democracy’s blushes. The last time around, it took an almighty battle before the usurper governor, Segun Oni, was thrown out. Things got so tough, the previous Resident Electoral Commissioner, Ayoka Adebayo evaporated from her duty post and went on the lam. She claimed that some people wanted her to do things against her will.

In the end, Iwu and the PDP had their way.

Across the track, Iyiola Omisore is getting ready to become the next governor of Osun, also on behalf of the PDP. Omisore has done it before: He won an election as a Senator of the Federal Republic whilst on prison remand on a murder charge. Perhaps there’s a method to what ordinarily looks like the PDP madness. After all, this is realpolitik; it is certainly not about some bucket-load of PhDs in one thing or the other.

• Egbejumi-David writes from Lagos

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net Stories by Taofik Salako

Forecasts Niger Insurance Gross Premium - N2.73b Profit after tax - N212.95m Mutual Benefits Gross Premium - N2b Profit - N885.633m Regency Alliance Gross Premium – N812.596m Profit after tax – N256.437m Learn Africa Turnover - N1.06b Profit after tax - N58.336m Total Nigeria Turnover - N46.676 b Profit after tax - N942.1m MRS Oil Nigeria Turnover - N51.20b Profit after tax - N712 m Eterna Turnover - N27.64b Profit after tax - N563.834m Okomu Oil Palm Turnover - N2.667b Profit after tax - N1.044b Stanbic/IBTC Bank Net operating income N16.805b Profit after tax - N2.737b ASL Turnover - N1.084b Profit after tax - N101.355m GT Assurance Gross Premium - N3.892b Profit after tax - N710.62m Cornerstone Insurance Gross Premium - N1.223b Profit after tax - N80.01m Oasis Insurance Gross Premium N562.500m Profit after tax - N79.868m African Alliance INS Gross Premium - N1.215b Profit after tax - N107.213m Berger Paints Turnover - N976.303m Profit after tax - N88.258m SCOA Nigeria Turnover - N835.0m Profit after tax - N18.200m Dangote Sugar Refinery Turnover - N38.251b Profit after tax - N3.49b Studio Press Nig. Turnover - N3.375b Profit after tax - N20.422m Julius Berger Nig. Turnover - N80.125b Profit after tax - N2.55b Intercontinental Wapic Ins Gross Premium - N1.41b Profit after tax - N250.450m Equity Assurance Gross Premium - N2.45b Profit after tax - N287.283m Standard Alliance Insurance Gross Premium - N2.142b Profit after tax - N475.964m Continental Reinsurance Gross Premium - N6.917b Profit after tax - N805m PRESCO Turnover - N2.60b Profit after tax - N800.9m RT Briscoe Turnover - N4.553b

25 NLNG is one of the biggest success stories in our country. From what I am told, the company has invested $13 billion so far since inception, and has become a pacesetter in terms of revenue generation for the government.

-Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr Olusegun Aganga

IMF predicts modest increase in interest rates

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HE International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday published the global forecasts from its World Economic Outlook with an inkling that interest rates may rise moderately in future.

A new study by the IMF’s Research Department indicated that real interest rates are expected to increase modestly with the normalisation of global economic conditions, reversing the decline into negative numbers after the financial crisis.

According to the report, continued low real interest rates—the rate paid by borrowers minus the expected rate of inflation—will ease the burden of debt for borrowers but can also tie the hands of policymakers.

The report noted that a low real interest rate environ-

By Taofik Salako

Capital Market Editor

ment also enhances the chances that in the future the nominal policy rate may hit the lower bound of zero, thereby losing a key monetary policy tool: lowering interest rates to stimulate growth. Because there is a risk that advanced economies will encounter continued very low growth, this limitation may materialise.

The study outlined that any increase in real interest rates is expected to be modest because the main factors contributing to the decline in real rates are unlikely to be reversed.

These factors, the report stated, included saving and portfolio with emerging market economies’ saving rate increasing significantly between 2000 and 2007, driving down interest rates. This

increase is expected to be only partly reversed.

The report pointed out that since the financial crisis, demand for safe assets has increased—bonds over the increasingly risky stocks and other equity noting that the trend, which was also driven by reserve accumulation in emerging market economies, is likely to continue unless there is a major unexpected change in policy. The decline in investment rates in advanced economies as a result of the global financial crisis is also likely to persist.

Since the early 1980s, interest rates, or yields, on assets of all maturities have declined worldwide, well beyond the decline in inflation expectations. This means that real interest rates—the rates paid by borrowers corrected for expected inflation—have declined. Ten-year real interest rates across countries fell

from an average of 5.5 per cent per cent in the 1980s to three and a half per cent in the 1990s, two per cent over 2001–08, and 0.33 per cent between 2008 and 2012.

“With increased global economic and financial integration over the past three decades, real rates are now largely determined by common global factors, especially at longer maturities. While monetary policy dominated the evolution of real rates in the 1980s and early 1990s, improved fiscal policy in advanced economies was the main factor underlying the decline in real interest rates during the rest of the 1990s.

More recently, however, the factors mentioned above have played a crucial role. ‘’In our study, we construct a new data set of real interest rates for a wide set of countries to examine these factors in detail and predict the fu-

ture of real interest rates and, more generally, the cost of capital,” the report stated.

The study noted that the decline in real interest rates in the mid-2000s has often been attributed to two factors of a glut of saving stemming from emerging markets economies, especially China; and a shift in investors’ preferences toward fixed income assets—such as bonds— rather than equity, such as stocks. Both these factors put downward pressure on real interest rates globally while the expected return to invest in equities increased.

“Scars from the global financial crisis resulted in a sharp and persistent decline in investment in advanced economies. This too contributed significantly to the recent decline in interest rates.

The effects of the crisis on saving have been more muted,’’ it added.

•From left: Executive Director, Business Development, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Haruna JaloWaziri; kogi State Governor, Captain Idris Wada; Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema and Managing Director, Afrinvest Securities Limited, Mr. Ike Chioke, at the Kogi State Bond Listing Forum at the NSE in Lagos.

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HE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will today begin the implementation of the 15 per cent Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) on private sector deposits announced at the March 24 meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).

CRR is a portion of banks’ deposits kept with the CBN as reserves.

It enables the CBN to control the money in circulation to strengthen the naira.

Last month, seven members of the MPC voted to increase CRR by 300 basis points to 15 per cent; two voted to retain the CRR at 12 per cent.

The committee decided by a majority vote of five to four to hold the MPR and its corridor at current levels, but raised the CRR on private sector deposits by 300 basis points to 15 per cent.

Among four Sub-Saharan African countries, Nigeria’s banking sector has the highest CRR, at 15 per cent for private-sector customer deposits plus 75 per cent for public

AMCON’s N7.6tr lifeline for banks

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Implementation of 15% CRR begins today

By Collins Nweze

sector deposits, a report by Renaissance Capital (RenCap) has said.

In Ghana, the CRR is nine per cent; Kenya is 5.25 per cent and Rwanda five per cent.

RenCap said it could not rule out the possibility of further CRR hike as the regulator appears to be using the CRR as the primary monetary tool for mopping up excess liquidity.

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“Our reading of the above is that the risk of a further hike in the CRR cannot be ruled out if the Monetary Policy Committee sees renewed pressure on the naira.

The worst-case scenario, we believe, is that the CRR on public-sector deposits could be raised as high as 100 per cent, increasing our estimate of the blended CRR in Nigeria to 23 per cent. On our numbers, the hit to interest

income over a year would increase to three to 14 per cent,” it said.

It said in view of increased market liquidity following the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) bond maturity as well as an increased spread between the interbank foreign exchange rate and Bureau De Change rates, the move is not surprising.

“It is a clear demonstration

of the CBN’s continued commit-ment to foreign exchange stability, even in a more difficult environment. Should the foreign exchange rate come under further pressure, key threats might be related to quantitative tapering, concern over the transition at the CBN, and ongoing concern about oil receipts as well as Nigeria’s political cycle – then more tightening cannot be ruled out,” it added.

Group lauds oil sector reforms

EEPWATER Survival Trainers Association of Nigeria (DSTAN) has passed a vote of confidence in the reforms in oil and gas sector championed by the Petroleum Minister, Mrs Deziani AllisonMadueke.

Its President, Sir Emmanuel Onyekwena, spoke at a briefing ahead of

the inauguration of the Deep-water Simulation Theatre (DST), built by TOLMANN, a leading offshore safety training firm in the oil and gas sector.

He said the industry has witnessed tremendous growth under Mrs AllisonMadueke.

Onyekwena, who is also the Managing Director/Chief

CBN: Limit for naira card is $150,000

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Executive Officer of TOLMANN Allied Services Company Ltd, said: “The major development that the industry has continued to celebrate is the Local Content Law, which is empowering Nigerians. Before the Minister came on board, only a few Nigerians could access oil and gas contracts.

Look at the difference since

she took over. Today, Nigerians are given the right of first refusal; they are considered first for jobs in the industry.”

First of its kind in Africa, the theatre will be inaugurated under the chairmanship of Mrs AlisonMadueke on April 14, at Trans Amadi Industrial Layout, Port Harcourt.

SEC gives Friday deadline to 63 deficient operators

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

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THE NATION

BUSINESS MONEY

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e-mail: money@thenationonlineng.net

AMCON’s N7.6tr lifeline for banks

HE Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), through the Banking Sector Resolution Cost Fund (Sinking Fund), has stabilised the banking sector with N7.6 trillion, a survey by Financial Derivatives Company (FDC) Limited has shown.

The report titled: “AMCON: Leading Stabiliser Among Peer Countries”, released by FDC said the aid, the first in the series of AMCON bonds for the exercises, have been redeemed without any systemic disruption.

Its Managing Director, Bismarck Rewane, said the expenditure also included a carrying-cost for the banks.

“The AMCON model of financial stabilisation involves a sinking fund set up by the banks to underwrite the funding cost of the detoxification of the system-wide risk asset portfolio. The total amount of the exercise, including carrying cost is estimated at $47.5 billion (N7.6 trillion). The first in the series of bonds have now been redeemed without any systemic disruption,” he said.

Stories by Collins Nweze

Rewane said the size of the banking crisis relative to the economy showed that 21 per cent of nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 35.8 per cent of total banking assets and 71.6 per cent of total banking deposits were all at risk.

He said banking systemic crisis in the country was historically a post-devaluation phenomenon, adding that the naira remained stable for approximately six years before a drastic adjustment.

“The consequence of significant currency depreciation in a country with a high propensity to import cannot be overemphasised.

The overvalued exchange rate is the most important factor price in Nigeria and source of elite subsidy.

“Thus, whenever there is devaluation, it almost leads to a sharp reduction in the exchange rate subsidy while magnifying the cross border risk impact on the risk asset portfolio of banks,” he said.

He explained that in the past, when banks failed, the Nigeria De-

posit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) paid depositors after many years up to the maximum of its guarantee. The larger depositors, he said, lose their fortunes and savings leading to a flight to quality and more banks, especially new ones become fragile and pushed closer to the borderline.

He explained that the 2009 banking crisis was unique in that bank managements were sacked and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) put in place interim management teams.

“The AMCON option was post the interim management process. Therefore, AMCON as an institution, was set up with a limited life (cycle) as a tactical response to self and externally induced crisis. Therefore, AMCON will need to be a strategic institution that will serve the purpose of stabilising the banking industry through its peaks and troughs,” he said.

The report reviewed the operations of bad banks in five countries that cut across four continents globally. They include the United States, Sweden, Ireland, Malaysia

•From left: Surpervising Minister of National Planning, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda and Statistician-General of the Federation Dr Yemi Kale at the news conference on re-basing of Nigeria’s GDP in Abuja.

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AfDB okays $125m to Zenith for SMEs

HE African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a $125 million Line of Credit (LOC) to Zenith Bank Plc for lending to Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs).

In a report obtained from its website, AfDB said the approval was the fourth to Zenith.

The facility, it said, would enable the lender gain access to long-term foreign currency funding to generate additional lending to its SME clients in various sectors of the economy, including agriculture and agribusiness, transportation and manufacturing.

“In approving the LOC, the Board of Directors underscored the fact that the SME sector represents a strategic pillar for Nigeria’s quest to modernise and improve its economy while diversifying away from the heavy dependence on the oil industry,” AfDB said.

According to the Federal Office

of Statistics, SMEs account for 97 per cent of all businesses in Nigeria, contributing 50 per cent of employment and output in the non-oil sector. This compares unfavorably with many peers, reflecting a relative underperformance of the SME sector in the country.

One of the major impediments to SMEs’ growth and development, it said, is limited access to bank credit. It regretted that despite banking reforms aimed at salvaging the real sector, access to credit for the SMEs is still severely constrained. The proposed LOC will therefore con-

tribute to filling this critical financing gap.

“The LOC aligns with the renewed strategy of the Nigerian Government to revitalise the economy by developing its SME sector. It also aligns with the lender’s country assistance strategy to support private sector led growth in Nigeria.

“Furthermore, it is consistent with the AfDB’s strategy to support SMEs through sound and reputable financial intermediaries as well as its new inclusive growth priority by supporting SMEs in critical sectors of the Nigerian economy,” it said.

‘AfDB regretted that despite banking reforms aimed at salvaging the real sector, access to credit for the SMEs is still severely constrained’

and Nigeria.

He said the countries were chosen based on their similarities on the magnitude of the crisis, the spread, and duration of the crisis, among others. “Based on this evaluation grid, AMCON was tied in the first place with Malaysia, Sweden was third, the United States came in fourth and Ireland fifth,” he said.

He said the total deposit premium of NDIC to date is N425.2 billion, adding that the bulk of this would have been disbursed if not for the AMCON exercise.

Rewane said some believe AMCON’s existence poses a moral hazard and, therefore, suggested it should close its operation. He, however, said such thought, including the International Mon-

etary Fund’s (IMF), fail to understand that the aggregate corporate, mortgage and government debt was still very low compared to its GDP at 19.4 per cent.

He said AMCON should be institutionalised as a financial system shock absorbing detoxicant while the economy continues to undergo fundamental shifts to its structure.

It said among the countries reviewed, cutting across four continents, AMCON ranked third, ahead of Republic of Ireland and Sweden. The study also showed that AMCON’s dual role of recapitalising insolvent banks and asset detoxicant, duration of the exercise may exceed the date originally anticipated.

CBN: Limit for naira card is $150,000

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HE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has raised the limit for naira debit and credit cards use from $40,000 to $150,000 yearly.

But this is subject to the monthly returns by authorised dealer banks and card issuers to the CBN. According to the apex bank, settlement for the cards would remain interbank funds, adding that recipients of International Inward Money Transfers would be paid in naira only.

It said the exchange rate for conversion of the proceeds would be the interbank rate on the day of payment by the dealer. Also, dealers are required to display the naira exchange rate in their banking halls.

“Recipients of proceeds of International Inward Money Transfers shall, henceforth, be paid in naira only. The applicable exchange rate for conversion of the proceeds shall be the prevailing interbank rate on the day of payment by the authorised dealer. Accordingly, authorised dealers are required to conspicuously display the prevailing Naira exchange rate in their banking halls,” it said.

Dealers, the CBN added, would continue to sell foreign exchange cash to Bureau De Change (BDC)

subject to a maximum limit of $250,000 weekly per BDC. Dealers are required to conduct KnowYour-Customer (KYC) checks on the BDCs they deal with.

Furthermore, the apex bank said BDCs are required to render weekly returns on use of funds bought from all sources to the CBN, or sanctions would be imposed.

Also, importers who wish to pay for import of non-regulated products worth not more than $250,000 per year by telegraphic transfer shall only complete eForm “M” supported with proforma invoice.

However, the shipping documents shall be submitted to the bank by the importer not later than 90 days from the date of the transfer.

It advised dealers to report defaulters to the CBN monthly for sanctions. The selling rate of foreign exchange by dealers shall be the interbank exchange rate plus a margin not exceeding one per cent, while foreign exchange cash bought by BDCs from dealers and the CBN shall be sold to foreign exchange endusers at a rate not exceeding two per cent margin above the buying rate.

Unified Payments launches Payarena

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NIFIED Payment Services Limited has introduced a new service platform,

Payarena.

In a statement, it said the product offers customers access to Value Added Services which include purchase of airtime virtual top up, prepaid Personal Identification Numbers, Blackberry subscriptions, data bundle plans among others for all Telcos in Nigeria. It also helps in the payment of bills to major service providers such as PHCN, DSTV, GOTV, Swift Networks etc.

The product also offers payment collections platform for public institutions for collections of taxes, levies; corporate organisations and religious institutions for collection of tithes and offerings etc. Payarena is also poised to offer funds transfer services in a manner that has not been offered in the industry.

The platform accepts multiple card schemes such as Visa, MasterCard, UnionPay and carefully designed to accommodate

all other local and international card or payment options including contactless payment solution. It is accessible on multiple channels, including Web via www.payarena.com, over 40,000 Point of Sale (POS) terminals and ATMs all over the country. “For the very first time, Visa, MasterCard and UnionPay cardholders can now enjoy Value added services on a single platform,” said Babatunde Okeniyi, Director, Marketing and Sales for Unified Payments.

Payarena is also available on the Point of Sale (POS) terminal and on the ATM. “With Payarena, holders of different card brands and various other payment options are now well taken care of with regards to value-added services that come with electronic payments even as this brings a further boost to the cashless economy policy driven by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)” said Okeniyi.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

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MONEY

CBN, GDP rebasing and financial inclusion What is the implication of Sunday’s rebasing of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the financial inclusion policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)? To analysts, it is negative. COLLINS NWEZE reports that stakeholders will have to work harder to address this ‘negative impact’.

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UNDAY’S rebasing of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) may have thrown up some challenges for banks, which are grappling with the policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on financial inclusion. The CBN advised banks to provide access to financial services and products to reduce the number of the under banked.

According to CBN, the financial inclusion strategy is meant to reduce the number of adult Nigerians excluded from formal financial services from 46.3 per cent in 2012 to 20 per cent in 2020, with specific targets for payments, savings, credit and insurance.

It said sustaining Nigeria’s development would ensure that at least 80 per cent of adult Nigerians have access to financial services as well as the right environment in which to flourish. This desire prompted the CBN to issue Agent Banking Guidelines to reach the grassroots where bank branches are scarce, but services highly needed.

Banks have also simplified account opening procedures, lowering minimum account opening deposit to as low as N1,000. Also, the Know Your Customer (KYC) policy requirements have been eased to accommodate the grassroots.

Despite these efforts, analysts think higher GDP implies that banking penetration is lower than the previous GDP series suggested. They also said the gap between Nigeria’s and East Africa’s bank penetrations is even bigger than was thought.

Renaissance Capital (RenCap) sub-Saharan African banks analyst Nothando Ndebele said the economy would reflect the sectoral distribution of the industry’s loan book.

She said: “Kenya’s loans/GDP of 38 per cent is almost double that of Nigeria, at 21 per cent against 38 per cent pre-rebasing.

This explains why retail banking in Nigeria is at a nascent stage. But we think this means the banking sector’s growth potential is even greater than we initially thought.”

The CBN said financial inclusion has been defined in various ways around the world, but the essence of inclusion is tied to economic development and providing a better way of life for Nigerians.

The regulator has over the years recognised certain barriers to achieving inclusion some of which include distance to bank branches, cumbersome account opening requirements, lack of awareness of financial products and services, among others.

“As a regulator, we also recognise the challenges deposit money banks face in trying to reach the underserved communities which include the cost incurred by the banks in catering to lower valued accounts and the cost of expanding their branch networks to excluded communities,” it said in a statement.

The apex bank has, however, taken a stand to ensure that these barriers are broken and several steps taken to address these constraints have been taken. Some of these include agent banking. The guidelines for agent banking have been approved by the CBN. They are to ensure increased agency in the delivery of banking services outside traditional brick and mortar bank branches, through additional financial access points, such as existing retail stores, petrol stations, post offices or via technology such as ‘Point of Sale’ (POS) devices and mobile phones.

What banks are doing To drive agent banking system that was recently introduced in the country, Sterling Bank Plc has deployed biometrics enabled point of sale (PoS) terminals at its agent banking outlets in the country. The bank said the move would promote financial inclusion.

At a forum in Lagos, Group Head, e-Business, Sterling Bank, Mr. Fatai Amoo, said about 30 million Nigerians can’t read or write, adding that the device would help bring them into the banking system. With the biometric solution, all that is required from customers are their fingerprints.

He said: “We have over 30 million adults

• Finance Minister Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

•Acting CBN Governor Sarah Alade

who are unlettered and whenever they want to use their ATMs they would tell anybody around their pin. We all know that, that is risky and a lot of people have fallen victim.

Our agent banking solution has brought to an end, this kind of issues. We have been able to deploy a solution that runs on biometrics. Whether you are lettered or not, literate or illiterate, God has given all of us our fingers.”

Heritage Bank is also offering traders and artisans of Gbagada Plank Market in Lagos agent banking services. In a statement, the bank said the customers now have the opportunity to enjoy financial services without visiting any physical branch location.

The lender, last week, launched its agent banking scheme with the opening of what it calls the ‘Corner Shop’ bank in the market.

“The choice of the market as the first place to launch our agent banking is deliberate.

We decided to launch our agent banking in this market because of the importance we attach to the business that you do”, its Executive Director, Ivory Banking, Mary Akpobome said.

licensed micro finance banks (MFBs) in the country, 346 or 39.8 per cent are located in the Southwest geopolitical zone, 162 or 18.64 per cent in the Southeast, 158 or 18.8 per cent in the Northcentral while only 63 or 7.2per cent and 32 or 3.6 per cent are located in the Northwest and Northeast.

Lagos, Anambra and Abuja have the highest number of MFBs. Agent banking is part of efforts to increase the level of financial inclusion in the country, according to the Managing Director of the NDIC, Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim.

Agent banks operate in simple ways such that they could be operated by supermarkets, gas stations, stores and the likes as they are not full-fledged banks. The Kenyan model of agent banks are usually equipped with a combination of PoS card reader, mobile phone, barcode scanner to scan bills for bill payment transactions, Personal Identification Number(PIN) pads, and sometimes personal computers (PCs) that connect with the bank’s server using a personal dial-up or other data connection.

Clients that transact at the agent banks use a magstripe bank card or their mobile phone to access their bank account or e-wallet respectively. Identification of customers is normally done through a PIN, but could also involve biometrics. With regard to the transaction verification, authorisation, and settlement platform, banking agents are similar to any other remote bank channel.

According to the NDIC chief, agency banking would go a long way in reaching out to the largely unbanked population by creating banking representations where banks ordinarily do not have enough resources to establish branches.

Ibrahim said agent banking is a complementary policy that is worthy of emulation as it would provide simple banking services to a variety of people on behalf of various banks.

Analysts say agent banking has the

How it works The use of biometrics-enabled PoS with a well-tested application that has been successful in India that shares some similarities with Nigeria; agents that are carefully selected are then authorised to carry out certain transactions, among others for customers under the scheme such as the enrolment of new customers in line with the CBN Level KYC requirements, deposits, withdrawals, airtime top-up and bill payment and funds transfer.

Hitches This cannot be done with the unbalanced distribution of bank branches in the country. According to the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), out of the 869

‘The CBN said financial inclusion has been defined in various ways around the world, but the essence of inclusion is tied to economic development and providing a better way of life for Nigerians. The regulator has over the years recognised certain barriers to achieving inclusion some of which include distance to bank branches, cumbersome account opening requirements, lack of awareness of financial products and services, among others’

potentials to grow access to banking facilities in the country especially to the uneducated and those in rural areas. Another area where agents could be meaningfully deployed is in the mobile payment system as successfully done in Kenya and some other countries.

Agent banking, however, comes with its own risks as banks and their customers would be faced with agent fraud, unauthorised fees, loss of customer assets and records, data entry errors, system failures as well as a host of others.

These, they noted would have negative impact on the image of the banks affected as customers’ confidence in them would water down, lowering their customer and profit base.

On how agent banking could impact the universal banking model, the NDIC chief stated that it would only complement the current banking models. He dispelled fears that banks with national banking license would become lax in branch expansion saying “the banks will now be able to decide which will be more cost effective for them in reaching out to their customers, either opening up branches or using agent banks.”

In 2009, the CBN adopted measures to open up banking channels to non-bank agents. An amendment to the Banking Act (passed as part of the Finance Act 2009) allowed banks to start using agents to deliver financial services. Using small shops, petrol stations, pharmacies and other retail outputs as agents could have a dramatic impact on improving access to financial services, especially in rural areas.

According to Principal Associate, MobileMoneyAfrica Emmanuel Okoegwale, there is need to define clear operational processes, guidelines and procedures for operating and managing an agency network will improve the spread of financial services along areas of strong compelling needs.

He noted that a lesson ought o have been learnt from the micro-finance sector “where providers that were supposed to be active in the underserved and rural communities where competing with commercial banks on high street and chasing after high net worth depositors to the detriment of the rural unbanked.”

Without doubt, agent banking will favour the banks in terms of profitability and spread, but there is still the issue of trust as much would not be achieved without enough provisions made for customers’ protection.

Kenya example The agent banking model started in May 2010 after Kenya changed its laws to allow commercial banks to offer their services through third-party businesses which has helped raise the profits and spread of the country’s bank.

The agents are conveniently located at commercial outlets like shopping malls, post offices, petrol stations, laundry shops, cybercafés, chemists, eateries and supermarkets, with the belief that people will deposit cash, withdraw and open accounts, services that most people seek in banks, through agents.

However, the Kenya model seems to be having trust issues as local media in the country report that bank customers still prefer to make use of the banking halls rather than the agents who are much closer to them.

Some customers said they preferred to make use of the banking halls due to confidentiality of the banks compared to the agents as well as the charges they have to pay when they use the agents.

Although agent banking was introduced in the country as a measure to decongest the banking halls, the banks continue to service more customers than the bank agents.

It is said while some tellers in the banking halls serve more than 200 customers daily, some banking agents serve less than five people per day in Kenya.

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

THE NATION INVESTORS

SEC gives Friday deadline to 63 deficient operators

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ECURITIES and Exchange Commission (SEC) has given 63 capital market operators up till this Friday, to regularise their operational status with the apex capital market regulator or risk withdrawal of their operating licence.

In a circular to market operators, SEC directed the companies, which included investment bankers, reporting accountants, solicitors, stockbrokers and fund managers among others, to provide necessary documents to support and update their registration status.

A source at SEC indicated that directive to the companies was part of SEC’s ongoing effort to clear the market of inactive firms and ensure that the investing public deals with duly licensed operators.

The source hinted that the apex capital market regulator might not extend the deadline noting that the twoweek compliance period given to the companies is enough for them to provide required documents.

