The Nation February 20, 2012

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

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VOL. 7, NO. 2041 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

Lagos tanker drivers get 72-hour quit notice

ANPP kicks as Wamakko wins

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ITH 518,247 votes, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Aliyu Wamakko has won Saturday’s Sokoto governorship election. He defeated 29 other contestants.

The Chief Returning Officer, Prof Abdullahi Zuru, said last night Wamakko’s closest rival, Alhaji Yusha’u

From Adamu Suleiman, Sokoto

Ahmed of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), scored 131,048 votes.

Zuru said the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) candidate, Alhaji Abubakar Yabo, came third, with 7,323 votes.

He said Wamakko scored 71.18 per cent of the 728,108 votes cast in the election.

Zuru, who is the Vice Chancellor of Kebbi State University of Science and Technology, Aleiro, noted that 43,618 votes were invalid.

President Goodluck Jonathan congratulated Wamakko, describing his re-election as evidence of the peoples’ confidence in the PDP. Continued on page 7

N150.00

By Miriam Ndikanwu

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ANKER drivers have 72 hours to quit the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, Lagos – the scene of the petrol fire in which three people died at the weekend.

Commissioner for Transportation Kayode Opeifa and his Special Duties counterpart Dr. Wale Ahmed gave the deadline after an on-the-spot assessment of an interstate park, near the Mile 2 Bridge -the scene where 39 vehicles were •Wamakko

Continued on page 2

Five injured as bomb explodes near church

ALISED: One of the victims of the blast, Chike Emefor, at the Suleja General Hospital ... yesterday.

•HOSPIT HOSPITALISED

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•INJURED: Confidence Anyobi ... yesterday

OMBS exploded in Suleja, the Niger State town near Abuja, the seat of power, yesterday.

The bombers targeted worshippers at two churches in the town – Christ Embassy and The Triumphant Ministries International Church – during the Sunday Service.

Nobody died from the explosion, which left five people injured. The bomb was believed to have been planted by Boko Haram the deadly sect that was responsible for last year’s bombing in the town and the Christmas Day bombing at St. Theresa’s Catholic Church in

Boko Haram strikes again near Abuja From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

Madalla, also in Niger Delta.

The sect had not taken responsibility for the action, as at press time last night. But the incident followed its style.

The bomb was hidden in a sack concealed in between two vehicles parked in front of the Triumphant Ministries International Church compound.

The blast damaged the engines of the two cars. The two vehicles, parked face-to-face, were owned by worshippers. The two churches were filled to the brim at the time of the explosion.

Three other vehicles parked on the other side of the road were also damaged by the impact of the blast. The Triumphant Ministries International Church building and surrounding buildings on the

PHOTOS: ABAYOMI FAYESE

street were slightly damaged.

Two residents of the building facing the Triumphant Church were among the injured. A child worshipping at the Triumphant Ministries International Church was injured on the head by the church’s window glass broken by the impact of the blast. The remaining two injured were hawkers.

But for the Head of the Security Unit of the Christ Embassy Church, who discovered the sack before the blast, people would have died from the blast.

The Head of the Security Unit, Continued on page 2

•JOBS P17 •SPORTS P23 •POLITICS P25 •CITYBEATS P31 •CEO P50

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THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

NEWS YOU, THE REPORTER Dear reader, here is an opportunity for you to join our team of reporters. You can send in stories and photographs, which you consider to be newsworthy. Our telephone number is 08082036515 (sms). The email is info@thenationonline.ng.net – Editor

•Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola, flanked by his Bauchi State counterpart Isa Yuguda and Bauchi First Lady Mrs Abiodun Isa Yuguda during a Business Luncheon and Lecture organised by the Lagos Island Club at Peacock Hall, Island Club, Onikan, Lagos ... at the weekend.

•Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan (left), Edo State Govenror Adams Oshiomhole (right) and the couple - Mr Sylvester Ebhodaghe and Princess Oze Erediauwa - during their wedding in Benin City ... at the weekend

Five injured as bomb explodes near church Continued from page 1

who pleaded not to be named, said security agencies were immediately alerted when a member of the church discovered the sack. Members of the two churches were told to stay away from the frontage of the churches. But the bomb exploded before the security agencies came.

One of the victims, who was at the General Hospital, Suleja, Mr. Anthony Nweke, who is injured on his stomach, chest, face and right arm, said: “My name is Anthony Nweke. I live at Morocco Road, where the bomb exploded. I came back from church this morning and I, was eating in my room.

“I only came out to buy ‘pure water’. After buying it, I was going back to the room when I just heard a heavy sound. I turned my face in the direction of the sound and I suddenly felt something flowing on my body like water.

“It was later I knew it was my blood. I shouted for help.

The next thing, I saw myself inside a vehicle which took me to the hospital here. I thank God I am alive, but I am feeling very hungry now.”

A member of the Triumphant Ministries International Church, Collins Anyobi, whose son was injured, said: “This morning, we went for service there. As we were inside the church, worshipping between 9.30 and 10.00 a.m, we heard a heavy sound outside. All the buildings there were affected as the glass windows were shattered.

“My son, Confidence Anyobi, sustained injuries from the shattered window glasses in the church. We thank God nobody died but there are injuries. I am from Enugu State.”

Another victim, Maurine Kenneth, who sustained injury on her neck, lives opposite the Triumphant Ministries International Church.

She said: “I was actually preparing for church service. I was coming out when I heard the noise. The whole place was covered with smoke. It was so serious that people were running helter skelter.

I thank God it is not more than this, but I am feeling a

Boko Haram not faceless, says Borno governor

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HE Boko Haram sect is not faceless, Borno Governor Kashim Shettima said yesterday.

They can be engaged in a dialogue, he added.

The Governor’s position comes against the backdrop of President Goodluck Jonathan’s call on the group to unveil its face to facilitate, dialogue.

Shettima, who said his administration is ready for dialogue with Boko Haram, spoke at an interactive session with reporters, in Abuja. He said the slain Boko Haram leader, Mohammed Yusuf, became popular and commanded large followership because of his welfare programmes.

Said the governor: “If we want to solve the Boko Haram insurrection, we have to go through the whole course.

We can still solve the insurrection with political solution. We can dialogue with Boko Haram.

“Boko Haram is an organisation that is not faceless; they have leaders they listen to.

“We have elders in Borno State that are well-respected locally, nationally and internationally. The doors of these elders are open; we want them to serve as intermediaries. I believe these leaders will serve as the gateway for dialogue.

“Mohammed Yusuf established the terrible pain on my neck now.”

A carrot seller hit by the blast, Nasiru Yusuf, who spoke in Hausa, said: “I was very close to the junction where the bomb exploded. We were sweeping, getting ready to display our wares when we heard the noise and I got these injuries on my arm and body.”

The last victim, who is also a carrots seller at the junction, Ibrahim Abdullahi, was injured on his left knee. He said: “We sell carrots at the junction and we were just sweeping when we heard the explosions. All I saw was heavy smoke and people were running away from the area.”

A Chief Assistant (Technical) of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr. Peter Osema, who spoke at the scene of the incident, said: “We don’t actually know what happened. But when we got here, we saw the explosion.

“Apart from this girl standing there, the four injured persons have been taken to the hospital. Five vehicles were destroyed. I don’t really know the intention of those who set the bomb here because there

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

sect with good welfare system, which attracted the poor. He provided a meal per day for his disciples; he was providing soft loans for empowerment scheme.

“In this part of the world, it is costly to get married, but Mohammed Yusuf used to arrange cheap marriages for his followers within the sect. He had farreaching welfare programmes.

“The welfare package enticed most of the Boko Haram members.”

The governor urged Nigerians to rise up to the challenge of Boko Haram, instead of isolating the states where the sect’s insurrection has been much more pronounced.

He said: “When people do not see this thing as a national problem, it is capable of snowballing into a conflagration that may consume every part of the country.

“For me, the worst is over; I believe we have crossed the Rubicon. Nigeria is greater than any individual. The building blocks that make up this country cannot be easily dismantled.

“The things that bind us together are more than the those that divide us. I think we are all better off in a bigger Nigeria. We need to learn how to tolerate and how to embrace one another.”

Asked to comment on his predecessor,

are two churches here.”

Recounting how the church security discovered the bomb, head of security at the Christ Embassy Church, which is about 100 meters away from the blast site, said: “We were here doing our security watch. We were searching people coming into the church. And we were also making sure that it was only members’ cars that were allowed to park on the street close to the church.

“One of our members, parked his car, entered the church with his family and then came out when he remembered that his car trunk was not properly shut after the search. After locking the booth and was coming back into the church, he noticed a sack that was placed in front of his vehicle. He remembered that the bag was not there about five to 10 minutes earlier when he parked the car.

“Knowing that the bag was unusual, he quickly ran to me and told me what he observed.

I went there and saw the sack with some wire connection. I immediately knew it was a bomb and quickly alerted my pastor, who called the security agencies on the telephone.

Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, the governor said he left N63 billion in the state’s coffers for his administration to take off.

He said Sheriff’s political influence attracted hatred for him.

He said: “Ali might be a devil to some people but to me he is a saint. Despite all the shortcomings, he has a lot; he is a political leader who is respected. I don’t believe in biting fingers that fed me. I will say it as it is. Ex-governor Sheriff is to Borno State what Busari Adelakun was to Ibadan, what Senator Olusola Saraki is to Kwara State and what the late Michael Opara was to the Southeast.

“What I am saying is that he has his own shortcomings as a human being, but I can be my own man without destroying the man who assisted me. No matter the situation, I will stand by whoever assisted me. I do not abandon my friends.

“He is a grassroots politician; he can traverse 600 kilometres wooing the electorate without getting tired. Most of the politicians in Borno State are Abujabased politicians who cannot deliver their wards. But Ali Modu is a grassroots politician. Even when leaving office, he left behind N63billion.

Ordinarily, if he was wasteful, he would have stolen the state blind.

“The problem of Borno State can be traced to 20-30 years back, the decay started to manifest about eight years ago.”

He went on: “The military men said they were on their way and that nobody should go near the bag. Immediately, I began to scare away people from the sack. I also made sure that nobody made any phone call near the bag.”

“The neighboring church, Triumphant Ministries International Church, was not aware of what was going on.

My pastor called the pastor of the church to tell him what we observed and that he should tell his members not to come out and that we had contacted the security agencies.

“I was right here when the bomb exploded and had to run backward. Nobody died, but five cars were damaged.”

On what he noticed before discovering the sack, he said: “Before we discovered the sack, I earlier saw three men standing close to my pastor’s car and I shouted at my security men for allowing them to stand there. As if reading my lips, they walked away from the street.”

Security was tight in the area yesterday as passerby were not allowed near the blast scene.

Security was in many churches in Suleja as news of the

blast on Morocco Road spread.

Military pick-ups and personnel were immediately stationed in front of the Living Faith Church, as others quickly put in place their security measures, which they earlier relaxed, following the arrests of Boko Haram suspects by the security agencies, Kabiru Sokoto and Abu Qaqa.

Suleja has witnessed many bomb blasts by the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, in recent months.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Suleja was bombed last year. Eleven members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), who were engaged by INEC as adhoc staff, died.

There was also an explosion at the All Christian Fellowship Church in Suleja last year. Many church members who stayed behind after service for meetings died in the blast.

On Christmas Day last year, 43 persons died when a suicide bomber hit the St. Theresa’s Catholic Church in Madalla, Suleja.

Many people also died at beer and parlours in Zuba, near Madalla.

Lagos tanker drivers get 72-hour quit notice Continued from page 1

burnt at the weekend.

Opeifa blamed the incident on the carelessness of the driver.

According to him, the situation could have been worse, but for the quick response of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), the Fire Service, the police and other security agencies.

Citing reports of the investigation carried out, Opeifa alleged that the driver of the truck, who has not been found, ignored all entreaties to stop after one of the rear wheels plunged into a ditch, before it subsequently went up in flames.

He said: “It’s a sign of carelessness by the driver. We even found three other fake number plates in the tanker and we also found out that he did not register as a member of any tanker drivers’ union.

“Why it took us a bit late to evacuate the burnt vehicles was because we wanted to explore all safety measures because PMS was still left in the tanker. So, we had to get rid of it first to adequately ensure safety of lives and property.

“We hereby, warn all tanker drivers who are parking along the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway to vacate and relocate into their various tank farms within 72 hours or face severe sanctions.

“We will assist them in removing those vehicles if they so desire. We have also communicated this to the union leaders.”

Opeifa said the government would not compromise on compliance to safety standards in its determination to protect the lives and property of residents, especially when the state is upgrading two major roads on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway.

He said the government will not reverse its decision to relocate the park, saying the state has decided to take over Mile 2 loops for beautification and landscaping.

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

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

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THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

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NEWS

Untold story of Sosoliso, ADC, Records obtained by the Associated Press from the United States show the hidden truth about three major plane crashes in Nigeria, reports JON GAMBRELL

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OCUMENTS on three deadly jetliner crashes in Nigeria - including one in which a plane filled with children going home for Christmas burst into flames -offer a harrowing look at the loosely enforced safety regulations and oversight in Africa’s most populous nation.

The records obtained by The Associated Press show that the captain of another Nigerian flight that crashed had gone back to work as a pilot

despite being shot in the head years before. And in another case, a pilots’ manual included blank pages instead of key safety information.

Nigeria’s government has long declined to release formal records surrounding three fatal crashes in 2005-2006, including the one that killed scores of children.

While none of the airlines involved in the three crashes still fly in Nigeria, the safety concerns come after the West African nation gained

Some prominent victims • Argungu Abubakar (Postmaster-General) • Chief J. Igweh (Chairman, Bolingo Hotel) • Mrs. Maria Sokenu • Sultan Ibrahim Maccido • Udeka John (MD ACB International Bank ) • Waziri Mohammed (Chairman, Nigerian Railway Corporation) • Pastor Bimbo Odukoya a coveted U.S. safety status last year that allows its domestic carriers to fly directly to America.

The AP requested the documents about the crashes through a Freedom of Information Act request from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administra-

tion. The U.S. became involved in those inquiries because the planes were manufactured by U.S. companies and because Nigeria requested the help of American investigators.

Though officials now say air travel is much safer, the documents add to worries about flights in Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million people where graft and incompetence often dominate government and where the demand for air travel has spiked over the last five years.

A report on the October 22, 2005 crash of a Bellview Airlines flight that killed 177 people, including a U.S. citizen, showed the plane nosedived into the ground at high speed.

Investigators reportedly found only human remains that were “nothing bigger than toes and fingers,” the report read.

The plane’s captain, a 49-year-old former pilot, had been hired by Bellview after he had been working

at a dairy for about 14 years, the summary read. The pilot also had been “shot in the head during a robbery attempt” during that break from flying, the report said.

“Interestingly, the Nigerian ... medical records do not contain any medical or hospitalisation history of this event,” the report read. The unnamed author of the report wrote that investigators would follow up on that detail, though no other documents released by the FAA refer to it again.

Harold Demuren, director general of Nigeria’s aviation authority, said officials have worked to ensure safety regulations were followed.

“Nigeria had a really woeful accident records and those were the results,” Demuren said. “However, you must add to it that things have improved tremendously since then.”

Nigerian officials have offered conflicting reasons for the three

Behind the pictures

Boko Haram bombs leave Suleja mourning TEARS. Blood. Sorrow.

Teeth gnashing. Those words captured the fate of the people of Suleja, Niger State after bombs allegedly planted in a car by the Boko Haram insurgent group left cars and human beings disfigured.

Many, irrespective of their ages, gave in to emotions. They cried and cursed those behind the explosions- which once again showed the weakness in the nation’s security agencies.

PHOTOS: ABAYOMI FAYESE

• A soldier inspecting a car damaged by the explosions

• A car engine was ripped apart by the explosions

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

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NEWS

•T H R E E CRASHES TOO MANY From left: Demuren; the tail of the ADC plane after it crashed; remains of the Sosoliso plane after it crashlanded in Port Harcourt; and the crater created by the Bellview crash at Lisa village, Ogun State

Bellview plane crashes major crashes in 2005-2006, never releasing full reports on what happened.

At the Bellview crash site, deep in rural Nigeria, villagers looted the few pieces of what remained from the plane, likely including its “black box” recorders, according to an investigation summary.

The December 10, 2005 crash of a Sosoliso Airlines flight full of schoolchildren from Abuja to Port Harcourt, which killed 107 people, appears to have involved both pilot error and weather.

The pilot was “reportedly racing a thunderstorm” nearing the airport, an FAA memo reads. The inclement weather also forced the pilot to make an instrument landing — meaning that visibility had been reduced to the point the pilot needed to rely on instruments to make his landing, the report read.

The plane crash landed on the

grass alongside the runway, broke apart and caught fire.

The third major crash — an October 29, 2006 Aviation Development Company flight from Abuja to Sokoto — killed 96 people, including the top spiritual leader for the nation’s Muslims. The plane crashed 76 seconds after going airborne.

Just before the crash, alarms began sounding in the cockpit and the pilots’ incorrect actions stalled the plane, according to the report.

“Although bad weather may have created the situation, which the pilots reacted to, they reacted inappropriately,” the report reads.

Even more disturbing for investigators was the airline’s operation manual for pilots and cockpit staff, which “did not contain any information on adverse weather condition as that section was blank.”

The manual was duly approved by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Author-

• A car damaged by the explosions

ity despite containing the blank section.

“The deficiency in the operation manual would probably make it difficult for pilots to take appropriate decision on when to go or not to go in (an) adverse weather condition,” the report said.

A 2009 study done for the World Bank concluded the aviation authority spends more than 90 percent of its budget on salaries and cannot fund training or equipment needs.

The authority “is still struggling to enforce quality, safety, and security standards on federal agencies operating Nigeria’s airport and airspace systems,” the study said.

Demuren, the authority’s director general, acknowledges that challenges remain for his agency as it has an aging work force and old equipment but he insists things have improved greatly.

V

In the five years since the ADC crash, Nigeria has not had another major commercial airplane crash, something the nation’s leaders point to with pride. In August 2010, the U.S. announced it had given Nigeria the FAA’s Category 1 status, its top safety rating that allows the nation’s domestic carriers to fly directly to the U.S. The Nigerian government said it also now has full radar coverage of the entire nation. However, in a nation where the state-run electricity company is in tatters, state power and diesel generators sometimes both fail at airports, making radar screens go blank.

Yet air travel has never been so popular in Nigeria, whose growing middle and business class rely on air travel to avoid the country’s poorly maintained and dangerous roads. The country had nearly 14 million air passengers in 2009, ac-

cording to a December study by Lagos-based Ciuci Consulting and Financial Derivatives Co. The nation’s largest carrier, Arik Air Ltd., soon will have a fleet of 40 aircraft, the study said.

Yet Arik, like the nation’s seven other domestic carriers, faces increasing economic pressure from rising jet fuel costs in a nation that must import the majority of its fuel despite being Africa’s top oil producer, said Fola Onasanya, an analyst at Ciuci Consulting.

Major maintenance must be done outside the country, as Nigeria does not have the manpower or capability to do it locally, Onasanya said.

Government regulations and taxes also add additional burden on companies in a nation where airlines have scrimped on maintenance in the past to cut costs.

“There’s always been that pressure,” Onasanya said.

• Another car engine ripped apart by the explosions

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

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NEWS First Lady solicits bill for widows’ rights

Whitney Houston buried in New Jersey

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RAMMY award-winning singer Whitney Houston was buried yesterday in her home state of New Jersey.

Security was tight in and around the cemetery, because of fans flocking to the area to pay their finals respects.

Houston was laid to rest next to her father, John Russell Houston Jr., at the Fairview Cemetery in Westfield.

The burial was private, unlike her funeral Saturday, which the family shared via the Internet and TV broadcast.

Celebrities, including music greats, joined the final public tribute Saturday at her childhood church New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey, where Houston sang in the choir as a child. Fans showed their love with hundreds of balloons, flowers and cards piled outside the church.

The service for the 48year-old six-time Grammy award winner and actress took place a week after she was found unresponsive in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton hotel in California.

A gold-painted hearse transported Houston’s casket to the church early Saturday, a day after her family attended a private viewing of her body at a Newark funeral home.

•Houston’s body being conveyed by pallbearers after the funeral ...at the weekend

Her mother, Cissy Houston, and daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, were joined at the viewing Friday by a host of relatives, including singer Dionne Warwick, Houston’s cousin.

Her mentor, music executive Clive Davis, also was there.

During Saturday’s service, Warwick introduced a host of soul, gospel and pop

music greats from the past and present, including Alicia Keys who performed the song Prelude to a Kiss.

Houston’s mentor, Clive Davis told mourners, “You wait for a voice like that for a lifetime,” while her costar in the movie, The Bodyguard, Kevin Costner, asked mourners to “remember the sweet miracle of Whitney.”

Music legend Stevie Wonder was among the performers at Saturday’s invitationonly service. Houston’s exhusband, singer Bobby Brown, put in a brief appearance at the service but close family friend, Aretha Franklin, was unable to attend because of health issues.

After the nearly fourhour-long service ended, Houston’s casket was car-

ried out as the haunting ballad that she once sang, I Will Always Love You, played over loudspeakers.

The cause of her death is not expected to be known for several weeks, pending toxicology results.

Houston sold more than 170 million albums, singles and videos, making her one of the world’s best-selling artists.

Maku: why govt can’t go back on new driver’s licence, number plate D

ESPITE increasing opposition, the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku at the weekend gave reasons why the Federal Government cannot stop the issuance of the new car driver’s licence and numbers plate.

Apart from opposition to the new products in some quarters, the House of Representatives ordered suspension of the new licence.

But the government has continued with the issuance.

He spoke at this month’s Federal Road Safety Corp’s (FRSC) Road Walk Exercise in Abuja at the weekend.

The minister said the new driver’s license and number plate will help check terrorism in the country.

The new products, he

From: Augustine Ehikioya and Olugbenga Adanikin, Abuja

said, will complement the efforts of security operatives in addressing terrorism in Nigeria.

He said: “Let me commend you on this initiative.

For quite a while, we have seen vehicles being used for terrorist attack and sometime it may be very difficult for security agencies to trace them because they did not file proper issuance of licenses therefore people can pick any vehicle and commit huge crime.”

“But with your new system, it is quite possible to detect every vehicle, who is

the right owner and even if he changes ownership, you can trace it back to the original owner and this has helped significantly in our effort to defeat terrorist attacks that are using a particular vehicle on our road to commit crime.”

He also called on the leadership of the FRSC to remain committed in sensitising the public on rules guiding traffic regulations and road safety in the country.

“We have noticed there has been a sharp decrease in rate of accidents on our ways. We have not quite reached there. This is not to increase our ego that we have solved the problem

but we still have a lot of public education to do on road safety.”

“A number of people simply climbed the steering without proper training and some are able to get licenses.” He pointed out FRSC Corp Marshal Osita Chidoka said the agency is committed to its mandate.

He expressed appreciation to the Federal Government for its support towards realising the agency’s vision of reducing road traffic accident to 50 per cent by 2020.

He said: “FRSC has remained a vision of hope and great purveyor of safety on our highways. We are proud of our works in the last 24 years. For the first time, the government has being helping the ordinary masses on the street; people who cannot pay hospital bill and

•Maku

would have died if not for road safety.

“In the last 24 years, if we quantify the number of people that have been rescued by the commission, we shall be close to half a million Nigerians. It is the most important contribution of the FRSC.”

THE First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, has urged the female members of the National Assembly to sponsor a bill for the protection of the Widows’ right.

Mrs. Jonathan at the weekend in Uyo at the First National Retreat on Women Development, Peace and National Transformation.

The president’s wife noted that many widows were suffering due to ill-treatment from the relatives of their late husbands, saying with the passage of such a bill, the widows will have a right to their husbands’ property.

Representative of Senate President David Mark, Senator Helen Esuene assured women that a bill for the protection of widow’s right would be introduced.

Esuene, who is also the Senate committee chairman on Women affairs, said complaints brought to female legislators necessitated their interest in the bill.

The retreat, which started on Thursday ended with the adoption of a communiqué by the women.

Institutes on fresh strike over pay From Franca Ochigbo, Abuja Workers of the Raw Material Institutes have resumed strike over the failure of the Federal Government to pay the Research and Allied Institutions allowance, and the salary of the 53.37 per cent salary increase for July, 2009 to June 2010.

The first strike lasted for three months, between August to October 2010.

The main issue is non mplementation of an agreement reached with unions in the Research and Development institutions on January 31, 2011 by both parties.

Chairman of Raw Material Development Council, Abuja branch, Mr. Olatubosun Olajubu said a letter was written to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation on October 17, 2011 and a reminder sent on 27th January 27.

Adepero Oduye... The home girl rocking Hollywood

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HEN famous Hollywood actress Meryl Streep won a Golden Globe early this year as best actress, she had planned to pay homage to some women who were outstanding in 2011. But when she mounted the podium, the joy of the moment made her forget her long list.

But she did not forget one name. She praised Oduye, an actress little known. The audience went into a frenzy.

Adepero Oduye is a Nigerian, who became an issue after Pariah, a film in which she played a lesbian teen, was released last December. She applied to be an extra in Pariah and ended up with the lead role. She has since earned mainstream roles and awards.

Pariah is a 2011 contempo-

By Olukorede Yishau rary drama film written and directed by Dee Rees. It tells the story of Alike (Adepero Oduye), a 17-year-old African–American teenager embracing her identity as a lesbian. It premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and was awarded the Excellence in Cinematography Award.

Brooklyn born and bred, at 33, Oduye is almost twice the age of the teenager she plays.

Critics have described her as “incandescent” (New York Times) and “unforgettable” (Rolling Stone). The New York Times wrote: “To watch Adepero Oduye … is to experience the thrill of discovery.” The Los Angeles Times described the film as “warm, incisive

and surprisingly funny.”

She did not set out to be an actress. Oduye: “I was premed at Cornell when my father passed away and I realised I was doing this for him.

I took an acting class senior year, and I threw myself into the challenge.”

“She totally shaved off the 16 years and just made it work,” “Pariah” writer-director Dee Rees said of the 33year-old Oduye.

Oduye, one of seven children born to Nigerian immigrant parents, exudes a youthful charm.

“Adepero was a force,” Rees said. “She really threw herself in and wasn’t afraid to fully immerse herself in the character. It’s a blessing to find your muse the first day out.”

Her father, a lifelong academic with chains of degrees, died suddenly during her premedical school. “It was kind of a wakeup call that life is too short for something you don’t want to do,” she said.

“You don’t have to be young, black or gay,” Oduye said of the film’s universal appeal: “I related to Alike’s thing of not knowing who you are and not feeling like you belong Her theatre credits include Danai Gurira’s play Eclipsed, at the Yale Repertory Theatre; The Bluest Eye, at the Hartford Stage and Long Wharf Theatres; and Fela!, in the AEA workshop, directed and choreographed by Bill Jones.

Other shorts film that she has starred in are: Gabriele

•Oduye

Zamparini’s Water; Russell Costanzo’s The Tested; and Nadiah Hamzah’s Sub Rosa.

She has made guest appearances on television programmes such as Louie and

two Law & Order series.

She was the cover girl for Hollywood edition of Vanity Fair for January 2012 and Time paid tribute to her in its edition of February 20.

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

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Presidency, N/Assembly yet to agree on state creation •Presidency insists new states can’t be viable

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ESPITE fresh agitation for new states, the Presidency is yet to agree with the National Assembly it was learnt at the weekend.

The presidency is insisting that new states cannot be viable and it maintains that it could only favour a new state from the Southeast if the National Assembly is adamant.

The House of Representatives prefers creation of new local government Areas to bring government closer to the people than unviable new states.

A former House Deputy Speaker, Bayero Nafada, had on April 29, 2010 claimed that the National Assembly would create 10 new states with five each from the North and the South.

Although the Sixth National Assembly could not create states, some present set of Senators and House members have renewed the agitation.

There are about 26 requests before the National Assembly as at the close of sitting by the Sixth session.

The National Assembly is said to have opened up discussion with the Presidency on its plan to create states but the executive arm was not forthcoming.

It was learnt that the Senate President David Mark is a key

THE PROPOSED STATES •Apa State (Benue State) •Toru-Ebe State (Delta, Edo and Ondo States) •Ogoja State (Cross River State) •Urhobo State (Delta State) •Minji-Se •Ado State •Confluence State (Kogi) •Aba State (Abia) •Adada (Enugu State) •Orashi State (Imo State) •Ugwuaku State •Njaba State (Imo State) •New Oyo State (Oyo) •Ijebu-Remo State (Ogun State) •Ijesha State ( Osun) •Oduduwa State (Osun State) •Ijebu State (Ogun State)•Oluwa State (Lagos) •Kainji State (Niger State) •Edu State (Kwara, Kogi and Niger ) •Borgu State ( Niger State ) •Okun State ( Kogi) •Katagum State (Bauchi State) •Southern Kaduna State (Kaduna State) •Oke Ogun State (Oyo State) •Ibadan State (Oyo State) From Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

force driving it but the Presidency felt the new states might not be viable as being contemplated.

It was gathered that the Presidency said if the pressure is too much, it might only concede to the creation of a new state only from the Southeast that is marginal-

ised.

According to records made available by a source in the National Assembly, the distribution of states among the six geopolitical zones is as follows: Southeast (five); Southwest (six); Southsouth (six); Northcentral (seven including the FCT); NorthWest(seven); and Northeast (six).

It was, however, learnt that

the brick wall response from the Presidency has created a setback for the National Assembly.

A source said: “Well, the legislature is trying its best to put the government into confidence but the Presidency does not see any viability in creating new states now.

“We have more serious economic challenges to cope with than state creation which may still cause more political problems for the country.

“The indices have been made available to the National Assembly that the economy cannot support new states at all.

“At worst, if the National Assembly is adamant, there can only be an additional state from the Southeast because that is the only zone with five states. It is the zone that has been shortchanged in the scheme of things.”

A Senator said: “I think the economy can still cater for new states because they will still be maintained with the same budget being frittered away by the 36 states and the FCT. “We need to bring government closer to the masses as the case in India . Some states are just too big for their citizens to feel the impact of the government.

A principal officer of the House of Representatives, who spoke in confidence, said: “I am aware that the Chairman of the National Assembly, Chief David Mark,

who is the Senate President, is interested in the creation of new states. I think he wants his people(Idoma) liberated from the majority Tiv in Benue State .

“But he might not get the support of the House because the issue at stake is beyond personal challenge. This state of the economy cannot sustain new states.

“We also believe that embarking on state creation exercise now will be diversionary and it will create more political problems than we think.

