December 19, 2014

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2015 election: Panic in PDP, Presidency over Osinbajo •SEE

ALSO Campaign defends Buhari against attack Parties submit lists to INEC PAGE 6 Fashola, Oshiomhole, Fayemi, Ojudu hail APC’s choice of eminent lawyer

W

ITH the choice of frontline lawyerpastor Yemi Osinbajo as All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’s running mate, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chiefs have returned to the drawing board.

The PDP and the Presidency are said to be jittery

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

over the choice of the professor of Law and former Attorney-General and Commissioner for justice, Lagos State.

The ruling party, The Nation learnt last night, was building its campaign against the APC on the following pillars: •If the APC goes for a Moslem-Moslem ticket, it (the PDP) will brand the opposition party as insensitive to Nigeria’s

‘

Buhari is immensely rich in character. He is affluent in integrity. He is prosperous in credibility. He is wealthy in honesty...Those are greater and more valuable assets than all the material acquisition

glaring religious divides; and •A Southwest candidate will make it difficult for the PDP to

’

win the zone’s sympathy.

Now the APC has picked a son in-law of the late sage, Chief

Obafemi Awolowo, who is revered even beyond the zone.

Osinbajo’s “impeccable” personality has dismantled every plan to launch an attack on the person of the APC presidential running mate, it was said.

The ruling PDP had plotted to latch on religious factor to win the sympathy of Nigerians during the campaign for 2015 presidency.

There were strong indica-

tions yesterday that the PDP has returned to the drawing board on how to curtail the growing support base for APC. According to sources, PDP leaders were shocked that APC chose a running mate without rancour.

It was learnt that PDP had expected a slip from APC in order to make a campaign Continued on page 4

Falana to appeal death sentence on 54 soldiers

By Adebisi Onanuga, Snr. Correspondent

L

AGOS lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) has asked the Federal Government to stop the killing of 54 soldiers sentenced to death on Wednesday for mutiny by the general court martial sitting in Abuja.

Falana promised to appeal against the decision of the court-martial, which convicted the soldiers.

“We shall take all necessary legal measures to prevent the army authorities from giving effect to the genocidal verdict of the courtmartial,” he stated in a statement issued in Lagos.

The general court-martial tried another batch of 59 soldiers for conspiracy to mutiny and convicted and sentenced them to death.

Five were discharged and acquitted. The acquittal was designed to give the false impression that the dubious verdict was fair and just.

Falana said he took the decision because he was convinced that “soldiers who made a leContinued on page 4

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WILL THE CHIBOK GIRLS KIDNAPPED ON APRIL 15 EVER RETURN?

•ON MY HONOUR: From left: Justices Obafemi Adamson; Olabisi Ogungbesan and Adeola Akintoye taking their oath of office as new high court PHOTO: NAN judges in Lagos…yesterday.

Boko Haram abducts 185 in attack on village near Chibok 35 killed Survivors relive ordeal EU condemns killings

STORY ON PAGE 4

•SPORTS P15 •POLITICS P17 •BRAND P26 •AGRIC P38 •SOCIETY P42 •FOREIGN P59

THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

2

NEWS

•From left: Corporate Communications and Pubic Affairs Manager, Nigeria Breweries, Patrick Olowookere, Corporate Affairs Adviser, Nigeria Breweries, Kufre Ekanem, Marketing Manager, Star, Goldberg & Export, Nigeria Breweries, Tokunbo Adodo and Corporate Media & Brand P.R. Manager, Nigeria Breweries Edem Vindah at the unveiling of Star Bottle Tree in Lagos.

2015 budget proposal...

Neither here nor there Varied reactions have trailed the 2015 national budget unveiled by the Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala. Notwithstanding the diversity of opinions, they agreed on the need to diversify the economy, but expressed misgiving about the government’s determination to carry through its new tax drive, reports Group Business Editor, SIMEON EBULU

T • From left: Executive Director, North & Corporate Banking, Sterling Bank Plc. Mr. Kayode Lawal; Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr.Yemi Adeola and Executive Director, Finance and Strategy, Mr. Abubakar Suleiman at the bank’s endof-year media chat in Lagos... yesterday.

•From left: Chief Strategist, GEMFONDS Plc, Said DeSaque; Executive Director, The Infrastructure Bank Plc (TIB), Hakeem Olopade; Managing Director/CEO, The Infrastructure Bank Plc (TIB), Adekunle Oyinloye; Chief Executive, GEMFONDS, Daniel Broby;Partner, Sigrun Partners SL, José Altadill and Managing Partner, GEMFONDS, Brice Beumo, when TIB and GEMFONDS met in Lagos.

•From left: Women Arise Coordinator for Research and Programme, Gbenga Ganzallo, Vice Consul, U.S. Consulate General, Ms Erica Chiusano and President, Women Arise, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin during Ganzallo’s visit to OkeiOdumakin’s office in Lagos.

HE falling crude price has brought to the fore the transient nature of oil as a sustainable source of driving the nation’s economy. In the 2015 budget before the National Assembly, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the bulk of the budget would be driven by proceeds from the nonoil sector.

Ever before the reality of revenue volatility from oil comes home to roost, the government, and indeed a section of the society, especially the Organised Private Sector (OPS), have warned on the dangers of relying solely on oil to run an economy. They have often warned that as a wasting asset, it was dangerous for Nigeria to stick ipso facto to oil for over 85 per cent of its federally collectable revenue.

While reactions to Mrs. OkonjoIweala’s budget outing are varied, there is a convergence of views on the need for the government to move the revenue base of the economy away from oil. A Senior Bank Executive, told The Nation that it was heart warming that the Minister admitted for the first time the necessity to refocus the economy from its monolithic nature, to a diversified one, by opening it up to other sectors.

He said laudable though the budget may appear, “the assumptions upon which the document is premised, are unrealistic.”

He cited the $65 per barrel oil benchmark upon which the document is fashioned, as an example. He argued that at the moment, the prevailing spot market price for oil is well under $60, wondering how realistic it is to assume that the price would have appreciated in the next few months left for the budget to be passed and implemented.

He said given the nature of our society, the expectation that much revenue will be realised from taxation, is equally a futile hope, stating that the dynamics on ground do not support that provision. He said if it was that easy for government to raise taxes, they would have been doing that over the years, adding that the chances of realizing the projected revenue from this sub-head are slim.

The banker pointed out that there was need for re-orientation of our tax administrators, arguing that as it stands, there is no clear assurance that our tax officials will stand firm with government to collect, or realise the requisite taxes from every taxable income. He explained that the problem of administering the tax does not lie solely with the tax administrators, but

more importantly with the net target tax payers, most of whom, he stated, “are the powers that be.”

Nonetheless, the banker foresees greater ease in realizing the expected proceeds from luxury fliers and private jet owners. As he put it, “those who will fly will do so,” but noted that the government will have to agree with the airlines for the smooth administration of the service.

He said the budget is contingent upon a lot of ifs, wondering what else the nation can really hold on to outside the oil.

“Outside oil, what do we have? he queried, saying there is no assurance, or guarantee that oil will rise When these revenues are not made up, then the deficit will become so large,” he stated.

However, the former Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Chamberlain Oyibo, said the fresh measures would give the economy some lease of life.

He said with crude oil price, the mainstay of the national economy, going down by as much as 40 per cent in so short a time, the wise thing would be for “us to cut our coat according to our sizes”, adding that cutting down on frivolous expenditure, especially by government and its officials, will reduce waste in the system.

Oyibo lamented the non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which he said is designed to grow the oil sector and the economy. He regretted that the Bill has become a big problem for the economy as its non-passage has scared investors and denied the nation huge foreign exchange, lamenting adding, that it would have been better if the bill was not introduced at all.

Council member, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), Chukwuemeka Ezeh, said the government’s step is only a partial solution to the problem.

He explained that the action would lead to slight increase in the revenue, but would not be enough to sustain an economy which currency has recently been devalued, an economy with high interest rate, high recurrent expenditure, and high corruption index.

Taxation, he said, no doubt, is an instrument of economic sustainability but Nigeria lacks the requisite tax culture that can raise the revenue that can easily complement our monoproduct source of foreign exchange.

“My advice is that there is need to take serious the taxation of high net-

THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

3

NEWS

•Dr. Jonathan

•Mrs Okonjo-Iweala

The Approved 2014 Budget

ASSUMPTIONS

Proposed 2015 Budget

•Mark

•Tambuwal

PROPOSED 2015 BUDGET Initial Proposal

Revised Proposal

OIL PRICE (PER BARREL) CRUDE OIL PRODUCTION (mbpd)

$77.5 2.39

$78 2.2782

$65 2.2782

EXCHANGE RATE (N/$) GDP GROWTH RATE (%)

160.3 6.75

160 6.35

165 5.5 •Eze

worth individuals and politically exposed persons. For instance, politicians spend billions of naira and dollars without commensurate impact on their tax worth. Some of these politicians pay income tax as low as N100,000 per annum. The tax authorities concentrate on levying taxes on businesses leaving politicians who run no businesses to live in opulence,” he said.

The obvious implication, he said, is that tax authorities are being driven hard by government to meet revenue targets and this is leading to desperation and abuse of Best-of-Judgment principle of taxation.

“More taxes or aggressive recovery may lead to investment flight. Poor governance will reduce voluntary tax compliance. Recurrent expenditure will become a recurring decimal in our budgets. Revenue from taxation will be insufficient to sustain the level of corruption in the system and this will lead to reduction in capital expenditure and promotion of spiraling inflation. The stock market will become bearish leading to poor return on investments. At the fiscal level, the Medium Term Expenditure Framework will be difficult to adhere hence budget implementation will be academic,” he said.

The Director General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Mr. Muda Yusuf, said there is need to diversify the nation’s sources of revenue to shore up the economy in view of current realities, but he however cautioned that it is not the best of time to impose new taxes on investors and the citizens.

He said: “They are already burdened with the cost of providing their own infrastructure, security, logistics and port charges. Other limitations are the high costs of funds, interest rates, depreciation and current devaluation of the currency.”

Yusuf advised the Federal Government to look in the direction of cutting the cost of governance, curb corruption and block all leakages, while improving efficiency in tax administration.

He also urged on the need to ensure better compliance with tax laws and reduction on importation of petroleum products.

The LCCI boss further called attention to the burden and pressure that fuel importation is imposing on the national treasury which is an abnor-

mity for an oil producing nation unlike other countries in our position.

He also called for the quick passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), stressing that it is the only way the sector can add maximum benefit to the growth of the economy.

Also, other stakeholders urged the Federal Government to ensure strict implementation of all measures being put in place in the 2015 budget proposal to stabilise the economy.

They said if the government could cut down allocation to payment of subsidy on kerosene, it would go a long way to saving money for other critical areas of the economy.

Mr Dayo Adeshina, President, Nigeria Liquefied Gas Association, said that money saved from the payment of subsidy on kerosene should be used to develop the gas industry to replace kerosene infrastructure.

He said that government should encourage manufacturers by reducing the interest rates for the small and medium scale enterprises, warning that with the continuing fall of oil prices, Nigerians would face tougher challenges in 2105.

“The way oil prices have gone down, it is going to be a tougher year in 2015; the revenue will have gone down significantly,.” Pointing out that government must come up with some incentives to encourage local investors.

He maintained that until power is stable in the country, the cost of manufacturing would remain very high.

Adeshina stressed that government should have enough fund to cushion the 65-dollar oil benchmark even when it fell below the proposed benchmark.

“I hope they have made efforts to cushion that forecast if the price falls lower than what they are predicating the benchmark on.

He said there was a need for government to cut down on its expenditure.

Uche Okoro, Personal Assistant to the Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on Research and Strategy, said that the 2015 budget estimates would encourage local manufacturing as government was shifting from oil revenue to non-oil revenue.

He said that the measures adopted by government would encourage local manufacturing as more energy would be produced and targeted at industrial base of the

country.

“We are very optimistic about the 2015 budget proposal as it is geared towards economic growth of the country,“he said.

The aggregate budget revenue for 2015 is N3.6 trillion, comprising oil revenues of N1.918 and non-oil revenues of N1.684 trillion to fund an aggregate budget of N4.3 trillion proposed for 2105.(NAN) The federal government’s efforts to generate revenue aside from the sale of crude oil has been described as a lazy way of raising money with accountability to the people.

On his part,, Nze Chidi Duru Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Grand Towers Nigeria Limited described as a tragic mistake the federal government’s contemplation of increasing Value Added Tax (VAT) to be paid on goods and services.

Such increase in VAT he said, “will place a lot of burden on businesses without capturing every business person.

To increase revenue, Nze Duru advised the federal government to “inaugurate a proper tax regime to capture everybody into tax net and generate appropriate data, demographics and target how they can provide for those in need and not a blanket VAT increment.

With regards to surcharge on luxury goods, Nze Duru lauded the initiate but noted that the federal ministry of finance was not in tune with realities on ground.

According to him, “there is a disconnect between the flat rate of N10.56 billion that the federal government is targeting from surcharges on luxury goods and the fact that Nigeria ranks amongst the highest consumer of champaign, red wine and spirits valued at over N400 billion annually so there is no data available to government to come up with a flat surcharge of N10.5 billion on the selected array of luxury goods. Government is only basing its projections on a rule of thumb.”

Nze Duru noted that by targeting only N10.56 billion from surcharges on luxury goods it has shown that the government “does not know how much champaign, wine and spirits come into the country.”

He implored the federal government to emulate the example of the Lagos state government by first gathering data, capturing most if not all tax-

able entities and individuals before fixing tax rates.

In his words the federal government’s new revenue drive “is a lazy way of raising money with no hard work involved.”

On the surcharge on first and business class tickets, retired Captain Paul Nwachukwu termed the move “a way of curtailing foreign travels especially for Directors, Deputy Directors and Assistant Directors who usually fly business class and Permanent Secretaries who officially fly first class.

However, he said the overall policy of surcharging airline tickets “does not make sense” as the airlines will jerk up their fares and in a situation where that does not work will adopt what some American Airlines have done by converting the entire cabin to economy only by removing first and business classes.

He praised the imposition of surcharges on mansions in Abuja where there are billion Naira mansions and nothing in the form of property tax or surcharge is generated from such edifices.

In his contribution, the Managing Director, Morgan Capital Securities Limited, Mr Ayoleke Adu, though the budget breakdown and analyses have not been presented, the glimpse of the budget still shows that recurrent expenditure is still higher than capital expenditure. There is no way any economy, especially a developing economy like ours, can develop with such a skewed budget in favour of recurrent. There is still much to be done to reduce recurrent expenditure and free more funds for capital projects.

Adu noted that given the election period, there is strong probability that the implementation of the budget may fall below expectation. One thing is to put something down, another thing is to implement it and whichever way we look at it, election will influence the implementation of the budget.

Adu, whose investment firm had earlier written a thought-provoking analysis on the pioneer status, said the review of the pioneer status granted to some oil companies is in order as this will enable government to claw back tax waivers and free more funds to boost its revenue.

He pointed out that the budget will also be moderated by extraneous influence given Nigeria’s dependence on oil revenue and the current global crude oil situation. He added that the

impact of the budget on the capital market would also be moderated by the market’s dependence on foreign portfolio investors noting that the current market situation has exposed the need to develop and encourage the local investors’ base.

In their opinion, Aviation stakeholders described as unacceptable the proposed sole charge on First class and business class tickets for both domestic and international flights.

They said such charge would increase the burden on passengers who are already suffocating under a heavily taxed regime .

Speaking in a telephone interview, former President of the Air Transport Services Senior Association of Nigeria ( ATSSSAN), Solomon Ohiomah said the sole charge would serve as a disincentive to travelers, arguing that passengers are already heavily taxed by airlines which introduce different charges , which is factored into the air fare .

He said this new move by government to beef up its revenue base is unacceptable to the aviation sector .

He said the sole charge should be restricted to owners and users of private and chartered jets , which many industry players already classify as luxury .

Ohiomah said :” This is unacceptable, government could consider other ways of making money . If it goes ahead to impose a sole charge on first class and economy tickets, it would be too much burden on the passengers .

Passengers are already complaining of multiple taxes and charges factored into their air fare.

An airline manager , who pleaded not to be named said such proposal would discourage some category of people from flying, describing it as illtimed .

He said passengers were already experiencing multiple taxes factored into their airfare , describing the proposal as an over kill .

A passenger who identified himself as Emmanuel Ola hailed the proposal describing it as one of the ways to generate additional revenue for government .

He said :” Anybody who wants to enjoy luxury must be ready to pay the price .”

Coordinating minister of the economy , Dr Ngozi Okonjo - Iweala while presenting the 2015 budget proposal to the National Assembly said : “Government is going to implement a sole charge on luxury goods; a 10 per cent import sole charge will be imposed on new private jets which are being brought into the country.

Mrs. Okonjo Iweala said that a sole charge was also proposed on business and first class flight tickets and non on the economy tickets..”

•Additional reports by Lucas Ajanaku, Taofik Salako, Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie, Collins Nweze and Kelvin Osa-Okunbor

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THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

NEWS 2015 election: Panic in PDP, Presidency over Osinbajo Continued from page 1

gain from it.

It was gathered that some “attack dogs” had already been positioned to launch vexatious propaganda against the opposition on its running mate.

There have been consultations between the Presidency and the PDP leadership since Osinbajo was named.

A top source said: “There was gloom in PDP on Wednesday, following the announcement of Osinbajo. The calculation was that APC will be plunged into a crisis on the choice of its running mate, but that was not the case.

“The PDP had been looking for a slight mistake to brand APC a religious party after it •Saint Mulumba Chaplaincy Choir, Apo, Abuja, singing during Christmas Carol at the Senate President’s house in Apo, Abuja…on Wednesday night.

PHOTO: NAN

Falana to challenge death sentence on 54 soldiers Continued from page 1

gitimate demand for equipment to fight the insurgents cannot, by any stretch of imagination, be properly convicted for mutiny”, adding that the acquittal of five of the 59 soldiers court-martialed, whose ages range between 21 and 25 and most of who joined the army in 2012, was designed to give the false impression that the verdict was fair and just.

He noted that in its judgment, the court-martial “refused to consider the evidence led in court and convicted 54 of the soldiers for having the temerity to ask for weapons to carry out the task of defending the territorial integrity of the nation”.

“Since the soldiers were justified in refusing to commit suicide, the verdict which is characterised by gross miscarriage of justice, will not stand.

Apart from the fact that the Prosecution did not lead any scintilla of evidence to prove the two-count charge of conspiracy and mutiny against any of the convicts, the Courtmartial did not consider the defence of the soldiers in any material particular,” Falana said.

M

SENTENCED TO DEATH •Pte Oton Asuabiat •Cpl Andrew Ogolekwu •Pte Olaitan Joseph •Pte Nwachukwu Udo •Cpl Saturday Ife •Pte Kulukulu Endurance •Pte Ibrahim Saliu •LCpl Henry Shaibu •Pte Usman Isaac •Pte Abafe Sylvester •LCpl James Maifada •Pte Ocheje Williams •Pte Eze Issac •LCpl Ndubisi Sabestine •Pte Adila Dangana •Pte Abubakar Mohammed•LCpl Dauda Dalhatu •Pte Sunday Godwin •Pte Samuel Machael •LCplKasega Aoso •Pte Datti Hassan •Pte Ishaya Musa •LCpl Nwonu Friday •Pte Abubakar Garba •Pte Etim Peter •LCpl Joshua Frida •Pte Joseph Dauda •Pte Hermas Okpe •LCpl Anthony Simeon •Pte Chiemela Azubuike •Pte Ahunanya Temple •Pte Olayode oluwasegun •Pte Abubakr Mohammed •Pte Ilesanmi S. •Pte Tijjani Jimoh •Pte Anagu Mark •Pte Solomon Ishaku •Pte Kabiru Abubakar •Pte Danbaba Francis •Pte Nasiru Zubairu •Pte Mamuda Sywasan •Pte Audu Daniel •Pte James Emmanuel FREED: •Pte Muhammed Abubakar•Pte Mukaila Musa Pte. Sudan Hannania •Pte Anas Awalu •Pte Magaji Ahmadu Pte. Ogar Simeon •Pte Babangida Jamilu •Pte Amao Bukola L. Cpl. Jacob Mallam •Pte Hashiu Ibrahim •Pte Wuyep John Pte. Eyakanze Uwah •Pte Mohammed Suleiman •Pte Oti Kelvin Pte. Lucky Boaz.

•Pte Shehu Sa’adu •Pte Ameh Mathew KEY: •Pte: Private •LCpl: Lance Corporal •Cpl: Corporal The erudite lawyer posited that the oath of allegiance taken by the accused soldiers is not a licence to commit suicide but “a solemn undertaking to defend the nation based on the expectation that the Federal Government would have complied with Section 217 of the Constitution on the mandato-

ry requirement to equip the armed forces adequately”.

Falana lamented that the soldiers in the SF 111 Batallion, which has 174 instead of 750 soldiers, were neither equipped nor motivated and had “little or no training whatsoever before they were deployed to fight the dreaded

Boko Haram sect”.

“The funds allocated for payment of the salaries and allowances of the soldiers and for purchase of arms and ammunition are usually diverted and cornered by corrupt military officers.

“Instead of bringing such

could not sustain the bigot stigma on Gen. Buhari.

“Some attack dogs were on standby to hit the APC. All the plans have now failed.

Another source said: “By picking Osinbajo, the chances of PDP in the South-West have become slimmer because the party had wanted to take advantage of the political dynasty of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo to make an inroad into the region.

“The Presidency had tried to accommodate the grand son of the late sage, Mr. Segun Awolowo by making him the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Export Promotion Council(NEPC).

“But APC has also made the Continued on page 58

‘Buhari's character, integrity unimpeachable’

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HE General Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation has condemned what it described as desperate and despicable attempts by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to denigrate the person and impugn the character of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate.

It said the PDP is bewildered by the emergence of a politically and morally impregnable candidate on a popular national platform, the APC. In a statement by its communications director Mr Dele Alake, the organisation described as absurd the claim by Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe that Buhari is trying to make poverty a virtue.

Okupe was quoted as saying: “Buhari is trying to make poverty a virtue but poverty is not a virtue. The fact that Buhari has left office for so long and says he is so poor, is nothing to celebrate, it is indeed indolence and shameful. Is that a role model? Is that who you will want your child to be, a poor man?”

The organisation said this "arrogant statement" demonstrates the utter alienation of the Jonathan administration from the existential realities of

Continued on page 58

By Joseph Jibueze

the vast majority of Nigerians.

"Dr Okupe is grossly mistaken. He lives in a completely perverse and illusory world.

General Buhari is immensely rich in character. He is affluent in integrity. He is prosperous in credibility. He is wealthy in honesty. He is bounteously blessed in self discipline, self- control and contentment. Those are greater and more valuable assets than all the material acquisition in the world," the organisation said.

According to the campaign organisation, Buhari is a proud and honourable pensioner after a lifetime of selfless service to his fatherland.

It said Buhari owns a house in Daura his hometown and another in Kaduna, as well as manages a modest farm which is enough to meet his needs.

"He has not exploited and abused the privilege of holding public office to loot the public treasury so as to feed his greed.

"This remarkable and incomparable patriot was a former governor of the then North Central state (Borno, Yobe and Adamawa), General Officer Commanding (GOC) the third Division of the Nigerian army, former Petroleum Minister, Continued on page 58

Boko Haram abducts 185 in attack on village near Chibok

ILITANTS have killed 35 people and kidnapped no fewer than 185, fleeing residents said yesterday of an attack in Borno State town Gumsuri, 20 kilometres to Chibok, where nearly 300 schoolgirls were taken hostage in April.

Teenager Aji Ibrahim said he was lucky to escape into the bushes.

“No doubt, they were Boko Haram members because they were chanting `Allahu akbar’ (God is great) while shooting at people and torching houses,” he told The Associated Press.

The attack on Gumsuri happened on Sunday night, said a security official and a local government officer, who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media. The news took days to emerge because the militants have destroyed communications towers in the area.

Although nobody has

EU condemns sect’s killing spree in Borno

T

HE European Union (EU) has condemned as “unacceptable”, yesterday’s killing of people in a Borno village.

Catherine Ray, spokesperson for EU High Representative Federica Mogherini, said: “We express our condolences to the families of those killed and we call for an immediate release of those abducted, along with the return From Duku Joel, Maiduguri

claimed responsibility for the attack, Boko Haram is believed to be behind it.

The people kidnapped by the militants include women and children. The hostages were carted away on trucks towards Sambisa Forest, a notorious rebel stronghold, two local officials and a vigilante leader said.

Both officials, who requested anonymity, said the local government established the number of those abducted through contacting families, ward heads and emirs.

A vigilante leader based in

of the schoolgirls kidnapped in Chibok eight months ago,” the spokesperson said.

“The EU stands with the Nigerian people in the fight against this violent insurgency, and will continue its support for action against the terrorist threat,” Ray pointed out.

She called on the Nigerian government to ensure a security response that

the Borno State capital, Maiduguri, Usman Kakani, told AFP that fighters who were in Gumsari during the attack provided a figure of 191 abducted, including women, girls and boys.

Gumsuri is roughly 70 kilometres (43 miles) south of Maiduguri and falls on the road that leads to Chibok.

Those who fled the village said it was too dangerous to head directly to Maiduguri.

Instead, they travelled several hundred kilometres in the opposite direction to connect with the main road that leads to the state capital.

Mukhtar Buba, a Gumsuri

enables them to bring those responsible to justice, but also to address the underlying causes of the insurgency.

“This is crucial to ensure unity, tolerance, and a future of peace and stability for all Nigerians as well as for those neighbouring countries that have become increasingly caught up in the violence,” she added

resident who fled to Maiduguri, also confirmed that women and children were taken. “After killing our youths, the insurgents have taken away our wives and daughters,” he said.

Other witnesses recounted the gory incident: A local government official who pleaded anonymity said: “Our youth that engaged the insurgents, in serious fight have been seriously injured because the attackers stormed the village in convoy of vehicles with petrol bombs and dangerous weapons.

“For the past one year, the insurgents have made sev-

eral attempts to attack Gumsuri but were resisted by the gallant youths of the village who always had the upper hand during confrontation. It is sad that on Sunday, the village was subdued.”

Another official added: “They divided themselves into two groups. While the first group was fighting with the vigilantes, the second group launched simultaneous attacks from behind them . They killed 32 people, including the chief Imam and leader of the youth.”

Abdullahi Kolomi who could not explain how he es-

caped to Maiduguri said that more than half of the town was set ablaze.

“I am not sure what will be left behind in Gumsuri because more than half of the village was in flames when some of us decided to run. We just took that step thinking that we would die but only God knows how and why we came out alive.

The terrorists ruthlessly attacked us and killed at will. They had guns and bombs; they came with petrol in jerrycans which they used in setting houses ablaze. Many shops and foodstuff have been destroyed.

“I managed to escape and trekked throughout the night. I took refuge in Biu for three days before proceeding to Maiduguri, but I lost everything.”

Another eyewitness, AdaContinued on page 58

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THE NATION FRIDAY DECEMBER 19, 2014

5

NEWS INEC: We’ll recognise only list from Dayo-led PDP

T

HE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has urged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to present only candidates that emerged from primaries organised by the Adebayo Dayo-led Ogun State executive council.

In a letter to the PDP national secretariat, INEC said this followed an order of the Federal High Court, Lagos.

Secretary to the Commission, Mrs. Augusta Ogakwu, told the PDP national secretariat it would not disobey the court ruling and accept other candidates.

•From third left: Crawford University Vice Chancellor Prof. Samson Adenola Ayanlaja; Prof-Chancellor and Chairman of Council Prof. Peter Akinsola Okebukola (fourth left) and District Superintendent, West Africa and Central Africa, Apostolic Faith Mission Rev. Emmanuel A. Adeniran with a group First Class students at the university’s Sixth Convocation at Igbesa, Ogun State.

PHOTO: JOHN EBHOTA

29 per cent pass recorded in Nov/Dec WASSCE

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WENTY-nine per cent of the 246,853 candidates made credits in five subjects, including English and Mathematics, in the November/December 2014 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for private candidates.

The Head of National Office (HNO) of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Dr Charles Eguridu, said this yesterday while announcing the result at the WAEC Headquarters in Yaba, Lagos.

The percentage, according to Eguridu, represents an improvement in performance, compared to 2013 edition of the examination when only 26.97 per cent of candidates met the benchmark used for

•‘Math/English not indication of performance’

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

admission into tertiary institutions.

But in 2012, 34.84 per cent made the benchmark.

In the examination, 75,313 candidates (30.50 per cent) made six credits and above, and 110,346 candidates (44.70 per cent) had five credits and above.

He explained that the results of 5,691 candidates are pending due to technical errors, mostly attributed to the candidates in the course of registration or writing.

Eguridu added that the results of 28,817 candidates (11.57 per cent) have been

withheld for involvement in examination malpractice.

He, however, warned that performance in the Senior School Certificate Examinations (SSCE) should not be determined by the number of credit passes in Mathematics and English.

Eguridu explained that as an examination that private candidates write mostly to make up for deficiencies in particular subjects, it would be an “abuse of statistics” to lump those who did not write the two subjects (because they don’t need them), with those that did not make credits in the subjects when at-

tempting to assess performance in the examination.

“This is a private candidate examination. Those candidates who had issues with perhaps only Biology, and they registered to write only Biology in this examination, they form part of the overall entry.

And if they did not write Mathematics and English, and you use their population to calculate the percentage of success of those who had credits in Mathematics and English, that could be an abuse of statistics.

“Judging success in our examination based on those who had credit in Mathematics and English is not good and is not right. It is an abuse of statis-

‘White Papers on polytechnics, colleges ready soon’

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DUCATION Minister Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau has said the White Papers on Visitation Panels to Federal Polytechnics and Colleges of Education will soon be released.

Shekarau spoke at an impact assessment visit to the Federal College of Education (Technical), Gombe, Gombe State.

He assured that the Federal Government would re-

From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

spond to the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and Colleges of Education Staff Union (COASU) to forestall future industrial actions.

The minister said the White Paper retrieved from the Office of the Secretary to Government of the Federation was receiving attention.

He added that the report of the Needs Assessment to Colleges of Education had been received and was undergoing review by the Federal Government.

According to Shekarau, the leadership of ASUP and COASU had been briefed on actions taken by the government to address the demands of the unions, which had led to protracted strikes by the two workers’ unions.

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From Osagie Otabor, Benin

Commission (INEC) and the Controller-General of Nigeria Prisons Service.

The plaintiffs had, among others, sought a determination on “whether having regards to section 25 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended in 2011, and Section 12 (1) of the Electoral Act 2010,” they were not entitled to be registered as voters by the 1st defendant.

Justice Lima Mohammed ruled

that inmates in Nigeria had the right to vote in the country’s elections, ordering the defendants to ensure that the applicants were not disenfranchised. The judge ruled that “the defendants do not have the constitutional right to deny the claimants their voting rights; “That being an inmate is not an offence that impedes their registration and voting right under section 24 of the Electoral Act; and

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From Faith Yahaya, Abuja

He added that the success of next year’s elections depended on both INEC and security agencies.

Jega said: “Right now, the key question on everybody’s mind is, what will we do with the IDPs, particularly in the three states under emergency? Or how will we

conduct election safely and in the three states under emergency?”

“We are still discussing about the IDPs, for us to have a successful election come 2015.

“I assure you that we are engaging in discussion. The last meeting we had about two weeks ago, it was one of the things we discussed

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HE Federal Government has declared December 25 and 26 as public holidays to mark Christmas and Boxing Day celebrations.

Thursday, January 1, 2015 has also been declared a public holiday to mark the New Year.

Minister of Interior Abba Moro, who made the declaration on behalf of the Federal Government, enjoined Christian faithful and Nigerians to extend the spiritual benefits of Christmas, which are love, peace, justice, kindness, to their daily living and through this contribute to the development of the nation.

Moro urged Nigerians to use the occasion to pray for the nation’s peace and unity, wishing Nigerians a happy Christmas and prosperous New Year celebrations.

Court adjourns ruling in Coca-Cola’s suit against CPC

A •Shekarau

“That the exclusion of inmates in elections conducted in Nigeria is illegal, ultra vires, null and void.”

Counsel to the plaintiffs, Aigbokhan President, hailed the judgment and stated that erosion of inmates’ rights to vote creates dangerous and fragile environment for human rights.

“The judgment is a wedge on the slippery slope of creating second class citizens in Nigeria,” he said.

2015 polls: INEC undecided on IDPs THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is still consulting on whether or not the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states will vote.

Its chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, said this yesterday in Abuja at a seminar organised by the Nigeria Police, titled: “Securing the 2015 General Election.”

From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

•Company’s MD honours invitation

Court grants prisoners right to vote FEDERAL High Court judge sitting in Benin has ruled that denying inmates the right to vote was “unconstitutional, illegal, irregular and unlawful”.

The ruling followed a suit by five inmates - Victor Emenuwe, Onome Inaye, Kabiru Abu, Osagie Iyekepolor and Modugu Odion - for themselves and on behalf of inmates of prisons.

Defendants in the suit are the Independent National Electoral

tics,” he said.

The HNO explained that success in Mathematics in particular, is not necessary in all areas of academic endeavour.

Eguridu said: “Judging it using the criteria of those who obtained credit in Mathematics and English, is it fair? My answer is ‘No’. Because as a student of Theatre Arts, I have no business learning quadratic equation in order to perform well. If the university system demands it, it is because they don’t have the carrying capacity and they have to set certain benchmarks in order to select their candidates.”

Dec 25, 26, Jan 1 are holidays

and we need to keep discussing so that we can plan well and ensure a successful election.”

Saying the commission was ready for the elections, he stressed: “We know that operationally and logistically, in terms of operational capacity and competence of the electoral body, we are more than prepared to conduct a better election in 2015 than we did in 2011.”

FEDERAL High Court in Abuja has adjourned to February 3, 2015 for ruling on fiat issued by the Attorney General of the Federation Mohammed Adoke to Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN, to prosecute Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited, its managing director, Mr. Adeola Adetunji, and the Chief Executive of Nigerian Bottling Company, Ben Langat.

The fiat is for alleged breach of the Consumers Protection Council Act. Adetunji was in court yesterday in line with the directive of the court.

However, despite the presence of the executive, the matter did not take place because the trial judge’s ruling on the legality of the fiat was not ready.

Justice Elvis Chukwu had fixed yesterday for ruling to decide the competence and authority of Ojo to prosecute the case.

Yesterday, a registrar of the court informed counsel and parties in the matter that the ruling was not ready.

The court then fixed February 3, for the ruling.

The office of the AGF had instituted two separate criminal suits against Coca-Cola, NBC alongside their chief executives over alleged violation of CPC Act. The defendants are challenging the mandate given to Ojo by the attorney general to prosecute them for alleged violation of the CPC Act. They are also challenging the competence of the charge and the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the charge.

At the last adjourned date, counsel to the accused persons, Gbolahan Elias (SAN) for Coca-Cola and its chief executive and Oluseyi Ope Santa (SAN) - for NBC and its chief executive - were about to move their application objecting to the suit when the prosecution counsel informed the court that the accused persons were not present in court. Counsel to the accused persons contended that the accused persons needed not to be in court since they were challenging the mandate to prosecute the case and the competence of the charge.

But the prosecution counsel told the court that criminal trial could not begin without the presence of the accused persons.

He also reminded the court that the order to paste the charges on the front wall of the accused offices had been complied with and that the accused ought to be in court.

The trial judge, however, insisted that the accused persons must appear in court before he would hear the objections.

Moving their applications, both Elias and Opesanya prayed the court to disqualify Ojo from prosecuting the matter on ground that he is the counsel to CPC in a matter pending before a Lagos High Court, where NBC is seeking judicial review of CPC’s decision on the subject matter.

6

THE NATION FRIDAY DECEMBER 19, 2014

NEWS BUHARI/OSINBAJO TICKET

Amaechi heads APC presidential campaign organisation

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IVERS State Governor Rotimi Amaechi has been appointed the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Organisation’s director-general.

APC’s National Publicity Secretary Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a statement in Lagos yesterday, said the campaign organisation would drive the party’s efforts at winning next year’s presidential election.

Amaechi’s announcement followed the successful convention at which APC presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, was democratically elected and the choice of his running mate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN. The statement said: “Amaechi’s outstanding reputation as a man of courage, principle, strength of character, decency and love of country, as well as his administrative prowess and organisational skills combined to fetch him perhaps the most important task in the quest for positive change in Nigeria.”

The party thanked Nigerians for their support and prayers toward the success of its convention, the emergence of Gen. Buhari and the choice of Prof. Osinbajo as his running mate.

APC said it had lived up to its promise to Nigerians to en-

The man Amaechi RIVERS State Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi was born in Ubima, Ikwerre Local Government Area on May 27, 1965.

He is the state’s 15th governor and has been in office since 2007. He was re-elected for a second term on April 26, 2011.

Amaechi was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on November 27, 2013.

He was born to the family of late Elder Fidelis Amaechi and Mrs. Mary Amaechi. He was raised in Diobu, a densely populated neighbourhood in Port Harcourt.

Amaechi received a Bachelor of Arts degree (Honours) in English Studies and Literature from the University of Port Harcourt in 1987, where he was the president of the National Association of Rivers State Students (NURSS).

He completed the mandatory National Youth Service in 1988. He thereafter joined the services of Pamo Clinics and Hospitals Limited owned

by Dr. Peter Odili, the former Governor of Rivers State where he worked until 1992. He is married to Judith Amaechi and they have three boys.

POLITICAL CAREER Amaechi cut his early teeth in politics as secretary of the now defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) in Ikwerre Local Gov-

sure that the choice of its presidential running mate would be made within the context of the best democratic ideals, considering the -positive reactions from the public on the choice

By Joseph Jibueze

ernment Area.

Between 1992 and 1994, he was special assistant to the deputy governor of Rivers state and a member of the Board of West Africa Glass Industry as well as Risonpalm Nigeria Limited.

He was the Rivers State’s secretary of the Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN) caretaker committee in 1996 during the transition programme of General Sani Abacha.

In 1999, he contested and won a seat to become a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly to represent his constituency. He was subsequently elected as the Speaker. Amaechi was elected the chairman of Nigeria’s Conference of Speakers of State Assemblies. He was re-elected into the House in May 2003 and was also re-elected as Speaker.

He contested and won the PDP’s primaries for Rivers State governorship race in 2007. His name was substituted and he took the case to Supreme Court.

Amaechi became governor on October 26, 2007, after the Supreme Court pronounced him the rightful candidate of the PDP and therefore winner of the April 2007 election. He was re-elected for a second term of four years in April 2011.

of Prof. Osinbajo. ‘’With a presidential candidate that has rekindled the hopes of the citizenry and revived their belief in democratic ideals, we believe we must

also choose a running mate that will complement the sterling qualities of the presidential candidate. We must confess that the choice was a tough one, considering the array of emi-

Senator: best bet to rid Nigeria of political pests

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HE Spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress’ (APC’s) caucus in the Senate, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, said yesterday that the Buhari/Osinbajo presidential ticket was the best bet to rid Nigeria of political pests and parasites.

In a statement in Abuja, Ojudu described the choice of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as General Muhammadu Buhari’s running mate in the February 14 elec-

tion, as “a great plus”.

The senator hinged his assertion on “the Law professor’s brilliance, analytical prowess, ability to rework an economy for people-centred progress, antecedents of performance and a rare loyalty, which are the Midas touch in all his undertakings.”

Ojudu said Osinbajo’s qualities would come in handy in Buhari’s agenda to rid the country of graft and set it on the path of an all-encompassing

progress and good living for all Nigerians irrespective of tribe, status or religion.

Congratulating the APC running mate, Ojudu added that being a pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), his choice had also silenced political desperados, who are always playing the card of religion while re-validating the fact that Buhari is a detribalised Nigerian with respect and love for all Nigeri-

ans, irrespective of their faith.

Ojudu urged Nigerians to seize the opportunity offered by the APC presidential team to redirect the country from the path of perdition, “which the PDP’s 15 years of misrule, has placed it by voting the Buhari/ Osinbajo ticket in February.”

He added that the two men were patriots driven solely by their passion to make Nigeria a true nation in name and attributes.

•Amaechi

nently-qualified and outstanding candidates that we had to choose from. ‘’We picked as running mate a man, whose pedigree, nationally, sub-regionally, regionally and globally, attests to the fact that our party, the APC, is a repository of high quality leadership materials, and that our country, Nigeria, has no shortage of the very best human resources,” it added.

APC said whether in the “academic, legal or ecclesial world, Osinbajo stands much taller than his physical frame, and serves as a good accompaniment to our presidential candidate, himself a man of such rare sterling qualities that have stood the test of time; qualities

O

E

‘

He impressed me even further as a member of the legal team that argued my case at the court after PDP stole my mandate in the 2007 governorship elections in Edo

‘

“Personally, I have followed Osinbajo’s remarkable legal career, particularly his stint as two-term Lagos Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General. He impressed me even further as a member of the legal team that argued my case at the court after PDP

stole my mandate in the 2007 governorship elections in Edo. “In the 18-month titanic legal battle, I came to appreciate his prodigious intellect with the insight and illuminations he often brought to our conversations. During his outing in Lagos as Commissioner for Justice, he acquitted himself creditably as a committed legal luminary who deployed law as a veritable tool for social engineering in a way that benefitted the common man.

“I, therefore, have no doubt that he would continue in that illustrious tradition by working together with Gen-

‘APC has shamed critics’ SUN State All Progressives Congress (APC) has congratulated the party’s leaders and elders for the way they managed the choices of the party’s presidential flag-

bearers.

The party’s Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Kunle Oyatomi, a lawyer, in a statement in Osogbo yesterday, said the exercise not only put the party’s critics to shame, it also boosted its capacity and maturity in the management of complex socio-political challenges.

According to Oyatomi, the Nigerian public now has a clear picture of what to expect from the APC, when it is voted into power, next year.

“Nigerians can trust the APC to put together a team of patriotic professionals, who would steer the country away from its current slide into anarchy, poverty and the worst type of corruption its people have ever experienced,” the party said.

Oshiomhole congratulates Osinbajo DO State Governor Adams Oshiomhole has congratulated Prof.

Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, on his selection as the vice presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Oshiomhole, who spoke in Benin yesterday, described Prof. Osinbajo as a man of deep intellect with a heart for social justice.

Oshiomhole said: “I wish to congratulate my brother and friend, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, on his emergence as the running-mate to our flag-bearer, General Muhammadu Buhari, in the forthcoming presidential election.

that are now so sorely lacking in our country’s leadership. ‘’Our presidential running mate is an award-winning professor of law, a legal luminary, a gentleman, a much-soughtafter public speaker, a tested administrator, an author and a man of great ecclesiastical standing. ‘’Educated in Nigeria and the UK, Prof. Osinbajo is a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court, who has served in many organisations and professional bodies in Nigeria, West Africa, Africa and the United Nations (UN). He has authored or edited over a dozen publications, has taught and practised law at the high levels, and has served on the Editorial Boards of learned publications and non-legal publications, in addition to publishing many articles in learned journals. ‘’Now that we have presented Nigerians with the best possible choices for the exalted positions of President and Vice President, we expect that citizens, who have been yearning for quality leadership, will use their voting power to put Nigeria firmly on the path of greatness.

“A country seeking to be among the greats in the comity of nations cannot afford to have a mediocre leadership.”

Omoworare greets party From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

T •Oshiomhole

eral Buhari to actualise the dream that our great party, All Progressives Congress (APC), represents, for the benefit of our dear country held down

by PDP’s misrule of the last 16 years.”

HE All Progressives Congress (APC’s) candidate for Osun East Senatorial District, Senator Jide Omoworare, has congratulated the party on the joint ticket of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.

His media aide Tunde Dairo quoted the lawmaker as saying the combination of Buhari/Osinbajo would perfectly effect the change to move Nigeria forward.

He said: “I must congratulate the party leaders for this quality choice of people of integrity, probity and capacity who have over the time distinguished themselves with credible public and political profiles.

“I specially felicitate with my brother, colleague and friend Prof. Yemi Osinbajo on his eventual emergence as the running mate to the people’s General and the APC presidential candidate.

“I congratulate Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other leaders of the APC for a successful presidential primary and choice of the running mate. I appeal to all stakeholders to close rank, see the bigger picture and hold no sense of loss or being side-lined.”

Buhari’s running mate raised Lagos Judiciary, says Fashola Fayemi hails running mate’s choice

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AGOS State Governor Babatunde Fashola and Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General Mr. Ade Ipaye have hailed the choice of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as running mate of the All Progressive Congress’ (APC’s) presidential candidate, saying the combination would help eradicate corruption in the country.

Fashola spoke at the swearing-in ceremony of three High Court judges of Lagos State at Alausa, Ikeja.

Addressing the large gath-

•Governor swears in three judges

By Bisi Onanuga & Miriam Ekene-Okoro

ering comprising judges, lawyers, traditional rulers, religious leaders, relatives of the new judges and their well-wishers, Fashola described Osinbajo as the brain behind the transformation of the state judiciary.

According to him, “Prof.

Osinbajo has contributed tremendous in the state judiciary, the vision of building an efficient and incorruptible judici-

ary started under his watch as the Attorney General (AG) of Lagos State. So as I wish my brother and friend the very best in the journey.”

Also, Ipaye said everyone in the state’s justice system could attest to the countless achievements of Osinbajo during his tenure as the state attorneygeneral between 1999 and 2007.

“In fact, we believe that his key contributions to the success of that administration are clear

testimony to the great potential of the next APC government, once elected to the office in February 2015,”he said.

Ipaye said he had received several enquiries as to the records of service of Prof. Osinbajo in the state from many Nigerians, following his nomination as the APC presidential candidate’s running mate.

He added that the former commissioner for Justice also ensured strict adherence to the rule of law while in the service of the state government.

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ORMER Governor of Ekiti State and All Progressives Congress’ (APC’s) National Convention Committee’s Chairman Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has hailed the choice of legal luminary, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, as the running mate to Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

Fayemi’s committee conducted the APC convention and presidential primary that produced Buhari as the party’s presidential flag bearer. The former governor, in a statement in Lagos yesterday, noted that Prof. Osinbajo’s choice has further reinforced the party’s determination to effect the change, which Nigerians were clamouring for.

He described Osinbajo as a renowned teacher, legal expert, administrator and a reform-minded technocrat, who embodies the virtues of honesty, integrity, selflessness and dedication to the overall good of the society.

Fayemi said the university don remained a strategic partner to Gen. Buhari in the task of driving the change.

7

THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

NEWS Special plenary for Oyo lawmaker From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

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HE Oyo State House of Assembly held yesterday a special plenary for one of its members, Femi Adelabu, aka Century pictures, who died on November 25 after a brief illness.

The Speaker, Mrs. Monsurat Sunmonu, who could not control her tears, described him as a dodged fighter, who stood for truth.

“He diversified his wealth of experience for the growth of the Assembly.

When I heard of his death, I was so devastated.

“He was a quintessential gentleman and a successful businessman. He was amiable and a unifying factor.

He contributed meaningfully to legislative activities,” she said.

Fatai Salam described him as an astute politician; Segun Olaleye said:” Adelabu was a good Christian and family man. He contributed to issues in the House.”

Minority Leader Rafiu Adekunle said the late lawmaker was a gentleman, who had an unconditional love for his people and family.

Adelabu, a pioneer movie marketer, would be buried today at his home in Apitipiti, Awe, Oyo State.

Workers’ protest paralyses Ekiti federal varsity CTIVITIES at the Federal University, OyeEkiti (FUOYE), Ekiti State, were paralysed yesterday as workers protested poor conditions of service.

The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Isaac Asuzu, and other senior officials stayed away from work as the protesters barricaded the access road to the campus, singing war songs.

The protesters, comprising academic and non-academic staff, trooped out from 7am, blocking the Ado-Ikole-Omuo-Lokoja Road, which leads to Abuja.

They lit bonfires on the road.

Travellers were stranded as vehicles with passengers took alternative routes.

The protesters urged President Goodluck Jonathan and Education Minister Ibrahim Shekarau to probe the finances of the university.

They accused the vice chancellor and bursar of lack

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From Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado-Ekiti

•VC flees

of transparency.

They said FUOYE workers earn less than their counterparts in other federal universities.

The placard-carrying protesters claimed that Asuzu denied them of hazard and relocation allowances, regretting that workers with lower qualifications are placed above those with higher degrees.

Some of their placards read: “Pay all our allowances for the community to benefit”;”This is neo-colonialism, enough is enough”; “No to anti-transformation agenda”; “Remit to the government and pay our staff salaries”; “Asuzu must go”; “We are not slaves, Jonathan save us”, among others.

A protester, who pleaded for anonymity, claimed that workers were being treated

like slaves while deductions from their salaries were not remitted to the appropriate quarters.

He maintained that the peace of the university could no longer be guaranteed, vowing that the workers had resolved to take their destiny in their hands.

The protesters’ spokesman claimed that outrageous taxes were deducted from their salaries, adding that no worker had been promoted since the university was established about four years ago.

He said: “No to anti-transformational agenda. What is being done in this university runs contrary to the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan, but we are for President Jonathan and that is why we want him to wade into this matter without delay.

“Under normal circumstances, each senior staff ought

to receive between N.1.2 million to N1.5 million as relocation allowance as introduced by the Federal Government in 2007, but we were only paid N252, 000 in three installments when our agitations became so much.

“On the issue of hazard allowance, Ekiti State University has been enjoying it since 2008, but we were denied on the basis that the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) was not paying. But nothing has so far been done even when FUTA has started paying.

“To end all these problems, we call on the university to implement the recommendations of the Prof Aganga-chaired committee, which stated that tax must no longer be based on consolidation but on basic salaries and the excess deductions refunded without delay.

“Again, the National Housing Scheme which the

management has mandated should be made optional while all allowances being paid in Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa State and in Federal University, Lokoja, Kogi State and other Federal Universities established in 2011 should be paid without delay”, he said.

Another worker in the university, Ojo Foluso, said the vice chancellor would return N400 million to the Federal Ministry of Education as unspent subvention for 2014 this December, even when workers are suffering. “ It has been an established practice that a university will get 30 per cent of any amount returned to the Federal Government. So what they are trying to do is to get the money not minding if we are made to suffer or not,” he said.

Efforts to reach Asuzu proved abortive; security men at the university gate told reporters that the VC had not come to the campus.