The affected companies included

By Taofik Salako

Capital Market Editor

Arnold Portfolio Co, an individual investment adviser; Austin Mwana & Co, Ayo Kasumu & Co, Balogun & Balogun, Bendu Peter Ser. Nigeria Limited, Capital Chambers, Chancery Advocates, Chika Egwuatu & Partners, Co-Link Investment & Management Company Limited, Cosmic Chambers, Dambale (Nigeria) Limited, Danladi Bamaiyi & Co, David & Moore, E. Duro Alalade & Co, Eddy Okpiabhele & Co, Equibond Securities Limited, Equinox Asset Management Limited, Ezugo Isiadinso & Partners, FB Asset Management Limited, Femi Ajijala & Co, Frank Ilonyosi & Co, H. B. Fabunmi & Co, Hassan, Nakpodia & Co, Heap Investment Limited, Honey Comb Asset Management Limited, Irving & Bonnar, Jubilee Global Fund Plc, Kendall Securities Limited, Lakesworth Investment & Securities Limited, LASACO Assurance Plc, Lateef O. Fagbemi & Co, Leadway Assurance Co, Maj-Gen Ibrahim Bata Malgwi Haruna (rtd),

MGI Alabi, Ekundare, MICC Consult-Mashasha Investment & Commerce Company Limited a n d Mohammed Yamah & Company, a firm of solicitors.

Others included Mojibola Oluwa & Co, O.Thomas & Co, Olajuwon Omotimirin & Associates, Olusegun Olunuga & Co, Olusola Ibidapo-Obe & Co, Olutayo Adenekan & Co, Oluwole Akanle & Co, Osindero Oni & Lasebikan, Osunbade, Okiti & Co, Pan Securities Limited, Petroleum Investment Management Limited, Platinum Capital Limited, Prudential Securities Limited, Regency Financings Limited, S. S. Afemikhe & Co, Seclink Nigeria Limited, Sekat Company, Shoroye & Associates, Smith,Sule & Associates, Solace Chambers, Stan Consultants Nigeria, Supo Ojo & Co, Synergy Investment & Securities Limited, T. A. Oke, Tochukwu Onwugbufor & Co, Victor & Charles and Visa Investments & Securities Limited, a portfolio management firm.

It should be recalled that SEC had

recently changed its fidelity bond policy for capital market operators.

All registered capital market operators are henceforth required to maintain a fidelity bond which has a validity period from January to December of each year.

According to the Commission, any fidelity bond which does not conform to this standard will henceforth not be accepted.

“Note that operating in the capital market without a valid fidelity bond is a contravention of the Investments and Securities Act (ISA) No. 29, 2007 and SEC Rules & Regulations Pursuant to the Act,” SEC stated.

A fidelity bond is essentially a form of insurance against internal fraud, malpractices and wilful professional negligence. It provides cushion for various losses that might arise from employee’s dishonesty.

The announcement of change in fidelity bond policy, otherwise known as professional indemnity policy, came on the heels of recent exclusive report by The Nation that some 213

capital market operators including several high-brow law firms, reporting accountants, banks, investment management firms and advisory firms are operating with expired fidelity bond.

A recent status review undertaken

by The Nation on the condition of capital market operators showed that some 213 capital market operators pose potential risks to capital market operations by not providing fidelity bond against internal malpractices.

The expiration of their fidelity bonds makes the functional registration of the companies and individuals as capital market operators incomplete.

According to report based on data provided by SEC, about 46 per cent of operators with expired fidelity bond and incomplete registration are solicitors including high-brow Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) law firms. At least, 97 law firms registered as solicitors have expired fidelity bonds.

Africa Prudential mulls new acquisitions

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FRICA Prudential Registrars (APR) Plc would consider new acquisitions as part of its strategic plan to build its clients and capital base and position itself as a globally competitive share registration company.

Managing Director, Africa Prudential Registrars (APR) Plc, Mr. Peter Ashade, said the company has embarked on a three-year strategic plan that will see accelerate its expansion through internal and external drives.

“The company has strategic plans to explore other opportunities for both organic and inorganic growth of the business, which will grow the aggregate shareholders base across the APR client companies to over four million by 2015,” Ashade said.

According to him, the company will invest in technology, business continuity plan and branch network in 2014 to further strengthen its profitability.

He attributed the impressive growth in profitability in 2013 to the three-year strategic plan, noting that the first year of implementation in 2013 has set the company on a positive trend.

“By the end of the three-year strategic plan in 2015, APR will not just be benchmarking with Nigeria companies but with international companies in its sector,” Ashade said.

He noted that the company had in 2013 acquired UACN Registrars Limited in demonstration of its quest to be the leading share registration company in Nigeria pointing out that the acquisition boosted the company’s client base by adding four

companies with aggregate shareholder base of over 250,000.

APR distributed N700 million to shareholders as cash dividends as the share registration company ended its first business year as a stand-alone company with strong growth in revenue and profit. Shareholders received a dividend per share of 35 kobo for the 2013 business year.

Audited report and accounts of the company for the year ended December 31, 2013 showed that gross revenue rose by 78.6 per cent while pre and post tax profits jumped by 81 per cent and 63 per cent respectively.

Group turnover rose from N1.03 billion in 2012 to N1.85 billion in 2013. Profit before tax nearly doubled at N1.21 billion in 2013 compared with N667.54 million. After taxes, net profit rose from N561.65 million to N914.46 million. With earnings per share at 46 kobo, the company will be paying 76 per cent of net earnings to shareholders.

The balance sheet position of the company also emerged stronger as total assets grew by 91 per cent from N91.4 billion to N16.42 billion.

Shareholders’ funds grew by 33.6 per cent to N4.33 billion as against N3.24 billion in previous year. Total liabilities had increased from N6.96 billion to N12.09 billion.

APR, formerly known as UBA Registrars, was unbundled from the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Group and its shares distributed to UBA’s shareholders in 2013. It subsequently made history as the first and only share registration company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

•From left: Managing Director, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS), Mr. Kyari Bukar; Nigeria High Commissioner, United Kingdom (UK), Dr. Dahatu Sarki Tafida and Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Oscar Onyema, at the Nigerian Capital Markets forum in London.

Evans Medical opens application list for N1.22b vantage of emerging opportunities VANS Medical Plc will torights issue in the healthcare industry. morrow open application According to him, the company is list for its rights issue of

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about N1.22 billion, paving way for existing shareholders in the healthcare company to increase their shareholdings.

A document obtained by The Nation indicated that Evans Medical will open application list tomorrow for a rights issue of 486.47 million ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at a price of N2.50 per share.

The rights issue has been pre-allotted on the basis of one new ordinary share for every one ordinary held. The rights issue is ex-

•Ecobank Nigeria Executive Director, Southeast and Southsouth, Kingsley Umadia hands over keys to Hilux vans to Executive Director, Operations of Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC), Emmanuel Wowo. The bank donated the vans to support the PPMC, Warri, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to check pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta.

pected to run till the latter weeks of May, this year.

Shareholders who are unable or unwilling to partly or fully pick their pre-allotted shares can trade the shares through the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) during the period of the rights issue.

The net proceeds of the rights issue is estimated at N1.17 billion and would be used primarily to strengthen the balance sheet of the company. About 34 per cent of the net proceeds, estimated at N396.08 million, will be used to refinance existing debt in the current loan portfolio while another 55.5 per cent, estimated at N649.67 million, will be used as additional working capital. The balance of N125.04 million, about 10.7 per cent, will be used for the WHO cGMP certification project.

Devpharm Limited, the major shareholder in the company, is expected to provide about N342 million while another major shareholder, Liquid Africa Holdings, is expected to provide N10.4 million while other minority retail shareholders will provide the balance of the funds.

According to the company, the rights issue is part of the long term strategic plan to strengthen the position of the company, and put it in good stead to surmount the challenges of the evolving pharmaceutical industry, both locally and globally.

Chairman, Evans Medical Plc, Chief Saifudeen Edu, said the company was raising funds to take ad-

committed to attaining the enviable position of a large corporation with multiple plants, products brads and diversified income stream, which will make Evans Medical to be one of the most admired healthcare companies in Africa.

He pointed out that in the light of the intensified regulatory efforts to curtail unfair competition and dumping of substandard drugs in Nigeria, the pharmaceuticals industry will continue to enjoy remarkable and sustained growth.

“The healthcare sub sector is consolidating its gains from the crusade against substandard and adulterated products. This has led to an unprecedented rise in capacity utilisation. Consequently, the industry has experienced a significant increase in turnover and size, as the effect of the reforms continue to trickle,” Edu said.

He outlined the major growth factors for the industry to include government policies aimed at controlling the importation of poor quality pharmaceutical products, improved operating margins as the industry recovers market share hitherto lost to fake and adulterated cheap drugs and ongoing investment in plant rehabilitation and expansion projects aimed at meeting WHO and general manufacturing practice standards in an effort to become globally competitive.

Edu urged shareholders to pick up their rights noting that the company has a “unique growth potential in the pharmaceuticals industry”.

Newspaper of the Year

AN EIGHT-PAGE PULLOUT ON THE SOUTHWEST STATES

Igbo-Oba: The sacred forest at Igboho where four Alaafins were buried

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

Igboho in Orelope Local Government Area of Oyo State is an ancient in which four Alaafins were buried. SINA FADARE, who visited the ‘kings forest’ reports •Continued from Page 30

INSIDE

•Inside Igbo-Oba, Igboho

Lagos community begs for development •PAGE 32

Women lead call for equal opportunities •PAGE 34

PAGE 29

Ekiti, Osun 2014: Why it must be one man one vote •PAGE 36

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

30

SOUTHWEST REPORT

I

GBOHO, an ancient Yoruba town in the Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State, holds a unique place in the history of the all conquering Oyo Empire of old.

When the Fulani Jihadists sacked the empire when it overran the capital in the middle of the 16th century, Igboho it was that played host to the retreating Army of Oyo and offered a temporary abode to the then Alaafin (Ofinran) and his entourage.

And as the temporary capital of the just fallen but regrouping Empire, Igboho hosted the reign of three Alaafins, who were all buried in the scared forest in the town called Igbo-Oba, together with Alaafin Ofinran, who died before his party got to Igboho following their flight from the invading Fulani army; hence the uniqueness and importance of the town to the history of Oyo and the stool of the Alaafin.

The king’s forest (Igbo-Oba), in the days of old was a thick jungle along Oke-Aafin area of the town; today Oke-Aafin is now at the centre of the town directly opposite the palace of Aare of Igboho, Chief Ismail Oyebisi.

Going down the memory lane, Aare Oyebisi, who is in charge of the forest and normally offers the necessary sacrifices when occasion demands, told The Nation how the forest came into being, its uniqueness, significance and mystery surrounding it.

“When the Fulani invaded the old Oyo Empire, the then Alaafin Ofinran had to leave the kingdom to source for a new abode. Since his mother came from the Ibariba (Tapa) side, he had to seek refuge somewhere along that route where he can relaunch attack on his assailants and possibly regain his kingdom.

“When they got to a place called Oke-Iroju, Alaafin Ofinran died.

By custom in Yoruba land, Alaafin cannot be buried anyhow or in a jungle, but in a designated place within his kingdom as was the practice in old Oyo Empire, where Alaafins who died were buried in a sacred forest called Igbo-Oba or Ibara. That explains the Yoruba saying that Awodi re ibara, e ro pe eye ku ni, eye o ku, o lo re ‘ye ni (Awodi bird had gone to Ibara, people thought it had died, but the bird did not die but only gone for a while).

Against this backdrop, he explained that “Alaafin Ofinran was embalmed in a traditional way and was carried by eight hefty men along the route of their journey until they got to a place called Iju-Sanya.

“At the bank of the river, one of the wives of Alaafin gave birth to a baby boy that was named as Abisipa, meaning a child that was born along the road. The herbalist was asked to consult Ifa, as he was doing so, two birds, Igbo and Oyo were fighting on a tree and fell down in front of the herbalist, Alaafin Ajiboyede (who reigned after Ofinran), directed that the two birds should be killed and their blood used as sacrifice. From the two birds, Igbo and Oyo, the name Igboho was formed and Ifa told them that they had arrived where they were going.” ‘’Since Alaafin Ofinran was buried in the king forest, other Alaafins that died in Igboho were equally buried there. They are Alaafin Ajiboyede, Egungun-Oju and Oropotoniyun Arobosete (a woman). In the days of old, nobody was allowed to enter that forest but intermittently, big animals like python, tiger and antelope would come out from there,

•Entrance to Igbo-Oba, Igboho

Igbo-Oba: The sacred ‘ forest at It is expedient for the state and local government to come to the aid of the community to preserve this historic monument, especially in the area of fencing the forest and making the place attractive to tourists, who may want to come and visit the resting place of some past Alaafins

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•Chief Oyebisi

but would not harm anybody.

Any time this happened, traditional sacrifices were usually offered by the Aare as the custodian of the sacred forest, to appease his forefathers, who he believed were not happy with being abandoned for a while without any sacrifice made to them.”

He added that as part of the taboos associated with the sacred forest, nobody is allowed to wear any red cloth near the forest oth-

erwise such person will incur the wrath of his forefathers. “Up till today, you cannot wear red cloths across the forest because anything can happen to that person before the end of that day.”

Aare Oyebisi noted that it is expedient for the state and local government to come to the aid of the community to preserve this historic monument, especially in the area of fencing the forest and making the place attractive to

tourists, who may want to come and visit the resting place of some past Alaafins.

“Before I was installed as the Aare of Igboho, the forest had almost turned to a dumping site for garbage but immediately after my installation, I stopped the people from dumping refuse in the forest, cleaned it up and made it a beautiful site to visit. If the forest is fenced, it will ward off all form of intruders. Some historians from the University of Ibadan and Obafemi Awolowo University,

Ile-Ife, usually come here regularly to do some research concerning the burial ground of some past Alaafins,” he explained.

Recounting his experience when he entered the forest some years back, an indigene of the Mr. Raman Ajibola, told The Nation that what happened to him has reinforced his belief that there is more to the forest than meet the eye.

“I wanted to go to the next street and since there is a shorter route through the forest I decided to take it, it was around eight o’clock in the evening. As I was about entering the forest I said (to no one in particular) that ‘am one of your sons, please don’t scare me from passing the forest.’ But when I got to the middle of the forest, I saw a big animal that up till today I could not describe. ‘I was terrified, l cried loud that, ‘look I am one of your sons, you cannot afford to hurt me.’ My head suddenly swelled and I could not move any of my legs.

Everything happened in a jiffy, when I got my bearing, I ran as far as my leg could carry me; ever since I have restricted myself from passing through the forest again especially at night.”

Corroborating Ajibola’s view, a school teacher, who simply identified himself as Hamsat, disclosed that something mysterious happened concerning the forest when he was in the secondary school many years ago and which had remained indelible in his memory.

“When we were in the secondary school (in the town), there used to be a friend of mine called Quadri Ganiyu, we were all coming from school one afternoon when we saw a beautiful girl just on the road that led to the forest.

Ganiyu was a fast guy so he de-

Ig

at

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

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SOUTHWEST REPORT

•The resting place of Alaafin Ofinran

Igboho where four Alaafins were buried cided to toast the girl and eventually took her home. Some of our friends were very jealous of his new catch which was a thing of

pride those days. Around 7pm when I visited Ganiyu to get the gist about his new found love, I was shocked to learn that imme-

diately the lady left he developed a terrible cold and became uncomfortable. The intervention of a powerful herbalist saved his

life. By the second day, the situation had gone from bad to worse.

His saving grace was that he did not have fun with this strange

lady which the herbalist said came from the King’s forest. Ever since then, it dawned on us that the forest is not an ordinary one.”

My advice to feuding Igboho monarchs, by historian

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N Ogbomosho-based historian, Adewuyi Adegbite, has called on the three traditional rulers in Igboho town fighting for supremacy to sheath their swords and work together in the interest of their people and town.

Reacting to a story: ‘Town with three kings’, published in the March 5, edition of The Nation, Adegbite noted that the story “on supremacy tussle among the monarchs in Igboho, Oyo State, made an interesting reading.

“That the town had three traditional rulers is nothing special because some dynamics of history might have brought the three together. As a matter of fact, their number and diversity must have been their strength in the troubled times in the past.

“Issue of paramount is not peculiar with Igboho monarchs, it is peculiar with many towns in Yorubaland, where dynamics of the Yoruba history in the 19th century had forced people of various towns and villages to live together may be because of war or other related factors. These include Abeokuta, Ogbomoso, Okeho, among others.

“As a trained historian, one could not from the story say with finality the paramount ruler among the three Obas. One could just try to strike a balance in the claims of the three monarchs presented and come out with a plausible claim to who founded the town and who supposes to be the paramount ruler and how he had lost the claim to paramount, if there is a contrary claim to supremacy by a late comer. However, this piece could guide the authority

if at all it is out to do the right in the light of political consideration which had almost compromised human existence itself.

“From the claims, only Alepata and Onigboho presented their stories, Onibode was just out to debunk the stories without stating his own claim.

“According to Alepata, Igboho was founded by Alaafin. However, the event that he related to the tradition, that is, Fulani invasion of Oyo, forced one to cast doubt on the authenticity of his story because Fulani invasion occurred in the 19th century and Igboho was not founded in the 19th century. Secondly, the name of the town Igboho was said to have been derived from Eye Igbo, Eye Oyo. Finally, that he helped Alaafin to get rid of the ghost that stopped Alaafin from returning to Oyo-Ile, after his sojourn in Igboho. On the part of Onigboho, his ancestors migrated from Eruwa to found Igboho. Sec-

ondly, the name, Igboho was derived from the rocks that had holes, IgboOniho. Also, that Alaafin sojourned in Igboho due to turbulent period he experienced in Oyo-Ile. Third, Alepata accompanied Alaafin to Igboho.

“Samuel Johnson corroborated the position of the Alepata that Alaafin founded Igboho and that at a period, the seat of Oyo government was transferred to Igboho. The meaning of the name Igboho was also explained. However, Johnson caused more confusion by not also giving an account on how Onibode chieftaincy title was created by the Alaafin and became paramount.

“Furthermore, the position of the history teacher that the reporter interviewed in Igboho was more confusing because European could not have visited Igboho in the 16th century when they got to the west coast of Africa served by sea around that

‘

My advice for Igboho monarchs is to allow peace to reign amongst them.

They have been forced by circumstances of history to cohabit in Igboho. In this circumstance, what should be uppermost in their minds is the unity which could engender development in Igboho

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same time. Which path did they follow to Igboho? Even Clapperton, who visited Oyo-Ile did so in the 19th century. The history teacher was out probably to add fillip to Alepata’s claims.

“From the analysis of all the inferences above, it is deducible that Onigboho going by his title is the founder of Igboho. Any Oba whose titles does not reflect the name of the town he rules, is probably a stranger who conquered the people he met on ground, had a claim over them or forced on them by a superior authority. Secondly, his tradition of origin of Igboho and most importantly, the name is more plausible. Igbo-Oniho more plausible than Eye Igbo, Eye Oyo. Also, Alepata and Onibode had in the past did spectacular things for Alaafin which prompted him to reward the Onibode by collecting revenue at the gate of Igboho, Alepata might have become prominent because of his act of valour for Alaafin.

Another thing to consider in determining founder of a town is the location of the Oba’s palace. Though I have not been to the palaces of the monarchs, however, the one that is situated at the centre of the town is probably the founder of the town.

This is peculiar to all ancient Yoruba towns. The founder’s place was always at the centre with market opposite or adjacent to his place and other compounds surrounding it.

Reading many local histories of many Yoruba towns, particularly in Oyo/Osun states, there are instances where Alaafin or other ancient Obas forced strangers on indigenes to lord it over them or from where some-

body who was not qualified for a throne was forced on many thrones, causing among other things civil strife or outward migration by rightful claimant and his people to found other towns.

“Alaafin enjoyed enormous power in the past that he had caused division in many towns where he had imposed unqualified persons as kings or where he had through proclamation forced a total stranger on the rightful monarch of a town. The crisis in Igboho could be traced to one of the two instances above and not peculiar to Igboho alone. One important thing to consider is that issue of paramount is very difficult to adjudge. This always requires the attention of a panel of inquiry of eminent personalities including judges, historians etc. This is because the founder of a town, who supposes to be the paramount ruler of the place might have been forced by circumstances beyond his power, may be by superior authority in history, war of conquest, colonial fiat, post colonial government manipulation to lose paramount to a total stranger. It is through an independent and unbiased panel of enquiry that such issue can be adjudged.

“My advice for Igboho monarchs is to allow peace to reign amongst them. They have been forced by circumstances of history to cohabit in Igboho. In this circumstance, what should be uppermost in their minds is the unity which could engender development in Igboho. Else, external forces would only harp on the division to fan ember discord amongst them for their selfish ends or to further their nests”.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

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SOUTHWEST REPORT

•Water vendors ready to sail across the creek to fetch potable water

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•Water kegs chained by vendors against theft

•A section of the concrete pedestrian bridge bare of iron protectors

Lagos community begs for development

Our governor is a kind-hearted man, who is always keen at leaving a legacy. That is why we are pleading that though the governor is at the twilight of his administration, he could come to the aid of our community by giving us a motorable road. To demonstrate our determination to ensure the success of this project, we are ready to take government officials round the community to ensure that the right of way for a befitting road is established with little or no impact on the lives and property of our people

In spite of the impressive performance of the Lagos State government since the advent of democracy in 1999, the Agboyi community, a riverside settlement on the eastern part of Ketu in the metropolis, seems not to have got the dividends of democracy. It is bereft of any development that could make the people feel being part of an emerging mega city.

ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE reports

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LOSE as they are to the heart of the government's mega city programmes, they are eons of years away from development. The people lack in all indices that promote quality lifestyle, living on the fringe and in the most odious manner. That is the story of the people of Agboyi, a homogenous riverside community divided into three in the 50s, for administrative convenience and lately, the home of Agboyi-Ketu Local Council Development Area (LCDA).

Home to Awori, the aboriginal stock of Lagos, Agboyi claims historical affinity with Isale-Eko, but while this “500-year-old” community has become a basket of neglect, with its people reduced to near third class citizens even where they have an LCDA carved out for them, the later has grown to become the nation's commercial, economic and financial capital.

A black, brackish and smelly creek separates these people from Ketu, and in effect, from civilisation. The only access to the three communities known as Agboyi I, II and III, is by this fetid less than 20- metre width water, plied by dugout canoes which either had a speed engine fixed at its tail, while those who could not afford it made do with paddle, usually moored at the jetty at Agboyi-Odo. The rain was about falling last weekend when The Nation visited, giving room to fears that the water level could rise, making the venture more risky. As this reporter brought out his white handkerchief to wipe away sweat that had suddenly broken out of his furrow, a harsh wind blew and before he knew it, the handkerchief had been blown into the river. “Ah, sorry sir,” a small boy interjected as he saw the reporter’s astonishment. “Even if these boys helped you to pick it, you won't be

able to use it again because it would have turned black,” the boy's mother retorted.

But the reporter has momentarily forgotten his loss. His attention having been caught by a row man wrestling with the wind as his canoe was caught by a mild gale, as he made the short distance between Agboyi III and the jetty. He fought for control, against the wind that seeks to push his canoe farther off to Agboyi II. As he brought the canoe back to shore, the Agboyi II canoe came and the reporter hurriedly hopped in, to secure a seat on a flat plank bridging the midrib of the canoe, as the steer boy warned commuters against sitting on the canoe’s edge to avoid mishap. The reporter looked odd as he covered his nose all through the less than five minutes drive across the river, while all around him, people, including children were eating and chatting, oblivious of the innards churning smell oozing from the river.

But the people could swear that the creek had supported life and never this dead. Kehinde Ladega, one of Agboyi's change agents said he drank from the river while growing up in the 90s.

Ladega, left Agboyi in 1998 and until his departure, he, like every other youth went to the stream to fetch water for the family's use. "Then we wash, drink, bath, and swim in this water. Then, women would display fishes earlier caught by fishermen in this river," Ladega said. That, sadly he said, was no more.

Ladega, like other residents blame the channelisation of the Odo IyaAlaro canal at Maryland, the Ogudu canal and the Ketu channelisation for their reversal of fortune. They claimed rather than these canals to be channeled to bigger river bodies, they were emptied into the Agboyi creek, contaminating the ecosystem

and causing the death of the fishes.

Alhaji Tajudeen Adio Gafar, aged 75, who has lived his life in Agboyi said he was also raised with the water. Gafar, who is the Balogun Adeen of Agboyi I, and a retired fisherman, said he was rendered jobless by the contaminated creek.

“Our main preoccupation was fishing. We lived on the creek and knew how to cultivate the river for our livelihood, but all this has become a thing of the past. We could no longer drink this water, we can't bath with it, we can't even fish in it as all the fishes and sea mamals are all dead as a result of this contamination, yet government seem not to have any solution to our plight,” Gafar said.

It was never this bad. In 1989, the then military administrator, Col. Raji Rasaki (rtd) (as he then was), had commissioned a water project in Agboyi. The 10,000 litres project was complete with a treatment plant and a giant electricity generating set to power it. The same year, the governor also gave the community the only jetty connecting it with AgboyiOdo, and a concrete pedestrian bridge connecting Agboyi I and II. But since the collapse of the water project, getting potable water has been hellish. The people have had to rely on water vendors, who use canoe to get potable water in kegs from Ogudu, Ketu and environs. For their pains, the vendors sell each keg for N100, while a bag of satchet water goes for N300. Water rationing in families and homesteads is the order of the day in Agboyi, as failure means, a family must cough out more to buy the scarce commodity.

The Chief Imam of Agboyi II Central mosque, Alhaji Marufu Sodiq, pleaded with the government to revisit the Raji Rasaki project and give the Agboyi people a sense of belonging.

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•The sinking Agboyi Primary School at Agboyi I Another agonising cry of the people outside potable water is school. The only school in the three communities, Agboyi Nursery and Primary School was established in 1975, as part of the Universal Basic Education Project. Decorating the one block structure are gaping holes at all corners, the roofs are held in place by rubbles and stones, while the structure is gradually sinking.

For the people, this legacy does not represent their aspiration. The communities with a total population of 70,000 people ought to have not only a befitting primary school but also secondary school.

Mrs. Muinat Agbaletu, 63, a retired Birth Attendant at the Agboyi-Ketu LCDA, pleaded with government to bring the dividends of democracy closer home to the people of Agboyi

by giving them a secondary school.

“We are tired of sending our children of secondary school age to Ogudu, Maryland or Ketu, where they either live with relations or go by canoe every day. We can no longer continue to expose them to danger every day,” Mrs. Agbaletu said.