“The general opinion in the House is that it is better not to go into that at all and keep our peace.

“But members of the House might favour the creation of new local government areas which can be accommodated within the present revenue allocation formula.

“Some states have Local Council Development Areas which have been in dispute. But these LCDAs are still being managed by the votes from the Federation Account.”

Contacted, the Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Alhaji Zakari Mohammed was not forthcoming.

“We want Nigerians to benefit more from the government at closer level. That is why local governments will be more He simply said: “As far as we are concerned, we will stand where Nigerians stand on state creation.”

Continued from page 1

Director shot at Kaduna Govt House dead

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FORMER Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has praised the National Assembly for holding a special session in honour of the late renowned economist, Prof Samuel Aluko. He urged the Federal Government to ensure that he is immotalised.

Aluko died on February 7.

Fayose, in a statement, extolled the deceased’s virtues, describing him as a rare gem and legend, whose immeasurable contributions to the development of man and society were immeasurable.

He said: “The death of a colossus and highly detrabilised elder statesman like Aluko is an irreparable loss to Nigeria.”

He condemened the practice where people, despite their contributions to societal growth were never honoured while alive, but would have structures named after them in death. He said it was appreciable to honour heroes while alive.

“I prefer to honour those who deserve it in their lifetime. As Ekiti Governor, I named the Accountant-General’s Office in the Governor’s Complex after Prof Aluko, the Banquet Hall on Iyin Road, after Archbishop Abiodun Adetiloye and the Conference Hall in the Governor’s House after Lady Deborah Jibowu.

“I also named the major road leading to the Governor’s Complex after Chief Deji Fasuan. The honour was based on their achievements and enduring legacies as Ekiti sons and daughters,” he said.

ANPP kicks as Wamakko wins

•Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola (middle); his deputy, Mrs. Titi LaoyeTomori (third left) with some actors and actresses - Mr. Kunle Makinde (a.k.aDejo Tunfulu) (left); Mrs Laide Bakare (second left); Mr Samson Eluwole (a.k.aJinadu Ewele) right; Mr Ebun Oloyede (a.k.aOlaiya Igwe) second right; Mr Segun Odegbami (first right, back row) and others during a road walk tagged: Osun Walk to LiveRestoring a healthy living through physical exercise, in Osogbo...at the weekend

DIRECTOR with Kaduna State Ministry of Information, Mr. Isua Kiforo, who was shot on his legs and lower abdomen last Monday at the Kaduna State Government House, Kawo, died yesterday at the 44 Army Referral Hospital, Kaduna.

His wife, Charity said on the telephone yesterday: “My husband died this afternoon in the hospital”.

Commissioner for Information Saidu Adamu also confirmed his death. “I was

Fayose extols Aluko’s virtues

Tony Akowe, Kaduna

informed about his death this afternoon, He was a nice, gentle and good person to work with. For the years we have worked together, I have found him a great staff to work with. I don’t understand why he did what led to his being shot. That would be left to the Police to explain”, he said.

After he was shot, Kaduna State Police Commissioner Mohammed Bala Nasarawa, issued a statement saying

the man had breached security at Kaduna Government House. He however said no weapon or explosives were found on him or in the car he was driving.

Said Nasarawa: “At about 1328 hrs, a combined team of security personnel attached to Government House main gate, Kaduna intercepted a Toyota Corolla Saloon car, maroon in colour with Kaduna State Government official Registered .No Kaduna,KD-06-A 04.

“The driver drove danger-

ously in a suspicious manner towards the Government House gate. The security personnel stopped the lone occupant, but instead of stopping, he forced himself through the exit gate and found his way into the Government House.

“The security agencies thereafter, opened fire and shot the suspect on the leg and lower abdominal part of his body. The suspect was later identified as Pastor Isuwa Kiforo ‘M’ of No.7 Abba Rimi ,Narayi Kaduna, who

is the Director, Finance and Administration, Ministry of Information, Kaduna State.

“He was rushed to 44 Army Referral Hospital, Kaduna for treatment, after he was given first aid by a team of medical personnel attached to theGovernment House. The vehicle was thoroughly searched in my presence by our Anti-Bomb disposal experts and nothing incriminating was recovered.

In essence neither weapon nor explosives were found in it”.

But the ANPP candidate rejected the result. He alleged gross electoral malpractices and called for a fresh election to be conducted by an unbiased umpire.

Speaking before the final result was announced, Ahmed said: “whatever the outcome might be, myself and the party stand to reject it in its entirety. Initially, I was with the confidence and assurance that what Prof.

Attahiru Jega said at the pre-election INEC, security agencies and political parties’ stakeholder’s interactive session, will hold water for sincerity, justice and fair play, to prevail during the exercise. ‘’ But it turned out to be different. I thought men should live by their words as conscience is an open wound which only truth can heal. Saturday’s election was not generally peaceful as people are saying because of the catalogue of negative incidences ‘’ A mild demonstration to protest the conduct of the election was carried out by ANPP youths.

The youths staged the protest along Maiduguri road, Sokoto.

The ANPP candidate accused Commissioner of Police Baba Adisa Bolanta of alleged bias against his party. “Before the election, we noticed his direction and we were forced to petition the appropriate authorities for his removal for a neutral person to conduct the security operations in the state,” he said.

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

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NEWS

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Suspected bank robbers, pipeline vandals arrested in Ondo

HE Police in Ondo State have arrested five suspects, who were part of the gang that raided a new generation bank in Akure, the state capital, last year.

They are Wale Adelu, who claims to be an evangelist; Ike Maduagwu; Fayemi Olabusuyi; Mukaila Raji and Ropo Adeleye.

Four persons were killed in the robbery. Several were injured.

Parading the suspects at the weekend, Commissioner of Police Sanni Magaji said they were arrested at differ-

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

ent locations across the country. He said some of the gang members are still at large.

Magaji later led the suspects to the bank, where they explained and demonstrated their roles during the operation.

The suspects said they assembled at Adelu’s church for the operation.

Adeleye, who is from

Ikole-Ekiti, claimed that his brother asked him to assist some of his friends who had missed their way somewhere around Ikogosi to trace their way back to Ilesa.

Adeleye said he did as instructed without knowing that they were robbers and they gave him N100,000.

He was arrested at his home in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.

Magaji said: “The robbers have confessed that they

were part of the gang that robbed the bank. They were apprehended at different locations in the country.”

Also paraded were three suspects, who allegedly raided a bank in Ifon, and three others, who allegedly vandalised the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) pipeline in Ore. Magaji said the suspected pipeline vandals were arrested on Ore road with 30 kegs of petroleum products.

•Osun State Deputy Governor Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori (middle), Justice Bolarinwa Babalakin (left), Chief Adewunmi Adetunji (second left) and others during Gbongan Progressive Union (Lagos Branch)’s Launching and Foundation Laying ceremony of its N300 million Ultra-modern Recreation Centre in Gbongan, Osun State.

PHOTO: SOLOMON ADEOLA

Lagos reopens factory

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HE Lagos State Safety Commission has reopened Industrial Metallizing and Packaging Co. Ltd. (IMPCO), situated on 8, Fatai Atere Way, Mushin, Lagos.

The company was shut down for failing to meet up with the safety standards and laws of the state.

It was reopened after a team led by the commis-

By Yinka Aderibigbe

sion’s Director-General, Mrs. Odebunmi Dominga, inspected and ascertained that the management had put the necessary safety measures in place.

Urging IMPCO to always comply with safety laws, she said the inspection of companies by the commission would be continuous and

unannounced.

The company was fined and made to sign an undertaking to always abide by safety rules.

IMPCO Managing Director Mr. Chalfoun Ziad said: “The closure of the company has made us lose credibility with our customers, suppliers and bankers.”

He advised manufacturing companies to “strengthen

their safety standards or risk being caught by the eagle eyes of the laws,” which he said is always ready to catch up with any erring company.

The company was shut two weeks ago following the death of one of its workers. The commission said the death could have been averted if the stipulated safety measures were in place.

Ekiti advises caretaker chairmen on transparency E KITI State Deputy Governor Mrs. Funmilayo Olayinka has urged the newly sworn in caretaker chairmen to be transparent and accountable.

She urged them to study the procedures for awarding contracts, so as not to run foul of the law.

Speaking at the inauguration of the caretaker chairmen, Mrs. Olayinka said: “I implore you to familiarise yourselves with the procurement law and follow due process in procurement and the award of contracts. Ensure that you embark on

From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

projects that are beneficial to the people and are in tandem with the eight-point agenda of the administration of Governor Kayode Fayemi.

“Any contract that was not approved in your budget should not be embarked upon and contract splitting is a criminal offence.”

She urged them to sharpen their skills and develop themselves in various fields, including Information and

Communication Technology (ICT).

Mrs. Olayinka advised the caretaker chairmen to run an open-door administration and establish good working relationship with their Directors of Administrations and other council workers.

Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs Chief Dayo Fadipe urged them to let the ministry know their challenges on time, so that it can offer advices on how to resolve

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Akoko PDP members defect to LP

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ANY chieftains of the Labour Party (LP) in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State at the weekend defected to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

At a colourful event in Igbokoda, the defectors, led

by Mr. Ebutewa Onuolege and Mr. Jolomi Emiolu, said they dumped the LP because of the deplorable state of infrastructure in the oil producing communities.

The defectors include: LP Chairmanship aspirant in Ugbo Ward V Chief Lila Emupenne; Aheri Ward Leader Mr. Ogunyemi Ademibo; Leader, Mahin Ward III, Rev. Ojatuwase Oladele; Leader, Ugbo Ward I, Mr. Gbanile Adeleke; and Leader, Ugbo Ward II, Mr. Omojorukonu Idowu.

Others are: Leader, Ugbo Ward III, Mr. Omosola Adesina; Leader, Ugbo Ward IV, Mr. Emorioloye Blessing; Leader, Mahin Ward 1, Mr. Ogunbayo Segun; Leader, Mahin Ward IV, Mr. Tomomewo Lawrence; Leader, Mahin Ward II, Mr. Ogungbure Emiloju; and Leader, Ugbo Ward VI, Chief Olabijo Director.

The rest are: Chief Tabiti Oluwasegun, Mr. Ehinmore Ayokari, Mr. Ehinmore Olowolagba, Mr. Ehinmore Juwatu, Mr. Ehinmore Alahaji, Mr. Ogbolo Dami, Mr. Gbanile Towolorunwa, Mrs. Tabiti Justina, Mr. Tabiti Adedeji, Mr. Ehinmore Simidele, Mr. Gbanile Adesoji, Mr. Ikuesan Taiwo, Mr. Ajimosun Oriola and Mr. Tabiti Obowadun, all from Ugbo Ward I. Lamenting the lack of development in riverside communities, the defectors alleged mismanagement of project funds by the State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC).

They said Governor Olusegun Mimiko has failed to meet their needs and the people of Ilaje would not re-elect him.

The new ACN members

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

pledged their support to the party and Mr. Saka Lawal, a former Special Adviser to the Governor.

Also at the weekend, the personal assistant of Dr. Olu Agunloye, an ACN governorship aspirant, Mr. Bolaji Tanimola, and some prominent politicians in Akoko North West Local Government Area joined the LP at Arigidi-Akoko.

The others are Chief Tinuade Komolafe from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Francis Aderopo (PDP), Mr. Dele Oloba (PDP), Mr. Ropo Alujo (PDP Youth Secretary), Mrs. Deborah Agunbiade (Iyaloja Arigidi, PDP) and Mr. Ajulo Olanrewaju (PDP).

The rest are Mr. Oloruntoba Olugbenga, Mr. Mayowa Olugbogi and Mr. Are Johnson from the ACN. Tanimola, who earlier defected to ACN with Agunloye, said he returned to LP because of Mimiko’s exemplary leadership qualities.

The new members were received by Mimiko, State LP Chairman Chief Olu Ogidan and other party chieftains.

Mimiko thanked the people for their support and promised to execute more projects in Akoko.

He said the AkungbaIkare Road, the Awara Dam and Auga Farm City would be completed soon.

Mimiko said: “I want you to remain focused in your decision to join the progressive party. We will continue to receive credible people who are poised to see to the development of the land and the people.

“My government remains resolute to its promises to work for the people. Work is in progress on the Ikare–Akungba Road, not minding that it is a federal road. We are also transforming Awara Dam. The Auga Farm City project will provide employment for our youths”

Police revive Public Complaints Bureau •Dismiss corporal, demote five others in Oyo

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them.

Responding on behalf of the others, Ekiti East Caretaker Chairman Mr. Rotimi Ajidara said they would consolidate on the achievement of the Fayemi administration.

Lagos Assembly begins scrutiny of 2010 account HE Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Public Accounts will, today, begin scrutiny of the 2010 financial dealings of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

This is sequel to the submission of the Auditor-General’s Report to the committee’s Chairman, Mr. Bolaji Ayinla, who represents Mushin Constituency 11.

Speaking with reporters in his office, Ayinla said the As-

Ilaje LP chieftains join ACN

By Oziegbe Okoeki

sembly is committed to accountability, transparency and adherence to financial guidelines.

He said any agency found wanting would be sanctioned.

Ayinla urged Heads of Government Agencies to co-operate with the committee by forwarding necessary documents and ensuring total compliance with the content of an earlier letter.

HE Oyo State Police Command has dismantled all roadblocks as directed by the Acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Mohammed Abubakar.

Police spokesman Mr. Femi Okanlawon said any policeman or officer that acts unprofessionally would be arrested and dismissed.

As directed by the Acting IGP, the command has resuscitated the Police Public Complaint Bureau in the office of Police Public Relations Officers. The public can reach the bureau on the following numbers: 08090625741 and 02-6282812.

At the weekend Corporal Biriba Ebiwari, attached to the State Command, was dismissed for negligence of duty.

Five others attached to the command were also punished for various offences.

Ebiwari faced an orderly

From Oseheye Okwuofu and Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

room trial over a one-count charge of absenteeism and was recommended for dismissal.

He was said to have been away from duty for 40 days without taking permission.

Okanlawon said police property in Ebiwari’s custody had been retrieved.

Corporal Kate Ben was demoted to Constable for abandoning her duty post for 22 days.

Okanlawon said: “The recommended punishment of reduction in rank from Corporal to Constable and forfeiture of 22 days salary with effect from February 14 was upheld.”

Toriola Olafioye, Ajala Tosin, Titilayo Bamidele and Emmanuel Ibrahim were charged with offences ranging from improper conduct to absenteeism and lying.

They were also demoted.

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

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NEWS Women for Oshiomhole’s second term

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OMEN in Edo State have endorsed Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s second term bid.

Oshiomhole said government remains focused and committed to delivering services that would transform the quality of lives of the people.

According to him, “as we move towards the next election, we must remain focused and united and deliver services that would transform the lives of our people”.

Debunking claims of disharmony in the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the governor said: “We must maintain our internal democracy and popular participation. Let me assure you that ACN is a house built with concrete. Nothing can break it, nothing can disunite us and nothing can divide us.”

He advised the women to shun rumour mongers, saying they should not listen to rumours,. You should not listen to stories. ACN is one and the same. Let us consolidate on our unity”.

He assured the women of his determination to continue to apply resources to develop the state, adding that the days of the godfather are over.

“There is no question that the polities of Edo can never be what it used to be. Today, the people, the women and the mothers determine who becomes what in Edo State."

The chairman of the occasion, Prof Christy Okojie, described Oshiomhole as an achiever whose tenure has brought light to the state.

She said: “if I thought you were a failure I will not be here. “

Confusion trails Supreme Court judgment on election petitions

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AST Friday’s Supreme Court judgment is causing confusion in Rivers and Benue states.

The court affirmed the victory of Borno and Zamfara states governors.

It held that failure of the governorship election petition tribunals to hear petitions in the stipulated 180 days cannot be extended by any court order.

The apex court declared that the Court of Appeal ought not to have ordered a fresh tribunal to be reconstituted, at the expiration of the 180 days stated in the Electoral Act (2010).

But there is a petition filed at the reconstituted Rivers State Election Petition Tribunal by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Celestine Omehia, and his party against Governor Rotimi Amaechi; his deputy, Tele Ikuru; the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The tribunal’s Secretary, Mohammed Abubakar, in a

Tribunal to rule on petition

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HE Akwa Ibom State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal will today rule on the application filed by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) for the continuation of the inspection of electoral materials used for the last April 26 governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

INEC’s counsel O. Amunonye urged the court to dismiss ACN’s application on the grounds that the application ended with the ‘defunct’ tribunal when the party’s case was

From Kazeem Ibrahym, Uyo

dismissed on technicalities.

ACN governorship candidate John Akpanudoedehe, and his running mate, Ime Umanah, are challenging the declaration of Akpabio and his deputy, Nsima Ekere, as the winners of the governorship election.

ACN’s counsel Dapo Akinosun argued that the reconstitution of the membership of the tribunal does not affect subsisting orders of the tribunal which have not been set aside.

From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt and Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi

telephone interview, said: “The tribunal members will sit on the adjourned date (tomorrow). Honestly, I don’t know what will happen during the sitting because of the Supreme Court’s judgment.

“It is most likely the tribunal will formally dismiss Celestine Omehia’s and APGA’s petition since the members cannot act contrary to the judgment of the apex court.”

The tribunal was reconstituted as a result of the judgment of the appellate court, which ordered that Omehia’s and APGA’s petition must be

retried on its merit, to ensure justice.

Omehia, alleging rigging and other irregularities, approached the tribunal, which dismissed the petition for lack of merit.

The Court of Appeal ordered a retrial of the petition.

In Benue, supporters of the PDP and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) are engaged in a verbal war.

ACN governorship candidate Prof Steve Ugba is challenging the election of Governor Gabriel Suswam before Justice Halima Moham-

med-led Election Tribunal in Makurdi.

PDP supporters are celebrating the Supreme Court judgment, saying the ACN petition against Suswam’s election has ended.

A PDP chieftain, Terkula Suswam, said with the pronouncement of the Supreme Court, the tribunal would terminate proceedings against Suswam.

But ACN Chairman Abba Yaro said there was no basis of comparison between the Borno and Benue panels.

He advised ACN supporters to remain calm as their petition would be heard on merit.

New tax software in Rivers

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IVERS State Governor Rotimi Amaechi has unveiled the state’s

new tax management software.

This is a joint venture with Skye Bank that automates and modernises the internal revenue collection and generation process in the state.

The computers and other software for the automated revenue collection and generation process were provided by the bank in partnership with the Board of Internal Revenue.

Amaechi, who was represented by the Commissioner for Finance, Chamberlain Peterside, said: “Revenue from internal sources should form an integral part of our own financial system.

“We should do that to be able to continuously get higher and higher revenue to fund infrastructure; we should minimise the reliance on federal allocation.

“To achieve this, we need to utilise technology, we need to leverage on the power of technology, modernise and improve, and that is what is happening today.

“With the uniqueness of this project, we should be able to at least cover the state’s operating revenue from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), get at least half of all our revenue from internal sources.”

Imoke ends campaign tour From Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

THE two-week local government campaign by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Cross River State, Liyel Imoke, has ended in Boki Local Government.

Addressing supporters at the St. Patrick’s Primary School, Imoke said government would embark on the construction of asphalted roads as well as create a link between eastern and western Boki.

His running mate, Efiok Cobham, hailed the crowd for accepting what Imoke had done in the area.

PDP State Chairman Ntufam Ekpo Okon said the grand finale of the campaign in Calabar would be held tomorrow.

262 delegates for Edo PDP primary From Osagie Otabor, Benin

THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State has elected 262 persons to serve as ad-hoc delegates to elect the party’s governorship candidate on Saturday.

The elections, which were done last Saturday across the 192 wards, saw three persons elected from each ward.

There are five aspirantsProf Julius Ihonvbere, Prof Oserheimen Osunbor, Matthew Iduoriyikemwen, Kenneth Imasuangbon and Maj-Gen Charles Airhiavbere at the screening in Port Harcourt last week.

Other persons who will join the ad-hoc delegates include PDP members in the state and National Assembly, former governors and their deputies who are still members of the party and presidential aides, who hail from the state.

The party Chairman, Dan Orbih, said the elections have paved the way for the party to choose its candidate that will contest against Governor Adams Oshiomhole.

I didn’t sue Efik throne, says Ani From Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

•From left: Peterside, Skye Bank General Manager Chike Memeh, Acting Chairman Rivers State Board of Internal Revenue Ms. A.C Dokubo, Special Adviser on Revenue Generation Nwankwo Nwankwo and Special Adviser on ICT Goodliffe Nmekini at the inaguration in Port Harcourt

‘ACN has come to rescue Cross River’ HE governorship candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Cross River State, Usani Usani, has said the party would rescue the state from the “slavery we have found ourselves.”

Speaking at the flag-off of the party’s campaign in Abi Local Government, Usani said it is time to call the bluff of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which has been ruling the state since 1999.

The governorship candidate, who was represented by his running mate, David Okon, said: “This is the right time to call PDP’s bluff.

“We should look into the future and think of our children and their own children.

“If you don’t want your

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From Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

Ex-police chief joins party

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VER 1,000 people, including a former Commissioner of Police in Delta State, Jeff Oshiomogho, at the weekend joined the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Ogbonna, Etsako Central Local Government.

Oshiomogho said he joined the ACN to help Governor Adams Oshiomhole, whom he described as the best governor the state has ever had, move the state forward.

According to him, “we are all seeing what he is doing.

He has tried for Edo people. He is working in all the local governments. If he can do this in four years what will he do in eight years?

“That is why I told my people to embrace the ACN. The era of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is over. We are moving Ogbonna from opposition to position.”

The ACN Chairman, Thomas Okosun, hailed their decision to join the party.

children to ask you what you were doing when things

were going wrong, we should stand up and support

change.

“When we get into office, there would be smiles on your faces. We stand for action.

“As you vote in ACN, you are voting in 10, 000 jobs from the first quarter of the take off of the administration.

“This is what is done in other ACN-controlled states.

“We in ACN say the state is rich, and would convert the resources for the good of the state.

“We would not be deterred. We would show them that power comes from God, and when we get there we would serve you well.

“Do not sell your votes. Do not mortgage your future.”

THE former Minister of Finance and contender to the throne of the Obong of Calabar, Etubom Anthony Ani, has denied suing the Efik throne of the Obong Calabar.

Ani said the case before the court was between Ani and four others.

He argued that “in the course of the action, the issue of jurisdiction was raised by the defendant lawyers and while the court adjourned to consider its jurisdiction on the matter, Etubom Otu was hastily installed despite the impending action.

“They went ahead with the installation, despite the fact that through my lawyer I warned them of the consequences of their action and even sent them forms 48 and 49, pointing out their contemptuous action.”

“I sued Otu challenging the entire process of selection before he was hastily installed.”

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

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NEWS Anambra PDP chair to attend meeting From Nwanosike Onu, Awka

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FEDERAL High Court in Awka, Anambra State, has ordered the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to allow the state Chairman of the party, Ken Emeakayi, to attend its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting today.

The order was given on Friday by Justice Peter Olayiwola.

Others joined in the suit include the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC), National Working Committee (NWC), the chairman Board of Trustees of the party and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) The hearing of the motion on notice filed by Emeakayi had been adjourned till today by the court.

Emeakayi had sued the party and its national and zonal executives for the enforcement of his fundamental rights, particularly as the party chairman and NEC member from attending the meeting.

NANS faults Ekwunife’s victory

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•From right: Igwe Uturudiegwu; Mba; Nwankwo; Ojukwu Jnr and Odigbo

Ojukwu’s second son conferred with Ikemba II T HE second son of the late Biafran warlord, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Emeka Jnr, has been conferred with the title, Ikemba II, by the traditional ruler of Nawfia, Igwe Chijioke Nwankwo.

Nawfia community in Njikoka Local Government of Anambra State is the maternal home of Ojukwu Jnr. The ceremony was performed yesterday at the palace of the Nawfia monarch in the presence of other traditional rulers from Oguta in Imo State.

The monarchs are Eze Dele Amuzienwa Odigbo of Nkeresi Oguta and Eze Mba of Egbuoma.

During the ceremony which did not last more than one hour, Ojukwu (Jnr) was given the staff of Umunri, which is the highest authority in the area.

Nwankwo urged him to tell the truth always, adding that with the title, his move-

‘We’ll continue his legacy’ From Chris Oji, Enugu

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HE coalition of Ethnic Nationalities and Organisations ended its two-day meeting in Enugu yesterday with a pledge to sustain the battle started by Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu for a Nigeria where all ethnic groups were treated with respect.

The group made up of new generation leaders from the Middle Belt, the Niger Delta and the Southeast described the late Biafran leader as a “true African icon.”

A communiqué was signed by Yakubu Abu, Jonathan Tsaku and Adams Unaji for Middle Belt; Olisa Osi, Felix Tuodolo and Rex Anigoro signed for the Niger Delta.

Chime Ihediwa, Vincent Anyanwu and Chuks Ibegbu signed for the Southeast delegates.

The communiqué read to reporters at the end of the congress by the President of Ijaw Youths Congress, Miabiye Kuromiema, states that the Enugu congress tagged: “The Enugu Consensus”, was dedicated to “the great and living memory of the Ikemba Nnewi.”

From Nwanosike Onu, Awka

ment had been restricted.

He told reporters that the Ikemba title was never conceived in Nnewi rather it

was from Agukwu Nri which, according to him, had been taken back by the original owners.

He said the senior Ojukwu had told him that Ojukwu (Jnr) must be given the title when he dies.

Ojukwu (Jnr) told reporters that the honour bestowed on him by the Nawfia people would spur him to complete those tasks his father left behind “I am elated, I am honoured, it is a great day and at the same time a sad one because my father is not here.

“My father was a loving man and a great teacher.

“He made a lot of sacrifices for Ndigbo, all I know is that I will try my best not to let him down,” he said However, Ojukwu’s first son, Sylvester, in a phone interview yesterday, said he was preoccupied with the funeral arrangements.

“You can see I have been very busy all the while, making sure that everything is put in place, we thank God for the title given him, there is no problem,” he said.

Kalu faults suspension as PPA BoT chair

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BIA State former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu has said the former state chairman of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) has no “moral justification to suspend him.”

Speaking through the party’s publicity secretary, Oliver Obiezu, the former governor said the former chairman, Emeka, was suspended on February 10.

He said Onouha’s action followed his suspension, adding that he looted the party office on February 14.

Kalu said the former state chairman has committed several anti-party activities

PUBLIC NOTICE NASIRU

I,formerly known and addressed as Yemisi Bilikisu Nasiru, now wish to be known and be addressed as Yemisi Favour Nasiru. All former documents remains valid. Federal Polytechnic, Kaura Namoda and general public should take note.

SALAMI I, Salami Terri Temitope, is one and same person as Salami Zainab Temitope, Salami Temitope Dayo and Salami Temitope Rebecca. All documents bearing the above names remains valid. General public should take note.

From Ugochukwu Eke, Umuahia

and stole party property.

The former governor said a letter to the suspended state chairman reads: “It has come to our knowledge that you Emeka Onuoha has looted and vandalised the party assets under your care and have removed vehicles, electronics, furniture, equipment and other sensitive party documents without authorisation.

"Following your inability to perform your constitu-

tional duties to the party and its members, your anti-party activities and fraudulent removal of party property, you Onuoha, by unanimous decision of the House, is hereby suspended indefinitely with immediate effect".

The former governor said the party has a constitution and that it is ridiculous to announce the suspension of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) chairman.

“He has no powers to suspend the party’s national ex-

ecutives.”

Kalu said the party has no state chairman, stressing that they are waiting on the national office to appoint an interim state party chairman.

“It is their right and within their authority to do just that at this point in time”.

He described what the former party chairman in the state has done as a political ‘harakiri’ and assured him that his desire to create problems to disintegrate the party in the state will never work.

Widow’s house razed in Ebonyi

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BUNGALOW belonging to a widow, Mrs. Josephine Okah, at 4A Ishuke Street, Mile 50 Layout, Abakaliki, the

Ebonyi State capital was razed at the weekend.

Household appliances, certificates and other property valued at about N20 million were destroyed.

Mrs. Okah said she also lost N100, 000 and goods she just bought a day before the incident.

“We were sleeping when at about 12am we heard somebody shouting fire.

“There was smoke everywhere; we could barely escape.

“By the time we escaped, the building was

From Ogbonnaya Obinna, Abakaliki

on fire. I was nearly caught up in the fire but by the grace of God I escaped unhurt.

“Regrettably, everything my late husband left for me and the children was consumed in the inferno; certificates, appliances, goods and cash.

“We came out from the house with nothing and what I am yet to comprehend now is how we are going to start again.

“We urge the government and the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to come to our aid.”

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Herbert Nwokoha, said his men responded immediately to the distress call, stressing that lack of operational vehicles did not affect their operation.

HE National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has faulted the victory of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate in last week’s House of Representatives rerun election in Anambra State, Mrs Uche Ekwunife.

NANS Vice President Frank Nwandu alleged that the election was fraught with irregularities.

He said the conduct of the election and subsequent declaration of the APGA candidate as winner is neither free

From Okodili Ndidi, Onitsha

nor fair.

The student leader urged the Indepnedent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof.

Attahiru Jega, to cancel the election and conduct a fresh one.

He also alleged massive thumb printing of ballot papers and stuffing of same in the ballot box in some of the wards, apart from attack and intimidation of voters and rival party agents by hoodlums.

Coalition warns EFCC

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COALITION of 18 civil society groups at the weekend warned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to steer clear of certain persons masquerading as civil society practitioners.

It said they are actually on a mission to blackmail political office seekers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Cross River State.

The National Policy Dialogue was organised by the coalition and spearheaded by the Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria(HURIWA) and the Association of African Writers’ on Human and Peoples Rights, (AfriRights).

HURIWA’s Executive Emmanuel Onwubiko alleged that the coalition is aware of the clandestine activities of certain persons who have political grudges to settle with the PDP governorship candidate Liyel Imoke He said: We have decided to stage this national policy dialogue with the theme of reclaiming the civil society community in Nigeria to play the nationalistic and altruistic task of real nation building and the promotion of integrity and service among stakeholders.”

State gets EU programme

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NAMBRA State has been picked for another European Union (EU) programme, called Support for State and Local Government Reform Project.

This was announced at the weekend by the Minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman, when he visited Governor Peter Obi at the Governor’s Lodge, Amawbia.

Usman said the selection of the state was in recognition of its commitment to reforms by the development partners.

He said the programme, which had been executed under the EU Development Fund, had been approved by the EU Parliament.