Muslim students’ vacation course in Ibadan

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HE Sultan of Sokoto and PresidentGeneral, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Dr Sa’ad Abubakar, is to declare open the 98th edition of Islamic Vacation Course (IVC) of Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN) on Christmas Day. A statement in Ibadan

by MSSN B Zone Coordinator Mushafau Alaran said the formal opening will hold at the body’s permanent site on KM 30 Lagos/Ibadan Expressway.

Alaran said Governors Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun) and Rauf Aregbesola (Osun) are the guests of honour.

The course, according to him, will hold from December 23 to January 1.

Alhaji Sulaiman Adegunwa would be the chairman of the formal opening; Malam Yusuf Ali would deliver a lecture on the theme of the course “A time to come”.

Other highlights of the 10-day vacation course include seminars, training, empowerment, Qur’an memorisation, lectures, group discussion and sports.

Alaran said the annual IVC was to fully engage the students during the vacation and inculcate in them the true spirit of Islam.

Over 10,000 students and workers are slated to attend.

•The protesting workers in Oye-Ekiti...yesterday

Alasoadura, Fagunwa’s daughter are APC candidates

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HE National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has upheld the election of Chief Tayo Alasoadura as the candidate for Ondo Central Senatorial District.

It also nullified the primary that produced Festus Adefiranye as the candidate for Odigbo/Ileoluji/Okeigbo federal constituency.

The NWC proclaimed the daughter of a renowned Yoruba author, Chief D. O Fagunwa, Mrs Yejide Ogundipe, as the party’s duly elected candidate.

The NWC upheld the recommendation of the national appeal that Mrs Ogundipe scored 189 votes to defeat Adefinranye, who polled 188 votes.

Aside the nullification of Aderiranye’s victory, the party’s highest decision making organ also quashed the appeal of

From Damisi Ojo,Akure

Ifedayo Adegunde.

Abegunde, who contested against Alasoadura for the Ondo Central Senatorial ticket, had petitioned the NWC asking for a recount of the votes declared invalid by the NEC. But after the recount, the NWC held that Alasoadura won the primary election with seven votes more than Abegunde.

The State Chairman ,Isaacs Kekemeke, who confirmed the decisions, said appropriate steps would be taken to effect the NWC’s decisions.

Kekemeke appealed to those affected by the decisions to take it with equanimity and work for the party’s success at the polls.

Monarchs, youths protest barracks relocation

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LLEGED relocation of the Army base from Aaye-Ekiti in Ido/Osi Local Government Area of Ekiti State to IpotiEkiti in Ijero Local Government Area sparked a protest yesterday by traditional rulers, chiefs and youths.

They accused a former minister of masterminding the relocation.

Travellers on the IfakiIdo-Otun-Kwara boundary road had a harrowing experience as the protesters blocked the highway.

From Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado-Ekiti

The protesting monarchs were led by the Olojudo of Ido-Ekiti, Oba Ayorinde Ilori-Faboro, who described the relocation as “stealing”.

The monarch said the minister had many things he could take to his community, rather than influencing the relocation of the barracks.

Oba Ilori-Faboro said the relocation could set Ekiti communities against

each other.

He vowed that the people would ensure that the Army base remains in Aaye.

His words: “This community has paid its dues. It is offensive, we are not happy about it.

“We don’t want communal clashes in Ekiti. The Federal Government should relocate it back to Aye. “We are also appealing to Governor Ayodele Fayose to intervene. We don’t want a community of aggrieved Ekiti people.”

The Alaaye of Aaye, Oba

Theophilus Ogunbiyi, said the former minister denied relocating the barracks.

Oba Ogunbiyi said the ex-minister had claimed that the barracks in Aaye would remain while the one in Ipoti is just a branch.

He urged the Presidency and the National Assembly to intervene before the crisis gets out of hand, calling for a probe into the N431.9 million released for the execution of projects at the Army base.

Ajimobi opens N3.8b abattoir From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

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YO State Governor Abiola Ajimobi inaugurated yesterday the N3.8 billion ultramodern abattoir at Amosun Village in Akinyele Local Government Area.

The central abattoir, to serve the 11 local governments in Ibadanland, is sited on 15 hectares of land, with provisions for manual and mechanical slaughtering of cattle, pigs, goats and sheep.

It also has a road network covering about five kilometres, with a parking space for over 200 smaller vehicles and 50 articulated trucks.

Speaking at the ceremony witnessed by butchers in the 11 local governments, Ajimobi said the building of the central abattoir was in line with his administration’s transformation and repositioning agenda.

He pledged the government’s readiness to continue to provide all the necessary logistics for the smooth operation of the abattoir.

THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

8

NEWS Oyo APC, INEC trade words over voter cards From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

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•Wifeof Osun State Governor Mrs Sherifat Aregbesola cutting the anniversary cake with children at the end of the year party organised by her office in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs at the Government House, Osogbo.

Aspirant sues APC, INEC

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By Sina Fadare

N aspirant seeking to represent Ifelodun/ Odo-Otin/Boripe Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, Ayodele Kusamotu, has sued the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adeyinka Ajayi and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

He is seeking an order of the court to restrain INEC from recognising Ajayi as the APC candidate in the next year’s election.

The plaintiff is also seeking an order compelling the first defendant to release his nomination form having paid N2million and N200,000 for an Expression of Interest form.

Kusamotu alleged that the party breached its guidelines in nominating the second defendant as its candidate.

Convicted My Pikin producers seek bail

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WO convicted employees of Barewa Pharmaceutical Limited- Adeyemo Abiodun and Egbele Eromosele- accused of producing and selling adulterated baby teething mixture, My Pikin, have asked the court for bail, pending the determination of their appeal.

Abiodun, who was the company’s Production manager, Eromosele the Quality Assurance manager and the company were initially arraigned with the Managing Director, Kola Gbadegbesin Okunlola.

Okunola, a United Kingdom trained pharmacist, died of haemorrhagic stroke in October 2012 midway into the trial, prompting the prosecuting agency, the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to amend the charge, deleting his name.

Justice Okechukwu Okeke

From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

(now retired) of the Federal High Court , Lagos, in a judgment on May 17, last year, convicted them and ordered the closure of the company and its forfeiture to the Federal Government.

Okeke said he convicted the three (including the company) for the sale of adulterated drug, but that the prosecution failed to adduce sufficient evidence to back the allegations that they were involved in the manufacturing and the adulteration of the drug. He sentenced them to seven year imprisonment each.

The Court of Appeal, Lagos to which they appealed, affirmed the appellants’ conviction in its December 31, last year, judgment. The appellate court, however, reversed the order of winding up and forfeiture

made by the court.

They appealed the decision of the appellate court on their conviction at the Supreme Court and asked the court to set aside the judgment. They raised 19 grounds of appeal.

Part of the grounds of the appeal before the apex court was that the justices of the Court of Appeal failed to review Justice Okeke’s “erroneous analysis of the evidence tendered” by the prosecution witnesses.

The appellants argued that the judgment of the Court of Appeal was a nullity “for not containing the written opinion of one of the justices as at the time it was delivered.”

It is also their contention that the Court of Appeal relied on an abandoned and struck out notice of appeal to determine the appellant’s appeal, rather than the appellant’s rightful notice of appeal.

Eromesele, in a bail application by his lawyer, Oghenero Ideh, asked the Supreme Court for bail on the grounds of ill health.

He also argued that he “stands a strong possibility of success and the respondents (the Federal Government) will not be prejudiced, if the reliefs sought in this application are granted.

“Having compiled the records of appeal in diligent prosecution of the appeal, and in view of the state of health of the appellant/applicant, I verily believe that it is in the interest of justice if the appellant/applicant is admitted to bail, pending the hearing and determination of the appeal to this court,” he said.

Justice Muhammad Muntaka-Coommassie-led Supreme Court panel yesterday fixed January 29 to hear the various applications filed by the appellants.

Ekiti confident on tribunal judgment

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HE Ekiti State government has expressed confidence on the judgment of the Election Petitions Tribunal expected to be delivered today in Abuja.

The All Progressives Congress (APC), in its petition, urged the tribunal to “unravel the hidden facts surrounding the election,” contending that the election was more of “a mechanical exercise than conventional casting of votes”.

The party alleged manipulation of the election in favour of the PDP candidate; undue militarisation and the impeachment of Fayose in

•APC: no cause for alarm From Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado-Ekiti

2006, as well as Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) cases hanging on the governor-elect.

The Special Assistant to the Governor on Information, Youth, Sports and Culture, Lanre Ogunsuyi, said the Ayo Fayose administration was not losing sleep over the verdict as it expected justice to be served.

Speaking at a briefing yesterday, Ogunsuyi said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was “neither alarmed

nor rattled by the pending judgment”.

He said: “We are neither alarmed nor bothered by this judgment because this government is God-ordained. Fayose enjoys divine arrangement because it is not easy for somebody to leave a government and came back to win in all the 16 local governments eight years after.

“We have trust in the judicial system. We are waiting for the verdict of the court. We are not going to smear the judiciary nor influence it to do our bidding.

But we are hoping for is that the judiciary will do justice to the petition without fear or favour.”

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said there was no cause for alarm on the judgment to be delivered in Abuja on the petition filed against Fayose’s victory.

APC Publicity Secretary Taiwo Olatunbosun said the party had diligently prosecuted the case and expected the Judiciary to right the wrong.

Olatunbosun said: “As a law-abiding party, we took our case to the Election Petitions Tribunal and we have adduced enough evidence

why the purported victory of Fayose cannot stand.

“We have done what is right rather than resorting to self-help and it is now left to the tribunal to examine evidence we have brought before them and give judgment without fear or favour.

“We urge our reporters to remain calm, our lawyers have done their best and we are eagerly awaiting the verdict of the tribunal.

“Judiciary is the last hope of the common man and we have established reasons why the purported victory cannot stand the test of legal scrutiny”.

Alabi-Isama: re-bury Adekunle in Ogbomoso

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IVIL War veteran Brig,-Gen. Godwin Alabi-Isama has called for exhumation of Brig.-Gen. Benjamin Adekunle’s body from Ikoyi cemetery, Lagos, for a befitting hero’s burial in Ogbomoso, Oyo State.

He made the call yesterday at a public lecture in honour of the late Adekunle by the Ogbomoso Community Foundation at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology in Ogbomoso.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the late civil war hero, Adekunle, popularly known as ‘Black Scorpion’, died on September 13 in Lagos. He was 77.

He was buried at Ikoyi Cemetery in Lagos on October 3.

Alabi-Isama said heroes like Adekunle deserved to be given a heroic burial at a newly created hero’s park.

“I am asking for immediate exhumation of Adekunle’s body from the Ikoyi cem-

etery back to Ogbomoso, his hometown, for a befitting burial,’’ he said.

He implored the Yoruba to endeavour to recognise and honour their own heroes and not wait until others do such for them.

The civil war veteran described the late Adekunle as a renowned patriot, who did all within his power to ensure one Nigeria during his military career.

He held that Nigeria nev-

er deemed it fit to immortalise or give a post-humous national honour to him.

“General Benjamin Adekunle was a nation builder who deserved to be immortalised and awarded a posthumous national honour, on account of his civil war exploits.

“Adekunle personified honour, integrity, courage, and loyalty. The greatness of Adekunle is inseparable from the 3rd Marine Com-

mando (3MCDO) that he formed, built, trained, and led in battle to defeat Biafra in order to keep Nigeria one,” he said.

Alabi-Isama urged the Yoruba to recognise their heroes.

“Go and get your son, the hero of our time, Adekunle out of Ikoyi cemetery back to Ogbomoso for a befitting hero’s burial in a newly created Hero’s Park,” he said.

HE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State has criticised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the alleged poor handling of issuance of Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) in the state.

It said many voters were unable to collect their PVCs in some local governments and that many new qualified adults were also not sure of collecting theirs before the February election.

The party’s Director of Publicity and Strategy, Olawale Sadare, said in a statement in Ibadan yesterday that INEC must be ready to convince the electorate that they would not be disenfranchised when voting begins in 2015.

The statement reads: “Less than 60 days to the presidential election, there are many eligible and willing voters out there whose fate are still hanging in the balance due to their inability to get the PVCs. “A good number of citizens who registered and voted in 2011 have had their names removed without tenable reasons.

“Most people in Afijio, Ibadan South West, Ogbomoso North, Ibadan North East, Egbeda and many other council areas were made to re-register but up till now, nobody is sure when they would have their PVCs released. Besides, many people who are to be registered afresh have been abandoned by INEC.” The party also expressed worry that voters who want to transfer their data to a new location are unable to do so.

But the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Nasiru Ayilara, denied sloppiness in the conduct of the exercise, saying that those who complained were the people who wanted to collect on others’ behalf.

His words: “As far as I am concerned, transfer of data to new location is done at the state headquarters and that exercise is going on smoothly.

“We have covered at least 60 per cent of PVC distribution and we don’t have new challenges.

There are people who claimed to represent some others who are sick or have travelled but we have told them that there will be no collection by proxy.”

D’banj, Shina Peters, others for show From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

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NTERTAINERS, including D’banj, P Square, Sir Shina Peters and others, will tomorrow storm Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, for the maiden concert of the newly refurbished Agodi Resort and Conferences.

The Chairman of JD capital, a private firm in charge of the park, John Darlington, said yesterday in Ibadan.

“We will host a mind blowing concert tomorrow.

The concert will feature several artistes, namely D’banj, Yemi Alade, Sir Shina Peters, P Square, among others. It will be hosted by Bimbo Akintola and Gbenga Adeyinka.

“To wrap up the year and usher in the new year, we have a special event tagged:” Sharing 31st” with Governor Abiola Ajimobi,” he said

THE NATION FRIDAY DECEMBER 19, 2014

9

NEWS

2015: Don’t panic, Jonathan urges Nigerians

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan last night urged Nigerians not to panic but pray for peaceful 2015 general elections.

Jonathan gave the advice while speaking at the 2014 Christmas Carol Service at the Banquet Hall of the State House, organised by the Aso Villa Chapel.

Decrying the destruction and anguish Nigerians are going through from the activities of terrorists, kidnappers and other crimes, he noted that it would have been worse for Nigeria if not for the prayers of Nigerians.

He said: “By God’s grace we shall be delivered. God will surely deliver us. We are counting days to Christmas and end of year. I use this opportunity to call on Nigerians to continue to preach love.

“Pray for our country, pray for unity and for next elec-

From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

tion; for it to end peacefully.

We should not panic, we will surely survive. This will not bring us down.”, he said.

He also asked Nigerians to pray for him and other leaders handling sensitive matters in the country so that God can give them the wisdom to take the right decisions.

He noted that each decision taken at the highest level of government is usually preceded by numerous suggestions, hence the need for prayers to seek God’s guidance.

“Nobody can place himself in any position without God. I continue to request for your prayers that God continues to give me wisdom to do the right things”, he stated Jonathan also appealed for

calm among Nigerians in the face of the falling global oil prices, According to him, Nigeria has survived similar or even worse development in the past years.

“And we shall survive this one too”. Jonathan added Continuing, he said, “We pray that God should give those of us who are in charge the grace to do things with the fear of God. If we begin to do what is right in our own little way, this nation will survive.

“God knows why we are here. Nobody will place himself in any position without God. So God that gives all of us the opportunity will see us through.

“For me your servant today, I will continue to request for your prayers that God should give me the wisdom to do what is right in His sight.

“Because it is quite challenging for a leader. For every subject that you want to take a decision, you will have multiple suggestions, some contradictory, some to the left, some to the right, some to the centre. But you must take a decision.

“It is only God that can guide you to take the rightful decision that will not bring suffering to your people. We will try our best and we will continue to do our best. We promise that any opportunity given to us, we will use it to serve mankind.” he stated The carol service featured musical performances from gospel artistes, including Kunle Ajayi, Bible readings, and renditions of famous Christmas melodies by the Aso Villa Choir.

The Christmas message was delivered by Most Reverend Christian Efobi.

•President Goodluck Jonathan unveiling a plaque to inaugurate the Nationwide Workers’ Housing Scheme at Apo-Tafyi in Abuja...yesterday. With him are Ministers of Water Resources, Mrs Sarah Ochekpe; FCT, Sen. Bala Mohammed and NLC President, Abdulwaheed Omar.

PDP seeks senator’s arrest for alleged forgery

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HE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State has petitioned the police on the alleged forgery of the party’s December 8 governorship primaries’ result sheet by Senator Ayogu Eze. He was one of the aspirants.

In a petition dated December 17 signed by the Chairman, Mr. Ikeje Asogwa, PDP alerted the police to what it claimed to be a plot by the lawmaker to truncate the primary election with forged documents.

Asogwa said: “The Peoples Democratic Party primaries to present a governorship candidate in Enugu State took place at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu, on December 8.

“The party, from the national headquarters, appointed a five-man electoral committee to conduct the primaries. Members of the panel

•Eze: allegation is contempt of court From Chris Oji, Enugu

were King Asara A. Asara (chairman), Ukpai Ukairo (secretary), Saratu Umar, Alamu Adeyemi and my humble self as the chairman of the party.

“Members came with the official result sheets from the headquarters, as well as the ballot papers and other materials. At the end of the exercise, they issued a result, saying Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi won the election.

“Surprisingly, Senator Eze altered the result, purporting same to be the result of the primaries of December 8. It was produced on a forged sheet, purporting to be the result sheet of the PDP.” He added: “I hereby enclose the original result sheet, which has the name, logo, address of the national secretariat of the party, serial num-

ber issued to the panel and the signatures of the national chairman, the national secretary, the national organising secretary, the returning officer and the electoral officer. I mark same as Annexure I. “I also mark as Annexure 2, the purported result of the primary election written on the forged result sheet, purporting same to be the result sheet of the party. A look at Annexure 2 will show that it does not contain the essentials of the authentic result sheet of the party as enumerated above.”

The chairman told the police that Eze allegedly altered the forged document and used same in the processes he filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja and urged them to investigate the matter and prosecute anybody found guilty.”

The Senator Ayogu Eze

Governorship Campaign Organisation, reacting, described the allegation as wild and a contempt of court.

In a statement, titled: “Who’s afraid of Sen. Ayogu Eze”, the organisation insisted that its candidate was the duly elected candidate in the primary.

Saying its candidate was elected by the authentic delegates elected on November 1 and validated by an Abuja High Court, the organisation wondered why the PDP rushed to court on December 9, a day after the primary, to stop its candidate from parading himself as the candidate.

“Why did they rush to court to stop our candidate if they truly believe the result of the election was forged?” the organisation asked in a statement by its Director of Legal Services, Kingsley Onyeke.

‘Bad leadership in Oyo PDP made me defect to Accord’

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HE former Chairman of Ibadan North East Local Government, Mr. Olugbenga Adewusi has said, he left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State to Accord because of bad leadership.

He spoke with reports in Ibadan.

Adewusi, who is the candi-

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

date contesting for Ibadan North East/South East federal constituency under Accord state said the PDP party leaders were not sincere to members.

The former council boss said former President Olusegun Obasanjo was instrumental to his securing

the Accord ticket.

Adewusi said rancour between the Obasanjo and Ladoja is a thing of the past saying they are now friends and partners in progress.

Reacting to opinion in some quarters that Accord party is a one man party, Adewusi quipped “Accord is not a one man party rather, it has party leaders who con-

trol affairs of the party, while among them is Senator Rashidi Ladoja”.

Speaking on why people are calling him heir apparent of Obasanjo, he said: “when the late sage, Chief Awolowo was alive, Chief Bola Ige called himself Arole Awolowo but Bola Ige was from Esa-Oke while Awolowo was from Ijebu.

Kidnapped pastor’s wife released From Ogochukwu Anioke, Abakaliki

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HE kidnapped wife of Pastor Chris Aniamaka of the Dominion City, Kpirikpiri, Abakaliki, Mrs. Ifeanyi Aniamaka, has been released after four days in captivity.

It was learnt that no ransom was paid.

Speaking with The Nation, Pastor Aniamaka said he was happy about the release of his wife, adding that he was happy to reunite with her.

His words: “I’m grateful to God for the release of my wife. It wasn’t easy. I thank the brethren, who prayed day and night for my wife’s release.

“I also thank the security agents, especially Commissioner of Police Maigari Dikko and the SSS personnel for their contributions towards my wife’s release.”

Investigation showed that the victim was rescued near Oriuzor in Ezza North Local Government. The kidnappers did not molest her when she was in captivity.

Nigeria has 850,000 IDPs at relief camps, says NEMA

By Precious Igbonwelundu

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HE National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has disclosed that there are currently 850 thousand Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at the various relief camps across the country.

NEMA’s Northwest Coordinator Abdullahi Mohammed made spoke in Lagos during an emergency and disaster preparedness retreat organised for members of the House of Representatives Committee on NEMA. He said there are over 850,000 IDPs in 31 camps across the country, with 20 of the camps filled with people from the northeast, who have been displaced by the activities of Boko Haram terrorists.

Mohammed said the statistics was compiled on Tuesday, just as he stated that the agency is mopping up IDPs in other states, who fled from neighbouring northeastern states.

“We have them in Kano, Kaduna, FCT, Plateau and Nasarawa.

So, we are mopping them and gathering them in all established camps to establish their numbers and give them appropriate care they require as citizens,” he said.

Asked the plans NEMA has for the reintegration of the IDPs, Mohammed said reintegrating the affected persons was not an immediate issue as a result of the insurgency.

“It is a gradual process because their homes have been burnt and they have lost all their belongings. So, what the government is working on is relocation and it is not something that will come immediately.

“Both federal and state governments as well as private organizations and international partners are working towards that. It is a joint effort to ensure that these persons are properly settled in their respective places of domain or relocated so that they can continue with their normal lives.

“They major challenge NEMA has had in handling the IDPs is movement. These are people who are not used to sitting down in one place and also, once they find any threats in their surroundings, where the camps are situated, they flee the camps for fear of their lives.

“The country has adequate relief camps. Everybody is involved including all other sectors of government. We are doing everything possible to provide succour for the IDPs. Everything thing is being done to ensure they are adequately catered for. Funding is not NEMA’s challenge, but our challenge is how to get the IDPs to settle back in their normal lives,” said Mohammed.

Also speaking, Chairman, House Committee on NEMA, Ifedayo Abegunde said the committee will take steps towards the amendment of the NEMA Act to enable the agency function optimally.

Using the situation in Diamond Estate, Igando, where people build houses near the pipelines contrary to established laws, Abegunde said it was obvious other stakeholder agencies, who are supposed to enforce these laws, have failed in their responsibilities.

He frowned at the report of people erecting structures under high tension cables and beside pipelines, calling on NEMA to intensify its awareness campaigns so that people will understand the dangers associated with such actions.

Abegunde said he wants a proactive NEMA, not one that is reactive, just as he appealed to other state governments to emulate Lagos and establish State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMA).

Noting that the source of funds for NEMA does not only come through the budget, Abegunde said the agency has direct access to Ecological Fund, from which they carry out emergency response.

“They have purchased several equipment-aircraft, air ambulances- that I know of and that did not go through the National Assembly. They have direct access to the Ecological Fund which is under the Vice President. The only thing they cannot use that they cannot use that money for is training,” he said.

In his presentation, the Emergency Manager, UNICEF, Nigeria, Soji Adeniyi said the country ranked seven in a recent survey of countries with highest rate of internal displacement.

He said NEMA should be empowered to command some level of control on other line ministries in order for the agency to perform optimally, just as he advocated the need for an amendment of the NEMA Act, to empower the agency perform certain roles.

Adeniyi noted that lack of a credible data base and information management, relief agency syndrome, weak legislation and poorly funded SEMAs were among the challenges bedeviling effective emergency management in the country.

Adeniyi said: “Statutorily, NEMA should be in a position that whoever heads the agency should be at par with a Minister so that he can call other line ministries to order and get them to do the things that should be done in an emergency.

THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

10

CITYBEATS

CITYBEATS LINE: 08023247888

‘Collapsed Synagogue’s guest house was approved’

Police smash kidnap gang

By Adebisi Onanuga

•The suspects ...yesterday

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HE Police have smashed a sevenman kidnap gang which allegedly abducted hotel manager in Ikorodu, Lagos.

The gang was said to have stormed Damjay Hotel in Ikorodu and abducted the manager, Durodola Muwamu (aka Baale) who was mistaked for the owner.

The suspects are: Felix Elomola (37), Azeez Olowu (38), Adebayo Akibu (40) and Gbenga Popoola (36). The three others are at large.

It was learnt that they took their victim to a shrine in Imeobi Ogbere at Ijebu Waterside where they demanded N50million ransom from his family.

A police source said: “For 12 days, they held the victim captive, transferring him from one location to the other. On the 11th day in their hands, the victim’s relations raised the alarm which prompted Commissioner of Police Kayode Aderanti to order immediate search.

“Consequently, the officer in charge of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Abba Kyari, a Superintendent of Police (SP), led a team which got a lead when the kidnappers used the victim’s phone line to call the hotel

By Ebele Boniface

owner, ‘JJ’, demanding N20,000 recharge credit with which to negotiate for the N50 million ransom.

“Kyari then took over and caused the N20,000 credit to be sent to the kidnappers which encouraged them to start negotiations, asking first for N50million ransom, and then N45million, N15million, N5million and at last, N3million. The process of sending the N3million led the four suspects into SARS’ net as they were arrested one after the other. Three others have remained at large”.

Akibu, a driver who hails from Epe, said: “I drive Toy-

‘

I heard them negotiating the ransom ... I joined them because I needed money to support my fishing business

’

ota Picnic. My role was to carry a victim from one location to the other as directed by Gbenga, who called me for the job. They said it was a community leader who engaged them to kidnap ‘JJ’ but they kidnapped his manager in error.”

Elomola, a farmer in Imoru, Ijebu Ode in Ogun State, said:

“I met Gbenga where we normally watch football. I provided where the victim was kept, but the house belongs to my elder brother, Pastor Sunday Adegbite.

Gbenga called to inform me that Ojo told him about a job.

I heard them negotiating the ransom and they agreed on N3million. I joined them because I needed money to support my fishing business.”

Popoola, a transporter, said Ojurongbe, one of the fleeing suspects, invited him with the other three suspects, adding: “It was Azeez that supplied the two guns. The pump-action gun belonged to the wife of his late landlord now.”

Olowu said: “I am a paint-

er and security guard. The wife of my late boss, Iyawo Olorode, gave us her husband’s pump-action for repair. He gave us N500 which I gave to Gbenga. Instead of going to repair the gun, we went straight to kidnap. I was the one that provided the pump-action gun.”

The command’s spokesman, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Ken Nwosu, said the case was being investigated.

T

HE collapsed Synagogue guest house had a government approved plan, a coroner’s court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos heard yesterday.

A witness, Mr. Bisi Adedire, told the coroner, Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe that SCOAN paid over N20 million for the plan.

His testimony varies from that of the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Oluwatoyin Ayinde, who told the coroner last month that the building had no plan.

Adedire, a town planner, said what determines the strength of a building is the way materials were applied and not whether or not the building has approval.

Adedire added that an approval can be secured even for a building that is already in existence.

The court admitted in evidence the plan of the guest house and other structures on the church premises tendered by Adedire.

Son laments father’s disappearance I keep wondering how and where he lost his way. He had no loss of memory or deformity. He was always vibrant. I sleep less now knowing my father is out there helpless. I desperately need him back”.

These were the words of Mr. Kabir Olugbade, whose father has not been seen since December 11. His voice quivered as he relived the family’s agony.

Surajudeen Olugbade (77), a Nigeria Port Authority (NPA) retiree, dressed in a brown robe (jalamiya), left his Ajegunle, Lagos home between 1pm and 2pm on that fateful day for a mosque. He is yet to return home.

His elder sister, Nofisat, said yesterday: “My brother visited me that day around 3pm and told me he was returning home. I was shocked to receive a call that he was nowhere to be found.”

The family has searched hospitals, mortuaries and psychiatric homes, among others to no avail.

“Two years ago, I remember my father once left home

“

•Members of the organisation in group photograph with the children at the hospital.

Group fetes ailing kids at LASUTH

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NON-governmental organisation (NGO), Abefe Ibadiaran Cancer Care Home (AICCH) has held a Christmas party with sick children at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).

The group’s manager, Sunday Odedeyi, who said the gesture was aimed at putting smiles on the chil-

By Wale Adepoju

dren’s faces, explained that they should not be left in the cold, especially during festive seasons.

The motivation behind the gesture, he said, was to give the children a sense of belonging so that they can enjoy themselves like their mates at home.

He urged well-meaning

people, organisations and government at all levels in the country to support the sick socially, spiritually and financially to get well.

“Children at the Neonatal Unit and Paediatric Ward of the hospital were treated to sumptuous meal.

Father Christmas also gave them gifts and wished them speedy recovery,” he said.

Odedeyi said the organi-

sation, which was founded

by Ms Oluwanifemi Fayose, had been assisting children between one and 18 years living with cancer.

He said most cancer patients usually present their cases to them when there is little the doctors can do.

Odedeyi called for early detection as it always saves lives of cancer patients.

•Surajudeen

By Basirat Braimah

out of anger but returned the following day. We have been in this neighbourhood for decades and I can say that we have not had issues with anyone. My father doesn’t mingle with strange people. He doesn’t roam about. If he is not sitting outside our house, he is either in the mosque or in our mother’s kiosk opposite the house,” Kabir said.

Surajudeen’s wife, Kehinde, described her husband as “mentally alert, physically fit and too friendly to be missing.”

She added: “Within a very short distance, I am now a shadow of myself. I really pray for God’s intervention because he has always been my confidant.”

Shun lies, cleric urges Nigerians

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IGERIANS have been urged to embrace the truth to fix the country.

The coordinator of Love of Fatherland Initiative (LFI), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Tunde Araoye, said the country would be great with its abundant resources if people embrace truth.

Concerned about the country’s stunted development, he urged Nigerians to shun negative lifestyle, especially

By Wale Adepoju

“lying,” saying breeds corruption.

“Anything built on falsehood will crumble. It leads to bad governance and poverty among others. Falsehood is the bedrock of corruption.”

Araoye, an engineer, maintained that lies had permeated the fabric of the society, hence bad governance and insensitivity of rulers to the plight of the people, particularly the downtrodden.

THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

11

NEWS

Three feared killed in clash over Tinubu to inaugurate projects in Edo F Ughelli market T HREE persons were feared killed yesterday and at least 12 others severely injured when youths from Ekuigbo and Otor-Iwhereko communities in the Ughelli Local Government Area of Delta State clashed over control of Ughelli Main Market.

The fatal clash, which was later curtailed following the intervention of the officers and men of the 222 Battalion and the Ughelli Area Command of the Delta State Police Command, grounded activities in the market.

Although details of how the clash started and who

•12 others injured From Bolaji Ogundele, Warri

fired the first shot were still sketchy, our reporter gathered that the two groups freely used dangerous weapons.

Eyewitnesses told our reporter that three bodies were carried away from the scene of the violence, heightening fears that some youths might have died dur-

ing the clash.

The Chairman of OtorIwhereko community, Mr. Felix Okoro, confirmed the incident.

He said 12 youths from his community sustained gunshot wounds but were in stable condition.

On the number of casualties, Okoro said nobody died.

According to him, although some youths from his com-

munity collapsed while the gun fight was going on, those affected were evacuated from the scene of the fight and later revived.

Ekuigbo community’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) Clever Stanley said he had not been fully briefed on the matter.

Confirming the incident to our reporter on the phone in Port Harcourt, the River State capital, police spokesman, Celestina Kalu, a deputy superintendent of Police (DSP), said no death was recorded in the clash.

But he said 12 persons sustained injuries in the clash.

Six criminal suspects killed in Kokori

K

OKORI community, in Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State, breathed a sigh of relief yesterday, following the killing of six suspected kidnappers and armed robbery by a combined team of the Army and vigilance group.

Some of the suspects were nicknamed Skill Boy, YouYou, Olokpa. Another, who could not be identified, was said to have been an indigene of Agbarho, a neighbouring community of

From Polycarp Orosevwotu, Ughelli

Ughelli North Local Government Area.

They were among the six hoodlums killed by the security agencies.

It was learnt that the Kokori community was jubilant when the news of their death filtered into the area.

A source in the vigilance group said the hoodlums were arrested at their hideout at Effurun, Uvwie Local Government Area, and Abraka, Ethiope East Local

Government Area of Delta State on Wednesday night.

The source explained that the search for the suspects had been on for two days.

The hoodlums were reportedly arrested following a tip-off to the Army.

A woman, who was said to have been among the victims of the hoodlums, identified one of them.

She said the boys did not only rob but also rapes and kidnapped people in the area.

The woman hailed the sol-

diers and the vigilance team for their security breakthrough.

Efforts to reach the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) for Isiokolo Division were unsuccessful last night.

But a police source confirmed that the suspects were killed in a face-off with the Army and brought to the police division.

The source added that the bodies of the hoodlums would soon handed over to the local government authorities for interment.

Peterside gets support from Southsouth students in abroad

A

CADEMIC and students from the Southsouth in the United Kingdom (UK) have expressed confidence in the ability of All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Rivers State, Dr Dakuku Peterside, to take the state to greater heights.

President of a Southsouth students’ union government in the UK, Mr Peter Ogbeni, has said beneficiaries of the

scholarships of the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency (RSSDA) would support Peterside to become governor in next year’s election.

Ogbeni spoke in the UK at a graduation dinner organised for Southsouth students.

He said students from the region would back the APC candidate to ensure that that the scholarships would be continued form the benefit of

future students from Rivers State and other parts of Southsouth.

Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi has been giving education a prime position since the inception of his administration.

Ogbeni noted that the administration’s education policy had enabled indigent students to enjoy quality education in Nigeria and overseas.

The union leader acknowl-

edged that some of the recipients of Peterside’s scholarship were at the event and successfully completed their studies.

RSSDA’s National Coordinator, Trevor Omoruyi, who is a doctoral degree researcher and lecturer in one of the business schools in England, urged other Southsouth governors and stakeholders to emulate the Amaechi administration in education development.

•From left: Mrs Yemisi Akapo, Mr Yinka Akapo, Founder/Music Director NUR-DANKET Chorale (NDC) Orchestral and Band, Mrs Mercy Akapo; Mrs Anike Adekanye, representative of Senator Remi Tinubu, and Mr Femi Lambo, Project Coordinator, NUR DANKET Chorale, at the unveiling of NDC Orchestra and Band in Lagos.

PHOTO: ABIODUN WILLIAM

ORMER Lagos State governor and All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will today inaugurate the new six-lane New Lagos Road and the Ewohimi Hospital in Esan Southeast Local Government Area of Edo State.

The inauguration is part of the celebration of the sixth anniversary of the Adams Oshiomhole administration.

They include the new sixlane New Lagos Road and the Ewohimi Hospital, Esan

From Osagie Otabor and Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia, Benin

Southeast Local Government Area.

Former Head of State and APC presidential standardbearer, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola had inaugurated a number of projects, including the newly rebuilt schools and roads in commemoration of the sixth anniversary of the Oshiomhole administration on November 12.

Ex-militants demand pay from DESOPADEC

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ENEFICIARIES of the Federal Government’s amnesty programme yesterday besieged the headquarters of the Delta Oil Producing Area Development Commission (DESOPADEC) in Warri, demanding to be put on its payroll.

The protesters took off from the DSC Roundabout on the East-West Road and marched to the agency’s headquarters.

They disrupted traffic flow and similar activities in the area.

The protesters said they were angry that the DESOPADEC had failed in one of its statutory functions - to provide empowerment for youths in the state.

But security agents prevented them from entering the premises of the agency’s headquarters.

The protesters’ spokesman Augustine Ogedegbe said the his group, which is in the Phase 2 of the Presidential Amnesty programme, had never received any money from DESOPADEC since it joined the list of beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s initiative.

He said the money from the commission would have

From Bolaji Ogundele, Warri

complemented the N65,000 monthly amnesty allowance from the Federal Government to enable them to reach out to some of their followers not captured in the programme.

Ogedegbe said: “DESOPADEC was created to provide empowerment for the youth in Delta. But nothing had been coming to those of us under the presidential amnesty. For over four years now, we have not received anything from DESOPADEC. “They know that we need empowerment, since we laid down our arms. We have been working with the security agents by giving useful information regarding criminal activities in Niger Delta region.

“If you do not tell them that you are here, nobody will tell them that you are.”

The spokesman said a meeting had been arranged for the group and the DESOPADEC management later in the day.

According to him, the outcome will determine their next line of action.

Ogun senatorial candidate to reconcile with aspirants

A

LL Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial candidate for Ogun East, Prince Dapo Abiodun has initiated a reconciliatory parley with all aspirants in the district to pave the way for smooth take off of the party’s campaign ahead of next year’s general elections.

Speaking at the meeting that took place in his Iperu, Ogun State home in Ikenne Local Government, Abiodun explained that it is important to meet with all the aspirants and all the aggrieved mem-

bers with a view to reconciling them before the campaign.

He declared that the parley was not organised to usurp the party leadership’s role, but rather to fashion out some measures that would make the party approach the coming election as a united family. Abiodun, who emerged winner of the party’s senatorial primaries in Ogun East with 2,500 votes, assured all aspirants of reasonable support to cushion the effects of their financial input.

NDDC on success path, says MD

Row over Bayelsa Assembly’s rejection of council autonomy T

HE alleged rejection of the local government autonomy bill by the Bayelsa State House of Assembly has created a crisis in the state.

It was gathered yesterday that the lawmakers’ unfavourable stance on local government autonomy pitted them against the local government workers and civil society organisations (CSOs).

No sooner had the Assembly completed its deliberations on the matter than about 500 workers barricaded the complex to protest the Assembly’s action.

From Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

At plenary on Tuesday, the Assembly deliberated on the harmonised version of the Constitution (Fourth Alteration) Bill 2014 by the Seventh National Assembly.

Lawmakers overwhelmingly voted against the constitutional prescription of administrative, executive, financial and legal autonomy for local governments.

The Assembly was also said to have thrown out the pro-

posed amendment to the section that confers powers on the National Assembly to make laws for the procedures, guidelines and qualifications for access to ballot by political parties and independent candidates.

Worried by the development, the local government workers besieged the Assembly complex on the MbiamaYenagoa Road, demanding the passage of the bill into law.

The workers barricaded the

entrance to the complex, insisting on speaking with the principal officers of the Assembly.

The protest caused a heavy traffic jam at Amarata area of Yenagoa, the state capital, forcing motorists to divert to other routes to get to their destinations.

The protesters disrupted the Assembly’s sitting, forcing the lawmakers to suspend the session to address the council workers.

Speaker Kombowei Benson said the bill was receiving the attention of the legislators.

T

HE Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Sir Bassey Dan-Abia, has assured stakeholders in the Niger Delta region that the interventionist agency is living up to its mandate and is on the path to the “Promised Land”.

Dan-Abba spoke in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, at the public presentation of landmark achievements on youth development and empowerment initiatives of the current board and management of the NDDC. He said NDDC’s fourth governing board, which marked a year of its inauguration on December 16, had achieved tremendous suc-

cesses in various spheres of development in the Niger Delta region.

He said: “We have every reason to thank God for our contributions to the development process and we are, indeed, proud of what we have achieved in our first one year,” he said.

The NDDC Chief Executive Office re-stated his appeal to youth leaders in the Niger Delta to continue to maintain peace to ensure sustainable development and the growth of democracy in the country, noting that the NDDC board had given the management full support to run relevant youth programmes to empower and engage the young ones in gainful activities.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

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THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

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NATION SPORT

•Danagogo

Taekwondo has medals’ potential – Minister

I

MPRESSED with the string of successes recorded by taekwondo this year, Minister of Sports/ Chairman, National Sports Commission (NSC), Tammy Danagogo has admitted that the sport has medals’ potential for the country at major competitions.

Speaking at the 5th Korean Ambassador’s Cup held in Lagos, the minister confessed that he has been thrilled with the result posted by the sport in 2014.

“Even before my assumption of office, I knew and I have come to know that taekwondo is one sport in which Nigeria has lots of potential and I am really impressed and elated that every effort is being made by the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF), government at all levels particularly the states and as well as the federal government and of course private individuals and corporate entities to ensure that we harness this talent for future podium performance,” he said.

He, however, reaffirmed the support of NSC to the taekwondo federation in their quest to do well at international tournaments.

For the victorious

By Samson Uwada C o m m o n w e a l t h Championships team, Danagogo said: “Hosting of the team by the President is one of those things that certainly must happen. You know they are not alone because it is a very busy season, even the Super Falcons that won the African Women Championship (AWC) are there; we presented their cup to the President but we are yet to host them. We have the scrabble team that won the African Championship and now we also have the taekwondo team that did so well at the Commonwealth Championship in Scotland, they came out fourth in the Commonwealth and that is no mean feat because that is our best performance so far.

We certainly will honour them. But one thing the ministry believes in and Mr. President has always supported and encouraged is that you always encourage excellence and we certainly will do that.”

On the build up to the All Africa Games and Olympics, the NSC boss said: “We have already told the federation and of course I will reiterate it that every federation should come with their

Balotelli wants to emulate IbrahimovicIbrahimovic,” - Mancini said Mancini at

R

OBERTO Mancini says Mario Balotelli would like to emulate Zlatan Ibrahimovic and hopes he one day becomes as good as the Paris Saint-Germain star.

The pair played alongside one another briefly during Mancini's first stint in charge of Inter, when Balotelli was a teenage prospect at San Siro, and Ibrahimovic the club's talisman.

Now in his second spell at the Nerazzurri helm, the 50-yearold believes the Sweden striker is a good role model for his former pupil to follow.

“Mario would like to emulate

an event held at the Bocconi University in Milan.

“But Zlatan has a few more years and has accumulated a degree of experience, quality, class and strength that he [Balotelli] is yet to acquire, even though he's been playing for many years.

“Balotelli has that potential and no doubt they were extraordinary together back in the day.

“Mario was so young, now he dwells a bit too much on so many things. I hope and wish for him to become like Ibrahimovic.”

programmes. As a ministry, we try not to personally do these things and these federations are like our parastatals and we have given them directives to come up with their programmes because there is no way that you can win without preparation. The difference between most of these boys and girls who are all champions and the eventual winners is that extra effort, that extra preparation and the only way we can have that is when our federations come up with their programmes as early as possible. I think this is another opportunity for me to call on all federations to ensure that they come up with their programmes as quickly as possible so that we don’t start running helter-skelter just a month to the competition.

He added: “This has been the bane of this country because it is a nation blessed with abundant talents in almost all the sporting events but a lot of times nothing is happening until few days or few weeks to the event and that does not augur well for our system. If you prepare well, certainly you will see the difference and that is where we stand as a ministry.”

FRIDAY DECEMBER 19, 2014

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POLITICS THE NATION

E-mail:- politics@thenationonlineng.net

Nigeria’s former Ambassador to Morocco Senator Abdallah Wali won the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) governorship ticket in Sokoto State. In this interview with ADAMU SULEIMAN, he speaks about the Sokoto governorship primaries, his vision and other issues.

Wali: ‘PDP’ ll return to power in Sokoto’ H

OW do you feel emerging as the PDP’s governorship candidate in Sokoto State?

I feel grateful to Almighty God for making it possible to be elected as the governorship candidate of our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for next year’s general elections. I am highly delighted by the level of support by members of our party, who have demonstrated their confidence in me, by allowing me to fly the party’s flag in the forthcoming general elections. I thank all the delegates, particularly members of the National Working Committee and Mr. President for leading the party in such a way that people can aspire to various positions through a free and fair election. I must say that without the discipline that the national headquarters of the party has provided, people like us would not have had the opportunity to aspire, let alone win the primary election. I sincerely thank them all.

What strategies did your party intend to adopt or put in place to win the governorship election in the state?

Well, winning strategies are not things that should be disclosed in the public. They are things that are exclusive to the campaign committee, which is being worked on for our victory. But, be it as it may, I will say that we are well prepared for the elections. We look forward to a successful race. We have gone through the same system before and we believe we will make it again.

The party won the 2007 and 2012 general elections in the state. Although, the governor and some of his aides have since moved to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), we believe that the PDP is a party that is still alive. It is still kicking and capable of winning any elections in the state. The coming of His Excellency, the former Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa into the PDP fold has re-galvanised the party. We believe we can win all the various seats. You will also recall that in 2003, former Governor Bafarawa was running for second term on the platform of the defunct All Progressive Party (APP), and I was also contesting on the PDP platform for the first time. But, he (Bafarawa) won the election in that contest and today the two of us are working together. We believe that we have the necessary structure on the ground to win the election for the PDP. By God’s help, it will come to pass.

Why are the other contenders refusing to accept the outcome of the primary?

Well, I will say that I am very disappointed by the development because the election was covered by the media and other observers. We, the four aspirants received an invitation to the venue from the panel in order to address us.

When we arrived, we found that we were only three; we were told that the forth aspirant, Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman had withdrawn from the race. The panel advised us to go through the election in a peaceful manner and urged us to accept the outcome of the elections.

The accreditation lasted for a long time.

Though, the accreditation exercise was supposed to be a simple formality in the sense that the same delegates voted a week earlier for the state assembly election across the state.

All the delegates that had participated in the congress of the governorship primary were delegates to the state assembly elections in their respective constituencies. These same delegates also participated in the National Assembly elections which was conducted without hitch. The governorship election was the fourth election the delegates were participating in. The accreditation was still done in the usual way and after that the election panel announced the commencement of the election.

That was when one of the aspirants, Alhaji Mukthar Shagari, as we were told, approached the panel that since the election could not hold in neighbouring state of Zamfara, it should also be postponed here in Sokoto. That was an absurd proposition. The Police Commissioner had to come and address us individu-

•Wali

•Bafarawa

ally assuring us that election must hold because the accreditation has been completed.

Later, he (Shagari) had a session with the media and later met with the electoral panel before staging a walk out from the Giginya Stadium, venue of the exercise. To me, all those actions are not consistent with the democratic principles. People who hold the position of leadership are supposed to live by example.

In summary, the voting continued and election was conducted peacefully in the open. The result was later declared and we expected them to quickly congratulate the winner.

One of the contestants alleged that the delegates’ list was manipulated in the process.

What is your take?

As I said earlier, the delegates that were accredited had voted three times previous occasions before the congress. In the real sense, there is no justification for accusing anybody of manipulating the delegates’ list.

Do not forget that these delegates were accredited in front of three certified agents that represented the three aspirants.

To us, it is embarrassing for anybody to raise the issue of fake delegates during the election.

This venue was an open air arena and not a hall. Officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were present and they monitored the processes. Security agents were also present at the venue. To many, the election was one of the most transparent in the state. Two of the aspirants were even seen going round, speaking with the delegates. But, I was not involved in the act because according to the rules, contestants are not expected to have contact with the delegates. Anybody who says the exercise was not fair, is not telling the truth.

I hope such people would quickly desist from that and accept the outcome.

Have they formally congratulated you?

Senator Abubakar Gada, one of the contestants had since congratulated me for winning the election. Alhaji Mukthar Shagari was not at the venue when the winner was declared, so I

• Shagari

am not expecting him to congratulate me immediately. I have been hoping to receive his phone call or text message. But, up till now he has not done so. I believe we are one PDP family and we are supposed to work together as a team for the success of the party. I have invited the party executive members to brief them on the preparation of my campaign team and activities. We will also invite the supporters of my co-contestants to join our campaign team, so that together we will work hand-in-hand in order to come out victorious.

The action of your co-contenders, by not accepting the outcome of the contest, could threaten the party’s success next year. Don’t you think so?

You see, this borders on the unity of the party as a whole. We all believe that it is only a united front that can bring success to our party.

The first aspect is that, one of the aspirants, Senator Abubakar Gada, has accepted the outcome of the election because right there, he congratulated me and I alluded to that in an acceptance speech.

It was in the open when he came over to me and I thanked him for that. The second aspirant who is yet to accept the result now is Alhaji Mukthar Shagari. Of course, his decision not to accept the outcome is a challenge. But, it is a manageable challenge because the election is not a question of somebody winning 100 per cent. We only won with 74 per cent of the total votes, which means three quarters of our party faithful shared our beliefs and dreams. That is a strong percentage of the party followership that can lead the party to success. Secondly, even among sympathizers of other aspirants, we are still going to have sizeable numbers of them that could work for the party. Since all of them are aware that the process was free and fair. They (delegates) would be convinced to toe the path of truth at the end. It is natural for aspirants to be disappointed after losing a contest and thereby refuse to congratulate the winner. But, that is not always the case for

‘The coming of His Excellency, the former Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa into the PDP fold has re-galvanised the party. We believe we can win all the various seats’

followers.

What are your plans for the state, if elected as the governor?

You see, Sokoto State is facing very stiff challenge in terms of moral value. The people of the state are so worried that the morality level among the youths has gone so low and they believe that something must be done. One of the reasons I am aspiring for the governorship position is because people believe in our sincerity of purpose. They are aware that we are really committed to changing the trend of moral decadence in the state and that we will do by the grace of the Almighty. We are committed to doing that for ourselves and for the sake of our children. That is one area. The second one is the national disgrace that the state is facing today going by analysis from National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The bureau has for long identified Sokoto as the poorest state in the poverty indices. The question is that, why should we be the poorest state in the country?

What really is the problem, is the state lacking in human or natural resources?

The answer is none. So, why should a state that has over 90 per cent of its land arable and has one of the major productive dams in the country be called a poor state? This is simply because of lack of good leadership. We believe that we can change that trend. We intend to use agriculture as number one focus in transforming the fortunes of the state. We will give support to farmers during the rainy season. We will make sure that we draw the Goronyo Dam to service all the farmers that are on the sloppy part of the state. Where we cannot use the dam, we are going to construct tube wells and make sure that our people are engaged in farming all-year round. Sokoto people are productive people and we believe that if we can support them, it will improve their lot.

What can you say about education in the state?

On that also, the National Bureau of Statistics has also released the indices that Sokoto State is the worst state in education. How can this state that is the historical bedrock of learning be rated so low? Sheikh Usmanu Danfodiyo of blessed memory established the Danfodiyo dynasty on the basis of knowledge which is the most critical ingredient for the foundation of the Danfodiyo dynasty. So, how can we say 200 years after, all the evidences of learning in terms of the books produced by Danfodiyo, his son Muhammadu Bello and his brother Abdullahi Fodiyo have faded off? That is not acceptable. So, if voted into power, we will tackle the problems facing education from the primary up to the university level. Take for instance when you talk about scholarship, the government made a principle that it will provide scholarship to students. But, such promises are usually not fulfilled.

So, we believe that we will strategically tackle that. We will bring the best brains we have from primary school to the tertiary level, so that the state can compete favourably with other states.

We will design a system that will bring the best out of us.