Chief Jelili Salau Beyioku, the Osolomade of Agboyi, believes Agboyi could also do well with a good link road. The only link bridge between Agboyi I and II is a concrete bridge which had to be fixed by communal effort when it almost caved in recently.

“Government could go beyond this by giving us a motorable road that would link our community with the rest of the state,” he said.

Going down memory lane, Beyioku said Agboyi used to exist as

an administrative unit of Ikeja, before it was ceded to Somolu. It was the administrative headquarters for the entire Kosofe, Ketu and Alapere.

He said: “The same Agboyi that was once the administrative headquarters, has now been reduced to an underdog and a mere appendage of areas where it had been head, and we are saying that this must end.

“Our governor is a kind-hearted man, who is always keen at leaving a legacy. That is why we are pleading that though the governor is at the twilight of his administration, he could come to the aid of our community by giving us a motorable road.

To demonstrate our determination to ensure the success of this project, we are ready to take government officials round the community to ensure that the right of way for a befit-

ting road is established with little or no impact on the lives and property of our people”.

A youth leader, Mr. Shakiru Adekunle Owoyele, said the youth would want the government to address the long years of neglect of the people by integrating them into its mega city plans and programmes.

He said the vision of the Asiwaju Bola Tinubu's administration to bring development closer to the people of Agboyi by giving it a Local Council Development Area (LCDA) has been defeated as successive administrations in Agboyi-Ketu LCDA, have denied the communities adequate representation at the council.

Owoyele frowned at the situation where Ward E and Ward F comprising of Agboyi communities in the

LCDA have continued to be denied full representation in the council. He added that the area has only one councillor.

Comrade Muideen Olatunji Yousuf, President of the Agboyi Students Association (ASU), plead-ed with the government to address the plights of the people of Agboyi and give them a sense of belonging as citizens of the state like other original land owners and founders of the state.

He said the students had approached the senator representing their constituency Senator Gbenga Barehu Ashafa, to help address their neglect.

Yousuf, listed road, water, bridge, maternity centre, community hall, and primary and secondary schools as some of the needs of his people, adding that the lawmaker who ex-

pressed shock at the gross neglect pledged to intervene.

He said the community deserves an apology from the council chairman for what he considered as “deliberate falsification of facts,” on the issue of the community's collapsed bridge.

Yousuf said, the community was shocked that the council chairman, Hon. Obafemi Durosinmi, could go on a television programme to allege that the people of Agboyi had refused the council's move to construct a befitting bridge for the community.

Debunking the council chairm-an's claims, Yousuf said: “The community had approached the council when the concrete pedestrian bridge linking Agboyi I and II collapsed, with the hope that the council would come to its aid by reconstructing the bridge with the railing.

“Rather than fix the bridge, the chairman sent his men to bring wooden planks with the intention to replace the concrete bridge with a wooden one. The people rejected this and forced the council officials to return to the council with the planks.

We were therefore shocked to hear the chairman saying we had rejected his move to give us a bridge.”

He said the people have lost hope in the chairman and had given up on seeing him redeem the promises made to the community during his campaign, adding that the people however would no longer fold their arms but henceforth take their political future in their hands.

When contacted, the representative of the people in the Agboyi-Ketu LCDA, who is also the leader of the House, Mr. Rilwan Seriki, refused to comment. “I can't talk on the phone,” he told the reporter.

Speaking with The Nation, the council chairman, Mr. Obafemi Durosinmi urged the people to exercise more patience with his government. He blames the seeming abject condition of the people on the paucity of funds, even as he assured that the people would begin to smile before the end of the year.

“Our people in Agboyi should not be angry with the government, everyone would want the government to come and do something for them and the truth is that while we are always ready to do this because that was why we were elected into office, our hands are usually tied by the funds available to us. You must realise that we are also a LCDA, which means the monies available to us are funds that was split from our parent council. But regardless of all of these, I can only appeal to them to be patient with us. In due course, they will see our hands,” Durosinmi

•Durosinmi said.

He said the initial intervention planned for the people, which was the construction of a wooden bridge, was rejected by them, adding that the project which cost his government over N2 million had to be taken to Odo-Ogun, another riverside community bordering Ikorodu, a development which he said elicited tumultuous prayer session from the appreciative community.

He said there was no truth in the allegation that the Agboyi communities never gained anything from democratic administrations over the years, disclosing that his predecessor Otunba Yetunde Arobieke constructed the concrete pedestrian bridge in the community.

He denied seeing the Agboyi people as an opposition, adding that he holds them in high esteem. “The Agboyi people are my people, I owe everything I have become in politics to a man I can proudly refer to as my political godfather who hails from Agboyi. They should also realise that I single-handedly picked their councilor as the speaker of the council legislature. I have a very good working relationship with all the leaders of the community,” he added.

He said his administration has changed the face of governance at the LCDA in the last three years and expressed the hope he would be given the opportunity to continue to give the people quality governance at the grassroots.

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Can Lagos HOMS solve the yearning for decent homes?

E

VERYONE loves a decent and comfortable accommodation; paved with interlocking blocks, well constructed drainages, tiled floors, beautified with flowers for aesthetic and healthy environment and access to portable water.

But not many can boast of this sort of accommodation in the cosmopolitan city of Lagos with about 20 million-population and counting, due to harsh socio-economic challenges in the country.

Besides, there is the persistent landlord-tenant disputes recorded daily, while some fraudsters take advantage of the housing deficit in the state to defraud unsuspecting residents seeking accommodation, of their hard earned income.

For some residents in Lagos, the Low Cost Housing Estates built by the Alhaji Lateef Jakande administration between 1979 and 1983 remains one of the sterling interventions towards addressing the challenge of housing in the state.

The houses known as ‘Jakande Estates’, afforded residents the opportunity to own their own houses and pay for them in installments via a mortgage plan, a scheme that stood the test of time.

Today, the present administration in the state is attempting to relieve the scheme with the introduction of the Lagos Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (Lagos HOMS).

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), had introduced the scheme with the objective of encouraging and supporting home ownership of First-Time Buyer (FTB) residents to purchase decent and affordable homes through the provision of accessible mortgage finance.

The housing scheme administered by the State Mortgage Board ranges from one, two and three bedrooms.

Interested home owners are expected to make a downward payment of 30 percent while the remaining value would be spread across a 10-year period.

Fashola said the state government decided to adopt the mortgage approach to home ownership since it had become difficult for people to pay out rightly for houses.

To him, “this approach in part explains the reason why a large number of ordinary middle class and working class people cannot afford to acquire homes on the basis of their legitimate income derived from hard

By Miriam Ekene-Okoro

work that rewards the dignity of labour.

“Our view of a home is that it is something you pay for gradually and it is a place of safety, well built, safe and sound, to protect you and your family from the hazards of nature such as rain and heat, a place that will not flood or suddenly collapse.

“Today, as we flag off this scheme there are 1,104 completed homes while another 3,156 units are at various stages of construction and we intend to start more. As against this, we are starting the construction of 4,554 housing units across the state.”

The scheme, hence took full flight on Monday last week as the first eleven allottees of Lagos HOMS, who were successful at the maiden draw, received keys to their houses from Governor Fashola.

The successful allottees include: Mrs. Abdulmalik Rukiat, Mr. Ademola Odujoko, Mr. Ejiroghene Torishedu Madedor, Mr. Amos Kimeh Omodunni, Mrs. Yetunde Oluwaseun Awopeju, Mr. Ajayi Omotayo Jubril, Mrs. Ganiyat Dolapo Akanni, Mr. Gbenga Owolabi, Mr Chukwuneta John Paul Ogbatwi, Mrs Bibian Aloba Kanayo and Mr. Ikpeh Daniel Darlington.

Beaming with smile while receiving their keys, the allottees said the development has further re-invigorated their confidence in the state government.

They said like many other doubting Thomas, they had applied without expecting it to be easy and transparent.

One of them, Mr. Amos Omodunni said, he learnt about the scheme on the social media and did not expect it to be as easy as it turned out to be.

“Everything worked like clock. I did not have to visit any office or talk to anyone. Everything that I needed to do to complete that application was done in my office.”

Omodunni said, he was in his office when the televised draw was being held and ran to an adjoining office to watch the programme. He said, he was shocked when his name was picked for a three-bedroom flat.

He said the scheme has strengthened his belief in the efficacy and efficiency of the Lagos State government, adding: “I and the other allottees are advocates of the trans-

parency and fairness that we now know are the bedrocks of this particular scheme. We sing it high and loud everywhere we go; to our friends, neighbours and colleagues.

Go and apply, it is real. You do not need to know anybody; just send in your application and you can become a home owner.”

Also, Mrs. Yetunde Awopeju, who works with Atlas Technical Services Limited, hailed Governor Fashola, whose foresight she said has come to the fore with the HOMS scheme.

She said from what used to be a condemned location and a night club in Surulere, a beautiful estate has risen, adding that she is happy to be a beneficiary of the Shitta Housing Estate.

Ikpe, who works with Zenith Bank Plc, said, he heard about the programme on the social media.

He said if Nigeria had many visionary leaders like Fashola, it would be a better place.

Fashola said the success of the first draw was a message to the present generation that all hope is not lost and a better Nigeria can still be built.

“I am happy to see young people become homeowners in their country and in our state. Go and apply, pay your taxes, register as a Lagos resident and the rest is easy.”

He described the first draw as a modest start with 31 successful applicants for the 200 homes available.

Chairman of the Lagos Mortgage Board and Lagos State Commissioner for Finance, Ayo Gbeleyi described the event as another promise made and kept by the Fashola administration.

He said, of the 31 winners that emerged at the first draw, the 11 named above have met the mortgage requirements.

Gbeleyi said in developed countries, over 60 per cent of home owners bought their homes under a mortgage scheme noting that in the United States (USA), the figure is over 80 percent, 30 percent in South Africa, 15 percent in Rwanda, while Nigeria is still under five per cent.

The short but impressive ceremony was witnessed by the Deputy Governor, Mrs. Adejoke OrelopeAdefulire, members of the State Executive Council, including the Commissioner for Housing, Mr. Bosun Jeje, members of the Lagos State Mortgage Board, the successful allottees and some members of their family.

•Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola SAN (middle) with his deputy, Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire (second right), in a group photograph with the First Draw winners of the Ownership Mortgage Scheme (Lagos HOMS), Mr. Jubril Omotayo Ajayi (left); Mrs. Yetunde Oluwaseun (second left), her son, Master Joseph Camille (third left); Mr. Omodunni Amos (second right behind); Mr. Ejiroghene Madedor (right behind); Commissioner for Housing, Mr. Bosun Jeje (right); his Finance counterpart, Mr. Ayo Gbeleyi (left behind) and others during the presentation of keys at Lagos House, Ikeja.

‘

Women lead c

•Some of the women at the event

T

HERE was hardly any space left at the Police College ground in Ikeja, Lagos, last Thursday, as women from different sectors and social class assembled to debate on issues as it affects their collective interest.

The event was the 2014 International Women’s Day celebration.

Shops in major markets across Lagos State were closed as over 10,000 women dressed in two predominant colours of orange and green aso-ebi and gele trooped to the venue to join in the celebration.

With various banners depicting their association, they paraded the arena chanting solidarity songs, which was enough to signal their clarion call for equality and emancipation of women in the society.

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), who was the guest of honour at the event could not shy away from the reality of the situation as he assured that more opportunities will be given to women in the state.

He said the government has continued to expend resources in all areas that affect the women in particular, noting that huge investments have been made in the areas of health, education and social services, which he declared will assist in the development of the girl-child and women in general.

Fashola told the gathering that the present administration, in its attempt to reduce infant and maternal mortality has built and delivered seven Maternal and Child Care Centres (MCC), in different parts of the state, while another three are nearing completion in Lekki, Badagry and Epe, areas of the state.

He added that the government’s investment in education and the passage of enabling laws on rights of children have also led to an increase in the enrolment of female students in public schools, which he said presently stands at 51% while the male have 49%.

Governor Fashola added that the government through the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation had established 17 skills and vocational training centers, which are providing the necessary

By Miriam Ekene-Okoro

training for the young girls, who desire to learn a skill and become successful entrepreneurs.

He said that the modest achievement of his administration was made possible by the hardworking members of his executive council as well as the state House of Assembly, noting that women of impeccable character and zeal occupy premium positions in these two arms of government.

The governor, therefore, enjoined government at all levels to provide enabling environment for the women folk to excel and contribute their quota to the development of the society and the nation at large.

“For the world to be more peaceful and equal, it is indisputable that women should be allowed to fly and exhibit all their creativity for the good of all,” the governor charged.

Earlier in her welcome address, the deputy governor of the state, Hon. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, noted that the celebration of the International Women’s Day is a global tradition of creating a platform to acknowledge the critical roles of women in the society and to celebrate the achievement and uniqueness of the female gender.

She said the theme of this year’s celebration, ‘Equality for Women, Progress for All’, is in compliance with Goal 3 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), which states emphatically that equality of women and men in the society as well as the economic and educational empowerment of the women folk must be given priority attention.

Adefulire added that, with the focus of the theme, women are indispensible if a society; state or nation must progress and develop, noting that the well-being of any nation can be measured in the state of its average woman.

The deputy governor, however, called for more stiffer laws to protect against all forms of abuse that mitigate against women achieving their full potentials, noting that

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d call for equal opportunities

•Former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Sarah Sosan; Wife of Lagos State Governor, Dame Abimbola Fashola; Governor Fashola and his deputy, Mrs. Orelope-Adefulire at the International Women’s Day celebration held at the Police College Ground Ikeja, Lagos.

‘ For the world to be more peaceful and equal, it is indisputable that women should be allowed to fly and exhibit all their creativity for the good of all

‘

‘

despite various prorgrammes and campaigns as well as the theme of past celebrations focusing on abuse of women, more women still face all forms of abuse on daily basis.

“It is saddening that since 1996 when the United Nations decided to celebrate the women, emphasis have been made on the need to eradicate or reduce to the barest minimum, all forms of violence against women, however, in our society today, there is an increase in cases of gender-based violence and inhuman treatment of women in spite of our state of technological and sociological development,” Adefulire lamented.

She equally advised women not to pay lip-service to the campaign for equality but also seize every available opportunity to show-case their resourcefulness, passion, commitment and the zeal to excel in any area of their calling.

In her remarks, wife of the Lagos State governor, Dame Emmanuella Fashola, said the empowerment of women has been proven to lead to economic and all round growth of nations, as shown by the fact that countries with gender equality are making better progress.

She added that in spite of the laudable efforts of many, the girl-child had remained in a vulnerable state and it has taken more effort to break in to the forefront of society,

explaining that it is for the nation’s own good for the women to be educated and to have equal opportunities as men.

Dame Fashola said the nation has reached a position where it should do away with instances where unpalatable and suggestive premises are brought to the fore as the reasons for the success of a woman who has risen to a certain height through her proficiency.

Goodwill messages were also presented by representatives of the United Nations Fund for Population (UNFPA), which was represented by Dr. Omolasho Omosehin, who re-emphasised the need for gender equality for all women, while Mrs Eleana Martins, of the Federation of International Women Lawyers (FIDA), posited that when a reflection is made of what has been done by women, they are better positioned to do more.

The event attracted dignitaries like the former Deputy Governor, Princess Sarah Adebisi Sosan; member of the Federal House of Representatives, Hon Jumoke Okoya-Thomas; members of the State Executive Council, member of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Funmi Tejuosho; Iyaloja General and President Association of Market Men and Women in Nigeria, Chief Mrs. Folashade Tinubu-Ojo; among other.

•Cross section of women

… pray for national peace T

HE activities of the dreaded Boko Haram terrorist organisation engaged the attention of hundreds of women from across the country who gathered at the MUSON Centre in Lagos recently to pray for Nigeria.

The event, held at the Shell Hall of the Centre was the 5th edition of the Annual National Women Prayer Summit (NWPS).

Organised by the convener of Awesome Treasures Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, Architect Olajumoke Adenowo, who led in the prayers sessions asked the women to seek an end to the apathy in the country and bring repentance on behalf of Nigeria.

It served as opportunity for the women to speak with one voice and evoke the Almighty in coming to the aid of the country, which is believed to be under

By Nneka Nwaneri

siege.

They also condemned the incessant killings of innocent children by the terrorist sect due to people’s ambition, political and economic insatiability.

Adenowo charged the women to live up to their responsibilities as women and mothers in transforming the society. She also charged them to be queen mothers who hold the dignity of the country in their hands.

“The ship being the country is sinking. Of what use is all the luxuries of life without peace in the land?” she asks. She implored women to be more like Rehab in the bible who negotiated for her entire family and property and seized the opportunity to forge a covenant with God. Present at the summit was the

wife of the governor of Lagos, Dame Abimbola Fashola, who urged women and the participants to seek God first and see each other as one irrespective their tribe and religious differences.

Leading a special session at the event, Dame Fashola called on God to give the country righteous and compassionate leaders who will heed to the cry of the people, adding that “a nation can only be righteous when her status and laws are just”.

The occasion was also an avenue for the women to network and exchange contacts.

Also present at the event was the former first Lady of Cross River State, Mrs Onari Duke; the wife of the Obi of Onitsha, Mrs Ngozi Achebe; wife of the Senior Pastor of Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare Mrs Olaide Bakare; Chief Executive Officer of House of Tara, Tara Durotoye

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D

EMOCRACY Vanguard just launched the one man, one vote campaign, what is the thinking behind it?

Democracy Vanguard is the synthesis of ideas and efforts of several activists, who have been interrogating our democratic process – a process that we have since noted is no more than a mere civilian rule, a civilian rule deteriorating by and by into civil dictatorship.

The only legitimate process for putting genuine representatives of people in government is the election. Therefore, the electoral process, its sanctity and fairness is what gives government legitimacy and guarantees genuine representative democracy. Consequently, free, fair, credible election, devoid of fraud, manipulations, violence and rigging is a condition precedent to genuine democracy and participatory government, with all its associated benefits – the rule of law, justice, good governance, peace and prosperity.

It is the above considerations that necessitate our return to a specific focus of democracy activism, the electoral process particularly.

In Democracy Vanguard, rather than being a passive observer and reporter of questionable elections, we engage all stakeholders, including the electorate, political parties and all institutions involved with the elections before, during and after elections on the basis of constitutional and legitimate guarantee of the observant of all rules for the attainment of free, fair and credible elections to guarantee participatory, good governance and genuine democracy.

Why is it important at this time?

Well, it is an idea whose time has come. As a non-partisan, non-governmental organisation, our qualitative intervention at this time is timely and crucial, when Nigeria is having another round of general elections commencing from this year in June for Ekiti State and August for Osun State governorship elections, ending with other gubernatorial, state, national and presidential elections in 2015.

The image of an average Nige-

Ekiti, Osun 2014: Why it must be one man one vote says Adeola Soetan

Adeola Soetan is the National Coordinator of Democracy Vanguard, a non governmental organisation. He speaks with SEUN AKIOYE on his organisations’ campaign to ensure free and fair elections in Ekiti and Osun states.

•Soetan rian politician seeking political power is quite disturbing and frightening. He or she is a potential election rigger. He has the least regard for the electorate and the electoral processes. He sees the voters as purchasable and perishable commodities. For him, every electoral process must be circumvented and the integrity of the election

must be undermined. In the rat race, to get to power with or without the people’s mandate, he deploys all weapons of violence and intrigues to acquire power by subduing the electoral process. And by extension, undermine the fundamental rights of Nigerian voters to freely and fairly elect their leaders. This scenario of ‘Do–or–Die’ and ‘Do and

Shonekan, Amosun, others urge more partnership in education

E

MINENT personalities among them former head, Interim National Government (ING), Chief Ernest Shonekan, first military administrator for Lagos State Brig-Gen. Mobolaji Johnson (rtd), foremost industrialist, Chief Chris Ogunbanjo (CON), lighted the Ijebu-Imushin skyline recently, at the opening of the electronic library donated by a non-government organisation, The City Profs Academy/Community Library Initiatives (CPA-CLI). They urge the private sector to do more for education in the country.

It was an event in which the Ogun State Governor Senator Ibikunle Amosun, also enunciated the role of the community in the education of her citizens.

Amosun, who was represented by the Commissioner for Education Mr. J. Odubela, praised IjebuImushin community and especially the NGO for an initiative which he said would further boost the reading culture of the youths not only in the area but adjoining communities.

He said: “With this singular feat, Ijebu-Imushin has joined the league of communities with electronic library which was donated by CPACLI, an NGO, which among other reasons is aimed at reviving the reading culture especially among the youths in the community and the neighbouring communities.”

Shonekan, who was the chairman of the event, described the donation as one that has again underscored the need for the private sector to partner with the government in the task of educating Nigerians.

He, therefore, charged the private sector, non-government organisations and all other institutions to continue to assist the government in its efforts at improving the standard of education generally.

He urged all well meaning Nigerians to emulate the CPA-CLI the donor of the e-library, which he disclosed is currently developing e-libraries in rural communities nationwide.

Dr. Michael Omolayole, in his keynote address titled: “A vote for the reading culture charged the youths to make the best use of the library, adding that unlike their peers elsewhere, information anywhere in the world is now just at the touch of the button”.

He equally charged the community to take proper care of the library to ensure that it is preserved against vandalism.

The Oloko of Ijebu-Imushin, Oba S. A. Onafowokan, equally thanked the CPA-CLI, for counting his community worthy of the donation. He later presented plaques to dignitaries who have made the occasion a reality, while the President of the Planning Committee, Maj.-Gen. S. A. Odunsi (rtd), praised the dignitaries for associating with the town.

•The Ijebu-Imushin library

Die’ power at all cost mentality of Nigerian politicians and their allies in committing crime against the sanctity of elections and supremacy of the electorate to decide who govern them must stop. Or else, the political space will be totally occupied by vagabonds and political vampires to the exclusion of many decent people who genuinely want to serve.

But for this to stop, voters must appreciate the enormity of their voting power, the power of their thumbs to elect whoever they want freely and fairly without fear, threat and inducement. So, our central focus, while also interfacing with other stakeholders in the Nigerian election project, is the electorate, how to activate their consciousness to assert their power and decide the fate of the politicians and not the other way round.

You mentioned this is a national campaign but it has been launched only in Ekiti and Osun?

The One Man, One Woman, One Vote Campaign is national and we are moving systematically in phases. After the national launch of Democracy Vanguard’s Campaign on One Man, One Woman, One Vote, in Lagos on March 10, we have moved to Ekiti State to launch the campaign and inaugurated the Ekiti State Coordinating Team of DV on March 25, while we did same in the State of Osun on April 2. We gave immediacy and premium attention to these two states for now because they are having their gubernatorial elections this year as announced by INEC, June 21 for Ekiti and August 9 for Osun State.

These two states will serve as

windows to project into other general elections in 2015 and every effort must be made for the elections in these states to be free, fair, and credible and the outcome popularly accepted.

How was the reception in the two states?

The reception in the two states of Ekiti and Osun has been quite encouraging. We have learnt a lot from the electorate in those states with our intervention. It’s like our organisation is being long expected to fill a critical vacuum between the voters and outcomes of their votes.

We are building voters’ confidence in the electoral process and to assert their vote powers freely and fairly after asking critical questions from political parties and their candidates.

Why do you think Nigeria has not attracted good leaders?

This is because politics and process of political power ascendancy is over monetised in Nigeria, as such only those who have enormous war chest can veer into politics and stay long for the power war.

Many politicians have turned elections into battle of the strongest, not of ideas, principle or service.

So, many good people who are genuinely dedicated to serve are chased away from the hot battle.

What has been the recurring message from the electorate to the politicians?

The message is simple and almost common to all. The electorate wants free, fair, credible and peaceful elections where their votes will count with One Man, One Woman, One Vote to be the order and the general principle guiding elections.

2014

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37

THE NATION INVESTORS UAC of Nigeria (UACN) Plc, Nigeria’s largest conglomerate, has history on its side and the future in its sight. Striving to sustain its ambitious vision of being number one in every chosen market and its performance goal of growing at twice the national Gross Domestic Products (GDP) growth rate, UACN had undertaken comprehensive restructuring of its businesses- selling some and buying some. In the first year after the divestments and acquisitions, Capital Market Editor, TAOFIK SALAKO, provides insights into the performance of the conglomerate

UACN: From restructuring to consolidation

I

N the past two years, UACN had been the toast in the investment banking industry, especially in the areas of acquisitions and divestments. With several highprofile transactions, the conglomerate was virtually moving from one transaction to another. It sold its iconic share registration business-UACN Registrars, undertook partial divestments in its fast food and logistics businesses to bring in foreign investors while still tactically retaining 51 per cent slight majority equity stake and unbundled some of the real estate assets of its publicly quoted real estate and property business-UACN Property Development Company (UPDC) Plc, into a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), which is also quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). In the same breath, the conglomerate acquired the majority shareholdings in Portland Paints and Products Plc, a paint and chemical company and Livestock Feeds Plc, which produces agricultural feeds.

The deals appeared to be interlocked and seamless. The complete sale of the share registration business was a shrewd business decision. While the UACN Registrars represented a class on its own in terms of ethics and services, it held less market share in the highly fragmented industry; attending mainly to UACN and companies within the group. As new banking regulation forced changes in the share registration business, UACN took advantage of the opportunity to sell UACN Registrars, raking in a gain of more than N424 million. It sold 49 per cent equity stake in its wholly-owned quick-service restaurant - UAC Restaurants Limited (UACR), to Famous Brands Limited, a leading quick service and casual dining restaurant operator in Africa, which is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). The strategic partnership enables UACN to retain 51 per cent majority shareholding while providing opportunity for Famous Brands to expand its operations in Nigeria. Famous Brands Limited is an integrated food and beverage company whose primary activities include franchising of trademarks, either company owned or licensed, to Quick Service Restaurant franchisees and the manufacture and supply of products to these franchisees and the retail trade. Some of Famous Brands’ well known operations already in Nigeria include Debonairs Pizza and Steers.

This, according to the rationales, will provide UAC Restaurants with the expertise and resources to redefine the landscape of the shrinking fast moving foods business.

In another deal, UACN sold 49 per cent equity stake in its wholly-owned subsidiaryMDS Logistics Plc, to Imperial Logistics, the international logistics and supply chain arm of the South Africa-based Imperial Holdings Limited. UACN retains 51 per cent majority equity stake. MDS, previously a Division of UACN, is reputed to be Nigeria’s leading provider of integrated supply chain solutions including warehousing, haulage, distribution and redistribution in over 600 cities and villages connected by a network of 50 distribution centres across Nigeria. This fitted perfectly into Imperial Logistics’ market-entry strategy. A division of the Imperial Group, Imperial Logistics was established in 1946 and has grown to become an international logistics and supply chain leader delivering excellence in end-to-end logistics and supply chain management with operations in several African countries and in Europe.