The minister said the signing would take place in the

From Nwanosike Onu, Awka

state next month, with the EU Ambassador in attendance.

Usman said their visit was to access Federal Government water projects, including the Greater Onitsha Water Scheme, Lower Anambra Irrigation Project and Drainage and Farm reclamation project, Mmamu, Orumba North.

He said the visit would enable them to find out why some of the projects had not been completed and some of those completed were not working in line with the new federal policy to scale up use of water for irrigation, domestic supply and dam for power generation.

Lagos shuts markets

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WO Lagos markets – Oke-Odo in Agbado/Oke-Odo Local Council Development Area (LCDA) and Alamutu in Mushin Local Government have been shut by the government through its Ministry of the Environment.

They were shut over alleged failure to buy-in into the vision of the state in sanitation and proper discharge of waste.

A statement by the ministry’s spokesman, Fola Adeyemi, said the government was left with no option after the markets failed to heed series of warnings.

The measure, according to Adeyemi, was to prevent epidemic outbreaks and flooding.

He restated the resolve of the Commissioner for the Environment, Tunji Bello, to sanitise all markets ahead of and during the rainy season.

The statement said the ministry was ready to do all within its powers to reduce flooding in the Centre of Excellence.

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

11

BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net

Nigeria, Venezuela raise oil exports as Saudis cut

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IGERIA, Venezuela and Iraq raised crude oil exports in December from a month earlier while other Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members including Saudi Arabia decreased shipments, according to the Joint Organisation Data Initiative.

Nigeria, according Reuters news, increased its exports by eight per cent to 2.27 million barrels a day, benefiting from higher crude oil prices. Venezuela boosted exports by 18.7 per cent to 1.71 million barrels a day while Iraq increased exports by 0.5 per cent to 2.15 million barrels a day, data the government submitted to the initiative and posted yesterday on its website showed.

Saudi Arabia, the largest producer and exporter in the OPEC, reduced exports to 7.36 million barrels a day from 7.8 million barrels in November, according to JODI figures, which include condensates and exclude natural-gas liquids.

Angola cut exports by 1.7 per cent to 1.6 million barrels a day in December, while Ecuador’s exports fell 5.7 per cent to 299,000 barrels a day. Qatar kept its exports unchanged at 590,000 for the second month in a row, the data showed. Algeria exported 693,000 barrels of oil during December, according to the data.

Iran, OPEC’s second-largest producer, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Libya didn’t submit data for the month.

OPEC decided on December 14 to increase its production ceiling to 30 million barrels a day, the first changOil reliance fuels Nigeria’s poverty, say analysts.

The 2012 fiscal framework earlier submitted to NASS assumed 100 per cent subsidy removal and only N155 billion was provided for carryover of 2011 subsidy payments.

The estimated figure for 2012 is now N888 billion.

- Dr Ngozi OkonjoIweala, Minister of Finance

NCC clamps down on mobile phone makers

BPE, M-tel creditors, disagree on contractors’ payment T

C

REDITORS of the moribund national mobile telecommunication company, M-tel, have accused the Bureau of Public Enterprises (PBE) of creating and forwarding a phony list of creditors to the office of the AccountantGeneral of the Federation for payment.

But the privatisation agency said there is no truth in it.

Representatives of the creditors, Kabiru Musa and Sylvester Onwuna, at the weekend, stated that the alleged list was submitted to the AGF last week.

According to them, the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) had ordered the BPE to hands off

From Nduka Chiejina,Abuja

the affairs of M-tel/NITEL since last year, when the Federal Government rescinded its decision to sell off the telecoms firms to private investors.

Challenging the BPE and the AGF to tender the alleged phony list to the NCP for scrutiny, the creditors stated that it was for similar reasons that Vice-President Namadi Sambo ordered the BPE to keep off the payment exercise. ”However, we find it difficult to interpret the role of the Accountant-General who, given the sensitive nature of his office, is required to be more circumspect

when dealing with agencies whose integrity and credibility had publicly been called to question,” they alleged.

The creditors stated that the Accountant-General had taken delivery of the authentic list of creditors submitted by the M-tel management since January 20 for payment, but wondered why the AGF’s office was still keeping the list one month after.

A source in the Accountant- General’s office confirmed the receipt of the list submitted by M-tel management, but declined comments on the one allegedly submitted by the BPE, saying it was only the Accoun-

tant-General that could comment on that.

However, BPE’s spokesman Chukwuma Nwokoh said nothing had changed and that since NITEL and MTel have not been sold no money could be available to pay the contractors.

He challenged the contractors to show the world Vice-President Sambo’s approval for the payment and also to explain where they think the money would come from.

According to him, the payment of NITEL and MTel contractors was not captured in this year’s budget and as a result, no such approval could be made by the vicepresident.

Interbank rates rise on short cash supply

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DATA STREAM COMMODITY PRICES Oil -$107/barrel Cocoa -$2,686.35/metric ton Coffee - ¢132.70/pound Cotton - ¢95.17pound Gold -$1,800/troy ounce Rubber -¢159.21pound MARKET CAPITALISATIONS NSE JSE NYSE LSE

-N6.503 trillion -Z5.112trillion -$10.84 trillion -£61.67 trillion RATES Inflation -10.5% Treasury Bills -7.08% Maximum lending-22.42% Prime lending -15.87% Savings rate -2% 91-day NTB -15% Time Deposit -5.49% MPR -12% Foreign Reserve $33.01b FOREX CFA 0.2958 EUR 206.9 £ 242.1 $ 156 ¥ 1.9179 SDR 238 RIYAL 40.472

HE Nigerian Commu nications Commission (NCC) has sealed the offices and warehouses of two mobile phone manufacturers at the popular Computer Village, in Ikeja, Lagos.

According to the NCC, the two companies - Ken Xin Da Mobile and G-Tide Mobile were sealed because “they did not conform to the ‘Type Approval’ standards as mandated by the Commission before bringing their devices into Nigeria.”

NCC is empowered by the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 to establish and enforce standards for all telecommunications equipment in operation in the country, in order to ensure that they operate seamlessly and safely within the Nigerian telecommunications environment.

“All equipment manufacturers, vendors and operators, including customer devices such as mobile phones and wireless adapters, must therefore ensure that their equipment conform to the applicable standards as mandated by the Commission before bringing them into Nigeria.

“To ensure maximum interoperability and affordability for consumers, the Type Approval standards set by the NCC are based on international standards, which represent international practices as developed in many countries,” the commission said.

• From left: Executive Director, South, Mr Rasheed Olaoluwa; GMD/CEO, UBA Plc, Mr Phillips Oduoza; Governor, Bayelsa State, Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson; Deputy Governor, Bayelsa State, John Jonah, during a courtsey visit by UBA management to the Bayelsa State Governor in Yenagoa ... at the weekend.

‘Make NAICOM insurance sole regulator’

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HE National Insurance C o m m i s s i o n (NAICOM) should be the sole regulator of all operators in the insurance industry to mitigate duplicitous and conflicting regulations, an underwriter has said.

The underwriter, who pleaded anonymity, told The Nation that the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) and the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB), should be restricted to being the umbrella bodies for practitioners and not self-regulatory organisations.

He noted that NAICOM that is empowered statutorily as the industry’s regulator should undertake the

By Chuks Udo Okonta

regulatory functions, adding that a situation where NIA and NCRIB claim selfregulatory powers, is an anomaly.

According to him, the scenario where NAICOM will issue operational licence to the brokers while the NCRIB will register the brokers will continue to create problem unless efforts are made to bring all operators under NAICOM. He said in view of the fact that the broker is a part of the insurance industry, all operators ought to be subjected to the supervision of NAICOM for the good of the industry.

The underwriter said pre-

mium rates being paid to arrange insurance contracts should not be fixed by any association, adding that fixing insurance premium rates is not in the interest of the consumers.

He also encouraged the insurance regulator to move beyond issuance of rules and guidelines by ensuring that all operators are actually complying with the laws guiding the practice of insurance in the country.

The underwriter called on NAICOM to encourage the insurance operators to partner with other operators in the financial services industry, to boost insurance penetration, which is still abysmally low.

He said it is high time insurers partnered with the bankers to increase the level of insurance penetration in the country, adding that insurers can leverage on banks to reach their over 25million customer.

To prevent the collapse of any insurance outfit, it also advised NAICOM to make sure that all the existing firms in the industry are viable and sustainable in the interest of all stakeholders.

As the acid test of all good insurance companies is the ability to pay claims when the need arises, NAICOM was urged to always monitor the insurance firm to be sure that these companies are in good condition to be able to pay claims in the future.

IGERIA’s interbank lending rates rose further last week to an average of 15.25 per cent from penultimate week’s 14.91 per cent as the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) soaked up available local naira currency.

NNPC sells dollars to some lenders regularly and transfers a portion of the naira proceeds to its account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The energy company has sold more than $700 million to some banks in the last few weeks, traders said.

Traders according to Bloomberg news said the cost of borrowing could rise further this week if the NNPC continue its cash withdrawals coupled with expected naira outflows into treasury bills and foreign exchange.

“Hopefully, respite may come to the market next week if government release a portion of budget allocations to its agencies, otherwise the cost of borrowing will definitely jump further,” one traders said.

The secured Open Buy Back (OBB) was unchanged at 14.50 per cent, 250 basis points above the CBN’s 12 per cent benchmark rate, and 4.50 percentage points above the Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) rate.

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

12

BUSINESS NEWS Flight Schedule

Fed Govt targets 2.1m metric tons of rice yearly

MONDAY - FRIDAY LAGOS – ABUJA Departure Arrival 1. Aero 06.50 08.10 2. Associated 07.00 09.30 3. Air Nigeria 07.00 08.20 4. IRS 07.00 08.20 5. Dana 07.02 08.22 6. Arik 07.15 08.15 7. Chanchangi 07.15 8. Air Nigeria 08.15 09.35 9. Dana 08.10 09.20 10. Aero 08.45 10.05 11. Arik 09.15 10.15 12. Chanchangi 10.00 11.00 13. IRS 11.15 12.35 14. Dana 12.06 12.26 15. Aero 12.20 13.30 16. Air Nigeria 13.25 14.45 17. Chanchangi 13.30 14.30 18. Arik 13.45 14.45 19. IRS 14.00 15.20 20. Aero 14.10 15.30 21. Air Nigeria 14.50 16.10 22. Dana 15.30 16.50 23. Chanchangi 15.30 16.30 24. Arik 15.50 16.50 25. Aero 16.00 17.20 26. IRS 16.30 17.50 27. Arik 16.50 17.50 28. Dana 17.10 18.30 29. Chanchangi 17.30 18.30 30. Air Nigeria 17.35 18.55 31. Air Nigeria (T/TH) 18.30 19.50 32. Arik 18.45 19.45 33. Aero 19.20 20.40 1.

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LAGOS – BENIN Arik 07.30 Associated 08.30 Aero 10.50 Arik 11.45 Associated 13.00 Aero 14.25 Arik 15.30 Associated 16.00

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LAGOS – CALABAR 07.30 11.20 12.50 16.00 LAGOS – JOS 10.55 11.15

LAGOS – KADUNA Aero 08.00 Chanchangi 10.00 Arik 10.00 Arik 15.10

08.30 09.10 11.50 12.45 13.40 15.20 16.30 16.40 08.50 12.40 14.10 17.20 12.15 12.45 09.10 11.00 11.10 16.20

LAGOS – PORT HARCOURT (CIVIL) 1. Aero 07.15 08.35 2. Arik 07.15 08.35 3. Arik 09.00 10.20 4. Dana 09.27 10.40 5. Aero 10.50 12.30 6. Arik 11.40 13.00 7. Air Nigeria 12.00 13.10 8. IRS 13.30 15.00 9. Arik 14.00 15.20 10. Dana 15.03 16.20 11. Air Nigeria 16.00 17.10 12. Arik 16.10 17.30 13. Aero 16.15 17.30 14. Arik 17.10 18.30 1.

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LAGOS – OWERRI Aero 07.30 Arik 07.30 Air Nigeria 13.40 Arik 14.00 Arik 16.30

08.40 08.40 14.55 15.10 17.40

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LAGOS – WARRI 08.15 11.50 11.55 14.55

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LAGOS – KANO Air Nigeria 07.10 IRS 08.00 Dana 08.10 Arik 12.20 IRS 14.00 IRS 18.15

08.50 09.45 09.40 14.00 15.45 19.55

LAGOS – OWERRI 07.20 14.00 16.30

08.30 15.10 17.40

LAGOS – UYO 10.35

11.35

1. Arik 2. Arik 3. Arik 1. Dana

LAGOS – MAIDUGURI 1. IRS 11.15 13.15 2. Arik 15.50 18.00 LAGOS – ILORIN 1. Overland 07.15 2. Arik (M/T/TH/F) 17.30

08.00 18.00

LAGOS – ABUJA SAT/SUN Arik 7.15; 10.20; 2.20; 5.20pm – 7.30; 9.15; 10.20; 2.20; 4.50; 6.45 Aero 07.30; 09.35; 13.10; 14.50; 20.20 – 07.30; 09.35; 13.10; 14.50; 20.20 Air Nigeria 08.15; 14.30; 17.15; 18.30 – 08.15; 13.30; 14.30; 17.15; 18.30

From Olugbenga Adanikin, Abuja

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• From left: Chairman, Capital Market Solicitors Association, Dr. Babajide Ajibade, General Counsel, Total Nigeria Plc, Mr Chidi Momoh; Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr Oscar Onyema and Chairman, House Committee on Capital Market and Institutions, Hon, Hembe Herman, at event organised by Babalakin & Co. Chamber in Lagos.

SON pushes for prosecutorial powers A

NEW Bill that would give prosecutorial powers to the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) is underway.

Its Director-General, Dr Joseph Odumodu, who made this known at the weekend in Lagos, said once the Bill is passed to law, the agency will be able to start criminal proceedings against offenders.

He said the agency lacks the power to prosecute importers of sub-standard products into the country. The SON, he said, is facing a big challenge in eliminating sub-standard products because SON is only allowed to arrest suspects and handle them over the police. This, he explained, has raised great potential risks for the country’s campaign against sub-standard products.

He said 70 per cent of goods manufactured in the country, especially items such as iron rods

By Daniel Essiet

and cables were substandard.

Odumodu said it was difficult to test imported products because the agency lacks globally accredited laboratories to test products, which had international mark of quality.

Consequently, the Director-General said the agency cannot say that certain products, which claim international quality were not in conformance with the requirements of the relevant standards.

To prevent dumping, Odumodu said the SON is demanding that importers bring in products that have certificates of free use within the originating country, adding that the mark identifies a product as a reliable product of acceptable

quality to be trusted by consumers and buyers alike thereby improving market confidence.

On why the nation’s steel products manufacturing industry was not competitive enough, he noted that a significant manufacturing units were producing rods that are substandard. This substandard products, Odumodu further explained, is responsible for building collapse.

He added, however, that building collapse have been linked not only to substandard rods but also to poor mixture of concrete. For this reason, he said the agency would eliminate substandard rods by the end of June.

On energy saving bulbs, Odumodu said most of them were of poor quality and have elements that can caused environment hazards.

Oil reliance fuels Nigeria’s poverty, say analysts

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FECKLESS political system and excessive reliance on an oil industry that generates few jobs have conspired to reverse Nigeria’s battle against poverty despite economic growth, analysts say.

Many see Nigeria as a classic victim of the “resource curse” where oil or mineral wealth leads to the neglect of other economic sectors, exposes the country to volatile price swings, and fuels corruption and strife.

Nigeria is Africa’s top oil producer, but the number of Nigerians living on less than a dollar a day rose to 61.2 per cent in 2010 from 51.6 percent in 2004, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a report last week.

The figures marked a regression for Africa’s most populous nation

- where the poverty rate had declined between 1996 and 2004 - and showed Nigeria has not shared in the progress made elsewhere on the continent.

“It remains a paradox ... that despite the fact that the Nigerian economy is growing, the proportion of Nigerians living in poverty is increasing every year,” said Yemi Kale, the head of the statistics bureau.

Nigeria’s economy grew at an average 7.6 per cent between 2003 and 2010, according to the World Bank.

Analysts said while the lucrative oil industry has fuelled growth since crude was discovered some 50 years ago, the sector’s dominance has been a curse for the poor, causing neglect in areas like agriculture.

“What we need is the opportunity for sectors involved with non-oil

exports to provide jobs,” said Olufemi Deru, former head of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce, a key private sector grouping.

He said Nigeria has failed to come up with an effective agriculture policy.

“We should not be importing so much rice. This is a staple food for both the rich and the poor,” he said and suggested Nigeria restrict imports on basic foodstuffs to force a rise in agricultural production.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said in a 2010 report that, across Africa, extreme poverty declined from 1990 to 2008 but that progress was halted by the onset of the global economic crisis.

Some dispute those figures, and the UNDP has said its 2005 to 2008 assessments were based on projections, not hard data.

We’ve not stopped processing subsidy payments, by banks, the recent proHE Petroleum Products Pric says PPPRA lines nouncement of proposed N888 ing Regulatory Agency

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(PPPRA) has assured oil marketers that it has not stopped processing subsidy claims from genuine importers of petroleum products contrary to some speculations.

Assurance by the PPPRA came just as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani AlisonMadueke, advocated an integrated approach to tackling the challenges confronting the country’s refineries to achieve maximum output from them within the shortest possible period.

The Executive Secretary of the PPPRA, Mr Reginald Stanley, gave the assurance this while ad-

• Assures on Q4 petrol import

By Emeka Ugwuanyi

dressing reporters in Abuja at the end of the mid-quarter performance review of premium motor spirit (PMS) imports for the fourth quarter of last year. He noted that the agency has completed the processing of all claims for marketers for 2011.

He said: “While marketers have been holding back to imports due to the unavailability of credit

billion for subsidy provided in the 2012 budget should give enough comfort, both to the marketers and banks to resume imports very aggressively.”

He said the mid quarter performance review of PMS shows 27 per cent achievement by marketers.

“There will be a final appraisal of the fourth quarter performance on March 31, 2012 and companies that did not perform up to expectation will not only be sanctioned but will be dropped in subsequent quarters,” Stanley said.

HE Federal Government has unveiled plans to revive the nation’s rice production by producing about 2.1 million metric tons of rice yearly through a $40 million partnership with the Taraba State government and Dominion Farms Limited.

The plan, according to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, is to ensure that the nation is selfsufficient in rice production by constructing additional 100 large scale rice mills in the country.

Adesina added that the large scale rice production will substitute the quantity of imported rice.

The Minister disclosed these weekend during the signing of Tripartite Implementation Agreement between the Ministry of Agriculture, Taraba State Government, and dominion Rice Integrated Farms ltd in Abuja.

He said in six months of his administration, three rice mills with the capacity of producing 90,000 metric tons of rice have being completed.

His words: “While Nigerians smile as they eat imported rice, farmers of rice exporting countries love us because we help to secure their own economies, but let me assure you that under my term, I will not stand for such.

“I am the Minister of Agriculture for Nigeria, and my job is not to promote food imports into Nigeria, but to make Nigeria self-sufficient in producing its own food and export food. My job is to make Nigerian farmers happy, by encouraging local production and processing of food”.

Governors woo Dangote for investments

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EVERAL governors are w o o i n g Dangote Group, President Aliko Dangote to invest in their state.

Following the successful commissioning of the Dangote Cement’s new six million tons per year Ibese Cement plant, several governors, who were present at the inauguration, according to a statement from the firm, said they were optimistic on attracting Dangote Industries Limited to invest in their states.

The governors included Mr Peter Obi, Anambra State; Isa Yuguda, Bauchi State; Adams Oshiomhole, Edo State; Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti State and Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State.

Obi saidAlhaji Dangote has shown that Nigerians have the capacity to grow their economy through investments and urged other businessmen to emulate him.

“I am appealing to Alhaji Dangote to please consider Anambra State for investment. My state is peaceful and the state government would be ready to do all that is required to ensure smooth take off of such business,” Obi said.

Oshiomhole noted that no private sector Nigerian has impacted positively on the life of Nigerians like Dangote.

According to him, Dangote’s massive investment in Nigeria is an indication of his belief in the Nigerian economy as he could have chosen to take his investment out of Nigeria but he has continued to build a truly African multinational with his expansion in other African countries.

Yuguda said Dangote needed all the encouragement he could get to do more in Nigeria.

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

13

ISSUES

•Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga

•CBN Governor Mallam Sanusi

Enhancing flow of credits to SMEs Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are the fulcrum for growth of any economy. Access to finance, however determines their size and sustainability. SMEs are caught between a difficult macroeconomic environment and lack of access and high cost of finance. In this report, TAOFIK SALAKO examines the challenges and efforts to improve the flow of credits to SMEs.

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HREE sets of data released in recent weeks underlined the paradox of Nigeria's sustained growth and quickened the need for a structural rebalance of the economy.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its latest report indicated growing prevalence of poverty in Nigeria in spite sustained growth in Gross Domestic Products (GDP).

According to NBS, the percentage of Nigerians living in absolute poverty - those who can afford only the bare essentials of food, shelter and clothing - rose to 60.9 per cent in 2010 compared with 54.7 percent in 2004. The report underlined that almost 100 million Nigerians were living on less than a $1 a day.

In another report, the World Bank Global Doing Business Report 2012 ranked Nigeria 133 out of 183 countries surveyed by the report. The Doing Business Project provides objective measures of business regulations, their enforcement across 183 economies and selected cities at the sub-national and regional level.

The report underscored the challenges facing businesses in Nigeria.

The Corporate Affairs Commission, (CAC), has registered over two million business names as at December 31, 2011. CAC reported that 67 per cent of registered entities in Nigeria as at December 31, 2011 were business names- a reference to small businesses while companies accounted for 31 per cent. But the commission also noted the dormancy of several companies and said it would soon strike off 50,000 companies from the official corporate registration list. It had earlier struck off 9,000 companies.

The CAC data showed that majority of companies in Nigeria fall under the category of SMEs. The nexus between the data shows the inability of the nation to jumpstart its eco-

nomic powerbase of SMEs to spread growth.

Importance of SMEs Although the definition of SME may vary from country to country, there is almost universal consensus on the type of business concerns that fall under the categorisation of SME. Using the two criteria of number of employees and turnover or balance sheet size, SMEs are classified into three groups of micro, small and medium companies which employ between one person and 300 persons and which turnover or total assets ranges from less than $100,000 (N16 million) to $ 15 million (N2.4 billion).

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the European Union (EU) and several other global institutions use the descriptive approach outlined above. SMEs have proven to be the bulwark of growth and development in advanced and emerging economies. SMEs are the largest providers of employment in most countries, especially in developing economies.

SMEs account for more than three-quarter of total employment in China and they produce nearly three-quarter of the total sales in the country. The same scenario applies to Russia where SMEs account for almost 90 per cent of total number of companies in the country. Summing up several geographical evaluations of SMEs impact, IFC held that in much of the developing world the private economy is almost entirely comprised of SMEs and they are the only realistic employment opportunity for millions of poor people across the world.

Former national president, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Chief John Odeyemi, noted that SMEs account for

over 60 per cent of Nigerian’s Gross Domestic Product generated mainly in the agricultural, service and distributive trade sectors.

He, however, pointed out that SMEs engaged in distributive trade are more viable than those in the manufacturing and agricultural sector, making it easier for them to access funds from financial institutions.

Given their spread, SMEs are thus critical for even national growth and alleviation of poverty. SMEs contribute immensely to economic efficiency, competitiveness and innovation. Flexible, mobile and adaptive, SMEs not only lead the search for innovation, they create competitive pressures that drive the big companies to achieving better performance. In developing economies, SMEs particularly serve both economic and social roles as they tend to be the only employers in the poorest segments but also the only agents of socialisation.

Challenges of SME financing While all the companies suffer under unfavourable fiscal and monetary environments, attendant high cost of doing business and poor national infrastructure, the adverse effects are more pronounced on SMEs, which lack the size and resources to manage the complexities like the big multinationals and other big companies. Beside inconsistent fiscal policies that tend to undermine small and medium businesses, finance has been a major constraint to the growth of SMEs. With Monetary Policy Rate at 12 per cent and effective lending rate hovering between 20 and 30 per cent, cost of finance constitutes major drag to the sustainability and profitability of most SMEs.

Head of SME, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Mr Akintunde Oyebode noted that the main driver of the growth of SMEs in Asia and the Middle East is the level of access to finance enjoyed by SMEs in those regions.

“In Sub-Saharan Africa, the funding gap within the SME segment is estimated at anything between $100 billion and $200 billion.

This implies a need to increase the current flow of finance at least four times from current levels of $25 billion," Oyebode said.

The challenge, according to him, is the provision of quick and properly priced funding to the SME market, which due to the nature of the segment, is usually poorly capitalised with little or no assets. Therefore, a big barrier to funding is usually the lack of tangible collateral. Another big challenge is the absence of accurate and verifiable financial statement, with which formal lenders evaluate the credit worthiness of the borrowers.

The recent credit burst in the Nigerian banking sector and the attendant tightening of credit risk management have further compounded the flow of credits to the SMEs. Most of these loans were subsequently impaired and became non-performing assets and the resultant provisions and write-offs triggered a near industry-wide depletion in capital base. New rules on credit management and executive responsibilities that initialed the ongoing banking reform also contributed to the credit freeze as bank officials chose to play safe within the secured inter-bank system and sovereign issues rather than active risk management in the private sector. With huge capital raised during the 2004-2005 recapitalisation, banks had gone on a wide lending spree with average yearly growth • Continued on page 14

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

14

ISSUES

Enhancing flow of credits to SMEs • Continued from page 13

of more than 100 per cent between 2006 and 2008. Most of these loans were subsequently impaired and became non-performing assets and the resultant provisions and write-offs triggered a near industry-wide depletion in capital base. New rules on credit management and executive responsibilities that initialed the ongoing banking reform also contributed to the credit freeze as bank officials chose to play safe within the secured inter-bank system and sovereign issues rather than active risk management in the private sector. Besides, enamoured by trade finance, Nigerian banks mostly lack adequate institutional capacity to undertake comprehensive SME finance.

Also, the recession at the capital market has almost eroded the use of the formal capital market to source funds by SMEs. The second tier market, otherwise known variously as emerging market or the alternative securities market (Asem), which was created to encourage small businesses, has been comatose over the years.

Successive governments no doubt also recognised the importance of finance to the development of small and medium businesses.

This is evident in several initiatives such as People's Bank, Bank of Industry, agricultural financing schemes, microcredit schemes, and community and microfinance banks among others. The bane of these otherwise laudable schemes was the absence of a concerted framework and institutional capacity and direction, which rendered most of the schemes disjointed.

CBN's roles in promoting SME financing Recent efforts by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), however appeared to be tackling the flow of credit and the institutional capacity to sustain such credit flow. While rebuilding the banking sector under the ongoing banking reform, the CBN has also engaged in direct financial interventions in real sectors of the economy to bridge the pause in private lending and stimulate the economy.

With focus on agriculture, power, small and medium enterprise, education, aviation and manufacturing- all segments that fall mostly within the SMEs categorisation, the apex bank has implemented several financial intervention programmes to channel single-digit interest credits to businesses.

CBN had introduced the N200 billion Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Guarantee Scheme (SMECGS) with the main objective of promoting access to credit by SMEs in Nigeria including agricultural companies. Businesses covered under the scheme include manufacturing and agricultural value chains; SMEs, processing, packaging and distribution of primary products. The scheme provides guarantees on loans by banks to the sector in order to absorb some of the risk elements that inhibit banks from lending to the real sector. The guarantee covers 80 per cent of the amount borrowed and is valid up to the maturity date of the loan, with maximum tenor of five years. Under the scheme, the maximum amount that can be guaranteed is N100 million and this can be used for working capital, term loan for refurbishment, equipment upgrade, expansion and overdraft.

“The SMECGS is a step in the right direction and the CBN must be praised for this initiative. The expansion of the scheme to serve the trade sector shows how a periodic review improves the access SMEs have to formal lending," Oyebode said.

The apex bank has also shown strong commitment to freeing debt-laden SMEs while simultaneously providing cheap funds to companies that need capital. Given the parlous state of the capital market, which has almost grounded new fund raising activities, CBN's financial lifelines were the muchneeded tonic for growth for several private and quoted companies. The N200 billion Manufacturers/SMEs Restructuring/Refinancing Fund was initiated to deleverage manufacturing companies and small and medium enterprises. The global economic recession and slowdown in Nigerian economy have combined to undermine the profitability of several companies, which had rolled out extensive loan-financed expansion plans prior to the slowdown. Besides, high loan portfolio and attendant interest expense made several companies vulnerable to the

•MD Diamond Bank, Alex Otti

slowdown in the economy. The N200 billion restructuring and refinancing fund thus enabled manufacturers and SMEs to deal with existing bank loans. This served the three purposes of improving the loan book of banks, improving the operational capacity and profitability of companies by reducing the choking debt service and enhancing the economy as several companies were able to expand and create more employment. The N200 billion restructuring and refinancing fund provided long term loans for acquisition of plant and machinery, refinancing of existing loans, resuscitation of ailing industries, working capital and refinancing of existing leases. The loan for a single obligor was a maximum of N1 billion in respect of re-financing/re-structuring with an interest rate of 7.0 per cent payable on quarterly basis. By the end of December 2010, the fund had had been fully disbursed with N199.6 billion given out to 539 beneficiaries across 12 different sectors of the economy.

The restructuring and refinancing fund made evident impact on several private and publicly quoted SMEs. In one instance, UTC Nigeria, the surviving food business of one of Nigeria's oldest companies and conglomerates, which was struggling to surmount the odds of the past and regain confidence for the future, was almost drowning before it received a lifeline from the restructuring and refinancing fund.

Faced with choice of total collapse or restructuring, UTC Nigeria had dismembered its several businesses and retained the food unit. So, the "new" UTC Nigeria faces the challenges of dealing with backlog of old problems and the onerous task of stabilising the surviving business. Unable to raise new funds through the capital market, UTC had to accumulate bank loans to restart its new life, which compounded the financing burden. For a company with operating profit of N129 million, the 67 per cent increase in interest expense to N134 million in 2010 clearly showed the limitation posed by accumulated loans.

“The interest expenses in 2010 account is huge, not only because of legacy issues' cost charged to 2010 account but also developmental loans used to implement phase 1 of the company's strategic plan and raw materials funding," chairman of UTC Nigeria, Apostle Hayford Alile noted in his report. But with a lifeline from restructuring and refinancing fund, the company was able to restructure its loans and the company expects this impacts positively on its operational results.