As a stakeholder, have you in anyway proffered solution to the government in these areas you have identified?

The problem is that we do not have a listening government. Even when we were both members of the same political party, the state government never considered us as stakeholders in the system. The best we can do is to get them out and then take charge.

Do you see the emergence of the APC flag bearer, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal as a threat to your aspiration?

Honestly, I do not see it that way. We know from the onset that he (Tambuwal) is one of the possible contenders of the APC ticket. For that, we built our strategies in such a manner that anybody that the APC pushes forward, we believe that we have an edge over him and can be able to face any of their candidates. I believe that when he emerged we did not have any cause to be apprehensive. We only considered it as one of the natural cause of the event. So, we will go ahead and fight the APC until we take over the state.

THE NATION FRIDAY DECEMBER 19, 2014

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RACE TO 2015 Christian women pray for APC’s success in Rivers From Rosemary Nwisi, Port Harcourt

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HRISTIAN women in Rivers State have held a one-day fasting and prayer to seek God’s intervention in next year’s general elections.

The women, who gathered under the umbrella of the Women Wing of the Christian Association of Nigeria (WOCAN), expressed their support for the Amaechi Administration and the All Progressives Congress(APC) They prayed for APC’s success at the polls..

Led by Evangelist Belema Wilcox, the women prayed for a violentfree election, God’s protection for Amaechi and his family, amid the rising political turmoil, and the peace of the state.

They also prayed to God to give victory to the APC in its bid to elect Amaechi’s successor.

Wilcox explained that the exercise was necessary because the election is imminent, adding that overzealous politicians are already heating up the polity.

He said: “We appreciate all what he (the governor) has done and our prayer today is that let people who will carry all what he has started and bring it to conclusion take over from him. We are praying that God should protect and keep this great man and his wife, his family.

This state belongs to the people and God will direct. We are praying and we have never stopped praying.

“The governor has been doing marvelous work and at a point he was giving free medical treatment to mothers, less-privileged and also sponsored people who don’t know their left from their right to Israel on pilgrimage. We pray that this good works will continue,” she said.

In her reactions, the APC state Women Leader, Caroline Nagbo, thanked the women for their concerns and for identifying with Progressives and urged them to continue in the decision.She used the occasion to encourage them to ensure they participate in the voter registration/ re-registration and Permanent Voters Card (PVC), collection exercise whenever it kicks off in the state, stressing that it was the only instrument that would action to their faith and support for the party.

“I want to thank all of you for your bravery, for your courage, for your sincere love to the governor and all your prayers. One thing is to pray for somebody in your house or in your different churches, another thing is to come together openly to say we are supporting you,” she stated.

Receiving the women, the APC Chairman, Ibiamu Davis Ikanya, expressed gratitude to them for their support.

He described the achievements of the governor as an act of God, assuring that the next governor on the platform of the APC will continue to carry them along in governance.

Ikanya added: “Let me thank you for accepting to openly identify with the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State. This is happening at a time when some Christians are still hiding their heads. I salute your courage; you have not done this by your flesh.

“The governor of Rivers State has always proclaimed to the entire world that his victory at the Supreme Court and later the victory at the polls in 2011 and all his achievements are attributable to God and if you look at his billboards, he has always said that power belongs to God. “As chairman of this party and an evangelist, I can tell you for sure that God is in this matter.

People trust in themselves, they trust in their capacity, they trust in their finance, they trust in their connections, they trust in man but we in this party, we trust in the • Amaechi Most High God”, he stated.

Three for governor in Ogun SDP From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

O

GUN State Deputy Governor Segun Adesegun, Mr. Fola Adeola and Comrade Wale Okunniyi, are vying for the governorship ticket of the Social Democratic Party(SDP) at the primaries. The date for the primaries is yet to be announced by the party leadership.

Adesegun. who recently defected from the All Progressives Congress(APC) to the SDP, has said that he would contest against his boss, Governor Ibikunle Amosun, if given the ticket.

The deputy governor said the time is ripe for him to take a decision on how to “lead his followers to the promised land and move Ogun State forward.”

He said his decision is driven by the desire to protect his followers from “rotting and wasting away” politically.

But, Adesgun’s rival, Okunniyi, who was the governorship candidate of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change(CPC) in 2011, said that he is more qualified and deserving of the SDP’s ticket than the deputy governor.

Okunniyi, who rode into the home of former Governor Olusegun Osoba on horseback last week amid cheers by supporters, to announce his interest in the race, promised to govern well, if given the ticket.

Another politician believed to be also vying the ticket is the running mate to Mallam Nuhu Ribadu during the 2011 presidential election on the ticket of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Mr Fola Adeola, whose posters adorn strategic locations in Abeokuta.

It is not yet clear, if the reticent banker is keenly interested in the ticket, although his name has continued to feature as an interested party in the last eight months.

‘

The so-called merger and Mimiko’s defection to the PDP will be an added advantage to the APC in the forth coming election

‘

Afe Olowokere is the House of Representatives candidate of the All Progressives Congress(APC) for Akure North/South Constituency, Ondo State.

He spoke with DAMISI OJO on his victory at the primary election and the quest for quality representation by constituents.

Olowokere: APC ‘s waxing stronger in Ondo Y

OU are now the APC flag bearer for Akure North/South Federal Constituency. How did you see your emergence.

First, I have to thank God for sparing my life to witness this moment.Then, my appreciation to Akure people and the delegates who voted me in. This is a challenge; I will not disappoint them, for the confidence reposed in me to serve them. This is just the begining of the struggle, because we still have a long way to go and through the dedication and support of Akure people, I know we will get there to give a good representation to the constituents.

Do you have political experience for this assignment?

My foray into politics started in 1989 during the Babagida’s regime. In 1990, I contested as Councilor in Akure Local Government and won. Between 1991 and 1993, I served in different capacities such as Supervising Councilor for Health, Social Services and Women Affairs and later as legislator at the Local Government level.

Then, we were practicing the parliamentary system, but after two months, Babangida introduced the presidential system of government and by implication we became the first set of legislators at the local government level. After that, I had the grace to contest for the position of Committee Chairman, Commerce and Industry and later the Deputy Majority Leader of the House. In 2003, I was the House of Representatives candidate for the Alliance for Democracy (AD). During that period, the PDP tsunami swept off the AD from the whole Southwest and I lost my election to the PDP candidate. By the grace of God again between 2009 and 2013, I served as the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Olusegun Mimiko on Due Process; even though I was not a member of the LP. It is because he knew my antecedents and pedigree in the AD. The Governor only saw the need to appoint me outside his own party. I also served as the coordinator for Price Project Monitoring Unit in the Office of the Governor. After serving the first term with Mimiko in his first term in office, I decided to opt out of his administration to return to my party that metamorphosed from AD to AC to ACN and now the All Progressive Congress (APC). Today, I am the candidate of the APC for the Akure South and Akure North Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives and I am going to excel in the assignment with my political experience.

What is your assessment of the workings of the House of Assembly as a former legislator?

We were the first set of legislators in this Fourth Republic. We were the experimental set. At that time, we went to that House with innocent minds; gave accurate representation to the people and genuine intention to serve the people of this state. Out of the 26 members in the House, 22 of us were members of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). We had three PDP and one APP member. Despite that, we did not see the Governor as member of our party and as a result, we decided to criticize the govern-

• Olowokere

ment objectively.We were actually giving our the representation they needed.There were occasions that we had cause to challenge the policies of late Adefarati’s administrations.When policy of the government was considered inimical to the people of the state, we opposed it because we were representing the people and not the executive arm of government. As representatives of the people, we were the mouth piece of the people and not that of the government. What I see today in fairness is a House that is serving the interest of the executive arm of government led by Governor Olusegun Mimiko.It is a House that is totally disconnected from the people that gave them the mandate.

Majority of the people that are going to the House of Assembly and the National Assembly did not even know their role and the essence of being elected. The present House of Assembly has considered and joined its members as members of the executive arm and by so doing they are depriving the people of their rights and voice. Ondo State House of Assembly has become partners in looting whereas the essence of being there is to check the tendency of the executive in looting what belongs to the people.

What’s your assessment of the Mimiko administration as a former Special Adviser?

‘What I see today in fairness is a House that is serving the interest of the executive arm of government led by Governor Olusegun Mimiko.It is a House that is totally disconnected from the people that gave them the mandate’

In fairness,when Mimiko came on board after he retrieved his mandate from the PDP, he had genuine interest in serving the state and that was why people from different political backgrounds came into that government to work with him. I contested in 2007 under the defunct Action Congress (AC) and from that platform he appointed me to that position that is very sensitive. I considered that as demonstration from somebody who wanted to serve and wanted to do honest job. My experience in that office was a good one.

Throughout my service in that office, there was no time he called me to compromise any file for him. But, there were some things that were brought to that office from different ministries and agencies that I considered as outrageous. We did our jobs honestly in that office,but the man did not call to check me or question any decision we took in that office. So, the first term of Mimiko was better because he tried to do some little projects. Today, we can all see that the present government has gone to sleep. Governor Mimiko is completely sleeping in his second term. He is no longer doing anything unlike in the first term when we could point to one project or the other.

How would you rate the quality of representation at the Akure South/North Federal Constituency in the last few years?

What I understand by that question is that if somebody goes to the National Assembly and his voice is not heard there for a period of four years and no practical action or project that could be seen, one will conclude that such person does not give the people he represents a voice. What will you call that? If somebody has been in the House of Assembly for four years and he could not point to anybody that he helped to get employment. Will you call that a good representation or bad one? All these we have noticed in this federal constituency and that is why we want to effect a change and make our people happy.

I will give this question to the people to answer appropriateky at the right time.

Don’t you think the recent defection of Mimiko to the PDP will be a threat to the chances of the APC in the state?

The so-called merger and Mimiko’s defection to the PDP will be an added advantage to the APC in the forth coming election. Even before the merger, the comment of the people in town is that the PDP has been in the saddle for six years and they experienced untold hardship and oppression. They have seen the APC as alternative party. The merger has however brightened the chances of APC in the coming election. I want to appeal to all members to consider this period as time to be focused, sober, determined, disciplined and committed to winning.

We must reason together and fight our common enemy which the PDP represents. There is nothing that can be shared in zero. Our leaders must lead by example.

19

THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

COMMENTARY LETTER

EDITORIAL

Storm over Tompolo's gunboat •Granting Government Ekpemupolo's private company licence to import gunboats is subversive of our laws and dangerous to our existence

T

HE Jonathan presidency appears fixated on turning Government Ekpemupolo, aka Tompolo, into a sinister scarecrow. This is dangerous, and we condemn it.

The latest in the flagrant abuse of power, bordering on nepotism, is the allowance granted Tompolo’s private company, Global West Vessel Services, to unlawfully import warships into the country. We know that such right is the exclusive prerogative of the Nigerian Armed Forces, and not even that of the Nigerian Maritime Services Agency, which has been trying to provide a cover for the importation of the war ships.

No doubt, Tompolo, an ex-militant and an Ijaw just like the President, has enjoyed tremendous patronage under this government. But the extension of this privilege to the exclusive responsibility of the Nigeria Armed Forces is a call to anarchy, and Nigerians should rise against it.

This development becomes even more sinister, when it is viewed in the context of the volatile nature of the region; as the Ijaws, the Urhobos and the Itsekiris square up against

‘Jonathan appears fixated on turning Government Ekpemupolo, aka Tompolo, into a sinister scarecrow.

This is dangerous, and we condemn it’

one another in battle, over the ownership of the water ways and the land, in that area.

So, is it possible that, as already alleged by Ijaw rival ethnic groups, that Tompolo’s war vessels may be pressed into service by his own ethnic group, if a dispute arises?

As has been eloquently argued by Professor Itse Sagay, a constitutional lawyer, there is no provision in Nigerian Law that allows the bearing of arms by private individuals and corporate entities, to provide security services in Nigerian waters. That is the exclusive prerogative of the Nigerian Navy, as an arm of the Armed Forces of the country.

Section 3 of the Armed Forces Act, Cap A 20 of the 2004 Laws of Nigeria, provides: “The Armed Forces shall be charged with the defence of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by land, sea and air and such other duties as the National Assembly may from time to time, prescribe or direct by an act”.

Section 4 of the Act further provides: “Notwithstanding the generality of the provisions of subsection (3) of this section, (a) The Navy shall, in particular, be further charged with (i) enforcing and assisting in coordiating the enforcement of all customs, laws, including anti-bunkering, fishery and immigration laws of Nigeria at sea; (ii) enforcing and assisting in coordinating the enforcement of national and international maritime laws ascribed

or acceded to by Nigeria; (iii) making of charts and coordinating of all national hydrographic surveys; and (iv) promoting, cordinating and enforcing safety regulations in the territorial waters and the Exclusive Economic Zone of Nigeria”.

We decided to provide an elaborate quotation of the relevant Armed Forces Act, to show without equivocation that the Jonathan Presidency is on a frolic, when he unlawfully extends the exclusive rights of a major national institution, to a private company.

Such a conduct becomes a double jeopardy when it boders on the security and general well being of constituent parts of the country. As provided in the act, it requires an act of parliament to extend or derogate the powers granted the Armed Forces under the act. So it behoves on the National Assembly to rein in the executive, in this instance.

On our part, we urge President Jonathan to watch the uses to which he puts his kinsman, if he wishes to be regarded as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, instead of as a sectional leader. If he does not, then he should be ready to accept the appendage of a sectional president.

So we urge the President to immediately do away with this scarecrow; and to restore his legitimacy as the Commander-in-Chief.

Blowing hot and cold •IGP Abba must know that playing god with Speaker Tambuwal’s security is a serious constitutional crime

R

EMINISCENT of life imitating art, Suleiman Abba, inspector general of Police (IGP) reminds us of the Ola Rotimi comic play, Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again.

The way the IGP flexes muscles he does not have by law, and assumes the security of House of Representatives Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, is at his discretion, is reminiscent of a tragicomedy. He must snap out of his costly delusion — and fast!

After the unprecedented Police invasion of the National Assembly, the tear-gassing of members and the aborted attempt to keep the Speaker from the House — a clear illegality the Jonathan Presidency quickly disowned, putting the IGP on the spot — Abba’s Police appeared to have eaten crow; and tried to right, through the back door, the outlawry it had committed in the open.

It made it be announced, after Alhaji Tambuwal had emerged the Sokoto gubernatorial candidate of his new party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), that the Police would now restore his security — not as Speaker, but as APC gubernatorial candidate of Sokoto State.

The Police statement even worked the spin that since in 2011 the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) Borno State gubernatorial candidate was assassinated before the election, the Police would avert such a disaster this time round.

Of course, the Police plight was selfinflicted. To justify crass political

partisanship, even if the Police, as an agent of the state, should be neutral and fair to every party in a political dispute, IGP Abba tragically misdirected himself by misinterpreting Section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution — claiming that since Speaker Tambuwal had defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he automatically lost his seat in the House: and by extension, his Speakership.

That was arrant nonsense — and the IGP and his prompters knew it. But even if his stance were correct, it still was not his duty — the mere head of the state’s Police — to seize the constitutional duty of the courts, and start issuing illegal orders.

Still, the IGP did not only do that, to the blemish of his oath of office, he also rudely referred to Alhaji Tambuwal, in front of a parliamentary committee, claiming he did not “recognise” the Speaker.

However, ferocious public opinion, including a powerful intervention by Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, unnerved Mr. Abba. That probably forced the Police to announce the face-saving gambit to restore Alhaji Tambuwal’s security as a gubernatorial candidate, until the latest twist that he must apply for it!

But even this has further put Mr. Abba on the spot. Alhaji Tambuwal remains Speaker, de jure and de facto — even after the open criminality of the Police raiding the National Assembly to essay an illegal impeachment; and after the attempted judicial sleight of hand of trying to declare the Speaker’s office vacant, even while the case was on. Both failed.

Indeed, when he House resumed on December 16, the Speaker presided, with the Police, outside those posted to the National Assembly, banished to the first gate of the facility.

So, on what basis might IGP Abba still be withholding the Speaker’s security details, the right of his office by law? It is a monumental insult in the eyes of the law, in the eyes of common sense, in the eyes of decency. Indeed, it is crass outlawry — ironically coming from the IGP, the head of the primary state agency to enforce the law.

IGP Abba must restore Speaker Tambuwal’s security today. The Jonathan Presidency cannot continue to play games with the security of Nigeria’s No. 4 citizen. With all the power at our disposal, we say no to executive impunity against the legislature.

We also say no to the grave desecration of Nigeria’s democratic institutions, of which the legislature is the most prominent symbol. This lunacy has gone on for too long.

‘IGP Abba must restore Speaker Tambuwal’s security today. The Jonathan Presidency cannot continue to play games with the security of Nigeria’s No. 4 citizen’

Obiano and changing face of Anambra

S

IR: The end may have come for the dismal look cities of Awka and Onitsha. Both cities suffered near total neglect in the past, and were almost given up for abandoned. Neither the administrative status of Awka nor the commercial strength of Onitsha could earn them gubernatorial attention. Past governments seemed obsessed with other aspects of governance to bother with their rustic state. An out of humour critic of those administrations once called Awka a bucolic town, mismanaged by a line of do-nothing governors who wished to change its looks by standing still.

The decrepit infrastructure was not helped by the fractious nature of her politics. Needless to retell the dreary story here, but suffice it to say that it conspired with the failed infrastructure to rob the state a measure of respect in the comity of other states. It is important to mention that the lacuna in infrastructural development was not because the state could not stump up bills in transforming itself, but more for the lack of vision and political will by past governments to do so. The poor state of infrastructure inevitably encumbered development in other areas. In time, the condition conduced to criminal activities rather than stave it. The burgeoning commercial activities of Onitsha very easily exposed her to tidal surges in criminality. Awka, the state capital, held no better promise as it lacked the enablers for transformation and stifled growth in social interaction. Both repelled rather than attracted visitors. Investors whose activities should have given impetus to genuine development, nibbled at the thought of coming to the state. Those who did refused to take up residence in it. Perhaps only fly-by-night contractors and wheeler-dealer business men could brave the odds. To that extent, even a particular class of her citizens prefers to work in Awka from the comfort of either Enugu or Asaba.

The Obiano government has, since debouching on the political stage, kept its nose to the grindstone to change the old order. Today Awka, the state capital, billows in dust of reconstruction. The decrepit infrastructure is now caving in to the menacing strides of the contractor’s bulldozers. By the time the dust settles, three flyovers at Arroma, Kwatta, and Amawbia bypass would stand firm to mark Awka distinctly out. This is a precursor to building an entirely new capital city in the ancient smithy town. The huge constructions (the flyovers), though a prerogative of the federal government, when completed, will achieve two things. First, it will decongest the town and allow for free flow of traffic that is fast forming a tailback at these junctions. Secondly, it will enliven Awka and make it attractive for residents. No longer will the state capital be passed unnoticed as was earlier the case.

Already a body (Awka Capital Development Authority) has been constituted and charged with drawing up a befitting capital for the state. It was also instructed to be as eclectic as possible in harnessing ideas in order to give the state one of the best. Nothing could be more compensatory, given the wasted years.

It may not be presumptuous to say that before four years of this administration Awka, and indeed the state, will be greatly transformed.

• Ejike Anyaduba Abatete, Anambra State

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THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

20

CARTOON & LETTERS

S

IR: Recently, a video recording of a house maid inflicting unbelievable pains on a hapless eighteen months old child, whom ironically she was meant to look after, went wild on the social media. The dreadful sight of the maid pouncing and pounding on the ill-fated child, as in a wrestling bout, was met with widespread indignation across the globe. It was such a disgusting spectacle. Many who saw it wondered what on earth the child could have done to deserve such coldhearted treatment.

It was later revealed that the parents of the unfortunate child have been suspecting foul play for quite some time, based on several bruises they have noticed on the body of their child. This, of course, was why they hid a camera in the house to monitor happenings between the maid and the child.

Regrettably, child abuse has, over the years, remained a recurring blight that major global child rights advocates and groups have been working hard to deal with. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), 80 million children of 18 years below are working as labourers all over the world while another two million engage in children prostitution. Without a doubt, child abuse remains a foremost global danger to the development of children. Ugly

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Stemming the tide of child abuse incidences of callous maltreatment of children, like the one described above, still abound in a world that is gradually losing its sanity. Some of the things that constitute child abuse include maltreatment of children, sexual harassment, denial of education, child labour, intimidation and molestation, physical assaults, neglect, child labour and child trafficking among others.

Like other members of the global community, Nigeria has been involved in making concerted efforts to frontally confront the evil of child abuse. In order to provide a legal and institutional framework to confront this menace in our country, the National Assembly passed the Child`s Rights law in 2003. Most states in the country have equally domesticated the law.

In Lagos State, for instance, the Child Rights bill was signed into law on May 28, 2007. Since the law came on board, the Lagos state government has been in the forefront of child` rights protection and de-

velopment.

In order to properly stem the tide of child abuse in our country and, indeed, the world, parents, guardians and other stakeholders must work together with relevant government and non-government agencies. This is important because effecting a positive change in the condition of the children entails that everyone must stand up to be counted. Parents, in particular, must take extra precaution to ensure that those that they employ to take care of their children are psychologically and emotionally stable. It is dangerous for parents to entrust their children to people whom they hardly know much about. Similarly, parents must pay quality attention to the education of their children. The idea of engaging children in street trading and other such demeaning tendencies must be discouraged. Most parents that engage in this act often argue that they need to raise extra money for the education of their children. It is,

however, difficult to justify such viewpoint as almost every state in the country offers free education that covers primary and secondary education.

Continuous enlightenment by relevant authorities and agencies on the dangers of child abuse is equally vital. But then, as it has been previously stated, all hands must be on deck in this bid to protect and defend children from abuse.

Everyone in the society has a role to play in this respect. For instance, faith based organisations, community leaders, social activists and others must come on board this lofty campaign to respect and restore the dignity and rights of the child. The media equally has a crucial role to play in the crusade against child abuse. Communication experts will, equally, do better in doubling effort to address the menace.

• Tayo Ogunbiyi, Alausa, Ikeja

Open letter to defence chiefs

S

IR: This letter is vital to you at this moment in the background of predictions that Nigeria will break up in 2015. There is a dangerous trend afflicting the military today: politicians are gradually involving the institution in the wars they create. Before now, many people were of the view that soldiers will always rise against bigotry. But that's simply not true.

If tension could tear the military’s fabric apart before before the civil war, it can happen again.

Sirs, why should a garrison of the

military be allocated to guard the homes, entourage and kinfolks of people of influence when these personnel are needed in the field to protect national interests especially in the light of emerging internal security challenges?

Shouldn’t the government fashion out a way to give licences to retired military personnel to establish private security companies like Blackwater (a private military Army in the US that even went to foreign mission in Iraq before the ignoble shootings that led to the

withdrawal of its license) to be supervised by the Army Intelligence so that the military will be left to concentrate on their regimental duties while the private security companies go on to protect those that can afford their services?

The military over time has displayed skill and courage within and outside Nigeria. The country needs to appreciate their worth not only as the fight against the insurgency rages but at all times and its members in-and-out of service must not be left to suffer in ignominy.

Your time in office should be used to get the political class to address the needs of the military more. Past military leaders have baulked at acquiring modern armaments for fear of coups; civilian administrators likewise have either towed same line or refused to convoke bi-partisan meetings needed to help the military.

• Simon Abah, Port Harcourt, Rivers State

Still on Jega’s PVC troubles

S

IR: I wish to call on the chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to kindly ask his officials to release our voter's card in Katsina State.

Since the start of the distribution of the Permanent voter's card (PVC) this month, the exercise has been mired with irregularities most of which stems from the from inability to find the PVC. Four years since the the temporary voter's card was issued, it is sad to note that INEC has not been able to make adequate arrangements for distributing the PVCs across the nation. It will be recalled that over N100 billion naira was said to have been spent by the commission in 2011 - to make all arrangements for a free, fair, credible elections in 2015.

In Katsina for example, the distribution of the PVC was postponed three times before it finally kicked off. Now that I has started, over 1.5 million PVCs are said to be missing or at least, unaccounted for. When the exercise started, the officials only spent four days. And now that registration for those that lost their own and fresh registration have started, it has only been carried out in four places, and all the places have long queues of people aggressively waiting to be registered.

INEC and other relevant stakeholders in the PVC distribution process should get their acts together to solve this problem. Already people are insinuating that the INEC is planning to rig elections in 2015, by deliberately causing difficulties in the exercise and limiting participation.

I call on Professor Attahiru Jega to please find a way to quickly resolve the problem; I also call on Nigerians to be patient and law abiding.

• Comrade Abdulbaqi Katsina, Katsina

Jari

THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014 16

21

COMMENTS

A nation fit for heroes Email: tunji_ololade@yahoo.co.uk 08038551123, 08111845040

T

ODAY, we deconstruct our spurious psyches.

Nigerianness, an ambitious dream – now turned enduring fantasy – lugged on to the global stage by our founding fathers in the twilight of 1960, meets its nemesis in the contemporary youth. It meets its waterloo in you and me. Today, we reduce the Nigerian dream to a myth; together, we smash its shiny core to smithereens, each splinter representing a creepy portrait of you and me, and several elements of our youth divide.

The Nigerian youth is traumatized. We have lost our head; that is why we speak incoherently. That is why our sentences trail off in dissonance and confusion every time we open our mouths to protest an ill. That is why we fail to set our knives’ needlepoint where acuteness could enter astride the prick of pain; until the death…death of statesmanship, death of power, death of citizenship as we have learnt to breed it.

We speak of falling apart, breaking up, cleansing our bloodied neighbourhoods, burying our dead and uprooting the roots of discord and devastation from our clans, often in one breath. But our actions

prolong the tragedies we wish to flee. What our founding fathers struggled to salvage from the British colonialists, we as youth, return, bloodied and badly mutilated, to its savage origins.

Our descent presages that unbounded degeneracy that heralds the fiery storm of our perdition.

Murderous hate disintegrates our fatherland; humaneness and love depreciate by our lust for heartwarming riches. Honesty dies a gruesome death and diligence gives to the lure of gratifying deceit; and within the haze of such grotesqueness and vile, we seek a true hero, a Nigerian hero.

How can we dream of having a hero without the crutch of a virtuous and enabling world? We do not need a hero but a nation fit for heroes; and having created such nation, we would be in no dire need of sacrificial idealists and pragmatists we love to call heroes. Let everybody be a hero. Falcons hunt for their young; crickets make their own music, and the untended herd determines the course of its own pasture; let you and I become our own heroes.

Arrogance and contemptible naïveté makes our craven and inso-

‘Falcons hunt for their young; crickets make their own music, and the untended herd determines the course of its own pasture; let you and I become our own heroes’

H

IS father was the issue in any political discussion on Kwara State, until he gracefully bowed to the great beyond. Today, Bukola Saraki, scion of the legendary political wizard popularly called Olooye, is still the issue in the politics of Kwara. His father was the issue because none of his opponents could muster half of what he did in terms of political support and followership; none of them could establish and nurture a strong, viable political structure that could determine the pendulum of electoral victory so easily and dramatically as he did in the second republic when by a mere overnight announcement, the vote swung against the ruling NPN and delivered a resounding victory to the hitherto opposition UPN. They said so many things against him while he was alive, even though many of those who abused him then are today singing his praises. They criticised his style of consensus politicking which ensured there were no bickering as he led them to the electoral battle-field because it denied them the opportunities of ‘eating’ from post-primaries conflict. They frowned at his penchant for choosing the ‘nobodies’; men and women who by virtue of their poor economic background would never have hoped to become state functionaries, to become officials of state simply because it denied them what they thought was theirs by virtue of their wealth and privileged exposures and opportunities.

They accused him of abusing humanity because he had a large followership of men and women who understood his philosophy of structured empowerment; men and women whose lives were regularly touched by his deep heart of compassion which made him organise diverse philanthropic activities that gave him the nickname Agoro bogun bolu; the community leader who takes care of both the soldiers at the warfront and the entire populace besieged by enemy forces.

None of his opponents could do half of what he did, none of them could give half of what he gave, even when they had in abundance, none of them could go with their followers to half the length he went with his own. None of them could stay with their followers for the length of time he spent with his own; none of them could give detailed attention to their followers as much as Olooye gave his own. He served his people for years without bringing any of his children to benefit from the system. Of course most of his opponents were ‘foreign’ politicians who only came home to paste posters during election time and go back after their losses. In the real sense of it, they had nobody they could call, ‘my people’, as Olooye used to refer to his followers. ý They accused the father, and now it is the son, labelled differently as they did his father. It is not strange though, after all, the Yoruba have a saying that your enemy can never credit you with the killing of a great game. It is amusing but ridiculous. None of those in the opposition, including the

lent ruling class contend that we are incapable of such noble enterprise.

Cowardliness and incurable servility goads us to uphold the ‘truth’ as they love to see it. Who would have thought that at this time and age, we would be caught in the tangled thickets of greed, self-centeredness, retrogression and deceit?

Today’s youth like their forbears are given to bigotry…we perpetuate the worst kinds of ethnic chauvinism and idolatry you could ever think of. Driven by greed and inordinate lust for the good life, we seek the shortest possible bypass to riches. “Money talks, bullshit works,” becomes our hallowed creed; it leads us to revere criminals as our best of men even as it informs our tireless quest to circumvent the universe’s definite but slow, steady order.

We are at war with ourselves and the future of our dreams thus in spite of our fervent and inexorable clamour for change and everlasting progress, our enthusiasm is borne of the perverse, and our advancements of exasperating duplicity; never had an entire generation being so treacherous and full of illwill against itself as ours.

Goaded by platitudes and ideals that do very little to improve our circumstances and worth, we engage in a maddening march for the future of our dreams even as we become the cogs in our wheels of change; every time we get to the crossroads of change we could believe in, impotent will emasculates our zeal.

There is something wrong with the Nigerian ideal; makes it difficult to chart our way out of the bedlam of the past, turmoil of the present and barrenness of the future. Let no man, as Schiller says, too querulously “measure by a

scale of perfection the meagre product of reality” in this poor world of ours. Without doubt, Schiller envisioned the futility of such lofty expectations we have of ourselves even as we battle our inner demons.

Any individual seeking such perfection shall in no way be deemed a wise man; he shall be deemed sickly, unrealistic and innately foolish.

And yet, on the other hand, it is worth remembering that ideals do exist. Even the villainy perpetrated by our venal and dishonourable ruling class is perpetuated on the strength of ideals they hold very dear to their hearts. To every individual, his heartfelt ethic. There is no man without an ideal, however dormant or active it is, something drives an average man towards his choice of conduct as part of a human society.

Truly, without the rampart of ideals, it would be impossible for our pioneer statesmen to fight for and attain the independence we so carelessly diminish today. Spurred by heartfelt ideals, officers of the Nigerian army staged the first military coup and subsequent ones. Incensed by ideals, the country plunged into a bloody civil war at the end of which over two million civilians and soldiers lay dead from starvation and “enemy” bullets.

It was on the steep planes of ideals that the country was continually thrust through sporadic military and civilian experiments until 1993 when Nigeria’s last military head of state handed over to a civilian administration. And spurred by earnest ideals, the executive and legislative arms of government have led Nigeria from one sorry pass to another. Enter President Goodluck Jonathan, the man whom many amongst us deemed the

“ideal” man for the job. Many thought because his name is “Goodluck,” he must have good luck which would automatically rub off on us immediately he attains power. Goodluck Jonathan is in power and what manner of good luck he brings has been felt by all.

Like you and I, Mr. President is a man of ideals; thus it was from the moral ground of ideals that he budgeted about N1billion for presidential meals, removed fuel subsidy and allows a very “interesting” security situation on his watch. Being a man of ideals, Mr. President has surrounded himself with great men and women of ideals thus we have within his team, Reuben Abati, a very brilliant journalist who from a moral ground of ideals chose to smother reason and honesty to serve Mr. President, my bad, Nigeria; lest I forget Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Allison-Madueke et al; men and women of presumed worth and intelligence who are currently ruling Nigeria because it is not yet idyllically expedient to serve Nigeria.

And then we have you and me; human integers continually forced by the most expedient of ideals to endure such ruling class as we have now. It is on the strength of ideals that we evolve into what quality of youth we are now. Shall we begin to nurture such ideals that would trigger our oft hackneyed ‘revolution?’I speak of unimpeachable values and character that dwarfs our several cosmetic enterprises like our bungled “Occupy Nigeria” protest. There is little to cheer about such movement; the best we can do is to look back lustfully as shipwrecked mariners might at the disappearing shoreline while they are hurled and submerged beneath the fury of the surliest sea waves.

Bukola Saraki at 52

By Abdulwahaab Oba failed ones, grants a media interview without mentioning the name, Saraki. None of them can tell of his manifesto without mentioning the federal lawmaker. None could speak to their constituents without telling them they must deal with Saraki. Saraki, is the issue. And yet they say they want to silence a man they keep talking about!

Like some left his father because he chose the ‘nobodies’ against them, some have also left the son because he followed in the footsteps of his father. They left because of failed personal ambition. They left the same system that made them because they wanted to subdue others of lesser social status.

They left because of greed and envy, inpatience and jealousy.

Those who parted company with him did so not because of differences in ideology; no, they decided to leave his company because they cannot understand why those who were seen as having no hope to have their names mentioned among the greats of Ilorin, nay Kwara State, could suddenly be catapulted to limelight through the political structure he inherited from his father and which he has made unprecedentedly more inclusive.

Today, like his father, Saraki has organised, by popular consensus, the most peaceful, rancour free primaries at all levels in the state throwing up the people based on equity and justice. It is the only state in Nigeria without the usual political acrimonies and mudslinging. No protest, no defection from the party.

Yet, the opposition call him all sort of names to appear righteous before the ignorant among their followers and satisfy their paymasters in Abuja. We say the ‘ignorant’ because we know there are many among their followers who know these emergency critics are fake and are only enduring them to take their own share of the free money they are spending. On the D-Day, they will come to their natural habitats; that we know for sure. It is already manifesting.

None of them has done anything new to empower the people following them; whatever they are doing now is what Saraki, the father started and which Saraki, the son has continued doing unabated. And even at that, why did it have to take their breaking away for them to start helping people when all along that has been the mantra of their leader? In their days with him, they hid their wealth and pretended there was nothing on them but now that they have rebelled, they are spending money to entice the same people they had told they were poor by following Saraki.

What do they take the people for? Fools? Do they think they will not ask questions as to where they suddenly got the

money “they are sharing”? Kwarans know the truth. They know the opposition lied to them and are still deceiving them simply because they want their votes.

Some of them are making their political debut but already imposing their dummies and children at the expense of those who have laboured hard for heir party, yet they accused Saraki of imposition. He never imposed his children who are as qualified, if not more qualified, on the people. What do they take the people for? Money mongers? Okay, time will tell.

There are many issues to face instead of abusing Bukola Saraki. The Ilorin-Kabba Road is there. Ajase-Ipo/Offa road is there. The abandoned/ half done Asa Dam channelization is there. The dwindling financial fortunes of our country under an apparently inept administration is there. And of course, the over 250 kidnapped girls, not to talk of several others who have since been abducted since the start of the ‘419’ ceasefire, are still in the hands of our enemies. Shouldn’t their plight be a matter for discourse on the politics of 2015?

As you celebrate yet another birthday today, I facilitate with you, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki, political strategist plenipotentiary and worthy ambassador of Kwara State, for being a man of the moment. Congratulations and happy birthday, Distinguished Senator.

• Oba writes from Iloriný

‘There are many issues to face instead of abusing Bukola Saraki. The IlorinKabba Road is there. Ajase-Ipo/Offa road is there. The abandoned/ half done Asa Dam channelization is there.

The dwindling financial fortunes of our country under an apparently inept administration is there. And of course, the over 250 kidnapped girls, not to talk of several others who have since been abducted since the start of the ‘419’ ceasefire, are still in the hands of our enemies. Shouldn’t their plight be a matter for discourse on the politics of 2015?’

THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

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COMMENTS “When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.” - Winston S. Churchill

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And if he could go that far under his former platforms, then, common logic dictates that with support base outside his geo-political zones, the presidency is just within arm’s reach when all hands are on deck. Buhari has personal track records which could not only have been better appreciated than now when leadership has become a bane rather than benefit to the country. Buhari under President Shehu Shagari administration in the eighties successfully battled the Maitasine insurgents to a halt by pursuing the unscrupulous elements to Chad before he was called back. That marked the end of those miscreants.

Buhari remains one of the few Nigerians despite the plum positions he had occupied, who is truly modest and Spartan in life style.

He was federal commissioner for petroleum, head of state and later head, Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF). He is in a better position to fight oil theft that the current administration has been complicit. The man of change and leadership integrity seems to be Buhari.

INALLY, the die is cast! The emergence of General Mohammadu Buhari as the presidential candidate of the most formidable opposition party in the history of the country - the All Progressives Congress (APC) – has placed our collective dream for a renewed nation on a promising pedestal.

The long-held jinx regarding the tradition that no sitting presidency was ever beaten by the opposition may be broken at last.

Reason: It is obvious that Nigerians are inherently fed up with the President Goodluck Jonathan administration that has woefully failed to bring to bear the positive impact of good governance on the people.

Nigeria has never had it so egregious. With all sense of modesty, what is happening today in terms of escalating insecurity, economic downturn, devaluation of naira, ravaging poverty, large-scale corruption, largely de-motivated armed forces, endemically partisan and corrupt police institution and inexorable social upheaval are only comparable to what happened during the better-forgotten despotic Sani Abacha regime. Sadly, the memory of that inhuman government has been exhumed by Jonathan with clearly no iota of solution to these festering problems.

For 16 years of civilian rule, the country never had it so heart-rending. So worrisome is the fact that the dearth of the right opposition candidate to challenge the status quo ante has always been a major problem. The emergence of APC was initially viewed by some as something that would soon collapse.

Surprisingly, the party survived the expected hiccups on its path to participating in its first general election in the land.

Now that General Mohammadu Buhari has emerged through free and fairly transparent primaries, comparable only to the one that produced Akin Ambode, APC governorship candidate in Lagos State, hopes have been very high in the public domain that at no other time in history was the chance of removing an inept incumbent as high as now.

In the primaries, Buhari scored 3,430 votes; Rabiu Kwankwaso-974; Atiku Abubakar954; Rochas Okorocha-624; Sam Nda-lsaiah10 with voided votes standing at 16. With the erudite Professor Yemi Osinbajo now nominated as his running mate, all discord-

ant tunes should wear off in the interest of majority of Nigerians who are seeking change from the present movement-withoutmotion government.

Whoever desires an end to • Buhari Boko Haram insurgency must vote for Buhari; whoever wants a drastic reduction in unemployment rate in the country must support APC; all that are suffering under the current avoidable devaluation of the naira; the serious oil theft in the face of a sleeping president; the blooming corruption and scandalous power reforms without electricity should come out and vote en masse against the oddity that the President Jonathan administration symbolises.

Yes, the question could also be asked about what has changed in Buhari or is special about him that gives this column the assurances that Buhari is the man to take over from the incumbent and lead Nigeria to the promise land. The former military ruler, first and foremost, is contesting for the nation’s topmost position on a stronger platform than his previous ANPP and later CPC. Buhari had 12.7 million votes in 2003; scored 6.6 million votes in 2007, and garnered 12.2 mil-

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Gambari: Quintessential diplomat at 70

T is significant that few days before Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari’s 70th birthday on November 24, he was appointed as co-chair with Mrs Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State and Ambassador to the United Nations, to lead the High-Level Commission on Global Security Justice and Governance. That appointment came on November 20. The commission is to find better mechanisms to prevent and resolve armed conflicts, address the human security impacts of climate change, and prevent future cross-border economic shocks. The commission is expexted to release their recommendations in advance of U.N’s 70 th anniversary in September 2015. With membership drawn from far and wide, the array and calibre of membership of this commission is a confirmation of Gambari’s resourcefulness and acceptance in the international community.

Nearly a month ago, Gambari, a distinguished Nigerian and world citizen turned 70. His life in the past 31 years has been devoted to public service and indeed service to mankind. He needs no introduction, having held office as Foreign Affairs Minister after the collapse of the Second Republic. He holds the record of being the longest serving Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations (January 1990 to October 1999), and altogether served under five Heads of State and President. He was born in Ilorin, Kwara State, in 1944, and his aristocratic background must have played a role in his devotion to service. He left indelible imprints in the world politics and international system.

I met Gambari during my undergraduate years. I was in need of a copy of his book, Theory and Reality in Foreign Policy Decision Making. Knowing that he lived outside the country, I was faced with an uphill task. With his email address, I was able to start what is now a lifelong friendship. In spite of his stature as an international civil servant, he attended to my request with dispatch and sent the book from his US base through his son (who has since then become our reliable courier). You are bound to be touched by Gambari’s humility.

Gambari’s appointment as DirectorGeneral of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) was the

08110000117

All hands must be on deck

By Adedeji Badejo beginning of his involvement in Nigeria’s foreign policy in its entirety. To assert that he was prepared for this challenge will be an understatement, for having received M.A. and Ph.D. both in Political Science/International Relations from Columbia University, he came fully prepared. He was in this position till his appointment as the Minister of External Affairs following the December 1983 change of government by the military. His tenure in office witnessed the high point of Nigeria’s engagement in international politics, and chiefly the Dikko affair (a foiled attempt to return the erstwhile Minister of Transport, the late Alhaji Umaru Dikko to the country from London in a crate), which was handled with utmost professionalism.

Based on principle, he rejected the position of Minister of Education at the end of his tenure in August 1985 because his former bosses were still in detention.

Writing extensively on Nigeria’s foreign policy, regional economic integration and International politics, he has captured his rich hands-on experience in numerous books. As an academic, and in spite of his diplomatic calling, he has published and continues to publish articles in national and international scholarly journals.

As Nigeria’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Gambari was a senior member of the Nigerian Delegation to 10 consecutive sessions of the General Assembly (44th to 54th); he also served as President of the Security Council on two occasions (May 1994 and October 1995). He has chaired the UN Special Committee Against Apartheid, which successfully saw the fall of that long-standing social injustice and the establishment of democratic rule in South Africa.

He led several United Nations Missions, including the Special Committee Against Apartheid to South Africa and the Security Council Missions to South Africa, Burundi, Rwanda and Mozambique. Gambari also chaired the UN Special Committee on Peace-

lion votes in 2011. The votes of four out of six APC states in the Southwest will definitely go to Buhari. The votes from Ondo and Ekiti states will be shared and overall, the pendulum will massively tilt to the side of the retired general.

What prominent Nigerians say about Buhari The under-published are statements of fact about the integrity of the man that many Nigerians strongly believe will create the ‘New Nigeria’ that all of us will be proud of. No living Nigerian has been heaped with such sincere panegyrics by fellow leaders nearly three decades after leaving power. Due to the instructive messages inherent in them, yours sincerely has decided to share what he got from the social media with my readers. Enjoy yourself: “The army after toppling our democratic regime has no option but to install Buhari as head of state so as to avoid credibility problems, especially in the sight of the international community because of his being an epitome of integrity." - Ex-President Shehu Shagari.

General Muhammadu Buhari as a member of the Supreme Military Council and as Head of NNPC was by nature taciturn and introvert. But he took any work that was given to him very seriously. He is reliable as he is hardworking and honest, his path of moral probity and rectitude” Incorruptible – President Olusegun Obasanjo, in his book, “Not My Will”.

“Buhari was a big brother and a father to some extent that mean nothing in life & to the nation always other than good. So, I fear no harm from him.“ – Late President Umaru YAR‘ADUA. “Buhari was honest and sincere in all his conduct that perhaps, only very few Nigerians could match in integrity.” –General Abdulsalam Abubakar (Former Head of State.)

Keeping Operations. He served as member, Board of Trustees of the United Nations Institute of Training and Research (UNITAR) and also President, Executive Board of UNICEF. He later served as Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Mission to Angola (UNMA), and in that capacity helped to bring the peace process under the Lusaka Protocol to a successful conclusion.

Upon completion of his mission assignment as Nigeria’s Permanent Representative in 1999, the UN, in recognition of his expertise offered him yet another appointment as Under-Secretary/ Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on African Affairs. He later became the UnderSecretary/Head, Political Affairs Department of the UN- the most important office after that of the Secretary General. Gambari served the UN as Under-Secretary/Special envoy of the UN Secretary-General to the troubled Myanmar where his mediatory efforts yielded fruits, and led to multi-party democracy and the release of Aang Sun kyi from house arrest after close to two decades, and her election into the parliament.

The career of this seasoned diplomat in the UN cuts across important committees, commissions and special assignments including the chair of UN Security Council, UN committee on Apartheid, the head and special representative of UN Secretary – General to Cyprus, International compact with Iraq, UN special envoy to Myanmar (formerly Burma) and until recently joint UN-AU special representative to Darfur.

Among the highpoints of his illustrious career was his role as the last chairperson of the UN Committee against Apartheid, under which aegis he presented UN’s congratulatory letter to the legendary Nelson Mandela during his inauguration as President of South Africa in 1994. In connection with this role, Gambari was in October 2012 honoured by the government and people of South-Africa with the highest decoration reserved for foreign recipients.

He was in 2013 appointed the pioneer Chancellor of Kwara State University,

“Gen. Muhammadu Buhari was a true patriot, respected former head of state and elder statesman and a nationalist.“ -President Goodluck Jonathan.

“I have realised our collective mistake in overthrowing you. I have seen the terrible damage which our inaction caused to the Nigerian psyche. I am most sorry. Please, come and do what is best known about you - patriotic service to the nation.”–Late General Sani Abacha (During his PTF inaugural speech).

“If Buhari quits PTF job as he promises and as we knew him to mean his words, all along, I support the idea of scrapping PTF as no one else can do the job as him. I respect Buhari. He was my boss. He was an honourable man. And l can say this anywhere.“ –General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida.

“As a member PDP BOT, I decided personally to donate the N5, 000,000 to Buhari‘s campaign organization because of my firm believe in his ability to right all the nation wrongs - Alh. Isiyaku Ibrahim “The issue of Gen. Buhari‘s presidency was always being derided by the criminals who looted the nation to stupor by embarking upon a campaign of calumny so as to smear his name with a view to denying Nigerians having a leader who can improve their lots.“ –Prof. Tan David-West “If the truth must be said; Buhari remains the only real threat to PDP whether he runs for the presidency or not due to his wider followership among the masses that now hit the elite circle.”-Sen. Makarfi.

(KWASU) Malete, by Governor Abdul Fatah Ahmed, and he was a member of the just concluded National Conference. He was the first African in 1985 to be conferred with the title, Honorary Professor by Chugsan University (founded by and named after Dr. Sun Yat Sen, leader of the 1911 Peasant Revolution and first President of Nationalist China); the University of Bridgeport (USA) awarded him the Doctor of Humane Letters degree (honoris causa); the prestigious in 2002 Johns Hopkins University elected him in 2002 to membership of the University’s Society of Scholars; and the Government of Nigeria in 2003 awarded him the national honour, Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR).

His commitment to peace and security of the world inspired him to establish the Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development, a non-governmental think-tank based in Abuja, Nigeria. The centre is devoted to critical analyses of and solutions to the problems of conflict prevention, management and resolution; democratization and sustainable development in Africa.

Gambari’s greatest attributes are listening, patience, writing, reading voraciously and power of retention, humility and promotion of friendship. He has touched the lives of so many people and has made a significant difference in many of those lives, be it through mediating in conflicts or by helping to maintain the thin social fabric that conflicts so often tear apart. Gambari’s compassion and deep respect for the human person regardless of their background is widely acclaimed.

Even after my graduation from the university, I have continued to enjoy what might be considered the paternal support of this uncommon Nigerian. Ours has grown into a father and son relationship. He shared with me moments of joy and despair, especially after a recent auto accident. He not only stood by me, he rendered every support to aid my full recovery.

I must salute the humility and kindness of this great son of Africa and a distinguished Nigerian. May Allah continue to protect him and his household.

• Badejo writes from Surulere, Lagos State.

THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

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THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

THE NATION FRIDAY,DECEMBER 19, 2014

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BUSINESS THE NATION

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

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

Huawei urges SmartGrid deployment

ANAN lauded for joining IFAC

By Collins Nweze

Collins Nweze

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ORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo has commended the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (NAN) for attaining full membership of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC).

Obasanjo made the remarks while receiving the President of ANAN, Alhaji Sakiruden Labode and some council members at his residence in Abeokuta.

He described the association as very committed to the accountancy profession, adding that the association was also living up to its responsibility of setting standards in the accountancy profession.

He commended the efforts of Labode in leading the association to attaining the IFAC membership. The former president said this was an affirmation of approval of ANAN as a professional body by the government.

Labode said the association would continuously be dedicate din tis quest for quality service delivery by professional Accountants in the country. Also, ANAN donated an Accountancy Research Centre, Linking Accountancy with Business of Developing Economies (LABODE) to the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) The Vice-Chancellor, Prof.

Olusola Oyewole described the research centre as the first of its kind in FUNAAB College of Management Sciences and a significant stride in Accountancy knowledge and development.

Oyewole urged other multi-national organisations to emulate ANAN. Labode in his address, said the commissioning of the centre was in line with the association’s goal of advancing the Science of Accountancy through skill and knowledge. He said the research centre would expand the frontiers of professional Accountancy in Nigeria and the world.

ANAN also organised a long service award for 17 of its staff who served between 11and 22 years. Labode commended the staff, saying that the award was the best way of appreciating the staff for their meritorious service so that they could deliver their best.

He said the staff played a key role in attaining the IFAC membership status. saying that human capacity development was a major asset of an organisation.

On whistle blowing, the ANAN president said this was a duty to all Nigerians, adding that ANAN members had a duty to the nation and to the profession to show the way so that “you do not get your fingers burnt’’.

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•From left: Nigerian Army School of Public Relations and Information Officer, Captain Musa Yahaya; Deputy Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Tony Opanachi and Ecobank’s Brand and Communications Executive, Ola Akinnola at the bank’s cheque presentation to support Nigerian Army School of Public Relations and Information building project in Lagos.

Stockbrokers in emergency meeting as market panics

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ARELY 10 working days to the deadline for new capital base, stockbrokers are scrambling for workable solutions to stem the panic in the stock market.

The stock market had lost N595 billion within the first three trading sessions this week as stockbrokers piled up sell pressure from investors and personal trading accounts.

Chief executives of stockbroking firms met this week to discuss the current challenges at the capital market.

The meeting was at the instance of the Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria (ASHON), the umbrella body for all stockbroking firms.