Looking to unlock further value in its real estate assets, UPDC floated a N30 billion Reits, under the management of FSDH Asset Management Limited (FAML), a leading capital market operator. The UPDC REIT will invest a maximum of 75 per cent in real estate, 25 per cent in real estate related assets and 10 per cent in liquid assets and cash. It would optimize returns to investors by exploiting emerging opportunities in the buoyant real estate industry and while taking advantage of the prime locations of the assets under the Reits. The UPDC Reit has since been listed on the NSE after a successful initial public offering (IPO).

Simultaneously, UACN was busy ravenously buying up aligned businesses and as-

sets. It acquired the majority equity stake in Portland Paints and Products Nigeria Plc, thus adding another quoted paints and allied products company into its portfolio.

UACN already holds the controlling equity stake in CAP Plc, paints and allied products’ sectoral leader. Portland Paints and Products, which manufactures and markets an impressive array of decorative paints, industrial and marine coatings under the Sandtex, and Hempel brand names, brought new products into the group, especially its Armitage and Ideal Standard sanitary ware dealerships in Nigeria. The acquisition was premised on the potential synergies within the group, especially between CAP and Portland Paints on one hand and UPDC on the other hand.

It had earlier acquired 51 per cent majority stake in Livestock Feeds Plc, a quoted agroallied company. UACN acquired the 51 per cent equity stake at N1.3 billion; through acquisition of 11 per cent shareholdings valued at N400 million through the secondary market and 40 per cent equity stake through a private placement valued at N904 million.

UACN, with its existing portfolio of agricultural businesses, planned to use Livestock Feeds as a catalyst to reach new market. The plan was to leverage on Livestock Feeds’ manufacturing platform to penetrate new market geographies as well as deepening presence in existing markets, enhance and consolidate market power, achieve scope and scale economies in procurement, production and optimise manufacturing configuration that mitigates concentration risks. UACN’s Grand Cereals Limited produces some similar products to Livestock Feeds.

At the end of the restructuring, UACN has transformed into a holding group with nine subsidiaries spread across four vertical business segments. Besides UACN, the group consists of four other quoted companies spread across manufacturing, services, logistics, real estate and agricultural sectors. These include CAP Plc, UPDC, Livestock Feeds and Portland Paints and Products Plc. Besides, other members of the group include UAC Foods Limited, MDS Logistics Limited, Warm Spring Waters Nigeria Limited, Grand Cereals Limited and Unico CPFA Limited, a closed pension fund administrator.

Facts of the matter

While it used 2013 to wrap up the final deals; and it may be early to expect the full impact of the restructuring, the latest audited report and accounts of UACN indicated a headstart. Group audited report and accounts for the year ended December 31, 2013 showed that the group was on target, growing turnover by 13 per cent and net profit by 41 per cent. Group turnover rose from N69.0 billion in 2013 to N78.71 billion. However, with higher input costs, gross profit dipped slightly from N19.04 billion to N18.84 billion. With gains from the restructured businesses, operating profit rose by 32 per cent

2008

from N11.53 billion to N15.27 billion. Profit before tax also increased by 30 per cent from N10.75 billion to N14.01 billion. After taxes, net profit stood at N9.95 billion, 41 per cent above N7.04 billion recorded in 2012. The underlying indices also showed similar outlook. While gross profit margin dipped from 27.6 per cent to 23.94 per cent, pre-tax profit margin improved from 15.6 per cent to 17.8 per cent. The board of the conglomerate has recommended payment of a dividend per share of N1.75 to shareholders, totaling N3.36 billion. This sustained a progressive trend in its payout having paid N1.50 kobo in 2011 to N1.60 in 2012. The report represents a good performance; while turnover missed the projected target of N82 billion, pre-tax profit surpassed the previous estimate of N12 million.

,

Tidying the loose ends The management of the conglomerate said it has started addressing key challenges, including rising financing charges, while optimising emerging opportunities. Chief Financial Officer, UAC of Nigeria (UACN) Plc, Abdul Bello, noted that financing charges, which rose by 61 per cent, was a major drawback as the group had to increase its shortterm borrowing. He, however, noted the improving overall financing structure of the group, with lower debt-to-equity ratio due to reduction in debt as against increased equity funds as well as improved interest cover.

Also, the group has decided to outsource its internal audit function to an international accounting firm with effect from this month.

This will ensure enhanced independence and objectivity as well as provide the group access to leading internal audit methodologies and practices that will significantly improve the controls environment. The group had already completed risk assessment, diagnostic review and design of risk management framework for its enterprise risk management, with implementation expected as from this month.

Group Managing Director, UAC of Nigeria (UACN) Plc, Mr Larry Ettah, said the group’s restructuring was driven by potential synergies and opportunities and was in line with overall strategy of building a portfolio of brands and businesses with exposure to the growth segments of the Nigerian economy, and partnerships that deliver long-term value to the company and its stakeholders.

According to him, the group success factors included its increasingly efficient supply chain, large capacity, relatively huge access to capital, talented human resources and proactive engagement of the industry’s needs.

He noted that while insecurity in the northern part of the country and the tough operating environment remained drawbacks, the group is focused on value creation through completion of some projects in the real estate segment, innovative joint ventures with

2009

2010

•Mr Ettah

land owners, launch of Gala Tinkies, launch of Cattle feed and launch of fish feed in Livestock Feeds. The group also undertook a general review of its internal synergies, including increased internal collaborations in procurement and distribution.

Ettah outlined that the group’s focus in 2014 will be to simultaneously grow volumes and tackle margin challenges across key subsidiaries in order to deliver better profit. He added that the group will invest in enhancing its human and technological capacities while instituting best practices in enterprise risks management.

According to him, the group will conclude the integration process for the new acquisitions while leveraging on its enhanced human and technological capacity to further innovation in products and service delivery.

Many analysts agreed the variables appear to favour UACN going forward. With its ability to even out sectoral shocks, the conglomerate enlarged growth base seems to hold strong potential. Several incontrovertible macro variables support the optimistic view. Agriculture, Nigeria’s largest sector, hold strong potential under government’s pro-farm fiscal policy, and UACN has the national spread to play leading role in the sector. The building and construction industry, with its allied sectors such as paints sector, is a buoyant sector with significant headroom for growth. Nigeria is not only below average housing target, its national infrastructure is inadequate. Growing as emerging economy will imply substantial growth in these areas. Besides, expected growth in mortgage finance, domestic cement production and availability, per capita income and other related variables are expected to positively impact the demand for paints and accessories. As UACN consolidates the early gains, most stakeholders expect improved performance in the year.

2011

2012

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

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THE NATION

BUSINESS PENSION

Pensioners seek upward review of returns on savings

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UBSCRIBERS to the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) are seeking an upward review of the returns on their investment (RoI).

Those making the call are retired public servants whose salaries are usually low compared to their counterparts in the private sector.

A pensioner, who retired as a Director from a Federal Government ministry, Mrs Aduloju, is not happy because what she is receiving as pension under the scheme is not enough to meet her basic needs unlike when she was still in service and earning salary.

She wants the RoI reviewed by Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) and the National Pension Commission (PenCom).

She said: “I retired in 2013 after serving for 33 years. I am receiving a monthly pension of between N50,000 and N70,000 from my last salary of N450,000 as a director.

Stories by OmobolaTolu-Kusimo

“I think the system should be reviewed because we are getting so much less. The old pension scheme was very clear because you know what you will get as pension based on your number of years in service.

“By a certain formula, you will know how much you are getting as your gratuity. It was very open.

Now we are told that there is a template. What is the template? And if after service of 33 years I am getting N50,000 or even N70,000 per month from my last salary of N450,000 as a director and with the Nigerian situation, it is nothing to sustain me.

“The old pension scheme paid better, but it is the human factor problem associated with it that did not make it work as it should have. The new scheme is paying us less and this should not be the

solution to pension adminstration in the country. I believe it should be reviewed so that pensioners could begin to receive more as this would encourage workers to look forward to retirement.”

Another Federal Government pensioner, who also craved anonymity, lamented that what she gets is not enough to cater for her needs in old age.

The woman, who retired in 2010 after 35 years, said: “If PenCom and PFAs (Pension Fund Adminsitrators) really want us to be happy after retirement, they should find a way of ensuring that we get good return on our investment.

“How do they want us to survive on this stipend they are paying? I earned N400,000 before I retired as a senior public servant and now they are giving me N50,000. Suppose I live for 30 years before I die, it means all I get

after retirement is N1.5 million.

This is not a fair deal,” she said.

A senior official in PenCom who spoke with The Nation on investments said the reason some exworkers earn low pension is because many of them request to have their PFA pay them over 50 per cent lump sum from their Retirement Savings Account (RSA).

This reduces the amount they will receive as monthly or quarterly pension because they have received a huge part of the money as a lump sum, he said.

He advised retirees to take a low lump sum so that their monthly pension can sustain them.

He, however, noted that the commission was working on mechanisms to enable the PFAs invest outside the country with guarantee that contributors pension would be safe.

He added that this and some other issues were being consid-

ered to boost returns for contributors.

According to the General Principles in the ‘Guidelines on Regulation of Investment Of Pension Fund Assets’, PFAs shall invest pension fund assets with the objectives of ensuring safety and maintenance of fair returns; shall recruit and retain highly skilled personnel in their investment departments; shall not invest Pension Fund Assets in instruments that are subject to any type of prohibitions or limitations on the sale or purchase of such instrument, except for open/close-end/hybrid funds and specialist investment funds allowed by this Regulation.

“PFAs shall not trade on margin accounts with pension fund assets, shall not engage in borrowing or lending of pension fund assets and shall not trade in financial instruments with pension”.

‘New pension scheme’ll eradicate corruption’

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•From left(fifth): Head,Marketing/ Sales Unit, Vono Products Plc, Mrs. Foluso Ajulo;MD/CEO, Mrs. Titilayo Bakare, and some customers during Vono’s Customers’ Forum at the company’s premises in Lagos.

Stanbic IBTC Pension chief urges early retirement planning

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CALL has been made for early retirement planning.

The Chief Executive Officer, Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Limited, Dr. Demola Sogunle, made the call during the inauguration of the second phase of the firm’s interactive pre-retirement seminar in Abuja, which had the theme, Life renewed at 55 and beyond.

According to him, the pension system, with defined contributions as its foundation, presents a path for employees to maintain a stable standard lifestyle well after retirement.

He said: “We have taken our drive for retirement planning to Abuja, the Nigerian capital, with a call to Nigerians to understand the importance of early retirement planning. We believe that raising awareness of retirement would help companies and their employees in particular to better understand the imperative of retirement planning.

“People are apprehensive about retirement because they do not plan for it early enough. Ideally, plan-

ning for retirement should commence from the day one takes on a first job. It demands setting aside part of current income into a retirement savings account. Our central mission at Stanbic IBTC Pension is to help Nigerians address their retirement needs.”

He said the event provides a platform for the firm to forge closer ties with customers and enlighten the public on developments in the industry. ”In addition to creating awareness about the necessity of having a retirement plan and enjoying a

‘In addition to creating awareness about the necessity of having a retirement plan and enjoying a comfortable life postretirement, another objective of this campaign is to further deepen the relationship with our customers by reminding them of our availability at anytime and anywhere to attend to their needs’

HE Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) would eventually end corruption in the country if the law guiding its operation are adhered to, Managing Director of Premium Pension Limited, Mr. Wilson Ideva has said.

He spoke at the Pension Fund Administration Summit for Education Ministries, Agencies and Institutions organised by Exam Ethics Marshals International in Lagos at the weekend.

He said people steal what they do not need for fear of the unknown.

According to him, the scheme has provided an umbrella that guarantees decent life for workers on retirement and secures a large pool of funds that could be deployed to national development.

He said the tremendous successes recorded by the industry in a short time would encourage workers to do their jobs honestly in the expectation that their future would be guaranteed.

He averred that the funds could be

used to hold down inflation and fix the country’s infrastructure gap.

Ideva described the new scheme as an ‘unsung revolution’ adding that more than N4 trillion is already being managed under the scheme even when only six million out of the estimated 70 million workforce have embraced the scheme.

He said: “What would happen if only a quarter of workers enlist in the scheme? There should be a signpost on every project executed with pension funds indicating the source of the funds to make Nigerians aware that the pension scheme has already begun to contribute to national development.

The Head, Research and Corporate Strategy Department, PenCom, Dr. Farouk Aminu, represented by the commission’s Secretary and Legal Adviser, M. S. Mohammad, said: “The contributory pension industry can no longer be ignored as it has proved to be a veritable platform for attaining the Federal Government’s Transformation Agenda.”

UK pensions make top 10 in global index

S •Dr. Sogunle

comfortable life post-retirement, another objective of this campaign is to further deepen the relationship with our customers by reminding them of our availability at anytime and anywhere to attend to their needs.

“In so doing, we obtain significant feedback with which to develop solutions that address their specific needs. This will not only put them at ease; we are also motivated to go the extra mile to deliver on our promises,” Sogunle added.

USTAINABILITY of Britain’s pensions system has improved as millionth member joins largest auto-enrolment scheme Reforms, such as the introduction of auto-enrolment took the United Kingdom (UK) up the rankings in the Allianz Global Investors Pension Sustainability Index (PSI), introduced in 2009, from 12th place in 2011 to 10th in 2014.

Auto-enrolment was launched in 2012 and it is being rolled out to more and more employers. By 2016, all workers will automatically be put into a scheme and will save an eventual eight per cent of their earnings.

The National Employment Savings Trust, (Nest), set up by the government to provide auto-enrolment schemes to companies without their own, has just passed the one-millionmember landmark.

The Allianz report also cited the sweeping changes to accessing pensions announced in last month’s Budget.

Head of Pensions, Europe at Allianz

Global Investors, Andreas Hilka, said: “With the introduction of Nest, a simple yet sophisticated auto-enrolment scheme, the UK took an important step towards enlarging the share of people saving for their retirement.

“Further reform is clearly on the agenda, as the overhaul of the annuities market and the decision to cap auto-enrolment charges show.”

Australia takes the top spot in the latest rankings, with its two-tier system of lean public and highly developed funded pensions putting the country under the least pressure to reform.

Australia is followed in order by Sweden, New Zealand, Norway and the Netherlands in the tables.

The report said western European countries benefited from their “comprehensive pension systems based on strong, funded pillars”. Sweden and Norway scored well thanks to their “comparatively solid public finance situation”, with Norway’s high legal retirement age and moderately ageing population also helping the country to a high ranking.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

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SMALL BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP For small business owners, who desire to become successful, embracing innovation remains the key to removing the stumbling block on their way to sustainable growth and productivity. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

‘Innovation vital to entrepreneurship’

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ERA Akpan, a micro entrepreneur, is off to a good start. Oremicraft, a craft firm she started as a hobby, has evolved into a thriving business focused on export of hand-made bags and accessories.

Oremicraft , a c h i l d o f t h e resourcefulness of Miss Akpan, a Masters’ holder in Public and International Affairs from the University of Lagos, produces handmade craft pieces, such as bags and accessories; wallets, bibs, hair pieces, and belts, among others, from local materials.

The handmade goods not only enjoy tremendous patronage locally and internationally, her company’s exquisite pieces also competing favourably with designer bags manufactured in any part of the world in terms of quality, design and patronage.

Miss Akpan told The Nation that the business of handmade bags and other accessories has become lucrative and is the rave of the moment.

According to her, Nigerians have shown interest in local bags and accessories and are beginning to patronise them instead of foreign-made one.

She said as the quality of the local handbags is improving, the patronage also increases. She, however, said the cost of the locally made products varies, depending on some factors, such as the maker’s expertise.

Also, the value the maker places on her services, her location, the financial status of her client, and her strategy also count for how much a product is sold. Quality is, however, the most important factor. For instance, depending on quality of materials used, a customer could get a high quality handmade bag

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•Miss Akpan

•Some accessories produced by Akpan

for N15, 000 or more.

According to her, the business requires lots of creativity, artistry and energy. Whether artistic or not, she said the skills could be acquired by anyone who is interested in it. But how long the training takes depends on the level of creativity of the trainee.

Operators said it is cheaper to set up the business. Miss Akpan disclosed that for as little as N20, 000, one could set up a small outfit. This, however, excludes the rent and training.

Training varies, depending on the trainer and the trainees. And the basic equipment needed by a trainee include sewing machine (industrial or manual), filing machine and adhesive gum.

Recalling how she started, Miss Akpan said in 1997, when she was a student of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ), Ogba, Lagos, she was used

to knit for pleasure. Thereafter, she did a throw away car pillow for her uncle and was paid N300.

It was at that point the idea of making handmade bags and accessories was born.

She started very small, using the home to try out her first product ideas. Since then, she has never looked back, as subsequent products she churned out were well well-received.

She said she used her savings to buy her first stock. Now, she is part of an industry worth millions of naira. And it is projected

to grow further, spurred by a resurgence in traditional crafts, such as knitting, handmade designing, sewing, paper craft, and pottery.

According to her, many people want something unique than the high street, yet more affordable than the designer labels.

Asked if turning a hobby into a business is as easy as the growing range of specialist magazines and e-commerce sites would have people believe, she said: “It is very easy to make lots of lovely stuff-the hard part is selling it and building a name for yourself.”

To her, Nigeria has many

entrepreneurs, with nearly 70 per cent of the workforce selfemployed. Unemployment or fear of redundancy is the catalyst for most of the business owners who are desirous of becoming entrepreneurs. She, however, said for most entrepreneurs, a chronic lack of innovation is stifling business growth and competitiveness.

She, therefore, argued that innovation is the way to move forward. According to her, entrepreneurs are key actors in turning low productivity around to create lasting economic benefit and quality jobs.

She recommended the establishment of an economic environment that enables entrepreneurs to innovate and compete to increase productivity and enable them to grow into quality employers.

She, however, noted that despite the tough economic climate, there are customers out there who are looking for the kind of hand-made items she and other aspiring entrepreneurs like her create.

“You need to make sure you know your customer and whether there’s any direct competition in your area,” she advised, expressing confidence that her brand will do well in the face of competition from international and well known luxury brands.

Etisalat sponsors 50 SMEs’ candidates’ training

TISALAT Nigeria has carried out a five-day capacity building training for the successful top 50 candidates of the Etisalat EasyBusiness Millionaire Hunt at the Enterprise Development Centre, Pan-Atlantic University, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Speaking on the initiative, its Head, Business Market Segment, Mr. Bidemi Ladipo, explained the reason behind the Etisalat EasyBusiness Millionaire Hunt and why the telco is committed to small and medium scale enterprises’ (SMEs) development.

He said: “The major idea behind the Etisalat EasyBusiness Millionaire Hunt is to inspire small business owners and help them grow.

Etisalat is well aware that even though every business starts small, they have the capacity to become big. Now in its fifth year of operations in Nigeria, Etisalat has grown exponentially in the market.

“The Nigerian society is rich with individuals blossoming with impressive business innovations, ideas, and initiatives that will add value to the real sector of the economy. This speaks to the remarkable entrepreneurial landscape of the country. Unfortunately, some of these good ideas lack financial capital.”

Ladipo also said the telco is determined to see that small and growing businesses with viable business ideas get a chance to blossom and that the capacity building sessions will go a long way to educate the successful participants on how to grow successful businesses.

Deputy Director, Enterprise Development Centre, Pan-Atlantic University, Mrs. Nneka Okekearu, lauded Etisalat for spear-heading an initiative that would “grow the Nigerian market and prepare its citizens for a better economic landscape”.

•From left: Treasurer, Association of Micro Enterpreneurs of Nigeria, Mrs Daniel Abosede; Secretary, Frederick Nwokeleme; President, Prince Saviour Iche and Vice-President, Ganiyu Bolarinwa at a public forum in Lagos.

Success story of a Ugandan teenage entrepreneur

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OUTH Entrepreneurial Link Investments (YELI), Uganda’s first registered paper bag production firm, started out with just $14 seed capita. Twenty-one-year-old Andrew Mupuya is the brain behind the firm, which has grown into a thriving enterprise with staff strength of 16, producing about 20,000 paper bags a week.

Mupuya was just 16 when he decided to take on the world by setting up the business. That was in 2008 when his parents lost their jobs and could barely afford his school fees. “I had to meet my basic needs by myself. I decided to face the world alone,” the Ugandan entrepreneur recalled.

As providence would have it, the government of Uganda came up with a policy that aligned with Mupuya’s goal. The Government of Uganda had attempted to ban plastic bags in a bid to deal with its acute waste management problem and promote environmental conservation. Mupuya, who was still in secondary school, immediately saw this as an opportunity to launch a paper bag production company.

Hear him: “I conducted a feasibility study and market research around retail shops, kiosks, and supermarkets

around Kampala, the Ugandan capital and discovered there is need and potential market for paper bags.”

To start out his small operation, Mupuya needed a capital of 36,000 Ugandan shillings ($14). He raised the first $11 from selling 70 kilos of used plastic bottles he’d collected over one week. He then borrowed the remaining $3 from his school teacher and embarked on his entrepreneurial journey, producing paper bags on a small scale.

Since then, the business has grown extensively and today, at 21, Mupuya is the owner of Youth Entrepreneurial Link Investments (YELI), the first registered Ugandan firm to make paper bags. The company’s long list of clients includes restaurants, retail stores, supermarkets, medical centers, as well as multinational companies, such as Samsung.

YELI has made about 1,000 niche bags for the local stores of the electronics company. “Right now, I have 72 clients,” says Mupuya, adding: “Ninety per cent of our clients always come back.”

Mupuya’s remarkable achievements and shrewd business skills have been recognised with a number of accolades

in recent years. In 2012, for instance, Mupuya was the winner of the $30,000 Anzisha Prize, a major award given to young African entrepreneurial leaders who take the initiative to address critical needs in their communities. “The awards I have won give me courage to push on with my business,” says the young entrepreneur.

Continuing, he said, “It shows to me how I am doing the right thing and it helps me define the impact I am creating.” Despite Uganda’s attempts to ban plastic bags to deal with its acute waste management problem and promote environmental conservation, they are still used in Kampala and often block drainage systems or collect in heaps on the side of the road. Mupuya, however, believes Ugandans will eventually choose paper over plastic and he even plans to build a recycling operation. “A paper bag is eco-friendly, it can easily decompose,” he says. “But plastic bags take too long, so that is the difference.”

For now, Mupuya sources his paper from Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. His business is housed in Kasokoso, a slum just outside Kampala’s bustling city center. Here, everything is done by hand and with precision. YELI employees

turn out thousands of bags daily, cutting the paper manually and then folding it and gluing it appropriately.

But this takes time and as the number of customer increase, the team is having difficulties keeping up with orders.

Mupuya says one of the biggest challenges for his startup right now is supply and demand. “It needs time to produce the right quality and quantity to all clients, because it’s run manually,” he says, adding, “It’s quite hard to catch up with some clients who are used to cheap plastic bags. My next step is to get a machine because I am only able to supply five per cent of the demands I have.”

He said his dream is to have a big plant to enable him supply paper bags all over Africa.

Yet, Mupuya says this is a problem that most clients understand, pushing him to keep thinking big and press ahead with his plans to promote environmental conservation.

“My vision is to have a cleaner Africa by eradicating use of plastic bags and emphasis on paper recycling,” he said.

•Culled from cnn.com

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

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EMPOWERMENT CLINIC with

Business success and potency of personality line and take risks in the name of an idea, spending much time as well as capital on an uncertain venture. There is definitely an entrepreneurial personality.

That is why some people can struggle through to entrepreneurial success, while others cannot. Entrepreneurial personality type explains why some entrepreneurs fail in one venture only to succeed in another venture which tallies with their character.

GOKE ILESANMI

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ERSONALITY is one thing that is very critical to success. Personality refers one’s character or behaviour. Research confirms that people who engage in a business that aligns with their true personality tend to achieve tremendous success and fulfilment. In short, every personality type has the potential to grow a successful business. What you just need is to determine the right opportunity. Self-awareness makes us easily bridge the gap between the type of person we are and the right business for us.

Risk-taking

Peter Drucker, an international business-management expert says entrepreneurship is about taking risk and the behaviour of an entrepreneur reflects a kind of person willing to put his career and financial security on the

Coincidence

For the simple fact that founding and running a successful company is a long-term process, an entrepreneur needs to be careful in the course of choosing a venture by choosing one which tallies with his or her natural personality. “Rather than swimming upstream with the currents running against your potential success, why not focus on the types of situations and businesses in which you can thrive?” says Bill Wagner, co-founder of Accord Management Systems, a Californiabased behavioural consultancy.

The essence of identifying a business that matches your own personality is that you can leverage your strengths and improve your weaknesses.

Entrepreneurial categories

As regards personality and entrepreneurship, different types of entrepreneurs have been identified by business manage-

ment experts. These are personal achievers, super salespeople, real managers and expert idea generators, etc. Let us examine these different categories.

Individual achievers

Personal achievers, according to Professor John Miner, a business management expert and author of “The 4 Routes to Entrepreneurial Success”, are classic entrepreneurs, bringing tremendous energy to their performance. They like to plan, including setting goals for future achievements. They have a lot of initiative and a strong commitment to their organisations.

Personal achievers believe that they control their lives through their own actions rather than being controlled by circumstances and are most likely to succeed if they pursue the achieving route by constantly putting out fires and dealing with crises.

Great salespeople

Super salespeople constitute another class. These people possess a great deal of feeling for other people and want to help in any way possible. They use a soft-sell approach, and receive sales from their customers’ desire to give something back. Relationships are very important to them. Therefore, they like social situations and groups. According to Miner, these people consider selling to be essential to their companies

and to succeed as entrepreneurs, super salespeople need to use the selling route by spending as much time as possible selling and getting someone else to manage the business.

Effective managers

Real managers are another group of entrepreneurs. They like to take charge, and they do well in corporate leadership positions. They are competitive, decisive and positively disposed to those with authority.

They enjoy power and acting a part. Miner educates that as entrepreneurs, they frequently become effective marketers, partly by managing the marketing process but often by being good salespeople. The ideal path to success for real managers is the managing route, which is by finding or starting a business large enough to need their managerial talents.

Idea masters

The expert idea generators invent new products, find new niches, develop new processes, and generally find a way to outthink the competition. These are innovators in the true entrepreneurial sense, and are strongly drawn to the world of ideas.

Miner says yet, these people can get carried away by their enthusiasm and fail to take sufficiently-calculated risks; and to mitigate the risks of unwarranted enthusiasm, a degree of cautiousness helps here.

Additional classification

Another research work classifies entrepreneurs into two. That is, generalists and specialists.