In another instance, the restructuring and refinancing fund provided financial rescue to DN Meyer, which was burdened by declining operations, huge debt overhang and built-up losses. According to to Chairman of DN Meyer, Sir Remi Omotosho, the most excruciating challenge of the company was inadequate working capital as its indebtedness to banks was such that further credit was hardly possible. With negative revenue reserve of N1.14 billion and negative working capital of N880 million, DN Meyer's survival had been on "as-it-comes" ba-

‘

•MD, Unity Bank, Alhaji Ado Wanka

sis, a dangerous phase for a company seeking stability and growth.

However, the company took advantage of the restructuring and refinancing fund to resolve the immediate debt overhang. "The issues of indebtedness to banks have been largely resolved taking advantage of the CBN lifeline…. The board and management are now set and are working purposefully to make the company look 'North' in all its performance indices," Omotoso noted.

Also, the apex bank had launched the N300 billion Power and Aviation Intervention Fund (PAIF) to stimulate credit to the power sector and the capital-intensive airline industry, two sectors entirely dominated by SMEs. Managed by the Bank of Industry (BOI) under the technical assistance of the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), PAIF provides funds at an interest rate of 7.0 per cent payable on a quarterly basis. The fund covers refinancing of existing loans and leases as well as working capital for the two sectors.

Agriculture is the largest sector of the Nigerian economy and agricultural companies make up the largest number of SMEs. In realisation of the importance of agriculture as national tool for wealth creation and poverty reduction, the apex bank has stepped up efforts at redirecting funds to agriculture. While sustaining the longstanding Agriculture Credit Guarantee Scheme (ACGS), the apex bank had developed a N200 billion Commercial Agricultural Credit Schemes (CACS) as a quick-win gap-bridging finance for the development of commercial agriculture. Loans made under the CACS are at single digit interest rate subject to a maximum of 9.0 per cent, while the CBN bears the interest subsidy at maturity. The CACS was initially designed to promote commercial agricultural enterprises but has since been expanded to accommodate small scale farmers through the on-lending scheme of the state governments. As at April 2011, the CBN had released N133.11 billion for disbursement to 139 beneficiaries made up of 115 individuals and private promoters and 24 State Governments.

Besides, CBN has recently launched a new initiative aimed at creating a new demanddriven and sustainable financing framework for agriculture. The new Nigerian IncentiveBased Risk Sharing System for Agricultural lending (NIRSAL), a demand-driven credit facility, is expected to address the challenges of the previous supply- driven funding. Created as the one-stop shop for agro finance, NIRSAL would pool and integrate the current resources in CBN's agricultural financing schemes and other investor funds and transfer these into different components of the programme.

While NIRSAL places responsibilities on banks, it also offers incentives for banks with outstanding records of agro finance. In addressing the institutional capacity to lend to SMEs, the apex bank has also recently directed all banks to establish comprehensive top-to-bottom structures to facilitate agricultural lending.

The N200 billion Manufacturers/SMEs Restructuring/Refinancing Fund was initiated to deleverage manufacturing companies and small and medium enterprises

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•Head, SME, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Mr Akin Oyebode

Banks taking up the challenge Several banks are ramping up their institutional capacity for on-lending to SMEs. Oyebode said Stanbic IBTC Bank has not only increased credits to SMEs but has been providing technical capacity to help grow small businesses. "We are leveraging on our global network to bring Nigerian businesses closer to their suppliers, for importers and to their markets, for export businesses. For example, we took selected clients on a trade mission to China as part of our plan to develop unique trade solutions for Nigerian businesses operating with Chinese partners, while leveraging our strategic alliance with ICBC, the biggest bank in China. This mission consisted of clients from Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda and involved meetings with Chinese suppliers, banks and government agencies. The aim of such initiatives is to constantly enhance the ability of Nigerian businesses to conduct businesses with their trade partners in the most efficient manner," Oyebode said. He said Stanbic IBTC Bank's aim was to be recognized as the leading SME bank in Nigeria within the next five years adding that by providing the SME segment with the right type of support; the bank believes it can help increase the contribution of the sector to GDP, and ultimately enhance the well being of Nigerians. "We are constantly seeking ways to service this segment better, and will remain in the forefront of using industry leading research and development to improve service in this area.

For example, we are the first Nigerian bank to introduce psychometric testing as a tool for creating SME Loans. Our industry leading product, SME Quick Loans is based on a psychometric test developed by our partners, and we are able to offer loans to SMEs within 72 hours with minimal documentation and hassle. By developing this product, we are now able to bridge the financing gap experienced by SMEs in a timely and stress free manner," Oyebode noted.

Complementing finance However, analysts said government must provide amenable fiscal and infrastructural incentives for the SMEs to thrive. Counter-productive taxes and tariffs, poor roads and energy supply and insecurity could counteract the gains from relatively cheap and steady funds. According to analysts, there must be a concerted effort to reduce the cost of doing business generally while emphasis should be placed on vulnerable SMEs. For example, taxation of small businesses should be consolidated and reduced to the barest minimum. SMEs can also be encouraged with import duty waivers or incentives. Government can also assist SMEs by developing entrepreneurial centers to drive the monitoring and technical assistance that SMEs need to grow. Besides, SMEs also need to build up internal capacity to develop acceptable business proposals and submit to corporate best practices.

To address the imbalance between growth figures and national income and living standards, Nigeria needs to implement a sustained comprehensive SMEs development programme that includes all elements of the SMEs growth mix including finance, infrastructure and fiscal incentives. The CBN and the banking sector appear to be increasingly focused on tackling the finance element, now is the time for government and SMEs to come up stronger with the other sides of the balance.

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

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THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

JOBS THE NATION

Website:- http://www.thenationonlineng.com

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

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• Multimedia devices

How IT devices enhance jobs The use of multimedia devices have brought about improved service delivery in many companies. The devices have increased work rate and opened windows of opportunities for people. AKINOLA AJIBADE reports.

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T a time, it was trendy to work manually. Then, people exerted a lot of energy, spent time on their job and achieved little. But the coming of computer brought changes to the work place. In many organisations, the computer plays a central role in production. It increases work rate and helps workers meet deadlines. Now, people get their work done at a click of a button. One major benefit is that the computer aids the work process. It enables people to modernise their jobs, and enhances patronage.

In recent times, Nigerians have availed themselves of opportunities in Information Communication and Technology (ICT) to earn a living. Many

use laptops, desktop computers, I-PADs and WAP-enabled phones to do certain jobs.

WAP is an acronym for Wireless Application Programme.

Those devices are used to publish books electronically, conduct foreign exchange/ equities transactions, and sell tangible assets, such as land and houses. Such devices are known as multimedia. They provide opportunities for workers, who intend to improve their jobs. Experts said multimedia devices bring innovations and make users stand above their peers. They said people can use multimedia system for various activities, depending on their needs.

The Managing Director, SITE Media Communication Limited, Mr Friday Adejube, said the system can be used for

graphic design, picture and video editing, animation, adobe flash, premiere, photoshop, illustration and after effect.

Adejube said workers who use multimedia systems are bound to record success, adding that the system is in vogue across the world.

He said using a computer to edit a video, comes out with a better output.

“Computer is used for picture and video editing. Through this, the unwanted or bad elements of production are eliminated. The elements may be inaudible voice, badly taken pictures, or anything that might affect the production of a film or play. When the computer is used to edit a video, the job is faster, accurate and beautiful. People that use the device to edit a film, are well patronised.

You can manipulate a computer to give you

what you want, while editing a video.”

He said Nollywood actors export their works, adding that they want people who can edit their films electronically.

He said cartooning has gone beyond sketching or drawing an object on a paper for a television programme, arguing that old cartoonists do that. He said animation is a process whereby cartoons are simulated to give maximum impact.

“When you simulate cartoons, you are allowing cartoons to talk, walk and do other things that human beings do. When you see cartoons talking on television, that process is called animation. It is only cartoonists that are adept in the use of • Continued on page 18

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THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

JOBS

How IT devices enhance job • Continued from page 17

computer, among other multimedia devices that can provide such services. From experience, advertising agencies, brand specialists and telecommunication companies, such as MTN and Glo use animated cartoons for advertisements. Those that provide such services are highly paid,” he added.

Adejube said photoshop is a package used for treatment and editing of photographs.

He said photo shop or Corel Draw package can be used in producing labels, posters, and calendars. Adejube said people that know how to use photoshops get jobs from theatre practitioners, politicians and companies that want to produce logos.

Also, a computer expert, Mr Thomas Ajadi, said people that use multimedia systems are creative, arguing that it is easier for them to get jobs. Ajadi said adobe flash can be used to design commercial objects, urging people to develop skills in that direction. He said the inability of many people to use multimedia apparatus well, would affect their chances of getting jobs. He said the world is a computer village where most things are done electronically. Ajadi said one cannot afford to stay aloof in this digital age, adding that people that are not abreast with the development in the information and technology industry are missing a lot.

Also, the Deputy Director, Arts, Franchise Law and Kenneth, Mr Tunde Edidi, said multimedia devices can be used for graphic

designing. He said people who want to go into graphic design must know how to multimedia devices well, adding that their services are in hot demand.

Edidi said graphics involve the use of colours or forms to communicate, adding that it is a kind of usual art. He said fine and commercial arts are the two basic types of arts, adding that the former deals with the expression of feelings while the latter is profit-oriented.

“When a fine artist is producing some drawings, he does not have a target audience in mind. That is why it is easier for works of arts expressing no commercial values. But it is not so with a graphic designer or artist.

A graphic artist considers the audience. He knows what he has in mind based on the briefs given to him, and goes out to achieve it.”

He added: “If I want to design an advert as a graphic artist, I would collect briefs and generate ideas. The way we design an obituary advert is different from that of a wedding advert.” He said a graphic artist can work in any area where there is creativity. He said their services are needed in fashion houses, printing companies, advertising agencies, manufacturing companies, and financial institutions.

He said the need for a graphic designer is endless, adding that they are bound to get jobs anywhere there is visual communication. He said graphic designers have opportunities to do some jobs on their own, and make money. Edidi advises people

• Adejube

• Edidi

to learn how to use multimedia devices, adding that it is the only way through which they can improve their skills and get jobs.

A media practitioner, who pleaded anonymity, said multimedia system can be used to enhance job’ prospects. He said he attended a journalism training programme in Uganda, where media practitioners are taught how to do video journalism. He said video journalism is about uploading pictures gotten from the field and placing them to beautify stories. He said “Voice Over

“is compulsory, when one is doing video journalism.

“You can as well do ‘Voice Over’ to give more meaning to visual recording. Voice Over is all about hearing a voice at the background. When we are talking about social media, such as facebook, and youtube, the use of multimedia system cannot be under-emphasised. If you do not know how to use multimedia devices, it is difficult to acquire skills that would enhance your jobs,” he said.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

FITC CEO gets global recognition

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• Mrs Newman

HE International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) has elected Mrs Lucy Surhyel Newman as its International Director.

Mrs Newman is the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC). With this, she becomes the first African to hold the International Director role of the professional association based in Maryland, United States since it was founded 50 years ago.

A statement from FITC said Mrs Newman will serve in this capacity for the period 2012 to 2014 over which she will work with the ISPI Board in championing policies that will impact the growth of the firm

globally, beyond North America.

Mrs Newman has over 24 years of experience derived from a development finance institution, four banks in Nigeria, the Performance Improvement Practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Nigeria, and FITC where she has been CEO since May 2009.

She is also chairman, FSS2020 Human Capital Development Implementation Committee; member, Sub-Committee on Ethics & Professionalism of the Nigerian Bankers’ Committee; and member, Executive Committee, West African Bankers’ Association.

She is experienced in organisational design, leadership development, corporate gover-

nance, alliance structuring, and corporate turnaround. She deploys these skills to gain alignment of strategy, structures, processes, systems, and people to optimise individual and corporate performance in the private and public sectors. FITC has under her leadership witnessed a phase of its own transformation, while assisting the implementation of various performance improvement programs for organisations across sectors in Nigeria Mrs Newman joined ISPI in 2004; became a Life Member in 2010; became a Certified Performance Technologist (CPT) in 2008 and recertified 2011. Her ISPI volunteer roles include, member, International Task Force and the CPT Global Fi-

nance Team, reconnected the Nigerian ISPI team and created the West Africa ISPI plan and Initiated ISPI at PwC Nigeria’s PI Practice and FITC, which led to adoption of ISPI as a professional association for staff in both institutions. She also got FITC admitted as an organisational member of ISPI as its principles compliment the FITC mandate.

Founded in 1962, the ISPI is the leading international association dedicated to improving productivity and performance in the workplace. ISPI represents performance improvement professionals throughout the United States, Canada, and 40 other countries, including South Africa and Nigeria. The mission of ISPI is to develop and recognise the proficiency of members and advocate the use of Human Performance Technology.

CAREER MANAGEMENT

Are you not supposed to be employed by now?

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RE you still wondering why you have not yet secured your dream job? Or even worse, why you are not even being called in for a job interview by the recruitment agency let alone the employer?

Well, have you taken a step back and looked at the package that you are offering and how you are presenting it? Maybe your offering is just not packaged correctly which is why you are continuously being overlooked, even though you just know you are the right person for that job.

With the unofficial unemployment rate in Nigeria standing at over 30 per cent, there are millions of un-employed job seekers scouting the marketplace for their ideal job, and even more employed professionals applying for the same jobs, it is imperative that you take every effort of going above and beyond to ensure that you stand out from the crowd.

Let’s start by considering the basics, your resume

By Olu Oyeniran

Clean up your resume and ensure that your resume is professionally put-together with no typographical, spelling or grammatical errors. Make sure that the layout and format conforms to that of a professional resume.

Your strengths and key skills – as they relate specifically to the job that you are applying to – should be clearly highlighted and visible at a glance at the off-set. Be sure not to make silly mistakes that can get you eliminated even before the short-list stage. Go through your resume to ensure that you have covered all essential aspects that make up a professional resume.

Next, develop a professionallywritten application When applying for a job opening, please extend the recruiter the courtesy of ensuring that your skills do in fact meet the minimum requirements that they have set-out in the job advertisements. Do not

apply to job advertisements that you are not suitably qualified for as this wastes both your time and that of the recruiter.

If you do believe that you closely match the requirements and skills contained in the job advertisement, then be sure to create a professional, top self-selling customised application, sometimes referred to as cover-note (not a standard one-size-fits-all) that is addressed personally to the hiring manager (not personnel/human resource dept), if possible, and that refers to the job title and where you saw the job advertised and the date.

Then immediately get to the point and explain briefly why your skills best match the job and why you should be considered. End off by thanking the recruiter for their time. Be sure to include any relevant documentation or information that the recruiter might have asked for in the job advertisement. (see more on this at www.jobsearchhow.com)

Finally, present yourself in

the most professional manner.

Should you be fortunate enough to secure an interview either with a recruitment agency or the employer directly, be sure that the product (you) matches the brochure (your resume) in the most professional manner. Be mindful of your interview manners but most importantly, dress appropriately for the job interview. Remember to prepare to dazzle in the job interview by researching the company, understanding the job requirements and knowing your strengths and how to communicate these effectively and in context to the job that you are being interviewed for.

Consider carefully the type of interview body language that you are giving off and be careful to avoid as far as possible - making any of the common job interview mistakes. Come prepared with a set of interview questions yourself. Job seekers who attend a job interview with a well prepared set of interviewee questions are always most successful.

Remember, every job interview is an employment opportunity.

Should you be called back for a second interview, take just as much time preparing for the second job interview as you would on the initial meeting. When getting a call back for a second job interview ask the interviewer if there is anything that you specifically need to prepare for.

Without being over confident, attend your second job interview with the same intention as you did the first. Carry yourself with poise and professionalism.

One more thing, remember that the best way to prepare is by anticipating securing your dream job.

Good luck. Now go and secure that dream job now!

Olu Oyeniran is the Lead Consultant, EkiniConsult & Assoiciates.

Website: www.jobsearchhow.com E-mail: oluoyeniran@yahoo.com Tel 08083843230 (SMS Only).

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

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EDITORIAL/OPINION EDITORIAL FROM OTHER LAND

COMMENT

Progress or retrogress?

• NEEDS: 1m jobs; ‘transformation agenda’: 370,000

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HEN the Olusegun Obasanjo administration launched the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) in 2003, many Nigerians said then that the idea would not endure. In spite of the fanfare that attended its launching, it is regrettable that all the efforts that went into designing that economic blueprint have gone down the drain. Barely nine years after, the Goodluck Jonathan administration came up with an entirely different policy programme which the President dubbed ‘transformation agenda’.

Whereas NEEDS had as one of its core objectives the creation of 1,000,000 jobs annually, the present administration’s transformation agenda envisages the creation of about 370,000 jobs annually.

Speaking at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, during the inauguration of the Public Works and Women/Youth Empower-

‘Just as NEEDS has failed in almost every material particular, at the risk of being cynical, we believe the present dream of creating 370,000 jobs would also fizzle out with time. Indeed, we would be surprised if it is not the Jonathan administration itself that will dump the dream and come with something completely different in the next few months. That is the way of the PDP’

ment Project (PWW/YEP), which is targeted at generating the 370,000 jobs, President Jonathan said the scheme is to be implemented in partnership with the states, local governments and the private sector. The project is a component of the Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment (SURE) Programme.

The issue now is what 370,000 jobs would amount to in a country with a serious employment problem. NEEDS might have been over-ambitious if the kind of jobs it was to create were to be meaningful; but then, the dream of creating only 370,000 jobs per annum in Nigeria reflects the minimalist nature and shortsightedness of the Jonathan administration. If we take 370,000 out of the unemployment queue in a place like Lagos alone, it will amount to a drop in the ocean.

Just like many people feared when NEEDS was launched, the project has been thrown into the garbage bin. Really, the fear then was not all about the overambitious nature of the job creation scheme or other laudable ideas the NEEDS document contained, but more about the lack of faith in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government to deliver democratic dividend to Nigerians.

True to expectation, no one in government today is talking about NEEDS; the fad now is ‘transformation agenda’.

NEEDS and whatever it meant has gone with the Obasanjo administration! And to think that both the Obasanjo and the Jonathan administrations are of the same ‘PDP family’! So, what has happened to

that esprit de corps in that family? Isn’t government supposed to be a continuum?

Perhaps it would not have been much of a surprise if another political party had taken over from the PDP at the centre and that party decided to jettison NEEDS. That it is the same party that has forgotten, and so soon, that its government in the centre less than a decade ago launched a programme called NEEDS, and has replaced it with a different scheme shows how unserious the party is and typifies its inability to take Nigeria to any meaningful height.

Just as NEEDS has failed in almost every material particular, at the risk of being cynical, we believe the present dream of creating 370,000 jobs would also fizzle out with time. Indeed, we would be surprised if it is not the Jonathan administration itself that will dump the dream and come with something completely different in the next few months. That is the way of the PDP and there is nothing to suggest that the party has changed.

If we would recollect, Jonathan’s transformation agenda began to unfurl only after the fuel subsidy protests; so, it is a product of circumstances that would disappear once the circumstances that gave birth to it no longer exist. But the government has to realise that for every second lost in the job creation battle, the country is inexorably inching near the implosion that has been foretold, but which the government seems to see as too far away, that is if it ever saw the threat as potent.

Wages of impunity •Bayelsa governorship poll has implications for democracy and the polity

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T is grand irony that President Goodluck Jonathan, a near-victim of impunity, is perceived himself dishing out impunity without qualms. That is the sum total of the just-concluded gubernatorial odyssey in Bayelsa State. The Jonathan presidency had pulled all stops to get rid of a sitting governor. In his stead, it has installed a presidential quisling.

But even if that political rascality comes with the territory, its twin institutional drawback, when the question is credible polls, ought to alarm everyone. Might Nigeria, after the brief spell of electoral near-rectitude of April 2011, be slipping back to the electoral turpitude of April 2007?

There was consensus that low turnout marred the February 11 election in Bayelsa State. Yet, at the end, Henry Seriake Dickson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who was declared winner, scored 417, 500 votes – 80 per cent of the 519, 870 registered voters! So, despite the low voter turnout, which President Jonathan himself confirmed after he voted, four out of every five registered voters still voted for the winner! Where did the voters emerge from?

Yet, in a classic case of bluff and bluster, in the fond hope that the din of congratulations would block out the incongruity of the “election”, the leading lights of the PDP, led by the President himself, have been literally falling over one another “congratulating” Mr. Dickson. It is either the glaring fraud that was the so-called election was lost on all of them or, more correctly, the elite of the ruling party felt the illogicality did not matter, so long as it had the seal of the Independent National Elec-

toral Commission (INEC). Nigerians should be concerned on both fronts.

Even if the politicians are beyond redemption, it is sad, if not outright grievous, that INEC that chalked some wondrous improvements during the April 2011 polls (though even back then, the South-East votes credited to President Jonathan made absolutely no sense), is gradually crawling back to its 2007 notoriety. Indeed, Nigerians must have been stupid to think that Prof. Attahiru Jega, taking over the headship of INEC would make any fundamental difference in the body. If this trend continues, and INEC is sucked into the old practice of brazen fiddling of the vote, Nigerian democracy, if not the polity itself, would be gravely imperilled.

But even if the election of February 11 had been transparent and free, it would still not have been fair. This is because the objective situation on the ground, in the run-up to the election, was anything but fair: the not-so-hidden ploy to, at all cost, get rid of former Governor Timipre Sylva, the over-militarisation of the voting milieu, the un-presidential attack on the former governor and his un-gubernatorial riposte over some Tower of Babel hotel which would have contributed little to the welfare of the ordinary Bayelsan; and the election itself holding under a virtual military and security siege should have given it away as anything but fair.

To be fair, the Jonathan-Sylva face-off was nothing but payback time. When President Jonathan was facing the Yar’Adua cabal, former Governor Sylva was alleged to have teamed up with the then embattled VicePresident’s enemies. If that allegation was

true, then the Sylva camp must be mistaken indeed to think that, simply because Sylva drummed up support for South-South presidency, when the initial plot to deny Jonathan his presidential right under the law had been put down, would save the former governor from his comeuppance. That has resulted from his dumping.

Still, one would have expected President Jonathan, a near-victim of impunity, would be wary of inflicting impunity. But that he has done in the Sylva case – and appears to have got away with it. But the final judgement is dire: for Mr. Dickson, new Bayelsa governor, impunity makes; and impunity may yet unmake! When the final judgement comes, let no one complain.

But beyond a democratic president Jonathan acting clearly undemocratic and un-presidential in the Sylva political burial, the concern should be the future of democracy, when its highest priests in the land are so combatively undemocratic. That is the clear and present danger facing Nigerian democracy as of today.

‘Still, one would have expected President Jonathan, a near-victim of impunity, would be wary of inflicting impunity. But that he has done in the Sylva case – and appears to have got away with it. But the final judgement is dire: for Mr. Dickson, new Bayelsa governor, impunity makes; and impunity may yet unmake!’

An antibiotic wake-up call

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ONORRHEA’S growing resistance shows the need to fund the development of new drugs.

On the growing roster of antibiotic-resistant diseases, gonorrhea is the one that has most recently captured the attention of public health officials. Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned last week that 1.7% of certain types of gonorrhea infections show little response to treatment, even with cephalosporins, the last line of antibiotic defense.

That might not sound like a lot, but with 600,000 Americans diagnosed annually, resistant cases number about 10,000 a year, and that number has been rising fast. Resistant gonorrhea is 17 times more common than it was just six years ago.

In January the U.S. Food and Drug Administration restricted the routine use of cephalosporins in livestock to preserve the drugs’ usefulness against diseases that plague people. Agricultural use isn’t necessarily related to resistant gonorrhea, a “wily” disease, as the CDC researchers put it, with a history of quickly outwitting available antibiotics. But the growing difficulty in curing one type of gonorrhea serves as a reminder that this nation must move far more aggressively to limit antibiotic use to the actual treatment of disease rather than to fatten livestock and prevent infections from sweeping through crowded animal pens.

At this point, no matter what happens with cephalosporins, resistant gonorrhea is on its way to winning out over available antibiotics, making it one of many worrisome bacterial strains, such as total-drug-resistant tuberculosis and MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Resistant infections are emerging faster than new antibiotics. According to the nonprofit Pew Health Group, from 1935 to 1968, 13 classes of antibiotics were created; since 1968, there have been only two.

Antibiotics are hard to develop and the profit margin on them is low because, unlike antidepressants or medications for high blood pressure, they’re not usually taken on a longterm basis.

Bills were introduced last year in both the House and Senate to encourage more pharmaceutical company research on antibiotics.

They would extend patent protection for new antibiotics by five years and streamline FDA approval.

Such changes would be welcome, but many experts feel they don’t go far enough to encourage participation by large pharmaceutical companies. Congress should consider additional remedies, such as extending the FDA’s Orphan Drug program — which provides grants and other financial incentives for research on medications to treat rare diseases — to include antibiotics and redirecting National Institutes of Health funding from lowerpriority projects to academic research. A multipronged effort by industry, universities and government, much like the effort that made AIDS a treatable disease, is needed to combat this looming health threat.

– Los Angeles Times

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THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

20

9EDITORIAL/OPINION

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IR: Recent newspaper reports of the crisis in Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, have brought to the fore, the issue of privately-owned educational institutions as a way out of the crises in the public education sector. Students of the institution had reportedly embarked on a violent protest to vent their anger, against the mismanagement of health condition of a fellow student by the university administration leading to his demise. The victim student had gone to the institution’s health centre to complain of health problems, but his situation grew worse that his breathing had to be supported with artificial oxygen. Rather than put on the electricity generating set to attend to the student, the health centre management claimed they needed the authority of the vice chancellor to do that. Worse still, attempt by the deceased colleagues to facilitate his transfer to better hospital in town was frustrated by the institution’s security personnel.

All of these are serious grounds for protest by the students, as they reflect not only high level of insensitivity but also high-handedness by those that are the supposed locus parentis of the students. That the protest turned violent is a reflection of the lack of democratic space for students to air their views and peacefully seek for redress in their living and studying conditions.

What happened in Ajayi Crowther University can easily be wished away as an isolated problem of the institution’s management, but the reality is that the ACU case is a mirror of the rot that the private university system represents.

While there may not have been protests in other private universities yet, it does not imply that these other institutions are not operating with the same system as ACU. For instance, none of the private universities allows student unionism, which is flagrant violation of the principle of academic freedom and constitutional right of association that are fundamental ingredi-

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Ajayi Crowther University crisis in context ents for proper development of intellectualism.

The general excuse for denying unionism is that unionism breeds long academic calendars. What is not said is that it is government’s neglect and irresponsibility – coupled with high-handedness of university administrators who see their roles as that of conduit pipes for their principals’ retrogressive policies – that have turned our public tertiary institutions to citadels of crises.

As a way of running away from the basic question of academic freedom and democratic rights, many of the private university owners hide under the guise of raising morally upright graduates with good entrepreneurial skills. However, as the popular axiom teaches, education is what is left in student

after what has been taught has gone. How then can a student develop a critical mind of self-recreation if the culture of criticism and inquisition are denied?

In reality, this veil of morality is merely an excuse to avoid answering basic question of how the institutions are run albeit in exploitative, undemocratic and anti-intellectual manners. Consequently, various completely anti-intellectual rules are set in order to gag the students. Principal officials of a faith-based university in Osun State were recently reported to be flogging students, ostensibly on the order of their parents! Another faith-based university was reported as barring students from wearing jeans, while compulsory religious devotions and prep classes are organized for them!

The argument that private universities provide choice for those who can afford them is simplistic.

Private education did not arise on the basis of choice but on the basis of collapse of public university system, occasioned by deliberate and criminal under funding and mismanagement by the governments and their stooges in university administrations. With total collapse of the economy and its attendant erosion of hope in the ability of the state to raise living standards including provision of jobs, public education simply lost the compass with rise in gangster activities on campus, declining interests in education, drastic fall in morale of working staff, etc.

It is on this rot that private education (starting with private primary and post-primary schools)

started gaining echo, especially among middle class people.

This however does not imply that the private schools provide any real quality; in the real sense, it is otherwise. More than 90 percent of private schools still lack the basic standards of the public schools, even in their current debilitating conditions. The few private schools that have adequate facilities and infrastructures are simply unaffordable for majority of the population who struggle to make ends meet. That this virus of private education that has crept into the life of a sick public education, has found its way to the zenith of education – university system, underlines the complete irresponsibility of the governments at all levels.

Worse still, to underscore ruling class shameless backwardness, the private education system (an abnormality in itself) is now being used as standard to run public institutions with state universities competing with private universities in education commercialization.

Kola Ibrahim Enuwa, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Expecting a new dawn in Ogbomoso North

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IR: To say that Ogbomoso North Local Government has been yearning for a competent person to steer the ship of the local government is to say the obvious. The 58 year-old local government has had its share of both competent and not-socompetent administrators. This is responsible for the slow pace of development in the council area.

Actually, the people are nostalgic about the era of administrators like Chief V. Olajide, late Pa Ajuwon, Prince B.A.O. Ok anlawon, Senator Ayantayo Ayandele, Chief Bayo Oyewusi and Chief AlaoAkala, among others. These people ran an independent, focused and result-oriented administration. In fact, they were responsible for the major breakthroughs recorded in

the local government area.

However, many administrators after the aforementioned were dependent on and served their sponsors more than the people.

That was responsible for politicisation of most of the projects executed by the council. In other words, many projects executed by the council were often limited to the area where party stalwarts resided. Today, many of the roads constructed then are craving for rehabilitation; many boreholes are not functioning while the local government’s plots of land were sold to the party stalwarts for peanuts.

Therefore, the appointment of a seasoned politician, Mr Olanrewaju Oladeji, as the interim chairman, Ogbomoso North Local

Government by the Governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, promises to be the beginning of a new era in the council. The reason is not far-fetched. Mr Oladeji was a councilor in the council in 1997 under the umbrella of the defunct United Nigerian Congress Party; he also doubled as the supervisor for agriculture. At the inception of the present political dispensation in 1999, he served as the personal assistant to the then chairman of the local government, Alao-Akala.

Later, he was appointed supervisor for works in 2001. More so, he served as the personal assistant to the Deputy Governor of Oyo State from 2003 to 2007. Before his appointment as the interim chairman, he also served as the executive assistant to the former

governor in charge of the Government House.

Coming from this background, Mr Oladeji has no reason to fail.

Knowing the enormity of the task before him, he has swung into action immediately after his swearing in, to show that the confidence the governor has in him is not misplaced. To this end, Oladeji has been touring each ward and meeting the grassroots people to get firsthand information about their immediate needs for prompt action. It behoves the people of Ogbomoso North to give Mr Oladeji their full support in his bid to restore the glory of the council area which years of inept administrators have denied her.