ASHON has strong endorsements from the Chartered In-

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By Taofeek Salako

stitute of Stockbrokers (CIS), the statutory chartered regulatory body for the stockbroking profession and the Association of Issuing Houses of Nigeria (AIHN), the main body of primary market operators.

Reliable sources at the top-secret meeting said stockbrokers were worried about the continuing decline in the stock market, which could both undermine their personal recapitalisation plans and the emerging investors’ confidence in the stock market.

A source indicated that the emergency session, which was called within a five-hour notice, deliberated on the impending deadline for recapitalisation and further erosion of stockbrokers’ assets by the bearishness

at the stock market.

Stockbrokers were worried that the implementation of the recapitalisation deadline could compound the negative market situation as several small and medium stockbroking firms, which serve as foot soldiers to retail domestic investors, may be unable to meet the deadline. The current efforts to raise funds have been hampered by the downtrend as well as the current banking regulatory regime, which bars commercial banks from investing in unrelated financial services.

While the market downturn has been driven by foreign portfolio divestments, the sell pressure from anxious domestic investors and cash-scrambling capital market operators have exacerbated the downtrend in

recent trading sessions.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), which opened this week at N10.156 trillion, closed on Wednesday at N9.562 trillion, indicating a loss of N595 billion.

Nigerian equities had lost N814 trillion last week.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has insisted on the December 31, 2014 deadline for capital market operators to comply with new capital requirements for their various functions. The apex capital market regulator had announced major increases in minimum capital requirements for capital market functions under a new minimum capital structure that is expected to take off by January 1, 2015.

Kaduna DISCO to roll out 80,000 meters yearly

HE Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KEDC) has promised to roll out 80,000 pre-paid meters annually for the next five years.

Its Managing Director, Haruna Garuba spoke during the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) public consultation on electricity metering in Kaduna.

The forum had The Credited Advance Payment for Metering Implementation ( CAPMI) as its theme.

He said: “We have a plan to roll out about 80,000 meters every year. In Kaduna, the customer base is about 480,000. We believe it could be more than that. So in our plan, we know more houses are being built and more customers are coming on stream. That is why we have the plan to bridge the gap.”

He said under CAPMI, it is expected that customers

•NERC orders publication of load shedding From John Ofikhenua, Kaduna

should willingly make advance payment for pre-paid meter which the electricity distribution company is obliged to install within 45 days of provision of notice of payment by the customer.

But Garuba said the company will rehabilitate most of the equipment and invest in infrastructure in its electricity market that cuts across over a distance of 1,000Km in Kaduna, Zamfara, Kebbi and Sokoto states.

The NERC Commissioner, Government and Consumer Affairs, Dr. Abbah Ibrahim had earlier urged the distribution company to bridge the 60 per cent metering gap in the market.

He said: “More that 50 per cent, in some cases 60 per cent of consumers are not

metered and this led to a situation where customers are estimated.”

He also said the commission has directed the DISCOs to publish their electricity load shedding plan as from next year.

Ibrahim said: “By next year, all the DISCOs will publish and they will also announce on the television in their coverage area the time they are going to do their load shedding.”

KEDC Head, Customer Service Market, Mr. Sunday Yahaya said the company which has commenced verification of customers has installed 8,601 meters under the CAPMI scheme.

He told the commission that the challenge in the provision of meters to the customers was the large area of coverage by the company and the distance

from where the vendors transport the meters.

He added that some of the customers hardly notify the company that they have paid for the meters.

A customers who simply identified himself as Buba Umar from Kwaro, complained that his community earns low income therefore NERC should review the method of CAPMI payment, which according to him was a burden for the customers.

He urged the commission to make room for part payment, noting that since the companies are private investors, they should be prepared for long time investment.

Another customer, Sunday Olusegun complained that his electricity bill suddenly rose to N60,000 monthly in June this year.

UAWEI has said it has a wealth of expertise and experience in building better connected smart grids for electric power companies. The firm explained that its products and solutions currently serve more than 160 power companies around the world. It is also a major supporter of the Internet of Energy (IoE) project gaining acceptance across the world.

Speaking at the 2014 AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Energy Ministerial Meeting in China, the State Grid Corporation of China(SGCC)’s Chairman, Liu Zhenya, called for global efforts to build the IoE. The goal of IoE is to fully connect mart grids to provide electricity everywhere, every second, and effectively utilize every watt. IoE helps ensure safe, clean, efficient, and sustainable power supply by coordinating the generation, configuration, and utilization of electric power.

He explained that compared to conventional smart grids, a better connected smart grid have four unique features. They are interactive and compatible, enables smart dispatch and smart control, are unified and coordinated, and initiates selfrecovery.

Also, in China, Huawei he admitted, provided power transmission and transformation solution to support the Qinghai-Tibet ultrahigh-voltage (UHV) power transmission project in 2011.

The solution was implemented on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which has the highest altitude in the world, and spans across 380 kilometers without relays.

“This is the largest distance ever covered by an ICT solution for the electric power industry. Huawei also used virtualization technologies to help SGC manage more than 60,000 IT infrastructure devices, which improved infrastructure utilization by 20 to 30 percent. In Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, Huawei helped China Southern Power Grid Company Limited (CSG) deploy the world’s first LTE TDD ultrabroadband wireless distribution automation (DA) communications network, enabling high-speed and secure connections between power distribution terminals and substations,” a statement from Huawei said.

According to the report, in Brazil, the company helped Copel, the largest state-owned power grid operator in Paraná, to build a reliable IP-enabled network that supports smooth upgrades to 400G. “Adopting various reliability technologies such as millisecond-level device protection, a virtual private network (VPN), and bidirectional forwarding detection (BFD), the network could deliver 50ms fault convergence to ensure uninterrupted service availability when faults occur.”

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THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

THE NATION

BUSINESS BRANDS & MARKETING

e-mail: adedejiademigbuji@yahoo.com /mobile line: 08131075667

Alomo Bitters a herbal gin reported to have libido enhancing power is produced in Ghana, but makes huge sales in Nigeria. The manufacturer is worried that the product is being adulterated by those making a kill from it. Now, the company’s plan to have a factory in Nigeria is under threat, writes ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI, who toured Kasapreko facility in Ghana.

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HEY are the fastest bottling lines built

by Krones, a German packaging and bottling machine manufacturer, for liquor production in West Africa. The two Krone installed-returnable lines produce 30,000 bottles of liquor per hour; while the non-returnable Poly Ethylene Teraphthalate (PET) line distills 40,000 containers hourly.

“It is the fastest spirits line Krones ever installed anywhere in the world,” the company’s founder/CEO, Kwabena Adjei, told The Nation as he walked through the production lines on a newly-built cantilever hall, measuring 100 x 44 metres.

Inside the courtyard of Kasapreko facility, in Accra, Ghana, heavy trucks from Nigeria line up on the dusty road leading to the company. Loaded with Alomo Bitters, with each carton weighing 5.2 kilogrammes, the trucks embark on the 500 kilometres journey to Lagos through Achimatan, a Ghana border town, to Togo and Benin Republic, where it has been enjoying skyrocket sales over the years. “Nigeria is the second-biggest market for Kasapreko, with almost 40 per cent of its sales finding their way over the border,” one of Adjei’s salesmen whispered on the sideline of the facility tour.

The crave for this product by Nigerian consumers is not unconnected with the aphrodisiac qualities that it holds for men and women. “Nigerians mix the beverage with non-alcoholic beer. The supposed sexual enhancing properties hit the right buttons in Nigeria,” says an expert from Euromontor, a market intelligence platform.

Thrilled by the success the product enjoys in Nigeria and the growing demand by other countries, Kasapreko Company bought two new Krones lines in December 2012 to deepen its market penetration. However, with the level of investment, cutting-edge technology, Adjei is not happy with the dwindling market share in the world’s next global frontier for investment —Nigeria. As he addressed a group of journalists from Nigeria inside its boardroom where he displayed over 15 herbal brands produced by the company, and samples of the fake Alomo Bitters, his voice quivered. Looking at the sales chart from the Nigerian market going down drastically, his once-upon-atime fears stared him in the face.

With the realisation of what he dreaded most, his future plan to move his production plant to Nigeria may suffer a hitch with the current challenge his premium brand is facing there.

“Per market share has dropped drastically in Nigeria because of counterfeiting. When I started, I vowed that I will never operate in Nigeria because of faking. But we came to Nigeria. Our business was doing well until now when counterfeiting started destroying our brand,” Adjei said.

Alomo Bitters which according to findings was being smuggled into the country from Ghana before the product got NAFDAC registration in Nigeria now has properties of its brand architecture being copied. From label, container, logo, artistry, colour, brand name, some of the fake brands bear semblance with the Kasapreko Alomo Bitters.

Besides, the fake products come with 100ml instead of the 200ml produced by the company. As a result, an unwary consumers might not notice except skeptic one. “In Nigeria, people copy our mould, label, crown logo, cock crown. We don’t produce 100ml but 200ml. So, we don’t know how our product is now 100ml,” he said.

The reason for this is understandable.

Alomo is a product of research and it is blended with plant extracts that has been used for medicinal purpose. While its Research and Development teams have sound and trained trado-medical practitioners, Kasapreko brags with the fact that seven of its product herbal properties are also extracted from world 3500 documented extracts. “Alomo Bitters offers so many health benefits. We picked seven out of 3500 documented extracts by world research books for herbal plants. One of them is Mahogany

Under counterfeiters’ threat

• The Krone lines. Inset: Original Alomo (middle) flanked by two fake products.

which is used for treating fever. It boosts immune system. It also helps sexual lifestyle base on another properties. It also works for other health issues. These are claims that can be substantiated. There are clinical researches to back these claims. These were tested on animals and it’sscientific basis established. So, Alomo Bitters has gone through scientific evidence,” says Research and Development Manager, Mr. Steven Osafo-Mensah of Kasapreko.

Little Wonder, the product is said to have been researched to cure piles, body pains, menstrual pain, enhancing easy blood circulation and boosting of man power. With the ability of the brand to enhance libido in particular, its faking soared. The product led a chain effect, propelling some Nigerian companies to invest in the bitters business, producing, brands, such as, “Koboko”, “Atekanle Gbongbon” “Osomo” “Pasan.” The brand names of the made in Nigeria original herbal gin is derived from misinterpretation of the Ghanaian ‘Alomo’ which to an ethnic group in Nigeria, Yoruba, means “a Casanova or philanderer” - A smooth-talking charmer who has mastered the art of finding, meeting, attracting and seducing beautiful women into the bedroom. The names of these brands produced in Nigeria arrogates erectile ability functional value of this product whereas Alomo Bitters means friendship in Ghana.

“We call our product Alomo Bitters. Alomo in Ghanaian language means friendship,” Adjei said. As a result, the product since it came to Nigeria, gained wider market acceptance and it has stopped from being faked.

With the level of investment in production, research and development, manpower and taxes to government, Kasapreko’s Alomo Bitters is produced in small rooms and shops on the streets of Lagos. The counterfeit products bearing Alomo Bitters value creation and brand identity are: “The Prince Alomo Bitters”

and “De Kings Bitters”, They have the originals’ brand identities, such as colour, label, logo and label information in an attempt to dwindle the product’s market share which in 2011 and 2012, according to Kasapreko hovered around 80 per cent of the bitters market which value stands at N32.2 billion.

But they have not escaped the law. The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has arrested two brothers, Henry and Ekene Ezeani for alleged illegal manufacture and sale of fake alcoholic beverage, “The Prince AlomoBitters.” The agency’s operatives in Lagos impounded N25 million worth of the product during the raid. NAFDAC’s spokesperson Anslem Okonkwor said the suspects were part of a syndicate that specialised in producing fake brands of beverages, which had been under the agency’s surveillance.

“A team of NAFDAC officials led by Mr. Joseph Asikpo apprehended them while they were producing the fake products in their residence at 140, Ojora Royal Compound, Coker Village in Lagos,” Okonkwor said.

This development scared Adjei. He believes the intake of the fake Alomo Bitters by Nigerian consumers is dangerous to their health. The fake bitters, he believes,are mixtures of chemicals that can cause arm to the health. This was proved by a recent test carried out by The Nation. In the investigation and laboratory test carried out by Saturday Nation, some consumers of these herbal gin had their blood sampled and the paid lab experts who conducted the test on behalf of The Nation discovered heavy metals such as cardinum and lead in the sampled blood of consumers of fake herbal gins. Although, some of the original herbal gins tested in the lab by The Nation also recorded same dangerous properties but Kasapreko’s Director of Quality Assurance and Research and Development, Dr. David Kamau said there must

‘Per market share has dropped drastically in Nigeria because of counterfeiting. When I started, I vowed that I will never operate in Nigeria because of faking. But we came to Nigeria. Our business was doing well until now when counterfeiting started destroying our brand’

be holistic approach to producing herbal gin in order to avoid the health risk herbal gin pose to consumers health. “Herbal consumption is dangerous to health though there must be holistic approach to usage. If you don’t source your plants from the right source, you might have contamination case. If you don’t have expertise, the consumers health is at risk. We have been able to establish the toxity range in therapeutic index such that if you overtake it we know what can happen to consumers. So, moderation is needed in usage,” says Kamau.

Despite doubts about its expansion plan in Nigeria Kasapreko has found a way to protect Alomo Bitters with a new hologram that will cost a fortune to fake. According to him, the security will involve four levels all in an attempt to ensure that the consumer gets the right quality product. “We have all heard about words like brand protection. We over a year ago took a journey to Germany and came across Hologram Company, the Sleeve Seal Company, to help us protect our brand.

We know that fakers will try to confuse the consumers with fake holographic seal but ours is so sophisticated and consumers will be able to identify the original from the fake,” said the company’s Director of Technical, Holograms and Security Checks, Mr. Kwame Dickson.

However, Adjei regretted that the faking of the product because of its success and health benefits had brought the equity of the brand down. “If we don’t fight the fake, we are hurting the government because fakers don’t pay tax. We are harming the consumers because fakers don’t use good product. Some of these fake products have been tested in our laboratory and I tell you that the result is shocking and unhealthy to consumers,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Marketing Manager of Alomo Bitters in Nigeria, Mr. Peter Adegor, said the company is happy with the economic collaboration between Nigeria and Ghana.

He gave examples of many Nigerian banks, telecoms and other businesses that are flourishing in Ghana just as the Kasapreko flagship brand Alomo Bitters is maintaining its leadership of the bitters category in Nigeria despite growing competition. He stressed that since Alomo Bitters led the way for other bitters to come up, Kasapreko feels a sense of responsibility to educate the drinking populace to be careful and wary of sub-standard brands out there in the market.

THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

27

Brandnews Aircondition producing companies are striving one another to outdo by rolling out more technologically-savvy products at no additional energy cost. Samsung, LG, Panasonic and PZ Haier Thermocool are in this race for relevance. PZ Haier Thermocool is banking on its new sets of air condition to stay ahead as it marks 40 years of operation in Nigeria, writes ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI.

Cold war S

WOT analysis is not new in the marketing landscape. It is a tool for auditing an organisation and its environment. SWOT analysis is the first stage of planning and it helps marketers to focus on key issues. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

According to experts, strengths and weaknesses are the internal challenges that constrain a brand from meeting the needs of the market and make profit. Threats are external SWOT factors, such as government policies and economic downturn, among others, that impede the growth of a brand. To overcome threats, brand owners are often advised to look inward and see opportunities in what appears to be a threat.

“We should aim to turn our weaknesses into strengths, and our threats into opportunities. Then, finally, SWOT will give managers options to match internal strengths with external opportunities,” said experts.

In the air conditioning arm of the electronics market, the major competitors have had their own share of the SWOT. With financial power, strong technology, global brand status at their disposal as strength, they have been weakened and threatened by internal and external market realities, such as increasing hot temperature in living room and offices, energy cost, poor sanitation and low disposable income, among others for a long time.

While many consumers manage to bear the challenges to instal AC in their homes and offices, the use of alternative power has not really helped them to fully enjoy them.

As a result, manufacturers of ACs suffered much with loss of patronage.

Today, the AC brands’ owners have won their thinking cap.

Through investment in researches and developments, they have diagnosed the market; saw their strength, weaknesses, threats and opportunities to restore confidence in the market category, especially in a country like Nigeria where the economy is highly volatile.

The results of these market research has enhanced new value propositions which every AC brand owners are now mustering to edge one another for market share. With arrays of ACs that explore high cooling capacity, energy efficiency, low voltage operation to save energy cost, healthy air functions, healthy dehumidification capacity and lots more as value proposition, the market is now becoming receptive again.

Giving the market this breather, more households are now awash with offerings and are made to believe that beyond providing a cooling atmosphere, AC also now has an inbuilt mechanism that kills germs in their air.

However, these new found opportunities, backed by the player’s strengths (cutting-edge technology, financial power and global brand reputation) have now cre-

• Air-Conditioners

ated stiff competitions among players within the electronic market.

Samsung, Haier Thermocool, LG and Panasonic who ordinarily jostle for market dominance in others market categories such as TV, DVD, Home Theatre, Fridge, Stabiliser are now tapping into the opportunities in the AC market category after reawakening the market through quality, reliable and innovative electrical AC by harnessing cutting edge technology to address these everyday household challenges.

This surprised many brand analysts to see “some old brands that had almost gone into extinction in the market suddenly reappeared, while many new ones also found their ways into the market.”

Despite the strong brand reputations the brands command in the electronic market generally, their venture into strengthening their game in the AC category appears not enough, even though they are leaders in other electronic market category. For instance, Samsung and LG seem to be leading in the distribution of flat screen televisions but Panasonic is becoming more visible in the air-conditioning. However, LG, according to analyst, foray into air-conditioning in the market has almost turned a misadventure as the name ‘LG’ only exists in recall as far as promoters of AC are concerned in the market. Also, Haier Thermocool, came up with series of AC products during the year as part of efforts to thank Nigerians for standing by the brand in the last forty years.

Irrespective of the area of their strengths in each category of the electronic market, they all now bring new values to address the previous lull in the market. During the launch of its new set of Air conditioners under Haier Thermocool brand name into the Nigerian market, the Managing Director, Thermocool Nigeria, Mr. Panos Katsis, stated the entry of the new Air Conditioners is a result of long term research for a product that will be a one stop experience for customers.

“Research has shown that the relationship between office work performance and temperature is due to the thermal comfort level of body, when the temperature is too high or too low, the body does not perform to maximum effi-

ciency. So, the role of the air conditioner is to regulate the temperature of your environment, so that you have a better work atmosphere, to work effectively or enjoy sound sleep at home. Humidity also, plays a critical role in making an environment comfortable or uncomfortable. These new ranges of Haier Thermocool air conditioners will help to regulate and provide the right atmosphere,” said Katsis.

“In recognising the desire of Nigerians for good quality in household or office appliances; we have deliberately designed our products to meet these standards. Our customers in Nigeria appreciate our innovative, time tested approach to delivering quality experiences through our range of products. That is why we are still here and we

hope to continue, adding value especially to the Nigerian family while not neglecting their comfort,” Katsis said.

The Marketing Director, Mr. Vikramjeet Singh said the product is available in different ranges and “horse power” capacities such as: the 1-HP, 1.5-HP, 2-HP, 3-HP, 5-HP and 10-HP with value creation that address market challenges AC makers are having over the years.

“Inverter range offers consumer 51 per cent energy saving, while turbo plus offer fast cooling operation, Eco and Eco plus series offers low voltage operations. All the ranges come in various design options and equipped with copper condenser and 3-year warranty on cabinet and compressors,” he said.

Singh stated further that the innovation is driven by the threat in

the market place part of which is dynamic nature of consumers.

“However, we believe that as the market keeps changing, consumer needs also keep changing. One of the major needs these new range of Haier Thermocool Air Conditioners will be solving is the issue of electricity power because electricity is one of the major concerns we have in Nigeria. While our government is doing a lot in terms of building infrastructure for electricity generation, in the mean time, we need appliances that can withstand the low voltage supply we presently experience. To cater for this need and ensure our customers get satisfaction, all the new ranges of these Air Conditioners have been designed with features that will enable them withstand lower power voltage,” he said.

Law student wins home campus cooking contest

A

22-YEAR-old law student of the University of Lagos, Miss Temitope Oyedija, has won this year’s Onga National Campus Cooking Competition.

She carted the star prize of 2014 KIA Rio full option.

With the okro soup and garri she prepared at the grand finale of the competition held at the Indoor Sports Hall of the university, Oyedija dusted other regional winners.

The Executive Director, Commercial, Promasidor Nigeria Limited, Mr. Kachi Onubogu, said cooking is a universal art done in every part of the world. Based on this, he said Promasidor’s target is

to make the competition premium among youths.

Onubogu stated that as a national competition, the cooking contest launched in August this year was activated in 14 campuses spread across the country such that many willing students could gain access to participate.

“We are proud to have all of you here today. See yourself as a winner whether or not you clinch the star prize. As long as you are one of the 14 contestants here today, you are a winner. You will go home with a prize,” said Onubogu.

Dazed by the final result of the annual event, Oyedija, the winner, disclosed that when the competi-

tion started, she was confused over where to start her cooking from.

“I later after some minutes got my bearing back,” she stated.

Other contestants present at the Grand Finale include the first runner up, Isaac Uzoenyi, a student of Abia State University; Jessica Egbenwonu, a student of Faculty of Technology, University of Ibadan; Miss Arafat Azeez, student of Environmental Resources Management, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (UNAAB); and Christopher Xyztus, student of School of Natural and Applied Science, Federal University of Technology, Minna.

Kia Rio won at MultiChoice SuperCruise promo

A

DStv subscriber has won the first of the 20 Kia Rio cars up for grabs in the ongoing MultiChoice SuperCruise promotion. The promo is expected to run till February, which was launched last month.

The promotion allows intending and existing subscribers to buy or subscribe to win one of 20 Kia Rio cars, 100 Plasma TV screens or 30 DStv Explora decoders.

The Marketing Manager, DStv Mrs Chioma Afe, while presenting the keys of a brand new Kia Rio car to the first winner, Mr

Olateju Oladimeji, a staff of Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), at the MultiChoice Office, Ikeja, said: “MultiChoice, by this presentation, is proving to Nigerians that the SuperCruise promo is real. We are living up to our promise to reward our subscribers. Apart from the 20 Kia Rio cars, MultiChoice is also giving away 100 Plasma TV screens, or 30 DStv Explora decoders, to DStv and GOtv subscribers.”

The winner, Mr Olateju Oladimeji, thanked MultiChoice for the end-of-the-year surprise,

stating that it still felt like a dream.

Current DStv subscribers can also enter the competition by ensuring they remain connected for three months. Annual premium customers automatically qualify for the draw. Accordingly, a GOtv subscriber who buys a GOtv decoder, which was formally N5,300 for N2,900 with one month subscription and makes an additional two months subscription with the GO-recharge card, stands a chance to cruise home in one of the 20 Kia Rio cars.

28

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

THE NATION

BUSINESS

E-mail: toniaitose@gmail.com

Sms : 07035302326

SHOPPING

Website:- http://www.thenationonlineng.net

As preparations for the Yuletide gather momentum, shoppers have the option of placing orders for choice items online within the comfort of their sitting rooms, reports TONIA ‘DIYAN

Would you rather shop online for Xmas?

F OR the upwardly mobile and ever busy executive, who can hardly afford the luxury of the time required to go out on a shopping spree, especially at Christmas, the opportunity through virtual, online shopping cannot be easily ignored considering its enormous benefits.

A lady, who simply identified herself as Ewaoluwa, is a shopping freak, but detests going to crowded places. She does her shopping online and visiting shopping sites for clothes, shoes, accessories, makeup and other beauty products.

Justifying her craze for online shopping, she said: "Goods at the market are more expensive when compared to what the online stores offer and their prices usually don't correspond with their quality."

The 24-year-old became a fan of online shopping, giving reference to fashion brand, two years ago when the trend was newly introduced into the country.

She now makes her purchases on her laptop every month while waiting for retailers' holiday’s offers and Christmas discount offers, which are ongoing in all shopping places.

Since product returns are free and easy, Ewaoluwa said she doesn't mind paying the delivery charges required when online stores desptach riders deliver her items to her door step.

Like Ewaoluwa, Amara, another fashionista, has decided to stay away from markets and other crowded shopping places, arguing that visiting such places for Christmas shopping is a clear "waste of time." This simply, according to her, often involve overeager salespersons, who may not help her find the right items she needs.

"I am the type of shopper who knows exactly what I want," the 39-year-old said, adding: "I have never liked salespeople following me around. I don't appreciate that kind of service. And to make matters worse, I might not get exactly what I want to buy. " An online store, which she discovered through a magazine two years ago, turned out to offer her kind of service. With just a press on the button of her mobile device in the comfort of her apartment, Amara has found brands of accessories that aren't sold in some stores. There are several thousands of people who would rather do their shopping in their living rooms just like Ewaoluwa and Amara.

The Nation’s investigations have shown that there are people who do not know the basic steps to take in buying an item online. Some would rather call the customer care line to place orders, while others would beg that orders be placed on their behalf. But it is better to take charge whenever one visits an online store.

Just like someone would behave when he/she gets to the popular Balogun market on Lagos Island, see what catches his or her fancy and simply ask for it following simple steps. It is true that before online shopping made began in the country, the main reason people browse the internet was to search for information, send emails and do their official work.

The process of placing orders online for goods is very simple and straight forward.

Attempting a comparative analysis of conventional and online shopping, Mr. Ignatius Owen said: "Online shopping doesn't come with any stress as you can do it anytime, anywhere and at your own convenience. Still, you get value for money."

ABC of buying online Offline Manager at Jumia.com.ng, Afam Anyika, said there are simple procedures required to shop online. These include logging on to any online website by

typing the store’s name and follow other commands as may be required on the browser "Simply log on to any online shopping website by typing the store website on the browser, that is, the store name.com.ng. In some cases, choosing Nigeria on the 'choose a country'' section might be needed and if one is a new customer, he or she would be required to type in an email address and click on 'Sign Up Now'," hesaid.

The next step, according to him, "is to click on the category name on the left hand side of the homepage to view the products within categories or use the search bar located at the top of the homepage to find preferred products. “Select a preferred colour/size and then click on 'buy now, to add choice product into cart. Note that it is important to click on preferred payment option before clicking the 'Place order' button.

“It is time to fill in contact and delivery details, then click 'Save And Continue'.

Choose a preferred payment method after the buyer must have chosen goods. It could be delivered anywhere, using different methods. Cash on delivery or the free returns & exchange methods. At this stage, the order is complete; an order number will then be generated for the customer with which he or she can use to track the order," he explained.

He continued: "It is important to click on 'Proceed To Checkout', tab to complete the buying process. At checkout, the buyer will need to fill in personal details and shipping address if he or she is a new customer.

"However, it is important not to hesitate to contact customer care via email, Facebook, Twitter or Google+ in case a buyer encounters any problem while placing order."

Corroborating Anyinka, an online store worker, Tomiwa Oladele, noted that all a prospective seller or buyer is required to do are simple basic steps. Tomiwa works at Kaymu.com.ng, an online shopping portal, "It is easy to find the product one wants by using the search box at the top of the homepage or the category tree on the left.

Then use the filters on the left to choose preferred brand, colours and price.

“The next step is to select payment and shipping method and click on the 'confirm' button to confirm purchase. A buyer can either choose cash on delivery or any of the other payment options after which, a confirmation email will be sent to buyer to validate his or her order as well as the seller details.”Oladele said.

A customer support worker at dealdey.com, Toyin Adeyeni, told The Nation Shopping that what to do when trying to buy goods online is to understand the basic rudiments.

"All it requires is to type the store name on the browser click sign up, fill the form and register, after which the buyer signs in with details (username and password). It is time to click on preferred deal and buy, redirect-

• An online store

ing the buyer to his or her cart. If the buyer wants to continue shopping, he/she should click on the continue shopping button, if not, he can proceed to payment.

"It is important to know that proceeding to ‘payments’ takes buyer to the different payment options available where he or she is asked to select preferred payment option (if money is in wallet, a buyer is expected to select wallet) and follow the instructions to complete order or such persons can make online payment from bank accounts using ATM cards such as Verve, Master-card or Visa card.

Buyers can also pay directly into the company's accounts.

"Once confirmation of payment is received, the buyer's wallet will be credited and he/ she will be notified of credit after which buyer can sign into Dealdey account and click on 'buy' on desired deal to make a purchase and complete order,"she said.

However, buyers such as Ewaoluwa and Amara are among those sustaining online retailers in this part of the world since it started about two years ago.

Bridging the digital divide With a population of 170 million, 130 million active lines, 66 million of which are used to access the internet, Nigeria is the biggest internet market in Africa. Between 2000 and 2013, internet penetration grew from a paltry 0.06 per cent to 38 per cent. Teledensity is now 93 per cent and there are indications that the trend will continue well into 2020.

The country will remain the largest internet market on the continent in the near future because it has a large youth population (one-third of the population is between the 10-24 years age bracket) and a growing middle class (estimated at 23 per cent, approximately 39 million-of the population according to Renaissance Capital in 2011). Nigeria has a large number of the two classes of individuals, which traditionally drive internet usage. They are the middle class and the young people.

The size of this market makes it a fertile ground for online business, internet advertising, software sales and Internet service providers.

Benefits of online shopping Shedding more light on customers’ patronage of online platforms, the Managing Director of Kaymu.com.ng, in Nigeria, Evangeline Wiles, said the enormous growth rate being recorded on the e-commerce sector, about N1.3 billion per month, is driven by the middle class.

Wiles said the growth of online based transactions in Nigeria records over $2million, about N320 million per week and about N1.3 billion a month from the 38 per cent of Nigerians, who prefer to buy products through the internet.

He noted that as Nigeria continues its movement towards a digital economy, online transactions are expected to reach N1 trillion, boosting the cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), aimed at reducing cash-based transactions.

He said: "Online marketing offers a level playing ground for large businesses as well as small and medium scale businesses to operate in the global market place and for regional businesses and communities to participate in social economic and cultural networks across the globe. With the growing successes recorded in the country's e-commerce space contributed largely to the middle class of the economy, the low income group is also a potential target for business investors and mass products."

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) also report that almost 40 per cent of all internet traffic from Africa comes from Nigeria, thus, rating the country as Africa's largest mobile and internet market.

Nigeria takes over from Egypt and Morocco, which have been among the highest internet user rates in the region, with Egypt having about 12.6 million people with access to the internet while Morocco has 10.3 million.

Considering the immense economic potential Nigeria has in terms of sheer market size, it is the contention of analysts that the online shopping platforms would continue to grow in leaps and bounds as long as the adoption of social media as a viable market platform.

Is your home dressed for the season?

C

HRISTMAS is around the corner and dressing up your homes this time is fun and exciting. Just bring the colours, the bells and festivities together to get into the mood.

Preparing everything in advance is important, so, get into the spirit of the season by decorating your homes. While you are at it, remember to always have a common Christmas theme all over your home. In this case, let your colours go with your theme.

Clean up spaces for your decorations.

Detoxify over stuffed corners and put away things that gather dust. Start by accessing the area where you will place your Christmas tree and other decorations.

By Tonia ‘Diyan

Clean up your furniture and window blinds and make them ready for a Christmas makeover.

The front door to the living room should be the centre of your decoration. This will invite people to your theme. Since your living area is where you receive people, it should get the most attention. Place flowers that remind you of Christmas all over the house whether they are fresh or artificial.

Place Teddy bears and dolls all over your house, especially if you have children, they look like they are celebrating with you.

You can either group them together or

place them around your Christmas tree.

It will be more fun if you can dress them in Christmas clothes. Decorate your doors and windows with colourful papers and lights.

Christmas books can be placed on your side tables to commemorate favourite Christmas stories and entertain visitors; likewise picture frames and albums with last year’s Christmas pictures and even more vintage ones.

Your dinning space should not be left out; use bright colours and name it ‘my Christmas dinning set’ for this season.

Bring out your best dinnerware because sharing meals with family, friends and •Continued on Page 37

Newspaper of the Year

AN EIGHT-PAGE PULLOUT ON THE SOUTHSOUTH STATES

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

PAGE 29

IJ AW LANGU AGE IJA LANGUA

REX LA WSON LAWSON

CR OSS RIVER CROSS

IN some schools, it is a punishable offence to speak local dialects during school hours as pupils and students are forced to learn and speak in tongues other than theirs. Ijaw is one of the languages facing extinction. The government is on a rescue mission.

THE governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Dakuku Peterside, has promised to immortalise the Buguma-born music icon and South-South culture ambassador, Cardinal Jim Rex Lawson.

The emphasis on oil as the country’s economic mainstay has left other areas largely unattended to.

The service sector has received little attention, despite its huge potential. Cross River has, however, taken a major step in making its economy service-driven.

•Dickson

•PAGE 35

•PAGE 33

•Peterside

•PAGE 32

•Imoke

‘They slaughtered my wife, three kids’ •Widows, widowers, orphans of Boko Haram recount ordeal

‘

My wife and three children were slaughtered and my house and properties were burnt. This left me restless for months. I was behaving like an abnormal person I was one of the victims of Boko Haram in 2006 when the activities of the sect was not widely pronounced as it is today. The worst thing is that I was coming back from work when the incident occurred •Two widows reliving how their husbands were killed

A

POSTLE Eugene Ogu, the General Overseer and Founder of Abundant Life Evangelical Mission (ALEM), Port Harcourt, Rivers State is a man of many parts. He is a religious leader, philanthropist and a social critic, who does not allow his position to affect his views and comments on national discourse.

Beneficiaries of his compassion

From Shola O’Neil and Precious Dikewoha, Port Harcourt

see him as great man of God who lives his life for the poor. His church members, who fondly refer him as ‘G.O’, see him as a committed shepherd, who is willing to lay down his life for the sheep.

These attributes of the former Chairman, Rivers State chapter of

the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) were reaffirmed last Sunday when the church held a special service for widows and orphans. The event, a special service called “G.O Special Service With Widows and Orphanage”, as its name implies, was for women, children and youths, who lost their loved ones in gruesome manners – they were burnt and slaughtered in the most bestial way by reli-

gious fanatics or communal crises across the country.

Speaking with Niger Delta Report shortly after the service, Apostle Ogu said the event was an annual celebration in ALEM organised to provide a platform for widows, orphans and the needy to come together in the house of God to give thanks to the Almighty God and to also appreciate God for his life.

‘

“It is also an opportunity to make a sacrifice and to give to the less privileged in the spirit of season.”

The special service attarcted victims of Boko Haram, which has taken over parts of the North. In the congregation were beneficiaries of Apostle Ogu’s benevolence .

• CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

• YOU HAVE STORIES FOR US? PLEASE CONTACT US ON 07066954441 OR 08123521990

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THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

NIGER DELTA REPORT COVER

NIGER DELTA REPORT FEATURE

‘They slaughtered my wife, three kids’ •Continued from page 29

T

HEY came with heartrending tales of terror, orgiastic killing and destruction of lives and property.

Apostle Ogu, whose house in the North is housing some of the victims of Boko Haram onslaught, has helped to dig boreholes and build schools in several places. Notable among his interventions in North is the Arm of Hope Grammar School, Dogo Nahauwa, Plateau State. The school was built from foundation by the Arms of Hope Word Outreach and also executed water projects in Mangu in Plateau as well as Oboho and Obio-Akpo in Imo and Rivers states. His scholarship scheme has also benefited about1,200 students from various parts of the country, including members of very prominent churches in the various zones of the country.

He told Niger Delta Report: “We have given subventions to patients in the hospitals; when you go to most Nigerian hospitals you will realise that most of the patients there have been treated for surgical operations, amputation etc. Some of them have been treated and ready to be discharged but the bills are so high that they cannot be allowed to leave - they are being held hostage by medical bills. When you see the psychological effect their circumstances create on them, you begin to wonder what kind of country we live in. When we find out these situations, we pay their hospital bills, take them home and give them money to start something with. In some cases we give their children scholarship and these are ongoing.”

Some of the guests at the thanksgiving service came in appreciation of Apostle Ogu’s good deeds and the impact his philanthropy has had on them. They said they came to Port Harcourt to tell the world how much the General Overseer loves them.

Some of the heartfelt stories, especially the horrible experiences of victim of religious crisis broke down the congregation’s emotions, leaving most of the church members shedding uncontrollably tears.

Testifying before the congregation, Miss Charity Konu, one of the orphans from Dogo Nahawa, said her parents were slaughtered and their house was burnt down during the infamous raid in their community several years ago. She said but for the intervention of the ALEM life would have been worthless.

“I had no place to go or who to run to. I became helpless and hopeless until Daddy (Apostle Ogu) visited my home town and demanded to see me. He clothed me and gave me life again. He didn’t stop there; he built the Arm of Hope Grammar School for the less-privilege and or-

•Displaced people with Apostle Ogu

•Apostle Ogu

‘

I have seen millions of people suffering and neglected by government and by people who they voted to represent them. I have no other choice than to help this constituency; I live my life for this people

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phanage. That was how I started school free of charge, as I am talking to you now I have been given scholarship by him from secondary school to university level. Daddy, I don’t know how to pay you back, but because you have decided to carry our cross God will bless you and also carry your cross.”

A widower, James Obodu, recalled how he lost his wife and their three children to insurgents while he was

•The school the Apostle built

returning home from work: “My wife and three children were slaughtered and my house and properties were burnt. This left me restless for months before Apostle Ogu gave me life again. I was behaving like an abnormal person due to the replaying of memories of what I saw. Even the government of the day did not provide succor to us but we were allow to die with our pains.

“I was one of the victims of Boko

Haram in 2006 when the activities of the sect was not widely pronounced as it is today. The worst thing is that I was coming back from work when the incident occurred. So, I was left with the cloth I was putting on that day. To be frank, the General Overseer was the only source of hope for the victims during those period, today we are here to celebrate with him at this special service with the widows, widowers and orphanage so that

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for online clients.

“Branama Kitchen is still going on, just that it is now operating online. The building itself has nobody but that does not mean it’s been closed, ‘’Momoh said.

He added that people still called for delivery and catering services, and that he has not been available to oversee the affairs because of his busy schedule.

Teddy said since his wife’s death, he has been trying to find his feet back and as a result, he would not be able to manage all her ideas.

He also said he hoped to move

“Branama Kitchen’’ to Delta State, where her family is, so that they could also help key into her vision.

“I have been busy trying to get back on my feet. I don’t really have people to run the place, but “Branama Kitchen’’ will be relocating from Lagos to Delta because I want her parents to share in her dream, ” he said.

The late singer died unexpectedly in the United States where she had gone to promote her career. Her death took the industry by storm.

Her marriage to Momoh was her second. Her first marriage collapse due to irreconciliable differences.

had chosen and used to help those abandoned by their kith and kin, their governments and the society.

Apostle Ogu, who sat through the testimonies with very little visible emotion, later told his congregation and guests that whatever he had done was the least he could do. He said he couldn’t live a life without giving hope to the hopeless or putting smiles on the faces of those who have been rejected by the society and their gov-

When ex-militants anger boiled over

Kefee’s Branama Kitchen for Delta FTER the death of Nigerian gospel singer, Kefee, there have been concerns over her music and “BranamaKitchen’’, which she established some years before her death.

There were reports making the rounds shortly after her death that the Maryland office of her restaurant was under lock and key.

But the husband of the late singer, Teddy Esosa Don Momoh, has explained that the business is still in existence.

According to Teddy, his late wife’s kitchen is still in operation, but only

the congregation will know that he is the hope of the hopeless.”

Another victim, Mrs. Patience Otutu, a widow, recalled with emotion how her husband was buried alive in one of the raids in Borno State.

She said all hopes were lost until the ALEM Founder gave them hope; he paid her medical bill when she was sick and assisted her children to go back to school. She prayed to God to continue to bless the man who He

ernments. He said it was very easy for him to give to the poor because of his own past and his background. He said it was his constituency and he enjoyed it whenever he realises that he is identifying with the poor.

He called on the government and his colleagues in the ministry to do more for the society. He remarked that the government had not done enough to assist the less-privilege in the society.

“Today is a special service for the less-privileged, the testimonies you are hearing here today is the source of why I am doing more because some people have stood beside me. I am not afraid to do more for the lessprivileged because they are part of me. Our government has not done enough to assist these classes of people; even some men of God in the ministry are busy for the material things in this world. But my life is worthless without helping others. The essence of life is to make life comfortable for others.”

He said his personal experiences during several visits to the crisis areas in the North convinced him that the administration does not know the degree of the crisis raging in that part of the country.

“It is clear that many communities that have been attacked, the victims do not have any feeling that there is government in place. In other words, the ones we know are the ones that the press reported. There are many deserted communities that the Federal government does not know about, because nobody or the press visited the scene of the incident. They are communities in the rural areas, but there is much more about communities where people have been killed. But the government does not know anything about it. I speak as a servant of God that the government of today lack the capacity to address the present day challenges of Nigeria.

If nothing is done to overcome it, then this country is in a serious problem.

“I am doing what I am doing today because I suffered like them. As a child, I went through difficulties in life. I saw my mother who was the breadwinner of the family at the young age died. I was left to suffer. I slept in the carpenter table for four years and four months with nobody to help me. I will never forget the constituency I am coming from, the constituency of the poor, the neglected and the hopeless. And today I have seen millions of people suffering and neglected by government and by people who they voted to represent them. I have no other choice than to help this constituency. I live my life for this people.”

The highpoint of the special service is the distribution of Christmas gifts, including food items like rice and yams to the widows, orphans and the less privileges, prayer for the General Overseer, thanksgiving and testimonies.

T

HEY vented their anger on the East-West Road. There were scores of them.

They claimed to be ex-militants from the Niger Delta whose allowances are not being paid.

The ex-agitators were said to have barricaded the Patani axis, a boundary town between Bayelsa and Delta states.

They were said to have caused gridlock on the popular expressway, a gateway linking the South-South with other zones of the country.

It was gathered that the demonstration started early in the morning and was still ongoing at about 2pm.

Road users were said to have been stranded because of the gridlock caused by the protest.

An ex-militant, who gave his name simply as ‘General’ Johnson, told our correspondent on the telephone that the protesters were ex-agitators from Delta State.

Johnson said they were protesting the non-payment of their two-month allowances by the Federal Government Amnesty Office for October and November.

He asked the government to fulfill its obligations to the former agitators to avert future protest.

Also, Quincy John, a student of Delta State University, Abraka, said the trauma that characterised the long hours of gridlock was nasty.

“We were trapped in the traffic congestion for close to seven hours. We were afraid that the protesters might turn violent or resort to criminality. My parents were confused andI have been receiving ceaseless calls from them,” John narrated.

When contacted, Coordinator, Joint Media Campaign Centre, Joint Task Force (JTF), Col. Mustapha Anka, confirmed the protest.

Anka said the outfit detailed its troops from the 222 Batallion to the scene of the protest.

He said the troops appealed to the protesters to remove the barricade on the Patani overhead bridge and urged them to follow due process in their agitation.

He confirmed to our correspondent that by 2pm, the protesters had vacated the road and the protest was over.

Ijaw Bebe Tolumo: Dickson’s tonic to save Ijaw language I

N some schools, it is a punishable offence to speak local dialects during school hours as pupils and students are forced to learn and speak in tongues other than theirs. Ijaw is one of the languages facing extinction.

Little wonder, the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) listed the Ijaw language as one of the 3000 languages that will soon go into extinction.

The Commissioner for Culture and Ijaw National Affairs, Dr. Felix Tuodolor, gave an insight why Ijaw was among the languages in the endangered list of UNESCO. He observes that the younger ones are unable to communicate effectively in their mother tongue. He notes that persons who attempt to speak Ijaw in schools are always denigrated or mocked by their colleagues.

He further says that the trend in which English or its corrupt form, pidgin, is the lingua franca, has suppressed the development of the Ijaw Language.

Besides, Tuodolor, believes that the Federal Government through its policy has contributed in dealing a deadly blow on the Ijaw language.

He says: “Nigerian state has been unfair to the Ijaw Language as it has promoted other languages that were at par with the Ijaw language at the expense of the Ijaw language.

“Before and immediately after the civil war in Nigeria, four languages were used for daily translation of the National Network news on Radio Nigeria. These were the Hausa, Yoruba, Ibo and Ijaw.

“Today, there is national legislation making Hausa, Yoruba and Ibo as part of our national lingua Franca and are taught in schools and examined as major subjects by WAEC, NECO and Nigerian universities as degree courses while Ijaw is not taught in public schools not even in Bayelsa State.”

Tuodolor laments a clear decline in the number of fluent Ijaw speakers and absence of Ijaw literature and language teachers. He, however, maintains: “But the Ijaw language belongs to us. It is our heritage, the language our ancestors and our original language of thought”.

He adds: “This language is deaf to us because of the history, characteristics, collective identity and uniqueness it bestows on us. Without our language, we will be lost as a people”.

To save the dying language, the Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Seriake Dickson, immediately he assumed office in 2012, approved the learning and teaching of Ijaw language in schools. He went a step further to direct the Ministry of Culture and Ijaw National Affairs to develop scholarship and research for the sustainable teaching and learning of the language.

The culture commissioner and his team came up with the Ijaw Bebe Tolumo programme. Ijaw Bebe has the objectives of developing, promoting and encouraging the teaching and learning of Ijaw language in schools and homes. It also aims at training sufficient Ijaw language teachers; producing texts, literature in Ijaw language and producing a composite Ijaw language dictionary.

The Ijaw Bebe is also expected to develop Ijaw language to be taught and examined in junior/secondary schools, diploma, ‘A’ Levels, degree and higher levels and develop a standard or common Ijaw language

•Dickson From Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

for all Bayesans.

Recently, in a ceremony that was held at the Ijaw House, Yenagoa, the Ijaw Bebe programme was launched

by Dickson. The launching created excitement among the language experts and scholars who attended the event.

Some of the dignitaries who witnessed the launching are the Amayanabo of Twon Brass, His Majesty, King Alfred Diete-Spiff, Chief Chika Okpala, a.k.a. Chief Zeburudaya and Nollywood star, Mr. Pete Edochie.

Explaining further, Tuodolor said the objectives of Ijaw Bebe were outline against the backdrop that before any language could be learnt or taught in schools it must satisfy four criteria of the National Council on Education (NCE). He named them as approved orthography, approved curriculum, approved language books and trained language teachers.

On orthography which is the standardized system of writing the different languages for the production of literature or texts, he said the state already has the Nembe, Izon and Epie orthographies citing the works of Prof. Kay Williamson.

He said the ministry in conjunction with the Niger Delta University also developed the Ogbia orthography in 2014.

He said the Ministry of Education got the Izon curriculum which is one of the requirements approved in 2003. He said though the curriculum was left unpublished, his ministry had published and got it ready for use in primary and JSS. He said the ministry was in the process of translating the curriculum to Epie, Nembe and Ogbia.

Tuodolor explained that the ministry in collaboration with NDU set up five language committees with the task of planning, writing and translating books to Kolokuma, Epie, Ogbia, Nembe and Mein dialects.

“So far, 43 language books including mathematics and readers approved by the Ministry of Education have been printed. These books are produced from the same source and standardized so that every child learns the same thing in his or her dialect across the state”, he said.

On trained language teachers, the commissioner said NDU was mandated to facilitate the training of teachers. He said so far about 43 teachers had graduated from the Diploma programme while 28 another 278 are still in training adding that 87 of them will be graduating in December. He disclosed that the training is bankrolled by the government.

“With these efforts we are happy to announce that we have fulfilled or met all the requirements of NCE for the learning and teaching of Ijaw language in our schools. Ijaw Bene Tolumo pilot project is commencing with three selected schools in each local government areas. The number of schools in the LGAs will be increased as more teachers are trained.

“This is a feat for which the restoration government should be applauded for ensuring that it matched words with action. As a government we will continue to promote the speaking of Ijaw language by complementary activities such as inter school debate, quizzes, cultural competition, observing Ijaw-speaking day, Ijaw films, Ijaw music and developing learning centres for adults”, he said.

He, however, said the Ijaw Bebe programme would not achieve its desired objectives if parents and community failed to play their roles.

He said parents and guardians could complement government’s efforts by speaking the Ijaw language at home and in communities.

He said: “English or French are foreign languages while Ijaw is indigenous to us. The question l always ask our people who are monolingual and brags of their English proficiency is, “if the Englishman takes his English language from us, what will we be left with?’.

“If it happens, some of us will be communicating by signs only. By introducing Ijaw Bebe Tolumo, government is laying the foundation for learning and promoting our languages and restoring our cultural values as Ijaw people. We are desperate about it”.

On his part, Dickson who was elated at the success of the programme on presented cheques worth N16.7million to scholars studying Izon language under the Ijaw Bebe pilot programme.

THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

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NIGER DELTA REPORT FEATURE

Calabar lights up with Safari Awards C

ALABAR, the Cross River State capital, was alive with the famous Safari Awards 2014 put together by Accorage Entertainment to celebrate young people from the Southsouth.

Head of Accorage Entertainment, Mr Eyo Ita, said the objective is to empower the Nigerian youth and the young at heart in practical ways by creating a celebrity platform to reward their entrepreneurship skills and enterprise level.

“Our purpose is to reward their various contributions made to Southsouth and beyond.

“It is as a result of this initiative that a lot of corporate individuals, companies and government have come to associate with us,” Ita said.

He said the latest edition of the annual event which has been on for 10 years was unique because its transparency. “It is the only corporate social award in the region where the public is allowed to participate in choosing the winner by voting,” he said.

Ita said Accorage was a strategic entertainment company primarily targeted at youths and through a

ADD PICTURES From Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

keen understanding of young people, is able to connect with them effectively.

“Our sole objective is to rebrand the entertainment industry in our region and encourage young talents within our reach,” he said.

The event which was hosted by an inmate in the Big Brother Africa “The Chase” reality television show, Bassey, at the Transorp Metropolitan Hotel in Calabar was made lively with various musical performances and comedies by various artistes.

In the Excellence Award categories Safari Man of the Year went to Mr Scott Tommey, Chief Executive Officer of Seina Marine. The Young Person of the Year Award was given to Mr Moses Siasia, Managing Director of Mosilo Global, while the Entrepreneur of the Year went to Mr Allen Onyema, lawyer and CEO of Foundation for Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria (FEHN) and Air Peace.

Others in the Excellence category include Zenith Construction

(Construction Company of the Year), Awade Friday aka Last Prophet (Young Comedian of the Year), Mrs Anne Nwokoro (Fashion Icon of the Year) and Ekpenyong Ekpenyong (Young Creative Person of the Year).