Generalists are strategic thinkers. They are big-picture-oriented, prefer environments where they can use their resultsdriven nature, enjoy autonomy and independence, and are stronger risk-takers. This is the source of their need to win and their belief that they are always right. They are therefore self-confident.

However, specialists are tactically oriented, prefer operating within their areas of expertise, are more detail-oriented, and prefer environments that provide both security and stability. Specialists are typically more riskaverse, unless they are working within their areas of expertise.

Therefore, doing things by the book by following rules, policies and procedures is more important to the specialists.

Parting shot

The most important factor that distinguishes entrepreneurs who barely make it from those who are super-rich is personality and the ability to harness it, use it and learn from it. Successful entrepreneurs know that the greatest knowledge is selfknowledge. Therefore, pursue business engagements that match your personality today because your personality is critical to business or career success.

Till we meet on Wednesday.

WORKPLACE MATTERS

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Managing your satellite workers productively

O be able to achieve business goals, managers need to build effective teams. They also need to define success in terms of the overall team performance and allow people to be responsible for the work they do. They need to provide their team members with necessary information and effectively coordinate subordinates to achieve productivity and profitability.

Coordination

Building effective teams has always been one of the challenges most managers face. One of the strategies of building effective teams is to effectively coordinate team members that are off-site. Without proper coordination, teams that are miles apart may not be able to work together productively. According to Jim Clemmer, the bestselling author of “Pathways to Performance” and “Growing the Distance”, “For all the big talk … and off-site strategy sessions, calling a group of people a team does not make it one. These groups are usually just a collection of individuals from the same department who meet periodically….”

Challenge W h en it comes to employee

management, coordinating or managing satellite or off-site employees is always a challenge. But strong relationships and clearly outlined expectations make off-site workers part of a successful whole.

Dr. David Javitch, an organi-

By Goke Ilesanmi

sational psychologist and president of Javitch Associates, an organisational consulting firm in Newton, Massachusetts, says mergers and acquisitions, plus flexible time and multiple work sites, have created the need for alternative work situations and in many cases this means off-site teams. In the electronic age, employees at different sites can be connected by email, fax, telephone and webconferencing. Whether your employees are working at a different plant, factory, office building or simply from home, addressing the issue of satellite staff is vital to your business’s success.

Suitable employees

The employees best suited for off-site work are energetic and independent self-starters who do not need an on-site supervisor. They must be assertive enough to speak up, state views and ask for assistance before situations become critical. In addition, they must be self-critical workers who can evaluate their own work and know when contributions of others are needed. They must voluntarily seek advice from others without fear of appearing incompetent or unprofessional. And most importantly, they must be able to create their own work day and schedule without the structure of a formal eight-hour day.

Probable challenges

Challenges can manifest

when an organisation has satellite offices. First, off-site workers sometimes complain that they do not feel like part of the overall team, that the spirit of oneness does not exist in them because of the physical separation between offices. Also, developing a rapport between subordinates and supervisor can be difficult since the latter is not on-site.

As a result, it is easy for deadlines to go unmet. Unsupervised workers can become distracted and lazy about. “Out of sight, out of mind”, you would say. An off-site worker’s work may not be considered or valued as highly as that of on-site worker. And finally, without an externally imposed structured day, work performance can suffer.

Strategies

But there are solutions to these challenges to ensure that your offsite employees’ productivity and success do not diminish. To start with, human-resource-management experts say you must clearly communicate your expectations to remote workers, including key milestones and deadlines. The milestones should be firm and short-term to ensure that work is acceptable, timely and coordinated with on-site employees. “Feedback on progress should be specific, measurable, timely and action-oriented. Above all, your remote workers should feel that they can easily seek out a supervisor for advice, counsel and input,”

says Javitch.

Clarity of goals

To further ensure accountability, goals must be clearly stated and written to guarantee agreement between or among parties. Starting off on the wrong foot or in an inappropriate direction can spell doom, especially when working at different sites. In additi o n to go a l s, a gre e d - u po n standards and level of quality will help to eliminate any doubt about what is required.

Reporting relationships also should be outlined; each employee must clearly understand to whom he or she reports. Having the line of authority and responsibility clear greatly improves the intensity, effectiveness and quality of the reporting relationships.

• Communication The final aspect of off-site management to consider is communication. Communication is one of the key elements of building relationships in the workplace. Jenny Kerwin, a contributing writer for Interactive Quality Solutions says partnering for performance is centred on building relationships and communication is one of the key elements to building relationships. Tools for building relationships through communication may be easier than you might think. Communicate to foster relationships.

Often, electronic mail (e-mail) is the easiest and the quickest way to communicate. However, it can make expression of emo-

tion difficult and can lead even to misinterpretation. For instance, somebody who is always brief in e-mails may be seen as rude to a friendlier coworker, while a well-intended joke may lose its intention and be regarded as an insult by the recipient.

Last words

To properly coordinate your teams through communication, the most effective means of sending and receiving messages is a combination of regularly-scheduled telephone conference calls; video- and webconferencing; e-mails; faxes, etc. While the visual component can help facilitate personal relationships, nothing can replace face-to-face meetings.

Therefore, ensure that face-toface meetings are regularly scheduled so that you can get the best from your onsite and offsite workers and achieve high level of productivity and profitability.

Till we meet on Wednesday.

•GOKE ILESANMI, Managing Consultant/CEO of Gokmar Communication Consulting, is an International Platinum Columnist, Certified Public Speaker/MC, Communication Specialist, Motivational Speaker and Career Management Coach. He is also a Book Reviewer, Biographer and Editorial Consultant.

Tel: 08055068773; 08187499425 Email: gokeiles2010@gmail.com Website: www.gokeilesanmi.com

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

POLITICS

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

THE NATION

E-mail:- politics@thenationonlineng.net

SOUTHWEST POLITICS The stage is set for the governorship polls in Ekiti and Osun states. Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi and his Osun State counterpart, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, are seeking second term on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Their challengers are Mr Ayo Fayose and Senator Iyiola Omisore, who are running on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI and Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN examine their chances at the polls.

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Battle for Southwest’s soul

KITI and Osun states are warming up for governorship elections.

On June 21, voters would troop out in Ekiti for the exercise. On August 9, the people of Osun would have another opportunity to elect a governor.

The two elections are a prelude to the next year’s general elections.

In the Southwest geo-political zone, three parties are on the track. They are the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP).

Going by contemporary political history of Ekiti State, Governor Kayode Fayemi faces a herculean task in the electoral contest. For one reason or the other, successive governors in the state were not able to secure a second term. So, the question on the lips of many observers is: Can Dr. Fayemi break the second term jinx?

The PDP wants to regain control of the two states, where it was dislodged four years ago. The drafting of Mr Ayo Fayose into the race in Ekiti, eight years after he was impeached under controversial circumstances, to face Fayemi has been greeted with mixed feelings. For some observers, it suggests that the PDP is desperate to stage a comeback. This is based on Fayose’s antecedents in Ekiti politics.

For others, it indicates that Fayose is in the race to serve as a spoiler for Fayemi by collaborating with the candidate of the Labour Party, Opeyemi Bamidele. If this happens, analysts reckone the governor must put in extra effort to retain his seat.

Fayose’s tenure in office as governor was largely bedeviled by controversies, which ultimately culminated in his ouster through impeachment. The former governor, however, maintains that it was former President Olusegun Obasanjo who masterminded his removal. Analysts say youthful exuberance and arrogance were his greatest undoing.

Fayose saw himself above others and talked down on power brokers, including the Ado-Ekiti monarch, it was said. As a result, he stepped on toes and cared less about what the victims felt about it.

Those conversant with Ekiti politics say Fayose is a cat with nine lives.

“He is a man who is used to pulling surprises; he has the ability to survive under the most severe and adverse conditions,” one of such observers noted. For instance, in 2003, when he entered the race to unseat Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), no one gave him a chance. He was widely regarded as a greenhorn, who was pitched against a party that literarily had the entire Southwest under its firm grip. But, Fayose surprised everyone, when he successfully unseated Adebayo.

But, how far Fayose can go in securing another four-year mandate is another matter. He was declared winner of the primary election, amidst protests from other aspirants, who boycotted the poll, based on the allegation that the leadership of the party had skewed the process to favour Fayose. Such aggrieved PDP members have vowed to stop him.

•Fayemi (fifth from left), his deputy, Prof. Modupe Adelabu (fourth from left), former Governor Adeniyi Adebayo (left), House of Assembly Speaker Wale Omirin, Secretary to Government Dr. Ganiyu Owolabi, Fayemi’s wife, Erelu Bisi, and Chief of Staff Yemi Adaramodu at a rally in Isan-Ekiti.

Southwest as progressives’ stronghold The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are locked in a battle of supremacy in the Southwest. The proposed governorship polls in Ekiti and Osun states, which is the first plase of the battle, will reveal their strengths and weaknesses, ahead of the 2015 general elections Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU reports.

T

HE All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are warming up for battle in the Southwest geo-political zone. On June 21, eyes will be on Ekiti State, where voters will troop out from 130 towns and villages to make a choice. The candidates are Governor Kayode Fayemi (APC), Mr. Ayodele Fayose (PDP) and Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele (Labour Party). Also, on August 9, voters from 30 local governments will make a choice between Governor Rauf Aregbesola (APC) and Senator Iyiola Omisore (PDP). In the two states, gladiators are on the field canvassing for votes.

Fayemi is seeking re-election on merit. Even, key opposition figures have attested to his performance in the last three and half years. Apart from restoring peace and fostering development, he has presided over a transparent government. But, in Nigeria, performance is not the only criterion for winning an election. The war scholar and prodemocracy activist is seeking the renewal of his mandate at a time the PDP is scheming to bounce back in the Fountain of Knowledge. While Fayemi is campaigning based on his achievements, the opposition, which is pushing for power shift, is relying on the federal arsenal, police control, financial muscle and capacity for manipulation.

Fayemi’s challenges are former Governor Ayo Fayose, who was removed from office in 2006, and Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele, a member of the House of Representatives, who defected to the Labour Party (LP) last year. His running mate is Deputy Governor Modupe Adelabu, a Professor of Education and princess of Ado-Ekiti. Fayose and Bamidele are yet to name their running mates.

In 2011, Fayose contested for the Senate as the LP candidate. He lost to Senator Babafemi Ojudu. Bamidele became a member of the House of Representatives that year on the platform of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

A member of the PDP said: “I’m a card carrying member of PDP and I can tell you with all sense of responsibility that with Fayose, we would not even come third in Ekiti election. This is a state that is well enlightened and would never tolerate a Fayose because of his antecedents

Aregbesola has the people behind him. Since his stolen mandate was restored, the governor has not relented in the work of development. Like Fayemi, Aregbesola has fought the infrastructure battle, restored the dignity of the state and given hope to the indigenes. His challenger is Omisore, who was impeached as the deputy governor in 2002. The Ife-born politician is a veteran governorship contender, having tried his luck thrice, but without success.

Traditionally, the Southwest is the stronghold of the progressive bloc. When power shifted to the conservatives in the past, it was not without controversy and dire consequences. It was due to the fact that only progressive governments have tried to satisfy the peoples’ yearning for ‘life more abundant’. From the days of the Action Group (AG) led by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the Southwest had placed its hand on the welfarist plough without an intention to look back. In the Second Republic, the zone built on its First Republic’s antecedents by embracing the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), also led by Awo. Even, in the post-Awolowo era, Southwest could only embrace the leftist platforms, including the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Alliance for Democracy (AD), Action Congress (AC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and now, the APC. When the reactionary elements made the first attempt to capture the zone in the First Republic, it was disastrous.

Although the leader, Awo, was caged, his followers did not disperse. The conservative leaders succeeded in installing the late Chief Ladoke Akintola, the leader of the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP), as the Premier.

But, for four years, his administration was full of tension.

In 1965, the traitor’s time was up. Up to now, the memory of the wild wild West lingers. It symbolised the rejection of interlopers. The event drew the curtains on the First •Continued on page 40

during his first term.”

He added: “All my friends working for Fayemi popped Champagne when they received the announcement of Fayose’s candidacy,” the source who pleaded for anonymity said.

The permutation of close watchers of Southwest politics is that there may

be more to the emergence of Fayose in Ekiti and Omisore in Osun than meets the eye. Against the backdrop of what played out in Ondo and Anambra states, where the PDP candidates played the spoiler roles, they say a similar game plan may be in the off-

ing in Ekiti and Osun. During the Anambra governorship election, for instance, Tony Nwoye, who was the PDP candidate, did not get adequate support to guarantee his electoral success from his party. The same fate befell Olushola Oke in Ondo State.

Funds needed to prosecute the election did not come to them on time.

In the two states, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the LP won the elections with alleged tacit support from the PDP and the Federal Government.

Ahead of 2015 general elections, indications are that the PDP is strategising to reclaim the Southwest from the APC. It was learnt that President Goodluck Jonathan had commissioned the LP to dislodge the APC in the region. LP, according to sources, is to infiltrate the APC and win some of its disenchanted members to the LP, particularly after primaries. Governor Olusegun Mimiko, the only LP governor, it was said, was to join the ruling PDP early this year, but has changed his mind. There are strong indications that under the new plan, he is to stay put in the LP and extend the party’s tentacles to other states in the Southwest.

In Ekiti, a member of the House of Representatives, Opeyemi Bamidele, has dumped the APC for the LP, where he has picked the governorship ticket to run against Fayemi . In Osun State, Omisore was reportedly favoured by the LP to run for the governorship on its platform.

Though Omisore is running on the platform of the PDP, he was said to be in alliance Dr Olusegun Mimiko, with the Ondo State governor, who has been a long term friend of the former since their university days.

Indeed, it is believed that what is happening in Ekiti and Osun is part of the party’s build up towards the 2015 general elections.

In Ogun, the President has picked former governor Gbenga Daniel, who has already defected to the LP •Continued on page 40

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

POLITICS SOUTHWEST POLITICS

APC, PDP, LP battle for Ekiti, Osun

•Continued from page 39

with his supporters as the arrow head to present a formidable candidate against the APC Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, in 2015 general elections.

In Oyo State, the LP has been working with the opposition Accord Party (AP) led by Senator Rasheed Ladoja to stop the re-election of Governor Abiola Ajimobi in 2015.

A source disclosed that the alternative plan put in place by the President’s strategists is that, where a consensus candidate cannot be agreed upon within the PDP, the platform of the LP would come in as a back-up. In this wise, the PDP and the LP have a working agreement for the LP to declare their support for the PDP when election comes.

The source added that, in return for the working relationship, the Presidency would bank roll LP activities in the zone to ensure that the party gives the APC a run for its money.

But, a social critic, Bernard Briggs, described the PDP’s plan to regain power in the Southwest as wishful thinking. According to him, no amount of money PDP would make the it gain power. Briggs said the PDP has never had any stronghold in the Southwest. “What happened in 2003 was that Obasanjo as President used the federal might to rig the election, so that, he, as the President, could have a political base,” he added.

Against this background, what really is the PDP up to in the Southwest, particularly in Ekiti and Osun states? The party is believed to be facing a crisis of credibility in the Southwest for two reasons. One: its performance while it was at the helm of affairs in the region is being called to question by the ruling party in the region. Secondly, the region appears to be marginalised, in terms of the distribution of elective offices and federal appointments. Besides, former President Olusegun Obasasnjo and his followers in the region do not belong to the mainstream of the party.

Briggs said the performance of the APC governors has made the region a no-go area for any other party. In Lagos, Ogun, Oyo to Osun and Ekiti, the governors have raised the bar of governance in this country. “You need to visit these states for you to appreciate the superlative performances of these progressive governors,” he said, adding: “What has PDP governors done in their state that would attract the Yoruba, the most enlightened set of people in the country to dump APC? What has the Jonathan Administration achieved in the last six years to sell the PDP in the Southwest? He said the outcome of the 2015 general elections would be decided by the performance of the political parties and not the amount of money doled out to bribe people. “Nigerians are wiser now.

If you give them money or bags of rice, they will take and vote according to their conscience,” he added.

However, former Southwest PDP Caretaker Committee Chairman Chief Ishola Filani said the party can win elections in the zone in 2015, provided it takes advantage of the situation on ground. He said: “We are greater in population than the opposition parties put together. Our problem has been our inability to harness our strength and counter the propaganda of the opposition.”

Filani said that, with the leadership restructuring, proper mobilisation and propaganda machinery that would match that of the APC, the party would capture the Southwest.

“The President’s performance is a plus for us in the Southwest. He is doing well. He is a humble and determined person, who does not believe in flamboyance. That is why some people are under assessing

•Aregbesola addressing pupils.

APC, PDP: Who blinks first?

•Continued from page 39

Republic.

Thirteen years after the first military interregnum, the progressives bounced back. The five states of Oyo, Ondo, Ogun, Bendel and Lagos were administered by the ideologically inclined Awo’s lieutenants. who implemented the four cardinal programmes of free education, free health services, full employment and rural development.

Reminiscent of the First Republic, the enemies of the zone hijacked power in Oyo and Ondo states. The reaction of voters was spontaneous. The two states were in flames, once again. Electoral terrorism led to killings and destruction of property. Peace and tranquility took flight. Instructively, certain events heralded the trouble in the dominant group in the zone in the two dispensations. Desperate conservative politicians capitalised on the cracks on the wall to rig the polls.

In 1999, the Southwest was about putting its house in order. AD was a promising party. It was growing in leaps and bounds. But, the political lessons of the past

• Fayose

him. But, when you look at what he has been able to achieve and his developmental programmes in education, agriculture, aviation and creation of job opportunities, you would realise that President Jonathan is a very good leader.

A student activist, Mr. Lanre Adisa, disagreed with Filani’s postulation.

He said:” PDP’s plan to reclaim the Southwest in 2015 is a mirage. What did the party achieve in the zone when it was in power for eight years?

It was an era of retrogression. No sensible person in the Southwest would pray for a return of the dark era.

“PDP never had a foothold in the Southwest. The elections it claimed to have won in 2003 and 2007 were shamelessly rigged in connivance with the electoral commission under the supervision of Professor Maurice Iwu. That was why the PDP’s victory didn’t last. The party stole the peoples mandate, which it relinquished when

were lost on the leaders. As the AG crisis led to a bitter rift, the Afenifere crisis led to a split in the AD. Also, in 2003, AD governors, backed by Afenifere leaders, had a pact with PDP National Leader, former President Olusegun Obasanjo. It paled into a wrong calculation. The election of 2003 was a festival of rigging in the Southwest. The resultant earthquake shook the zone to its foundation. The former President, it was said, tricked the governors. After mobilising for his second term ambition, they met their waterloo. Only former Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu survived the onslaught.

Between 2003 and 2007, Ondo, Oyo. Ogun, Osun and Ekiti states groaned under the PDP. From Lagos State, the progressives picked up the gauntlet.

Leading the soldiers of democracy on the battle front was Tinubu. After three years of struggle, the coast for clear. Not only were the mandates restored in Ekiti and Osun states, the PDP also suffered defeat during the 2011 governorship polls in Oyo and Ogun states.

Since 2011, the opposition has been on the prowl in the zone. Will the PDP dislodge the APC on June 21 in Ekiti and August 9 in Osun? Time will tell.

• Omisore

it’s time was up.

Fayemi kicked-off his re-election campaign before a mammoth crowd in Ado Ekiti two weeks ago.

At the rally, he canvassed for the support of the people based on his achievements in the infrastructural development, education, healthcare and youth empowerment. In terms of performance, the governor said he towers above his rivals in other parties. Alluding to the antecedents of his major opponent, Fayemi noted that he has brought transparency and accountability to governance adding, that no official of his administration has been summoned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC).

He said: “The advantage I am having is that I am running on record and there are people who will promise heaven and earth but I can tell you what I have done in education and how I have banished pov-

• Bamidele

erty among our elderly people.” The governor added: “I can tell you what I have done in infrastructure, how we have transformed Ikogosi Warm Spring to an international tourist centre, how we have empowered our women, how we have revived our industries.” Fayemi called on the people of Ekiti to be mindful of where they were coming from, adding: “We don’t want to return to the dark days of one week, one trouble.”

But, the PDP is not impressed by Fayemi’s track record. The party insists that, contrary to the impression being created in the media, the administration has not really impacted positively on the lives of Ekiti people. “The government of Kayode Fayemi has incurred a huge debt that the state may not be able to repay in the nearest future because the funds were used for very wasteful and unnecessary projects like building a

new Government House. They are not revenue-yielding projects that would help to repay the debts and ultimately impact on the lives of the people,” said PDP supporter.

However, the PDP is in crisis in Ekiti and Osun. Their governorship primaries were rancorous.

The internal wrangling in the party may mar its chances at the polls.

The 13 aggrieved governorship aspirants in Ekiti, have told the party’s national leadership to forget about reclaiming the state, since it has decided to ratify the election of Fayose as its candidate. Tunji Olatunde, the campaign manager of one of the aspirants, Senator Gbenga Aluko, said categorically that “the PDP cannot win Ekiti State with Fayose and I am sure they know it”.

Many believe that the LP candidate and member of the House of Representatives, Bamidele, is also a factor.

But one thing that will work in Fayemi’s favour is the incumbency factor. A stakeholder, Jegede Akano, said: “The devil you know is better than the angel you do not know. The governor has the opportunity to say this is what I have done in the state, which others do not have. This goes to say that Fayemi has better chances.” At the last APC membership registration in Ekiti State, over 200,000 members were said to have been registered. Meanwhile, the total number of registered voters in Ekiti is 649,000. The result of the last election in the state put the total numbers of votes polled by the two leading candidates in excess of 200,000. If the APC membership registration figure is anything to go by, it would not be arithmetically wrong, to place the chances of the governor high.

Traditionally, the Southwest is the base of the progressives. Right from the First Republic the politics of the region was dominated by the Action Group (AG) founded by the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, a party that prided itself of good welfare pro-grammes, including free education and free medical service. Analysts contend that it was the welfare programme of the AG, which transformed the region. It also made the people of the Southwest to embrace the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) led

by Chief Awolowo in the Second Republic. UPN won election in Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo and even Bendel states.

The four cardinal programmes of UPN - free education at all levels, free medical service, gainful employment and rural integration development - became household words in the region while its implementation endeared the people to the part leadership.

In the aborted Third Republic, the Yoruba pitched their tent with the Social Democratic Party (SDP), whose manifesto was identical with Awolowo’s philosophy. It was not surprising therefore, that, in 1999, when the military lifted ban on politics, the Yoruba embraced the Alliance for Democracy (AD) because its ideology was similar to ideology of the AG, the UPN and the SDP. Thus, in 1999, the AD swept the polls in the Southwest.

But, in 2003, the PDP hijacked power in the zone, using the federal might.

Only Lagos State survived the onlaught. The AD chieftains claimed that the polls were rigged in Ogun, Oyo. Ondo, Osun and Ekiti states.

In 2007, the Action Congress (AC), which later became the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), won elections in Lagos, Osun and Ekiti states.

But, victory was alloted to the PDP. In 2010, the stolen mandates were retrieved from the interlopers.

Also, in 2011, the ACN, which has now transformed into the APC, won the governorship pols in Oyo and Ogun states.

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

NO, MINISTER!

Being a rejoinder by the FISH FARM ESTATE DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION (FFEDA) to the speech by the Hon Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, at the Stakeholders Interactive Session on 25 February 2014.

It is with utmost respect to the Hon Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, that we exercise our right of response, to disabuse his mind and the public’s on the gross misinformation against our association – FISH FARM ESTATE DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION. To start, may we quote from the Hon Minister’s speech, on 25 February, 2014, at the Stakeholders Interactive Session, although all emphases are ours: y We will also clean up the incipient corrupt practices by several members of the Fish Farm Estate Association; y The objective of the Fish Farm Estate Programme is to increase domestic fish production by 800,000 metric tonnes in four years; y Despite the claims of N725million by the participants of Fish Farm Estates, there is no fish to show for it; y The programme, with connivance of civil servants in the Federal Department of Fisheries, was simply turned into an ATM cashing machine for receiving grants from government, while not delivering on agreed targets for fish production or abiding by the terms of the agreement y The Chairman of the Fish Farm Estate Association has been using paid media hackers to misinform the public that the Minister has refused to release more grants to their members. He is correct. The days of stealing government money are gone.

We wish to respond as follows. y The word ‘incipient’, to the best of our knowledge, means something that is just beginning to appear or is at an early stage. This means the “corrupt practices” the Minister was referring to “are just beginning to appear or is at its infancy” within FFEDA. Even if, for the sake of argument, we agree with the Hon Minister, how do you “clean up” what is just rearing its head? Anyhow, the issue of supposed corrupt practices remains a mere accusation to give this programme a bad name in order to hang it or “clean it out.” y FFEDA believes that the Hon Minister has allowed himself to be misinformed but then he has refused to meet FFEDA ever since he assumed office. y FFEDA is a Public-Private Programme (PPP) initiated by the Federal Government to boost fish production through the establishment of fish farm estates on suitable landed properties owned by beneficiaries on a Build, Operate and Own (BOO) basis. y The Expression of Interest (EOI) submitted by each beneficiary passed through rigorous pre-qualification carried out by the Fisheries Department before the final selections. y Part of the policy objectives of the programme is to, among others, develop the property into a large fish farm estate consisting of fish production ponds of various sizes, a hatchery complex, a fish feed mill, fish processing centre, lecture hall for training of prospective fish farmers, staff housing, security posts and a water reservoir. The sum of N150,000,000 was earmarked for each beneficiary to produce 800 tonnes of wet fish per annum for each of the proposed fish farm estates. y On inauguration of the programme, however, there were substantial policy adjustments which permitted each beneficiary to receive a grant of N15,000,000 in three tranches. At the conclusion of the tranche payment, the fish farm estate programme was to proceed NOT with money from the ministry as being claimed by the Hon Minister, but to be funded as a consequence of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) from the Central Bank of Nigeria. y However, with the change of the minister and permanent secretary, FFEDA became a victim of intrigues. Why? FFEDA, in its initial take-off disbursement account had a balance of N300,000,000 with Fidelity Bank plc. This is not a secret. FFEDA is a signatory to each beneficiary predicated on a tripartite agreement between the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Fidelity Bank plc and

FFEDA. So, the big question is: under what agreement or authority was the N300,000,000 in Fidelity Bank plc drawn down and expended since FFEDA, the statutory recipient has had its rights vacated? By whom?