• Adewuyi Adegbite, Apake Ogbomoso, Oyo State.

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THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

EDITORIAL/OPINION

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AIN is one of the blessings of nature. In most of places in Africa, where farming is a major pre-occupation, the coming of rain brings joy to the faces of farmers as they are sure that it is a guarantee for good harvest. Indeed, there are places in Africa where traditional authorities have to resort to seeking spiritual assistance for the heavens to open up whenever the rain refuses to fall.

However, events in recent time, have revealed that, like other natural blessings, rain could turn into a curse when it suddenly become too much and its attendant effects unbearable. Also, in recent time, millions of people worldwide have been affected by deadly floods resulting from torrential rains in China, Australia, Japan, United States of America, Indonesia and Brazil. All of these experiences are largely traceable to global warming-induced climate change which is posing major threats to lives, food security and businesses. Last year, Lagos had its own fair share of agonizing rains. On July 10, 2011, the heavens opened up in an unusual fashion leaving in its trail sorrow, tears and blood.

Experts have, once again, predicted that there will be more rains this year. In fact, the recent damage caused to lives and properties by rainstorm in Lagos and other parts of the country is a pointer to the fact that the rains might come with greater fury this year.

However, certain issues need to be put into proper perspective as Lagosians await the coming of the rains this year. First is the topography of Lagos. A critical feature of Lagos topography is that the state is essentially made up of low lying terrain up to 0.4 percent below the sea level.

Naturally, this arrangement is the source of huge drainage challenges that confront the state. If this is added to the volume of rain that is being experienced in the state lately, it would be realized that there is possibly no way there would not be flash flooding in Lagos. Therefore, no matter the magnitude of rain, Lagos is always vulnerable to flooding.

Hence, the earlier we understand that Lagos, being a coastal city, has a peculiar flooding challenge, the better for us all.

Second is the challenge of global warming- deforestation, green house gasses emission- and its damaging effects on the world. Understanding the danger of global warming to its environment, the Fashola administration has been in the fore-front of combating the challenge of global warming in the country. It has held several international global warming conferences in addition to making several advocacy campaigns on the subject in recent time.

Third, being a natural occurrence, flooding often time defies scientific solutions. Clearly, public safety and good sense call for scientific response to flooding. However, while upgrading environmental infrastructure is important, engineering fixes alone will not suffice. According to renowned ecologists Donald Hey and Nancy Philippi, despite the massive construction of levees throughout the upper Mississippi Basin during the 20th century, annual average flood damage during that time more than doubled.

Consequently, what is needed across the globe is a comprehensive plan to add ecological infrastructure to complement engineering infrastructure -specifically to expand wetlands and re-activate floodplains so as to mitigate

F

EBRUARY 10, 2006, six years ago, not a few were woken up across the world with the shocking news of the passing of a great Nigerian, a very progressive medical doctor, and an internationalist who brought the humaneness of the medical profession to fore with his selfless commitment to the struggle for social justice, human rights and democracy in Nigeria.

Late Dr. Bekololari Ransome – Kuti, pioneer President of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights; founding Chairperson of the Campaign for Democracy; pioneer co-Chairman of the Labour and Civil Society Coalition (LASCO); former Vice President (1984/ 85) of the Nigerian Medical Association; coConvener of the botched 1990 National Conference died after a courageous battle with lung cancer in the early hours of February 10 2006.

Beko, as both the young and old around him, including yours sincerely, called him was one of the finest humanists, patriot, committed human rights and pro – democracy activists Nigeria ever had.

In 1984, few weeks after the military truncated civilian rule in Nigeria, Beko and other leaders of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) organised a very successful strike to demand for better condition of service for medical doctors in Nigeria. In fact, the General Mohammadu Buhari military junta got their first confrontation from the doctors, led by Dr. Thompson Akpabio, late Dr. Michael Ekpo, Beko and several others.

Even as the military threatened the striking doctors, they remained resolute. The action of the doctors exposed the potency of collective action in the struggle for workers rights, even under the harshest dictatorship. The success of that strike encouraged students under the aegis of the National Association of Nigerian Students led by Lanre Arogundade to embark on mass protests and boycott of lectures across tertiary institutions in Nigeria against the regime’s plan to commercialise education, which the Minister of Education at the time, Alhaji Yerima Abdullahi had announced.

The doctors’ strike of 1984 was what brought the activist part of Beko more seriously to public domain. Otherwise, he was best known as

Lagos and the impending rains

By Tayo Ogunbiyi future flood risks. Re-creating wetlands and re-activating floodplains in strategic locations will result in a more robust and resilient flood protection system. With more extreme weather and devastating floods likely in store in the months ahead, according to experts, public safety and economic security depend on enlisting nature’s defenses along with our engineered ones. Instead of letting this ecological infrastructure degrade further, the federal and state authorities should work to expand and rebuild it.

Furthermore, certain negative practices easily aid flooding.

For instance, despite, the availability of civilized options for waste disposing as provided by Lagos Waste Management Authority and its other PSP partners, Lagosians still turn canals, streams and drainages into refuse dumping sites. It is so bad that while it is raining, people come out to toss their refuse into the flowing water body.

No matter the level of government’s preparedness at tackling flooding, such practices would continue to negate its goals. As much as the government is doing its bit, NGOs, Community Development Associations, the media, members of the Civil Society and all well meaning individuals and groups in the state should partner with the state government to achieve attitudinal change towards the environment. At present, the state government is combining public enlightenment strategies to sensitize Lagosians on this development and had taken the time to proffer solutions so that the expected rains would not have devastating effects on the people and their property. The government has sent experts round the state and, based on their reports, has advised the residents of flood prone areas such as Aboru, Ketu, Ajegunle (in Ikorodu), among others, to vacate the areas before the rains.

Similarly, the state government has continued to vigorously pursue its policy on the environment in order to create and ensure a cleaner, healthier and sustainable environment that will promote economic growth and well being of the citizenry. As always, the state government is committed to a cleaner environment and quality public health through implementation of community based solid waste management, flood control, vegetal control and high standard of home and personal hygiene, sanitation, control of environment pollution (air, water and noise), beautification and advertisement control. Consequently, its approach to tackling the issue of flooding in the state is multi-faceted and multi dimensional. It includes dredging, massive construction and expansion of drainage channels, desilting and excavation of silts to dumpsites, regular repair, clearing and cleaning of drainages, canals and collector drains across the state.

Presently, over 727 drainages covering over 642 kilometers,

and cutting across the state have been desilted. Canals dredged include Bale/Okoya and Lagos Badagry Expressway channel of System 6F both in Ajegunle, Ologolo in Eti Osa, Trade Fair/Ado Soba Festac channel in Amuwo Odofin, Satellite Town main channel, Joseph Dosu Road channel in Badagry, Erelu/Aboru/Command channel in Aboru; Ipaja, Karounwi/Oduduwa canal in Surulere, Guinness downstream on Idi Mangoro to Airport and China Town/ Lucaster drainage. Systems 2, 3, 4 and 5 were also dredged.

Others include Airport/Mafoluku/Ajao Estate channel, NTA Tejuosho to Alaka, Railway Compound to Ojo Oniyun to Olaleye, Oko Oba channel from Abeokuta Expressway to Arigbanla, System 1 Mende channel, Deeper Life/Soluyi channel, Kadara and Coates street collector drains in Lagos Island, including Cemetery Street Jebba collector drain, Kano Street collector drain and Ogba collector drain, Ogba in Ikeja, to mention but a few.

In Nigeria, we don’t appreciate preparedness and prevention of disaster but wait for problem before taking action despite our weak infrastructural development. While it is possible to blame government for pathetic health facilities, pitiable educational condition and weak infrastructure, tackling natural occurrences such as climate change challenge and flooding is a collective responsibility.

Tackling it must therefore, involve every segment of the society. Therefore, as we await the rains this year, Lagosians must be ready to cooperate with the state government by embracing positive attitude in their response to the environment. These include proper waste disposal, compliance with building regulations, embracing alternative energy use, paying necessary attention to sanitation issues, not building structures on drainage channels, flood plains and on water pathways. Also, those living in flood prone areas as identified by the government must begin to seek alternative accommodation before it rains. We cannot continue to pay lip services to the sanctity of human lives.

Indeed, it is important that all stakeholders put up a united front in ensuring that all human induced activities that aid flooding are stopped. Also, the media could help to champion the campaign for attitudinal change towards the environment.

Finally, it is essential that the federal government, through its relevant agencies, collaborates with states that have peculiar flooding challenges to determine areas of assistance.

This must be done as a regular preventive measure and not after the havoc has been done. In as much as it is true that we cannot stop flooding, together we can mitigate its effects.

Ogunbiyi is of the Features Unit, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

‘As we await the rains this year, Lagosians must be ready to cooperate with the state government by embracing positive attitude in their response to the environment. ‘

Remembering Beko Ransome – Kuti By: Denja Yaqub a humanist medical practitioner whose Junction Clinic at Idi-Oro, Mushin, Lagos was home for indigent patients to whom he was always compassionate enough to extend his services without charging what the patient cannot afford. Not a few were treated free of charge.

When the General Ibrahim Babangida military regime rolled out series of anti- people, pro imperialist economic policies, Nigerians in their millions reacted with mass protests.

That regime was the first to attempt removing subsidy on petroleum. This was accompanied with the infamous Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), a programme forced on under developed economies by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The mass protests led to killings, maiming, arrests and detention of some protesters and their leaders, among them Femi Aborisade, a very committed trade unionist of the Marxian extraction. The long detention of Femi led to the formation of the Free Femi Aborisade Committee by Beko, Lanre Arogundade, Femi Ojudu (now a Senator), Owei Lakemfa, Sam Omatseye, and several others including this writer. The committee was formed early 1989 in Beko’s living room at number 6, Imaria Street, Anthony Village, Lagos.

As the struggle against SAP progressed, more people were picked and clamped under harsh conditions in detention. Among them were student leaders. Gbenga Olawepo, Gbenga Komolafe, Olaitan Oyerinde etc. Journalists were not left out.

With the growing number of detainees, and the need to create a more radical and membership driven mass organization with focus on human rights abuses, which had become synonymous with the military junta, the committee was refocused, transformed, enlarged

and its name was consequently changed to the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR). This was also in Beko’s living room on the same location in Anthony Village. Beko became the pioneer President with Sam Omatseye as Secretary General (he later resigned and Debo Adeniran replaced him).

Before the advent of the CDHR, Olisa Agbakoba, Clement Nwankwo, Emma Ezeazu, Abdul Oroh (then of African Concord), Richard Akinnola, Innocent Chukwuma etc had formed the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), which had good funding and was well known enough locally and internationally.

The CDHR didn’t have the kind of resources needed to engage in massive campaigns against human rights abuses as required. Beko instantly made available his house, clinic and funds to run the organization until funds from membership dues and funded projects started trickling in.

Today, no one can ever disconnect Beko from the history of CDHR as well as human rights and pro democracy struggles in Nigeria as he led us through the trenches of mass protests on the streets of Lagos, Ibadan, Ile Ife, Benin City etc.

Beko was a fragile frail looking but strong man, but never got intimidated by anyone, not even hefty fire arm bearing security agents who regularly came for him. On one of such occasions, Beko and Femi Falana were arrested in a manner that can best be described as kidnap by security agents. They were picked simultaneously in their homes before day break and dumped in separate locations.

When they finally found their ways back home, late Prof. Olikoye Ransome – Kuti, Beko’s elder brother who was then Babangida’s Health Minister came to see Beko in his house and asked if he would reduce his

activism. As usual, and expectedly, Beko gave his usual disarming smile and replied “This struggle is not a tea party”.

The rare commitment of Beko was shocking to younger activists who dreamt of a revolution that must consume the bourgeois and their lackeys as well as petty bourgeois elements considered to have a robust elite background. Beko fell in the latter category and some of us were suspicious of his involvement in the struggle. He proved everyone wrong. He indeed proved to us that revolutions don’t come suddenly. The state has to be regularly engaged as it unleashes several forms of infractions against the rights of the people and that our collective commitment to confronting the state will eventually lead to changes that will midwife a revolution.

Beko was a colossal unifying personality in the human rights community in Nigeria.

Beko was a major facilitator in the unification of labour and the human rights community, which is epitomised in the formation and sustenance of the Labour and Civil Society Coalition. He was co-chairperson until his death.

As we remember Beko, six years after, we remember a strict time conscious activist; we remember a medical doctor that threw off his stethoscope for the struggles of humanity; we remember a man with robust privileged background who had to leave almost all of his adult life serving and loving the underprivileged; we remember a true hero of the Nigerian struggle whose labour we must never allow to go in vain.

• Yaqub, contributed this tribute from LABOUR HOUSE, Abuja.

‘Beko, as both the young and old around him, including yours sincerely, called him was one of the finest humanists, patriot, committed human rights and pro – democracy activists Nigeria ever had’

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THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

EDITORIAL/OPINION

T

HE rainstorm that ravaged Lagos penultimate Monday has drawn attention to some of the predicaments of a developing country such as ours. Though (for the same reason of underdevelopment) reliable data on the level of damage wreaked by the 15-minute storm may be difficult to come by, available evidence speaks of loss of lives and incalculable damage to both public and private property across the state. It will take a very long time to come up with accurate statistics on the level of damage done by that storm if at all we can get close to that. Be that as it may, two unfortunate accidents arising from the storm will make the heart of even the most uncaring to bleed.

In this regard, my heart goes for the 10 innocent and helpless pupils of St Mary’s Anglican Nursery and Primary School, Igbede and two women who lost their lives in a boat mishap following the devastating storm. According to reports, the boat conveying the kids to school had almost reached the shore when the storm started. One of the women panicked at the sight of the storm. Her attempt to stand up possibly out of fright coupled with the severity of the storm capsized the boat which was being operated manually.

At the end of the rescue operation, only 10 of the 22 pupils and women were lucky to be alive as the remaining 12 drowned. But for the agility of some of the pupils who could swim, the death toll would have been much higher. A surviving pupil Ade Hassan wept profusely as he gave account of how he saved two of his colleagues who sat close to him

‘The Ministry said it has now taken over the regulation of the location, positioning, dimensions, appearance, display and manner in which urban furniture including masts should be affixed to the ground in the state and promised that things would never be as usual again. This is good news only that it is coming somewhat belatedly’

W

ITH emerging developments and complex dynamics in the global economy, particularly the challenge of rebuilding the European economy – dubbed by some analysts as “the European challenge” – the world now stands at the threshold of a new era. Consequently, there is the ineluctable need for African countries to evolve an African response and forge a common ground to effectively confront the challenges posed by globalisation.

It is against this backdrop that African leaders gathered at the 18th ordinary session of the Assembly of African Union which took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia between Jan. 29 and 30 2012. The theme of the summit “Boosting intra – African trade” is both apt and timely. This is because strengthening intra –African trade is imperative, not only to enhance the economic growth and sustainable development of African economies, but also as a signal and strategic move to counter balance the fall-outs of the creation of the common market and single economy in Europe, as well as other regional blocs/markets. The point must, however, be made that achieving intra-African trade is just the beginning and not the end of the road; it is actually a road that leads some where. Intra-African Trade must necessarily be accompanied by the creation of a single economy and ultimately, an internal African market. That is where the road should lead. The single economy will provide a platform for an African common market which is the precursor and harbinger of the economic integration of Africa. The creation of a single internal African market will provide a basis upon which other policies and instruments for economic integration can be built. These include harmonization of financial services and adoption ultimately of a single African currency (just like the Euros of the EU) which will come about as a result of the convergence of economic policies. The general objectives and broad policy framework of integration should include, among others; economic and monetary union, social policy cohesion, research

Emeka OMEIHE 08121971199 email: EmekaOmeihe@yahoo.com

Hurricane Lagos: Matters Arising before the storm swept away the rest. Perhaps, he may have shocked many when he disclosed that they use the boat everyday to get to their school.

If the above incident is heart rending, that of Mr. Godspower Ekpenyong, a Mathematics teacher at St Gregory’s College Obalende is equally very pathetic. Godspower, who had just alighted from a commercial motorcycle on his way to school, was mowed down by an internet mast that fell on his head resulting in his instant death.

These two incidents are nothing but a tip in the iceberg of the unfortunate loss of lives and property that trailed the recent Lagos rain storm. There were equally other reports of deaths resulting from collapsed masts, blown of roofs and billboards and sundry structures.

As should be expected, the authorities both at the state and federal levels have been taking stock of this unfortunate natural hazard. The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) which categorized the storm as a hurricane has warned Lagos residents to prepare for the coming rainy season. Its helmsman, Abayomi Oyegoke said it is a signal for people to prepare for such natural phenomenon even as he promised that the cause of the storm would be discovered soon.

Oyegoke’s statement is a serious disappointment. This is a man that heads a serious agency that should be regularly monitoring weather conditions and advising the citizens should there be any threat arising from anticipated adverse conditions. But the storm caught his agency napping. All he had to tell the nation following the inability of his agency to take proactive measures to save

lives and property is that the agency will soon find out the cause. Find out the cause for what purpose?

We are not as much interested in post mortem as in proactive steps that seek to avert perceived danger. The harm has already been done. It would have made more sense if the agency had anticipated the impending disaster and advised Lagos residents accordingly. Had the agency done that perhaps, the loss of lives that trailed that storm would have been avoided.

The minimum expectation in such instances is for the agency to regularly keep the nation abreast of impending adverse weather conditions so that our people can take precautionary measures. That is the standard performance role of similar agencies in other climes. We have seen that happen severally in the United States of America.

The way things stand, there is even no guarantee that similar incidents will not occur again without the regulatory agencies having a fore knowledge of them. That is the danger which the incident has brought to the front burner. The way we prepare to confront this foreboding realty will make the difference. The hard lesson of the recent storm is that we are not immune from weather induced disasters that have been the biggest headache of such advanced countries as the USA. If with their sophisticated technology, they could not contain such disasters despite their advanced knowledge of them, it is left to be imagined what will be our response and experience when more serious natural

Towards Africa’s economic integration

By Kayode Oluwa and technological development and, very significantly, political co-operation, especially in the area of foreign policy.

In order to achieve the African common market, the following specific policy and strategic objectives will have to be vigorously pursued. The elimination of customs duties and undue formalities as well as other trade restrictions, barriers encumbrances and measures having equivalent effect among member-states, the establishment of a common tariff and of a common commercial policy towards third countries and the abolition of obstacles to freedom of movement for persons, goods, services and capital among member states. It also includes the adoption of a common policy in key strategic economic sectors such as agriculture/food production, infrastructural development, integrated transportation system. Education/manpower development; the application of procedures by which the economic policies of memberstate can be co-ordinated and, finally, the approximation of the laws of member-states to the extent required for the proper functioning of the common market would need to be given attention also.

Against the foregoing, the African union should set in motion appropriate machinery, necessary institutional framework and formidable mechanism to facilitate the economic integration of the continent through free intra-African economic and trading system that will open up the African market to consumers and firms of members-states under the same conditions as apply on each of the domestic markets. African leaders and governments of member-states must exhibit the

commitment, determination and political will to carry through and actualize the single African market.

Concomitantly, the act to create an internal market to boost intra-African trade should be agreed upon and endorsed by the parliaments of all member-states as a prerequisite towards the integration.

The process of integration has, so far, been regrettably but understandably slow because AU member-governments continue to oscillate between the interests of their individual countries and the need to create a free-market African economy community that will help stimulate the economic growth of the continent as a whole. We, however, know that a functional and effective economic integration of Africa demands the total or partial surrender (not the loss) of sovereignty by member-countries of A.U. Are membercountries willing and ready to trade with their sovereignty?

The seeming incurable obsession with primacy of sovereignty by member-states is reflective and indicative of the deep-seated fears and intrigues involved in accelerating the socio-economic (and political) integration of the continent. This, up till now, has been the real major challenge and inhibiting factor {of course, in addition to external barriers, obstacles and hindrances, including trends in globalization} of the economic integration of Africa.

If the economic integration of Africa is to be fast-tracked and successful, it is crucial that the A.U should not base its decisions and resolutions on a loss of sovereignty but on a pooling of sovereignty; on its exercise

disasters visit us? These are some of the issues to ponder. It is a serious warning that we must put on our thinking caps. The incident is a bold statement that we are not immune from such natural disasters as hurricane, typhoon, landslides and earth quake.

Apart from the inability of regulating agencies to issue prior warnings before the incident, the disaster equally exposed some of the ruinous practices that have the prospects of worsening the effects of such incidents. Reports spoke copiously of the immeasurable damage by masts built in the nooks and crannies of the state by sundry service providers. In many areas of the state, much of the damage arising from the storm was as a result of damaged masts. The situation was so bad that the state Urban Furniture Regulatory Unit of the Ministry of Physical Planning had to issue invitations to telecom operators, radio and television operators and other users of masts to a meeting to find ways of averting further occurrence. The Ministry said it has now taken over the regulation of the location, positioning, dimensions, appearance, display and manner in which urban furniture including masts should be affixed to the ground in the state and promised that things would never be as usual again. This is good news only that it is coming somewhat belatedly.

More so, Lagos residents have before now, been groaning under the suffocating omnipresence of all manner of masts erected indiscriminately all over the state. Despite suggestions that these masts emit radio active substances that are injurious to health apart from the physical danger they constitute, no agency of the government either state or federal seemed to care. The result was what we saw during the last rain storm. If it has taken such colossal disaster for the agency to wake up from its slumber, it is not too late in the day. The agency must therefore move with great speed to revalidate the positioning, display and environmental friendliness of all these masts. Where some are found to have compromised safety and health standards they should be relocated forthwith.

Above all, the disaster is a sufficient warning that we are in for a very inclement weather. It is also a signal that the much talked about climate change is beginning to have some relevance for us here. What we make of it will make the difference in our overall level of preparedness to confront future incidents. But every effort must be made to avert the avoidable loss of lives arising from such natural disasters. jointly in the common good, rather than its exercise separately. As one analyst noted, “the right reaction to the issue of sovereignty, is not blind opposition – so characteristic of all opposition to progress – but a determination to be in where the action is, to play a full and constructive part in the development of policies to the common good; recognizing that at the end of the day, we are all dependent upon one another and that what is to the common good will in the long run be for our individual good as well”.

To my mind, the whole argument about the loss of national sovereignty is largely misconstrued. Infact the creation of the E.U has clearly shown that economic integration does not necessarily lead to the loss of sovereignty.

It is only by economic integration that African countries can succeed in containing and protecting their economies from external shocks, avoiding or overcoming the drawbacks of their narrow domestic markets and in building up viable industries on an economic basis, thereby ensuring an optimum use of national and regional resources. The American economy has been enhanced by the fact that the US has three great advantages, to wit, a single market, a single currency and a single language. In Africa, I see no reason why we cannot have a single market and a single currency, even if we cannot have a single language.

• Oluwa, writes from Lekki, Lagos

‘Concomitantly, the act to create an internal market to boost intra-African trade should be agreed upon and endorsed by the parliaments of all memberstates as a prerequisite towards the integration’

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

25

POLITICS THE NATION

E-mail:- politics@thenationonlineng.net

•A cross-section of members of the National Assembly

Federal budget defence: Business as usual?

The nation has been treated to comedy of sorts in the past few weeks. Assistant Editor ONYEDI OJIABOR identifies the key personalities and reviews the drama that took place at the Senate during the hearings.

T

HE 2012 budget process which started with the presentation of the Appropriation Bill by President Goodluck Jonathan on December 13, 2011 is about to run its full course in the National Assembly.

Heads of ministries, departments and agencies of government were guests of relevant committees of the federal legislature who insisted that they must give account of how they used their 2011 budget as well as to defend their 2012 budget allocation proposals.

The Appropriation Committees of both chambers of the National Assembly are already putting finishing touches to the compilation of final figures of the budget preparatory for presentation to President Goodluck Jonathan for his assent.

Everything being equal, first or second week of March, the financial plan for the fiscal year, would have been approved for the operations of the federal government.

How did the budget defence process go, taking into cognizance widely held view that the exercise is nothing than an annual ritual conducted substantially to fulfill all righteousness?

Whether the exercise will enable the National Assembly to alter, modify or revolutionise the financial estimate as presented by Jonathan will be manifest when a clean copy of the document is produced.

Senate President, David Mark, who gave a marching order to standing committees to submit their reports to the Appropriation Committee last week, assured that the budget would be ready before Senate’s retreat in March.

It may be necessary to point out that the conduct of some of the heads of MDAs that appeared before the Senate committees left much to be desired.

It is also correct to say that some chairmen of committees did not quite appreciate the enormity of the responsibility assigned them in scrutinizing submissions made by MDAs. Some committee chairmen like heads of

MDAs that appeared before them showed glaring signs of lack of knowledge of what budget defence entails.

The exercise witnessed more of subtle threats than in-depth scrutiny of the submissions of the MDA chiefs.

While some MDA helmsmen came mostly unprepared leaving necessary documents to back up their claims behind others simply treated the exercise with levity.

What is more, some agencies like the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and others statutorily mandated to present their annual budgets for scrutiny by the National Assembly did not even bother to appear.

Implication is that President Jonathan may have embraced his much touted transformation agenda with both hands but not so for many MDAs, especially those that operate as if they are above the law.

The talk of over bloated federal budget especially in the area of recurrent expenditure did not make much meaning to most MDAs neither did the campaign to reduce the cost of running government.

Most MDAs chiefs played Oliver Twist asking for more funds even in the face of swollen recurrent vote.

Take the case of Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) which wanted N30 billion to pay the salary of 1,100 staff for a year.

Members of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) were furious that DPR planned to devote over 80 per cent of its budget to fund recurrent ex-

penditure at the expense of capital budget.

Chairman of the committee, Senator Emmanuel Paulker, was not amused that DPR earmarked N30.399 billion out of its N35.89 billion vote for recurrent expenditure.

Senator Gbenga Ashafa spotted DPR’s mind-boggling recurrent expenditure when he told the Petroleum Committee that another over bloated personnel cost of N30 billion was allocated to the agency in the 2012 fiscal estimate.

Apparently to underscore the seriousness of the allocation, Ashafa said N21.945 was allocated as personnel cost to DPR in 2010; N24 billion for the same purpose in 2011 while N30.399 billion was allocated to the agency in 2012 budget proposal.

The Lagos State born lawmaker said that his worry was that DPR with a workforce of less than 1500 has not recruited new staff since 2010 to warrant the annual increase in personnel cost allocation.

The Executive Secretary of DPR, Austin Olorunsola, agreed that the recurrent estimate of the agency went up by 25 per cent.

He put the agency’s workforce at 1,100 with additional 250 staff being expected later in the year. For the DPR boss, the increase from N24 billion in 2011 to N30 billion in 2012 is “modest” since “we cannot offer people placements without paying them salaries.”

Perhaps to convince the lawmakers that indeed N30 billion is “modest” for a workforce of 1,100 he added: “If you really look at the DPR scope, you really want to start from the upstream itself, what we are

‘We are in a dire need of investments, especially the cassava project that Nigeria and China are putting together.

Promotion of such investments by your bank will go a long way in helping our country so that the potentials that we have in large quantity that are wasting could be channelled to productive use for the benefit of our people’

supposed to do in terms of monitoring, surveillance and ensuring compliance.

“The span is pretty wide right from the well-head up to the point of sales. It is even a lot wider even in the downstream.

“You are talking of over 24,000 petrol stations in this country, several trucks that we really have to monitor, terminals, depots and these are all scattered from north, east, south and west and you are giving that to 1,100 people to look after. In engineering terms it is designed to fail.

“Indeed, you are absolutely correct; the recurrent budget is up by 25 per cent but so also is the human beings we are expecting. We are 1,100 today, we are expecting another 250 in the next couple of weeks.

“Because the organization itself is aging we are probably even going to do a bit more.

So if you look at that modest increase, it is also because we are expecting people. We cannot offer people placements and not pay them salaries.”

Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, took over the floor to save the DPR boss from further attacks.

She was quick to tell the committee that the issue of recurrent expenditure profile is symptomatic of the entire civil service sector.

“This is symptomatic of the entire federal civil service. It is not solely on the ministry of Petroleum Resources. It goes across the civil service but that is why Mr. President has called for a critical rationalization of the MDAs with a view to reducing the recurrent expenditure and overheads,” she explained.

Another revelation that may not go down well with most Nigerians was made by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed.

Mohammed told the lawmakers that one of the top priorities of the FCT administration would be building new official residences for the Vice President, Senate Presi•Continued on page 26

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

26

POLITICS Prospects of recovery by the People Democratic Party (PDP) in the southwest seem to be fading as the crisis rocking the party in the region persists. JEREMIAH OKE examines some of the problems facing each of the states in the region.

Can PDP bounce back in the Southwest?

P

OPULARITY of the southwest chapter of the People Democratic Party (PDP) was put to the test in the 2011 general elections; the party could not believe the result. It had been held that some factors ranging from the performance of their past governors in the region, its structure and deepseated factionalisation cast shadow on the party in Africa as it went to the polls against an Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) that had been strengthened by its legal victory in Osun and Ekiti states.

No state in the Southwest PDP is crisis free.

In Osun National Vice-Chairman, Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo, ahead of the 2011 general elections confusion reigned as chieftains struggled for control following the removal of former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola from office.

The open display of affection by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, and Oyinlola for the former Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Chief Iyiola Omisore worsened the situation.

The zonal working committee of the party had earlier directed that the parallel executive and new secretariat established by the aggrieved leaders be dismantled. But the aggrieved members of the party have continued to maintain their ground, saying the directive is of no effect.

Before the final verdict that brought Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola to power, some members of Osun PDP had said that they preferred the ACN candidate, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, to emerge victorious in his petition being heard by an Appeal Court sitting in Ibadan, instead of Omisore flying its flag.

In Ogun State where the chairman Board of Trustees and former President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, hails from, as well as the embattled immediate past Speaker of House of Representatives Hon. Dimeji Bankole differences are irreconcilable.

Obasnjo has vowed never to be in the same party with the former governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel whose actions are believed to have made the party lose to the during the last April elections.

The party went into the electoral battle with divided ranks with Obasanjo and Daniel holding paralled primaries, the Martins_Kuye and Obasanjo faction held its primaries of the premises of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential library in Abeokuta and it produced General Adetunji Olurin as candidate, while the Daniel faction held it own primaries at the Moshood Abiola Stadium and it produced Gboyega Nasiru Isiaka as candidate. The PDP national body and Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) officials were, however, represented only at the primaries conducted by the Daniel faction.