Other awards in the Competitive Award categories included Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Most Stylist Male, Safari Face, Next Rated Act of the Year, Most Stylist Female, Queen of the Year, Safari Rookie, Student Celeb and Best DJ. Siasia who felt elated with the award noted that movers of economy around the world are young people.

He said in the country today one of the sectors engendering the growth of the local economy was the creative industry, which he said must be encouraged.

Also Onyema, who spoke through a representative, Dr. Emmanuel Umana, encouraged young people to believe in themselves and do whatever they know how to do to the best of their ability.

•Moses Siasia (L) receiving his award at the Safari Awards 2014 in Calabar

•Bassey of BBA (L) with Mr Eyo Ita, Head Accorage Entertainment

Our roads have no maintenance contracts, says NDDC

M

EMBER representing Cross River State on the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Mr. Paul Adah, has said the commission does not make provisions for maintenance of roads it has executed.

Adah said to that extent, the commission ensures that the qualities of road constructed under its supervision are made to be durable to stand the test of time.

He said this at Utugwang in Obudu Local Government Area of Cross River State during the formal unveiling one of the road projects constructed by the commission in the south, central and northern senatorial districts.

The road projects which span over

From Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

12 kilometres included the UtugwangHRH Agba-Ukpirinyi road (1.25km), St Theresa-Kakum road (1.5km) Ukwel-Obudu-Bebuagba (1.5km), Ashikem-Ufono-Bebuastwan road (2km), Bebuabong-Kakum village square road (1.5km) and BabuagbaKatung road (1.5km).

The commission also unveiled the Calabar Municipal solar power light project in State Housing Estate, Obubra solar power street light, Etung Comprehensive Health Centre in Okoroba village, Yala solar power street light, Oba village solar power water project of 25 gallon capacity, among others.

According to Adah, the roads constructed by the commission can be used for over 20 years without any maintenance due to the thickness of the asphalt and quality of work done.

He said, "NDDC has no provision for maintenance of road. That is why from the beginning of the road project we make sure that we do quality roads that can stand the test of time. For instance, these roads being commissioned are solid and it will take over 20 years before maintenance is carried out."

While noting that the costs of one kilometre of road construction vary, Adah disclosed that the average sum per kilometre in the projects already executed is around N150m.

Adah urged community leaders and the youths against the burning of used tyres on roads as it could reduce the life span of the road.

He also urged members of communities where projects are sited to monitor the quality of work being done by contractors in order to ensure that durable facilities were delivered.

The State Director of NDDC, Mr. Frank Isaiah, said the commission would only continue to carry out more projects in communities if the ones already provided were maintained.

He said the commission initiated 15 projects in Obudu, adding that nine has so far been completed for public use while others are still under construction.

Isaiah added that NDDC would continue to expand the road network in the rural areas in order to ease movement and commerce.

Also speaking, chairman of Obudu LGA, Mr. Emma Ugbe, promised that the facilities would be protected by the various communities where they are sited.

Paramount Ruler of Obudu, His Royal Highness, Joseph Davis Agba, said the road constructions were fulfillment of government's promise to open up the rural areas.

He commended the state NDDC representative for his foresight in location of projects being carried out by the commission.

Jonathan, Amaechi eulogise Numbere

P

RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Rotimi Amaechi led other dignitaries to pay their last respects to the late International Director of Greater Evangelism World Crusade, Port Harcourt, Apostle Geoffrey Numbere.

They spoke during the burial ceremony of the late Numbere, which took place at Church headquarters of Greater Evangelism World Crusade, Rukpokwu, Port Harcourt. They described him as a great man of God who was among those that contributed to the democratic process in the country.

Jonathan, who spoke through the Nigerian Ambassador to Scandinavia, Ambassador Godknows Igali, said Numbere's death was a huge loss to the nation.

Jonathan said the late apostle was close to his family, adding that "the Federal Government will do everything within its capacity to sustain the legacies left by Apostle Numbere".

Amaechi described the life and vision of the late Numbere as a divine mission meant to raise evangelical Christians for Christ across the globe.

The governor said the reason for Numbere's death is best known to God, pointing out that whatever, the

From Clarice Azuatalam, Port Harcourt

reasons are, nobody can question God. The governor said: "The death of Numbere is very significant to us, that is why, I find it necessary to be present here in the church. My party members (APC) and I have been in Lagos, but I have to leave them to join you here in Port Harcourt. That shows how important Apostle Numbere is to the state.

"We all expected that these men of God, who seek for righteousness, should have lived longer. I think, God has a reason for giving Apostle Numbere the glorious home call.

Whatever it is, we cannot question God, but to worship Him. When things that we cannot explain happens, we are tempted to question God." Amaechi condoled with the family on the deep loss of Numbere and prayed God to give the family the fortitude to bear the loss.

He further described him as a Christian who lived a life that could be compared to the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, as his

early Christian life in Rivers State triggered the emergence of Pentecostal churches in the state and beyond, urging "the church to shepherd the large crowd of members he left behind."

Former Minister of Aviation Alabo Tonye Graham- Douglas described the late Numbere as "an incorruptible man of God, and unblemished promoter of the word."

Graham-Douglas, who lamented the death of the apostle, said it has left a big vacuum in the society but he expressed confidence that the man of God has finished his assignment on earth hence he had to return home.

His Royal Majesty, Kali Obuge of Abua Kingdom noted that the late apostle has left an indelible mark in God's kingdom, calling on men of God and Christians to follow the examples of Numbere.

He said: "If as an individual and at that early age when he became bornagain Christian, he could achieve this, then everyman of God and believer is challenged by this young man's example."

In his sermon, Rev. Dr Mike Oye urged Christians to be obedient to the Lord and avoid compromising their holiness.

Oye also admonished the family of the late Numbere not to mourn but to rather rejoice "that a Saint has passed on to glory" "We rejoice in the miracle that transforms a sinner to a saint" adding that the Apostle Numbere as an ordained Prophet received the holy spirit and he was sanctified for this assignment because he knows the mission and wanted to fufill the mission."

He urged the church to emulate the legacies and the good life style of the late Numbere.

During the exhibition of the works and times of the late apostle in Port Harcourt, which was part of the activities marking his burial ceremony, the Administrator of Greater Port Harcourt City Development Agency, Mrs Aleruchi Cookey-Gam described Numbere as "a true man of God" who touched the lives of several people who came close to him.

Cookey-Gam, who was the Special Guest of Honour at the occasion, commended the church for putting up the exhibition which captured the life and times of the man from the time he got born again in 1965, how he traversed the harsh and very difficult remote areas of many African countries

‘

•Amaechi

including his native Rivers state to ensure that he captured many souls for Christ till his last days on earth The most curious work exhibited was the preservation of a white coat given to him in 1977 by a South Korean man which is still neatly hanging in his office in Port Harcourt.

The late Numbere, a native of Buguma in Asari Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State, died on October 15 in Abuja at the age 70 and he is survived by his wife, Pastor Nonye Numbere, five children and four grand children.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

NIGER DELTA REPORT FEATURE

NIGER DELTA REPORT FEATURE

Peterside’s time out at Rex Cross River… the making of a service-driven economy Lawson’s resting place The emphasis on oil as the country’s economic mainstay has left other areas largely unattended to. The service sector has received little attention, despite its huge potential. Cross River has, however, taken a major step to making its economy service-driven, reports OLUKOREDE YISHAU

I

T was Saturday, December 13.

Cross River State Governor Liyel Imoke made the day of the matriculating students of the Institute of Technology and Management, Ugep. As a show of his belief in the institution, the governor attended its first matriculation ceremony. The students were elated.

Not a few would have thought a commissioner would have represented him. Their joy knew no bound seeing Imoke talk to them about what was expected of them.

The officials of the institution were also ecstatic.

The Visitor motivated the 83 pioneer students. He urged them to utilise the opportunity of being part of the promising institution. He also congratulated them for being part of history.

The event of last Saturday would not have been without the October, 2013 Management Agreement between the Cross River State government and Highbury College.

The agreement covers matters regarding staff and student recruitment and responsibility for running its day-to-day operations.

Highbury College took charge of developing employer relationships aimed at ensuring that upwards of more than 90 per cent of ITM graduates are able to find gainful employment on graduation.

The ITM Project Implementation Committee, whose membership was drawn from educational experts and representatives from Ministries and MDAs also saw to the completion of the first phase of the project, which includes the construction of the academic block, IT laboratories, student hostels, administrative block, staff housing and the provision of critical infrastructure such as roads, electricity and water facilities.

The governor said: “Today’s matriculation ceremony marks both an auspicious beginning and a bold step in our efforts to situate our students at the cutting edge of vocational education and training. I want to heartily congratulate the first intake of students and remind them that they are pioneers of the realisation of a great future for the proper and the economy of Cross Rivers State.

“It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to this very important event of the inaugural matriculation ceremony of the Institute of Technology and Management here in Ugep. Today marks a significant step in the evolution of our education system. This institution represents a culmination of this administration's aim of positioning the youth in Cross River to be the most dynamic and versatile workforce in the country. We are acutely aware of the immense importance of this investment, which will not only transform the economic potentials of the students who attend this institution but will

also enhance the future productivity of the state as a whole.”

He added that the school was established out to address the shortage of mid-level professionals in specialised disciplines.

The governor observed: “The vision to build the Institute of Technology and Management in Cross Rivers State was necessitated by the need to meet the dearth of vocational training required to prepare our youth to participate in an increasingly globally competitive economy. Students now have an opportunity to have a first rate education delivered by highly qualified lecturers without having to travel outside the state. All in an effort to addressing the shortage of highly trained mid-level professionals particularly in the highly specialised fields.

“With ITM now fully established , it is our hope that Cross Rivers State will become a net exporter of technical expertise in very competitive fields such as engineering, ICT, and business management.

This institution represents a culmination of this administration’s aim of positioning the youth in Cross Rivers to be the most dynamic and versatile workforce in the country.

“We are acutely aware of the immense importance of this investment, which will not only transform the economic potentials of the students who are attending this institution but will also enhance the future productivity of the state as a whole.’’

Imoke’s belief in the institute’s ability to provide world-class professionals is not unconnected with the fact that it has affiliation with Highbury College, Portsmouth in the United Kingdom, renowned as a leader globally in technical and vocational education.

The governor said the partnership with Highbury College was well-thought out.

“It was important that the right management was engaged and employed to ensure that the training delivered at this institution met world class, international standards. To help us achieve this goal, we turned to Highbury College, Portsmouth UK. The process of developing this partnership was a thorough and properly executed one which began with a visit by a delegation from Cross Rivers consisting of both the state executive and state legislature to Highbury College, Portsmouth in October 2012 to explore the feasibility of a meaningful and mutually beneficial partnership with an institution which was the top vocational training Institution in the United Kingdom. The enthusiasm for this project was so comprehensively accepted by both parties that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed at the end of discussions. This was followed by further discussions when the team

•Dr. Dawari George ( third left) briefing Dr. Peterside (second right) at the mausoleum. With them is Hon. Ojukaye Flag-Amachree.

From Precious Dikewoha, Port Harcourt

D

from Highbury visited Calabar which led to the signing of a consultancy and technical services agreement with Highbury College in May, 2013 for them to facilitate the establishment of a comprehensive Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) ecosystem right across the state.

“The October 2013 Management Agreement between the Cross Rivers State Government and Highbury College comprehensively covered matters regarding staff and student recruitment for the Institution as well as operations.”

But what is the essence of training without getting employed afterwards? Imoke said graduates of the institution would face less hassles getting gainfully employed.

“With support from the ITM project implementation committee whose membership was drawn from educational experts as well as representatives from all the relevant government Ministries and MDAs, the first phase of the project has been completed and includes the construction of the academic block and IT laboratories, student hostels, administrative blocks, staff housing and the provision of critical infrastructure such as roads, electricity and water facilities.

“Three academic programmes namely, Information Technology, Business Management and Entrepreneurship and Hospitality and Tourism have also commenced. Today, with all the construction work and furnishing of the first phase fully completed, with very highly

‘

This institution represents a culmination of this administration's aim of positioning the youth in Cross River to be the most dynamic and versatile workforce in the country. We are acutely aware of the immense importance of this investment, which will not only transform the economic potentials of the students who attend this institution but will also enhance the future productivity of the state as a whole qualified lecturers and staff hired, and admissions offered to 83 pioneer and well-deserving students, IMT is off to a good start. Work is already in progress on the second phase of the ITM project and is slated for completion in April 2015.

When fully completed, the new signature building as it is being called will offer more state of the arts classrooms and specialized laboratories. Various engineering programmes are slated to be offered to incoming students as from next academic year.

“The central elements of the consultancy and technical assistance agreement with Highbury College included not only assisting the Cross Rivers State government

‘

with the development of state of the art and world class Institute of Technology and Management in Ugep, but also the collaboration with the College of Education, Akamkpa for the review and modernisation of the teacher curriculum and for provision of specialist training to build capacity for high quality modern vocational teachers.

“As part of the development of a holistic and integrated TVET ecosystem, he said, ‘’Highbury College will also work closely as technical partners and advisory consultants to support the upgrade of the curriculum and facilities design as well as improve the operation of the Technical and Vocational Sec-

ondary Schools across the state.

“In doing this, these aforementioned institutions will form the core of a fully functional, market driven, dynamic TVET eco-system which is very critical to our objectives of adequately preparing our youth population for the employment needs of tomorrow’s economy.”

Those at the event believe that Cross River and Nigeria stand to reap a lot from the institution. Like the governor, many are of the view that the state will through the school produced professionals who can hold their own anywhere in the world. Not surprisingly, Governor Imoke was keen to highlight this point.

“All of this has been conceived to position Cross Rivers State as the premier service-driven economy in the country but ensuring that our workforce is the most qualified to meet the needs of industry.

“With the vast amounts of Foreign Direct Investment inflows to the state from companies such as General Electric and Wilmar it has become absolutely paramount to create the basis of a value chain which will be beneficial to the Indigenes of the state. The productivity of our local workforce is a key parameter for attracting more investment into Cross River. Already, the existence of this Institution is having a tremendous impact not just on the host community of Ugep, but also on the state as a whole. Today represents the dawn of a new beginning for the economy of our state and the productivity of our workforce.”

As Imoke drove out of the venue to attend to other state matters that Saturday, the students, their parents and officials of the institution were not oblivious of the symbolism of the day. Many of them left with the belief that it was the dawn of a new era.

Many are excited by the fact that work has started on the school’s second phase and is slated for completion in April, 2015. When fully completed, the new Signature building will offer more state of the art classrooms and specialised laboratories. Several engineering programmes are slated to be offered to students from the next academic year.

R. Dakuku Peterside cut the image of a man with lots of respect for the icon on whose final resting place he was standing. Truth is, Peterside relishes the life and times of the late , the late Cardinal Jim Rex Lawson, the Buguma-Rivers State music and culture ambassador.

Peterside, who is the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) promised to immortalise the music icon and South-South culture ambassador.

He spoke in Buguma, home town of the music maestro during a meeting with traditional rulers in the kingdom.

Peterside, who personally visited the graveside of the renowned music icon, told the people of Buguma and Rivers people that he would do everything possible to keep alive, the memory of the music genius. He also assured that his government will pay close attention to creativity and performing arts.

“Today, we stand before the remains of one of Africa’s greatest high life legends. I want to assure you my dear people of Buguma that Cardinal Rex Jim Lawson did not die in vain. We are therefore here to reinforce the values of love, unity and peace which Lawson espouses in his works. It is also our duty to ensure that we support these high ideals all the time.

“As a people, we must accept our collective failure, aside from the more obvious failure of the Nigerian state in immortalising this great son of Africa. Rex Jim Lawson was able to thrive artistically because the environment was conducive. As governor, I will provide the needed creative environment for every Rivers man and woman to express him or herself.

I will also promote arts and culture and ensure that we encourage talented people in arts, engineering, science and technology.

“Without a doubt, Lawson inspired a generation of musicians in Nigeria and beyond and we must keep his spirit alive. You will agree with me that this place should naturally be a tourist centre but I doubt how often you host tourists and scholars of African

•Mausoleum of the late Lawson

‘

Lawson inspired a generation of musicians in Nigeria and beyond and we must keep his spirit alive. You will agree with me that this place should naturally be a tourist centre but I doubt how often you host tourists and scholars of African music. This environment is not even conducive and befitting for such homage even when people are interested in coming

‘

music. This environment is not even conducive and befitting for such homage even when people are interested in coming. I promise to reverse this when we are elected.

Peterside later prayed for the music icon and called on the people to vote massively for the APC so that the dream of immortalising Lawson would come to reality.

34

THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

NIGER DELTA REPORT FEATURE

JTF, Navy celebrate harvest of promotions in Bayelsa

T

HE headquarters of the Central Naval Command (CNC) and the Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Pulo Shield, were agog with celebrations recently. The officers took time off their routine of tackling oil theft, pipeline vandalism and illegal bunkering to celebrate excellence and professionalism.

Their colleagues were promoted and the two security agencies dedicated separate days to decorate and celebrate the elevated officers. On the day of the CNC, the naval mess, where the chipping was done had some top military officers in attendance.

Flag Officer, Commanding, CNC, Rear Admiral Peter Agba, was on ground to receive officers from within and outside the command that came to witness the occasion.

The Commander, JTF, Maj.-Gen. Emmanuel Atewe, and representatives of all the naval ships within the command including the officer commanding the foremost Forward Operating Base, FORMOSO, attended the ceremony.

It was a unique joyous moment especially for the promoted officers.

Their wives, friends and family members beamed with smiles as the exchange banters and pleasantries.

At the CNC, the newly-promoted officers, comprised two commodores and seven captains. Those elevated to the ranks of commodores are Musa Gemu and Sali Jubril. The captains are Adetokunbo Ayo-Vaughan; Shehu Akwu; Paul Nimyeh; Steven Ibrahim; Mohammed Muye; Madumon Ide and Victor Choji.

Their citations which revealed their steady, committed and fearless military voyage were read by Lt. Com. Olatunji Ayoade. With their track records and naval exploits, the guests concurred that the officers deserved their promotions.

At the JTF’s headquarters, the celebration galore went on. The JTF’s Media Coordinator, Lt. Col. Mustapha Anka and Lt. Col. Muhammed Danja were promoted to the ranks of colonel.

Also, Navy Commander Tahiru Umaru became a Navy Captain while the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Ahmed Magaji was elevated to the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Police.

The JTF Commander, Atewe, was in his full element. He was particularly happy that during his reign, five officers, the highest number since JTF

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

•Promoted officers, senior officers, friends and family friends after the decoration From Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

began operation in the region, got promotions.

“To whom much is given, much is expected”, he said as he charged the officers to be creative and professional.

Atewe urged them to eschew unhealthy rivalry and stick to create success by working for it. To them, he said: “There is only one way to success: be a creative officer, not a competitive officer. Do not seem to compete with anybody. Stick to create success by you working for it. Then every other thing in the military will follow you.

“Envy nobody, because you have a very big place in the field of promotion – you can ascend to the highest position. Stick to do your work professionally – stick to do your best so that tomorrow, if you have left there, you will not regret for non-performing.”

He reminded the senior officers that their promotions entailed higher responsibilities. He stressed that at the level of General in the military, excuses are not entertained.

He further told the officers that promotion come from God and prayed God to grant their family members the good health to enjoy the dividends of the elevations.

“You do not give excuses for any work not done, but you take respon-

sibility. As it is said, you do not tell a General what to do. You are constantly being observed by all and sundry.

“There is little or no advice you want to give to a senior officer, only to advise that when responsibility is given, you are to ensure that you personally visit to supervise, to confirm performance or non-performance.

“For performance, you appreciate and commend and create room for improvement for that standard. For non-performance, you find out why, whether the fault is from you or from the junior command.

“You cannot be a senior officer of you are not a good follower. Let your actions be professional. To ascend to the next level, be a good student.

Study your environment and read your books”, he said.

Atewe dwelt on the importance of family members especially wives of the officers. He said without a stable and peaceful home, people would hardly get promotion in the military.

He asked the officers to have deep respect for their wives and to treat them with care.

He said: “Promotion s from madam. Your wife is your last battleline. Women control the house and for you to enjoy the house, you must be a good boy”. He also appealed to the wives not to sell out their husbands adding that unfavorable remarks from the wives could deny their husbands promotion.

In his remarks, the FOC reminded the officers that their elevation was for them to do more for the service of their fatherland.

“To whom much is given, much is expected. The country counts on you, so does the Navy and the command.

I believe that your elevation has been as a result of hard work. I want to implore you to uphold that standard and surpass it,” Agba said.

The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Valentine Ntomchukwu, asked the officers to brace to the security challenges in the country. He said promotions are being approved to boost the morale of the officers and motivate them to face higher challenges.

“The country expects more from you. I want to rejoice with your families. From now, you will be held more accountable for your actions”, he said.

Speaking at the JTF’s event, the FOC represented by his Chief of Staff, Rear Admiral Michika, told the officers that their elevation was for them and the country.

“You must ensure that this country is kept at peace”, he said urging them to remember their families especially their wives. He recalled that in the past, some officers received their promotional arrears and squandered them. He asked the officer to hold their wives in high esteem.

“These ladies are the brains behind our success. Hold them with your life,” he said.

Scholar gathers Niger Delta youths, women for agriculture

W

HEN someone is idle, he gets angry with everything around him. He becomes restive and an easy tool in the hands of desperate politicians.

This was the submission of Dr. Blessing Okogbue, in a lecture and seminar she organised in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State recently, to highlight youth restiveness in the Niger Delta caused by the abandonment of the agricultural sector.

Okogbue, a lecturer in the Federal Polytechnic Ekowe, studied Fisheries and Hydro-Biology. She is angry that despite the agricultural potential of Nigeria and the Niger Delta , successive governments have paid lip service to the sector which she described as the panacea to youth restiveness.

Her love for agricultural development and empowerment drove her to pursue a scholarship programme christened, African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD), sponsored by the Bill Gate Foundation and USAID. Having gone through the training at the World Agricultural Centre, Nairobi, Kenya, she became a 2013 AWARD Fellow and has since then been looking for an opportunity to

‘Trado-medicine is the answer to all ailments’

From Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

transmit her knowledge to the broader society. The opportunity came recently in a seminar that attracted youths, men and women from all walks of life.

She lamented that people including the government had abandoned the sector in search of quick oil money. She said others prefered white-collar jobs especially banking.

She insisted that the development was the reason why poverty and joblessness had become endemic in the region.

She said: "A banker will not chew money and an oil man will not drink oil. He will eat food and there is nothing like artificial food. It is real food that comes from the farm. So if all of us decide to go and pursue oil and go for white collar-jobs, nobody will be in the farm and everybody will go hungry."

She said AWARD is a programme to mapped out to empower women in agricultural sciences to make them influential and competent enough to reach out to the younger ones in the same profession.

After the lecture, the participants said they had been educated enough

to consider engaging in some aspects of agriculture. They thanked the organiser for putting the seminar together.

One of them, Isaac Moor, described it as a good avenue and wellconceived seminar. "We thank the convener for such seminar. It has wonderfully enlightened me. It has shed much light on some issues hindering me from starting up something of my own. " The Dean of Agricultural Technology, Federal Polytechnic Ekowe, Dr. Olusegun Kuforiji, said Nigeria was in need of similar lectures to highlight the importance of agriculture.

He said: "We dwelt too ,much on petroleum and that is why everybody is busy looking for cheap money. Most millionaires that have made money through petroleum should start considering diverting their money to agriculture. It will be of good interest to the country.

"Some of the people in agriculture should be encouraged, we need to know that agriculture is not meant for the poor. It is also made for the elite. Right now in America, the billionaires are agriculturalists. There is a lot of money in it because it has a lot of diversification.

"If you don't want to go into planting, you can go into processing and production of agricultural materials.

We have been eating tomatoes from Turkey. It is a very annoying that a country of green revolution, a tropical country should be importing when we are supposed to be producing and sending them to other countries.

"We have the weather. It is in our favour. We have the dry season and the wet season. We can produce products through out the year. The nature has favored us so much. It is only that we are lazy. If you talk of fabrication, we have a lot of people that finish in technical school. If you go to Ogun, Ibandan, Aba and all over Nigeria, you will see much equipment."

Furthermore, Mummy Mary, said the lecture was educative. "I learnt a lot. We never knew that we could have dry pap. I hate custard and I like natve pap. I will impart the knowledge to others and I will also apply it.

"I naturally like agriculture.

Where I live I have a garden. But I will like to expand. Without agriculture there is no way out. It is the only answer to our economic woes."

A RENOWNED traditional medicine practitioner in Edo State, Prince Scotty Ewemade Iyamu, popularly called “Aimunuosisidaigbe” has urged Nigerians to believe in the efficacy of traditional medicine.

Prince Iyamu said most deadly ailments like stroke, diabetes, asthma, tetanus and mental instability that have defied orthodox medicine could be cured by traditional medications.

In a chat with Niger Delta Report at his residence in Benin City, Prince Iyamu said his traditional medicine could provide cure for barrenness, tetanus, impotency and antidote against poison.

He however said he refused to provide protective charms for armed robbers because ‘it is a sin against God.’ According to him, “There are six stages of impotency and we can cure them with herbs. If farmers want thieves and robbers to stay away from their farms, we can give them charms for protection.”

“I travelled round the country to learn traditional medicine. I spent about nine years in UtagbaOgbe in Kwale, Delta State where I acquired great trado medical knowledge. From there, I went to Irile, the home of the dreaded Aiyelala Shrine in the South West, where I spent six years.”

“I left there to Obolo – Afor in Ebonyi State where I spent another five years before returning to Benin City where I have lived for the past 18 years.”

Iyamu noted that the practice of adultery by some traditional healers negated the true ethnics of true practice of trado-medical practice.

“We do not kill or take people lives. What we do is finding solution to people’s problems.

Government should invest more in this business so that we can also be exporting our medicine abroad as China and others have brought their medicine to Nigeria.”

Ex-militants allege fraud in amnesty fund From Precious Dikewoha, Port Harcourt

A GROUP of Niger Delta exmilitants in Akwa Ibom State, under the aegis of Ukanafun Freedom fighters, have written to President Goodluck Jonathan and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged withholding of their monthly allowances.

Ukanafun Freedom fighters were among the ex-militants who embraced Federal Government Amnesty programme and also participated in different training both within the country and abroad. They however lamented that their allowances were yet to be paid several months after they completed training. The leader of the group hinted of possible of fraud and an abuse of amnesty programme.

Speaking with Niger Delta Report in Port Harcourt, the leader of the group, Mbang Friday Odudu, who spoke on behalf of Etim Sunday, Idiong Ndifreke, Daniel Monday Uduak and other aggrieved members of the group, expressed worry over the attitude of the Amnesty Office.

Odudu said many of his members died due to lack of assistance to cater for their needs.

He said the group may be forced to go back to the dark days if they could not put food on their tables.

THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

36

NIGER DELTA REPORT COMMENT & DEB ATE EBA

Y

ESTERDAY is important. But not like today. And tomorrow is the most important in many respects. Yesterday can destroy today and today can crush tomorrow. So, extra care is required to ensure a synergy between the three of them.

Cross River’s today began some eight years ago. At that time, the state’s pocket was deep.

Really deep you could dip all manners of containers into it and fill them up until you were tired. No one queried its oil-rich fable.

It was glaring for all to see. Even the blind could feel it.

Civil and public servants felt the impact of the deep purse. Banks were glad to do business with Liyel Imoke’s Cross River.

Then the bubble burst some two years ago.

Its neigbour, Akwa Ibom, felt the oil which entitled Imoke’s state to the 13 per cent derivation actually belonged to it. Both had to compete for the oil wells. It was a bitter legal duel that took God’s grace to prevent bloodbath. Wise counsel was allowed to prevail and Akwa Ibom’s fortunes took a major leap when the Supreme Court gave all oil wells which entitled Cross River to the 13 per cent derivation fund to it. It was a decision which saw these brother-states quarrel seriously.

The apex court’s decision made Akpabio and Imoke almost become enemies. The media made a lot of money on advertorials by both parties on the court’s decision.

Somehow they were able to manage and life has since continued and for close to years now, Cross River has not received one kobo as derivation fund and this has affected it seriously. Its loss has been Akwa Ibom’s gain and Uyo is happy for it.

The decision cut Cross River’s monthly allocation by several billions. Its status as an oil-producing state practically thinned out too.

Before the turn of event, there were so many projects either ongoing or about to start in parts of the state. There were also projects, such as the Tinapa Resort, though completed, but still in need of help.

One project that was at the stage of taking off when the bubble burst is called Summit Hills. On the Hills, there is plan for a Golf Course and Golf Clubhouse, an international convention centre with an adjoining Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, and a monorail to link Tinapa, that entertainment, shopping and leisure centre.

By the plan, the Calabar International Convention Centre (CICC), sandwiched within a Free Trade Zone, is to turn Calabar to “West Africa’s business and event destination of choice”. The Hills is also to house the Calabar Specialist Hospital, collaboration with foreign partners meant to encourage medical tourism. There are also layouts for people to build homes.

OLUKOREDE YISHAU

ABOVE WHISPERS

•A weekly intervention on Southsouth people and matters

olukoredeyishau@gmail.com

Yesterday, today and tomorrow

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At a time like this, one can only hope that candidates will have it at the back of their minds that it should be about service and that if it is about service, violence should play no role. Guns should not boom; thugs should be made redundant; and peace should be the ultimate goal of all •Imoke

The new Margaret Ekpo Airport Bye Pass was also ongoing when the bubble burst.

There were so many other ones. And the loss of several billions to the legal tussle was expected to impact on the projects. But somehow, Cross River has been able to move on, though I understand some austerity measures had to be taken internally.

I was on the Hills last weekend during a brief visit to Calabar. The International Convention Centre, the first of its kind in Nigeria, has really taken shape. I have seen one or two convention centres in Nigeria, but compared to what is being done in Calabar, the other ones are mere meeting rooms only decorated with flags of different countries to justify the tag of being international. The Calabar one is massive and only comparable to its like in Durbar, South Africa and

LAST WORD

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

‘

There is something good in our culture and those good elements; we should never allow them to die. That also means there is something good in another culture. Be open to welcome what is good, but don’t allow them to sweep away the good ones that existed in your culture

‘

––––––•Archbishop Joseph Ekwuem

•Ayade

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Singapore.

Though about 70 or 80 per cent completed, the Calabar International Convention Centre gives me the feel of the ones I have seen in Durban and Singapore.

The Golf Course has also taken shape. So has life been breathed into the specialist hospital. I also noticed that about three people are already building their homes on the Hills.

And the monorail to link Tinapa is also taking form.

Tinapa is one project that brings me close to tears once in a while. But I am consoled by the belief that the Hills will help make it what it should be. I will explain why Tinapa evokes emotions in me: it was meant to take Calabar to the next level, so to speak.

The Donald Duke administration conceived it to be Nigeria’s own mini Dubai. All the

trappings were there: an artificial lake; water parks; a shopping mall; a beautiful four-star hotel; and an atmosphere of peace and tranquility.

In no time, however, the excitement about Tinapa died down. For it to work well, it needed a Free Trade Zone (FTZ) status but by the time it was ready for use, this allimportant status was not achieved. It was not a law that the Cross River State House of Assembly could pass. Only the Federal Government has the authority to gazette an entity as FTZ. Duke could not achieve this before it was time to leave power. It became Imoke’s albatross. He got over it and Tinapa became FTZ. There was another challenge. Customs did not threat businessmen there as operating in a FTZ. This meant they had to pay duties, thus the goods sold there could not be dutyfree. Their woes were compounded by the non-dredging of the Calabar port, which forced the businessmen to bring their goods through Onne Port in Rivers State.

All these challenges meant the place could not be run properly. Loans taken from banks could not be paid. It got to a stage that the debt buyer, the Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), had to come in.

The summit hills projects, especially the Calabar International Convention Centre (CICC), is expected through the monorail to shorten the distance between Tinapa and Calabar’s heart. With such a life built around Tinapa, the giant may just wake up. It has been in a deep slumber.

Duke, who birthed Tinapa, is Cross River’s yesterday. Imoke is its today. The Tinapa fable shows how today cannot run away from yesterday. And that brings me to the question: Who will be Cross River’s tomorrow? Imoke’s choice is an academic and senator, Prof. Ayade. It was a battle royale before Ayade could emerge the PDP standard bearer. Being state where no other political party has towering strength, it may be safe to project that Ayade will take the baton from Imoke.

Aside the Summit Hills and others, we have also seen Imoke’s hands in projects, such as the massive palm plantation cultivated by Wilmer International, a global brand in oil palm plantation based in Malaysia, the Songhai Integrated Farm located in Itigidi, the Institute of Technology and Management (ITM), Ugep in Yarkur, which matriculated its students last Saturday, and the over 600km of roads constructed across the state.

In less than six months, Imoke will be out of the Government House. He will, in my estimation, be leaving behind a legacy of projects that will define Cross River’s tomorrow.

FROM NICHOLAS KALU, CALABAR

Ndoma-Egba...Fourth time unlucky

S

ENATE Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba was lucky thrice to have represented his people at the National Assembly.

He looked set to win the ticket of his party to return the fourth time. Unlike the executive arm of government, the legislature has no fixed term. A representative can go back for as many times as his people want him.

A group of professionals and residents of the central senatorial district in Cross River State threw their weight behind his fourth term bid.

The professionals said they arrived at their decision after a careful analysis of the performance of the senator who represents the district.

After their meeting in Ugep, Yakurr Local Government Area, the group agreed that hardwork and good performances should be encouraged.

According to them, the senate leader is a very important figure at the federal level and Cross River should not throw that away.

Outlining some his achievements, Dr Benitrus Okim, who spoke on behalf of the group, said he has sponsored the highest number of bills in the seventh senate of the federal republic of Nigeria and led the senate and contributed immensely to the stability of the senate.

Okim continued: "He has executed more than 70 viable projects in his constituency.

He has awarded more than 500 scholarships

to indigenes of the district. He has fought for the territorial integrity of the state.

"He has sponsored over 200 pilgrims to Jerusalem and Saudi Arabia. He has in line with the federal government on agriculture and food supply and sustainability provided large volumes of agricultural inputs to farmers in the district.

"He has trained and empowered about 500 indigenes of the district on Small and medium scale enterprises and provided them with start-up capital.

"He has vigorously fought for the interest of the state. He has shown total and unalloyed support to the party in the state and at the national. He has facilitated the employment of more than 500 people from the state. He earned the accolade of the governor of the state as the stabiliser of the PDP in the state."

Also another socio-political group, the Grassroot Movement has called for NdomaEgba to continue.

Coordinator of the group, Comrade Efobe Ogar Ojong, said it has become imperative for the senate leader to continue if the people are to further benefit the essence of pragmatic leadership.

He said the country has sentimentally departed from the system where a "performing, altruistic and experienced senator" is given the opportunity to continue to serve as many times as possible for the good of

the country.

He said the track records of the senator in both giving infrastructal development in his constituency and effective leadership in the senate are so rewarding and outstanding that his group decided to drum support for his continuity.

He urged the people to be informed that what is most important to them is the strategic position their person occupies in government.

He said if he is replaced it would take "impossible" years to attain his height.

The party’s delegates thought otherwise.

They voted for change in the person of the chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Hon. John Enoh.

Ndoma-Egba is crying blue murder, saying the exercise was devoid of fairplay. Others, such as Nollywood star Kate Henshaw who particpated in the PDP-organised primaries in the state but lost out, have hailed the process, saying the best men and women won.

The party’s Appeal Panel obviously saw no merit in Ndoma-Egba’s cry.

What happens next? Tomorrow will surely tell. For now, Ndoma-Egba is leaking his wound. Or is he cokking something we do not know of yet?

The last word here is: the rule of law must always supercede ambitions.

37

THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

SHOPPING

Low sale of Xmas hampers

T

HE last quarter of the year usually attracts boost in the sale of Hampers, which individuals and cooperate bodies give out to clients, colleagues and friends, to show gratitude for a cordial business relationship and friendshp.

However, the case is different this year as sales of these items have dropped in various markets and stores where they are displayed. At the popular Balogun Market on Lagos Island, retailers attributed the drop in sales to increase in the prices of goods packaged in the hampers.

A trader Balogun, Mrs. Jumoke Adeniyi, said: “As we all know, hamper is a seasonal item, but this year’s sale is very discouraging. If I knew I wouldn’t have ventured into this trade this year. I paid two times, the actual price of items a hamper should contain, with the hope that I would make huge sales to make up

By Kolawole Gloria

for the extra money spent on purchasing them. But to my surprise, nobody patronised me. I was lucky to have sold two small sizes last week,’’ she said.

She added: “I don’t know where people are getting hampers from, but I was told that many have devised means of securing hampers. They would buy empty baskets and fill them with choice items to reduce cost. So, we that are selling are left with nothing to go home with.”

The essence of hampers, she said, is to show care to the receiver. ‘’ Hampers like every other gifts, show to the receiver that the giver cares about him or her,’’ she said.

Another trader, Mrs. Chioma Syvalnus, said hampers are more presentable as gifts because of the way

they are packaged and the items they contain.

They come in different prices according to the sizes of the basket which is used in packaging the items, she said; while a small basket cost N3000, medium basket cost N5000 and a big one N7000 containing different items.

Some of the common items contained in a Christmas hamper include: vegetable oil, semolina, wheat, fruit juice, cornflakes, milk, body spray, perfumes, body lotions, Biscuits e.t.c. The quantity of items found on each hamper depends on the size and price of that hamper.

A shopper, Mrs. Nike Adelusi said the prices of hampers have truly gone up compared to last year. ‘’Truly, the prices have gone up but that will not stop me from buying because every year I buy for my pastors, in-laws and my boss’’.

Xmas decorations making waves

P

RICES of items for Christmas decoration differ according to their sizes, designs and shapes. Decoration items are available in open markets such as Mushin, Oshodi, Balogun, Iyana-Ipaja, Idumota and other shopping arena within the Lagos metropolis. These items can be placed in the sitting room, on the table or beside the television set or can be hanged on the wall depending on the type.

A must have Christmas decoration item is the Christmas tree, whose price ranges between N6, 500 and N1200. There are other sizes fitting the strenght of one’s pockets. The prices oscillate around N6, 500, for medium, N4, 500 and the small size N1, 200.

There are other very expensive ones meant for the high class.

They sell for about N50,000.00 and above.

The ornaments for decorating the trees are sold separately and are called: ‘Christmas tree decoration balls’. The balls, which come in different colours, cost between N300 for a small pack

By Kolawole Gloria

of six, and N500 for a big pack of 10 and are used to decorate the trees to make them more beautiful. The trees can be used to decorate the house without the balls, but people prefer to buy the balls with the tree because they enhance its beauty.

Mr. Kingsley Okonkwo, who sells Christmas trees and other decorations at Oshodi market, said anyone buying the tree for the first time and wants to save cost should spread the branches and decorate with Christmas light.’’

He explained that the essence of the tree is to announce Christmas as the ornaments and the lights are accompanied with melodious songs.

Other Christmas decoration items include: bells which are placed on the walls in the homes.

A pack of this bell costs N1, 800, while the Christmas light costs N400 per pack. There are Christmas frames, which can also be placed on the wall in the living rooms and each costs N500.

Gifts that endears

C

•From left: Retail Sales Manager, Handsome Akabuogu; Area Sales Manager, Micheal Umeji; the Amayanabo of Kalabari Kingdom, King T.J.T Princewill; Divisional Sales Manager, Mr. Dennis Ebeye and Area Sales Manager, Mr. Olugbenga Akinsanya during the official presentation and blessing of Orijin by the royal father.

Orijin receives royal fathers’ blessings

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RIJIN, the iconic drink from the stables of Guinness Nigeria Plc recently got the blessings of royal fathers as the brand was formally presented to traditional rulers across Nigeria, as part of its marketing drive to further promote the drink as that of heritage among Nigerians.

The brand received the blessings of the royal fathers as it was welcomed with fanfare depicted of the royals. The royal fathers appreciated it as a truly Nigerian drink rooted in African tradition with the flavours of African herbs and fruits.

At the palace of the Dein of Agbor, Dr. Benjamin Ikenchukwu, the atmosphere was that of meriment as the Guinness team led by Divisional Sales Manager; Mr. Henry Okpe, presented Orijin to the chiefs.

While receiving the team, the Iyase of Agbor, Chief A. U. Emenim, ex-

By Tonia ‘Diyan

pressed delight at Guinness’ thoughtful leadership in manufacturing a product solely made from contents found within Nigeria. “Africa is full of enough fine ingredients to be used in making this type of product. We sincerely appreciate Guinness’ recognition of our monarchs as custodians of these culture and heritage, which Orijin portrays. We bless this drink and pray it continues to satisfy your consumers across Nigeria,” Chief Emenim said.

At the Amanayabo of Kalabari’s palace in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, while presenting Orijin to the Amayanabo, Guinness’ Divisional Sales Manager, Mr Dennis Ebeye, further espoused the role of traditional rulers as custodians of our heritage.

“We have come to present Orijin to our royal fathers, because we understand the importance of staying rooted

in our traditions. Orijin is a drink made with the flavor of African herbs and fruits mixed with alcohol to produce a great bitter-sweet that speaks to our African heritage. Guinness Nigeria respects the tradition of the society it operates in and our kings and traditional rulers all over the country have been the custodians of the cultures and heritage of our people for many centuries.

“Therefore, it is only proper for Guinness Nigeria to pay homage to these esteemed personalities and obtain their blessings for this unique product, which is the fastest selling beverage in the bitters and Ready-to-Drink categories in Nigeria today,” Ebeye said.

Accepting the drink and offering his blessings, the Amayanabo of Kalabari Kingdom, Prof. T.J.T Princewill, informed the audience that he was very glad that his kingdom was recognised

by Guinness to be officially presented with Orijin.

HRISTMAS is here again.

Its a time when family and friends come together to celebrate specially. The celebration is not complete without a lot of food, drinks, sharing of gifts and many more. This is why gifts stores have created varieties of Christmas gifts to suit the shoppers’ pocket.

Items that can be presented as gifts are: Greeting cards; Santa Claus caps; frames; hats and toys for children among other things.

Prices of greeting cards for instance, vary according to sizes. A small size card costs N100, while the medium goes for N200. Prices for big sizes range between N500 and N1500, depending on the designs and sizes.

Christmas frames also come in different designs while some have

a space where one can add the picture of the recipient, others are plain frames with inscriptions such as ‘Merry Christmas’ . A small plain frames cost N200, medium N300, other bigger sizes range between N500 and N700. The other design which comes with a space to attach the recipient’s picture is N500 for a small size, N700 for a medium size and N1200 for a big size.

Santa Claus caps and hats are suitable for children and they often call them ‘father Christmas caps’. The caps cost N300 and N200 each while the Christmas hats cost N400 and N500 each and are available in different colours and sizes.

It is a common knowledge that children love toys and as such, some stores have now stocked varieties.

Is your home dressed for the season?

•Continued from Page 28 guests is the centre of the festivities.

If you do not have one, you can buy a set of red plates to compliment the season.

Red flowers, especially seasonal flowers, are nice for the table. Choose something neutral, but classy. White flowers with silver, or cream with gold, or choose a peacock with turquoise, purple and gold. Add peacock feathers to your flower arrangements for height, and decorate your table with the same jewel colours.

You could also add candles and ornaments such as cones, evergreens, or small fir tree branches. Get the best colourful

Christmas napkins you can find, with Christmas bells and decorations drawn on them.

Ribbons could easily be tied, untied and retied to all sorts of items in your house such as chairs, stair-case railings, flower basket handles and door knobs.

You could even reuse them another yuletide season. Scented candles could be used to commemorate the mood.

Adorn your trees and shrubs with lights if you have them in your compound. You could hang Christmas lights in your garden, balcony and compound. Not only do they look nice, they make your entire home lovely.

Remember it is supposed to be fun. Keep it simple because simplicity is elegant and beautiful.

Alomo Bitters bags medicinal herbal drink award

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HE Institute for Government Research Leadership Technology has awarded Alomo Bitters, a flagship brand of Kasapreko Company Nigeria Ltd. the Medicinal Herbal Drink of the year 2014 at its African Product Forum, ‘Abuja’ 2014 with the theme: “Building Brands, Handing Competition”.

Receiving the award, the company’s Managing Director, Mr. Kojo Nunoo, said his firm is pursuing a vision to build a world-class brand, using authentic traditional herbal blends and world-class technology in an environmentally responsible manner to satisfy customers.

“It is with great delight and humility that we at Kasapreko Company Nigeria Limited receive this award.

Recognitions like this further give a

By Tonia ‘Diyan

lift to our dreams and encourage us to do more research and ultimately produce innovative products for our consumers’ satisfaction” he said.

He added: “This award means a lot to us, because Alomo Bitters is the only product in its category that is produced with hundred per cent natural ingredients. We are happy that our effort is been recognised in this regards.”

According to him, since the introduction of Alomo Bitters into the Nigerian market about four years ago, its growth has been driven largely by consumer demand. ”Nigerians love the drink because it is the only drink in its category that is produced with hundred per cent natural ingredients, which make it good for health. We get testimonies for the medicinal

potency of Alomo Bitters from consumers,”he said.

Also speaking at the award ceremony, the company’s Sales Director, Mr. Sam Osafo said: “As a reputable company, we are focused on the quality of our product that is why from the point of extraction to mixing and distilling, careful scientific processes have been put in place to ensure that we maintain the high standard we have been known for.

“The herbs used by Kasapreko is sourced and treated by the Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine in Ghana. This relationship has been on for over 20years. Our consumers are rest assured that when they drink Alomo Bitters, they are not only drinking to enjoy, but they are also drinking to stay healthy because of

the medicinal qualities of Alomo Bitters.”

Deputy Chairman, Institute for Government Research Leadership Technology, Prof. John NdanusaAkanya, who spoke at the event, advised award recipients to maintain a high level of standard and quality in their production method because it is the only reason they are getting the recognition.

“Standard and quality in manufacturing are a journey with no destination.

There is no alternative to quality. It is either you produce a quality product or a substandard one. I strongly advise that you put in all your best and produce quality product that can compete favourably in any part of the world. There is no compromise to quality, if a company must stay afloat, such company must

strictly adhere to international best practises in production,” he said.

Delivering a keynote address, Chairman Advisory Board, Institute for Government Research Leadership Technology, Prof. E.J Etuk, highlighted grey areas in business and productions peculiar to countries in Africa that can serve as spring board for international business.

“African countries have a huge deposit of natural, agricultural and human resources that can be exploited to produce unique African products like African prints, wood carvings and figurines, clay pots, animal skin, African drums (most especially Yoruba talking drums) and other local products, which have a huge market in Europe, America and other parts of the world,” he said.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

THE NATION

BUSINESS

AGRICBUSINESS

e-mail: essiet_daniel@yahoo.com

The Afe Babalola University through its agro venture is helping the food industry to grow report DANIEL ESSIET and ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMILA, who visited the facility.

From farm to table A

SK some locals in a university town what the ivory tower has done for their economy lately, and they might point to a secondary school, a hospital, or a book shop. But a growing number of universities are working to foster local agro entrepreneurial spirit that will develop the economy and encourage business-savvy students to stick around.

From community mentoring to innovative technology transfer departments, higher institutions are collaborating with their communities to improve food production.

For example, the agro venture of Afe Babalola University in AdoEkiti (ABUAD), is a pragmatic green revolution project, capable of supplying the needs of Nigerians from the farm gate to the table. Crops and vegetables are grown, harvested and packaged within a farming space that allows students, faculty and staff members to learn about sustainable agriculture.

Merchants also visit the institution regularly to collect and deliver huge quantities of mushrooms, moringa, smoked fish and other food products for sale to consumers in Ekiti, Ondo, Oyo and Lagos states. The products are packed and branded with Afe Babalola University AdoEkiti.

For watchers, ABUAD Agro Venture is an example of an institution leveraging its knowledge and expertise to help pave the way for better standards of living within its catchment area.

This also aligns with the dream of the Founder, Chief Afe Babalola, who desires agricultural practices and new technologies generated by the university to help create a food system that benefits everyone, from those who work the land, down to the consumer.

On a large expanse of land adjacent to the university campus, the university has established an integrated farm holding consisting of livestock, poultry, fishery poultry, pigs, snails, turkeys, guinea fowls, quails and mushrooms, vegetable, several hectares of cassava, maize, soya, groundnuts, all with significant youth participation.

Babalola told The Nation that the university has invested more than N4 billion in its farms, also named Agricultural Enterprise Centre. This consists the land in ABUAD and the one in Ajebandele, including the deposits on the land.

At Ajebandele, Babalola said the institution has over 600 fish ponds, each having a minimum of 5,000 fishes, and massive artificial lakes scattered all over the farms. There are over 110,000 mango trees producing several thousands of fruits yearly. Among other assets are 310,000 gmelina trees. The teek plantation has over 500,000 trees. The university is also home to a greenhouse, which provides ample research opportunities to agric majors.

The greenhouse allow for “highly controlled environments for a diversity of research projects, including food crop breeding, sustainable plant nutrition and development, biological pest control, bioremediation, extensive studies of plant genetic diversity.

•Packaged mushrooms

•Turkeys

Going by the amount of investment in infrastructure, the university is set to create an impressive legacy of new crop varieties, cultivation techniques, pest-control practices, harvesting technologies, postharvest handling and storage,

and improved animal health and nutrition. Right now, students, faculty and staff members are adding a flavour to the farm-to-table concept.

Crops are grown, harvested and packaged under its agriculture project, a hands-on farming space that

allows students, faculty and staff members to learn about sustainable agriculture.

With this development, farmers markets are popping up in some places near the university. The University has grown into a regular

ABUAD founder Aare Afe Babalola speaks on how the institution is making its enterprise farm to get students to embrace agriculture.

‘Farming is key to solving youth unemployment’

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HY did you establish ABUAD Enterprise Farm?

Let me tell you why I started ABUAD Commercial Farm. I believe that the mistake of the economy of this country is agriculture because Nigeria is blessed with all that it takes to produce all types of crops.

You recall that Nigeria was once self sufficient in agriculture before independence and even up to 1966 when the first military coup broke. It was the discovery of oil that caused us what we have in Nigeria today. (cuts) And what has this led Nigeria to?

Unemployment! There is so much unemployment in the country because there is palpable apathy for agriculture. I obtained approval from NUC (National Universities Commission) to start Agriculture alongside other disciplines like Law, Engineering, Banking, Accounting, etc.