For what purpose? Without satisfactory answers to these basic questions, it is our view that the Minister may just be chasing the wind. y When the Hon. Minister said that the objective of the fish farm estate was to increase fish production to 800,000 metric tonnes in four years, it was intended to signal the failure of FFEDA in policy and praxis. y We urge the Hon Minister to instead direct his indictment to the Federal Department of Fisheries, the foster parent of FFEDA. The Government is in breach of an agreement and yet expected FFEDA, the operator, to fulfill abiding terms of the same agreement. The germane questions are: were the facilities and aids prescribed released to the association? Was there sufficient support from government to assist in the establishment of a hatchery complex, for example, for each of the 56 locations of FFEDA? What is the cost of a standard fish feed mill with houses and extruding machines each FFEDA member was to be equipped with? Will three instalments of N5,000,000 per time spread in two years cater for requirements in excess of N80m in infrastructure alone considering the running costs of maintaining presence in acres of land in such an activity? y FFEDA attempted FIVE TIMES to see the Hon. Minister. One such application was approved, but the Hon Minister was said to be INDISPOSED. So, no audience and no opportunity to hear out FFEDA and get an explanation of its vision and mission. y The Hon Minister said FFEDA engaged “paid media hackers to misinform the public” and that N725million had been collected by FFEDA with no fish to show for it. With due respects, the minister is actually the one misinforming the public. y Fact: there is fish, indeed, a lot of fish. Or, what fishes had been inspected and categorised by officials of the ministry as a prerequisite towards receiving the instalments? We want to jig the memory of the Ministry to the fact that he himself has benefitted from this programme: he bought 200 packets of fish from the farm of a FFEDA member, WHOLETRUST FARMS LTD, KADUNA 2012/2013 respectively and paid through electronic transfer to the farm management. Yes, Minister, with profound respects, there is fish to show for it. y For the Minister’s information, FFEDA resorted to the court of public opinion – through the media – because he refused to grant audience. And, stakeholders in this sector, we dare say that we are entitled to an audience by the Minister. y We wish to state unequivocally that, since her assumption of office, the Acting Director of Fisheries, Deaconess Areola, has, as a matter of strategy, painted FFEDA ugly before the Hon Minister, so as to enjoy executive fiat to 1) Disband FFEDA by vacating the existing tripartite agreement binding on the Ministry, FFEDA and Fidelity Bank plc; 2) Enjoy unrestricted access to the N300,000,000 in FFEDA account or has the money been leaking through the account? Who has turned the account to an ATM Cashing Machine, to respectfully use the Minister’s analogy? y Our contention, Hon Minister, is that the preceding reason is why FFEDA has been presented to you as a reckless organisation and prevented at all costs from meeting you. That is the truth, and nothing but the truth. y FINALLY, HONOURABLE MINISTER, WE IMPLORE YOU TO MEET US TODAY AND LET THE TRUTH SET YOU FREE FROM THE PIT DUG BY DEACONESS AREOLA, WHO AS A DEPUTY DIRECTOR IS HEADING TWO SUBSTANTIVE DIRECTORS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES, CONTRARY TO CIVIL SERVICE PROTOCOL. HER PIECES OF INFORMATION TO YOU REGARDING FFEDA ARE SIMPLY SELF-SERVING AND ATTEMPTS AT COVER-UP. WE STAND TO BE CHALLENGED.

SIGNED

FISH FARM ESTATE DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION

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THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014 TH

5TH EDITION OF THE SUMMIT OF HEADS OF SERVICE IN THE SOUTH-WEST GEO-POLITICAL ZONE HELD AT THE LADY JIBOWU HALL,GO VERNMENTHOUSEGR OUNDS,ADO-EKITI,EKITIS TATE. COMMUNIQUE 1.0 PREAMBLE 1.1 The fifth edition of the Summit of the Heads of Service in the South-West Geo-political Zone in Nigeria hosted by Ekiti State th th was held from Tuesday, 11 to Friday 14 March, 2014 at the Lady Jibowu Hall, Government House Grounds, Ado-Ekiti. All the six Heads of Service in the zone with a good number of Permanent Secretaries and other senior officials from the respective States of the zone attended the Summit.

1.2 The theme of the Summit The Public Service and the Prospects of Regional Integration focused on a number of strategies that could bolster development and guarantee virile Civil Service that will drive the integration process.

1.3 The Summit was declared open by His Excellency, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi, the Governor of Ekiti State. In his opening address cum lecture on the 8-Point Agenda, the Governor pointed out the inadequacies of the seemingly defective federalism being practiced currently in Nigeria to bring the dividends of democracy to the citizens at the grassroots. He asserted that due consideration should be given to regional integration and the true federalism in view of the homogenous orientation of the States in the South-West Geo-political zone.

1.4 TheGo vernorals ostr essedthe importanceof leveragingon the Civil Service as the platform for policy design and execution to move the zone forward. He concluded the lecture by expounding in his administration's 8-point Agenda as the Roadmap to Economic Recovery of Ekiti State Nigeria.

2.0 PRESENTATIONS AND DELIBERATIONS 2.1 In all, Eight (8) papers were presented by erudite resource persons, some of which dwelt on the initiatives of Ekiti State Government in some key areas of development while the sessions werechair edin turnsb ythe currentand pastHeads of Service. The participants fully discussed the papers presented and shared experiences in different areas of the public service as well as prospects of Regional Integration. Delegates also took time off to visit some projects in Ado-Ekiti and the Ikogosi Warm Springs Resort, a tourist haven in the State. The papers presented and discussed were: i.

An Overview of the 8-Point Agenda for Economic Recovery of Ekiti State ii. Developmental Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) presentation-The journey So Far iii. Social Security for the Aged/Elderly iv. Ekiti State Knowledge Zone v. Enhanced Participatory Governance through Self-Help Efforts by Communities vi. Information Communication Technology (ICT) & Digital Education in Ekiti State vii. United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) Presentation: Ministerial Mandates Efficient Service Delivery viii. Ekiti State Youth Commercial Agricultural Development (YCAD) 2.2 Arising from the foregoing, the Summit: (i) Acknowledged the indispensability of a virile and committed Public Service to good governance; (ii) Emphasized the need for the re-enactment of time-tested service culture of loyalty, efficiency, hard work and incorruptibility acrossthePublic Servicesofthe Zonef orittor egainitsleading role in the Public Services of the Federation; (iii) Stressed the need to minimize political interference and entrench meritocracy and capacity building in the Public Services of the Zone; (iv) Emphasized the necessity for appointing experienced people

into the various Public Service regulatory bodies such as the Civil ServiceCommission,LocalGo vernmentServiceCommissionet c as part of the reform strategy for the Public Services in the zone; (v) urged all States to develop clear mandates for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) by ensuring the participation of stakeholders (political and technocrats) to avoid duplication and promote efficiency and effectiveness; (vi) affirmed the invaluable contributions of the States' Head of Services to the development of the country and stated the need for them to be given due consideration for National Honours. (vii) Noted the need for states to present a position paper to the National Conference recommending salient indices to energize the Civil Service for higher productivity and better performance; e.g the restriction of appointments of Permanent Secretaries from career Civil Servants to facilitate synergy in policy implementation; (viii)Stressed the necessity for implementing the decisions of previous summits as contained in past communiquĂŠs; (ix) Commended Ekiti State Government for its community development initiatives that have impacted positively on the lives of the people; (x) Expressed concern on the challenges of power supply in the country and suggested that the issue be addressed through Independent Power Projects (IPP) to enhance industrial development of the Zone; (xi) Re-affirmed that the South-West States should collaborate in specific areas of development with a view to improving the welfare and socio economic progress of the Zone; (xii) Recommended the need to organize seminars on ministerial mandate and efficient service delivery for the political office holders through the DAWN Commission as it will assist them in the effective discharge of their duties; (xiii)Expressed appreciation to the Governors in the South West for appointing competent people with impeccable pedigree into political offices; (xiv)Noted the need to develop a blue print for effective collaboration emphasizing areas of comparative advantage in agriculture, commerce, education etc as strategy for accelerated economic development of the Zone; (xv) Agreed that the Civil Service should strive to take ownership ofthe politicalmanif estoesof governmentin powerwith aview to facilitating easy implementation/actualization; and (xvi)Resolved that integration agenda as championed by the DAWN Commission be limited to socio-economic development of the Zone; 3.0 Next Meeting th The Summit agreed that the 6 edition be hosted by Oyo State in June 2014.

4.0 Appreciation 4.1 The Summit commended the government of Ekiti State and indeed His Excellency, Dr. Kayode Fayemi as well as the host Head of Service, Mr. Olubunmi Famosaya, mni for the success of the meeting. th Issued this day, Friday 14 March, 2014 MrSunda yOla yinkaOw oeye HeadofService,OsunState

MrsModupeA dekunle HeadofService,OgunState

MrT ajudeenO .Ar emu,mni HeadofService,Oy oState

MrsJosephineOluse yiWilliams HeadofSer cie,LagosState

Barr.T oyinAkink uotu HeadofService,OndoState

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•Mrs Oloyede (standing 5th from left). With her are other guests and the award recipients on the front row

‘Harness women’s potential for development’ A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), the Women’s Optimum Development Foundation (WODEF), has urged leaders to harness the potential of women for social development. The group held a Rare Gems Award ceremony in Lagos. EVELYN OSAGIE reports.

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HE role of women in nation-building was a major concern at the Rare Gems award organised by the Women’s Optimum Development Foundation, (WODEF), a non-governmental organisation, that focuses on women empowerment and economic development.

The event, which was held at the Sam Shonibare Community Centre in Lagos, was used to celebrate individuals who have impacted on their communities.

For Nigeria to meet up with expectations of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), leaders were urged to take advantage of the potential of women to bring about change. WODEF National Coordinator and ace broadcaster Mrs Bimbo Oloyede described women as “change agents” that are essential key to achieving “equality and progress”, which was UN Women’s theme for 2014.

With the theme, Women As Peacemakers,she

ADVOCACY

condemned the killings in the northern part of the country in addition violent against women across the globe, describing such inhuman acts as “senseless and inhuman”.

She said: “Let’s spare a thought for women around the world who are challenged with fear, poverty and hunger, whose children cannot determine their fate or future. We must also turn our minds to the children of of Buni Yadi in Yobe State and other children and women whose lives have been cut short by senseless violence and I ask you to stand in their honour because that is the least we can do.”

Mrs Oloyede said the efforts of the women should be backed up by that of the youth. While charging them to be involved in the quest for the changeand progress,she urged that theypay more attention to current happenings. “We must therefore encourage young people to key into post 2015

gender concerns by engaging them in various activities that expose them to development initiatives in Nigeria.

“They also confront factors with which their contemporaries contend daily in other parts of the country and indeed other parts of the world. In addition, this is a very potent way of not only bringing public attention to the Millennium Development Goals but also to the individuals that promote and actualise them,”she said.

To encourage youths, she said, WODEF chose to involve the pupils selected from 16 public, military, missionary and private schools in the nomination process of the rare gem awards.

She said: “Our strategy is to involve them directly in the Rare Gems project which WODEF has been organised nine times since the year 2000 and through which 85 awards have already been presented to those who have impacted on their communities.

“Eight schools were asked to create original presentations based on each the MDGs and our stated theme, while the other eight were each given a list of 10 criteria and asked to research and nominate a total of three women, men or organisations for awards in specific areas, also relating their findings to the achievement of the millennium development goals in Nigeria. The list of 24 nominees was presented to the judges who were given the criteria to study prior to choosing the final eight winners.”

This aspect of the project, according to Mrs Oloyede, started last November during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence.

The recipients included: Rochas Foundation (Imo/Abuja); Hajia Salamatu Garba of Women Farmers Adancement Network (Kano); Dorothy Esangbedo (Lagos); Mrs Grace Omotosho (Lagos); Action Health Incorporated (Lagos); Mrs Joanna Maduka (Lagos); Mr Rotimi Olawale (Abuja).

That the giver may not die

Kindness and giving come naturally to Mrs Motunlayo Adefunke Sofowote, founder/president, Glowing Channels’ Foundation. In the past 15 years, she has been providing succour for the less privileged. Now, the 67-year-old woman, who is battling with cervical cancer, needs help to live. RAYMOND MORDI reports that her friends are organising a photo exhibition to raise funds for her treatment.

HUMANITARIAN

•Motunlayo

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PHOTO exhibition is being put together to raise funds to save the live of Mrs. Motunlayo Adefunke Sofowote, founder/president of Glowing Channels Foundation, a non-profit organization that has been providing succour to the less privileged in the society in the last 15 years. The exhibition, which is taking place under the theme, ‘She Lives On’, would open on May 4, 2014, at Freedom Park, Broad Street, Lagos, at 4 pm prompt and would run for one week. It is being organized by a group known as ‘Mrs Adefunke Sofowote Cancer-Fighting Fund Team’.

The woman has been critically ill since August last year and requires urgent financial assistance, to continue her treatment at the University Teaching Hospital, Lübeck (otherwise known as the UniversitatsKlinikum SchleswigHolstein, UKSH), in the northern part of Ger-

many, where she has been hospitalized. It was at the close of the year 2011, when she was preparing for her Glowing Channels Foundation annual charity concert, that she was diagnosed with cervical cancer, a deadly ailment that is said to be responsible for the death of one woman in every hour in Nigeria. As her treatment at the EKO Hospital, Ikeja, Lagos, progressed just before Christmas, she found that she was getting weaker.

For a woman who has been very active over the past few decades, as a writer, motivational speaker, philanthropist and a regular volunteer in a number of activities in the upliftment of humanity, it was a telling sign to slow down or shut down. The one fondly called ‘Mummy Sofowote’ has since found herself in life-threatening situations repeatedly.

She is currently receiving a series of medical treatment at the German hospital. Close friends and family have rallied round her so far, by constantly providing money to cater for her treatment. As a result, some measure of success has been achieved.

But a bigger amount of money, which is far beyond the scope of what her immediate family and friends can afford, is now required.

The turn that her medical treatment has taken since August last year has taken the capacity beyond the scope of her immediate family and friends. According to her husband, Mr. Segun Sofowote, the renowned dramatist, writer and

veteran broadcaster, “Every session of treatment she undergoes costs the equivalent of well over a million naira. We need now N25 million to pay for her hospital bills, another N5 million to pay for her medications and prescriptions and another N5 million to take care of her living expenses in Germany.” The costs themselves are threatened by the fluctuating rates of the foreign exchange market.

Mrs. Sofowote’s predicament is somewhat awkward. Not getting the required financial support at the right tie to continue her treatment seamlessly could be critical. She is being taken through a series of treatment regimes that would span over a long period of time. As a result, she is not expected back to Nigeria till about the end of next year.

“The exhibition is a creative way of raising the necessary funds for her treatment,” Mr. Charles Ayo Dada noted. Mr. Dada is the coordinator of the exhibition. “The idea is to give back something to the patrons,” he added. In his view, those who would support the cause of this exhibition would come in different categories. In his words: “Those pictures have their own appeal, so there are those who would buy because they love art. But there are those who may be moved to give more than the cost of those pictures, if they see it as a fundraising activity. There would also be those who would buy because of the theme of the activity, particularly because they know the woman at the centre of it all and they want to identify with the project.”

As a dedicated part-time photographer with

longstanding experience, Mrs. Sofowote has quite a unique collection of photographs, out of which 40 have been selected for the exhibition. “We have had to go through a collection of photographs she had taken over the years, to select the ones we would put on display,” Dada noted.

Mrs. Sofowote, 67, is a passionate giver. Every December since 1998 (with the exception of the last one), she has remained committed to her annual Glowing Channels concerts, primarily to give succour to the needy and provide wholesome entertainment for families.

Over the years, the likes of Kayode Olajide, the late Benjamin Aderounmu (better known as Kokoro), Bright Chimezie (a.k.a. Okoro Junior), Therese D’Avila, superior soprano from Ivory Coast, and groups like Notes and Tones, Seye Aluko’s Sound Foundation and Professor Mosun Obidike’s The Symphonic Voice from Ibadan, Oyo State, have featured at the concert. Glowing Channels, the humanitarian organization, was inspired by the memory of the late Chief Adeyemi Olusola Lawson, to revamp wholesome entertainment for the spiritual upliftment of people, as well as a vehicle to raise funds for the succour of the less-privileged in society.

As those who know her very well would readily attest, Mrs. Adefunke Sofowote is a warm, modest and elegant woman. As a writer, she provides rare insights. “I’m motivated to write from the deep well and wealth inside of me,” she told this writer after the launching of her fourth book, ‘366 Days of Soulful Planting’ in May 2009.

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E-mail:- ozoluauhakheme@yahoo.com

‘I can’t work without music’

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OW did your artistic journey begin, who inspired you to become an artist and who were your mentors?

I specifically remember one occasion when I was very young, when my dad noticed that I was becoming more and more “visually expressive”, literally painting and drawing on the walls! So he sat me down and took a plain sheet of paper and we had our first art lesson. Right in front of me, with just a few strokes, I saw a horse and its rider manifest with pristine accuracy.

From that moment on, I saw my dad in a different light and it continues till today. So you can say my Dad was the trigger that started my quest through art.

With regards mentors, I must say a big thank you to Professor Abayomi Barber, who is one of the best cultivators of talent.

His dedication to patience and ensuring students’ mastery of the core skills of art helped me find structure during a very unstable part of my creative journey. Part of what drives me is the power to create new things in a variety of ways.

Does having a father who was a very successful artist put pressure on you?

There is always the false expectation that the son of a great artist will be like his father. Unfortunately, yes there is pressure that comes from being compared to him.

However, today there are fewer people who know him, much less link us together, until it is referenced either in my work or in a write-up. A very odd form of responsibility has arisen where, I have to also re-educate people about who he was.

How do you begin your artistic process?

How do you prepare for a new piece?

Ah well! The first thing I usually do when I get that itch is to say a quick prayer and then play music. I cannot work without music: Randy Crawford, Maxwell, Marvin Gaye, Terence Trent D’arby, Jessie Ware, Asa, Ali Farka Toure, Enya are just a few of the people I’d have on my playlist. Then I write about what I want to create or how I feel, this allows me to put a more unbiased context to what I will eventually create.

Then I make a small sketch, from then on its mixing colours and prepping surfaces.

All this time spent allows me to fine tune my burst of creativity; eventually if I can “tame” it to some extent, then I can control and ultimately hone the energy to suit my vision.

Was it hard to make the transition from fine art to photography?

No it was not hard to branch out into photography. My Dad was a “closet” photographer same as my Grandfather. There were photographs taken everyday of almost every aspect of daily life so photography

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NDER trees in tiny villages, and on high tech stages in global metropolis; in school halls and in fields and in temples; in slums, in urban plazas, community centres and inner-city basements, people are drawn together to commune in the ephemeral theatrical worlds that we create to express our human complexity, our diversity, our vulnerability, in living flesh, and breath, and voice.

We gather to weep and to remember; to laugh and to contemplate; to learn and to affirm and to imagine. To wonder at technical dexterity, and to incarnate gods. To catch our collective breath at our capacity for beauty and compassion and monstrosity. We come to be energised, and to be empowered.

To celebrate the wealth of our various cultures and to dissolve the boundaries that divide us.

Wherever there is human society, the irre-

•Iken beside his work

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Like father, like son

AST Monday, Isaac Iken Emokpae, son of the late master artist, Erhabor Emokpae, presented 35 paintings in a solo art exhibition tagged Duality at the Wheatbaker Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos. It featured paintings that touch on two bodies of work from his autumn series and monad series, which reflect the duality of humans, their soul and emotions. Duality is the artist’s first major solo after leaving University of Lagos, where he studied fine art under the tutelage of the renowned art scholar, Prof Abayomi Barber.

Apart from the autumn series that is landscape based, most of his works dwell on the dualism of life, a philosophy his late father held strongly till death. Little wonder images of dual personality, relationship between people and emotions characterise the collection. His composition of unusual shapes and figures using bold colours spiced by poetry leaves the viewers with a spectacle to behold. According to him ‘in line with duality, my forms represent the semi tangible container that we call the soul, and the colours are expressive of the various emotions that we all encounter in our everyday relationships’.

Iken like his late father combines strongly his poetic depth with the artistic flair he inherited from his late father. His mentor and teacher, Prof Abayomi Barber described Iken as a serious minded, highly gifted young Nigerian artist. “The audacity of Iken’s compositions, the vivacity and the fertility of his imagination all go to show that he has personal vision, the greatest attribute of an artist,” Barber adds.

Among his paintings showcased at the exhibition include Harmony, Our father is constant, Good vibration and Trinity. Harmony is a painting that shows two overlapping figures about relationship and impressions both have of each other. Our father is constant, which simply eulogises the creator is a five-panel glass painting showing the supremacy of God and His might. At the far corner of the painting are moon and sun as part of the heavenly bodies that are also constant elements. It is a mimicked stained glass plexi-glass.

Curator of the exhibition, Sandra Mbanefo-Obiago said Iken’s use of colour is mature, with poetry wrapped around a myriad of humanoid shapes with large heads and playful features. “His work exists on a spectrum ranging from cartoon simplicity to opaque expressionism,” she noted.

Duality which will run till end of April at Wheatbaker Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos is being sponsored by corporate bodies such as Deutsche Bank, and Ruinart.

Although Iken studied painting at the university, but he has spent most of his professional life focusing on photography in fashion and journalism for clients such as 234NEXT, Tiffany Amber, Elan, AD Consulting and advertising agencies. He has won numerous awards including the UNESCO Save Our Treasures art competition in Troyes, France in 1996, and the Hasselblad Masters (semi finalist award) for photography in 2007.

was second nature for every one in the Emokpae household. My sojourn into photography started simply because I needed references for my painting work. Initially I

used magazine photos but it affected my work, because most of the models were white — and my paintings looked like black women with Caucasian features. Eventually

By Ozolua Uhakheme Assistant Editor (Arts)

I started taking photos myself and got hooked, and the rest is history. (PS, whatever pays the bills) How do you hope people respond to your work?

Positively and with proper thought. It is not just about what you see, it is also about what you feel. Too many people do not allow themselves the pleasure of an experience for the sake of the experience and this limits how much we appreciate art. Before you say yes or no to something, THINK. How has your work evolved over the years? What prompted these changes?

Over the years, I have gone from realist to romanticism, to surrealist, to expressionist and still I continue to venture. I cannot say for sure what prompts every one of these changes, however I know that each time I get restless in a medium or style it is driven by the sense that I have told this story before and I don’t need to re tell it, basically “on-to-the-next-one”.

How could the Nigerian artistic environment be improved?

We need funding and enlightenment.

Funding in the sense that, too many artists are thinking laterally. They create only to survive; this simply means that if they become comfortable, they lose the edge that drove them initially. We need bursaries and grants to foster pure artistic pursuits devoid of the need for profit. Then we will see an age of true genius in the visual arts sector. Now what you see is that a lot of artists get stuck within a well paying rut for too long and they wind up creatively stagnant. The enlightenment comes with less encumbered artistic expression What advice do you have for young artists?

Be patient and think - Why would I buy/ approve of/like/enjoy what I’m about to create? How will I be remembered? Beyond these, have fun and don’t just focus on material gain.

Message of World Theatre Day 2014 Wherever there is human society, the irrepressible spirit of performance manifests - Brett Bailey.

From Ayo Jaiyesimi

THEATRE pressible Spirit of Performance manifests.

Born of community, it wears the masks and the costumes of our varied traditions. It harnesses our languages and rhythms and gestures, and clears a space in our midst. And we, the artists that work with this ancient spirit, feel compelled to channel it through our hearts, our ideas and our bodies to reveal our realities in all their mundanely and

glittering mystery.

But, in this era in which so many millions are struggling to survive, are suffering under oppressive regimes and predatory capitalism, are fleeing conflict and hardship; in which our privacy is invaded by secret services and our words are censored by intrusive governments; in which forests are being annihilated, species exterminated, and oceans poisoned: what do we feel compelled to reveal?

In this world of unequal power, in which various hegemonic orders try to convince

us that one nation, one race, one gender, one sexual preference, one religion, one ideology, one cultural framework is superior to all others, is it really defensible to insist that the arts should be unshackled from social agendas?

Are we, the artists of arenas and stages, conforming to the sanitised demands of the market, or seizing the power that we have: to clear a space in the hearts and minds of society, to gather people around us, to inspire, enchant and inform, and to create a world of hope and open-hearted collaboration?

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BUSINESS EXTRA

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• From left: Executive Director, Investment & Corporate Banking,Skye Bank, Timothy Oguntayo; Partner, Constant Capital, Barbara Iyayi; Head, Developing Markets, Atlas Merchants Capital, Jyrki Koskelo; and Group Managing Director/CEO, Skye Bank Plc, Kehinde Durosinmi-Etti, during a business visit by Atlas Merchants Capital partners to the bank in Lagos.

PHOTO: ISAAC AYODELE

Senate to probe NNPC accounts

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HE Senate has con cluded plans to inves tigate the finances of state-run oil firm, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

The plan may have been informed by unsuccessful bids by the Senator Magnus Abeled Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) to obtain details of the financial dealings of the corporation.

Findings showed that the Senate Committee had, since October last year, failed to get details of how the oilf firm used public funds kept in its kitty in trust for the commonwealth.

A source close to the committee told our correspondent that the latest correspondence between the committee and the NNPC Group Managing Director, Andrew Yakubu, was on April 4.

At a scheduled meeting yesterday, nobody showed up for the meeting from NNPC. The source said the meeting scheduled for 2:45 pm yesterday in the Senate had nobody from the NNPC in attendance “and there was no correspondence either”.

According to the source, details of the committee’s correspondence, which will

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Asst.

Editor and Sanni Onogu, Abuja

form the crux of the investigation include detailed record of the volumes and sales of all crude oil and products; detailed record of the volumes of crude oil received as part of the crude swap arrangement by local refineries, including quantity used locally and quantity swapped.

Others include details of kerosene importation and distribution; details of the implementation and distribution; details of the number and management of aircrafts in the corporation’s fleet; both chartered and purchased.

The Senate will also require details of funds expended on aircraft purchases, hiring and maintenance in the last two years; contract papers on the lease or purchase of aircrafts; issues surrounding the Turn Around Maintenance and or rehabilitation of refineries and supply and distribution of petroleum products and ancillary issues.

The letter sent to Yakubu reads: “I am directed to refer you to the committee’s several letters of invitation to

meet with the committee and requests to furnish the committee with information relating to the activities of your corporation since October 2013.

“I am to draw your attention to the fact that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended, statutorily empowers the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and by extension, its committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) to oversight the activities of the NNPC and its subsidiary refinery companies.

“I am to further express the committee’s dissatisfaction with the conduct of the management of the NNPC, especially it’s seeming disrespect and disregard of the committee’s invitations and requests for information and data relating to the activities of the corporation and its refinery companies.