At a meeting held after the election last year, Obasanjo said: “Those who misbehaved before the election, if you say we should forgive them totally, they will do worse things next year. But those who have shown remorse should be allowed back into the party.

But there are some that what they did was so bad that by the grace of God, I will never be in the same party with them for the rest of my life. “The statement is seen as a veiled reference to Daniel.

Oyo State is another state where PDP may not have its ways again in subsequent as the different factions operate freely. Some members of the party are aligned to former Governor Alao-Akala and others are loyal to the former governor’s bitter rival, Chief Lekan Balogun. Yet others see Senator Rasheed Ladoja, a former governor who defected to Accord as the rallying point. Ladoja is reported as planning to return to the troubled party.

The Akala faction recently announced the expulsion of some strong members of the party. Among them are former Senate Leader, Senator Teslim Folarin, Senator Lekan Balogun, Alhaji Yekini Adeojo, former Minister of Power and Steel in the Sani Abacha regime, Elder Wole Oyelese and Hazeem Gbolarunmi, a close aide of the former political godfather of Chief AlaoAkala, the late Chief Lamidi Adedibu and a former member of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Abass Olopoenia. They were accused of working against the interest of the party during the last general elections.

•Obasanjo

•Agagu

POWER STRUCTURE IN SOUTHWEST Governor Senate HOA

ACN 5 14 121

PDP 1 19

LP 1 3 24

Accord 8

PPN 3

The governorship votes Lagos Oyo Ogun

ACN 1,509,113 420,852 377,487

PDP 300,450 387,132 188,698

Six days after the said expulsion, the Senator Balogun-led faction recommended to the PDP national secretariat that Alao-Akala be expelled from the party for creating confusion in the state.

But Akala described the Balogun faction as a renegade group that should “go back to their wards and seek reconciliation before they can be considered as members again.”

Meanwhile Senator Balogun has kicked against the proposed reconciliation move by the Akala faction, saying the composition of the committee members is lopsided.

Now with their suspension, implosion and failure of the reconciliation move, which of the group could be trusted and considered as genuine.

The party cannot be said to be on ground in Lagos State as the face-off between the former Chairman of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Chief Olabode George and Chief Adeseye Ogunlewe continues to rage.

George has alleged that Ogunlewe had always worked for Senator Bola Tinubu.

“Whatever we discussed are no secrets because we had moles who revealed our strategies to our opponents,” George claimed.

Ogunlewe denied the anti-party accusations, and described George’s statement as “unwarranted.” He said he was on the Presidential Campaign Council, which saw to the emergence of Dr Goodluck Jonathan as president.

Performance of the present governor in Lagos state Mr Babatunde Fasola may not pave way for any political party in the state.

In the Ekiti arm of the party, a group known as the “Progressive Youths of Peoples Democratic Party” recently identified the problems of the PDP as poor performance of the PDP in the state and the inability of ousted Governor Segun Oni to reorganise the party after his exit from office.

The group said: “We observe that instead of our leaders to come together to rebuild the party, they have been pursuing selfish interests. Oni, as the state governor, was the leader of the party in the state who should be held responsible for what befell the party in the state. He did not see any reason for the reorganisation of the PDP. Instead, he is busy fighting Justice Salami and the Minister of State for FCT, Caleb Olubolade, who the constitution of the party has already crowned leader of the party as the minister

representing the state.”

There has also been crisis within the PDP in the state over the list of ministerial nominees sent to President Goodluck Jonathan.

Crisis in Ondo State deepened as a former Finance Commissioner under the Olusegun Agagu administration, Chief Tayo Alasoadura, resigned from the party. He dumped the party despite perceived reconciliation of warring members of the party.

His faction and those loyal to former Governor Agagu engaged in war of words which polarised the party before the crisis that followed the submission of ministerial nominees list. Throughout the meetings leading to the alleged reconciliation, Alasoadura did not attend any and there were insinuations that heading to the ACN. Omission of the name of the former Minister of Defence Prince Adetokunbo Kayode (SAN) from the list created another phase of the crisis as some of his loyalists rejected the list. Under the aegis of the Ondo PDP Coalition Forum, they said “the list was not inclusive and it was meant to finally nail the coffin of the party in the state.”

The Coalition through their Coordinator, Chief Ade Babalola said “the names were arrived at without adequate consultations with members across the state.

The group which claimed that it had abroad-based support across the state said “if this list is allowed to sail through, we want to say with every sense of responsibility that the PDP is dead in this state.”

An analyst said: “If the party leaders in the region are serious about the future of the party, they need to turn a new leaf and take the bull by the horn by tackling the problems facing the party in the region. It is also high time the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party rose up to its challenges in the region and see to the reconciliation programmes as a national issue.

Can a party be so divided and yet positioned to be relevant? The poor performance of the PDP in the Southwest denied it the opportunity of providing the Speaker of the House of Representatives. While the PDP in the region is bemoaning its fate, the ACN has profited from its discomfort. It played a major role in the politics that produced Hon. Aminu Tambuwal as Speaker. Can the party recover? Seldom are political sins forgiven.

Federal budget defence: Business as usual?

•Continued from page 25

dent and Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 2012 fiscal year.

Observers wondered whether construction of new official residences for political office holders whose official quarters were sold recently by the same FCT administration is part of the measure to cut the cost of running government.

The whopping N3.1 billion set aside by federal government to cater for the emoluments of former heads of state during year was also seen as scandalous by many watchers of the 2012 budget.

Those who considered the N3.1billion outrageous argued that Jonathan should isolate proposals made for sectors like education, health, environment even works to appreciate the need to take a second look at the figure.

They also say President Jonathan should appreciate that time is running out on the country on the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

But the budget defence exercise was not all knock for MDAs. One agency that received the commendation of the lawmakers is the Nigeria Export-Import (NEXIM) Bank.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, Senator Ayo Adeseun, could not hide the admiration of his committee for the management of NEXIM bank for being “proactive and on top of situations in bank.”

Managing Director of the bank, Mr. Robert Orya, took the lawmakers through the operations, prospects and plans of the bank aimed at lifting the fortunes of the country.

Orya specifically articulated how the bank planned to create over 23,923 jobs in the 2012 fiscal year. The bank, he told the lawmakers, planned to create 23,923 jobs through the active support of the manufacturing, agricultural, solid mineral and service sectors of the nation’s economy.

The bank would also support Nigerian exporters to the tune of N30 billion as well as float a shipping firm to facilitate business activities between Nigerian exporters and other countries, Orya told the committee.

He said, “We are focusing on four sectors that can create jobs as well as create wealth, manufacturing, agriculture, solid mineral and Services. Sectors that commercial banks are not comfortable to go into NEXIM should be able to move into such areas. Our primary mandate is to fashion ways and means to deepen the non oil export sector of the country.

“We believe that in NEXIM there is so much we can do. We are pushing NEXIM bank to the people that produce exportable goods. We want to make the bank very visible to exportable products.”

Orya did not forget to list some of the challenges of the bank including debt recovery.

Some of the loans owed the bank, he lamented, are more than 19 years making their recovery difficult.

For the NEXIM boss, if the bank is able to extricate itself from non performing loans, it will be more attractive to NEXIM banks of China and India .

Senator Adeseun, did not end the interface without stressing the need for NEXIM bank to buy into and make it a reality the plan of Nigerian and China to embark on large scale production of cassava.

Adeseun said: “We are in a dire need of investments, especially the cassava project that Nigeria and China are putting together.

Promotion of such investments by your bank will go a long way in helping our country so that the potentials that we have in large quantity that are wasting could be channelled to productive use for the benefit of our people.’’

That was not all, the Oyo State born lawmaker assured NEXIM management that the National Assembly will always be there to assist the bank to carry out is functions.

The budget defence at the National Assembly may have been over, what will certainly interest Nigerians is full implementation of the budget by the Executive arm of government.

PROJECT Beautification of Osun begins in June Osun

APPRECIATION

COMPASSION

Community thanks son over scholarship

Council chair to compensate thunderstorm victims

30

Ondo

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

36

Lagos

38

Page 27

Email: news_extra@yahoo.com

O

NE of the promises of Governor Peter Obi to the people of Anambra State when he assumed office was the reactivation of all state hospitals that had been in comatose state.

He swung into action immediately he was sworn in. Unfortunately, the magnitude of the problem in the health sector seemed to be beyond the capacity of government.

Being resolute to fix the health sector, Governor Obi literally went cap in hand; seeking for collaboration from any person or group that is public-spirited.

In the circumstances, therefore, he made several appeals to both individuals and groups in a bid to solve the health problems of his people.

One of the groups he appealed to for help was those who are indigenous to the state but who live in Japan. He preached the philosophy of remembering the health condition of their kith and kin back home. They responded to his appeal.

In line with the thinking-home philosophy preached by their governor, members of Anambra State Association in Japan (ASA-JAPAN) have donated modern and sophisticated medical equipment worth over N20m to three hospitals in the three senatorial zones of the state.

The hospitals are Amaku Teaching Hospital, Awka, Onitsha General Hospital, Onitsha and Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi.

Some of the equipment donated are hysteroscopy, two sets of bronchoscopes with two set cable and instrument, three multiheaded light, three model X-ray machines, microscopes, EGG machines, three ward screen, three vacuum extractors, electrical and manual.

Others are 10 blood-measuring equipment, three mobile portable ultra-sound machines, one baby incubator, one 100 KVA power generating machines, and four lawn mowing machines, among others.

Receiving the equipment at the new teaching hospital, Governor Obi praised members of the association for thinking home, even as he commended other Anambra

L

AGOS State Government has said that it will clamp down on companies and estates along Victoria Island/Lekki axis that prove to be hindrances on the state waterfronts.

State Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure Development, Prince Adesegun Oniru disclosed this during an inspection along the Lekki, Apapa and Badagry areas.

Lamenting the ugly situation which he said constitutes environmental threat to the areas; Oniru said government will not bend its rules, adding that plan has been concluded to carry out demolition of any of such structures that vio-

•Engr Dara Ilechukwu (left) the leader of Anambra State United Association, Japan handing over the equipment worth over N20m the group donated to hospitals in Anambra State to Governor Obi

A boost for Anambra health sector Group donates N20m equipment Government pledges commitment to people’s well-being From Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Nnewi

people in the Diaspora that extended the same gesture to the state.

He, however, called on others that

are not doing so to emulate such gestures which he described as “noble.”

He further said: “My administration is doing a road and a bridge into Mmiata-Anam where a kilometer of road costs N600m. I appreciate this

gesture and I know that God will not hesitate to bless anyone who has the development of Anambra State in mind.

“I have always differed with the Commissioner for Health because he will always say that this place is

functional but it is not because we have not finished everything. If we can’t build a wonderful hospital, let us not bequeath anarchy.

“I will come to Japan but I will •Continued on Page 28

Lagos warns environmental offenders

By Miriam Ndikanwu

lates the rules.

“Several reports have been received by the ministry on the activities of Illegal dredgers on Lagos waterfronts; and it was as a result of this that we earlier issued a stop work order to dredging companies.

But surprisingly, we discovered during this tour that there are still illegal dredging activities going on on our waterfronts.”

He said it was observed along Banana Island Waterfront, the spread of illegal shanties erected beyond the specified point, noting that such structures have been marked for demolition.

“We also observed burst pipes and leakages of oil emitting from dredging machines and the dredging companies have been notified to correct the situation and save our people the environmental challenges this constitutes.

In another development the state

government has warned landlords and owners of abandoned properties in the Lagos metropolis to hasten the completion of the buildings or lose them to the state government.

State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr. Toyin Ayinde, who gave the warning while inspecting distressed, abandoned buildings and those that contravened building plans in some parts of the state, said such buildings, apart from serving as hideouts for miscreants, also posed threat to lives

and other people’s properties in view of their dilapidated condition.

He urged residents to be more security conscious and report promptly to the government any abandoned and uncompleted building in their neighbourhood; as such buildings often serve as haven for miscreants, armed robbers and homeless people.

He said government was mindful of the dangers involved in •Continued on Page 28

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

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•Continued from Page 26 come alone. I have calculated the cost to Japan and it is N1m. There is no need going to Japan for N21m equipment and travel with 30 people which will cost the state over N30m.

“I am doing costing of our Ofala festivals during the Christmas and it was outrageous. There are too much party(going on) here that if we limit our expenditure, we would not have unemployment in this country. We must stop this consumption orientation we have developed to embark on production lifestyle because only that develops the economy.

Handing over the equipment, the leader of Anambra State United Association, Japan Engr. Dara Ilechukwu, who led other members, said they were moved to assist the state because of Governor Obi’s appeals to Anambra people in the Diaspora to join in the building of the state, rather than the dangerous past time of fault-finding.

Engr. Ilechukwu said they started the assistance from the health sector because of their belief that no country can adequately prosper without the well-being of its citizens.

A boost for Anambra health sector

The organisation encouraged all others in the Diaspora to contribute to the development of Anambra now that the state has a Governor that deploys everything for its good without any tinge of selfishness.

Commending the Governor for his efforts in developing the state, Dara said: “We thank the Governor for all he has been able to accomplish in the bid to alleviate the sufferings of the people of Anambra by throwing his weight to see that the people live in a better condition. We see these efforts in the areas of road construction, improvement of schools for better learning condition, rural development, water schemes, among others.

“We would be happy to do more if our little effort will be properly put into use where it can benefit the generality of the people of the state. We are seriously looking forward towards inviting to Japan, the Governor of Anambra State Mr Peter Obi to rub minds with us in other areas that helps are urgently needed in the state.”

Commissioner for Health, Prof

Amobi Ilika thanked the association for the gesture and assured that the equipment would be put into good use, even as he said it was a lesson for those that came to Anambra to inspect the buildings at the teaching hospital for negative reasons rather than ask for what they could contribute.

“We plead with the medical doctors to call off their strike and go back to work. The government is sincere

and everybody must make sacrifices.

The government has said 50 per cent and I expected that the doctors should allow negotiation to continue. There are arrears of course, but work has to start first before all these would be negotiated.”

In his speech, chairman, House Committee on Health of the Anambra State House of Assembly, Dr Emeka Aniebonam said: “I am happy to associate myself with the

administration of Governor Peter Obi. My brothers in Japan, we are Oliver Twist asking for more. I thank you for thinking home and I pray that your members would continue to support this administration of Governor Peter Obi. I am impressed with the modern and sophisticated equipment which you graciously donated to the state.”

•Odogwu writes from Nnewi

Lagos warns environmental offenders •Continued from Page 27 building collapses, especially in cases when they lead to loss of lives adding that government would henceforth take pre-emptive measures to avoid such situations.

The commissioner explained that government, in its continued effort to keep Lagos safe and secure, is set to seize and demolish such structures, especially those that have been abandoned for up to five years.

He identified non-compliance with specific details and alteration of building plans as one of the major causes of building collapse, urging owners of abandoned buildings to revert to the ministry for clearance before effecting changes in the original plan.

Ayinde stated that the purpose of the inspection was to enforce strict compliance with the provisions of the Physical Planning Regulations because recent development in the state

had shown the growing trend of people erecting structures at night and sometimes on weekends.

Ayinde, who urged owners of buildings in the state to be mindful of the approaching rainy season, noted that there was need for developers to follow due process while undertaking construction work.

He counselled members of the public to visit the ministry’s website for more information on the various physical planning laws of the state.

This 12-year-old bedridden girl has no brain

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RUDENT and her two sisters, Precious and Peace are a set of triplets born on May 29, 1999. But in 2001, Prudent, the first of the three girls went down with what was thought to be malaria for which she was taken to a teaching hospital for treatment. But the treatment, rather than cure her ailment, has rendered her bedridden. After years of failed attempts, the doctors came with the verdict that the girl has no brain.

GBENGA OMOKHUNU reports Prudent Unaidet was one of a set of triplet that were born at the University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan on May1999, the day Nigeria transited from military to civilian rule.

The birth brought so much joy to the family and well wishers tagged the lovely girls “democracy children” saying their coming heralded the nation into the much awaited democracy.

However, the joy of the parents and well wishers was short lived.

In 2011, two years after their birth, Prudent, the first of the three girls took ill and was admitted at the University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan. The strange ailment has remained a source of sadness to the family.

The poor parents now live in fear everyday given the adverse turn of events in the life of their once lovely daughter. Prudent’s ailment has defied all medical treatment offered by the hospital.

After one diagnosis after the other, the doctors came up with a result showing spinal meningitis.

Thereafter, she was diagnosed with viral encephalitis and the hospital management said they were going to do a surgery to correct the error.

Later on, they told the parents that the child had a brain malfunction.

Agonised Kendrick Unaidet, father of Prudent reflects: “So these are diagnoses they said they came up with. But the last one they told

us is something that is not believable because it is not possible to find a healthy child and the brain would disappear. This is as a result of the mismanagement and carelessness on the part of the hospital personnel” The hospital administration started managing her case from 2001 when she was first admitted up till 2006 when they gave the parents a bill for brain surgery. According to the girl’s father, the family rallied round and managed to pay the bill as promptly as possible.

However, the hospital failed to carry out the surgery without stating reasons. Inquiries by the parents on why the surgery was put on hold were not answered by the hospital management.

According to the embittered father, “there was extreme mismanagement on display. My child, while in the hospital bed was having convulsion and sustaining bruises in the process. We were not happy with that development, and we wrote to the hospital management on the case. But the response we got was that the child no longer required the surgery. When we asked them the reason, they claimed that the child does not have any brain to be operated on in the first place”.

“I can’t bring myself to believe that my own daughter is suffering from spinal meningitis, viral encephalitis, a brain malfunction and finally, brain disappearance” After the agonising delay with its attendant psychological burden, the hospital management finally told the parents to seek medical treatment for the girl abroad, as, according to them, the case required specialisation.

Teary eyed Kendrick Unaidet said he has been looking for where to get the money for the evaluation of his daughter’s condition since 2006, saying that an American hospital has shown interest in her treatment

Continuing he said: “We went to the hospital to help us improve on our child’s health condition but the problem was compounded.

In treating this child, we have observed a lot of mismanagement by the hospital and they have allowed the case to get too long without taking proactive steps in treating the child or helping the child to survive the illness

•Prudent, on her sick bed, bedridden for 10 years

but the family has not been able to raise the sum required to foot the bill.

He said that one Dr. Uchenna Ibeh of Health Line Foundation based in the United States confirmed that about ($200, 000) two hundred thousand dollars, representing about N32 million(thirtytwo million naira) would be required for her treatment abroad.

His words: “We have been in this problem since 2001, and it has been very expensive. The first time she was admitted we spent all that we had to save her life and stabilise her health. Thereafter, the expenses had continued with little result. She has been on medication under the supervision of the UCH until she was discharged this January, 2011. Already, we have spent more than (N700, 000) seven hundred thousand naira on that one alone” Continuing he said: “We went to the hospital to help us improve on our child’s health condition but the problem was compounded. In treating this child, we have observed a lot of mismanagement by the hospital and they have allowed the case to get too long without taking proactive steps in treating the child or helping the child to survive the illness. This has caused us a lot of pain, distress, depression and financial embarrassment.

“I am an electrician; I practice electrical installations and work with a private firm. Sometime ago, I had an employment with one firm but because of this child’s ailment I

have not been able to continue in the employment. They got tired of giving me leave from work and at a point when the condition became worst in 2010, I had to resign from my work to enable me take her back to the hospital”, he lamented.

On the assistance received so far from individuals and corporate bodies, Unaidet said, one Dr. Uche Ibe of, Health Line Foundation, a United States based foreign Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) once visited and promised to intervene in order to save his daughter’s life.

According to him, “Dr. Uche Ibe visited between August and September 2010. She took the pictures of the situation and left. She asked us to send medical report which she took abroad to allow the hospital to evaluate the condition of the child so that they would come and pick her up for the treatment. We

have not seen or heard from her ever since” “I have made several efforts to see the Minister of Health and other well meaning Nigerians on the issue but all my efforts are yet to yield much result. I would not want to watch my daughter die after all that she has gone through.

“I and my family are pleading with kind hearted Nigerians to help us to get this child treated. Please, kindly intervene to assist us save the child, to enable her live a normal life again even if it is just to save the family from devastating economic constraints and disintegration” A bank account has been opened with the United Bank for Africa (UBA) in the name of Prudent Unaidet with Account Number: 2054905748 Prudent’s father, Kendrick can be reached on 08033634675 and the mother, Nkechi on 08039113644

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

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Obosi: Saving a kingdom from self destruction

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EFORE now, Obosi, one of the 177 communities in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State used to be one of the most peaceful towns in the state. It shares common boundary with the commercial city of Onitsha.

The community also boasts some renowned personalities like the former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku.

Others who are indigenous to the community and who had distinguished themselves are Senator Mike Ajaegbo (owner of Minaj Broadcast International (MBI), Chief Chimezie Ikeazor (SAN) and recently corps marshal of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Osita Chidoka, among others.

Unfortunately, the refined features for which the community was noted began to collapse like a pack of cards when, in 2008, the late traditional ruler of the area, Josiah Nwakobi and his council of Ndichie set up a body called Adike Peace Foundation (APF) whose task was guarding all Obosi land and supervising the development of the land by those who are not indigenous to Obosi.

The group, in turn, appointed two persons to lead the two branches of the organisation, but some natives were not comfortable

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OR Ikosi-Isheri Local Council Development Area Manager, Akanji James Shadare, Saturday, February 11, was a day of joy.

It was the day he was installed as the third president of Ipaja Youths Forum in Lagos. With the teeming crowd of youths at the venue, there was no doubt that he was their choice They all gathered and stood by him on his day of joy. They were united in love for Shadare and in him they saw a rallying point for them, just as he was seen relishing the joy of the moment.

The guests shone in different dresses at the occasion while members of the forum looked gorgeous in a uniform ankara dress with matching caps. The celebrator, also joined the youth in their dressing as he was clad in the same Ankara attire.

The event took off with an open-

•Mr Shadare (left) and Mr Daniels

From Nwanosike Onu, Awka

with the names as they felt their villages were marginalised. Those appointed by the group were Mr. Onyinye Nwenem and Nonso Iwegbuna.

This disagreement resulted in the fusion of some aggrieved persons and groups to float a rival group known as Obosi Graduates Forum (OGF). At this point, trouble started brewing and peace could no longer hold.

As a result, the two groups began attack on each other. Newsextra gathered that some touts infiltrated both groups, giving rise to some wealthy individuals volunteering to sponsor each of them. Consequently, there was mayhem in the land.

The opposing groups started

burning people’s houses, destroying property in Obosi land, killing and injuring innocent persons.

There was total pandemonium in the land.

Some people ran for their lives and relocated to neighbouring communities like Umuoji, Ogidi, and Uke among others. Kidnapping equally became the order of the day.

As a result of the mayhem, the monarch, the late Josiah Nwakobi set up a five-man panel to look into all allegations against (APF) which was alleged to be sponsored by one Chief Alex Omezie Chukwurah, popularly called “Governor.”

The panel, after its investigations, recommended that a fresh election into all the offices of (APF) be held and that all eligible Obosi youth to be allowed to contest. The panel equally recommended three

Tension has continued to mount in the sleepy town as the alleged kingpin Tochukwu Nebo who has been a terror in the community has been apprehended by the state police command

year tenure.

After the election in August, 2010, leaders were returned and they were inaugurated on September 3, 2010. The inauguration was witnessed by the state Commissioner of Police among others.

And on September 21, 2010, mayhem was unleashed on the community by a group alleged to be (OGF) which wreaked havoc on many homes with property worth billions of Naira destroyed in Obosi.

The Obosi crisis led the Anambra State Governor, Mr Peter Obi to depose the then monarch, the late Josiah Nwakobi. In order to restore peace, the monarch was reinstated

by Obi after some months.

Since then, the community has not known peace. It has been from one crisis to another until the death of their monarch Nwakobi on September 10, 2011.

After his death, a fresh crisis arose on who succeeds him.

Though the community has rules and procedures on selection of Igwe Obosi, many people believed the rules were not followed.

Most of the prominent persons in the land believe that the emergence of the new monarch, Chidubem Iweka was an imposition on the people of Obosi. They therefore insist that he must vacate the seat if there should be peace in the land.

However, tension has continued

Honour for council manager It was a day of honour for the Manager, Ikosi-Isheri Local Council Development Area, Lagos, Mr Akanji James Shadare, as he was installed the third president of Ipaja Youths Forum February 11 at the Jogapeph Ventures Hall, Ipaja Lagos. AMIDU ARIJE writes. ing prayer by the Chief Imam of Ipaja Central Mosque, Alhaji Abdul Karim Oguntoyinbo. This was followed by the rendition of the national anthem and the forum’s anthem.

The highlight of the occasion was the investiture of the new president by the legal adviser to the Youth Forum, Mr Gbenga Ajayi. He was assisted by the immediate past president, Hon Jimoh Daniels.

Daniel’s in his valedictory speech thanked the forum for giving him

the opportunity to serve them.

Daniels stated that the group is meant to instill in the youth the sense of responsiveness to the society they belong.

“Our forum is aimed at bridging the gap between the young and the old. To give scholarship to indigent students, identify things that affect the youth and proffer possible solution to them,” he said.

He described the forum as ‘a society of necessity’.

After the investiture, Shadare

assumed in full the presidency of the forum.

In his acceptance speech, Shadare stated that he would strive to bring all on board and operate an open door policy.

“On my own part, I promise to carry everybody along in the schemes of things. To be a listening president, to uphold the dignity and tenets of Ipaja Youth Forum at all times and to be an action president,” he said.

He continues: “Integrity and accountability shall be my watchword. As for the members of my cabinet, I do not want to read the riot act as they are experienced and knowledgeable individuals. It shall be leadership by example”.

The celebrator urged members of his cabinet to live up to the task.

According to the Ikosi-Isheri Local Council Developemnt Chairman, Hon. Abdul Fatai Oyesanya, Shadare is a man with integrity and honesty, whom he would not allow to leave the council as the Council Manager.

“The celebrator, Shadare is my friend. I have no doubt about his integrity I never have any cause to regret working with him. I don’t want him to leave Ikosi-Isheri Local Council Development Area because he is a hard-working man and

•Obiajulu to mount in the sleepy town as the alleged kingpin Tochukwu Nebo who has been a terror in the community has been apprehended by the state police command.

Not only that, he has been hurriedly charged to Ogidi Magistrate’s Court by the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) of the police command led by Mike Okoli and subsequently remanded at the Onitsha Prisons.

But before his arraignment, Nebo had allegedly mentioned about 10 •Continued on Page 37

very assiduous,” he said.

Oyesanya urged the members of the forum to continue the good work they are doing as he described the programme as beautify and interesting.

A former president of the forum, Hon Shakirudeen Yusuf, thanked God for the occasion and the successes the group has achieved.

“I give glory to Almighty God going by the days when I was given the responsibility of leading the forum. I was afraid. How will I be able to steer the affairs of the forum effectively, but God on our side we were able to run the forum effectively,” he said.

He promised to continue to support the forum in its entire ramification.

Dignitaries at the event, which was chaired by the Managing Director, Topmost Group of Schools and Ultimate Micro Finance Bank, Mr Adewale Odunayo; included Oba Sylvester Ajibola Akinniyi; Chairman, Ipaja-Ayobo Local Council Development Area, Hon. Shakirudeen Yusuf, who is the pioneer president of the forum; Chairman, Ikosi-Isheri Local Council Development Area, Hon. AbdulFatai Oyesanya, his wife Alhaja Omolara and the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) Ipaja, Edward Olujimi.

Other guests at the occasion included the Council Manager IfakoIjaiye Local Government, Mr Rafiu Fashola; his wife, Mrs Mary; Council Manager, Alimosho Local Government, Mrs Ajileye Bello; Secretary to Ikosi-Isheri Local Council Development Area, Mr Odubiro Ogunsola and Mr Ajibola Adeyinka.

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

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Beautification of Osun begins in June P

•Mrs Titi Laoye-Tomori Osun State Deputy Governor

LANS have been concluded to begin beautification of nine major towns in Osun State with effect from June.

Coordinator of Osun State Renewal Initiative otherwise referred to as ORenewal,Prof. Babatunde Agboola, made the disclosure in Osogbo at a training workshop for volunteers of Osun State Youths Empowerment Scheme (OYES) that would participate in the project.

He listed Osogbo, Iwo, Ikire, Ife, Ejigbo, Ilesa, Ikirun, Ila-Orangun and Ede among the nine towns across the 30 local government councils of the state to benefit from the programme.

Agboola, who is a professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Ibadan, said O-Renewal initiative will change

Woman gives birth to quadruplets 17 years after A

WOMAN who gave birth to quadruplets after 17 years of marriage has advised couples in need not to lose hope, but strive to seek medical help.

Mrs Victoria Olayiwola, who resides at Abule-Egba with her husband, gave birth to three girls and a boy at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) on February 9.

The babies who were born through Caesarean section, weighed between 1.75kg and 2.2kg Forty-two year-old Victoria told journalists in Lagos that people should not keep their pains to themselves but reach out for medical assistance.

She said that reaching out had paid off for her family, adding that with trust in God and patience, hope would always be kept alive.

“Words cannot describe how I feel right now and I am very thankful to God for my bundles of joy,” she said.

The mother told newsnen that she was extremely joyful at the delivery of her babies who were all healthy and felt very strong, hale and hearty.

She said that she was not under pressure from her in-laws during the waiting period.

Lagos

Victoria encouraged parents who were expecting multiple births to have faith in Nigerian medical doctors rather than go abroad as there are good hands in the country.

Her husband, Olusegun, a Pastor, said that seeking constant medical consultation coupled with faith in God and lack of pressure from family members rekindled their hope.

The 48-year-old husband said that even before his wife conceived, he had told everyone who cared to listen that he would not give birth to less than three babies at God’s given time.

“Therefore when after the first scan, we were told we would have triplets and about three weeks later we were told we were now going to have quadruplets, I was not surprised”, he said.

Olusegun said that they did not consider adoption an option as they had been certified okay by medical experts and they knew that God’s time is the best.

Osun From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

the face of Osun towns.

He maintained that there was an urgent need for rebuilding and redesigning major towns in the state.

He said: “Urban renewal entails provision of roads, construction of new buildings, provision of water, electricity and recreational facilities. Our urban areas are nothing to write home about and we want to change this. Nigerians, do we need to go abroad on holiday when we can recreate all those structures and services here?.

“We are beginning with nine model towns and we shall move on to have more towns included. The objective is to beautify and edify our environment through conscious designs.