Unfortunately, while other courses were oversubscribed, nobody applied for Agriculture. Despite that, I did not lose hope because ABUAD was established mainly to change people’s attitude to functional education and where students will graduate as employers of labour. I

therefore decided to embark on commercial agriculture the success of which I know would change the attitude of students and Nigerians towards agriculture.

What is ABUAD doing to entrench the culture of agriculture in her students?

We make it compulsory for our students to engage in one form of agricultural practice or the other. Therefore we embarked on fishery, hatchery and we sell fresh and dried fish.

Not only that, we decided to have a feed mill so we don’t have to buy from outside and we also teach our students how to produce it. Then, we decided to engage in other areas of agriculture. First the annual crops like maize, cassava, and yam, which can provide food and cash within three to six months. Later we embarked on permanent crops like teak trees, moringa, orange trees, which of course will take many years before one can reap from it. At different stages, we have about one and a half million teak trees. We have over 500 orange trees and 1 million 200 mango trees.

But don’t you think there is a need to consolidate on this?

Yes! To add values to what we pro-

duce, we established factories to produce mango, mango juice, and plantain chips. In the case of moringa, you can harvest it within three to four months; hence we decided to build a moringa factory with over 500,000 trees. We now have seven products from its derivatives. In order to preserve perishable fruits which is another problem in this country, we ordered for a protection house. When we found out that the heat in Nigeria is so much, then we decided to build a green house.

To encourage students and make them realise that they can as well be comfortable in animal production, we embarked on production of turkey, guinea fowl, pigs, quail, mushroom and others. As from next year January, students must register in different clubs named after cash or food crops. We have the plantain club, fish club, moringa club and so on. They can register in one or two of these clubs and get a certificate for it at the end of each year. ABUAD is of the strong view that we cannot continue to produce students that will continue to roam the streets about. One of my greatest fulfillments is that we now have students coming into ABUAD to study agriculture.

weekend fixture. There are stallholders selling fresh fruit, vegetables, plants and flowers, as well as rice and a variety of other foodstuffs, most of it grown the university. In economically hard-hit Nigeria, there’s at least one thing going right: the university is pulling no punches in an effort to create and incubate new local business ventures.

At the Moringa Factory which The Nation visited, an official said several products, serving nutritional and therapeutic needs, which include Moringa oil, body cream, soap and other cosmetics contain an anti-ageing compound, zeatin are produced there.

Mushrooms is one area attracting attention. Right now, the centre breeds two varieties of oyster mushrooms – white and brown. As an official explained, the mushroom is made from a mixture of farm waste, cotton waste, cassava peels and rice straw which were pasteurised to get bacteria out. The spun seed is then inoculated and kept in a dark room for about four weeks and later taken to fruiting room. Thereafter, they harvest it. To add value, the produce is sent to the processing plant. So far, sales have been impressive with market in Ado, Ikere and Ondo State.

The founder said the university has invested in a maize plantation. Part of harvest is ploughed into the feed mill on the farm to produce feeds for livestock, such as pigs, goats, guinea fowls, turkeys, broilers, cockerels, ducks, quails and fishes.

There is snailery, with more than 500 snails, a piggery with 33 sows (matured female) three boars and 124 piglets; a turkey pen with 30 birds, Guinea fowls – 200 birds and over a thousand quails.

The university fish section is a thriving one.

An official said the farm sells harvested fish, pond by pond and restock immediately, so that the first set would be already matured by the time it was their turn to be harvested again. The fishes, mainly catfishes, are sold fresh and the surplus smoked and packaged for sale as dried fish. There is a hatchery and incubator that produces fingerlings with which the ponds are supplied. Besides this, there is a cowpea farm, and honey production unit. Mechanised farming equipment including tractors, plowers, harvesters and trailers are constantly serviced under a shed by technicians and mechanics in the maintenance unit.

Explaining why he set up the farm, Babalola, said it was to make education relevant by inculcating the values and skills of entrepreneurship in students, most of whom graduate without finding jobs today.

According to him, educating the next generation of farmers and upskilling the present generation will be critically important to achieve the required transformation in food production. To this end, he is using technology to reinvigorate students’ interest in agriculture and related fields.

Babalola regretted that the oil boom in the country had destroyed the agricultural legacy as a business and foreign exchange earner for the country.

He recalled the pre-oil era in Nigeria when there was abundance of food, gainful employment and reduced rate of criminality: “In the pre-oil era in Nigeria, there was abundance of food items. No one lacked food. Many people were gainfully employed. But with the advent of oil, which some people cynically dubbed oil doom, scarcity of food, poverty and unemployment as well as inclination towards crime crept into the fabrics of the Nigerian nation to the disadvantage and consternation of all.”

THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

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Fish demands hits 260,000 tonnes yearly in Lagos T HE consumption of fish has risen in Lagos,hitting 260,000 tonnes. Of this, the industry provides 159,000 tonnes.

Director of Fisheries in the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives Mrs Olatokunbo Emokpae said aquaculture contributes 36,000 tonnes of the consumed fish.

She spoke at a workshop on fish cage culture techniques, organised by the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP), Green Agriculture West Africa Limited (GAWAL) and the Lagos State Agricultural Development Authority(LASADA), in Lagos.

With the captured fishery resources dwindling, she said the industry needs to take measures to ensure continuous supply of fish.

She said aquaculture—or fish farming—would help satisfy the growing appetite for fish and seafood.

Mrs Emokpae said Lagos is bestowed many natural resources for developing marine, brackish

water and inland fisheries. Presently, she said aquaculture holds importance, since enhanced fish production is the key for ensuring food security and poverty alleviation.

She lamented the low level of investment in aquaculture, calling for more Nigerians to invest in better fisheries management and environmentally sustainable aquaculture.

According to her, cage culture a type of fish production where the fish is held captive by net in some big water area, is an essential part of the solution to global food security.

The Programme Manager, LASADA, Mr Kayode Ashafa, said fish production needs to increase to meet that demand.

Represented by the Head of Technical Services, Mr Abayomi Babalola, Ashafa said Lagos is characterised by a maze of lagoon and watersways which constitutes about 22 per cent of the state’s territory.

This water bodies, he said, provide empowerment and food to

Nigerians but that there is a major gap in fish demand and supply.

He noted, however, that the state’s rivers have been fished to their limit, as such it should encourage sustainable growth of aquaculture or fish farms.

Ashafa reiterated that the state had embarked on many agricultural development projects towards addressing and reducing poverty.

The National Project Coordinator, WAAPP, Prof Damian Chikwendu said Nigeria needs to farm more fish to meet growing demand for animal products.

Chikwendu, who spoke through Fisheries Specialist, Charity Obetta said the programme is exploring aquaculture to meet the

growing demand for fish products, adding that cape culture is a pragmatic response to the precipitous decline in fish stocks.

By committing to improved aquaculture practices, he said farmers countries can deliver nutritious fish to more Nigerians.

To improve the industry, Chikwendu said the programme is collaborating with LASADA to train farmers on cage culture as it has enormous potential to enhance fish production in an environmentally sound and sustainable way .

He said the objective of WAAPP is to increase agricultural productivity and promote sub-regional cooperation.

Since Nigeria has comparative advantage in aquaculture, he said

WAAPP has chosen the country as a centre of excellence .

The Deputy General Manager, GAWAL, Prof Xu Yuanfang,said fish farming is the answer to increasing meat demand.

He said GAWAL was established

by CGC Nigeria Limited in 2006 to enhance the productivity of grain production through local research ,development, cooperation and partnerships.

Since its inception, he said the company has introduced hybrid millet, groundnet, sorghum seeds, which have boosted yields in its 2025-hectare farm in Kebbi State.

Based on the past trends of aquaculture, he noted that the method was going to make a major contribution to meet increased demand for fish through aquaculture.

Pepper soup lovers get N800,000 as Lagos lauds fishermen

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HE Lagos State Government has celebrated fishermen, fish processors and other stakeholders in the aquaculture industry. It also splashed N800,000 on winners of the pepper soup eating competition.

The event, sponsored by Nestle, makers of Maggi seasoning, was attended by captains of industry, traditional rulers, top government officials and other citizens.

Donald Grace, who won the pepper soup competition, went home with N500, 000, the first runner-up, Daniel Osas, N200,000 and Tajudeen Agunbiade, the second runner-up, N100,000.

At the 2014 Annual Seafood Festival held at the Bar Beach, Governor Babatunde Fashola thanked the fishermen and women from across the riverine areas – Epe, Badagry, Bariga, Eti-Osa and others. He said what his administration tried to do in instituting the festival was to bring the rural fishing folks to the city once a year as the build-up to end of year activities. He said the event is one of the series that characterise the end of every year.

Other activities that marked the end of the year, Fashola said, included the Beach Soccer event, the countdown and the Christmas festivities which lead to the New Year, adding, “I hope that you will all do what is necessary to sustain

By Adeyinka Aderibigbe

these activities.”

The Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperative, Prince Gbolahan Lawal said the annual festival which started in 2012 was meant to expose fishing communities to the different business opportunities that abound in the fishing business.

Lawal who noted that the festival has opened windows of opportunities to boost commercial activities in their areas, said the seafood celebration would also stimulate investors’ interest in fishery industry.

He said over 100 mobile stands were set up for fish farmers from various riverine communities, and commended Lagosians for coming out to celebrate the festival.

Lawal said:”Market is one of the major challenges of fish farmers, but this festival has provided an array of opportunities for them to build capacity, bring them closer to the markets so as boost their economy and eradicate poverty.”

Meanwhile, the festival also paraded equipment suppliers, fish feed millers, supplement dealers, fish processors, fish farmers, artisanal fishermen, culinary services and assorted fish based menus, cooking competition and raffle draw.

‘Nigeria needs a food map’

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ITH foreign investors showing interest in the agric sector, the Federal Government has been advised to develop a food map across the country.

Speaking with The Nation, the Director, Africa Region, Cassava Adding Value to Africa, Prof Kola Adebayo stressed the need to identify food clusters.

With a map, he said the government would not only identify the sector’ strength in terms of crop production and processing, but also where to deplore interventions to expand the industry.

He explained that the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA),had carried out a national food survey eight years which has not been utilised.

He said a map to place the findings of the survey had become necessary to enable the government

devise new schemes for farmers, including food processing units to provide business incubation, training and a processing centre at village level so that farmers’ produce is processed and and send to markets.

Earlier, he said the needs of the hour were curbing food inflation by boosting food processing; mitigating post-harvest losses, driving and accelerating food processing industries growth; de-regulating and simplifying governmental systems, processes and clearances that delay projects, causing huge losses to the companies putting up projects among others.

Adebayo emphasised the need to rejuvenate agricultural growth, encourag exports, cold-chain development, growth oriented regulatory environment, and produce market reforms, to tackle inflationary challenges of the economy.

•Amosun (3rd right); Mrs Ronke Sokefun (2nd left); Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, E Lanre Bisiriyu (right); Special Adviser, Agriculture, Mr. Wale Ogunyomade and President, Prince Dasaolu (left) at the inauguration of the market.

Ogun inaugurates farmers’market

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HE Ogun State government has opened the first-ever modern farmers’ market, Oja Agbe, at Asero, Abeokuta, the state capital.

The Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, said the objective of the farmers’ market is to bring healthy food close to the people at affordable prices.

Amosun said the government was collaborating with some foreign and local agricultural experts to impact their knowledge on the state farmers.

He added that his administration was committed to returning the lost glory of the sector,explaining that increased agricultural production could lead to job generation, wealth creation, poverty reduction, feeding of the masses and serve as source to finance to other social services within the state.

“In the days of our fore-fathers,our economy was stable even though there was no oil,their major source of livelihood was farming and we are back to the roots to restore the old glory of the agricultural sector. This Sstate is

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O boost food production, the Department For International Development(DFID) has partnerede farmers to improve tomato cultivation and post-harvest losses.

The Intervention Manager, GEMS4, a United Kingdom backed Project , Mr. Richard Ogundele, announced this at a workshop for farmers in Kaduna.

He noted that the issue of post-harvest losses, which range from 30 to 40 percent in the case of tomato, has been a source of worry to most farmers.

He said farmers produce large quantities of tomatoes annually but suffer huge post-harvest losses especially during the major harvesting season.

Ogundele added that the adoption of the proposed solutions of the

blessed with fertile land and we are going to continue exploring it,”Amosun said.

The Governor said his administration was proposing to replicate the Farmers market in the remaining 19 Local Government Areas in the state.

He said good and motor able roads would be made available to enhance transportation of farm produce and enable investors have access to various farm locations and markets.

Earlier, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Mrs Ronke Sokefun said the daily market is made up of 24 open stalls and one main lock-up shop, explaining that the open stall will serve as display for sale of fresh farm produce such as fish, egg, fruits, vegetables, while the lock-up shop will be used to sell packaged farm products lisuch as smoked fish among others.

Sokefun reiterated that the market is one of the projects implemented by the administration to develop the agricultural sector, as she recalled the successful implementation of Oja

Irorun at Oke-Mosan for the public servants.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National School Agricultural Programme (NSAP), Dr.Baraka Sanni ,said she was happy to associate with an agriculturally developing state such as Ogun and assured the people of continous support of the Federal Government.

Earlier, Chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) Ogun State Charpter, Chief Segun Dasaolu expressed profound gratitude on behalf of all farmers to the State government for the fulfilment of its promise in opening a farmers’ market.

Dasaolu applealed to the Governor to interact more with the farmers as this would avail them the opportunity to meet with stakeholders in the sector.

In his remarks,the secretary of Ogun State Leaqueof Federated FADAMA, Mr. Abiodun Oyekan assured the government of continous farmers’ market.

Boost for tomato industry project by the stakeholders will reduce the loss of produce from 40 per cent to five per cent , as well as drive capacity building in good handling practices(GHP) and improve supply chain operations.

The other issue is to enable farmers to have a ready market for their produce to spare them the ordeal they normally go through after harvesting the produce.

He was optimistic that the project when completed will provide jobs for the youth and also reduce poverty.

Akin to the ones earlier held, the workshop was developed to enlighten stakeholders on the potential economic benefits of tackling the existing challenges faced by the perishable produce sector which currently

results in 40% loss of produce in transit. Key features of the workshop include the proposal of business solutions, exposure to Good Handling Practices (GHP), capacity building opportunities, discussion on the use of multi-purpose crates to curtail loss and the inclusion of women to drive empowerment through the provision of supply-support services.The cross section of stakeholders which included representatives of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture (Horticulture unit), Bank of Agriculture (BOA), CBN/NIRSAL, Jaiz Bank, Dizengoff, as well as tomato and other perishable produce dealers and dealer associations expressed satisfaction at the quality information made available by the resource persons.

THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

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BUSINESS AFRICA

Australia’s budget deficit A widens by A$10b A

USTRALIA’S government has said it expects the nation’s deficit to grow to $40.4billion Australian dollars ($33.2billion; £21.2billion) in the 12 months to June.

Earlier in the year, the deficit for the period had been forecast to come in at A$29.8billion.

The country’s treasurer, Joe Hockey, said falling prices for key export commodities had hurt the economy.

The nation’s mid-year economic outlook was delayed due to a siege situation in Sydney.

Mr Hockey predicted the shortfall for the 2015-16 financial year would be A$31.2billion, up from a previous forecast of A$17.1billion.

The Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal

Outlook (MYEFO) updates Australia’s economic outlook from the previous budget.

The report said the nation’s tax receipts had been revised down by $A31.6billion due to a more than 30 per cent fall in iron ore prices, together with weaker-than-expected wage growth.

“Government payments have also been affected,” the MYEFO report said.

“Delays in passing legislation and negotiations with the Senate have cost the budget more than $A10.6billion over the forward estimates, keeping debt and interest payments higher for longer.”

A weaker Australian dollar together with historically low interest rates would continue to support

the economy, the government said The report also said the deficit should narrow to $A11.5billion by between 2017 and 2018.

“This reinforces that there is much more work to do and budget repair will take time,” it said.

Sydney-based economist Katrina Ell told the BBC that falling iron ore prices and stubbornly soft growth in the non-mining sector meant “a budget blowout was going to occur”.

“The initial budget estimates back in May seemed overly optimistic,” she said.

Despite the change to the deficit forecast, the government noted that Australia’s economy would continue to be supported by historically low interest rates, lower energy prices, and a weaker Australian dollar.

Be competitive, architects urged RCHITECTS have been urged to be more competitive and deliver value to their

clients.

Principal Partner, ATO Architects, Ayoola Onajide, gave the advice at the second ATO lecture in Lagos.

Speaking on the theme, Architecture: Substance and shadows. Random Musings from over three Decades of Practice, Onajide said practitioners are caught in a dilemma. ‘’The architect wants to be an artist and a professional, but he also wants to be regarded as a businessman.

What is important is to create opportunities for people to discuss ways to improve the practice, change the way the profession is viewed,” he said.

He added that the expectation is that the lecture would help the younger architects to better understand the profession and how best to positively impact on society.

On the impact of globalisation and the Niger, Another architect, Olusegun Ladega, said: “Architecture of any age has always reflected

the limits of engineering and scientific know how of the time.”

Continuing, he said architecture is gradually imbibing the aso ebi (sameness) syndrome, in which buildings are indistinguished one another.

“An architectural work becomes commoditised when one offering is nearly indistinguishable from another. As a result of technological innovation, broad-based education and frequent iteration, goods and services become commoditised and therefore widely accessible,” he added.

“Many architects describe themselves as building designers or administrators of the building construction contract. This inaccurate and deceptive definition of the profession has not only led to a belittling of the architect but has also grossly undermined the architect’s professional fees and remuneration,” Ladega said.

He added that the other challenge the practice is facing is the value that Nigeria places on intellectual property.

Smile unveils Yuletide promo

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•Managing Director, FCMB Group Plc, Mr. Peter Obaseki (left) and the Patron of The Compassionates for Senior Citizens, Justice Samuel Duro Adebiyi(rtd) at the End-of-Year get-together and Merit Awards’ Day ceremony organised by FCMB for Senior Citizens in Lagos.

Lafarge to train artisans

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AFARGE WAPCO Cement has introduced an Artisan Capability Enhancements Programme (ACE).

It is to promote best practices in construction, by creating awareness on standards for block making, enhancing the technical know-how of blockmakers and artisans groups on product application; educate artisans and block makers on the features, usage and benefits of different cement types among others.

Managing Director, WAPCO Operations, Mrs Adepeju Adebajo, said: “In the course of

implementing ACES, Lafarge has organised series of programmes, including seminars and conferences, ‘train the trainer’ programmes and on site education and engagements. Overall, we have reached out to over 5,000 block-makers in over 26 locations in Nigeria.

“Our Supaset brand is designed to meet the specific needs of block-makers as it was designed with their needs in mind, after exhaustive consultations and hence very popular becoming the brand of choice for them. We will continue to engage and educate artisans and block-makers while

partnering with the Federal Government to increase the skills and competencies of artisans in the building sector.”

She said Lafarge would also use the platform to seek partnerships with relevant group to enhance and accelerate product knowledge, leading to brand acceptance, and subsequent recommendations and endorsement.

Lafarge is partnering Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and the Block Makers Associations in Nigeria.

The partnership has afforded Lafarge the opportunity to fast- track the implementation of ACES.

BCI urges investment in infrastructure

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HE Business Club Ikeja (BCI) has called on the National Assembly to expedite action on the Development Planning and Project Continuity Bill to solve the problems of infrastructure deficit in Nigeria.

The club has also called on the three tiers of government to make life more meaningful for Nigerians by investing on basic infrastructure that would boost industrial development.

BCI’s President, Mr. sulaiman Tella spoke at the 22nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the club.

He said: “We are worried over the recent World Bank estimate that African Government s face infrastructural investment deficit of $93billion yearly, and therefore called for the quick passage of the Development Planning and Project Continuity Bill presently before the National Assembly as the Bill, when signed into law, will make it mandatory for every government in Nigeria to continue the implementation of projects initiated by the past administrations.

“The Bill when signed into law will also make development

planning compulsory for all tiers of g overnment in the country.”

According to Tella, the BCI has presented position papers on how government should make life meaningful for the citizenly by ensuring that they provide basic infrastructure in all parts of the country.

“The multiplier effects of availability of infrastructural facilities will be enormous as manufacturers in the sector of the economy would have an enabling environment to be used in the developmental efforts thereby keeping their factories running,” he said.

ROADband service provider, Smile Communications Nigeria Limited has announced a 25-day promo titled “The Smile Countdown Promo.” Perceived by industry observers as a worthwhile yuletide offer, Smile is giving more value for the duration of the promo by offering a Wifi Router with 20GB and 12 months validity for N23,000. This is against the original offer of Wifi Router with 10GB and one month validity for the same amount of N23,000.

Announcing the new promo in Lagos recently, the company’s Chief Marketing Officer; Mrs. Alero Ladipo, said the offer would give individuals the opportunity to stay connected during the festive season with family and friends by receiving value for the right price. She further disclosed that those who buy the 20GB within the promo period for N17,000 would get an extra 10GB. The original offer was only 20GB for N17,000.

“Also customers stand to benefit from the out of bundle rate that would apply to their respective bundle for the 12-month period of the promo, which will remain the same as the in-bundle rate, giving customers consistent value all year round. A good way to start the New Year,” Ladipo said.

It would be recalled that Smile was the first company in Nigeria to introduce new validity period across all 20GB, 50GB, 100GB and 200GB bundles. The extension of the validity period, according to Ladipo, would be beneficial to fre-

quent data users at work and home. onsistently provides.

The promo is part of efforts by the company to make internet service available and affordable to all Nigerians.

To complement its efforts, Smile is currently providing internet connectivity to a number of schools in the country, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative.

The Oyo State government recently commended the efforts of Smile Communications when the company extended such free offer of internet connectivity to Wesley College of Science, Elekuro in Ibadan, where Smile donated free monthly internet data access to the school.

As an innovative broadband company, Smile Communications launched West Africa’s first true 4G LTE network in Ibadan in 2013 and have subsequently launched in Lagos and now Abuja and Port Harcourt thereby revolutionizing the way people access the Internet.

Earlier in the year, the company was awarded ‘The Best 4G LTE Internet Service Provider of the Year’ at the Cyber Innovation awards held in Lagos. Recently, the company was bestowed with the ICT Investment Company of the Year Award at the Nigerian Telecommunications Award where it was applauded for bringing fast and reliable internet service to Nigerians. The company has remained consistent in the quality of its internet service delivery and continues to extend the service across the nation.

Etisalat supports Nigeria at ITU World

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TISALAT Nigeria has reiterated its commitment to the growth of the ICT industry in the country. This was disclosed at the ITU World 2014 annual gathering held recently in Doha, capital city of Qatar where the firm said it said would be done through its support of the Ministry of Communication Technology and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

The forum provided the platform for Nigerian delegates to join their counterparts from around the world to debate the future of the ICT industry and attract potential investors, a statement from the telco explained.

Speaking during the official opening of the Nigerian pavilion sponsored by Etisalat Nigeria in partnership with other stakeholders, Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs at Etisalat Nigeria, Ibrahim Dikko commended the Ministry and NCC for developing clear policies to guide the industry and promoting healthy competition among the

operators.

He said, “The remarkable growth of the Nigerian telecoms industry has been largely attributable to clear policy objectives from government and a fair regulatory environment that supports competition and level playing field. We reaffirm our commitment to support the Minister of Communication Technology and the Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in their efforts to put the ICT industry in Nigeria on the world map.”

Minister of Communication Technology, Dr. Omobola Johnson, highlighted similarities between the theme of the ITU conference “Future in Focus” and the Nigerian government. She said, “The theme of ITU world 2014 aligns with the Nigerian government as we work to build a better and brighter future for our people. Nigeria has developed key policies and initiatives that have set the foundation for the widespread use of ICT by government and businesses.”

THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

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THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

42

PEOPLE THE NATION

A SEVEN-PAGE SECTION ON SOCIETY

The Lagos State government has held a reception for Justice Ayotunde Phillips, the immediate past Chief Judge, and her sister, Justice Funmilayo Atilade, who succeeded her. It was a gathering of eminent personalities in the judiciary, reports JOSEPH JIBUEZE

•From left: Fashola; Justice Atilade and Justice Phillips

Honour for history-making sisters I

T is rare for two siblings to succeed each other as the Chief Judge of a state. But it happened in Lagos when Justice Olufunmilayo Atilade succeeded her elder sister Justice Ayotunde Phillips as chief judge.

Justice Atilade was sworn in as the fifth Chief Judge of the state on August 20.

The state has had three successive women chief judges in the past five years, starting with Justice Inumidun Akande, followed by Justice Phillips and now Justice Atilade.

To honour the history making sisters, the state held a reception for them at the prestigious City Hall on Catholic Mission Street on Lagos Island.

The massive hall was decorated in sparkling golden colours.

Gorgeously dressed men and women in suits, bow ties, dinner gowns and other formal attires graced the occasion.

There was enough to eat and drink. Before the event began, there was a cocktail, featuring assorted wines and spirits. Guests clinked classes in celebration.

Justice Phillips is the first Chief Judge to use a laptop at her own expense to do her job, according to the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Ade Ipaye.

She became a judge after a stint in the Ministry of Justice and was sworn in as the 14th Chief Judge on June 15, 2012. She retired on July 26.

Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) described the gathering as exciting, adding that the rivalry between the sisters is "healthy”.

"We couldn't have been more fortunate in Lagos. We take pride in celebrating those who excel, who serve us with all their heart.

"We'll continue to send out messages that all is not lost in Nigeria," Fashola said.

Fashola believes Lagos has a judiciary that is not corrupt.

"We're also sending out a statement that our integrity is more valuable to us than all our personal assets," he added.

The governor drew a parallel between excellence in judicial administration and party politics.

Referring to the All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries, Fashola said: "We've sent a strong message about the kind of politics we also want to play. A candidate has emerged and we're moving on. No candidate has complained.

"The presidential primary was a model for the whole of Africa. We have shown that we can take care of our own affairs. Those are the things that make me happy to celebrate," he said.

Fashola said Justice Phillips and Justice Atilade assumed leadership of the judiciary by merit.

"In the race to excellence, there is no finish line," he added.

Supreme Court Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour, who worked with Justice Phillips in the Ministry of Justice, recalled her passion for music.

Justice Phillips, he said, was a leading member and vocalist in the Soul Assembly Band in the 60s.

"She was a tomboy all over Lagos. I was following her at her back," he said jovially, adding: "I think I should stop there."

He wished her good health in retirement, and expressed confidence in her sister-successor.

"Justice Atilade will be a great success. I have no doubt she will excel," he said.

Justice Rhodes-Vivour gave an anecdote on which is the oldest profession in the world among medicine, law and engineering.

According to him, while the surgeons claim God made woman from man's rib in the first act of surgery, the engineers claim God made the world in six days with engineering precision.

However, it is on record that God rested afterwards because of some kind of "chaos" in the world. "Who do you think created the chaos?" he asked, in reference to law, generating laughter in the full hall.

To Ipaye, it takes someone interested in the delivery of quality service to introduce something that had been lacking: judicial information system, which includes electronic filing of cases.

For the first time in the Lagos judiciary, there is an electronic search and archiving system, thanks to Justice Phillips.

During her tenure, the high court's fast-track procedure was revamped, while several new courts were commissioned.

The court's civil procedure rules also made Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) track compulsory.

"Justice Phillips is known today as the Chief Judge that heard the cries of detainees. We hope she will continue to serve as an inspiration to others," he said.

Justice Raliatu Adebiyi recalled that Justice Phillips ran an open door policy.

"We congratulate you. We'll miss your infectious smiles, the judges’ meeting where we share cake and tea, and those dance steps," she said.

The judge, who along with Justice Phillips attended Queens College, recited the school's anthem. Other old girls present joined in the hearty rendition, to a loud applause.

Justice Atilade, who was called to the Bar in 1976, started as a Senior Magistrate Grade II and rose to a judge.

Ipaye believes the new Chief Judge will succeed because she "has a burning desire" to surpass her sister's achievements by, first, ensuring that cases are disposed speedily.

So far, she has superintended the appointment and swearing-in of four new judges, with three to follow soon, Ipaye said.

"I can't think of any other Chief Judge who has brought in two batches of judges within a short time. That is why Lagos State judiciary remains a shining light," he said.

Chief Magistrate, Eniola Fabanwo identified qualities which stand the sisters out: being down to earth, and their impeccable manners.

She said while Justice Phillips is an extrovert, Justice Atilade is a bit more reserved yet fun-loving, with a steely character.

Continued on page 43

THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

43

SOCIETY History-making sisters Continued from page 42 She expressed confidence that the lot of magistrates would improve, with Justice Atilade at the helm.

"She's one of us and is not unfamiliar with our challenges.

We pray the good Lord to give her more energy as we look forward to working with her," she said.

Chairman, Lagos Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Mr Alex Muoka, said lawyers had excellent relations with Justice Phillips.

"For the first time, a sister has succeeded a sister as CJ of Lagos. Most of us may not see that history repeated," he said.

He expressed hope that the Bar would work harmoniously with Justice Atilade.

"We wish her a successful tenure," he said.

A friend of Justice Phillips, Mrs Bolaji Aboderin, said being with the celebrator was always a pleasure.

"There were no gossips...we just talked about ourselves. At her house she had piles of files, but she likes to enjoy herself. She loves to cook. She had time for her children," she said.

Justice Phillips shared fond memories of how her band entertained Lagosians during her youth.

"We painted this town red. In secondary school, I painted the whole of the Western region red.

"If I had continued, maybe by now I'd be a senior, senior, senior Don Jazzy.

"I'm still a bit of a rascal. My red hair shows a bit of my rascality," she joked.

The retired CJ attributed her success to the support of all in the judiciary.

"Everyone seemed to be in sync with what we were doing in the judiciary. I pray my sister will do whatever I have done 10 times better," she added.

For Justice Atilade, it is reassuring to be recognised.

"I'm not unaware of the enormous responsibility entrusted on me by this appointment. It is even more demanding as the 2015 electoral process approaches," she said.

Her focus, she said, would be on human capital development, improving the facilities and working conditions, decongesting the prisons and ensuring quick determination of cases.

"We shall continue to work harmoniously with the executive and the legislature to achieve a society where good governance is guaranteed," she added.

Also at the event were former Chief Judge of Lagos, Justice Ade Alabi; Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court; doyen of accountancy, Chief Akintola Williams; Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun of the Supreme Court; Chief Emeka Ngige (SAN), Lagos State Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary Ministry of Justice Mr Lawal Pedro (SAN) and Dr Sola Labinjo, among others.

•Otunba Jimi Oduba (SAN) (left) and Prof Itse Sagay (SAN)

•Justice Sunday Ishola

•Justice Rhodes-Vivour and his wife, Doyin •Mr Ipaye and his wife, Olaitan

•From left: Senior Special Adviser (SSA) (Legal Matters) to Governor Fashola, Mr Akingbolahan Adeniran; Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Mrs Olabisi Ogungbesan and SSA (Justice Sector Reform) Mr Olanrewaju Akinsola •Mrs Nike Animashahun (left) and Dr Muiz Banire

•Justice Tsoho (left) and Luis Mbanefo (SAN)

HARVEST

•Prof Gabriel Olawoyin (SAN) (left) and Chief Emeka Ngige (SAN).

PHOTOS: ADEJO DAVID

WEDDING

•From Left: Chairman Parochial Committee, Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) Canaanland Cathedral, Leye Ogedengbe; Shepherd-in-Charge, Saheed Abiodun; Financial Secretary, Akeem Anifowose and Vice Chairman, Taiwo Balogun, at the CCC Canaanland Cathedral Adult Harvest Thanksgiving Service at the church’s auditorium in Ogun State PHOTO: NIYI ADENIRAN

State

•Senator Hassan Fasinro

•From left: Bride’s dad, Mr Dayo Sanni; his wife, Olujoke; the couple, Abayomi and Opeyemi; groom’s mum, Mrs Modupe Adekogba and her husband, Mr Aderemi Adekogba during a wedding at the Redeemed Christian Church of God Chapel of Liberty, Ipaja, Lagos.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

SOCIETY Alumni of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) have celebrated the school’s 52nd anniversary with an award/dinner. The event was held at the university’s Multipurpose Hall, reports SAFIYYAH ABDUR-RAZAQ

A deserving honour T

HE Multi-Purpose Hall of the University of Lagos, Akoka, was tastefully decorated in red. The chairs were in white and red colours; the tables had butter colour overlays .

The high table was decorated in red and yellow.

As the guests trooped into the hall in dazzling attires, ushers dressed in white and black welcomed them and offered them the programme pamphlet. They exchanged pleasantries, sealing it up with hugs. They shared jokes about their days in school.

It was the award/dinner of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) Alumni Association to commemorate the 52 anniversary of the school.

The event, which was anchored by Prince Dayo Akeju, began with recognition of guests.

Prof Oluwatoyin Ogundipe said the opening prayer.

The Chairman on the occasion, Alhaji Musiliu Smith, former Inspector-General of Police, represented by the National President of Health Care Providers Association of Nigeria, Dr Umar Oluwole Sanda, praised the association for always giving back to their school.

The Vice Chancellor (VC), Prof Rahamon Bello, hailed the association for recognising the achievements of some of the alumni with awards. He also urged the alumni to support the school.

“Projects in the university are very expensive to fund and we are relying on internal funds which are not enough. We are currently building five high-rise buildings and we need you to support your various faculties. We appreciate your contributions so far and we look forward to collaborating with you so as to live up to its name as the University of First Choice and the nation’s pride,” he said.

The speeches were followed with award presentations. Some alumni of the university who have excelled in their various fields and other well-wishers of the school received awards.

As the awardees were called to the podium to receive their plaques, their family members and well-wishers followed them. They posed for pictures after receiving the awards.

Enter Tunji Bello, Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment. Bello was hailed by friends and admirers. He got the Distinguished Achiever’s award.

After receiving his plaque from Prof Babajide Alo, UNILAG Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and Research), Bello exchanged plesantries with some guests on the high table who congratulated him. His friends joined him for photographs.

To him, it is always a thing of joy to be

honoured by one’s alma mater.

“Whatever we are today, a substantial aspect of the foundation was laid by this university. I left this university thirty-one years ago, I am always here every year and I would continue to be here every year because I appreciate the impact this university has had on my life. I feel elated and humble,” he told The Nation.

Bello’s Transportation counterpart, Comrade Kayode Opeifa, barely came into the hall when he was called.

An elated Opeifa said the award coming from one’s alma mater made it special “especially if the alma mater is University of Lagos.”

“It's not as if it is just an award you get just because you have an appointment. That is why I give this award a lot of respect in the league of so many awards,” he said.

Another awardee, a Principal Medical Officer of the school, Dr Olayinka Olufunmilayo Coker, said: “I feel great. I have worked for about 20 years in the university. My father was a lecturer here and I have lived on this campus for nearly 45 years now with the break of about two years in between. I am happy for receiving this award.”

Also, Mr Leke Akinola, said: “I am very excited about the award. I left this university about 31 years ago and they are remembering me. It is something I appreciate so much and I thank God for it. The award is challenging me to do more for my community and for Nigeria as a whole. I think I have the responsibility to do more for UNILAG than ever.”

Abieyuwa Sanyaolu, an architect, who was born the year the university was founded said she hoped to keep doing more for the school.

“I am exhilarated to see that the university is still growing. Every time you come here, you always see a different thing, you see something different going on with UNILAG definitely by far and wide the best university in this country (in my opinion), I am proud of being an alumnies of the school. It has never let me down and I would not let it down as well. We would always support this university as far as we are able.”

Some other awardees were; Wife of the late Managing Director of Guiness Nigeria Plc Chief Beatrice Ubeku; UNILAG Registrar, Dr Taiwo Folashade Ipaye; Prof Mopelola Omoegun; Prof Olukayode Oladipo Amund; Mr Olalekan Sunday Ajisafe; Mr Oluseun Abiodun Ajayi; Miss Temitope Adebulu; Former Chairman, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, Lagos Chapter, Comrade Adekola Adetomiwa Adeniyi and many others.

•Prof Bello presenting a plaque to Mrs Ubeku

•Prof Alo (left) presenting a plaque to Mr Bello

•Prof Ogundipe (second left) presenting a plaque to Chief Godwin Obla (SAN). With them are Mr Jide Olakanmi (left) and Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN)

•From left: Dr Yemi Ajayi; Dr Sanda and Prof Ayo Ogunye

•Prof Epipheny Azinge (SAN) with his plaque.

• Dr Sunny Kuku and Dr Ipaye

•Comrade Opeifa with his plaque PHOTOS: DAYO ADEWUNMI

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THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

SOCIETY Official activities of the Priority Communications Limited were last Friday halted for a dinner and award at Four Points by Sheraton Hotels, Lekki, Lagos, writes AMIDU ARIJE.

Be Thankful

T

HE usual hustling and bustling of staff members of Priority Communications Limited, a data and service providing company, were set aside last Friday for a dinner and award.

Venue was the Four Points

by Sheraton Hotels in Lekki, Lagos.

Members of staff of the company and their customers had a nice time last Friday. There was light music to keep the atmosphere alive as guests stormed the hall.

Registration of guests was done at the right corner before entry. A red carpet activity took place briefly before the event began. Guests posed for pictures with members of the company’s management and some personnel.

One of the features that made the occasion unique was the outfit of the guests and the company’s workers.

They appeared in black suits with matching tie and pairs of shoes.

The hall was superbly decorated; chairs and tables were covered with white overlays.

Flat screens were strategically placed at every corner of the hall for all to watch the happenings.

Monkals, a comedian, anchored the event. He enthused guests with various jokes that left everyone laughing.

Welcoming guests to the event were magnificently dressed women. They directed guests to their tables on entry.

COMMUNICATE YOUR IDEAS

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Reward for hardwork •From left: Mr Samuel; Mrs Samuel and President of the Nigerian British Chamber of Commerce, Prince Adeyemi Adefulu

Shortly after the guests settled down, the Managing Director of the company, Mrs Abimbola Samuel, thanked them for their presence.

She reminded the gathering that the purpose was to appreciate workers and their customers for their hard work and support over the years.

A fifteen-minute documentary on the company’s profile was screened to the admiration of all. Each slide of the documentary was full of detailed activities of the company; all applauded as this lasted.

After the presentation, Mrs Samuel sid her company appreciated hard work and good customer relationship - the essence of the gathering.

“We simply want to appre-

ciate our customers for the support they have been giving us.

Also, we want to recognise our staff, we believe that without our personnel, we cannot serve the clients,” she said.

The company’s Executive Director, Mr Olumide Samuel, reemphasised the importance of appreciating staff and customers for their hard work and patronage.

Samuel urged the awardees to see it as an impetus to do more for the growth and development of the company as he promised to continuously reward his staff for their hardwork.

When it was time for award presentation, which was classified into different categories, there was excitement in the hall.

All were enthusiastic to know who will go home with which prize.

There was joy in the face of members that went home with the plaques.

The awards were categorised into four groups.

The four categories of the awards included the third and fourth quarters awards, outstations awards, long service awards and Managing Director’s special recognition awards.

Mr Segun Samuel went home with Long Service award and Mrs Adetutu Adebayo carted away MD’s special recognition award.

Other members of staff were also rewarded for their hardwork.

WEDDING •Otunba Jide Adebayo, Executive Director (Marketing/Lagos Operations), News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), supervised cutting of the cake at a wedding between Randy Lee Riggs and Dr. Oluwabunmi Agbo-Abegunde in Ilorin, Kwara State.

BIRTHDAY WEDDING

•The celebrator, Kayode Badejo at a thanksgiving service to mark his 50th birthday at the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), Cannanland District, Maya, Ikorodu, Lagos

EVERAL years ago, I read a book about a man who was visited by an angel. Among other things that were discussed, the angel drew a picture frame on a plain sheet of paper and put a little black dot at the centre of the frame. The angel then explained to the man that all the goodness he had experienced and all his prayers that had been answered were represented by the white space within the AMODU LANRE OLAOLU picture frame. The black dot, however, represented the (Ph.D) sospeak2lanre@yahoo.com. desires that were yet to be 07034737394 @lanreamodu fulfilled. The angel explained that a lot of times, people fo- little black dot, so it grows to cus all their attention on that fill the entire picture frame, creating the impressing that there is nothing good in life.

This is the time of the year when we celebrate Christmas as well as settle down to evaluate our year. We are just a few days away from 2015, and we need to assess our performances in the outgoing year. No doubt that at the beginning of 2014, we all made a list of the things we hoped to achieve during the year, and now is the right time to take stock. As humans, there is a high tendency for us to focus on our unfulfilled desires and unattained goals. We beat ourselves up for falling short of our expectations or other people’s expectations of us. But come on, 2014 has not been without its glorious moments. There is a lot to be thankful for. While I cannot claim to know what is happening in your life, I can give you a few reasons to be thankful: • You are still here: ok, tell me it’s a cliché, but that doesn’t erase the truth does it? Life is a gift that you ought to be grateful for. There were people with great dreams and potentials who didn’t make it till the end of the year. Some had even achieved all you dreamt of achieving at the beginning of the year, but they couldn’t enjoy the benefits.

Being alive means having another opportunity to turn your story around.

• You have more successes than failures: I have always heard the song about counting one’s blessings and I thought it was nice. A few weeks ago, however, I actually attempted to write the good things that happened in my life this year.

I discovered two things: first, I had forgotten a lot of them and second, the ones I remembered, they seemed so distant in my memory that I thought they happened last year. I was pleasantly surprised after drawing up my list. In comparison, I discovered I had fewer things to complain about.

Again, if you are the type of person who learns from mistakes, then congratulations because you are the ultimate winner. All your failures in 2014 are lessons to help make 2015 more fruitful. Most of the successful persons I know have urged people to develop a healthy attitude towards failure. Failure is an event, not a character. If you have ever failed, congratulations because so did almost all successful persons on the planet. If you focus on the failure, you will give up; if you give up, failure will become your nature. So, why not make a list of your blessings in 2014 right now?

But not before you finish reading this article of course!

• Open up, don’t close up: when you focus on the things that are not working in your life, you close yourself up to the possibility that you are making progress. You may not be where you want to be, but you are not where you used to be. Whether by flying, running, walking or crawling, you must have moved forward. Open up to that possibility and be thankful for what you’ve got.

• Being thankful doesn’t mean being satisfied: I can imagine someone asking, “Won’t being thankful mean that I am satisfied with my achievements?” No. Let me ask you a question of my own: do you think people are really ever satisfied with anything? Successful businessmen always wish they are more successful. Brilliant students always want to do better. Record breakers always wish to be better so that their records can stand unbroken for ages to come.

Being thankful doesn’t mean that you are sealing off your achievements; it simply means that you acknowledge that things could have been worse.

• If you don’t see anything good in 2014, there may not be any in 2015: now hold it a minute before you turn cold on me! This is not a curse. Ungratefulness is not an action but an attitude. Whoever didn’t see anything worth celebrating in 2014 may fail to see same in 2015. Little things add up to make big things. Whoever fails to see the little things in life may miss the big ones too.

Don’t judge yourself by other people’s standards: one of the major reasons for ungratefulness is that we compare our lives with people around us. I believe this usually starts from our goals at the beginning of the year. A lot of people set their goals in competition with other people. If you want to beat people in their own games, of course you will fall short. The best person to compete with is yourself. Considering your capacity at the beginning of the year (and completely ignoring other people’s standards), do you think you have made some progress? That calls for celebration doesn’t it? As we approach Christmas, let us be grateful for the miracles we have enjoyed during the year and let us prayerfully approach the New Year. Merry Christmas in advance.

Dr. Amodu teaches at the Department of Mass Communication, Covenant University, Ogun State.

THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19 2014

46

COMMENTARY

FEMI ABBAS ON

“W

HOEVER believes in God and the Day of Judgment should either lip well (talk responsibly) or keep mute”.

Hadith of Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

Monologue Column writing is like a shopping mall.

As a consumer, you enter it with a product in mind and find a gross of other tempting products trying to lure you into purchasing them. Unless you are disciplined enough to stick to your budget, you may end up overspending your budget without meeting your need.

The problem of most columnists is not a dearth of ideas but rather a deluge of them. Without stringent discipline in the choice of topics, a columnist may derail and lose the readership of his column. The planned topic for this column today is not what is appearing here. And that is because one cannot be indifferent to an urgent matter of communal interest.

femabbas756@gmail.com 08115708536

No! Not like Jesus

Dignity and pedigree In a Yoruba adage, words are said to be like eggs. Once they drop and break, they cannot be reassembled. A man’s private or public utterances are a major factor in assessing his dignity or otherwise.

And dignity is a man’s vivid reflection of his pedigree. In a nutshell, an impeccable pedigree is a rare virtue which no money can purchase.

Contrary to the above quoted Hadith and in what sounded like a toothpick blasphemy by a ‘lotus eater’, Dr. Doyin Okupe, a supposed senior special assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on government ‘defence and attack’ otherwise called Public Affairs, was widely reported in Nigerian media last Monday, as comparing his boss with the unblemished person of Jesus Christ in conduct and mannerism.

He is yet to deny that report. While answering reporters’ questions during a press interview, Okupe was reported to have said: “People do not understand the burden this President (Jonathan) is bearing. He’s like Jesus Christ. He’s bearing the burden of everybody….”.

This outrageous blasphemy was reportedly expressed in Okupe’s vain struggle to defend the indefensible and attack some perceived political foes of Mr. President.

Rental crier As a hired presidential praise singer, that was one of his ways of keeping his job not minding the implications of such obnoxious statement and its entailed spiritual repercussion. After all, without inconsequential deification of their employers, people in such positions will easily get fired by those who hired them.

But if a gentleman is sent on a slave errand with a confidential message shouldn’t he deliver the message in a gentleman’s manner if only to prove his freeborn pedigree? But in this case, the owl-like random cry of official rental criers cannot be a surprise to any discerning observer.

Ordinarily, Doyin Okupe’s right to public utterances as regards the Presidency cannot be faulted no matter how much irritatingly sacrilegious such utterances may sound especially since the main purpose of hiring and paying him from our common treasury is to flute the tune of his employer. Thus, such random calamitous statements should rather be pitied than allowed to bother anybody knowing the man for what he is and his antecedent.

Sometimes, when a handshake tends to go beyond the elbow, it may become necessary to reshape the boundaries of friendship. That is what this article is all about. Religion is a spiritual constituency which abhors trespass and should not be dragged into the murky waters of politics by any sycophantic political charlatan. Let the impeccable name of Jesus be kept out of Nigeria’s dirty, corrupt politics.

Doyin Okupe, a medical doctor, like a square peg in a round hole, is not a first timer in this kind of odd PR job. He once did it for the former President Olusegun Obasanjo who had to show him a red card when he realised his error in hiring a misfit as a ‘tailor’. What else could any leader of worth have done in such a circumstance? After all, a mechanic put in a clinical theatre to carry out a surgical

•Dr Okupe operation on an ailing patient in the name of a doctor can only end up causing a monumental disaster. Thus, it should be strange that this man behaves like a blind bull struggling to pass through the hole of a needle on a job outside his familiar terrain. It is a matter of stomach infrastructure which is now a political manifesto in certain political quarters. We can still recall with nostalgia, the good old days of crack professionals like Muhammad Haruna, the late Tunji Oseni and the late Remi Oyo in a similar job. And whatever anybody’s feeling may be about Reuben Abati’s (a professional) performance as the Federal Government’s spokesman at the seat of power, the clear difference is still manifestly perceivable.

Jesus in the Qur’an By the way, before some subsidiary rental criers begin to haul verbal missiles at yours sincerely over my concern in any blasphemy against the revered person of Jesus Christ by a supposed Christian ‘PR’ man, it may be necessary to make certain clarifications here.

Jesus, like Abraham, Moses and Muhammad (SAW) is (in Islam) a frontline Prophet of Allah. And by virtue of that venerable position, he is to the Muslim world what he is to the Christian world, diversity of interpretations in revealed Books notwithstanding. The spiritual reputation of Jesus Christ in the Qur’an is such that his name is mentioned with reverence 37 times in that sacred book.

Besides, a whole chapter (19) is divinely dedicated to his mother (Mary) in that glorious Book of books. And the second longest of the 114 chapters in the Book (Suratu Al-Imran) is dedicated to the family of Mary.

Thus, it is only an ignorant Christian who will query the concern of a Muslim in the revered personality of Jesus Christ or claim any monopoly of that great Prophet of Allah. The blatant ignorance in which religion is shrouded in our own part of the world may be a major cause of mutual hatred and rancour but it cannot obliterate the sacredness of religious norm.

Comrades in blasphemy Maligning or denigrating Allah’s Apostles is not restricted to this era. Over the centuries, many charlatans had done it

to their own peril and they ended up regretting the rest of their lives. Even during the political campaigns towards Nigeria’s Second Republic in the late 1970s, for instance, a self-adulated politician openly compared himself with Jesus and Muhammad (SAW) and concluded that he was better than both of them. Of course, consequently, he lost that election and the subsequent ones even as he eventually died in political ignominy. And in a Southwest state recently, a political demagogue adopted a slogan of ‘a vote for….is a vote for Jesus’. What an insult? Does Jesus need anybody’s vote to be what he is? And, of course, like his predecessors in blasphemy, he also lost out.

We can also recall the 1989 plight of one Salmon Rushdie, the infamous Indian author of ‘Satanic Verses’. His intention to write that evil book with which he maligned the person of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was, as usual, to make money. But, eventually, he neither made the expected money nor lived a normal life subsequently. Today, he is half alive and half dead without knowing where he actually belongs.

A fool’s paradise Equating with impunity the sacredness of the spiritual life with the crudeness of mundane life is like calling the bluff of God and challenging Him to a duel without a wherewithal to bear the consequence. The tempting aura of office can sometimes be as intoxicating as a fool’s paradise. But invariably, those who are caught in such a deceptive web hardly realise (until it becomes too late) that every mundane office is as transient and ephemeral as the spider’s web.

However, it is one thing for praise singers to deify their principals just to curry favour and maintain stomach infrastructure, it is another for the deified principals to know the limit of flattery, reject the label of infallibility and call the flatterers to order particularly where excesses are too conspicuous as in the case of the sacrilegious comparison under discussion here. Where are the principals of yesteryear?

Egyptian episode Perhaps, a pseudo PR man like Okupe needs to be reminded of a political episode in Egypt of the 1970s. That was the time the Egyptians began to feel insecure neither because of their war of attrition with Israel, nor because of poverty arising from that war but because an Anwar Sadat had become an irredeemable monster equating himself with Egypt in the name of President. In his last years in office, the man was virtually the law of Egypt.

He was not just the executive arm of the government, he also usurped the legislative and the judiciary powers to the absolute irritation of his countrymen.