The letter added that “ in view of the inability and/or unpreparedness of your officials to adequately respond to questions at the committee’s meeting of Tuesday and Wednesday, 1st and 2nd April, 2014, the committee resolved to further invite the Group Managing Director (PPMC), the Group Executive Director

NEMSA, Forestry Bills scale second BILL seeking to estab the electricity supply industry. reading lish the Nigerian Elec “ This bill my colleagues is tricity Management

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Services Authority (NEMSA) and another seeking to regulate Forestry in the country yesterday passed through second reading in the House of Representatives.

The proposed legislation seeks to carry out the functions of enforcement of technical standards and regulations, as well as technical inspection in the electricity supply industry.

It also seeks to enforce technical standards in testing and certification of electrical installations, electricity metres, and instruments for the purpose of “ensuring the efficient production and delivery of safe, reliable and sustainable electric power supply in the country”.

While leading debate on the general principle of the bill, its sponsor, Hon. Patrick Ikhariale (PDP-Edo), told his colleagues if the bill is passed into law, it would

From Victor Oluwasegun, Abuja

tackle the issue of electricity supply in the country, as well as guarantee safety of lives and property in the electricity supply industry.

The lawmaker said the aim of the bill was to bring about an authority that would be highly involved in the technical role of the agency.

He said the establishment of the agency would not only provide employment opportunity for Nigerians, but also strengthen standards in the area of professional services.

According to him, the bill ensure that students of electrical engineering have a place in the economy and contribute to national development.

Passing the bill, he argued, would ensure that a body would be solely responsible for the enforcement of technical standards and regulation in

very germane and has the interest of the people at heart,” he said.

House members that supported the passage of the bill include, Hons. Sekonte Davis (PDP-Rivers), Leo Ogor (PDPDelta), Nnenna Elendu-Ukeje (PDP-Abia), Aminu Shagari (APC-Sokoto).

After the bill scaled the second reading, it was referred to the Committee on Power by the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, for further legislative action.

Another bill titled: “A Bill for an Act to Regulate the Profession of Forestry in Nigeria,” sponsored by Hon. Ifeoluwa Arowosoge (APC-Ekiti) which seeks to regulate the activities of foresters in the country, also passed through second reading.

It was referred to the Committee on Environment and Agriculture for further legislative input.

(R&P), and the Managing Directors of all the nation’s refineries to a meeting on Tuesday, April 8.”

Sources on the committee said: “Previous meetings between the NNPC and the committee have always been frustrated because junior officers have been sent to attend the meetings.

“Those who attended the meetings were either junior officers or they were not in possession of documents or details pertaining to what the committee wants.”

EFCC stalls hearing of Atuche’s appeal

HE failure of the Eco nomic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to file vital documents yesterday stalled the hearing of an appeal by former Managing Director of defunct Platinum Habib Bank (PHB), Francis Atuche and his wife, Elizabeth.

The Atuches, through their counsel, Anthony Idigbe (SAN), approached the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal, challenging the jurisdiction of an Ikeja High Court to hear an alleged N25.7billion theft suit involving them.

Trial judge, Justice Latifat Okunnu, in a ruling on December 16, last year, assumed jurisdiction to hear the alleged fraud case brought against the Atuches by the EFCC. Justice Okunnu had held that dismissing the charge would amount to judicial rascality based on another suit, Okey Nwosu and three others vs the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in which the Atuches are co-defendants, which is pending at the Appellate Court.

Dissatisfied with the trial judge’s ruling to hear the matter, the Atuches raised four grounds for appeal to challenge it.

At the resumed hearing on Tuesday, Justice C.C. Sankey accused the EFCC of filing a defective application.

The court noted that instead of amending its respondent’s brief of argument, the commission filed a written address, thereby

By Precious Igbonwelundu

stalling the definite hearing of the appeal.

Subsequently, the court fixed May 13 for a definite hearing.

In their Notice of Appeal, the Atuches prayed the appellate court to set aside the trial judge’s ruling and in its place, grant their reliefs by dismissing all counts of the amended charge against them by the EFCC. They averred that the trial court erred in dismissing their motion, which sought a dismissal of the charge for want of jurisdiction.

They argued that the judge was wrong to have ignored a Court of Appeal’s decision and favoured a ‘flimsy excuse of a pending appeal to enable her continue the unlawfully exercise of jurisdiction on the matter over which she no longer has such powers’.

The appellants claimed that the trial judge failed to consider and determine the substance of the motion on notice for an order dismissing the charge for want of jurisdiction based on the appellate court’s decision in Okey Nwosu vs FRN (CA/L/601/ 2011), thereby depriving them their right to fair hearing.

According to the appellants, the trial judge’s ruling was prejudicial as she did not tune her mind to the fact that not all the applicants before her were parties to the appeal she relied on.

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EQUITIES NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 08-04-14

DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 08-04-14

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EQUITIES

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Skye Bank grows net profit by 27% to N16b

KYE Bank Plc grew net profit by about 27 per cent to N16 billion in 2013 as the bank optimized constrained top-line deliver better returns to shareholders.

Key extracts of the audited report and accounts of the bank for the year ended December 31, 2013 made available yesterday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that net profit rose from N12.64 billion in 2012 to N16.02 billion in 2013.

The board of directors of the bank has recommended distribution of N3.97 billion to shareholders, representing a dividend per share of 30 kobo. Earnings per share had risen to N1.21 in 2013 as against N1.01 in 2012.

At the bank’s opening market consideration today at the NSE, this represents an impressive yield of 8.3 per cent.

The report showed a profit before tax of N17.136 billion in 2013, a modest increase on N16.510 billion recorded in 2012. Other highlights of the result include growth in total assets from N1.073 trillion to N1.116 trillion, while deposit liabilities also increased from N966 billion to N996 billion. Gross earnings stood at N127.3billion in 2013 compared with N127.73 billion in 2012.

The bank’s total equity grew during the review period from 106.8 billion in 2012 to N120 billion in 2013, indicating the bank’s financial stability. Loans and receivables also rose to N549.8 billion from N540.3 billion. As a measure of its growing good loan portfolio, the bank’s net interest income shot up to N61.69 billion from N44.5 billion in 2012, an increase of 38 per cent.

Commenting on the results, group managing director, Mr. Kehinde Durosinmi-Etti, said the results showed the resilience of the bank’s growth strategy in a year marked by regula-

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•Declares N4b dividend Stories by Taofik Salako Capital Market Editor

tory headwinds.

“In a year beset with various regulatory headwinds on the backdrop of monetary policy tightening with attendant impact on liquidity, cost, fees, and overall earnings, our results showed positive growth on all performance indices,” Durosinmi-Etti said.

According to him, with gross earnings of N127.3billion, the bank interest income by four per cent from N101.0billion to N105.3billion while reducing interest expense by 23 per cent to close at N43.6 billion from N56.5billion. This reflected the bank’s focus at replacing relatively expensive term deposits with low-cost funding and the continuous use of its branch network to mobilize less costly deposits.

“We are confident about the successful implementation of our Tier 1 and Tier 2 Capital Raising Project within the year as planned, which would enable us deepen our penetration in existing markets, while also providing the avenue for exploring uncharted segments and other opportunities,” Durosinmi-Etti said.

According to him, the bank’s information technology transformation project, which involves deployment of high-grade banking application software, optimal disaster recovery and enhanced information and communication technology security backbone among others, would be concluded in the next few weeks.

He noted that the information technology transformation is in line with the bank’s focus on using ICT as a business enabler and superior service delivery across all channels.

Lead Securities launches online trading platform

EAD Securities & Investments Limited yesterday launched the LeadTrader , an online, real time trading platform that allows institutional and retail investors to trade directly on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), thus giving investors full control over their mandates.

Speaking at the launch of the LeadTrader, chairman, Lead Securities & Investments Limited, Mr. Abimbola Olashore, said the new trading platform provides investors the comfort and convenience of executing their trades online through laptops, desktops, tablets and other mobile devices.

He said the LeadTrader was in response to the ongoing efforts to deepen the technological level of the Exchange noting that the launch of the FIX-enabled X-Gen trading platform late last year spurred Lead Securities to upgrade its existing trading infrastructure to provide a world-class trading portal.

According to him, LeadTrader conforms with the global best solutions for online, real time trading of securities.

“Orders submitted through LeadTrader

pass through a FIX compatible Order Management System (OMS) where appropriate compliance checks are in place to prevent erroneous orders going into the NSE’s trading platform,” Olashore noted.

Managing director, Lead Capital Plc, Mr. Wale Adewumi, said the company has a twolevel security check that protects and confirms the identity of the investor while the operating system is designed to guide against trading of unavailable securities.

He noted that the LeadTrader will help to improve investors’ confidence as investors can participate in live trading at the NSE. According to him, LeadTrader is integrated with a payment switch that allows investors to add funds to their brokerage account through debit and credit cards.

“If you are concerned about your trades being executed with precision to the market at any given time, LeadTrader is the solution for you. Lead Trader provides real time market data for informed real time trading decisions,” Adewumi said.

Chams records N188m profit after tax

C

HAMS Plc recorded impressive growths in the top-line and bottomline in 2013 as net profit doubled to N188 million.

Audited report and accounts of the identity management and payments transaction company for the year ended December 31, 2013 showed that turnover rose by 21.3 per cent from N2.84 billion in 2012 to N3.44 billion in 2013. Profit after tax rose by 115.3 per cent to N188.5 million as against N87.5 million in the previous year. The company’s net bottom-line was boosted by tax gain of N81.54 million. Total assets grew by 22.9 per cent to N10.7 billion compared to N8.7 billion. Shareholders’ funds improved from N4.5 billion to N4.7 billion.

Group managing director, Chams Plc, Mr. Ademola Aladekomo, said the results confirmed that the various initiatives put in place by the management are bearing fruits.

According to him, to come from a loss position in the last three years to profitability is quite commendable and it reinforces confidence that things can only become better for the company.

“More gratifying is the fact that we have sustained our topline growth trajectory, an

indication that we have continued to increase our market share and remain competitive.

The results were indicative of solid portfolio of products and services emerging from the company’s streamline operations in the last two years, leading to significant growth of its market share in the identity management and payments transaction business,” Aladekomo said.

Deputy group managing director, Chams Plc, Mr. Olufemi Williams added that the prospects for the business is solid, especially in the group’s core business.

“The bulk of our revenue comes from identity management, which is our area of specialty. You will observe that the performance of the company itself was better than what was recorded at the group level. For instance from a revenue figure of N3.1 billion, the company generated an operating profit of N846.1 million, representing a margin of 27 per cent. This enabled us to achieve a net profit of N732.3 million, profit margin of 23.3 per cent. You can see that we have a very profitable core business, and this is why we have set targets for ourselves to restructure our non-core operations,” Williams said.

56

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

MONEYLINK

Sterling Bank to raise $120m capital

S

TERLING Bank Plc, which acquired one of the bailed-out lenders in 2011, plans to raise $120 million by the end of June as it targets a 25 per cent increase in lending this year.

Bloomberg said the bank will conclude the private placement this quarter, its Chief Executive Officer, Yemi Adeola told investors yesterday in Lagos. It also plans to issue $200 million of “multi-currency subordinated debt” in the second half of this year,

Keystone Bank set to launch women’s account

A

ctress, Rita Dominic, will be the face of Keystone Bank’s soon to be launched exclusively-for-women account, the Keystone Bank Pink Account.

In a statement, Head, Brand Management, Keystone Bank, Omobolanle Osotule, said: “The Keystone Bank Pink Account is a current and savings account for women that are resourceful, innovative and glamorous. The account is primarily designed for the empowerment of women with entrepreneurial drive and career inclination, to actualise their financial independence, lifestyle and domestic needs.”

She said the account will create avenues for women to network and share ideas through periodic networking events, seminars and workshops, which will be anchored by

Stories by Collins Nweze

he said.

“Growth will be driven by increased exposure to sectors such as agriculture, real estate, construction and power,” Adeola said.

Sterling Bank is joining other Nigerian lenders in raising funds to add new branches and boost credit to the energy industry in Africa’s top oil producer. Sterling Bank acquired Equitorial Trust Bank Plc, one of the eight lenders bailed-out by the Cen-

tral Bank of Nigeria (CBN) during a debt crisis in 2009.

The bank expects deposits to grow by 29 per cent this year while return on equity climbs by 20 per cent, Adeola said.

Most of this money is required to meet important needs such as healthcare, school fees and other challenges. Customers from all over the world want to send money to Nigeria and MoneyGram considers it a privilege to enter into this partnership with Diamond Bank Plc to help Nigerians meet their money trans-

fer needs even to the remotest parts of the country.”

Divisional Head, Transaction & eBanking, Diamond Bank Plc, Mr. Daniel Akumabor, said that Diamond Bank has a track record of being the fastest growing bank on similar platforms it had partnered previously.

• Adeola

Diamond Bank, Moneygram partner on money transfer

D

IAMOND Bank Plc is partnering with MoneyGram International, for the provision of money transfer services.

At the partnership signing ceremony, the bank’s Executive Director, Retail Banking Uzoma Dozie said the partnership would help in providing secure and accessible money transfer services to meet the needs of the bank’s customers.

“When we began money transfer services, the initial focus was to provide efficient transfer services to our customers trading across Nigeria so we spent about sixty percent of our equity in building a convenient and accessible platform. Today, we are taking it to a different dimension and widening the platform to embrace Nigerians in the Diaspora,” he said.

Executive Vice President, US & Canada, Peter Ohser, who led the team from MoneyGram International, noted that the partnership was a great occasion for Nigerians both at home and in the diaspora.

He said: “Nigeria is a big market and records from the World Bank show that about 20 billion naira comes into the country annually.

Access Bank chief speaks at Africa confab

T

HE Group Managing Director of Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe will be speaking at the fourth annual MIT: Africa Innovate Conference holding in the United States of America on April 11th and 12th.

The conference, organised by Africa Business Club is meant to facilitate the application of world class innovation to Africa’s biggest challenges through idea sharing, relationship development and promotion of African innovation.

Specifically, this year’s edition of the annual conference will focus on issues in the areas of finance, healthcare, technology, energy and venture incubation that have been adjudged critical to the development of Africa and enhancing the quality of lives on the continent.

NIM inducts Zenith Bank managers

Z

ENITH Bank managers have been inducted as members of the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM).

The ceremony, which held at the bank’s head office in Lagos was attended by its managers from across the country.

The induction serves a call for higher course for executing business; the ceremony formally means that they are answerable not only to the bank but also to the law.

Executive Director of Zenith Bank, Mr Ebenezer Onyeagwu said the investiture is a higher call for them to understand the tenets of management and ensure that their actions and dispositions must be in line with man-

Tenor

Amount N

Rate %

M/Date

3-Year 5-Year

35m 35m

11.039 12.23

19-05-2014 18-05-2016

By Nneka Nwaneri

agement practices.

He said: “I urge you not only to see yourselves as branch managers or unit heads, but as members of a club who will lead right in the organisation and in the country as a whole.”

NIM president, Dr Nelson Uwaga said such induction was the first of its kind to introduce them to the role of the institute in national building and ensuring that they are change agents in their organisation and the country.

He said: “Exercise self restraint in handling sensitive issues and refrain from seeking personal advantage from exposure to confidential information.

NIDF

OBB Rate

Amount Amount Offered ($) Demanded ($) 400m 400m 400m 400m 400m 400m

Price Loss 2754.67

INTERBANK RATES 7.9-10%

PRIMARY MARKET AUCTION (T-BILLS) Tenor 91-Day 182-Day

Amount 30m 46.7m

Rate % 10.96 9.62

Date 28-04-2012 “

GAINERS AS AT 08-04-14

SYMBOL

O/PRICE

FIDELITYBK 1.95 STERLNBANK 2.50 CONTINSURE 0.95 UAC-PROP 24.00 WEMABANK 0.96 PZ 31.00 ZENITHBANK 21.00 INTENEGINS 0.58 TRANSCORP 3.56 NESTLE 1,124.35

C/PRICE 2.11 2.62 0.99 25.00 1.00 32.18 21.75 0.60 3.68 1,160.00

EXHANGE RATE 6-03-12 Currency

Year Start Offer

Current Before

C u r r e n t CUV Start After %

NGN USD NGN GBP

147.6000 239.4810

149.7100 244.0123

150.7100 245.6422

-2.11 -2.57

NGN EUR 212.4997 NIGERIA INTER BANK (S/N) 149.7450 (S/N) Bureau de Change 152.0000 (S/N)

207.9023

209.2910

-1.51

154.0000

154.3000

-3.04

153.0000

155.5000

-2.30

DISCOUNT WINDOWx Feb. ’11

July ’11

July ’12

MPR

6.50%

6.50%

12%

Standing Lending Rate ,, Deposit Rate ,, Liquidity Ratio Cash Return Rate

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 1.00%

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 2.00%

9.50% 5.50% 30.00% 2.00%

LOSERS AS AT 08-04-14

SYMBOL

O/PRICE

BOCGAS REDSTAREX IKEJAHOTEL PRESCO OASISINS FIDSON UBA AFRIPRUD UBCAP NAHCO

6.66 4.47 0.63 42.00 0.60 2.99 10.44 2.90 2.57 5.08

C/PRICE 6.33 4.25 0.60 40.10 0.58 2.90 10.15 2.82 2.50 5.00

NIBOR Tenor 7 Days 30 Days 60 Days

Rate (Previous) 4 Mar, 2012 9.0417 9.6667 11.2917

Rate (Currency) 6, Mar, 2012 10.17% 11.46% 11.96%

Exchange Rate (N) 155.75 155.8 155.7

Date 2-5-14 2-3-14 1-29-14

CAPITAL MARKET INDEX

NSE

6-2-14

28-10-11

% Change

CAP Index

N13.07tr 40,766.16

N6.617tr 20,903.16

-1.44% -1.44%

MEMORANDUM QUOTATIONS Offer Price

AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND 158.93 ARM AGGRESSIVE GROWTH 9.17 BGL NUBIAN FUND 1.07 BGL SAPPHIRE FUND 1.17 CANARY GROWTH FUND 0.68 CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST 1.39 CORAL INCOME FUND 1,628.00 FBN FIXED INCOME FUND 1,090.40 FBN HERITAGE FUND 114.02 FBN MONEY MARKET FUND 1,087.30 FIDELITY NIGFUND 1.67 INTERCONTINENTAL INTEGRITY FUND 1.05 KAKAWA GUARANTE ED INCOME FUND 143.11 LEGACY FUND 0.78 NIGERIA INTER DEBIT FUND 1,894.68 • • • •

CHANGE -0.33 -0.22 -0.03 -1.90 -0.02 -0.09 -0.29 -0.08 -0.07 -0.08

Amount Sold ($) 399.9m 399.9m 399.9m

Name

CHANGE 0.16 0.12 0.04 1.00 0.04 1.18 0.75 0.02 0.12 35.65

Herbert will participate in the plenary session on innovation and financing in Africa. His participation in this session is an acknowledgment of the contributions of Access Bank to the development of the Nigerian economy and its banking sector. Also, Access Bank’s determination to create economic prosperity for Africans through its numerous empowerment initiatives and programmes impelled relating its activities at the global conference.

The panel on Innovation in Financing in Africa, which will have Herbert Wigwe, Folorunsho Alakija, founder Famfa Oil, Tim Noonan, Director, Private Equity, Black River Asset Management and Dominic Kiarie, Group Managing Director, UAP Holdings at panellists will be speaking also.

DATA BANK

MANAGED FUNDS Initial Current Quotation Price Market N8250.00 5495.33

Rita Dominic as the ambassador of the project.”

Osotule explained that the choice of Rita Dominic as the face of the Pink Account “was predicated on her profile as a thoroughbred professional, a dedicated and consummate actress, and a celebrity with role model credentials and of course, because of her entrepreneurial drive.”

Speaking on the project, Rita Dominic said she was excited about the idea of an account for women to make them financially independent as entrepreneurs, mothers and caregivers. “I am also excited about the fact that the bank considers working with me to promote this laudable project to other women in different strata of the society’s ladder.

UBA BALANCED FUND UBA BOND FUND UBA EQUITY FUND UBA MONEY MARKET FUND

Movement

1.2655 1.3132 0.9270 1.1597

Bid Price 158.40 9.08 1.05 1.17 0.67 1.33 2,540.20 1,090.11 113.22 1,087.00 1.62 1.03 142.62 0.76 1,890.77 1.2543 1.3132 0.9098 1.1597

OPEN BUY BACK

Bank

Previous 04 July, 2012

Current 07, Aug, 2012

8.5000

8.5000

Movement

THE NATION WEDNESDAY APRIL 9, 2014

57

NEWS Aliyu: I prefer an insider as successor From Jide Orintunsin, Minna

N

IGER State Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu said yesterday that he wants his successor to emerge from the executive council.

He said he prefers an insider to succeed him in order to continue, sustain and maintain the administration’s projects and programmes.

The governor said this when he received the 2013 Hajj report from the Amirul Hajj, Musa Ahmed Ibeto, who is also the deputy governor.

Three of the eight aspirants jostling for the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are executive council members.

Aliyu said: “I’m asking God to bring the next governor from the executive council.

“I have no preferred candidate among the aspirants. But there is the need for a successor from the exco to ensure that the next governor is conversant with the projects of the administration.”

The governor said it may be difficult for anyone coming from outside to understand the vision and mission as well as the policies, programmes and projects of the administration.

“For me at the moment, I don’t have a candidate but whoever comes to me whether from the exco or outside, I’ll tell him to go and meet the people.

“I know there will be a governor, but my prayer and hope are that the person comes from around me; someone who is aware of what we have been doing.

“Someone coming from outside may not understand our ways of handling issues and may start unnecessary accusations.

“But those who have worked with us will make sure the state is peaceful.

“That’s my prayer but I am ready for whoever God gives to me as governor.

“I am not disturbed by the number of aspirants. Things will shape up as time goes on.

“The number makes the game healthy but I can assure you that with time things will shape up and the right candidate will emerge. I only wish he comes from the cabinet.”

‘Gaidam not joining PDP’

Y

OBE State House of Assembly Speaker Adamu Dala-Dogo said yesterday that Governor Ibrahim Gaidam is not joining the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Answering questions from reporters in Damaturu, DalaDogo said the governor had never indicated any interest in the PDP. “He is the All Progressives Congress’ (APC’s) consensus candidate for 2015 election. The decision will be ratified during the party’s primaries,” the speaker said.

Dala-Dogo dismissed the speculations on the governor’s defection plan, saying it was a desperate propaganda by the PDP. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that there were speculations that Gaidam had been offered the governorship ticket to contest under the PDP.

One dies as police, touts clash in Ilorin

O

NE person has been killed in a street brawl between the police and suspected touts in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

The brawl, which left several others injured, broke out when some youths, suspected to be touts, allegedly engaged the police in a free-for-all.

An eyewitness said the crisis started when some hoodlums demanded ‘land

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

charge’ from a film producing company, which was in the area to shoot a movie.

It was learnt that their refusal infuriated the hoodlums.

Violence erupted with the suspects destroying the company’s gadgets.

The eyewitness said the team reported the matter to ‘F’ Division at Tanke area.

He said: “When the police arrived on the scene, they fired tear-gas into the air to disperse the touts.

“The touts brandished machetes and other weapons and threw stones and sachets of water at the police.”

It was alleged that one of the policemen in the second van deployed to the scene, accidentally fired a shot, which allegedly killed one of the suspects.

Commissioner of Police Ambrose Aisabo said one of the suspects, who carried a weapon, died on the spot, when he was hit by the bullet.

He said his men had no choice than to fire the shot, when the atmosphere became tense.

Aisabo said the police would leave no stone unturned in ensuring peace in the state.

•Nasarawa State Governor Umaru Al-Makura (middle) and members of the governing board of Nasarawa State University at their inauguration in Lafia…yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

Fulani, Southern Kaduna communities agree to end hostilities F

ULANI herdsmen and communities in southern Kaduna yesterday agreed to end hostilities.

The resolution was reached at the end of a twoday meeting in Kaduna.

The meeting was held under the auspices of the Police Peace and Reconciliation Committee, headed by the Deputy Inspector General of Police (Operations), Michael Zuokumor.

The two groups said those responsible for the killing of innocent persons in southern Kaduna should be arrested and prosecuted.

The recommendation was signed by Ahmadu Suleiman (Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria), Dr. Ibrahim Abdullahi (Miyyeti Allah Kautal Hore Socio-Cultural Association) and Ahmad Mairiga Yandeh (Mobgal Fulbe De-

From Tony Akowe, Kaduna

velopment Association) for the Fulani.

Dr. Ephraim Goje and Bitrus Gwadah signed for the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union and Musa Abu Sheyin for the southern Kaduna communities.

It was also signed by Zuoikumor, Commissioner of Police Umar Shehu and DCP Sanusi Lemu from the Zone 7 headquarters, among other witnesses.

The participants said: “The two associations concerned have resolved today to condemn this wanton destruction of lives and property and also declare a ceasefire.

“This is to create an enabling environment for dialogue for the return of en-

during peace and unity in the area.”

They recommended the establishment of a peace and reconciliation commission by the government, while the movement of people should be monitored.

“Government should make all efforts to reach out to nomadic pastoralists and other Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and give them some palliatives and encourage them to return to their homes.

“There is also the need to return to the traditional intelligence gathering mechanisms.

“Mobile police and military units should be established in Kafanchan and Birnin Gwari for quick response to security challenges.

“Government at all levels should improve on security agencies’ capabilities of handling crisis by providing adequate logistics.

“Proliferation of small and medium arms should be seriously checked.

“Creation of the ministry of Animal Resources out of the Ministry of Agriculture is highly recommended.

“There is also the need to implement the recommendations of all previous committees established by the Kaduna State government on peace and reconciliation.

“The youths should be sensitised on the need for self-restraint and not to take laws into their hands.

“All outstanding issues with respect to boundary disputes with neighbouring states should be resolved by the relevant government agencies.”

Foremost educationist Taiwo dies at 104

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie and Adegunle Olugbamila

EMERITUS Professor Cornelius Olaleye Taiwo is dead. The prominent lawyer and mathematician died yesterday in his GRA, Ikeja, Lagos home.

He was 104.

The late Taiwo, who hailed from Oru Ijebu in Ogun State, was a founding father of the Egbe Omo Oduduwa.

He attended St Luke’s Primary School, Oru-Ijebu, Ogun State (1921-23) and St John’s Primary School, Iloro, Ilesha in Osun State (1924-1926) for his primary education. The late Taiwo had his secondary education at St Andrew’s College (now a College of Education) in Oyo State (19281931); Yaba Higher College, Lagos (1928-1931); Trinty College, Cambridge University (1944-1947); University of London (19London, Institute of Education (1947); The Middle Temple (Inns of Court), 19551964; and the Nigerian Law School, Lagos (1964).