“Our environment is all we have hence we must ensure that we don’t harm our future and the futures of unborn generations through misuse.”

The university don, who disclosed that 90 volunteers of the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme in the wings, have been engaged for the project, said 10 of them will be distributed to each of the nine earmarked towns.

He, however assured that structures would not be demolished during the beautification exercise, saying “all we want to do is edify and beautify our towns.”

•From right: Lagos Deputy Governor, Hon. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, wife of Lagos State Governor, Dame Abimbola Fashola and Regional Co-ordinator ( DFID), Mr. Adesina FagbenroByron, during a training on strategic leadership and managerial skills for elected and appointed women and public office holders in the Southwest, organised by DFID Nigeria (South West Regiional Office) and the office of the Deputy Governor held at Golden Tulip Hotel, Festac Town, Lagos.

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Ondo trains 1000 women

S part of activities lined up for the third year anniversary of Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, over 1000 women will be trained on different vocational skills.

The state government, through its Ministry of Women Affairs, will be partnering with a private consultant, Macados, to give the training free for the beneficiaries which is tagged “Phase One.” The women who will be selected from the 18 local government areas in the state, will be given training on 12 vocational skills such as bead making , chalk, soup, candle, wick for stove, pop corn makings, among others.

Popular fuji musician alleges threats to life A POPULAR fuji musician in Oyo town, Alhaji Lateef Akanni Ololade, aka “Matester” has alleged threats to his life and family by some faceless groups.

Ololade, who breezed into the NATION office in Oyo town with tears, said he had received several death threat calls, with warnings that “life would be snuffed our of him and family, anytime he goes out for outing”.

According to him, “it all begun few months ago when I was invited to play at a naming ceremony in the town, where some thugs descended on me, beat me to a pulp and inflicted injuries on me. I was rescued and taken to hospital by sympathisers where I spent about a month. The hoodlums accused me of singing against the Alaafin, and described me as a threat to the progress of the town”.

The troubled musician said he had nether

Oyo

From Bode Durojaiye, Oyo

sung against the paramount ruler, nor antagonised his visionary leadership qualities.

“He (Alaafin) is my father whom I respect so much, and nobody can use me to insult or ridicule his esteemed royal status. There is no where I go to play that I will not honour or acknowledge the Alaafin. He is a paramount ruler per excellence”.

The musician said he decided to come to the NATION, in order to redress tissue of lies milling around the town about him that he is against the interest of the Alaafin, saying he remains obedient, loyal and in full support of the monarch.

•Mr Israel Oyebode, Company Secretary, Hallmark Paper Products Plc (left) with Mr David Adeliyi, Chairman, CEO at the completion board meeting right issue at Airport Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos

•From left: Chairman, Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area., Lagos State, Comrade Ayodele Adewale; Head of Climate Change Unit, Federal Ministry of Environment, Mrs. Abiola Awe, and the Programme Director, Community Conservation and Development Initiative, Mrs. Kofo Adeleke, at the 1st Amuwo Odofin Climate Change Summit, at the council secretariat, in Lagos PHOTO: NIYI ADENIRAN

Body to improve manpower development

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HE National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB), has promised to stem the tide of poor manpower development in Nigeria so as to improve the nation’s economy.

The spokesman of the board, Mr. Adeyemi Brown, speaking on behalf of the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the Board, Dr Olatunde Aworanti, said NABTEB had keyed into the transformation agenda of the Federal Government through a number of new programmes and initiatives which the board believes could turn around the existing parlous state of technical and vocational education in Nigeria.

While blaming the problems of technical education and technical education on the attitude of the past government, Aworanti said: “NABTEB is currently working tirelessly within the past one year to ensure that the attention of government is constantly drawn to the need to improve on the achievements of our nation’s technical institutions.”

According to the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer, NABTEB had concluded plans to update the skill of craftsmen and technicians through the Modular Trades Certificate Examination (MTCE), designed to certify and make them globally competitive. This positive development is equally designed to stem the tide of poor manpower development and the direct

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By Gbenga Aderanti

consequences on the nation’s economy.

He also disclosed that NABTEB had reached out to all the key stakeholders in order to guarantee the professional excellence of certified candidates.

“So far, the board has held series of meetings with such notable bodies as the Council for Registered Engineers of Nigeria (COREN), Automobiles and Technicians Association of Nigeria (ATAN), National Directorate of Employment (NDE) and the Nigerian Prisons for the certification of trained inmates. Other partners in the collaborative venture include the Council for Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON), Petroleum Training and Development Fund (PTDF) Trainers of ex-militants, National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and Vocational Institutions.”

He assured that NABTEB would partner with state and local governments, religious leaders, traditional rulers and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in the quest to revolutionalise and popularise technical/vocational education and skill acquisition as well as enhance the socio-economic status of artisans in the country.

NABTEB CEO said that the unfolding agenda of the body would go a long way in boosting the nation’s quest for social and economic transformation.

He also highlighted the proactive steps taken by the leadership of NABTEB to enrich the Board’s Examination Syllabi and enhance the quality and credibility of its certificates.

Ondo From Leke Akeredolu, Akure

Speaking during a media parley in Akure, the state capital, the Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs. Olayinka Alabi, said the governor is focusing on how to reduce poverty by eradicating hunger in the society.

She said the present administration has gotten another brilliant idea to showcase to the poor masses about its caring heart programmes.

According to her, “the state government has invested in the development of women since Mimiko took over power. One of the initiatives of Mimiko’s wife is “Gbebiro” which is aimed at meeting the needs of women in the state.

Through this “Gbebiro” many women have benefitted from the free medical services provided by this programme. Our governor knows the impact of women in home and the society in general. Mimiko believes that if women are empowered, hunger will be reduced”.

Alabi noted that those who benefitted from the free vocational skills will be empowered with funds for free to purchase materials needed for their businesses.

The commissioner expressed that the programme would be a continuous exercise for women in the state.

In his address, the CEO of Macados, Festus Alabi, said the organisation has been partnering with some state governments on how to reduce poverty in their areas.

“Our aim was to give the women a joyful life, and bring peace back to the society because we know their importance in the country.

“Our officers will be moving around the three senatorial districts to teach in the women on skills that can fetch money for them and their families”, he stated.

The CEO praised the government for giving a priority to the women, saying that the governor action has brought peace into several families.

AGOS State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), has inspected sites for relocation of people to make way for the proposed Ikorodu Road expansion project warning traders to steer clear of the road and its bus stops.

Governor Fashola, who undertook an inspection tour of part of Ikorodu Road to evaluate the proposed expansion, told Government House Correspondents after inspecting parts of the setbacks at Ajegunle in the Kosofe Local Council Development Area, that there was no way the project could be successfully implemented with the traders still occupying the road setbacks.

The governor who said he also came to see the activities of the Mile 12 Market, declared, “They have to move back into their market and stop obstructing the road so that there can be efficient thoroughfare of commuters and transporters. There is no expansion we can do, no matter how well-intentioned and well-implemented, if people trade in the streets, it won’t work.

“So, this is again our final appeal to Mile 12 Market men and women to move back into their market and stop trading at the bus stops

O

Lagos or on the streets. We will send our people back again to sanction them if they don’t comply”, the Governor warned.

The Governor, who said he came to see the extent of relocation between Mile 12 and Ajegunle, disclosed that all the people at the setbacks on both sides of the road would be moved for a successful implementation of the expansion project, adding that the relocation and displacement of people would be an inevitable consequence of the expansion project.

Governor Fashola said: “I thought it was important for me to come and see things for myself what the experts have shown to me in the office and also to feel the communal response”, adding that some of the people

already affected by the expansion project were the danfo drivers recently relocated from under the Mile 12 Bridge.

“I was happy that the treasurer of the Drivers’ Union there said they were happy with our plan to relocate them and that they were ready to move”, Governor Fashola said.

On the proposed Housing Estate at Ajegunle, Governor Fashola said the site of the proposed housing estate was formerly a slum “where all sorts of things were happening. But we have cleared the place; we have taken possession with the collaboration of the Local Council Development Area here and we already have very interesting partnership for housing development and it is part of the renewal programme of the Ajelogo/Mile 12 onto Ajegunle and Ikorodu Town”.

Briefly Church donates to police THE Redeemed Christian Church of God, House of David Parish, Calabar, has donated an over head water tank and pumps worth more than N100, 000 to the Akim Police Station to attend to their water needs.

The Zonal Pastor in-charge, Albert Oluwaleyimi, said the project was part of instruction by General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, to work toward impacting the lives of their communities.

He said: “Some years back, the General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adeboye instructed all pastors in the mission on the need for Community Development.

•Members of the Institute of Real Estate Agents and Auctioners of Nigeria during their inauguration in Lagos

Vehicle owners warned THE Lagos State Police Command has warned owners of vehicles parked at the following divisions to remove them immediately or have them forfeited through auction.

Iponri Division 1.

Danfo bus-XV727AAA 2.

Golf saloon car-AJ924AGL 3.

Nissan Primera-JR153EKY 4.

Mazda 323-PK 989 FKY 5.

Toyota Corolla- DE 899MUS 6.

Daewoo Clero-AE 53KWU 7.

Volkwagen Jetta-E 892LND 8.

Mitsubishi Galant-No number 9.

Mitsubishi-No number Isheri Division 1. Toyota Camry 2.0-DH640LSR Ifako Division Vanagon bus Iseri Police Station Toyota Camry 2.0 GL Executive DH640LSR Area ‘F’ 1. Nissan - FK207EKY 2. Kia Optima - ET140LND 3. Toyota Camry -SK164KJA 4. Honda - DX418GGE 5. Honda - AW614RSH

600 teachers get N300m car loan NDO State government has released N300 million car loan to 600 teaching and non-teaching staff in its employ.

The beneficiaries have been presented with the cheques for the loan which has a 10 per cent repayment interest.

The State Commissioner for Education, Mr Remi Olatubora, who presided over the presentation ceremony, said the essence of the loan scheme was to motivate the beneficiaries for better performance.

Represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mrs. Taiwo Kolawole, the Commissioner added that the scheme will in no small way increase the workers productivity and reduce loss of manpower due to access to means of easy transportation.

“Government has again demonstrated its commitment to the implementation of workers welfare policies.

“It has manifested in this loan scheme for teaching and non-teaching staff in the realisation of the fact that they hold the key to the future of the nation.

In his address, the Chairman of the State Teaching Service Commission, Mr Fola Amure, dismissed the insinuation making the rounds that the scheme will soon be

Fashola warns Mile 12 traders

Council chief urges peace

T

HE chairman of Mushin Local Government Area in Lagos State, Hon. Olatunde Adepitan has appealed to Muslim leaders in the country to foster peace and unity.

He made this call during the second annual special peace prayer organised by the League of Imams and Ulamau in Mushin Local Government Area.

Adepitan said: “the members of the Hausa community living in Idi-Araba, Mushin are as old as the Yoruba living in that community.

The Hausas have great grand children born in Lagos, brought up and educated in Lagos. The only place they know is Mushin because all of them speak and write Yoruba like the indigenes”.

League of Imams and Ulamau comprises of all the denominations in the Islamic sects in the country.

The prayer, according to Adepitan, is meant to unite all Muslims in Mushin Local Government Area. The Christians have been brought under one umbrella to pray for the unity of the country. The Muslims in are also being encouraged to use their large fellowership to bring about peace in the country.

The guest lecturer, Sheikh AbdulFatai Raji,

Lagos said the Holy Quran preaches peace and love.

He added that any Muslim that failed to live in harmony with his neighbour, irrespective of the religious affiliation, is an infidel. He appealed to Muslims all over the country to train their children to be responsible citizens.

Sheikh Raji stated that Boko Haram is a new development in the country. It needs a concerted effort and collaboration of all wellmeaning Nigerians to bring the scourge to an end.

The former governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, charged Muslim leaders to give priority attention to their children so that they can become useful to the country.

The programme which attracted over 3000 worshippers was held at Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, in Idiaraba.

He appealed to members of the Boko Haram sect to sheathe their sword and allow peace to reign in the country. He condemned the activities of the sect in their sheding of innocent blood. He added that no problem is beyond solution, that Almighty God will intervene in the affairs of Nigeria.

Ondo From Damisi Ojo,Akure

discontinued by the state government.

According to him, “there is no iota of truth in the insinuations that government will no longer give out car loan after this set because of insufficient fund. Please don’t listen to the tale bearers. This loan is a revolving one and it is a continuous exercise.

“For the umpteenth time, I want to plead with you the beneficiaries that you should justify the good intention of government in giving out this car loan and reciprocate it by working harder in order not to render government investment on its teaching workforce a waste.

Amure praised government for the massive renovation of school buildings and construction as well as equipping of Science laboratories in selected schools across the 18 local government areas of the state as part of the efforts to revamp and upscale education at the secondary school level.

•From left: Hon. Olatunde Adepitan; the Chief Imam, Mushin Central Mosque Alhaji Sulaimon Olanijo and the Secretary to the Local Government Hon. Ismail Yahya at the prayer for peace meeting by the League of Imams and Ulamau .

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

CITYBEATS THE NATION

31

E-mail:- ynotcitybeats@gmail.com

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HE early morning downpour last Monday was not the first in Lagos State this year. But it was different because it was accompanied by a storm.

Though it lasted for about 30 minutes, it left in its wake tears and pains. Many residents are still counting their losses in the disaster a week after.

The rain started at about 7am. It did not spread to all parts of the state, but it came down heavily in areas such as Sabo, Yaba, Apapa, Mile Two, Ejigbo, Obalende, Ojo, Okokomaiko, Victoria Island and Ikoyi, where lives and properties worth several millions of naira were destroyed.

So far, about 13 people have been confirmed dead, while hundreds of houses were destroyed. Among those who died were 10 pupils of St. Mary Anglican Primary School, Igbede, who were involved in9 a boat mishap on their way to school on that fateful day.

Other public properties destroyed

Storm: Residents lament losses •Council chief donates N2million to affected victims include telecoms masts, Office of the Lagos State Public Defender, billboards, National Insurance Commission and a section of the Moremi Hall at the University of Lagos.

An affected resident at Okota axis, Mr Emmanuel James, told our reporter that he was shocked to return home mid-afternoon on that day, to discover that the roof of his building had been blown off.

"I just returned home in the afternoon from work to meet pockets of

By Miriam Ndikanwu and Duro Babayemi

water sitting on my sofa. The rug in the sitting room was totally wet and smelly. The ceiling practically came down, burdened by water. I had to go out of my way to get roof sheets and a carpenter to handle the repairs."

Also, Michael Adigun, who live in Isheri-Osun, said his family watched with fear as the storm

wreaked havoc in the neigbourhood.

"We had to be on alert because the wind was so severe. Many of my neigbours lost their roofs and the rain entered without any barrier."

Residents of Ojota community, a riverine community in Oto-Awori Local Council Development Area, who lost 10 pupils of St. Mary Anglican Primary School in a boat mishap alongside two other adults on their way to school, are still in shock

• One of the buildings affected by the storm

Lawmaker plans job fair A FEDERAL lawmaker and Leader of the House of Representatives, Surulere, Federal Constituency, Femi Gbajabiamila, has unveiled plans to hold a job fair for youths of his constituency.

Gbajabiamila, who saw the fair as a platform for job creators and job seekers to meet under one roof, said the project named Surulere Job Fair is an avenue to further deepen President Goodluck Jonathan's commitment to job creation.

"President Goodluck Jonathan in his budget presentation said there will be tax rebate based on employment which means companies that help in bringing down the level of unemployment will enjoy tax incentives.

“The Ministry of Finance and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) will work out the modelities for these rebates," Gbajabiamila added.

over the incident.

Eight families affected in the disaster cannot express their pain in words, but the gloomy atmosphere in their homes was palpable when the Lagos State Commissioner for Rural Development, Pastor Cornelius Ojelabi, who led a team of other government officials, paid a condolence visit to the community.

A 10-year-old survivor of the tragic incident, whose bravery assisted in the rescue of three other pupils, tearfully told reporters about the shock he had as he watch friends and school mates drown in the river.

The boy, whose name was given as Ade, said: "I really don't know what to say. How can I express the pain I felt watching my friends and brothers whom we left home together for school drown in the river?

There was nothing I could do other than to save myself and three other people."

• SEE PAGE 32

PHOTO: DURO BABAYEMI

Akiolu praises visionary leadership

Govt builds link road

THE Oba of Lagos, Riliwanu Osuolale Akiolu, has praised successive governments in Lagos State for their visionary leadership which has continued to place the state ahead of other states.

He gave the commendation at a lecture organised by the University of Lagos (UNILAG) as part of activities marking the 2011 convocation of the school. He said the progress witnessed during the last nine years since he became oba is an indication that the state has continued to be blessed with the right leadership.

He praised the effort of the present and immediate past governors in the state for the unprecedented facelift that has been the lot of the state and her people.

THE Lagos State government has promised to provide a link road from Ojota-Awori in Oto-Awori Local Council Development Area (LCDA) to Igbede, in Ojo Local Government Area. The project it was gathered, is to prevent further tragedies and save school-age children from boat mishaps.

No fewer than 10 children of the riverine community and wife of the Baale, Mrs Mariam Hassa, lost their lives to an enexpected tidal wave which capsized their boat on their way to Igbede.

The boat had 17 school children and two women and a driver when the incident happened, but only six children and the driver survived.

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

32

CITY BEATS Storm: Residents lament losses Continued from page 31

• State Government delegation duirng a condolence visit to the community

•Some mothers of the victims

PHOTO: MIRIAM NDIKANWU

Although the incident was a natural disaster, but the big question remains that the impact would have been mild if rules where adhered to.

Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, while lamenting the tragic incidents particularly the boat mishap said the situation has exposed the need for safety rules and regulation to be taken more seriously.

"Unfortunately and very painfully, we lost some of our children in a boat mishap in Ojo Local Government Area. It was avoidable. Again, I renew the appeal whether you want to get on to the smallest canoe in the state or whether you want to get unto the biggest ship, please use a live vest.

It will safe, accident will happen whether in the air, land or sea."

Over 100 houses including Low Cost Housing Estate Primary School, Oke-Afa junior and senior ssondary schools and the area office of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area in Jakande Estate had their roofs either totally or partially blown away by the rainstorm.

Chairman of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area, Kehinde Bamigbetan, who visited the victims to sympathise with them and assess the extent of damage, thanked God that no life was lost. At a meeting he held with the victims later in the afternoon, he assured them that both the Lagos State government and his council would provide necessary assistance for them soon.

He added that he would mobilise carpenters to the estate to carry out repairs on some of the affected buildings so that occupiers of the flats could resettle in them. He advised residents of houses that their roofs were blown away to evacuate them to a safe place, until government would find a solution to the problem.

Hon. Omowunmi Olatunji-Edet, member, Lagos State House of Assembly, representing Oshodi-Isolo Constituency 02, also attended the meeting

where she consoled the victims and assured them of Lagos State government’s support. She praised Mr Bamigbetan for rising to the occasion. Officials of Lagos state Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), visited the estate to also assess the damage.

As parts of arrangements to assist the victims, Bamigbetan has directed them to register their names at the special centre opened by the council at the estate with photos of their damaged properties. He also directed the works department of the council to get accurate estimate of repair cost.

As part of the support by the local government, victims of the disaster in Jakande Estate,OkeAfa in Ejigbo Local Council Development Area of Lagos State heaved a sigh of relief on Tuesday,when Bamigbetan announced the donation of N2 million, to carry out repairs on some of the blocks of flats affected by the rainstorm.

He stated that the money released by the council was a demonstration of his administration’s commitment to the well-being of the people.

Bamigbetan explained to them that the money will be used to effect repairs on buildings that had their roofs blown off partially. He added that the team of engineers from the council, after taking inventory of the damaged buildings and calculating the total cost that will be required to put the 288 buildings affected back to shape, arrived at an estimate of N57 million.

However, enumeration of affected victims have started by the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA).

LASEMA General Manger, Dr. Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, said the enumeration would enable them to ascertain the destruction to make the necessary recommendation.

He warned Lagosians to avoid unnecessary and needless panic, as it happened during the January 2002 Oke-Afa, Ikeja Bomb Blast that led to loss lives of innocent Lagosians. He said the agency is ready to provide the necessary assistance and support in case of any emergency and disaster in the state.

Govt warns against non-compliance with planning law

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OMMISSIONER for Physical Planning and Urban Development Mr Olutoyin Ayinde has warned developers who build at night or on Sundays to desist or face the wrath of the law.

He said any structure doesn't conform to the state's planning rules would be pulled down. It urged support for the new planning law in the state.

Ayinde, a town planner, stated this at an interactive session aimed at improving residents' awareness on the procedures for obtaining development permits and building in conformity with approved laws of the state at Alausa secretariat.

The event, the second in the series, had stakeholders in the built environment in the Ikeja, Local Government, and Ojodu and Onigbongbo Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs), getting tips on sidestepping challenges to getting approved building plans from officials of the Physical Planning and Development Authority (LSPPDA).

Ayinde, who listed the need to conform strictly to global planning

By Yinka Aderibigbe

standard, and ensuring better physical environment for sustainable development as reasons behind the law, said the session was put in place to obtain the co-operation of residents.

He said just as the law makes it illegal to build without approved plans, it is also mandatory for all multi-storey buildings, especially public buildings such as hospitals, schools, churches, mosques, airports, eateries and filling stations etc, must have facilities to aid the mobility of the physically chal-

‘

lenged persons.

He said the government has held a meeting with owners of filling stations where they have been directed to construct conveniences for public use.

Earlier, LSPPDA's Acting General Manager, Mrs Bola Adefihan, said effective implementation of the laws "requires agreement and coordinated action by a wide variety of actors from the public and private sector."

She listed issues that have continued to attract attention in the planning law to include among others: creation of a building con-

The need to conform strictly to global planning standards, and ensuring better physical environment for sustainable development as reasons behind the law said the session was put in place to obtain the co-operation of residents a fact he asserted is critical to the implementation of the law

’

trol agency distinct from building permit authority, to achieve zero tolerance for illegal developments; need for owners of any building above two floors to obtain general contractor all risk insurance policy certificate; provision of access, safety, and toilet facilities for the physically challenged persons in all public and commercial buildings; and provision of planting of tres and greenery.

Other issues include: regulation and inspection of building works and certification of various stages of construction; identification and removal of distressed buildings to prevent collapse; issuance of certificate of completion and fitness for habitation; provision for building services such as materials testing, evaluation, fire and public control; and the setting up of the physical planning and building agency appeal committee among others.

Chairman of Ikeja Local Government, Mr Adewale Odunlami, tasked the obas, bales and chiefs at the event as custodians of the land, to assist the government in achieving the Ikeja model city master plan.

Officials of the agency enlight-

ened the participants of issues relating to acquiring government's excision from acquisition, obtaining building plan approvals, and other issues relating to building development.

They urged residents to ensure that their properties have the necessary titles and approvals because only such buildings have value in the built environment.

The House Committee Chairman on Urban Planning and Physical Development, Mr Adewale Egberoungbe, said the state stands to gain more if the people adhere strictly to planning regulations.

Egberoungbe said properties that were illegally built usually become hideouts for miscreants while those without building plan approvals ultimately lose their market value.

Residents urged the government to do more in enlightenment. They called on the government to construct a pedestrian bridge in Onipetesi area to reduce the carnage on the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway.

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

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

STATE AGENCIES 3. LASTMA Emergency Numbers: 080-75005411; 080-60152462 080-23111742; 080-29728371 080-23909364; 080-77551000 01-7904983

4. KAI Brigade Phone Nos: 080-23036632; 0805-5284914 Head office Phone Nos: 01-4703325; 01-7743026 5. Rapid Response Squad (RRS) Phone Nos: 070-55350249; 070-35068242 080-79279349; 080-63299264

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

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

33

CITY BEATS FROM THE GRASSROOTS

Ojodu LCDA distributes 100 UMTE forms to students

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HE Chairman, Ojodu Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Julius Oloro, has distributed 100 Unified Tertiary MatriculationExamination (UTME) forms to indigent students in the area.

He also distributed another 100 forms for admission into the council's Vocational Training Centre.

Speaking during the distribution of the forms, at the Ojodu LCDA Secretariat, Oloro said the forms would pave way for youths in the area to gain admission into the tertiary institutions, graduate and

become useful in the society as future leaders.

Oloro said the distribution would be an annual event, adding that the council would soon set up a scholarships board to give scholarship to indigent students in the area.

He added that the Vocational Training Centre would train the youths to acquire skills in hairdressing, barbing, arts and craft and computer software training.

The council boss said his administration values education as it is the foundation for any meaningful achievement in human endeav-

our, while vocational training was also very crucial in sustaining people to be self-employed.

"We also have in the pipeline the training of 250 youths. These the youths within our LCDA would be empowered in the art of securing good jobs for themselves, having been tutored on skills of attending interviews and other detailed intrigues of getting good and reliable jobs.

"The second part would be training on web design, repair of laptops, GSM phones and script writing. All these would make them self-reliant and create job opportunities for them."

AGOS State House of Assembly Committee on Local Government Administration and Chieftaincy Affairs has praised the Chairman of Isolo Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Shamsudeen Olaleye, over his achievements in the last 100 days.

Committee Chairman, Moshood Oshun, who led his team, visited the council to assess the level of development in the council and how well residents have been able to benefit from it.

Oshun and other members had earlier visited the council secretariat where he had praised the council boss for all he has been able to achieve in less than four months.

Said Oshun: "I was somewhere within the local government some days ago and I saw some people gathered. Out of curiosity, I came down from my car to find out what was happening and was told they were praying for the council chairman. They said the particular road on which they were standing was reconstructed by him.

"They said the road was abandoned for many years by the past administration and that immediately the man came in, he graded it and reconstructed it. I was really happy to hear this because it shows you are implementing our party, Action Congress of Nigeria

L

Lawmakers applaud Isolo council boss' achievements

By Oziegbe Okoeki

(ACN’s) agenda," Oshun said.

He, however, advised Olaleye to continue in the trend, not to relent in his effort at ensuring that those that voted him enjoy the dividends of democracy.

The committee, thereafter, moved to Oko-Mallam Primary School in Ilasamaja, to inspect a block of six classrooms furnished with desks and benches to accommodate about 50 pupils in each of the classrooms, newly built by the council chief. Each of the classrooms was also equipped with two ceiling fans, fluorescent bulbs and a marker board.

Speaking on how he has been able to achieve such in just 100 days, Olaleye said he made promises to the electorate during the electioneering campaign "and that is why I swung into action immediately after the election. The council staff and the legislative arm have been very supportive as well," Olaleye said.

House summons Commissioner over storm

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• Oloro (middle) with council officials and beneficiaries

Legislators score council boss high

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HE Lagos State House of Assembly, Chieftaincy and Local Government Committee has scored the Oshodi-Isolo council Chairman, Bolaji Ariyoh, high for improving the lives of the people.

The commendation was made by the legislators during their oversight function to the local government.

Chairman, House Committee on Chieftaincy Affairs, Hon Moshood Oshun, said Ariyoh has proved to the people that he would transform Oshodi.

"So far so good. He has done wonderfully well and the people of Oshodi have told us he is doing well. We will be here every quarter to make sure he is on track," he said.

He called on the council legislators to give the chairman the needed support to achieve his administration’s goals of bringing the dividends of democracy to the people of Oshodi.

Hon Ahmed Omisore stated that the purpose of the committee’s visit was to assess the activities of the chairman and to know whether he is acceptable to the people or not.

"Our mission here is to establish whether he is an acceptable man and what he has done in the local government. So far so good he has been able to take care of some

‘

By Amidu Arije

roads, he has been able to make himself accessible to the people, he has been able to carry the monarchs and the community development associations along, all these are indicators that the chairman want to succeed," he said.

Ariyoh thanked the committee for their visit to the council and promised to do more to make sure his administration's goals are achieved within the shortest possible time.

"With God on our side we will deliver the dividends of democracy to our people," he said.

"Let me stress that your committee is very key to achieving success in all local government, in Lagos State. This visit will, therefore, avail you the opportunity to get to know more about our local government and indeed our cardinal programmes," he added.

"My administration is not unmindful of its responsibilities to the teeming populace of Oshodi, hence we have mapped out plans to make our impact felt in the provision of basic infrastructural facilities spread across the seven wards of the local government," he said.

"It is imperative to mention that roads rehabilitation, draining of channels of water, potable borehole water, effective primary health care services, security of lives and properties, access to qualitative func-

Let me stress that your committee is very proactive because of the roles you are expected to perform in assessing achievements and developments in all local government in Lagos State

’

tional and free universal basic education, women empowerment and other socio welfare schemes are basically our priorities," Ariyoh said.

He said he was glad at the warm acceptability of the people of Oshodi of his administration's plan for them.

"I am so glad and proud of the people of Oshodi and I will say thank you to them because they received me for the works we have embarked on and we have a lot of projects to carry out. We are trying to transform Oshodi for the best," he added.

EMBERS of the Lagos State House of Assembly have summoned the state Commissioner for the Environment, Tunji Bello to explain his Ministry's preparedness to combat the menace of heavy downpour in the state.

The call was sequel to a motion moved at the plenary by member representing Eti-Osa Constituency 2, Gbolahan Yishawu, under Matters of Urgent Public Importance. He noted that the Monday morning storm wrecked havoc in some parts of the state.

Yishawu said the rain damaged properties and also claimed lives, noting that there is need for the state Ministry of the Environment to wake up to their responsibility before things start to get out of hand.

The lawmaker, however, sympathised with the family of those who died as a result of a mast that fell at Lekki area

By Oziegbe Okoeki

during the downpour.

The lawmakers, while debating the issue, said the weather forecast revealed that there is going to be heavy rains this year and there is the need for government to do something to combat flooding in the state.

Members also resolved to organise a Town Hall meeting to educate their constituents on how to manage their drainages in order to combat flooding.

Sanai Agunbiade representing Ikorodu Constituency 1, noted that there is the need for the government to start enforcing laws on environmental sanitation, especially dormant laws.

They also used the medium to call on chairmen of local government and local council development areas to clear drainages that are in their areas to prevent flood.

• From left: Hon Ariyoh, Hon Oshun, Oba of Ewutuntun, Oba Shasindeen Kuti and Hon Omisore, during the visit of the Lagos State House of Assembly members to the local government

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

34

CITYBEATS

QUOTE

OF THE

WEEK

The proliferation of churches in every nook and cranny of the country and its attendant management problems will not bring a change.

What we need is to transform lives.

President of International Church Growth (ICG), Pastor Francis Bola Akin-John, at a conference of Christian leaders in Lagos.