(In recent times, similar traits began to manifest themselves in Nigeria).

In their war against Israel, the Egyptians lost almost everything they possessed, including their youth (the presumed future leaders) who physically fought that war. The only thing they did not lose was hope.

And, that was because President Jamal Abdul Nasir, Sadat’s predecessor in office, had ensured the keeping of hope in the citizenry before his death in 1970. The hatred of the Egyptians for Sadat reached its climax in 1978 when, in a live Presidential press chart, he told the citizens that Egypt was Sadat and Sadat was Egypt. He was answering the

question of a female journalist who asked him where he got the money with which he built a whole city named after himself (Madinatus Sadat: City of Sadat)

Public Reactions Coupled with his earlier unilateral decision to commence peace negotiation with Israel without any meaningful consultation with other Egyptian stakeholders, Sadat’s arrogance became so unbearable to an average Egyptian that whenever he wanted to address the nation, people just turned off their television sets and jumped on to the streets driving around with iron buckets tied to the boots of their cars. The irritating noise coming from those cars was believed to be a show of the extent of nuisance which Sadat had constituted to the nation. But the irony of all these was that either Sadat did not know the extent of people’s contempt for him or he pretended not to know because he still enjoyed the flattery of a few sycophants around him who continued to benefit from the largesse of his misrule. Today, if Sadat’s name is mentioned publicly in Egypt, only a few Egyptians will not say “a’udhu billah minas-shaytan rajim”.

Security issue Nigerian government needs to know that the constituents of security are many but they do not vary. To speak and tell the truth; to make promises and fulfil them and to uphold trust without betraying it; those are the basic qualities with which Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said a gentleman is known. But the Prophet put it in a different way. He said: “Hypocrites are known by three shameful acts: when they talk they lie; when they make promises they renege and when they are trusted they betray the trust”. From that clear description of a hypocrite will it be out of place to conclude that today’s leadership in Nigeria is hypocritical? How will the ‘PR’ Okupe react to that?

Nigerians have been told endless lies.

They have been promised in vain. Their trust in the leadership has been betrayed.

Thus, the only thing that seems to remain in their possession is forlorn life. Yet the same leadership continues to preach patriotism to the hopeless populace as if patriotism is a diehard substance achievable in a vacuum.

Is it not a matter of morality that those who are calling for equity must come with clean hands?

The good old days What is most painful to most Nigerians in all these is the remembrance of the good old days with nostalgia. At least they can still recall that despite the general belief that the late General Sani Abacha brought a political Tsunami to Nigeria, his regime can still be taken for a paradise compared to the one. Abacha’s evil machinations were expected because nobody voted for him. He staged a coup to serve Nigeria, and since he had nobody’s mandate to rule, his atrocities did not come as a surprise to anybody. Abacha had political enemies, no doubt, but he did not extend his enmity to the masses. By the time Allah finally accepted the peoples’ prayer and terminated Abacha’s regime in a miraculous way, Nigerians still had some flesh with which to cover their battered skeletal bones.

In the regime, those bones were the first target of the political arrows coming from the government. The situation of Nigeria today has enabled the people to know that devils too are in sizes and degrees. Thus the masses have stopped saying Amen when prayers are officially offered for the leadership.

Rather than serving as an attack dog for the government, what ‘PR’ Okupe should do is to study the lifestyle of Umar Bn Khattab, the second Caliph in Islam. That great Caliph was exemplary in governance, not only for the Caliphate but also for the entire world. And, from his experience, the world came to realise that the greatest achievement that any man can betroth to his people as a legacy is positive service to humanity. That is what any genuine PR man of worth should ensure that his principal engages in. Public attack or comparing Jonathan with Jesus cannot work any miracle. This is a lesson in PR job for those who crave incursion into other peoples’ profession.

THE NATION FRIDAY DECEMBER 19, 2014

47

RACE TO 2015

‘

We have a huge human population (167 million) with equally immense needs. This is a potentially immense market with which we can trade our way from poverty to riches

‘

Tension in Kwara PDP over primaries T

HERE was heavy security presence at the secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, as executives of the party met this week to discuss the botched primary in the state.

About 20 anti-riot policemen mounted sentry at the entrance of the party’s secretariat, along Asa Dam Road in the metropolis.

But, the party’s spokesperson Chief Rex Olawoye, said the presence of security men was to ward off hoodlums ‘who might want to protest the loss by their principal’.

Olawoye said there was no crisis within the party, but he added that fears were expressed in some quarters that the national secretariat of the PDP might upturn the result of the primaries which produced Senator Simon Ajibola as governorship candidate.

The police presence might have been used to prevent a protest march to the secretariat by supporters of Ajibola, who may want to counter the one carried out on Saturday evening by some members of the party against his emergence as the PDP flag bearer for next year’s governorship elections.

The earlier protest was believed to have been sponsored by some aggrieved stakeholders in the party to give the impression that Ajibola is an unsellable candidate for the party. The aggrieved leaders were said to have allegedly undertaken several moves to rework the outcome of the primaries in favour of their candidate.

He said: “We have an executive meeting today to appraise the outcome of the primary so that we can take position on issues and you know some hoodlums could come to demonstrate as reaction to the loss by their principal. So, that’s why we asked the police to come and be here to keep them at bay. We need to meet to review things.”

On the probable modification of

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

the outcome of the primary, Olawoye said: “When you have a primary like this, the national body still has the final say. You remember when Rotimi Amaechi won the primary and his name was substituted with that of Celestine Omehia, he went to court to challenge it. Fortunately, he won and was given the mandate, without contesting in the election. This is politics and anything can happen.

But, for anyone to say he doesn’t know Ajibola is a lie. He has represented Kwara South for 12 years and he has done well for us and we know him very well.”

The Freedom Group expressed similar fears, warning against any planned substitution of Ajibola’s name with that of another candidate. It dismissed the religious arguments being allegedly raised against the candidature of Ajibola.

In a statement, the group’s spokesperson, Tajudeen Kareem said, “We wish that, in the interest of democracy, freedom of choice and peace in our party, nothing is done to tamper with Senator Ajibola’s mandate. Any attempt to manipulate the outcome of the governorship election supervised by Governor Gabriel Suswam is a recipe for electoral disaster for the PDP in Kwara State.”

Alhaji Kareem added: “We testify to the fact that the governorship primary election was conducted in adherence to due process, transparency and in conformity with the guidelines and regulations of the PDP. That anyone or group of per-

• Olawoye

sons are uncomfortable with its outcome is myopic, divisive and undemocratic. It flies in the face of logic and the facts on the ground in Kwara State.

“When has religion become the basis for political representation in Kwara State? The advocates of antiAjibola candidacy are disingenuous.

Their antics have exposed them as a bunch pursuing selfish interests and not the interest of our people. If Ajibola is a Christian so what? All three candidates who recently won tickets to contest senatorial seats on the platform of the PDP are Muslims: Alhaji Yinka Aluko, Central; Alhaji Yinusa Yahaya, North; Arc. Lola Ashiru, South.

‘When you have a primary like this, the national body still has the final say. You remember when Rotimi Amaechi won the primary and his name was substituted with that of Celestine Omehia, he went to court to challenge it. Fortunately, he won and was given the mandate’

“As a matter of fact, of the six candidates chosen by delegates for the House of Representatives election, only one, Mr. Richard Babatunde (Oke-Ero, Isin, Ekiti and Irepodun constituency) is a Christian. The rest are Muslims. Going further, the same PDP delegates had earlier elected 24 of their members to contest election to the House of Assembly. Of the lot, only six are Christians. They are-Enoch Omokanye (Odo-Ogun in Oyun), Henry Olatunde (Omupo in Ifelodun), Ben Duntoye (Irepodun), Olu Adeoti (Oke-Ero), Segun Bamidele (Ekiti) and Sunday Adedoyin( Isin).

“The Freedom Group is comfortable with the emergence of Senator Ajibola. That is the collective wish of the PDP members who earlier elected delegates to represent them.

His emergence has put a lie to the face of those who tried to hoodwink the delegates that the Presidency in Abuja had anointed a candidate.”

Also, in a statement on behalf of other aspirants, Deacon John Dara accepted the emergence of Ajibola as the PDP candidate and asked the party’s leadership to immediately set up a reconciliation committee to bring aggrieved members of the PDP on board to ensure victory for the party in 2015.

He said the aspirants met in the house of Professor Shuiab AbdulRaheem last Sunday and reached agreement on the issue.

The four-paragraph statement however did not give a list of those who attended the meeting. But, it was gathered that Mr. Mohammed Dele Belgore (SAN) was not in attendance. The statement asked Ajibola to also commence efforts to placate aggrieved members and form an inclusive campaign structure to effectively mobilise party members and the general public for the coming elections.

‘How we prevented rigging in Osun’

• Aregbesola

O

SUN State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has revealed how the deployment of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in monitoring and reporting of events as they unfolded during the August 9 governorship election in the state prevented falsification of results.

The governor, in a statement by the Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, was quoted as stating this while delivering a key-

note address titled: “Broadband: Oxygen for Digital Economy” at the Africa Digital Forum and Award 2014 organised by the ICT Watch Network at the Sheraton Hotels and Towers in Ikeja, Lagos.

Aregbesola pointed out that ICT was put to use by the various situation rooms set up by the government to monitor, get results and happening across all the units, wards and Local governments in the state helped in no small measure.

He bemoaned the situation of the country at this jet age, because it lacks the capacity to deploy Internet and other advanced technologies to locate the whereabouts of the Chibok school girls, several months after their abduction by Boko Haram insurgents.

The governor noted that Nigeria has a new opportunity for economic resurgence in the digital economy age, saying that the nation has the requisite infrastructure both material and human.

He said: “We have a huge human population (167 million) with equally immense needs.

This is a potentially immense market with which we can trade our way from poverty to riches.

Added to this is the demography of that population.

“Our population is predominantly composed of youths who are energetic, enthusiastic, and innovative.”

Aregbesola noted that the Osun experience in the use of modern technology and the use of Internet could be a model for national ICT development on a non-partisan basis.

The governor pointed out that the use of ICT will enhance greater deployment and consumption of broadband.

According to Aregbesola, “In Osun, without being immodest, we can say that ICT has been a major plank of governance. We pioneered e-learning with the invention of Opon Imo. We have also been able to provide card based e-credit for farmers. Of course, we have also deployed e-based payroll and staff ID card on MasterCard platform directly connected to the holder’s account.

“We have also devised e-ID Card for all pupils in public schools and the card will now serve as payment instrument for our home-grown school feeding and health programme (O’MEALS).

“We set up the OYESTECH, an institution for training youths in

the use, assembly and repair of electronic gadgets from plasma television, computers to mobile phones.”

Aregbesola maintained that the country has a great potential for enhancing development in this information age through the digital economy.

He noted that there are still huge potentials in road traffic monitoring and control, CCTV camera, weather monitoring and forecast, national population database among others.

He said: “What this means is that there is power and potential in numbers. A great number of people mean a potentially great variety of needs to be met.

“The good thing is that in meeting these needs, a self-reinforcing cycle is created in which people have access to employment, are productively engaged, earn income, create wealth, and spread prosperity with accompanying prospect of material uplift and satisfaction.”

The governor added that any human mass is a potential source of wealth generation from which positive developments can spring, stressing that what is required therefore is creativity in turning the potential into public good.

2015: Youths advised to participate From Bukola Amusan, Abuja

A

S part of resolve to actively participate in the electoral process, Nigerian youths will no longer be onlookers, but play vital roles in who becomes leaders, President, Nigeria Youth Congress/ NYCN and Coordinating Chairman, National Youth Enlightenment and Mobilisation Committee for 2015 general elections, Comrade Yakubu Shendam, has said.

Shendam, who spoke to reporters in Abuja, disclosed that the youths have resolved to throw their weight behind youthful candidates with vision for a better society adding that it would in days to come stage a rally in support of the Senator Ben Ayade, Cross Rivers Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate.

Ayade emerged as the PDP consensus candidate for the 2015 governorship election when four aspirants, Speaker of the Cross River State House of Assembly, Larry Odey, former Executive Secretary, National Planning Commission, Ntufam Fidelis Ugboh, former Secretary to Government, Mr Mike Aniah, and the immediate past Commissioner for Works, Barr.

Legor Idagbo, stepped down for him.

Shendam, who described the unanimous acceptance of Ayade as testimony of his visionary qualities for a prosperous society, called on the youths in the state to be in the vanguard of mobilising support for his election.

“We will no longer afford to be onlookers in the selection process of leaders. As youths, we are the ones with higher stakes. If the leadership is faulty, we will suffer the most, and if it is qualitative, we are the ones to benefit most.

“That is why we must toe the advice of President Goodluck Jonathan to party chieftains during his declaration to seek a second term that, they should go out and mobilize support for all their candidates.

“As youths, we must also mobilize support for people with starling qualities who will provide the needed leadership for a greater society. As a mark of support for Sen Ayade, we will in the days to come join forces with Cross River youths to ensure that our people are properly guided,” the youth leader stated.

Ayade, a serving Senator representing the Cross River North Senatorial District, is the Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology.

•INEC Chairman Prof. Jega

THE NATION FRIDAY DECEMBER 19, 2014

48

RACE TO 2015 Wahab Shittu, a lawyer and former student of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) at the Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, extols the qualities of the legal luminary and justifies his choice as the All Progressives Congress (APC) vice presidential candidate for next year’s election.

‘

The entry of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) indeed represents a positive beginning in the realisation of these ideals

‘

NADECO mourns activist-cleric Adebiyi

Osinbajo: New journey begins N

N

ORMALLY, I try to warn myself not to be taken for granted by the actions and shenanigans of the political elite in Nigeria, but the emergence of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) as the running mate to Gen. Muhammadu Buhari on the APC Presidential ticket excites me greatly because of his antecedents as a man of principle/integrity and a first class brain. I am not a card carrying member of any political party, but when the news filtered out that he was being considered amongst an array of equally competent individuals as a possible running mate on the APC Presidential ticket, I knew that a fresh insight was about being introduced to the political space- an element capable of changing the political equation in our country forever. I have always been excited at the prospects of our politics being dominated by the power of ideas, power of action, and ability of the power of ideas and power of action to be galvanised into concrete policies and laws for the transformation of our country. The entry of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) indeed represents a positive beginning in the realisation of these ideals.

I first came across Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) as a final year law student of the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos in 1986. He was my lecturer in the Law of Evidence who made tremendous impact on the entire class for his sheer brilliance and mastery of the subject.

Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) would come to class armed with just a pen and take on the whole class for nearly three hours, making copious references to authorities and cases off head, with uncommon exactitude that can only be associated with his rating as a GENIUS. In no time, he won many converts and admirers including my humble self. So much was the impact of this extraordinary Nigerian on my classmates that when it was time for us to choose our supervisors for our final year projects, I had no difficulty zeroing in on the choice of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN). I wanted to tap from the anointing. No doubt Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) is an intellectual of great standing.

The other attribute of this gentleman that one can readily recall is his integrity and humility in spite of his many accomplishments. He was also perceived as generally accessible by the students who could knock at his door even at short notice and be sure of being given attention and treated as human beings. I can confirm that he left the ivory tower to serve as the Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice of Lagos State under the Bola Tinubu administration for 8 years with his integrity at the University intact and unblemished.

What about the reforms that Prof.

Yemi Osibajo (SAN) carried out as the Chief Law Officer in Lagos State during his tenure? Reforms that became a model of distinction for other states in the rest of the federation to emulate, for the enhancement of the quality of administration of justice in Nigeria and Africa as a whole. Again, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) made his impact in the Justice sector in a manner that convinced the stakeholders that he is a candidate for higher responsibilities.

This may not be a coincidence after all. I know on good authority that Prof.

Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) at birth received the blessings of the late sage, Chief.

Obafemi Awolowo of blessed

•Prof. Osinbajo

memory. One of the old pictures adorning the sitting room of the Osinbajos is a picture taken with the Late Chief. Obafemi Awolowo cuddling the young Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) in his arms. This chemistry that he shared with Awolowo owing to the close relationship between the Osinbajos and the Awolowo families of Ikenne was later to be fortified by marriage in that Prof. Yemi Osinbajo is presently married to a granddaughter of the Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo named Oludolapo. Some have argued that the spirit of the Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo may have had a hand in the choice of Osinbajo as the running mate on the APC Presidential ticket. Whether this spirit will catapult him to the seat of power remains to be seen.

Who is Osinbajo?

According to Who’s Who Legal Nigeria, “ Yemi Osinbanjo is the senior partner at Simmons Cooper Partners.

Yemi is a professor of law and a former attorney-general of Lagos state and commissioner for justice. He is also a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

Yemi was educated at the University of Lagos, Nigeria (LLB, 1978) and the London School of Economics (LLM, 1980). He was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1979. He has authored several books on civil procedure in Nigerian superior courts, rules of evidence and justice reform.

Osinbajo has 31 years of litigation experience including significant trial and appellate work. Yemi supervises the commercial litigation group at SimmonsCooper Partners (SCP), a leading commercial litigation and corporate commercial firm in Nigeria. With a multi-jurisdictional competence spanning Nigeria, the United States and the United King-

‘The other attribute of this gentleman that one can readily recall is his integrity and humility in spite of his many accomplishments’

dom, SCP fuses sound legal counsel with superior advocacy, and personal and responsive service. SCP provides a very comprehensive and integrated range of litigation, transactional, advisory and several support services to a vast array of clients.

Osinbajo has conducted very important constitutional and precedential cases before the Nigerian Supreme Court. Some of these include fiscal disputes between the federating units and the federal government; disputes regarding the ownership and control of oil and gas resources; town and physical planning disputes between the federating units and the federal government; an international territorial jurisdictional dispute in the West African sub-regional court; shareholder disputes involving a multinational, private investors and state owned investment corporations and energy disputes arising from multinational participation in power projects in Nigeria. In other cases, Osinbajo has advised and represented clients in a broad range of commercial and corporate issues including securities litigation, investments and divestments, joint ventures, oil block acquisitions, product liability, fiduciary duties of directors, intellectual property, and corporate valuations. He is also involved in statutory and regulatory appraisal representation before the legislature and federal and state agencies.

While in public office as attorney general, Osinbajo is credited with undertaking far-reaching significant judicial reform in Lagos State, addressing critical areas as judges’ recruitment, remuneration, training and discipline. In addition, he addressed access to justice for the poor by establishing appropriate institutions in the Office of the Public Defender and the Citizens Mediation Centre. In honour of his contributions to legal reform and the development of law in Nigeria, a compendium of essays on Nigerian constitutional law was compiled. The authors of these essays were senior lawyers and law professors with a foreword provided by a past chief justice of Nigeria.

Osinbajo is a member of the International Bar Association and the British Institute of International and Comparative Law and has served in the Nigerian Body of Benchers and the Council for Legal Education of Nigeria. He is currently an independent director of CitiBank Nigeria and an ethics adviser to the board of the Africa Development Bank. He has also served in various capacities within the United Nations Organisation. Yemi speaks frequently at several commercial litigation events locally and internationally. He is actively involved in the pursuit of legal education reform in Nigeria.”

In the months ahead, and particularly in the build-up to the campaign for the 2015 Presidential elections, Osinbajo may be missing in action in the courtroom as a brilliant advocate (a factor that is generally acknowledged) but if his well-known advocacy is deployed in enriching the politics of ideas and action, Nigerians should indeed be ready for a swell time. One thing that I can guarantee is that Osinbajo will never be associated with the politics of mudslinging, calumny and abuse in propagating the ideals of his political party. Given the fact that the candidates of the ruling party PDP are also tested gentlemen, one can say for certain that this time around, our elections and the campaign would be dominated by ideas rather than politics of abuse.

By Emmanuel Oladesu

ATIONAL Democratic Coalition (NADECO) leaders have mourned the activist cleric, Rev. Adetunji Adebiyi, who died on Monday after a protracted illness. They described him as one of the unsung heroes of the pro-democracy struggles, advocate of restructuring and true federalism and apostle of good governance.

NADECO and human rights crusaders, including Admiral Ndubusi Kanu, Mr. Ayo Opadokun, Mr. Yinka Odumakin and Mr. Popoola Ajayi, who have paid a condolence visit to the bereaved family, said Adebiyi was committed to the struggle for the emancipation of the people.

Opadokun said: “He was very active during the NADECO’s struggle for the restoration of Moshood Abiola’s mandate as the winner of the historic 1993 presidential election on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP).

He suffered the harassment, repression and intimidation in the hands of the military.

The pro-democracy movement will miss is service to the down-trodden people of Nigeria.”

The late Adebiyi was until his death the Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Southwest Integration. He had served under the administration as the Senior Special Assistant in Political and Legislative Matters.

He was also an Executive Assistant to former Osun State Governor Bisi Akande. An Afenifere chieftain, he was the unsalaried Personal Assistant to the Afenifere Leader, the late Senator Abraham Adesanya.

In the Third Republic, Adebiyi was an ex-officio member of the National Executive Committee of the SDP. He carried out many assignments for the party, including supervising primaries for the Southeast chapter. He was forthright and meticulous.

He was very fluent and charming. The late Abiola was fond of him, when they came in contact at a party function at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos. Adebiyi rendered the opening prayer at the occasion. After the prayer, Abiola shooked hands with him. He was one of the delegates who elected the businessman-turned politician as the presidential flag bearer at the Jos convention.

During the epic battle against the military rule, Adebiyi was one of the foot soldiers of the NADECO and Afenifere. He was one of the links between the Afenifere leader, the late Chief Michael Ajasin, and the Afenifere/NADECO chieftains in Lagos-Adesanya, Kanu, Sir Olaniwun Ajayi, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Dr. Femi Okunrounmu, Senator Kofoworola Akerele-Bucknor, and Chief Ganiyu Dawodu. The pro-democracy activist was bearing a letter from the Lagos group to Ajasin in Owo, Ondo State, when he was arrested by the police. As policemen were searching him, the letter dropped from his pocket and the police picked it, opened it and detected his mission. Adebiyi was arrested at Maryland, Ikeja and taken to the Ikeja police command. The officer-in-charge was excited when he sighted him.

He jumped up, saying that his promotion had come. He was confident that the Abacha government would elevate him to the next rank because his command had arrested a NADECO spy.

However, Abiola’s wife, Kudirat, pressed some buttons to effect his release. She promised the police officer better prospects of promotion, should Abiola become the President. Adebiyi ran other errands critical to the operations of NADECO and Afenifere during the dark days of the military rule. He was doing it without expecting any reward. He was motivated by principle and commitment to a worthy cause.

Ironically, many confederates, lackeys and collaborators of the military took the central stage, following the restoration of the civil rule in 1999. Adebiyi was not a covetous politician. But, he thoughtb he had paid his dues. He sought for the senatorial ticket of his district in Osun State on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). But, the elders prevailed on him to step down for Sunday Fajimi, who told the elders that Adebiyi should step down because he was junior to him in age. It was distressing to Adebiyi when the newly elected parliamentarians stormed the Jibowu, Lagos office of Afenifere and the elders asked him to vacate his seat for one of them to sit because they were now elected public office holders. But, he bore it with understanding and philosophical calmness. Many of those beneficiaries of elected offices later dumped Afenifere/AD for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to the consternation of elders.

Adebiyi did not jump ship. he continued to labour in the vineyard of the progressives. After Akande lost power in controversial circumstances in Osun State, former Governor Bola Tinubu appointed him as a Senior Special Assistant.

That was how Fashola, who was the Chief of Staff got to know him. Like Fashola, Adebiyi was very loyal, diligent and dependable. Thus, when he became the governor, he re-appointed him as a Senior Special Assistant.

Besides, Adebiyi was the National Vice Chairman (Southwest) of the AD under the chairmanship of Chief Michael Koleoso. Not tired of pursuing knowledge, he went to the University of Ibadan for further studies. Two years ago, he earned a masters degree.

It was distressing to Tinubu that the patriot took ill. According to a source, when he visited Bourdillon, Ikoyi residence of the former governor, Tinubu exclaimed: “What happened reverend? Is there any problem? Adebiyi replied that all would be well. It was the last meeting between him and his leader. Adebiyi was later hospitalised. He never recovered. A former commissioner had gone to visit him in the hospital. The activist-cleric was in a pitiful condition. he forwarded a text to Fashola and Tinubu. The former governor made arrangement for his transfer to St. Nicholas Hospital, Lagos. Doctors tried to save his life. But, the hand of death was heavy on the priest. Last monday, he bade the world farewell.

Adebiyi will be remembered for his ideas. He did not abandon priesthood for politics. In both callings, he did not soiled his hand and his reputation was intact. He was an Awoist politician.

He advocated for a new and restructured Nigeria, where more powers would be devolved to the component units. The NADECO priest subscribed to regionalism. He was passionate about the place of Yoruba nation in contemporary Nigeria. He spoke against corruption in high places. He decried opulence among the ruling elite.

Adebity was unrelenting in his call for a special • The late Adebiyi status for Lagos State.

50

THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

NATION SPORT

Mourinho rules out January signings at Chelsea

C

HELSEA boss Jose Mourinho has ruled out making any January additions to his squad.

Mourinho was active

in the close-season as he lured Diego Costa, Filipe Luis, Loic Remy and Cesc Fabregas to Stamford Bridge, while

veteran striker Didier Drogba also made a return to the club.

Bolstered by the arrival of that particular quintet,

Dortmund joins race for Kramaric

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ORTMUND join race for Kramaric German media outlet Bild has learned that Borussia Dortmund are keeping close tabs on HNK Rijeka striker Andrej Kramaric.

The 23-year-old is almost certain to leave his current employers for greener pastures in the winter and he has a long list of suitors among Europe’s top clubs.

According to Bild, Borussia Dortmund are the latest European powerhouse to have joined the chase for his signature.

The Millionaires desperately

need to improve their scoring record, having bagged mere 15 goals in as many Bundesliga fixtures, and they are on the lookout for a quality striker.

And with Palermo’s Paulo Dybala clearly out of their price range, Borussia Dortmund officials could turn their attention towards Andrej Kramaric.

The Millionaires slipped back to the relegation zone following the unfortunate defeat to Hertha at Olympiastadion in Berlin, and they are priced at 10/11 to see off high-flying Wolfsburg at Signal-Iduna Park.

Chelsea have set the pace at the top of the Premier League, reached the League Cup semi-finals and will face Paris SaintGermain in the last 16 of the Champions League.

However, Mourinho is not anticipating any activity in the transfer window next month regarding incomings or outgoings.

"We have a short squad but we've got good players, some younger, some older, but the squad is very, very good," Mourinho told talkSPORT. "Our project is to start and finish the season with the same group of players, so there will be nobody to leave and nobody to come in either."

Schalke in talks for Nigel de Jong

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UNDESLIGA outfit Schalke are hot on the trail of AC Milan midfielder Nigel de Jong, Sport Bild can reveal.

The Miners have secured another windfall having qualified for the ChampionsLeague knockout stages, According to Sport Bild, Schalke have set their

Liverpool in ambitious bid for Cech

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AILY Mirror has suggested that Liverpool will attempt to sign goalkeeper Petr Cech from Premier League rivals Chelsea.

The Reds boss Brendan Rodgers has clearly lost his patience with Simon Mignolet, with Brad Jones set to act as the number one shot-stopper in the coming weeks.

Therefore, Liverpool are desperate to sign a quality goalkeeper in the January window and they are being linked with a move for Petr Cech.

The Reds hope they can

persuade their league rivals to let the experienced keeper move at Anfield on loan until the end of the season.

Petr Cech, 32, has already made it clear that he wants to leave Stamford Bridge in search of first team football, although it remains to be seen whether Jose Mourinho will allow him to join another Premier League club.

The Czech Republic international lost the place in the side as Thibaut Courtois returned to Stamford Bridge and only made two Premiership appearances this season.

sights on AC Milan star Nigel de Jong, whose contract is due to expire at the end of the season.

The Miners have already established the first contact and they will try to persuade the Dutch midfielder to move to Veltins Arena.

Should they manage to complete a deal, Schalke

would be able to use de Jong in the Champions League, with AC Milan having not competed in Europe this season.

The Rossoneri are still hoping the Netherlands international will extend at San Siro, but the contract talks are clearly not going according to plan at the moment.

Porto completes Quintero signing

F

C Porto have announced that they have purchased the

remaining half of Juan Quintero’s contract from Italian club Pescara.

The Dragons informed the country’s Security and Exchanges Commission that they have acquired 50 per cent stake in the Colombian footballer for a fee of •4.5 million.

This means the Portuguese giants have paid a total of •9.5 million for Quintero, having previously splashed out •5 million for half of his contract.

The 21-year-old joined Porto from Pescara in July 2013 and has since made 32

league appearances, scoring 6 goals.

Despite showing a great deal of potential, Quintero hasn’t yet managed to nail down a regular starting berth at Estadio do Dragao.

The youngster, nonetheless, remains an important player for Colombia, and he featured at the 2014 World Cup, scoring in a 2-1 win over Ivory Coast.

Atletico Mineiro sign Lucas Pratto Brazilian giants Atletico Mineiro have agreed to sign striker Lucas Pratto from Velez Sarsfield, the club chairman revealed on Twitter.

Agent: Cole settled at Roma

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SHLEY Cole is settled at Roma and is not interested in making a surprise Premier League return, according to his management company.

The former Arsenal and Chelsea left-back has been linked with Crystal Palace just over five months after he left England to move to Serie A. But the Palace rumours have been firmly dismissed

by David Manasseh, managing director of Stellar Group, who represent the 33-year-old.

"Ashley is loving life in Italy and in Rome. He has never been happier," Manasseh is quoted as saying by the London Evening Standard.

"Whoever has given this information out is a disgrace because all it does

is give fans of a football club false hope.

"Ashley is concentrating on trying to win trophies in Italy and, in particular, Serie A this season.

Nothing else."

THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

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THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

53

BUSINESS EXTRA

NCP okays NITEL/Mtel’s sale to NATCOM Consortium

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HE National Council on Privatisation (NCP) chaired by Vice-President Namadi Sambo, has ratified the sale of the liquidated Nigeria Telecommunication (NITEL) Plc and it’s subsidiary, Mtel, to NATCOM Consortium for $252million.

This was one of the resolutions reached at the NCP meeting at the State House, Abuja, yesterday.

The Chairman of NCP’s Technical Committee, Atedo Peterside, who briefed State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, said NATCOM beat one other

•Indorama Petrochemical scales performance evaluation hurdle From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

bidder that was also prequalified to emerge winner.

According to him, the bidding has ended and what is left is to conclude the documentation.

The transaction, he said, was different from what happened with the sale of power plants because NITEL is not an ongoing concern but liquidated and no longer in busi-

ness.

The liquidator, he said, would pay through the court the verified claims of creditors of NITEL/Mtel.

He said: “So, what happened was that the NCP approved the transaction, which is like the final phase of the approvals, because it is only the NCP that has the powers to pronounce the winner, “So, the NCP today confirmed the process and so the transaction from the point

of view of approvals and emergence of a preferred bidder is now confirmed, so we now have a preferred bidder that has been fully ratified by the NCP. So, that brings us to the end of that bidding process.

“What follows, thereafter, is the usual documentation and payments which will follow as the rules specify. I am sure so many of you know NITEL from the times past and today’s NITEL is a different NITEL from the

one you knew when you were much younger, and I believe that the best we could have was to open it to the whole world let everybody come and let the highest credible bidder take it so that is the end of that process.”

The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mohammed Sada, said the ultimate objective is to have the moribund firms resuscitated and work better for Nigerians and not just to sell them off.

Director-General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Benjamin Dikki, said Indorama Eleme Petrochemical Limited has passed the performance evaluation administered on it.

He said the Indorama has fulfilled the sale purchase agreements it signed with BPE and is, therefore, freed from a five-year probation/ monitoring period.

After the necessary documentation had been done, he said Vice-President Sambo would hand over the Release Certificate to the firm.

Reps assure on PIB passage • State Assemblies return amended constitution today

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HE House of Repre sentatives has assured Nigerians that the contentious Petroleum Bill (PIB) would be passed before the expiration of the Seventh Assembly.

The PIB, which is seen as an all-encompassing bill that would govern the oil sector, has gone through regional public hearings and a technical session. The report is, however, still being awaited from the Mohammed Bawaled Ad hoc Committee.

Also, efforts to amend the 1999 Constitution received a boost with indications that the State Houses of Assembly are to return the document to the National Assembly today.

The National Assembly transmitted the conference’s report to the state assemblies in October for concurrence.

The Chairman of the Conference of State Houses of Assembly, Rt Hon Sam Ikon, received the document on behalf of the state assemblies.

According to the provisions of Section 9 (2) of the 1999 Constitution, 24 states, or two-thirds approval of the states is required to pass each amendment.

Speaking with reporters yesterday, the spokesman of the House of Representatives, Hon. Zakari Mohammed, said the PIB is a legacy that the Seventh Assembly would bequeath to Nigerians.

He said: “What I just want to say is that I’ve been told that the PIB, too, would be on ground before we round off this Assembly.The chairman of the committee formally spoke with me some few days ago and he’s very confident that it is part of the legacies that the Seventh Assembly will bequeath to the Eighth Assembly.

“And, of course, we are expecting that tomorrow (today) the state assemblies would return the 1999 amended constitution to the Parliament.

“When that is done, then of course further activities on that would follow and that is part of the things that the Seventh Assembly would bequeath to Nigerians and of course those coming after us.”

Mohamed said one of the important issues before the Lower House is the consideration of the 2015 budget.

• From left: Head Savings, Fidelity Bank Plc, Janet Nnabuk; Branch Leader, Corporate Branch, Pascal Nzeribe; Executive Director, Lagos and South West, IK Mbagwu; Star Prize Winner (Lagos) Chukwujekwu Osai and Head, Retail Group, Richard Madiebo at the Fidelity Bank’s Save-4-Scholarship Savings promo prize presentation in Lagos.

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Infrastructure Bank, others mull $500m fund

HE Infrastructure Bank Plc (TIB) is partnering Gemfonds of the United Kingdom (UK) and Madrid-based Investment Banking firm, Sigrun, to set up a $500 million Nigeria-focused Infrastructure Fund.

A statement by TIB in Lagos yesterday explained that the commercial agreement for the fund was executed at a ceremony in London December 5 this year.

The Fund, which is to be named the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund 1 (NIF1), is being set up with the aim of investing in and lending to Greenfield and Brownfield Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects primarily within the country’s infrastructure space.

The statement read:“The objective of setting up the Fund is premised on the drive to bridge the mammoth infrastructure deficit in the country.

“TIB, in line with its mission to transform Nigeria’s

By Busola Adesunloye

infrastructure for enhanced productivity, has partnered with Gemfonds and Sigrun with a view to making a significant contribution towards improving Nigeria’s infrastructure base.

“In addition to the preservation of and return on investors’ funds, the NIF1 has the mandate to focus on projects with high potential for the promotion of inclusive growth and socio-economic development, with the resultant effect of reducing the cost of doing business and enhancing the quality of lives of the Nigerian masses.

“The Infrastructure Bank Asset Management Company Limited (TIBAML), a subsidiary of TIB, shall manage NIF1.

“TIBAML, under the guidance of its own management and Board of Directors will independently manage the Fund under recognised and

acceptable global best practices.

“The opportunity to establish the Fund is underpinned by the ability of the partners to identify, structure and invest in long-term infrastructure projects that have the potential to generate stable, predictable, and recurring cash flow as well as ensure high returns with strong economic performance.”

TIB said the Fund would primarily focus on sectors, such as transportation, municipal common services and utilities, power and renewable energy, oil and gas logistics services as well as real estate and telecoms.

“The Fund shall invest a certain portion of its portfolio as equity/quasi-equity to attract other apposite capital instruments suitable for infrastructure development in an emerging market such as Nigeria.

“The Fund, under the TIBAML, is expected to commence full operations within

the next six months in such transactions of strategic importance as providing a unique opportunity for local and international investors with an appetite for the infrastructure asset class in a Frontier Market.

“TIB envisages that the improvement in infrastructure that would be catalysed by the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund 1, coupled with the attendant multiplier effect from enhanced national infrastructure, would gear economic improvement and enhancement of Gross Domestic Product both in the medium, and long-term,” the statement added.

On the deal, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TIB, Mr Adekunle AbdulRazaq Oyinloye, said: ‘‘The setting up of NIF1, a landmark transaction within the infrastructure financing landscape, is another important step by The Infrastructure Bank Plc in its efforts to

bridge the infrastructure gap across the country by attracting foreign and local investors.

“The Fund has been structured to generate multiples of the initial Fund proceeds by providing risk capital and attendant equity and quasi-equity instruments that will catalyse and support the raising of appropriately priced debt instruments for infrastructure development in Nigeria.”

Daniel Broby, Gemfonds’ CEO said: “The infrastructure opportunity in Nigeria is self-evident.

“With the expertise and execution capabilities of NIF1, we believe that significant IRR’s can be achieved.

“We will create a feeder fund for Development Finance Institutions and international investors to participate alongside Nigerian investors in the exciting PPP and government championed infrastructure initiatives.”

Oshiomhole gets lawmakers’ nod to access CBN’s N2b

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DO State House of As sembly has given ap proval to Governor Adams Oshiomhole request to access N2billion from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Fund (MSMEDF).

The approval followed a letter sent to the lawmakers by the governor seeking approval to access the fund.

The governor explained in the letter that one of the key

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

condition contained in the CBN’s guidelines for accessing the intervention fund by states is evidence of the state House of Assembly’s Resolution authorising it to participate in the fund.

The resolution for the approval was contained in a report of the House Standing Committee Rules, Business and Government House.

Chairman of the commit-

tee, Philip Shaibu, said Edo was one of the states that have not accessed the fund.

He said: “For any economy to grow, it must be private sector driven and most of these private sector, the MSMEs are more active in the economic development of any nation. And also having looked at the request at the national perspective, we discovered that Edo State was one of the last, if not the last, that is accessing this fund.

“Other states have already accessed the fund and Edo State is almost losing out of this fund. It becomes very expedient that we have to join the comity of states to access this fund from the CBN. The fund when accessed, will boost the economic development of our state and other related economic activities.”

Speaker of the House, Uyi Igbe, said accessing the fund would help boost the

• Oshiomhole

MSMEs in addition to establishing new ones in the state.

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THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

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THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

MONEYLINK ICAN sets up fund to enhance students’ performances

Forex dealers halt trading on CBN rule

A

MISUNDERSTANDING of a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) rule change meant to limit speculation against the plunging naira, forced foreign-currency dealers to halt trading.

The rule conveyed in a circular from the CBN Director, Trade and Exchange, Olakanmi Gbadamosi, insisted that funds purchased by bank customers at the interbank foreign exchange market must be utilised within 48 hours from date of purchase.

Gbadamosi said failure to do so, will necessitate the funds being returned to the CBN for repurchase at the bank’s buying rate. He maintained that defaulters to the rule will be sanctioned.

Bid and ask prices for the naira were quoted from N162 to N190 per dollar with only 16 trades by 1

T

Stories by Collins Nweze

p.m. in Lagos today, compared with more than 170 by the same time ON Wednesday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The naira fell 12 per cent against the dollar this quarter, the worst among 24 African currencies tracked by Bloomberg after Malawi’s kwacha.

Investors dropped Nigerian assets as the outlook for Africa’s biggest oil producer worsened with Brent crude prices almost halving since late June.

The Abuja-based regulator met currency traders about a circular issued on its website today that cut banks’ maximum foreign-exchange net-open position to zero of shareholder funds by the end of each business day from one per cent.

Interbank naira trading ground to a halt, according to Samir Gadio, head

of African strategy at Standard Chartered Plc. The central bank later updated the circular to say the change was temporary.

“Banks have to sell all dollars they buy from the market, not to keep them until the following day,” Deputy Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Sarah Alade said by phone from Abuja. “It is to ensure dollar liquidity. We have noticed some dealers speculating on the currency because of the pressure from declining oil prices.”

The currency weakened less than 0.1 percent to 187 per dollar. The circular may unnerve investors holding naira assets if they think it will be followed by stricter measures, such as a cap on the interbank exchange rate, Gadio said by phone from London.

“It effectively shuts down any

T • CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele

trading activity on the interbank market,” he said. “The market might wonder if this is the first step and there’s something else coming next.”

N100 centenary banknote circulation begins today

HE commemorative N100 banknote unveiled recently by the President Goodluck Jonathan went into circulation today, a statement from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said.

Accordingly, all branches of the bank have been directed to commence issuance of the currency in

their respective locations. The commemorative note will circulate alongside the existing N100 note.

The note, which is embedded with features to assist the visually impaired recognise genuine notes, also has other security features easily identifiable through look, feel and tilt of the currency note.

The CBN Governor, Godwin

Emefiele had at the unveiling of the new banknote, explained that the new note was designed with enhanced security to offer robust resistance against counterfeiting.

Authentication features of the note include window micro-optics, showing the national flag and numeral 100 indicating the value of the denomination and the attain-

ment of the centenary period.

The new design retains the portrait of Chief Obafemi Awolowo both in the ink, that is the inter glow level, as a portrait and also in a paper as a shadow image. In addition, there is a spark feature of a rolling manila bar, which was the instrument of transaction during the slave trade era.

Sterling Bank promotes customer services

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TERLING Bank Plc has registered as a “Responsive Company” on Reportam.com.ng, a free-to-use, independent and unbiased portal for its Nigerian consumers to post reports on good and bad customer service experiences.

As a Responsive Company on Reportam.com.ng, the bank has the opportunity to get automatic

By Nneka Nwaneri

alerts about complaints or compliments, view customer details, respond to such reports and reach out to customers, among other benefits.

In addressing the Reportam Team, the Customer Experience Manager of Sterling Bank, Ms. Oluwabusola Awosile, said it is happy to finally be delivering excellent service experi-

ence.

“We are happy that Sterling Bank has shown true commitment to resolving its customers’ issues by registering on our platform,” said Head of Communications for Reportam.com.ng, Mrs. Ireti Oladipo.

“We hope other companies in Nigeria will emulate Sterling Bank and see the value this platform provides and register as Responsive Companies.”

Reportam.com.ng, which was created by a group of young Nigerian professionals, is an online customer service feedback and complaint portal, which recently launched in Nigeria.

Through this platform, companies are able to view and resolve customer complaints, get commendations for good services and also reach out to their customers directly or via the Reportam website.

HE Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) has set up a fund to assist in raising the standard of tuition houses and ultimately the performance of students at its examinations. The fund is known as the Tuition House Support Fund.

The Institute, in a statement, said it observed that most tuition houses have the basic challenges of inappropriate venue in terms of building/lecture rooms, inappropriate furniture/fittings for conducive learning, inadequate lecturers, non-existent library facilities, good study materials and students’ negative attitudes towards academics.

ICAN said it will also assist all its accredited tuition houses with modern accounting textbooks, study packs and pilot questions. It promises to equally will also sponsor a bi-annual mandatory tuition house operators retreat and yearly meeting with Directors of tuition houses as well as a “trainthe-trainers” retreat at least once a year to sharpen tutors’ skills and experience.

However, to benefit from these gestures, all accredited tuition houses must have basic facilities including a dedicated building with good parking space, uninterrupted power supply, proper furniture and fittings, electronic writing board, projector and library.

The centre must also have a canteen, good conveniences with regular water supply and an administrative office to cater for students’ welfare with a minimum of three (3) staff.

Also, tuition houses must have relevant and professionally qualified lecturers and must demonstrate that the organisations meet the core principles of the scheme, which are designed to ensure consistent standard in the tuition offered worldwide for the ICAN qualification.

DATA BANK AFRINVEST W. A. EQUITY FUND ARM AGGRESSIVE GROWTH BGL NUBIAN FUND BGL SAPPHIRE FUND CANARY GROWTH FUND CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST CORAL INCOME FUND FBN FIXED INCOME FUND FBN HERITAGE FUND FBN MONEY MARKET FUND FIDELITY NIGFUND INTERCONT INTEGRITY FUND KAKAWA GUARANTEED INCOME LEGACY FUND NIG INTNL DEBT FUND (NIDF)

152.19 9.17 1.12 1.19 0.63 1.39 1,720.45 1,093.13 112.24 121.16 1.67 1.05 143.11 0.78 1,933.58

151.27 9.08 1.12 1.19 0.62 1.33 1,720.45 1,092.42 111.60 120.30 1.62 1.03 142.62 0.76 1,923.63

GAINERS AS AT 18-12-14

SYMBOL WAPCO NPFMCRFBK NB WAPIC MANSARD NESTLE CCNN NAHCO STANBIC SKYEBANK

O/PRICE 66.50 0.77 132.00 0.60 3.00 770.61 8.81 3.74 27.08 2.09

C/PRICE 71.32 0.82 140.00 0.63 3.15 809.14 9.25 3.92 28.38 2.19

CHANGE 4.82 0.05 8.00 0.03 0.15 38.53 0.44 0.18 1.30 0.10

LOSERS AS AT 18-12-14

SYMBOL

O/PRICE

CONOIL LIVESTOCK VITAFOAM SEPLAT UACN CHAMPION PORTPAINT FCMB PRESCO AIICO OANDO RTBRISCOE NEIMETH

49.23 2.21 3.60 266.24 36.10 5.67 4.30 2.89 23.11 0.68 15.80 0.75 0.78

C/PRICE 44.44 2.00 3.40 252.93 34.30 5.39 4.09 2.75 22.00 0.65 15.12 0.72 0.75

CHANGE 4.79 0.21 0.20 13.31 1.80 0.28 0.21 0.14 1.11 0.03 0.68 0.03 0.03

RETAIL DUTCH AUCTION SYSTEM (RDAS) Transaction Dates 10/12/2014 3/12/2014 1/12/2014 ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Inflation: October

8.1%

Monetary Policy Rate

13.0%

Foreign Reserves Oil Price (Bonny Light/b) Money Supply (M2)

Currency

Buying (N)

Selling (N)

$36.8b

US Dollar

167

168

$68.12

Pounds Sterling

261.9395

263.508

Euro

206.2617

207.4968

171.546

172.5732

Yen

1.3838

1.3921

CFA

0.2944

0.3144

242.3484

243.7996

Yuan/Renminbi

27.1505

27.314

N17.2 trillion

Primary Lending Rate (PLR)

Amount Sold in ($) 499.93m 399.97m 349.96m

CBN EXCHANGE RATES December 10, 2014

N16.42 trillion.

Credit to private Sector (CPS)

Amount Offered in ($) 500m 400m 350m

16.5%

Swiss Franc

NIGERIAN INTER-BANK OFFERED RATES (NIBOR)

WAUA Tenor

11-11-14 Rate (%)

Rate (%) 12-11-14

Overnight (O/N)

10.54

11.17

Riyal

44.4906

44.757

1M

11.94

12.18

SDR

243.2856

244.7424

3M

13.08

13.33

6M

14.03

14.17

FOREX RATES

R-DAS ($/N)

165.29

165.29

Interbank ($/N)

162.75

162.75

Parallel ($/N)

185.50

185.50

GOVT. SECURITIES YIELD – SECONDARY MARKET

Tenor

Dec. 8, 2014

Rates

T-bills - 91

13.65

T-bills - 182

13.88

T-bills - 364

13.65

Bond - 3yrs

13.81

Bond - 5yrs

13.85

Bond - 7yrs

13.83

56

THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

THE NATION FRIDAY DECEMBER 19, 2014

57

NEWS Niger Assembly endorses local govt autonomy From Jide Orintunsin, Minna

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HE Niger State House of Assembly has voted in favour of local government autonomy.

It also agreed to the scrapping of the state independent electoral commission and endorsed the financial autonomy for Houses of Assembly to enhance legislative activities.

All the 71 amended sections forwarded to the Assembly for consideration by the National Assembly were endorsed by the lawmakers after three days of legislative sessions.

Speaker Adamu Usman said the Assembly’s decisions on the amended sections were meant to deepen democratic institutions.

He said the review and amendments were tedious because they required courage among the lawmakers so that when the amendments would be ratified in the next five to 10 years, the Constitution should not be blamed for lapses.

Usman explained that for the lawmakers to understand each of the amended items, the Assembly held executive and plenary sessions.

The Speaker hailed his colleagues for their patriotic and courageous efforts during the job, which he said was in consonance with democratic tenets.

He stressed that the amendments being sought in the Constitution were in tandem with modern democratic realities.

Usman said: “If the autonomy of the local governments gets two-thirds ‘Yes’ votes by legislators, they would not only be collecting their funds directly from the Federal Government but their elections would be conducted by the independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).”

Agency gets new chairman, others

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N engineer, Mohammed Sambo Aminu, has been elected the chairman of the resuscitated Committee of Directors of Works and Physical Planning of Nigerian Universities (CDWPP).

Sambo, who is also the Director of Works and Physical Planning at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Kaduna State, is the second professional to clinch the coveted chair of the moribund CDWPP. Born in 1962 in Samaru, Sabon Gari Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Sambo attended the L.E.A. Primary School, Tudun Saibu, between 1971 and 1976.

He also attended the Government Secondary School, Fadan Kaje, where he graduated in 1982.

He joined the services of the university in 1991 as Engineer II, from where he rose to his present rank of the institution’s Director of Works and Physical Planning.

Also elected are: Adelere Ezekiel Adeniran, Director Physical Planning of the University of Lagos (UNILAG); Nelson Essienette, Director of Physical Planning, Akwa Ibom State University, Akpanden, as Vice Chairman I and Vice Chairman II. Mohammed Sani Ali, Director Physical Planning of Bayero University, Kano (BUK); Freddy Ogogua Esenwa (Jnr), Director of Physical Planning, Bell University of Technology, Otta, Ogun State and Olumide Abiodun, Director of Physical Plannin, Pan Atlantic University, Lekki, Lagos, as Secretary General, Assistant Secretary and Director of Finance.

Yusuf Dada, Director Physical Planning, Federal University of Technology, Minna; Halilu Zwal, Director of Physical Planning Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto and Abbas H. Imam, Director Physical Planning, Federal University, Gusau, Zamfara State, were elected Director of Publicity, Director of Professional Development/Project Monitoring and Director of Mobilisation.

Kogi council chairmen challenge ouster

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ACKED local government chairmen in Kogi State have challenged the State High Court judgement nullifying their election.

But it was learnt yesterday that the state government might have dissolved the 21 local government executives.

The decision is said to be in line with a court order asking the government to comply with its December 8 judgment, which nullified the election of the council chairmen.

A Government House source confided in our reporter that the government had directed the embattled chairmen to hand over government property in their possession to senior directors in the areas.