In academic circles, he served in many positions at institutional and ministry levels. He was Headmaster, Sagun United School, Oru-Ijebu (1932-1935) and Principal, Edo College, Benin City (1951). He also served as Staff Inspector, Western Nigeria (1956-57); Permanent Secretary, Western Nigeria (1960-66); and Dean, Faculty of Education, University of Lagos (1967); Provost, College of Education, UNILAG. Taiwo became a professor of the university in 1965 and was named Emeritus Professor in 1996. He was appointed ProChancellor/Chairman of Governing Council, University of Ilorin between 1990 and 1993. He also served as external examiner for the University of Ibadan and many other foreign universities including: University of Cape Coast, Ghana; Makerere University, Uganda; University of Nairobi, Kenya; University of SierraLeone, Freetown; and Cardiff University, Wales, United Kingdom.As a lawyer, Taiwo was a Barrister-at-Law, solicitor and advocate, notary public since 1977; and became a member of the Nigerian Bar Association in 1964.

One of the late professor’s sons, Chief Ladi Taiwo told our reporter that that their father passed on ‘peacefully’ at 1.04am at his Ikeja GRA home yesterday. Though he could not give reasons on the cause of his death, Ladi said the family is grateful that their father died just at the moment he could have begun to experience pain before death.

Four Kwara PDP members held for ‘possession of firearms’

T

HE police in Kwara State have arrested four suspects, believed to be members of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for alleged possession of illegal firearms.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Zanna Ibrahim said the suspects were arrested yesterday morning at the home of the PDP State Chairman, Solomon Edoja.

It was also gathered that a PDP member in the House of Assembly was invited and interrogated by the police in connection with the allegation.

Ibrahim said: “Four suspects were arrested in Oyun area at the house of the PDP

•APC condemns PDP over violence From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

chairman yesterday. One of the suspects, Olorunfemi Sola, was caught with a locally made gun and one live cartridge.”

The DCP, who said investigation was still going on, added that further investigations would reveal the identity of other suspects.

Edoja said the embattled lawmaker was invited by the police to explain what he knew about the matter.

He said: “Some hoodlums were sighted outside my

‘The APC calls on the police to probe the senseless killings and punish the perpetrators’ house this morning and we discovered that about 90 per cent of them were not PDP members. They were there to cause trouble.

“When the police arrested one of them and searched

him, they found some ammunition and you will agree with me that it is typical of hoodlums to mention names of prominent persons when arrested.”

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has berated the PDP for what it described as “current spate of wanton destruction of lives and property” as a result of desperation and greed for political relevance.

The party’s Interim spokesman, Sulyman Buhari, said it was disturbing that PDP has extended its gangsterism to blood-letting and senseless killings in a state known for peace and harmony.

Buhari said the fracas, which took place at the PDP secretariat in Sango has brought to the fore the greed and selfishness of PDP members.

“Ordinarily, the APC would not have bothered itself with happenings in the PDP, but for our concern for innocent people, who might be affected by the fracas.

“The APC calls on the police to probe the senseless killings and punish the perpetrators.

“The APC commiserates with the families of the deceased and calls for compensation by the PDP to ameliorate their sufferings.”

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

58

FOREIGN NEWS

Ukraine crisis: Nato warns Russia

N

ATO has warned Russia that further intervention in Ukraine would be a “historic mistake” with grave consequences.

Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Moscow must pull back troops it has massed on the Ukrainian border.

On Tuesday, Ukraine regained control of one of the government buildings occupied by pro-Russian activists in the east of the country.

Moscow has said that using force to end the protests could lead to civil war.

However, in Luhansk, officials said “radicals” occupying the state security building had placed explosives and were holding about 60 people against their will. Activists in the building denied having explosives or hostages but said they had seized an armoury full of automatic rifles.

Kiev says the unrest in the

east is being fomented by Russia following its annexation of the Crimean peninsula.

Russia took control in Crimea - where Russianspeakers are in a majority after a disputed referendum.

The US and the EU have already imposed targeted sanctions on Russian and Ukrainian individuals over the annexation of Crimea.

Mr Rasmussen added: “We call on Russia to pull back the tens of thousands of troops it

has massed on Ukraine’s borders, engage in a genuine dialogue with the Ukrainian authorities and respect its international commitments.” anning the barricades in Donetsk proves tiring for some activists US Secretary of State John Kerry, addressing a Senate panel on Tuesday, said Russian special forces and agents had been “the catalyst behind the chaos of the last 24 hours”.

Theme: God will remember you!

tion in the land (Genesis 41:810,38-40). It was the same experience too when David remembered the household of Jonathan and decided to honor anyone left of that family, the story of the lame Mephibosheth changed. He was promoted from the pathway of a dead dog life to the highway of eating at the King’s table (2Samuel 9).

That human beings have forgotten you is not the end of life because when God remembers you, man does not have a choice.

In fact, when God remembers a person, He catapults the forgotten from a gate-keeper to being a Prime Minister, like Mordecai.

He doesn’t stop it there, He ensures that the accuser becomes the accused like Haman. When the book of remembrance is opened to you, God will facilitate a miracle of “more than enough”. When He remembered Hannah, the problem of long years of barrenness was solved immediately and she became the mother of children (1 Samuel 1:19-20,2:21)

Jewish settlers clash with Israeli police in West Bank

D

OZENS of Jewish West Bank settlers clashed with Israeli security forces yesterday, hurling stones and bottles at the officers in one of the most serious confrontations with militant settlers in years.

The violence was sparked when large numbers of Israeli police and paramilitary units arrived to the settlement of Yitzhar in the northern West Bank to carry out a

LENTEN MESSAGE

I

N the wake of the recent appointment cum selection of ‘eminent, prominent and distinguished’ members of the society to the National conference to discuss the country and chart a better course for the nation, there have been hues and cries, even from some of the elected or selected members, about the eligibility of some of them using age, credibility, character, competence, chemistry and past misdeeds as basis of rejection of their candidature.

It is also not news that position and promotion due to certain qualified individual are many times wrongly transferred. Suffice to say that, as part of the ironies of life, which Solomon said are traceable to the rulers’ evil and cascaded into princes walking on ground while servants are riding on horses (Eccl. 10:5-7), it is not every blessing and privilege which are the rights of people that are given to their rightful owners. While some rightful owners are either forgotten by

Text: “ Now Naaman....... also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper.”

(2 Kings 5:1)

By The Revd. Henry O. Adelegan

people placed in privileged positions for recommendation or they are outrightly of the benefits due to them, others are ignored and some are avoided like a plague by powers that be.

From our text, God asked if it was possible for a compassionate mother to deny her baby one of his inalienable rights of being breastfed. He went further to declare that it is possible for a person to be denied of what rightly belongs to him but added that He will never forget His children as He has graven them upon the palms of His hands and their walls are continually before Him (Is. 49:16).

Joseph was a man who inter-

preted the dream of the Chief butler and just as he said, the man gained his freedom from prison and was restored to his position in the King’s palace.

Before he was released, Joseph pleaded with him to show kindness to him and mention him to Pharaoh after he had been set free. When the Chief Butler was restored to his position from the prison however, he did not remember him- in fact, he forgot!

(Genesis 40:14, 21-23).

Two years later, God remembered him, He orchestrated a frightening dream that was devoid of clarity and needed only the spiritual expertise of Joseph to unravel. At that stage, the Chief butler remembered Joseph and he was promoted from the prison to the highest posi-

court-ordered demolition of several structures in the early morning hours. They were met by a crowd of settlers who tried to thwart the building removal.

“They were doing everything they could in terms of preventing units from working there and at the end, it turned into a full-scale incident,” said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. He said police dispersed the settlers using stun grenades and other non-lethal weapons and that six police officers were injured slightly by the stones.

Malaysia: Missing Flight 370 update

T •Revd Adelegan

During this season of lent, God who remembered Hannah at Shiloh will remember you, all your privileges and blessings shall be restored to you, yoke of barrenness shall be destroyed, garments of reproach shall be destroyed, your accusers shall turn to the accused and you shall be promoted beyond your imagination in Jesus’ name.

Prayers: Father, remember me during this season of lent and put an end to my shame, lack, fear, regrets and disgrace in Jesus’ name.

HE race against time continues for search crews as the black boxes from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 near the end of their one-month battery life.

It has been one month since the plane vanished into the Indian Ocean, and in some regards, authorities know as little about the crash as they did the night of March 7. After reports that crews were hearing faint pinging sounds similar to those produced by a black box, an extensive search has been unable to locate any wreckage from the missing plane, and if the batteries die, the sounds will no longer be produced.

If that happens, locating the plane will become a nearly impossible task.

NEWS Jonathan under attack over poor state of economy Continued from page 4

commend the government for achieving the feat of economic rebasing, we urge it to ensure this figure translates into improved living conditions, jobs, revival of industries and improvement of internal and national security. For those will be the measurable indices and indicators of an enlarging and progressive economy.”

Kano State Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, also yesterday, dismissed the GDP rebasing as a mere fiction, which does not reflect the true state of the economy.

Kwankwaso, who urged President Goodluck Jonathan not to be carried away by “the fiction”, counselled him to be more realistic by fighting the serious decay in the economy, which he said is threatening the foundation of the existence of Nigeria’s development.

Kwankwaso, who spoke in Kano when the African Democratic Congress (ADC) visited him at the Government House, insisted that any practical economist would understand that what the government is claiming

T

does not reflect what is on ground as hunger, starvation, diseases and insecurity are threatening the country.

Kwankwaso said the so-called Railway development undertaken by the Federal Government, ended up in flooding the country with 1902 category trains, which he said are so dirty and stinking.

His view is that what the country needs is real economic development and not paper-based development.

“President Goodluck Jonathan should be more practical in governance and desist from fiction and unrealistic theories that have nothing to do with what is on ground,” he said, adding that Nigeria is in dire need of good governance that would salvage it from the threat of insurgents.

Kwankwaso noted that except the growth in Nigeria’s economy which they are claiming must have fallen in the hands of some selected kinsmen and politicians from the South and North, who reside in Abuja, but to talk to ordinary Nigerians that the country’ s economy has grown tremendously will be “laughable”.

But the President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of

Nigeria (ICAN), Mr. Kabir Mohammed, said the figures have moved Nigeria to its right position.

Speaking with State House correspondents after leading some members on a visit to the President, Mohammed said it was the right time for investors to come in.

“It is an opportunity for Nigeria to come up to date and take her rightful place among the comity of nations. Using these bases, you can see that we have moved into our proper position.

“We have incorporated structures hitherto not considered. This is an opportunity for people who want to invest in the country to make the right decision and come in,” he said.

On classification of Nigeria as one of the countries with extreme poverty, he said: “It does not change our figures at all. It does not change our figures.

“The fact is that two-thirds of the world’s extreme poor are concentrated in just five countries: India, China, Nigeria, Bangladesh and the Democratic Republic of Congo.”

Mohammed said he would continue to uphold the ethics of

the accounting and ensure that any corrupt accountant is brought to book.

“As the President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN, let me put it to you, if you have any ICAN member involved in corrupt practices, please bring him or her forward. We have our disciplinary procedures. We shall handle the case appropriately.”

On the reasons for the visit, Mohammed said: “I led members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN, to pay a courtesy call on Mr. president to congratulate him on the wedding of his daughter this weekend and the rebasing of the GDP as well as discuss issues of national importance.”

Also speaking on alleged corruption by accountants, Minister of Trade and Investment Olusegun Aganga said: “Accounting anywhere in the world is a noble profession and that is why not every body is chartered to practise. It is the only profession where you study Economics, Law, taxation and everything, to do with business.”

Attacks: Northerners now live in fear, says ACF

HE North’s leading sociopolitical organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has likened the security situation in the north to a time of war when everybody lives in fear.

ACF National Publicity Secretary, Mohammed Ibrahim said in a statement in Kaduna that the frequency of attacks on innocent persons across the North by gunmen and insurgents is comparable only to when a country is in a state of war While describing the recent attack on Yargaladima village in Zamfara State as barbaric, the

From Tony Akowe, Kaduna

forum said that Nigeria must stop associating activities of gunmen and insurgents with religion and ethnicity as doing so will not reduce the crime rate.

The statement reads: “The attack on innocent people of Yargaladima village, Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State by unknown gunmen where over 100 people were killed was callous, barbaric and a worrisome development in the spate of incessant killings in the North.

“According to reports, over 100 gunmen armed with the AK-47

rifles and other sophisticated weapons stormed the village in the afternoon without any resistance and began to shoot indiscriminately, killed innocent souls and destroyed their property.

“The frequency of such attacks and insurgency in most states of the North has been the order of day as if we are in state of ‘civil war’ where people live in fear and hopelessness. This situation is certainly unacceptable to any responsible Government.

“With this development, Nigerians must therefore reconsider associating activities of gunmen and

insurgents with religion and ethnicity as such do not reduce the crime rate. It is high time our intelligence community searched for the real underlying causes of this national insecurity bedeviling our country.

“ACF condemns in strong terms the killing of innocent people of Yargaladima village and calls on the governments and security agencies to take appropriate measures that will restore people’s confidence in government and stop this national malaise.”

Sanusi gets May 20 verdict date in suspension suit Continued from page 4

There had been rumours that in view of the last victory recorded by Sanusi before a Federal High Court in Lagos, the judge in Abuja was being put under pressure to determine the case in the Abuja FHC against Sanusi Justice Kolawole yesterday dismissed the insinuations, insisting that he was not under pressure from any of the defendants in the suit.

The judge said he would gladly yield the case to be returned to the Chief Judge for reassignment to another judge if parties in the case were doubting his integrity.

“Is it by the President, or the AGF, or the IG? Is it the Federal Government that is pressurising Justice Kolawole to do a case against a party?

“I am saying this to give the plaintiff the opportunity to go to another court. I have spent several years on the bench and I can tell you that nobody pressurises me – nobody is pressurising Justice Kolawole on this matter.

“I said I will mention this not to create sensation but for anybody who is not comfortable to go to another place.

“If I am being pressurized, it is

by my own conscience. None of the parties should be under the impression that I am being pressurized by the Federal Government.”

“Anybody who does not have confidence in Justice Kolawole in this case should go back to the Chief Judge (of the FHC).

“This kind of thing is highly demoralising. You do your best for your country and yet all this kind of things keeps coming up.

Must every judge be corrupt?” the judge said.

He noted that if he was unfair to all in the manner he was handling the case, he would not have adopted an accelerated approach by choosing to hear the preliminary objections and the originating summons simultaneously.

In their separate reactions to the judge’s comments, lawyers in the case assured the judge of confidence in him. They said they had never and would not question his integrity and ability to dispense justice to the case.

Sanusi’s lawyer, Kola Awodein, SAN, said he was ready to go ahead with the case before Justice Kolawole.

House furious over killings Continued from page 4

NSA to brief its joint committees on security on the situation.

The lawmakers urged the army to establish battalions in such violence- prone areas to forestall future occurrences.

It was also resolved that the House should direct the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to supply relief materials to the villages.

The House ordered an investigation into the non-implementation of a plan to build an army

battalion in Doma Local Government of Nasarawa State.

The project was meant to stop the incessant communal clashes among ethnic groups.

The House directed its committees on Works and Army to investigate the non-implementation of the project and report back within one month.

The resolution stemmed from a motion under matters of urgent national importance moved

by Hon. Mohammed Onawo (PDP-Nasarawa).

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TODAY IN THE NATION

‘Using Federal soldiers in your own state in a civilian era speaks of desperation, poor democratic credentials and zero respect for the rule of law’ WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

VOL.9 NO.2,813

TONY MARINHO

COMMENT & DEB ATE EBA

A

LMOST exactly nine years ago this month, I wrote the article with the title above on these pages (precisely on March 16, 2005) in reaction to the composition

by President Olusegun Obasanjo of his national conference. With President Goodluck Jonathan’s version, history – the manipulation of religion for power – seems, except for the change in personnel, to have merely repeated itself. Indeed only worse; the in-your-face brazenness of the student, compared to his now estranged master, in defending the indefensible margin of Christians (309 out of 497, i.e. about 62%) to Muslims (184, i.e. about 37%) in the composition of his conference in a country where, according to the 2014 usually reliable CIA Factbook, the ratio of Muslims to Christians to others is 50:40:10, truly boggles the mind.

The controversial issue of the religious composition of this country is a subject matter for probably another day. For today the following is an abridged version of what I wrote nine years ago for its relevance to President Jonathan’s national conference:The controversy surrounding the composition of the leadership and membership of the National Political Reform Conference has once again brought to the fore the importance of the mass media in shaping public opinion and in policy making and implementation. When President Olusegun Obasanjo decided to make virtually the entire leadership of the NPRC Christian and also decided to give them a nearly two thirds majority edge over Muslims in its membership in a country he himself says is 50:50 Muslim/Christian, he knew he could count on the conspiratorial silence, if not the support, of most of the Nigerian mass media in his flagrant breach of the same Nigerian Constitution he has sworn to defend. Clearly the president has not been disappointed. Three weeks into the Conference, there has been a deafening silence from most of the Nigerian mass media over the president’s blatant act of injustice.

Worse still, those of us who have dared to complain about this injustice are being portrayed as unreasonable. The Secretary of the Conference, my good friend, Reverend Father Mathew Hassan Kukah, himself an object of the protest, albeit not over his person, has even dismissed the protesters as “irresponsible”. To which another friend, but this time a scion of the Hausa-Fulani ruling family in Kano, Lamido Sanusi Lamido, has in effect said, Amen.

“Kukah”, he said in his trenchant defence of the reverend father in the Daily Trust of last Monday, “is absolutely correct. It is irresponsible”.

Sanusi said his intervention was to stop the debate over the composition of the NPRC from degenerating into a purely religious affair. “An urgent Muslim intervention,” he said, “is required before the debate becomes one between Muslims and Christians.”

Sam Ndah-Isaiah, the editor-in-chief of Leadership, was correct in his argument in his article last Monday, titled Seeing through the president’s mischief, that the president did what he did to divide and rule Nigeria, the North in particular. Like Sanusi, Sam was, however, wrong to conclude that the proper response to the president’s mischief was to have kept quiet, lest he achieved his objective. “Many of those talking today,” said Sam, “have made the president’s day. They have helped him achieve his objective. The people are now divided, helped by the legitimate anger of those protesting.”

Both Sanusi and Sam seem to assume that national unity is an end in itself and so no amount of injustice can justify any act that undermines it. The huge irony of this assumption, at least on Sanusi’s part as Father Kukah’s defence at-

RIPPLES

NO MAN CAN TURN ME INTO A PUNCHING BAG – NOLLYWOOD ACTRESS

Just pray you don’t fall into the hands of a kick -BOXER

People and Politics By

MOHAMMED HARUNA ndajika@yahoo.com

Muslims and the National Conference: the case of blaming the victim

•Chief Obasanjo

torney, is that Kukah himself does not share it.

On the contrary he seems to detest it with a passion. “God,” he said the other day in a paper he presented last year at the Conference on Peace organised by the Northern Governors’ Forum, “is a God of justice and therefore cannot let injustice into His Sanctuary. We are under no obligation to promote peace, if that peace is not founded on justice…”

Father Kukah went on in that paper to say whereas the duty of religious leaders is to point out the right way, that of politicians is to provide the vehicles to take us to our destination.

And if politicians provide rickety vehicles, religious leaders, he said, have a duty to raise hell against such a contraption. No fair-minded person, not even Sanusi in spite of the passion of his intervention, can say that the architecture and structure of the vehicle Obasanjo has provided for the National Conference are sound.

Sanusi questions the assumption that “there is something like a ‘Christian’ or ‘Muslim’ position in a national Conference…” He questions the assumption on the grounds that there are divisions within the religions themselves.

Surely, however, Sanusi knows that divisions within people of the same faith, tribe or region, has never stopped them from having common positions on issues that are basic to their identities. For example, no Muslim,

F

AYOSE ooo, Yes ooooooooooooooooo! That was the infantile battle cry of his first coming.

Then, he was the benevolent master-tanker, whose thirst-slaking waters drugged Ekiti into forgetfulness, and lured the people into a childish government of impulse, by impulse, for impulse.

The result was sub-standard roads, alleged scams and executive terrorism that ran most of his opponents out of town, with the few who dared to stay not living long enough to tell their story.

Now, his second coming is here, and what would his battle cry be?

Fayose ooo, No ooooooooooooooo! screamed the locals -- in any case, those he defeated at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary polls; and the Ekiti-11, the old Fayose nemesis that stood up to him and eventually helped to drive him out of power.

But Yes ooooooooooooooooo! screams PDP national, in ratifying his candidature, believing the testimony of Peter Odili, two-term governor of Rivers State, who conducted the poll.

Odili said yes, and so does the national PDP. The locals said no, alleging the vote was fiddled by "Abuja". Who is for Fayose and who is against him?

whether he is Maliki, Shafi’i, Hannafi or Hambali, or whatever, will reject Sharia or subscribe to the doctrine of secularity.

In case Sanusi is not aware, one of the hidden agenda of the convener of the conference is to finally banish so-called political Sharia from the Constitution, through some sleigh-of-hand.

For, among the amendments a committee under Professor Jerry Gana, the president’s political adviser, is proposing there is one which says “If any other law, customary or religious practice is inconsistent with the previsions of this constitution, this constitution shall prevail, and that other law shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void”. This amendment is meant to replace section 1 (3) of the existing constitution. The difference is the seemingly innocuous phrase “customary or religion practice”, a phrase that has been smuggled into the provision behind the back of the constitutional reform committee chaired by Deputy Senate President, Ibrahim Mantu.

Even though a Muslim cannot reject Sharia as long as he believes in Islam, such a Muslim member of the Conference may or may not stand up for so-called political Sharia. But any Muslim member would be foolish to think that a non-Muslim member of the Conference will go out of his way to defend a Muslim’s cardinal belief in Sharia.

“Many Muslim Northerners, the present writer included,” says Sanusi, “do not care about the religious identity of competent Nigerians appointed to an office whatsoever, SO LONG AS THEY CONSIDER THEIR CONSTITUENCY TO BE THE WHOLE NATION IN THE CONDUCT OF THEIR OFFICIAL FUNCTIONS” (Emphasis mine).

Sanusi is right that religion, or for that matter, region or tribe, ideally should not matter in such things. But he himself has entered a sensible caveat about the behaviour of public officials. He has also admitted that there is no such thing as an objective person. Invariably we are objective only to the extent that we know we cannot get away with our prejudices. The way the National Conference was composed, the majority can easily get away with their prejudices.

This is why our Constitutions since 1979 have

HARDBALL

emphasised the importance of government reflecting the federal character of the nation in its conduct and composition. The relevant section in all those constitutions obligates government to “(ensure) that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in the government or any of its agencies.”

It bears repeating that Obasanjo blatantly violated this provision as far as the religious character of this country is concerned and it amounts to adding insult to injury for anyone to say those who have complained about this injustice are being unreasonable or even irresponsible.

Before now when the Christian leadership, specifically the then Archbishop, now Cardinal, Olubunmi Okogie and Primate Sunday Mbang, as former national presidents of the Christian Association of Nigeria, used to complain – sometimes justifiably, sometimes not, as we shall see next week when, God willing, I write on the issue of our next census – that Christians were being discriminated against, no one ever called them irresponsible.

When The Guardian wrote an editorial on October 7, 1992, saying that the presidential primaries that year under General Ibrahim Babangida’s transition were unacceptable because “the two presidential candidates that will emerge at the end of the day are from the same part of the country – the Far North... This is disturbing given the national composition of the country,” no one said the newspaper was irresponsible.

Last but by no means the least, when Father Kukah himself said the actions of Obasanjo in the wake of the Kaduna religious riots of 2000 and the Plateau crisis of last year were prejudicial to Christians in his article Plateau: State of Emergency as a metaphor in The Guardian of May 30, 2004, no one said he was irresponsible.

Needless to say he himself could not have seen his protest as irresponsible or even unreasonable.

Similarly, when he said in the same article that Obasanjo was wrong to mix religion with politics – something which I have said elsewhere is not necessarily true depending on how you mix the two – no one said he was irresponsible. “Had General Obasanjo declared himself a born-again Christian and gone back to the farm,” said Kukah, “that would have been no problem. But to do so and then proceed to seek political power was bound to create a problem for religion and the country, especially within the Muslim population.”

In the last six years, Obasanjo has mixed religion and politics in the most cynical and selfserving way, culminating in his blatantly lopsided composition of the leadership and membership of the National Conference. In the last few days he has tried to redress one but has done nothing about the other. It is unreasonable to blame those who feel aggrieved by such an insensitive act for complaining, simply because the unity and peace of the country must be maintained.

But then, as Malcolm X once said, “If you are not careful, the media will have you hating the people who are oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”

•For comments, send SMS to 08059100107

•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above

Fayose ooo, No ooooooooooooooooo!

It is the making of a PDP electoral schizophrenia, perhaps driven by blind electoral panic, in which anything goes -- including a well and truly damaged candidate. The evil of his first reign, not only lives after him but dogs his every step.

Holler Fayose ooo and you probably see the N1.2 billion poultry alleged scam in court against him.

Ironically, as if on cue, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) just trotted two antiFayose witness to court in the case.

Holler Fayose ooo and cases of executive terrorism, in which Ekiti assumed the unflattering repute of one day, one trouble, floods the mind.

Holler Fayose ooo and you probably remember cases of ill-digested, unsustainable populist policies of the worst hue, with neither rhyme nor reason, but just an overbearing impulse to do something, no matter how substandard.

Against a sitting governor perceived to have not only delivered on his mandate but showed a coherent overall developmental philosophy, more likely to be sustained, what chance does an ad hoc and hotchpotch candidate, that a Fayose symbolises,

stand? But then, that is politics!

Still, if "Abuja" indeed was complicit in Fayose's emergence as the pack he defeated alleged, then Fayose himself could be the face of proxy battle.

The Jonathan-Obasanjo cold war is not about ending, though "Baba" maintains an ominous silence, after declaring himself withdrawn from PDP affairs.

But Fayose once had a rude and crude shout-out with the former president at former Osun Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola's show at his Okuku home town. It sure was ugly, but Fayose showed "Baba" no one had a monopoly of rascality.

Now, "Baba" never forgets. Jonathan too, is no grudge quitter. Fayose may well be the tantalising face of their latest battle. Obasanjo's estranged ally and Jonathan's new darling, Buruji Kashamu, is reportedly talking the talk about virtually bombing Ekiti with subversive Naira in his own electoral version of Operation Shock and Awe. So, as Ekiti rumbles, it could well be two battles for the price of one.

Fayose oo, Yes/No oooooooooooooo!

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