The source said: “As I am speaking with you, they (chairmen) have been directed to hand over government property with them to the directors.

The government is acting in compliance with the recent court pronounce-

Govt dissolves councils From James Azania, Lokoja

I

N compliance with a court order delivered by Justice Alaba OmolaiyeAjileye, the Kogi State Government yesterday dissolved the 21 local government areas in the state.

A statement by the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs said Governor Idris Wada approved the dissolution of the councils in compliance with the Koton-Karfe High Court Order of Wednesday, December 17, 2014.

The statement directed the council chairmen to hand over the affairs of their areas to the DLG’s today. It also directed the Director, Local Governments (DLGs) to take over the affairs of the councils, pending the conduct of another election.

Justice Omolaiye-Ajileye had declared that membership of the State Independent Electoral Commission (KOSIEC), which conducted the May 4, 2013 local government election, was constituted in contravention of the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

He averred that the chairmen and the councillors, who were elected under the void election, had lost their posts.

From James Azania, Lokoja

ments. That is the position right now.”

The chairmen, represented by

Labaran Ibrahim (Kogi Local Government Area), Aloysius Okino (Ajaokuta), Zekari Umoru (Igalamela/ Odolu) and the Association of Local

Government of Nigeria (ALGON), in an application supported by a 19-page affidavit, is asking to be joined in the suit filed by the All Progressive Party (APC), which culminated in their removal.

A Kogi State High Court, sitting in Koto-Karfe, on Wednesday, ordered the chairmen to vacate office within 24 hours.

The quit order was received with jubilation in some of the local government areas.

Councils where the chairmen’s ouster was received with applause included Lokoja (Aliyu Usman), Adavi (Saliu Adaviriku), Kabba/Bunu (Emmanuel Funsho) and MopaAmuro (Folorunson Daniel).

Workers in Kabba/Bunu Local Government Area had demanded Funsho’s removal over sundry allegations, including financial impropriety. But Governor Idris Wada prevailed on the workers.

Ortom gets certificate of return From Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi, Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

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•Some of the prisoners released by Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) to mark its Press Week 2014, at the Kaduna Convict Prison...yesterday

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‘No results yet on Kwara PDP governorship primary’

HE Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara state, Chief Iyiola Oyedepo and his executive members have disagreed over the status of Senator Simeon Ajibola as the party’s governorship candidate.

Although Oyedepo said only the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party could declare the winners of the congresses, including the governorship primaries, but the party’s executive committee upheld Ajibola’s election. .

Oyedepo insisted that no official result had been released on the primaries.

The party chairman said the state chapter of the PDP lacked the power to recognise candidates except those announced as winners by the NWC. “In recent times, the mass media and the public have been worried about the outcome of the primaries of our party, which were held between November 29 and December 11,” Oyedepo said in a statement he issued yesterday in Ilorin, the state capital.

He added: “I have, however, restrained myself from issuing out the

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

results of the primaries because it is not my duty to do so. Usually, the people who came from Abuja to conduct the primaries are to report to the national secretariat.

“The result of the election can only be made public after the endorsement of the NWC. The issue of recognising one candidate or the other does not arise, as it is in the powers of the NWC to do so. Those who are hungry to know our candidates should wait a little; the national secretariat will soon make available to the public the winners of the primaries conducted in Kwara State.”

Oyedepo added that “any other contrary message should be regarded as unauthorised”.

But the Assistant Publicity Secretary of PDP in the state, Yusuf Femi, in a statement, said majority of the executive committee members attended the all-important meeting.

The statement reads: “The PDP state

executive committee, Kwara State chapter, rose from our extra-ordinary meeting today(December 17) with majority of the members in attendance.

“That the meeting ended, living the executive members stronger and more united. It was resolved in the meeting that the result of the governorship primaries held on December 11, in which Senator Simeon Sule Ajibola was declared winner, is hereby up held.

“We want to reinstate that the state Exco stands firmly behind this decision. The public should, please, discard any rumour or speculation contrary to the stand of our party.

“We praise all our other governorship aspirants who have openly declared and demonstrated their support for Senator S. S. Ajibola who is the People’s choice. We hereby appeal to our teaming supporters to remain calm and supportive of this our noble course.”

No planned attack on Madalla, says DSS

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HE Department of State Security (DSS) has said it is a mere rumour that there will be an insurgent attack on Madalla, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

DSS spokesperson, Ms Marilyn Ogar, spoke yesterday at the regular security briefing in Abuja.

She said Madalla residents should disregard the rumour because there was no truth in it.

Madalla was attacked on Christmas day some years back.

Ms Ogar said security agencies were working round the clock to ensure that Christian all over the country enjoy a peaceful celebration.

From Bukola Amusan, Abuja

The DSS spokesperson said the seven suspects, who had been parading themselves as negotiators and paraded by the DSS this week, would be charged to court soon.

She said none of the suspects was tortured to extract information from them, adding that the information divulged from them was given willingly.

The Coordinator of the National Information Centre, Mike Omeri, also spoke on efforts to secure the lives of Nigerians during the Christmas and the New Year.

He said: “As 2014 gradually comes

to an end, Nigerians have been warned to be security-conscious, especially during the end of the year festivities.

“Already, security agencies have been intimated of plans by insurgents to carry out major attacks against soft targets.

“These targets include motor parks, churches, schools, mosques, recreational centres, such as amusement parks and viewing centres, among others. The aim is to exploit the festive period with the attendant mass gatherings for religious programmes, schools’ end-of-year parties and family picnics to cause large scale destruction of lives and properties...”

FORMER Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Chief Samuel Ortom, has been given the All Progressives Congress (APC) certificate of return as the party’s governorship candidate in the 2015 election.

Ortom was adopted by APC stakeholders in Benue State as the party’s consensus candidate.

Speaking on phone last night from Abuja with our reporter, Ortom said he had received his certificate of return from the national secretariat of the APC and undergone necessary documentation.

The former minister said he would soon return to Benue State and “sweep the PDP away”.

The candidate hailed other APC governorship aspirants for stepping down for him.

Also, a coalition of Benue State governorship aspirants on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the leadership of the party of imposing Ortom, as ýthe party’s consensus candidate for the 2015 governorship election.

Ortom’s party rivals for the ticket Emmanuel Jime, Prof. Steve Ugbah, Sen. Joseph Kennedy Waku and Mike Iyordye - rejected him and urged APC National Chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun to reverse the alleged imposition.

The group, known as G5, addressed reporters yesterday in Abuja.

It threatened to take a drastic action if the matter remained unresolved before the deadline for the submission of candidates’ names to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) next Wednesday.

The group insisted on a fresh primary in place of the aborted primary that was conducted by the party.

Prof. Ugbah, who spoke on behalf the contestants, said: “The case of a certain Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, who has now become the consensus governorship candidate of Benue APC, is the reason we are addressing this world media briefing.

“Until the day (Wednesday, December 10) that we heard a self-sponsored radio announcement that the PDP chieftain (Ortom) was APC consensus governorship candidate, we did not know that he had joined the APC. And until we heard that our state (APC)chairman planned to forward his name, last weekend, to the national secretariat and INEC, we did not believe that this candidate had even joined the Benue governorship race on the platform of the APC, least of all becoming our consensus candidate.

“Consensus is the outcome of a meeting or a series of meetings. Yet, at no time did we meet with this consensus candidate or discuss the issue.”

58

THE NATION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014

NEWS Falana to challenge death sentences Continued from page 4

unpatriotic officers to book the military authorities have engaged in the diversionary tactics of wasting the lives of innocent soldiers by sentencing them to death without any legal justification,” he noted.

The activist recalled that on July 9, 2014, the Boko Haram sect launched a ferocious attack on the Batallion and that because the soldiers were illequipped and ill-motivated, the well armed terrorists killed three officers and 23 soldiers and inflicted serious injuries on 82 others.

He said that the military authorities only assured the soldiers that adequate weapons would be provided to match the sophisticated weapons of the Boko Haram sect. “But without the provision of the said weapons, the soldiers were ordered on August 4, 2014 to recapture Delwa, Balubulin and Damboa in Borno State from the Boko Haram terrorists. The soldiers demanded for weapons so as not to lose

more officers and men in the circumstance. A few soldiers who embarked on the suicidal mission together with the Commanding Officer were ambushed by the Boko Haram troops.

“When some weapons were made available on August 8, 2014, the soldiers moved to the battlefront, dislodged the satanic Boko Haram sect and liberated their captured colleagues and officers. They were commended for their bravery and sacrifice.”

Falana was surprised when for some inexplicable reasons, the army authorities ordered that the soldiers be charged with mutiny for allegedly exposing the armed forces to embarrassment by asking for weapons as a result of which 60 soldiers were charged before the court-martial led by Brigadier-General M. Yusuf.

He said the charge was, however, withdrawn against one of them on health ground and that “when the trial commenced against the remaining 59, the court-martial allowed

Defence correspondents and reporters to cover the proceedings. But the revealing testimonies of the prosecution witnesses embarrassed the army authorities.

“In particular, the defence pointed out that by not providing the soldiers with adequate weapons, the Federal Government had violated Section 217 (2) (b) of the Constitution which provides that the Federation shall, subject to an Act of the National Assembly made in that behalf, equip and maintain the armed forces as may be considered adequate and effective for the purpose of maintaining its territorial integrity and securing its borders from violation on land, sea or air”.

Falana argued that it was when the trial of the soldiers was in progress that President Goodluck Jonathan sought and obtained the approval of the National Assembly for a loan of USD$1 billion to purchase equipment for the prosecution of the war on terror, emphasising that till now, the

2015 election: Panic in PDP, Presidency over Osinbajo Continued from page 4

•Falana

loan has not been utilised for the purchase of weapons.

Falana said it was on the basis of such revelation that the court-martial resorted to sitting in camera and prohibited the media from further reporting the proceedings.

Boko Haram abducts 185 in attack on village near Chibok Continued from page 4

caped to Gombe State said the insurgents came to the village in hundreds and ordered the villagers to assemble in an open place where they separated the women from men, the young girls and boys, before they opened fire on those that refused to join them on their mission.

The insurgents gathered the insurget ordered the peo-

ple to assemble in a particular place outside the village.

“On noticing that the insurgents planned to kill the youths and abduct young ladies or girls, others started to run away. Some were killed, some injured and some escaped.

“We saw hell. We never expect they will turn against us in the village because they used to come and pass through the village and have never asked anybody to run

away or hurt anybody until today we just saw them and they asked us to come out from our houses and assemble outside,” Muktari narrated.

Boko Haram has increasingly used kidnappings to boost its supply of child fighters, porters and young women who have reportedly been used as sex slaves.

The mass abductions in Chibok brought unprecedented attention to Boko

Haram’s five-year extremist uprising, and President Goodluck Jonathan vowed to end the conflict.

But violence has escalated since April and the Gumsuri attack will no doubt cast further doubt on Nigeria’s ability to contain the crisis.

Also yesterday, Cameroon’s army said it had killed 116 Boko Haram fighters who attacked one of its bases. AFP quoted Defence ministry spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Didier Badjeck.

Militants ambushed a column of army vehicles, using an improvised explosive device and then hundreds attacked in the region of Amchide, 65 km (40 miles) north of Maroua, at around 10.30 a.m. local time (0930 GMT).

“The response of our forces was swift and appropriate. The attack was repulsed and the attackers neutralised,” Badjeck said yesterday, adding that 116 militants died. One soldier was killed and at least two vehicles lost.

A senior official in Cameroon’s Far North region confirmed Wednesday’s attack and the toll and said it was followed by another attack overnight for which casualties are unknown.

The army determines death tolls either visually, or by counting the number of vehicles it destroys and estimating how many militants each vehicle carried, said the official, who declined to be identified.

Residents told the BBC the armed militants attacked the border town of Amchide on Wednesday, arriving in two vehicles with many others on foot.

They raided the market area, setting fire to shops and more than 50 houses.

Cameroon army said vehicles from its elite battalion had been caught in an ambush on Wednesday.

“At the same time... the Amchide military base was attacked by hundreds of fighters from the sect, but the response from our defence forces was instant and appropriate,” AFP quotes it as saying.

One Cameroonian soldier was killed and an officer is missing, it reports.

late Awolowo’s son-in-law as its vice-presidential candidate putting paid to any scheming by the PDP in the Southwest.”

A third source said: “With the emergence of Osinbajo , the PDP has returned to the drawing board.

“The ruling party is now left to base its campaign on issues than sentiments.”

Contacted, the National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, said the party could not lose sleep over Osinbajo.

Metuh, who spoke with our correspondent, said: “Who is Osinbajo? He was an ordinary commissioner and we have hundreds of commissioners in the country. The APC vicepresidential candidate is an unknown individual in politics. He is not a threat to PDP. “One thing I know is that if it comes to issues and performance we will win the 2015 presidential election but if it comes to throwing anarchy or chaos, the APC will have upper hand.”

Parties were rushing to beat the deadline for the submission of list of presidential candidates and those contesting for seats in the National Assembly.

A director in INEC, who interacted with our correspondent last night, said: “The parties have been rushing to submit their lists. They pleaded with INEC chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega to extend the

deadline to 8pm on Thursday.

“Their request was granted but we will not exceed the timeline.”

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday shifted the deadline for the submission of lists of candidates for the governorship and Houses of Assembly elections from December 25 to December 26.

The commission, however, declined to comment on the number of political parties, which had submitted or yet to summit the forms bearing the names of their Presidential and National Assembly candidates.

The Chief Press Secretary to INEC chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu, said the date was shifted because it falls on Christmas Day. Yesterday was the deadline for the submission of names of Presidential and national Assembly candidates by the parties.

He said: “For the Presidential and National Assembly elections, the deadline is Thursday December 18 by 8 pm for the submission of form CF001 and CF002.’’

When asked to give the list of parties that had complied he said: “Even by tomorrow (today), you may not likely get the information from INEC because the law provides that what is being submitted today must be officially published on December 25 He said the deadline would not be extended.

‘Buhari's character, integrity unimpeachable’ Continued from page 4

former Chairman of the Board of NNPC, former Chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) and former Head of State.

"Despite occupying these high profile positions, he owns no property in Lagos, Abuja or outside the country. This is a most rare virtue in corruptionridden contemporary Nigeria.

It is why millions of Nigerians passionately admire and adore the austere General," the organisation said.

It said it was unfortunate that Okupe does not see the glaring relationship between the fabulous wealth of the minority of Nigerians who have utilised public office to enrich themselves and the plight of millions who are immersed in poverty in spite of Nigeria’s abundant resource-endowment.

"We can thus understand why corruption has festered so badly under the Jonathan presidency to the detriment of national development.

"There is absolutely no doubt that, given his sterling antecedents, General Buhari has the qualities to offer the kind of leadership that can sanitise Nigeria morally, tame corruption and help realise the country’s potentials," the organisation added.

It also debunked claims by "sponsored hack writers and dubious intellectuals" that Buhari threatened to make Nigeria ungovernable if he lost the 2011 election.

"There is not the slightest scintilla of evidence to back this wicked falsehood. Those who make the allegation believe that a lie repeated often enough will ultimately acquire the status of truth.

"Unable to taint the General’s unimpeachable integrity, they seek to portray him as a

lawless and violent man. The baseless allegations cannot stick. Nigerians are more sophisticated and discerning than these peddlers of lies think," the organisation said.

It recalled that the Special Adviser to President Jonathan on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, had made the same insinuation in a column he published on page 51 of The Guardian of April 22, 2011.

Faced with a N1 billion legal suit by the General for the defamation of his character and reputation, the newspaper published published a retraction stating that "the publication was based on information which we believed to be reliable at that time," and that "we assure General Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR) of our highest esteem and regret any distress or embarrassment which the said publication may have caused him – Editor” The campaign organisation said Buhari is a law abiding patriot who has devoted his life to peace, stability, progress, discipline and good governance in Nigeria.

"Each time he has been robbed of victory in flawed elections, he has sought redress in the court of law and abided by the judicial decision.

That is not the profile of a man who resorts to self- help and has disdain for the rule of law.

"We can understand the utter confusion and consternation in which the PDP is engulfed. The APC and General Buhari today symbolise the hope of the vast majority of our country men and women for liberation from the despondency of the present and the possibility of a glorious future.

"It is too late for the PDP to stop the momentum of change through falsehood and cheap abuse," the organisation added.

THE NATION FRIDAY DECEMBER 19, 2014

59

FOREIGN NEWS

Putin reassures on economy

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USSIAN President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that Russia is ready to mediate in the Ukraine crisis, and he denied that Russians killed in Ukraine were members of his country’s military.

In his end-of-year media conference, Putin said there had been “a state coup and a military coup” in Ukraine that parts of the country had not agreed with.

He repeated the longstanding Russian line that any Russians killed in Ukraine were volunteers.

Putin said he hoped the situation would still be solved through dialogue rather than military means or economic blockades that were “harmful to the state of Ukraine, the people of Ukraine.” “The Ukraine crisis must be solved, and the quicker the better,” he said.

A ceasefire deal was reached on September 5 in Minsk, Belarus, after talks between representatives of Ukraine’s government, Russia and rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine. A subsequent agreement on September 19

Egypt: Dozens of militants jailed

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•’We’re not attacking anyone’ in Minsk set out more measures..

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko “is striving towards a settlement of the Minsk agreement,” Putin said. “Our representatives in Minsk signed a memorandum, and the representatives of Donetsk did not sign that protocol — that is what it’s about,” he said.

“The next step should be following up the Minsk agreement — it is important that the Kiev authorities use all these agreements,” he said.

But he also said that if Ukraine wanted to restore its territorial integrity, “it has to be open and honest.”

Asked if Russia’s economic problems were the price to pay for annexing Crimea, Putin said Russia was trying to maintain its sovereignty and independence. He said Russia’s economic woes were partially due to sanctions imposed against it.

Earlier in the conference, Putin said “external econom-

ic factors” provoked Russia’s current situation. He cited oil, and he praised “As far as our manoeuvres and exercises of the military are concerned, you’re saying that Russia has made a big contribution to the tensions in the world,” he responded.

“Russia has only made a contribution where it is supporting its national interests,” he said. “We’re not attacking anyone, we’re not warmongers.”

Putin said Russia had stopped sending its aircraft on strategic flights in the 1990s and only resumed them in the last two or three years.

The United States, he said, has continued its strategic flights despite the end of the Cold War. Furthermore, Russia has just two military bases abroad. “The American bases are throughout the globe, and you want to say we are the aggressors?” he said.

In addition, Putin said the Pentagon’s defence budget was “virtually 10 times

•President Vladimir Putin at his three-hour marathon annual press conference saying the central bank should not “burn” its $419bn reserves yesterday.

Photo: EPA

more” than Russia’s.

“Are we extending the borders? Who is moving the borders of NATO forward — the military infrastructure?

Not us,” the Russian President said.

Israel calls Palestinian UN draft a gimmick

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CERTAINLY this will not hasten an agreement because without Israel’s consent, nothing will change,” Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement.

The draft resolution was formally submitted by Jordan to the 15-member council on Wednesday, which means it could be put to a vote as soon as 24 hours later, but it does not guarantee it will happen. Some drafts have never been voted on.

Lieberman said the unilateral move at the United Nations, which followed the collapse in April of U.S.-brokered talks on Palestinian statehood, would only deepen the decades-old conflict.

“It would be better if the Security Council dealt with matters truly important to the citizens of the world, such as the murderous attacks this week in Australia and Pakistan, or discuss events in Syria and Libya, and not waste time on the

Palestinian’s gimmicks,” he said.

Palestinians seek a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, areas Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war. Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005 but continues to blockade the enclave, which is controlled by its Hamas Islamist enemy.

Nine votes are needed to adopt a resolution, which would then force the United States, Israel’s closest ally, to

decide whether to veto it.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday the United States had made “no determinations about language, approaches, specific resolutions, any of that”.

France, Britain and Germany are also drafting a resolution, which French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said would propose concluding peace talks in two years.

The submitted Palestinian draft appears to reflect some European ideas.

Lawmakers disrupt vote on Kenyan security law

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ENYAN opposition lawmakers shouted slogans, sang and threw water in parliament on Thursday, disrupting a vote to authorize terrorism-related measures that rights activists say threaten civil liberties and free speech.

The bill would allow suspects to be held without charge for 360 days, up from 90 days; compel landlords to provide information about

their tenants and punish media organizations for printing material that is “likely to cause fear or alarm”.

Speaker Justin Muturi had already suspended the morning session after opposition legislators shouted him down.

During the afternoon session, television footage showed an opposition lawmaker sprinkling water from a bottle on the deputy speak-

er Joyce Laboso, who was reading out the proposed changes to the existing security law.

When Muturi took over the reading of the proposals, opposition legislators hurled hard cover books at him, forcing him to duck before asking orderlies to shield him.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has faced mounting pressure to boost security since an attack by Somali al Shabaab in-

surgents in September 2013 on Nairobi’s Westgate mall that left 67 people dead. He has urged lawmakers to pass the amendments.

“The dignity, the integrity of parliament is at stake. The cameras of the National Assembly will bear testimony to what I am saying,” Aden Duale, the majority leader from Kenyatta’s Jubilee coalition, said trying to calm the legislators.

OZENS of Egyptian Islamists accused of torching churches and police stations after the ousting of former President Mohammed Morsi have been jailed for up to 15 years.

Prosecutors said the 40 men were involved in attacks which swept through the southern city of Assiut last year.

The court acquitted 61 others involved in the case.

The Egyptian authorities have jailed more than 16,000 people since last August.

At least 1,400 people have also been killed in a wide-ranging crackdown against opponents of the government.

Following the ousting of Mr Morsi in the summer of 2013 there was unrest across the country.

In Assiut, several police stations were set alight along with five churches and a number of shops.

Delivering its verdict the city’s criminal court sentenced two defendants to 15 years in prison, AFP news agency reported, while others were handed jail terms ranging from one year to 10.

Dozens of Mr Morsi’s supporters have been sentenced to death in mass trials over the past year.

Mr Morsi and fellow leaders of the now banned Muslim Brotherhood organisation are also being held in jail or on trial facing the death penalty.

EU bans investment in Crimea

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HE European Union banned investment in Crimea yesterday, halting European help for Russian Black Sea oil and gas exploration and outlawing European cruise ships from calling at Crimean ports.

The new measures, which EU governments have signed off on and will take effect on Saturday, reinforce the EU’s policy of not recognizing Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region in March.

EU leaders, who meet in Brussels later on Thursday, will pledge to keep up pressure on Russia over its role in Ukraine despite Russia’s currency crisis and ailing economy, diplomats said.

The EU is outlawing investment in Crimea, preventing Europeans and EU-based

companies from buying real estate or companies in Crimea or financing Crimean companies, the bloc said in a statement.

As Reuters reported on Dec. 10, the new measure bars EU companies from exporting goods and technology used in the exploration and production of oil, gas and minerals in Crimea as well as for the transport, telecommunications and energy sectors.

European companies are also prohibited from offering technical assistance, brokering, construction or engineering services related to infrastructure in the same sectors.

Companies will no longer be allowed to offer tourism services in Crimea. European cruise ships may no longer call at ports in the Crimean peninsula, except in an emergency.

Pakistan lifts moratorium on death penalty

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AKISTAN decided to lift a moratorium on the death penalty, following the Taliban attack that killed 132 children. A woman holds a placard during a protest to condemn the Taliban attack on the Army Public School, during a rally in Peshawar, Dec.17, 2014. Reuters/Khuram Parvez Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday lifted a moratorium on the death penalty, a day after Taliban gunmen stormed an army-run school and killed 141 people, including 132 children. There are 8,526 people on death row in Pakistan, one in 10 of which were tried as terrorists, according to Al Jazeera.

Pakistani courts continue to hand down the death penalty, but no one has been executed since 2008 when President Asif Ali Zardari put a nonbinding moratorium into effect. “It was decided that this moratorium should be lifted,” said government spokesman Mohiuddin Wan. “The prime minister approved.

Black warrants [permission to execute] will be issued within a day or two.”

EXPRESSO • Continued

from Back Page

Now why would our DSS so triumphantly and even gallantly deign to have made a breakthrough by parading this hapless conmen who had beaten them silly by exposing their inefficiency in the first place. And so many questions arise: what manner of intelligence and dossier does the DSS have on Boko Haram and the terrorism war in Africa generally? Is it not numbingly embarrassing that the Federal Government could be so easily deceived and embarrassed by these little fellows? How many millions of dollars were paid to them? Where is the money?

Going by the narrative of DSS spokesman Marilyn Ogar, these fake characters operated for many months between Abuja and Maiduguri, held numerous

meetings in public places yet they were not preempted until they thoroughly embarrassed us. Who on earth is Stephen Davis? Can Stephen Osuji surface in Australia tomorrow and pretend to be an expert in anything and the Australian secret service would not run riot over him?

Could it be that our DSS did not check out Stephen Davis because he is wearing miserable white skin?

Sorry, DSS’ ‘success’ in catching these fake negotiators merely signposts this column’s assertion that Boko Haram is as much a failure of leadership as it is a failure of intelligence. Are we gonna parade the unit that failed in this duty?

Emperor Fayose in wonderland I admit there are one or two other cases in the land that bear a semblance of what

is brewing in Ekiti State now but let us give Governor Ayo Fayose the trophy for putting a comical edge this macabre drama. In Rivers and Edo States, there are stand-offs resulting from executive-legislature power tussle, we acknowledge.

But in Ekiti state, it is sardonic enough that Fayose chased majority of the State’s legislators out of town leaving only seven renegades but he has carried on as if he were a 16th century divine monarch.

He did not only get the seven popinjays to sit and conduct the business of the House, he co-opted scallywags and miscreants to make up the number, sitting on the hallowed seats of honorable members and desecrating the legislature.

The first time these seven renegades plus 19 thugs ‘ap-

proved’ the Ekiti State’s commissioners’ list (i.e the executive council) we thought it was a momentary lapse of memory. Last Monday the charade was reenacted now on a grand scale. The ‘mock’ assembly sat again in Ado Ekiti to pass the State’s Appropriation Bill.

According to the report, again the seven ‘law-mockers’ were seated and all the fleeing lawmakers’ seats were occupied as visitors were allowed to seat in the chambers. Some traditional rulers where present; there was a full complement of soldiers, police, Department of State Service (DSS), Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). The press were barred save for the Governor’s Office and House of Assembly Press Corps. No broadcast journalists were allowed to record the evil

gathering on video.

In the manner of emperors, Governor Fayose was reported to have reassured the renegade speaker that, “You, (Dele Olugbemi) are the Speaker of this Assembly and nobody can remove you from this position.

I want to emphasise that this speaker would remain in office till June.” You must pinch yourself to find out if you are in 1614 or 2014 for I have just done that.

Empathizing with Mama Peace in a time of ‘war’ What do you do with a well-known certified peacemaker in time of intense, internecine ‘warfare’?

Well, that is a very tough question and this is the dilemma of our First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan aka, Mama Peace of Africa.

Last weekend, Dame Patience was in her homeland, Okrika; she gathered the chieftains and owners of the land and declared

to them in her oft unmatched candour: “Before you today is the next governor of Rivers State. He is the former Minister of State for Education, Barrister Nyesom Wike.”

Those who have eyes have seen Dame Patience’ gloved hands in many states in the run up to the PDP primaries across the land. Mama is PDP’s field marshalling leading the political ‘army’ into the next election.

She is the chief endorser, enforcer and even fixer.

Those who know can tell that of all the battle fronts, Rivers State would test Mama’s mettle the most. Up against Governor Chibuike Amaechi of the State, no prisoners would be allowed and the winner will take all. Dear reader, you would do well to keep very far away from that vicinity so that you do not get be-splattered… ka Chineke mezie okwu. Amim.

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SHOWBIZ

‘Why we unveiled world’s largest bottle tree,’ by Nigerian Breweries

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ETTING the mood for the yuletide, Nigerian Breweries, through its premium brand, Star Lager, has created a consumer-delight atmosphere, with an iconic bottle tree, planted at the Star Beer Village, Eko Atlantic City, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Made from 8, 000 bottles, the shimmering blue tree, according to the company’s marketing director, Walter Drenth, was built to showcase the creativity, which abounds in the country.

The unveiling of the bottle, Wednesday, was part of the Xmas beautification of the Bar Beach line on Ahmadu Bello Way, in preparation for the

Stories by Victor Akande

annual Lagos Countdown festivities which Star is a major sponsor.

“We are overwhelmed how our people generally have reacted to this humble idea of a giant Star bottle Christmas tree. It goes on to show that people appreciate creativity and our efforts at adding excitement and joy, for which we are grateful,” said Drenth.

He noted that the structure, being the first-of-its-kind, is a confirmation of his company’s desire to boost the tourism potential of Nigeria.

He said: “This feat we have achieved is one that hasn’t

been done before and we pride ourselves in the attempt to bring joy and perhaps even break a world record. With this, we have put Nigeria on the world map and made Lagos, a tourist site that it truly is. We hope that Nigerians and Star Lager consumers appreciate it and see reasons to be proud of being citizens of Nigeria.”

It will be recalled that the initial plan was to spend 3, 000 bottles on the tree and beat the world record of 1,000 beer bottles being held by the Chinese city of Shanghai, but the desire got bigger in the process of construction.

There are indications that notable set designer, Pat

A

S global beverage brand, Coca-Cola revamps its commitment to entertainment in Nigeria, with the Coke Studio campus deal; it is ending its 13-year partnership with popular music reality show, American Idol.

Reports say that Coca-Cola and Fox, producers of the show, have mutually decided to call it quits, without either partner stating the reason for the separation.

Therefore, when the show resumes for its 14th season on

S

•Cosby, noted for the show, with a kid

at www.kidssayng.com.

According to Mr. Oludare Onasanya, Executive Director, HB Consolidated Limited, the programme franchise owner in Nigeria, the audition would provide children with the opportunity of displaying their talents in an atmosphere of fun and competition.

“The registration for the audition, which is free of charge, would be done online. Every application will be scrutinised in a bid to choose the best participants for the audition because our key objective is to deliver a top-quality family entertainment television show,” he said.

The main promise of the

Nebo, built the record-breaking tree.

Also present at the event were the company’s Corpo-

rate Media and Brand PR Manager, Edem Vindah, Marketing Manager Star, Goldberg & Export, Tokunbo

Adodo, Brand Manager Star Lager Obabiyi Fagade and comedian Lafup amongst others.

Coca-Cola ends deal with American Idol

Audition holds for Kids Say the Darndest Things Nigeria EQUEL to the acquisition of franchise for globally acclaimed family television show, Kids Say the Darndest Things, organisers have scheduled an audition for interested children, at the Ultima Studios, Lekki, Lagos.

Reputed for bringing out the hilarious and smart side of children, audition for the Season 1 of the show is expected to precede the Nigerian launch scheduled for the first quarter of 2015.

The television show, which has enjoyed popularity and rave reviews in various markets such as Australia, Singapore, India and Italy, will have its original format rechristened, Your Kids are the Stars for the Nigerian market.

The popular show, which is of American origin, features segments such as One on One Series for the host and a kid, a live studio series tagged The Panel Segment for three kids and host and the Hidden Camera.

To participate in the selection process, organisers say parents or guardians, who must be at least 21 years old, should register interested children or wards between the ages of 2 and 10

• Corporate Affairs Adviser Kufre Ekanem, Marketing Director NB PLC Walter Drenth unveiling the Star Bottle Tree

show is that the host would pose a question to a child who would usually respond in a witty manner and straight from the heart. It would show kids giving unrehearsed reactions to whatever the host asks or says to them; just as the host too would also provide some humour.

The original format, Kids Say the Darndest Things, first aired on CBS as a special on February 6, 1995, and as a full season from January 9, 1998 to June 23, 2000. It was based on a popular feature with the same name in Art Linkletter’s radio show House Party and Television Series, which aired mostly five days a week from 1945 to 1969.

January 7, 2015, those giant Coke cups at the American Idol judges’ table would have disappeared.

“We look forward to working together on new collaborations in the future,” a CocaCola rep confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.

Sources closes to the negotiations have also disclosed that the show is already negotiating with other potential sponsors who could come on before the beginning of the season.

This news comes on the

heels of word that the longtime Fox singing show will be cutting back to one night a week when the shows reach the top 10 finalists.

Show host, Ryan Seacrest, confirmed the news at the Z100 Jingle Ball in New York City, telling reporters that the performance show and results show will be combined in one night.

Another longtime sponsor, AT&T, ended its sponsorship last season. However, Fox has confirmed that Ford will return as a sponsor this season.

Sir Elton John, David Furnish set to wed

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RITISH singer, Elton John, 67 and his partner, David Furnish, 52 are set to wed tomorrow, being the 21 st anniversary of their civil union.

The couple, who were among Britain’s first same sex-couples, have been together for 21 years.

A close friend of both ‘men’ told the Daily Mirror that the event will hold at their lavish home in Windsor, Berkshire.

“Elton and David have been planning this for months. Elton is flamboyant but, for once, this will be de-

• The couple with their kids

cidedly low-key affair. Only close friends and family are invited – it’s going to be a small, intimate do,” he said.

The couple are reportedly planning for their two sons,

Zachary, three, and Elijah, 23 months, to be ring-bearers during the ceremony.

“It’s important to David and Elton the boys play a special part,” said the source.

MultiChoice to sowcase three Nigerian festivals

• Gov Imoke of Cross River State with Wife, Obima during last year’s event

• Calabar Carnival

L

rian gospel rock artiste Frank Edwards will also form part of the entertainment lineup.

Known as Africa’s biggest street party, the annual Calabar Carnival, which celebrates its 10th year, will air from the 26 to 29 December.

The musical concert, which

IVING up to its bid on current happenstances, management of Pay TV channel, GOtv, have promised to boost content this yuletide season, with special broadcast of some of the best Nigerian festivals on GOtv Plus channel 29.

The plan, according to the

company, is to feature the select events of 2014 from Friday December 19 to January 1, 2015 on its special event popup channel, starting with the sixth edition of the Akwa Ibom Christmas Concert from December 19 to 21.

The concert will feature a top

line-up of artistes, including a 200-man Ibom Choral and Orchestra as well as renowned five-time Grammy Awardwinning singer, Israel Houghton and South African gospel legend, Lionel Peterson. International worship leaders, Sinach and Nige-

takes place on the streets of Calabar, the Cross River State capital, features top Nigerian artistes plus a parade of colourful costumes, dancers, elaborate floats, all interpreting this year’s theme, Celebration Time.

The on-screen festivities will

culminate in the Lagos Countdown to the New Year from December 29 to January 1, 2015, where viewers will join the city of Lagos as it counts down to 2015 with a massive concert featuring top artistes and a spectacular fireworks.

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SPORT EXTRA JANUARY 9, 13 FRIENDLIES IN ABU DHABI:

Onduku happy with U-23 call up

Arsenal's Akpom, Ajayi ready for Elephants

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RSENAL

• Thrilled with re-union with ex-team mates From Tunde Liadi,Owerri

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OMO Onduku of Romanian Liga I team CSMS has expressed delight at his

invitation to the Under-23 national team as it has helped him re-unite with his old team mates and also enable him offer himself for his country.

Onduku played for Bayelsa United and Sharks before he travelled overseas last year and it was his rave review for his club in Romania that has

Quit Eagles, Onigbinde advises Keshi F

ORMER Super Eagles caoch, Adegboye Onigbinde has personally written to out- of-contract Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi to quietly seek greener pastures elsewhere.

In recent times, severall Nigerian managers have advised the erstwhile Mali and Togo coach to leave the Super Eagles’s job after the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations misfire with the latest calls coming from Christian Chukwu, Shuaibu Amodu, Kashimawo Laloko, among others.

Onigbinde said he will not like to be seen repeating himself on Keshi Eagles’ job as he has specifically asked him to politely thank the president for considering him worthy for recall and bow out honourably.

“On the very day the presidency asked him to return to his job I personally sent him a text

message to politely thank Mr president for the offer and bow out honourably and quietly.

“Keshi respectfully replied the text message thanking me. That was as he went ahead with the two remaining 2015 African Cup Of Natinons (AFCON) qualifying matches against Congo and South Africa, I’m sure the rest is history.

I adviced Keshi because I understand that he won’t work with the presidency but a different set of people as well as an entirely different environment.

“Now that others have picked up the calls, I won’t like to engage in an exercise that will appear repetitious so that I won’t be accused of having interest in the whole matter. I’m not used to presssurising people to act in certain ways, I’ve passed my view directly to him, I don’t need to pressure him further on same thing,” said Onigbinde to

Uche extends Villarreal contract

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IGERIA international, Ikechukwu Uche, has extended his contract with Spanish club, Villarreal CF. Uche will now play for the Primera División club until 2017 and he duly took to Twitter to announce the development.

“Proud to defend this shirt until 2017! Thanks to the club, fans, teammates and coaching staff VillarrealCF,” he wrote via ikeuche9.

Uche joined Villarreal from Granada in 2011, initially on loan before the deal was eventually made permanent. He scored 14 league goals in his first full season (2012/13) with the Yellow Submarines and followed it up with another 14 last season.

The 30-year-old has already scored four goals in 13 league matches this season.

supersport.com.

Onigbinde insisted that administration is the bane of the nation’s football development while he condemned the football house for half-heartedly implementing his suggestions on match analysis.

“The major problem of our football is administration, I’ve written several papers on the need for a virile technical department which is key to football development. In other lands, it’s called technical and development department because without development then everybody could as well go to sleep.

“I suggested that some people be

trained as match analysts but the persons I saw on NFF list are out of place. The major mistakes we keep repeating are to assume that ex-footballers are automatic administrators, it’s quite wrong.

“Jose Mourinho and Arrigo Sacchi weren’t star players but you can’t rival their administrative and technical finesse. Being a star player doesn’t make you a sound administrator or technical expert, it’s clearly a special calling,” said Onigbinde.

attracted the head coach of the U-23 team, Samson Siasia to hand him a call up.

Having resumed training with the team yesterday morning after only engaging in a warm up sessions on Wednesday evening, Onduku has declared his readiness to offer himself for his fatherland if the coaches of the Dream Team V1 consider him worthy of a place in the team.

"I am happy to be here to play for my country. It is an honour to be considered for such privilege. I will strive harder to get a spot by distinguishing myself during training sessions. I was not opportune to train and engage in the friendly match played on Wednesday evening because I only warmed up. I howver started training today(yesterday). " I have also re-united with some of my old team mates in the clubs I played for previously and also for the home based Eagles too. I saw Azubuike Okechukwu, Oghenekaro Etebo and others, it was like a big reunion," Onduku told SportingLife.

youngsters, Chuba Akpom and Semi Ajayi have expressed interest in being part of the Super Eagles’ international friendlies against Cote d’Ivoire and Mali in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates next month.

The three –time African champions play Cup of Nations -bound Elephants on January 9 before facing Mali’s Les Aiglons, also heading to Equatorial Guinea, on January 13.

The highly rated duo could be called up by Coach Daniel Amokachi for the trip, alongside Steven Ukoh.

FIFA clears Ukoh to play for Nigeria W ORLD football – governing body, FIFA, has cleared former Swiss Under-20 international, Steven Archibong Effiong Ukoh to represent Nigeria at the senior level.

The versatile midfielder, born on 19th June, 1991 to Nigerian parents in Berne, Switzerland, currently plays for Biel-Bienne FC in the European country.

Ukoh represented Switzerland at U-16, U-17,

U-18, U-19 and U-20 levels between 2006 and 2010, but had a change of mind thereafter and opted to wear the green-whitegreen at the senior level.

His father, Archibong Effiong Ukoh and mother, Helene hail from Itu local government area of Akwa Ibom State.

By the decision of a single judge of the FIFA Players’ Status Committee on 4th December, 2014, Steven Ukoh was cleared to switch his nationality from Switzerland to Nigeria.

Omeruo may quit Chelsea - Agent N

IGERIA defender Kenneth Omeruo could sign permanently with English championship side, Middlesbrough at the end of the season according to his representative, Chika Akujobi.

The 21-year old defender is on loan from English giants Chelsea to the Riverside stadium and has been an integral part of ‘Boro’s team this season. However, speaking to SL10.ng, Akujobi reckoned that Omeruo still has three years to run on his contract with Chelsea and any deal to secure Omeruo’s services on a permanent basis will be between the Blues and Middlesbrough.

“He has a three year contract with Chelsea and at the end of the season he is expected to return to Chelsea. But right now Middlesbrough are doing good and they are second on the table and you never know what will happen at the end of the season.

“I don’t know if he will sign with Middlesbrough because he still has three years to run on his contract but maybe it could happen. If the deal is going to happen, that will definitely be between them and Chelsea,” Akujobi revealed to SL10.ng.

This will be Omeruo’s second spell on loan at ‘Boro, and had earlier spent another loan spell at Dutch side, Ado Den Haag and has never played a competitive game for Chelsea’s first team.

TODAY IN THE NATION

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2014 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

VOL.9 NO.3,069

‘Falcons hunt for their young; crickets make their own music, and the untended herd determines the course of its own pasture; let you and I TUNJI OL OLADE become our own heroes’ OLA OLATUNJI OLOLADE

COMMENT & DEB ATE EBA

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S a long-distance witness of the process and outcome of the nomination of the candidate and running mate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the February 2015 presidential elections, I find it incredibly invigorating, morale-boosting and spirit-uplifting. For those who were not just witnesses but also active participants in this remarkable experience, they have a right to see themselves as heroes in the national journey that started 15 years ago.

Nigerian citizens and patriots, no matter their party affiliations, must be justly proud of where we are with these results, and where we could be if we persist in this struggle for emancipation. It is not surprising therefore that major commentaries have been positive and congratulatory. It is a refreshing converse of the sordid experience of gangster democracy that we have been exposed to since 1999.

I was one of those who hailed the formation of the APC. In “A big Deal” in August 2013, I observed that it was a big step for democracy. And Opalaba, an otherwise apolitical professional, was upbeat. But he was also cautionary, especially about possible bottlenecks and organisational hiccups. Here was his thoughtful remark then: “But it’s just the beginning, and the end is most definitely important. My only hope is that this beginning is not thwarted; that the leadership of the new party learns from experience; that internal democracy is their watchword; that they are sensitive to the presentation of a uniquely democratic alternative to the electorate because in the final analysis, it is what matters most. It’s a game of numbers”.

Yes, we were all concerned about thwarting the beginning, not learning from past experience, not paying attention to internal democracy and about insensitivity to the interest of the masses. And, of course, the ruling party wasted no time in its determination to define the new party even before it could settle down to business. “It is one man’s party”, they stated. “It is an assembly of tired politicians”, they claimed. “It is a group of terrorists”, they cried. And to some extent, the ugly propaganda war worked, as a few of the original collaborators defected and old dogs went back to their mess. But the lion hearts and insuperable optimists stayed put bolstered by the strength of their convictions.

The issue of the process for the emergence of the party’s standard-bearer did not perturb its devoted leadership, as they reassured the membership that absolute transparency was their mandate. And they delivered to the disappointment of their opponents. The process was not only democratic; it was transparently so.

SEGUN GBADEGESIN gbadegesin@thenationonlineng.net

APC: Championing the change we need

•Buhari •Osinbajo Why is this important? It was clear that the process was transparently democratic, with each candidate canvassing for the votes of delegates by promoting their personalities, past records of achievements, and proposals for the restoration of the country. Assume, however, that that was not the case. Then the outcome wouldn’t have been widely accepted and lauded as it has been. If a consensus had been reached behind closed doors, it would have been insinuated by detractors that some candidates were forced to step down. The fact that a primary election was conducted in the open market place of high-wired politics lent credibility to the democratic credentials that APC has hitherto laid claim to.

The outcome is therefore good in part because the process was democratic. But it also turned out that a democratic process actually was capable of yielding a substantively good outcome. There is no denying the fact that a substantial majority of party members and neutral Nigerians had expressed a preference for the candidacy of General Muhammadu Buhari for reason of his wide acceptability among the masses based on his previous

T

OMPOLO and the Boys Company (BC) I am tempted to start by saying Tompolo, I dey laugh o! The story of a certain fellow by the queer name of Government Ekpemuopolo Tompolo always evokes hearty laughter in me each time I read it. It always reminds me of the Boys Company of the Biafran Army. Yours truly was not eligible, being not old enough, but I heard stories of the exploits of the BC from bigger boys of the day.

To cut the story short, young lads of the BC were supposed to be spies ferreting information from enemy camps. But most of them, they did not realise that war was death; many of them thought it was some form of a game and they got wasted in their numbers.

When a Norwegian newspaper reported that Tompolo, a pardoned and rehabilitated Niger Delta militant, had acquired six guided missile boats (GMBs) I laughed like crazy, I laughed so hard tears welled up in my eyes. I laughed hard as so many thoughts streamed across my mind. The thought of some rickety, disused ferries (as pictures show) that were refitted with some AK47s and sold to ‘stupid Nigerians’ by oyinbos at outrageous prices; I thought of ‘General’ Tompolo, Commander of the Republic of Niger Delta Armed Forces; I thought of Nigeria’s strategic national resources in the hands of an ill-lettered little man, I thought of a castrated Nigerian Navy

record as former Head of State, his puritan and spartan lifestyle and intolerance for corruption, as well as his proven ability to secure the nation.

General Buhari’s credentials are incontrovertible. If there is anyone with a proven ability to turn things around, it is he. His concern for security is not in doubt. He did it as GOC for the Jos Command in 1982 when he confronted the Chadians, who decided to bite the Nigerian fingers that were feeding them. And in 1984, as Head of State, he dealt decisively with the Maitatsine sect. Some detractors have expressed concern about Buhari’s alleged stiffness and adherence to principles. Indeed, given our present predicament, there is nothing worse than having a leader with an outwardly pleasant personality combined with a closet predilection for mischief and a compromised value system.

Knowing where a leader stands is important. We have a pretty good idea about where Buhari stands on the pressing issues of our time and space, be it security or corruption or religious fanaticism. It is also important to know that where a leader stands is good for the nation. And on all counts, we know also that this is the case with Buhari.

The matter of the choice of a running mate was apparently the last weapon that the opposition had in its arsenal. Therefore, along with a section of the media, it sensationalised the issue beyond the realm of reason. Religion, always the exploited institution by political opportunists, was once again summoned. It did not matter that we have had a religiously balanced presidency since 1999 and our economic, political, and security conditions have failed to improve. It remains to see when we are going to grow up and reject the shortsightedness and selfishness of political jobbers. Thankfully, with the uncommon political maturity of its leadership, APC has demonstrated its ability to transcend senti-

STEVE OSUJI

EXPRESSO

steve.osuji@yahoo.com

•Columnist of the Year (NMMA)

Bullet points for Tompolo, DSS, Fayose, Patience The Buhari epiphany

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EAR reader, you would recall that this column vowed sometime ago never to vote for General Muhammadu Buhari (retd). It must have been sometime in 2012 when he issued some mumbo-jumbo about the blood of baboons and monkeys flowing and all that. Coming when the post-election fires of 2011 were yet to be cold, one could not understand an elder statesman speaking in such manner.

But since then, the general has continued to change his approach and project a national outlook to his politics. In view of the dire situation of our dear country today, this column will revisit that vow. Having won the presidential flag of the All Progressives Congress (APC), this must be Buhari’s epiphany. Or shall we say Nigeria’s epiphany?

As the campaign days go by, this column will attempt some disquisitions on the Buhari factor at this juncture of Nigerian politics. It is Buhari’s be all and end all moment, his make or mar juncture; his epiphany. And mark you, he will have to work his lean butts off for it.

An epic battle it will be against the incumbent, President Goodluck Jonathan. taking orders from Tompolo; the thought of (and pity for) Itsekiri people who know

that they can be annihilated if not exterminated in just one drunken night. I

ments and emotions and to arrive at a resolution that is acceptable to its supporters and Nigerians as a whole.

The choice of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as the Vice Presidential candidate by General Buhari is a smart move that has confounded the cabal, which has held Nigeria hostage for far too long. They will have to manufacture some other red meat beside religion. The educational, professional, spiritual and ethical qualifications and qualities of Prof. Osinbajo can only be doubted by the most ignorant or incurably prejudiced person.

Osinbajo’s achievements in the service of Lagos State as Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice where he made equal access to justice and human rights his defining achievements are there for the blind to see. The fact that he has not been a professional politician is an enduring asset that should endear him to independent thinkers, whose desire is the restoration of the glory of motherland.

The party chairman and the executive, the governors, candidates, and party functionaries are to be commended for this outcome.

Governor Babatunde Fashola deserves special commendation for his sound judgment and patriotism for pulling himself out of consideration as a running mate, citing fatigue, to avoid complicating matters for the candidate and the party.

Without a doubt, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is the super hero of the success of the formation of APC, its presidential primary and the outcome of the party’s search for a running mate.

It is very easy to cast aspersion on a person’s character. It is impossible to take away his honour and dignity.

No one can truthfully deny Tinubu’s frontline struggle and sacrifice for the formation of a virile opposition party that is capable of competing on the national level. At the time he was fighting this good cause and getting disappointment even from those who stood to benefit from it, he did not think of what position he might have.

Tinubu was concerned that democracy cannot grow with a dominant single party and a splintering of mushroom parties. He put into the struggle his mental, material and physical resources to the point of endangering his health. In the end, he considered the good of the nation and pulled himself out of consideration for a slot on the ticket.

This is the mark of statesmanship and APC owes Asiwaju a deep sense of gratitude. As a man of his words, I have no doubt that he will work assiduously for the success of the party in February to the disappointment of his traducers.

•For comments, send SMS to 08111813080 thought of and felt pity for NIMASA people who are biting their tongues trying to defend an institutionalised madness not knowing that only NIMASA still keeps silly secrets, the world now being an open door.

I laughed some more and sympathised with both the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and the Tompolo Ekpemuokpolo Government (TEG) knowing that as we say in my place, mgbe osuru, mgbe asi chi si tama, it may not be a matter of six rusty gunboats (that the up thrust of a submarine would wash to the shore) but 60 or even 6000, or more. So join me in laughing dear reader.

Dilemma of the gallant DSS Give it to the Department of State Service (DSS), they are not like the Gallant Mopol as we all know; no, far from such coarseness.

They are our elite force trained in the art of the clandestine and unseen. Since they bear no known means of identification, you can jolly well say they are licensed to spook.

But the DSS may have spoofed this time when they paraded some spindly fellows they claim were fake commanders of the Boko Haram who staged a fake ceasefire negotiation with the Federal Government.

The seven suspects were apparently working in cahoots with one Stephen Davis, an Australian self-style negotiator.

•Continued

on page 59

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