Lagos to meet residents' water needs

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ITH the inauguration of the new Iponri mini-water works, Lagos State has achieved over 70 per cent of the water demands of its 18 million residents, Governor Babatunde Fashola has said.

Fashola, who stated this while opening the new facility last week, described the World Bank-assisted project; which is the second of the six slated for construction across the state, as part of his administration’s short term platform aimed at making safe potable water readily available to the people.

He said: "One of the strategies the state government has adopted in the last 13 years is to ensure that we embark on aggressive provision of this essential commodity because water is not only life, but is also central to the prevention of diseases and infections. We want our people to be alive and healthy.

That is why we are doing everything possible to see that we take water to wherever our people are living. We know that wherever there is water, there is improved health care, cholera is eradicated and diarrhea becomes a thing of the past."

The governor, however, challenged the Lagos State Water Corporation to begin an aggressive water enlightenment campaign, aimed at educating the people to embrace water Switch p r e s e r v a t i o n , conservation and off hygien. He urged residents to pay bore their water bill to holes strengthen the corporation's ca-

By Yinka Aderibigbe

pacity to improve its capacity to deliver water always.

"We have published all our telephone numbers, including that of members of the executive. Whenever you see any broken pipes, always bring such to our attention, we have the capacity to offer immediate repairs. Wherever there is a problem, call us. We are ready to offer services if you call us to do so," Fashola said.

He said the state is better off with a network of water works projects than having all residents dig their own boreholes.

"We are better off if we have the mini water works everywhere that if we have a network of boreholes.

Let us begin to shut those boreholes they have long term harmful effects on our environment and the well-being of our state. Let us all embrace the water being supplied by the corporation," he said.

Earlier, the Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Mr Sayo Holloway, listed epileptic power supply, low revenue generation, and activities of saboteurs as some challenges the agency faces daily in bringing water to the homes of residents. He added that the dedicated 12.5 megawatts Independent power project (IPP), built for Iju and Adiyan water works has increased the production capacity of the corporation by more than 90 percent.

Holloway, who said the corporation spends an average of N2 billion to procure water treatment chemicals monthly, said it is painful residents still find it difficult to pay its monthly bill which is as low

as N500, with the highest charge being N2,500. He said with a bill that amounts to N80 per day, the corporation's services is ranked cheapest anywhere in the world.

"Our water charge is very cheap, one of the cheapest in the world. So we would implore residents to continue to support what we do so that we would be able to do more," Holloway added.

He said the Iponri mini water works, the second World Bank project to be completed under the short term strategic platform, has an installed capacity of one million litres of water per day, (Imwpd) and will serve 23,000 residents, especially those within Alaka Estate, Alaka Police barracks, and environs.

The contract, which was handled

by CTC Engineering Ltd, a Chinese company, took 18 months to complete.

Head of the World Bank team, Mr Hassan Kida, expressed the delight of the global institution in seeing the actualisation of the second of the six mini-water works already approved by the World Bank for the state.

Kida said: "As the population of Lagos keeps growing, there is tremendous pressure being put on existing infrastructure, including water which informs the need to continue to expand the capacity to generate more for the people. The World Bank is not only partnering with the government in the area of water alone, we are also involved in roads, slum upgrading and other infrastructure needs aimed at making Lagos a working megacity."

•The Iponri mini-water works tank. Inset: Fashola, (2nd left) being conducted round by Tony Alifa (right) and Managing Director, Lagos State Water Corporation, Mr Shayo Holloway (left). With them is the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr Lateef Raji (2nd right)

OVERNOR, Babatunde Fashola (SAN) has endorsed plans by the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), to extend the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) services to Ikorodu town.

Speaking during a visit to the proposed bus terminal area at Mile 12, Fashola said he had "promised to build this road (Mile 12 to Ikorodu town) and expand it. So, this is one (Mile 12) location for the terminus for the BRT." He said his visit to Mile 12 was to see the layout of the proposed terminal, expressing satisfaction with the work done so far to actualise the project. Fashola said in implementing the project, "we are trying to work with the transport unions to relocate them from their current site and get first hand information about the local issues on site that require government attention.

"While all this is going on clearly the economic imperatives would follow, among which are job creation and the development for our

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• Items donated by Olulade

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HAIRMAN of the House Committee on Information, Strategy and Security of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Segun Olulade, has donated food items to the less privileged.

The donation was to the Home of God's Grace For Orphans and Widows, Agbowa Ikosi. The items included bags of rice, beans and kegs of groundnut oil, cartons of tissue paper, toothpaste and beverages.

The lawmaker said the gesture is his way of showing love to the less privileged and to put smiles on their faces. "I want to encourage all wellmeaning Nigerians to use this period to show love and cater for the less privileged in our society", Olulade said,

Lawmaker donates to orphanage

By Oziegbe Okoeki

In a related development, Olulade was presented with the award of 'The outstanding personality of the Year 2011/2012' by a group, the National Association of Care and Voluntary Service Providers' in conjunction with 'Beautiful Angels Orphanage'.

The award, according to the awardee, is in recognition of Olulade's outstanding performance and exemplary leadership qualities coupled with his concern and assistance to the needy in the society.

Founder/President of the orphanage, Mrs. Grace Boluwajoko, who

said she has 85 widows and 55 orphans in her home, thanked the lawmaker for his kind gesture. He prayed that God would lift him higher in his political career.

Making the presentation at the Assembly complex, National President of the group, Elizabeth Olashubomi, said the lawmaker was picked for the award because "he is good at his job, he knows what he is doing. He is kind, interacts with people and supports people outside, especially the less privileged," Olashubomi said.

Thanking the association for the award, Olulade, who represents Epe 2 constituency, said the honour, " will

also inspire me to do more in the area of assisting the needy in our society.”

He also said he felt flattered that as a first timer in the Assembly he was being singled out for the award by the group. He said: "Every Nigerian should wake up to the call that every child on the street is his child. We must be able to take care of them and see them as ours. Every meaningful Nigerian should continue to be supportive of the orphanages," Olulade said.

The lawmaker said: "No matter how little you have you must be able to support them.”

Fashola extends BRT to Ikorodu

By Yinka Aderibigbe

state," Fashola said.

A representative of the National Union Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Alhaji Omotayo Onadeko, praised the governor's commitment for the development of the BRT while also putting the interest of the mini buses (danfos) into consideration.

He said it is gratifying that the state government is developing a park, which could accommodate more than 50 mini buses, for the NURTW at Mile 12.

"We are grateful to the governor for considering us in the modernisation of the bus system.

We particularly praise your Excellency for ensuring that we are provided with another bus park. I can recall that when we were under the bridge at Mile 12 prior to the coming of BRT, LAMATA told us we were going to be relocated and true to their words, they provided a very good park for us. We are comfortable with the new arrangement,” he said.

While briefing Fashola, Managing Director, LAMATA, Dr. Dayo Mobereola, said the authority required a parcel of land for the bus terminal for the BRT extension, which would further boost transportation activities around Lagos.

He added that the visit of the Governor to the proposed terminal site marked the State Government commitment to delivering the project as promised to further the socio-economic gains of the administration.

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

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S part of its commitments towards ensuring that all parts of the state are developed, the Ekiti State Government has spent N100m in the development of the rural communities.

The projects are being executed through the State Community and Social Development Agency (EKCSDA).

The funding was meant to actualise government’s plan to make towns and villages in Ekiti relatively developed in a bid to improve the lives of citizens and attract investments by year 2014.

Presenting cheques of N2.5m to Isan and Ipere- Ekiti communities, as part of the programme, the Deputy Governor, Mrs Funmilayo Olayinka, disclosed that government has released N100m to EKCSDA as its counterpart funding for infrastructural developments of some rural communities.

She added that the step was taken to demonstrate the determination of the administration of Governor Kayode Fayemi to make life bet-

Ekiti spends N100m on rural development From Suleiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

ter for people of Ekiti irrespective of where they live.

She further explained that government is committed to pursuing its 8-point agenda to a logical conclusion, emphasising that infrastructural development is a key point of the agenda, even as

she added that government has discovered that EKCSDA is a veritable and worthy stakeholder for the execution of micro-projects in rural communities.

The Deputy Governor also explained that the cheques of N1, 116,564.75 and N1, 458,236.00m given to Isan and Ipere-Ekiti respectively were the first part of the money approved for these communities to carry out their micro-

Government is committed to pursuing its 8-point agenda to a logical conclusion, emphasising that infrastructural development is a key point of the agenda…Government has discovered that EKCSDA is a veritable and worthy stakeholder for the execution of micro-projects in rural communities

projects, promising that the outstanding amount would be released to them as the projects progressed.

Mrs. Olayinka thanked the World Bank for its support to the state government in encouraging development in the state. She also praised the board and members of staff of EKCSDA for their commitment and passion for development at the grassroots as being witnessed in nearly all communities.

Speaking at the occasion, the General Manager of EKCSDA, Mr. Steve Bamisaye commended Governor Kayode Fayemi for his support for the agency and for the prompt release of the state counterpart funds of N100m.

He added that the governor’s support and encouragement since assumption of office has assisted

the agency in carrying out its responsibilities.

Urging other communities to utilise the opportunity offered by the government through the agency to execute developmental projects of their dream, he implored Isan and Ipere-Ekiti people to see the community projects as their own.

She enjoined them to join hands with the Community Project Monitoring Committee, (CPMC), that has been trained by the agency on how to execute projects in line with the World Bank policy.

The EKCSDA boss also admonished the CPMC to be prudent and use the money judiciously for the projects they are meant for, adding that government and the World Bank will not tolerate any form of misappropriation of funds as it will deal decisively with anybody involved in such act.

Community thanks son over scholarship scheme

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T was all praises for the former chairman of Labour Party, in Ondo State, Dr. Olaiya Oni as he awarded scholarship to over 93 students in the Akoko community penultimate week. The people of Akoko, especially people from IseAkoko community trooped out en masse to sing his praises for the rare gesture.

The scholarship scheme was established under the Omonije Foundation in remembrance his late mother. This year’s programme was worth over N2m.

Through this, several graduates have been produced since the beginning of the scheme some years back.

This year, only 43 students in tertiary institutions and 50 students in secondary schools including some choir members of St. Silas Anglican Church who were well disciplined in church activities benefited from the scholarship.

Students in tertiary institution received N40, 000 each while those in secondary schools received N20, 000 each.

One of the beneficiaries, Miss.

Ololufe Deborah Adesola, a student of Adeyemi College of Education in Ondo praised the founder for his kind gesture, saying she has been benefiting from the scheme since the past four years.

She noted that the scheme had produced many graduates who ordinarily would have ended up their careers as uneducated.

Adesola described Oni as a Godsent to the community, especially those who are not able to pay their children’s school fees.

From Leke Akeredolu, Akure

“Baba Olaiya Oni has played a major role in my career and I will continue to be grateful to him and his entire family because he is father of all fathers. We want more people to emulate him by fighting illiteracy in our society through granting of scholarships to bright but indigent students,” she said.

Another beneficiary, Mr. Moses Apolo, a student of Ayegbe Comprehensive Grammar School in IseAkoko also praised the founder, saying the gesture has brought relief to his parents.

Apolo said the major activities in the community was farming, stressing that the former Minister of Education has encouraged the youth to be focused on their studies.

Miss Komolafe Taye, a student of Ayegbe Comprehensive Grammar School urged politicians to always give back to their community through empowerment programmes.

The former Special Adviser to Governor Olusegun Mimiko on Strategy and Planning, Hon. Saka Lawal described Oni as a leader and a politician who cares much about his people.

Oni said the aim was to bring succour to parents of such indigent students especially those who lack financial muscle to send their children to school.

He posited that the scholarship package was in three categories which included the tertiary institutions, secondary schools and

•From left: Senator Ajayi Boroffice and the late Ondo State Governor’s son, Adegboyega Adefarati some choir members who had been well disciplined in church activities.

He disclosed that over 43 students from tertiary institutions spread across the country benefited from the scheme, which according to him, would be going home with N40,00 each, while each of the secondary school students would get N20,000 each.

Oni, who was a former Minister of Education stated that “I used to give each of the tertiary institution

•From Left to Right; Oba David Adetunji Aweloye II, the Irinjale of Ise-Ekiti, Dr. Olaiya Oni’s wife Oluremi and Dr. Olaiya Oni

students N60, 000, while secondary school students were given N40, 000 each, but the community then appealed to me to reduce the amount given to each beneficiary in order to increase the number of students that would benefit from the scheme.

The former Labour Party chietains who instituted the scholarship scheme in remembrance of her late mother, described her as a one in a million.

“She made me what I am today.

That is why every year, since her death, I made a vow to be giving back to my community and its environs in her name.

“This scholarship is meant for brilliant children but who lack the financial opportunities to go to school. If you are in the university and are beneficiaries of the scheme, you will enjoy it for four years, while those in polytechnics will enjoy this gesture for two year. But such person can re-apply during his HND programmes.

Earlier, in his sermon, the Bishop of Akoko Diocese, Rt. Rev. Gabriel

Akinbiyi urged politicians to be cheerful giver, describing Oni as generous man, who always seeks wisdom from God in all his undertakings.

He prayed for peace in the country, reiterating that Nigeria needs to work together as a country, warning politicians to shun any threat to the unity of the country.

The event was attended by prominent men and women who are indigenous to Akoko community as well on members of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) including Senator Ajayi Boroffice, Senator Omololu Meroyi, Hon. Saka Lawal, Hon. Joseph Ajatta, Hon. Gboyega Adefarati, and Commissioner for Local Government and Community Development, Mr. Dayo Fadipe.

Others were the Lisa of Akureland, High Chief Olusoga James, ACN State Secretary, Adegboyega Adedipe, state treasurer of ACN, Engr. Ade Adetimehin, former Ondo lawmaker, Hon. Otito Atikase, among others.

This scholarship is meant for brilliant children but who lack the financial opportunities to go to school. If you are in the university and are beneficiaries of the scheme, you will enjoy it for four years, while those in polytechnics will enjoy this gesture for two year. But such person can re-apply during his HND programmes

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

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•Hon Oyesanya (middle), his wife Alhaja Omolola (third right) anf other guests

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HE council chairman of Ikosi-Isheri Local Council Development Area, Hon. Abdul Fatai Oyesanya, has empowered not less than 170 people in the council as he gave food items and empowered others.

The council chair disclosed this at the celebration of his hundred days in office at the council secretariat.

Hon. Oyesanya promised to continue to make life meaningful to the people of the council by continuously transforming their lives, ensure security of life and properties cum social infrastructural development.

“During my campaign, I promised to improve the lives of the people as God enables me and I have been able to implement some of the promises made,” he

Council chair gives account of stewardship

By Amidu Arije

said.

“Today, 55 street managers have been employed to aid our administration’s employment wealth generation promise and we are still moving ahead. We

have also provided food items to 120 people and gave out monetary assistance to traders to boost their business,” he said.

Hon. Oyesanya said that 80 traders were given N5,000 each to boost their business to make live meaningful as part of his administration’s programmes,”.

He had been able to rehabilitate eight major roads and had improved the state of the health sector. Capital and infrastructural development projects have also been carried out during our administration in office

He also stated that his administration will not be tired of making life easy for the people of his council as he would continue door-todoor campaign for the people as dividends of democracy.

While giving account of his activities in office for the last hundred days, Hon. Oyesanya told the people that he had been able to rehabilitate eight major roads and had improved the state of the health sector.

Capital and infrastructural development projects have also been carried out during our administration in office.

The health care of our people has not been left out, as we had the community outreach to boost ante-natal attendance at

Gunwa Market. The council also supported the state initiated programme of free hypertension and diabetes screening in which over 1,000 people were screened last December ,” he said.

The council chair also promised to improve the state of primary education in the council.

“The education sector should look forward gladly as we intend to launch the party policy of free education,” he said.

The occasion was graced by the state Deputy Chairman and Lagos-East Senatorial leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Hon, Sikiru Adebayo Osinowo, Tunde Braimoh and the Oba of Ikosi among others.

Obosi: Saving a kingdom from self destruction

•Orizu •Continued from Page 29 names that had been behind Obosi killings and destruction of property which included the present monarch.

Yet, the state CID has refused to arrest them even though some of them, including the monarch, has made statements and were equally invited by the command. Till now, they have not reported to the police.

In the circumstances, some senior citizens of the community have called on the Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Abubakar to, as a matter of urgency; order the ar-

rest of the other persons mentioned by the suspect.

One of the community leaders Emeka Orizu told Newsextra that: “Until those people are arrested, we still believe that peace will not return to Obosi land.

“These people are working freely boasting that the police cannot do anything to them. We have continued to leave in fear. People cannot go about their normal businesses.

We want the Inspector-General of Police to use his good offices to bring peace to the community.

Continuing, Orizu said: “To the best of my knowledge, we still do not have any traditional ruler.

Igwe Nwakobi is still in the process of “Nnaba” which lasts for one year. Our monarch joined his ancestors on September 10, 2011 and I cannot see the reason why somebody will start claiming to be a new king when the traditional “Nnaba” process in Obosi is yet to be observed.

“For now, this kingdom called Obosi does not have a traditional ruler. Whoever claims to be there is just wasting his time.”

Nnaba is a period when the monarch is given his last respect in Obosi Kingdom and the last outing by the monarch will be observed by the first son after one year of mourning by the community. Obosi is still in a mourning period that will last a year after his departure while his first son will

now preside over his last outing on earth. That is the day it will be announced to the whole world that the monarch has joined his ancestors.

Also speaking with Newsextra, Obiajulu said: “Nobody is fighting anybody. We are trying to put our town in order. Whatever that affects Obosi, affects the entire Anambra State. I come from the original kingmakers (the Ezechime) in this kingdom.

“Some of them are talking but they prefer talking in their homes and backyards instead of making their opinions count in the public.

But I believe that peace will quickly return to this community immediately the purported traditional ruler steps out of that seat because it is not meant for him.

“And that was because he started nursing the ambition of becoming

the traditional ruler of Obosi Kingdom for long. Honestly, Obosi has a lot of people that matter in the society. It is a good town. What we want is for our elders to tell us the truth. We have the people that wrote our constitution and they are signatories to it and at the end of the day, they cannot come and defend what they wrote and signed.

“Chief Emeka Anyaoku, for instance, cannot come out to defend the constitution he signed, Chief Chimezie Ikeazor (SAN), a respected legal icon in Nigeria cannot defend what he signed, Nwosu, a retired Deputy ComptrollerGeneral of Customs and others cannot defend the constitution the signed.”

“They know that there is constitution in Awka, yet people are turning our constitution upside down. When Governor Peter Obi visited the com-

To the best of my knowledge, we still do not have any traditional ruler. Igwe Nwakobi is still in the process of “Nnaba” which lasts for one year. Our monarch joined his ancestors on September 10, 2011 and I cannot see the reason why somebody will start claiming to be a new king when the traditional “Nnaba” process in Obosi is yet to be observed

munity in December 2011, he challenged them to start telling their children the truth and we are urging him to look into the constitution and use his power to stop A.C. Iweka from parading himself as the traditional ruler of Obosi. What he is doing now is sending our children to collect money illegally from the tenants living in Obosi and other atrocities, using some of the young boys in Obosi whom he armed with guns. This has led to increase in criminal activities. What happened in Obosi land is akin to a “military coup.”

Recall that the Obosi crisis had taken the lives of many people, while uncountable numbers of persons were injured and property worth billions of Naira destroyed.

When one of the kingpins was arrested penultimate week, there was jubilation in the area and most people believe that with the mention of some notable figures by the suspect, and perhaps, their arrest, peace will return to Obosi.

The people believe that some of the elders in the area, especially people like Chief Emeka Anyaoku and others have failed the youth by not telling the truth.

For now, they want security agents, in conjunction with the elders in Obosi, to look into the procedure for selecting traditional ruler in Obosi land and correct the anomaly by stopping Iweka from parading himself as their ruler.

If this is not done, the community may witness mayhem in no distant time.

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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

I have never seen the kind of thunderstorm in my life; within 30 minutes, we had large volume of destruction of properties of our people and public infrastructure in our council

Council plans to compensate thunderstorm victims

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HAIRMAN of Itire-Ikate Local Council Development Area, Hon. Hakeem Bamgbola has called on the victims of last Monday thunderstorm that wrecked havoc on the community to show up with pictorial proof for compensation.

Bamgbola who alongside members of his cabinet visited some areas affected by the storm in his council condoled with the people.

Reports reaching Newsextra showed that many people have been rendered homeless and properties worth millions of naira were destroyed.

Bamgbola described the incident as very devastating.

“I have never seen that kind of thunderstorm in my life; within 30 minutes, we had large volume of destruction of properties of our people and public infrastructure in our council,” he said.

He hailed the Lagos State Emergency Maintenance Agency (LASEMA) and National Emergency Maintenance Agency (NEMA) for visiting the area to assess the level of destruction.

“The two agencies are still working on the value of the losses so as to know what the state government will do to ameliorate the affected people. A lot of places were affected – some areas in Ijesha and Itire were badly damaged including buildings,” he said.

The havoc, he said, has taught the council and residents some lessons.

“It is a clear indication of climate change which the state government has been enlightening Lagosians for some years. We should make our environment healthy, always clear the drainage and brace up for the chal-

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ENTAL health problems remain a huge stigma in Nigeria with most people, even families of victims, choosing to ignore them in the hope that the problems will simply go on its own.

The problems, however, rarely vanish, and whether an individual’s problems are severe or mild, if not treated, can result in exclusion from society, loss of work, and breakdown in relationships.

•Hon. Oshun (with mic) commissioning the buses procured by the council chairman for the IGR committee and other offices. With him are (from right) Balogun; Bamgbola and Hon. Segun Olulade He equally enjoined members of the works still need to be done.

Meanwhile, the council has inaugu“By the time we will be returning rated an independent Internally Gen- committee to be diligent in dischargBy Tajudeen Adebanjo to this council, we want to see new erated Revenue (IGR) committee to ing their duties.

Chairman, LAHA Committee on projects initiated and completed. We help the council raise its IGR. lenges ahead.

Bamgbola appealed to residents in Local Governments Hon Olanrewaju have gone round and happy with your He urged the residents to desist from the council especially artisans to co- Oshun commended the Bamgbola-led performance. Like Oliver Twist, the the habit of dumping refuse in the operate with the body in discharging administration for setting up the IGR people will always ask for more and drainage and canals. we believe you are up to the task,” committee. their duties.

Chief Whip, Lagos State House of Oshun admitted that the council’s Oshun said.

He warned the people not to pay Assembly (LAHA) Hon Rasak cash to any of the body’s officials IGR Committee is as viable as that of Bamgbola thanked the committee Balogun expressed regret over the rather pay to the bank. for taking time to visit the council’s the state government. damage caused by the storm.

He equally hailed the council chair- projects.

“It is in line with the law recently Balogun lamented the huge loss of passed by the assembly to create such man for the numerous laudable “Our council, he admitted, is very private and public properties. small but powerful because of the committee and mandate people to projects he has completed.

He urged the residents to be wary pay their dues to stipulated banks,” He urged him and his team not to arrays of quality personalities. We are of repercussion of the climate change. he said. rest on their oars noting that more a united family,” he said.

Increase in mental illness worries Oyo residents From Bode Durojaiye, Oyo

Families usually struggle to find help, but in Nigeria, most members of the victim’s household remain nonchalant or helpless in the face of the daunting problem.

The result of this is that many people

are suffering unnecessarily. In worst cases, the mentally ill people are subjected to dehumanising situations.

Most times they are chained, beaten, and subjected to terrible abuse, sometimes at the hands of those who they have turned to for treatment.

In spite of highly effective and affordable treatments which have be-

Senior Special Assistant to Governor of Osun State on Millennium Development Goals, Alhaji Abdullahi Binuyo (second left) presenting the key of a motorcycle to one of the beneficiaries of Zakat distribution by Zakat and Sadakat Foundation (ZSF). With them are ZSF Executive Director, Imam Abdullahi Shuaib (right) and chairman of the foundation, Prince Sulayman Olagunju

come more available, Nigerians are not fully benefiting from such facility.

However, a pathetic situation is the ancient town of Oyo in Oyo State, where there is a large number of young people with mental disorders.

It is estimated that about 200 lunatics are in the town.

Investigation showed that most of these people suffering from mental disorder, who were non-indigenes, were brought and dumped from outside the ancient town, by some well– meaning individuals after using them for money rituals.

It is also alleged that some residents often sleep with these female mentally ill at night; with the consequence of their getting pregnant and abandoned, without any one caring for them.

Although, it was gathered that some good–spirited individuals do come to their assistance by taking them to the health centres, in some cases, as well as provide for their needs for safe delivery.

According to statistics from the Department of Community Medicine, University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, approximately, one in five of the world’s youth, 15 years and younger, suffer from mild to severe mental disorders.

A large number of these children remain undetected and untreated. It noted that mental health is one of the more recently added components of primary healthcare.

“In Nigeria, 28.5 per cent of those in an urban area are said to have psychiatric morbidity. The disintegration of the traditional, extended family sys-

tem is due to factors such as economic migration. Concerns for job security and the economic survival of the household can also create enormous pressure in individuals, which may, in turn, affect their mental health.”

The study also revealed that the adolescent age group was found to have higher psychiatric morbidity when compared to the adults.

It underlines the effect of family structure on the mental health of the population, adding that marriage was found to be associated with mental stability.

Those separated from their spouses, divorcees and widows, the study indicated, had a higher mental morbidity.

“Sticking to acceptable family structures may create mental tension in the communities. Aspiring to measure up to the community’s standards is usually a common source of mental illness. Again, large family size and unemployment was also found to be associated with increase in psychiatric morbidity.”

The adolescent period is a turbulent one in life when there is a transition into adulthood and self autonomy.

While stating that the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity is high in the state, the study stressed the need for mental health promotional services for the rural population.

It added: “Basic essential needs provided by the government in both rural and urban areas, especially made available to the younger generation and promotion of family planning to reduce family size, would help to reduce psychiatric morbidity and improve quality of life in the Africa population.

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

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THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

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MOTORING HUNDRED foreign firms will participate in the Seventh edition of the Lagos International Motor Fair scheduled to hold at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), Lagos in April.

Managing Director, BKG Exhibition Mr Ifeanyi Agwu disclosed this to motoring correspondents in Lagos.

Agwu said a partnership deal has been sealed with international fair organisers, such as SENEXPO of Turkey and other international partners.

He noted that the company’s decision to partner international fair organisers was borne out of the ambition to be the leading auto fair in Africa.

He said no fewer than 200,000 visitors are expected to take advantage of the presence of over 100 foreign

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Foreign firms for Lagos Motor Fair

By Tajudeen Adebanjo

manufacturers and distributors, majorly auto spare parts at the fair.

“100 foreign original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have already been confirmed to attend the fair. In the next five years, we are targeting 5,000 OEMs in Africa and will become the biggest auto expo organisers in the continent.”

Agwu said Nigeria is the second leading economy in Africa after South Africa. “We have to take advantage of what is happening in other parts of Africa to position Nigeria as a leading economy,” he said.

Local auto spare parts dealers,

auto firms, among others, he said, have also expressed willingness to be at the fair.

“We owe it a duty to Lagos, Nigeria and ourselves to promote the Lagos Motor Fair as a leading fair.

That is why we are working seriously to ensure that the fair is known globally as the number one in Africa.

“We are promoting the event to attract nothing less than 200,000 persons. It is business for everybody. We are working tirelessly and the legwork is massive.

“For the fair, we are focusing more on auto spare parts because of the peculiarities of the market. We are also focusing on the right people;

it is not a carnival but strictly an auto business event. We are also reaching out to their target customers – oil companies, financial institutions, fleet owners and exporters,” Agwu said.

He, however, called for government support and patronage to make the motor show a big success.

“This is the first time over 100 foreign exhibitors would be attending an event like this in Nigeria. A lot of people will be attending to exhibit their products and look for new business. It is our own way of promoting economic tourism as the spiral effect of an event like this is great,” he said.

•Agwu

CFAO Intermotors partners KFC

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FAO Intermotors, a subsidiary of CFAO Motors, has sealed a marketing partnership with KFC, which is expected to benefit the customers of the fast food operator.

The partnership is also meant to increase the number of people riding Chevrolet cars being marketed by CFAO Intermotors in Nigeria.

A statement by the company said the auto firm donated Chevrolet Cruze to KFC, which was presented to the winner of its (KFC) consumer promotion The keys were presented to Miss Oluwasayofunmi Akinrodoye of Chrisland International School, Ikeja in Lagos.

The Marketing Manager (Chevrolet) of CFAO Intermotors, Mr Toyin Akigbogun, while presenting the car keys, said the partnership was brokered last year to

By Tajudeen Adebanjo

leverage on the good standing of Chevrolet cars and KFC. Verma thanked Intermotors for honouring their obligation in the partnership.

Akigbogun said it is also in appreciation of KFC’s quality services rendered to consumers.

These qualities, he noted, tally with the quality of Chevrolet cars.

“The purpose of this partnership is for Intermotors to give back to the society in return for what our customers have given to us. These people have bought our cars; we should be able to put something down to say ‘thank you.’ So, this is part of it.

“We want to show our appreciation to the Nigerian public, who, by virtue of their patronage to KFC, stand to benefit from this deal,” Akingbogun said.

Akinbogun said the deal would

Lagos Assembly bemoans motorbike operators’ excesses AGOS State House of Assembly at a plenary called on the Ministry of Transportation, Lagos State Transport Management Agency (LASTMA) and relevant agencies to curb the excesses of motorbike operators popularly known as Okada riders on the Ketu-Ikorodu expressway.

The motion was moved by Hon Sanai Agunbiade under matter of urgent public importance.

Agunbiade representing Ikorodu constituency 1 expressed the untold hardship commuters face daily due to the activities of the commercial motorcyclists.

He said the situation in Ketu is bad adding that those who do unlawful business disturb those who do lawful business on the road.

According to him, those who ought to go through the pedestrian bridge do otherwise and disturb users of the road.

On his part, the Majority Leader, Hon Ajibayo Adeyeye, said something seri-

L

By Oziegbe Okoeki

ous should be done to ensure motorists and motorcyclists behave well on the road.

“The DPO of Ketu police station should be invited to state the reason why such activity is going on around the station without taking any action,” he said.

In his submission, the Speaker of the House, Hon Adeyemi Ikuforiji called for a serious re-orientation of the people.

“We have messed up our value system and until we wake up to tackle the problem, we cannot get anywhere,” Ikuforiji said.

He urged members of the House to do more from within; adding that if somebody serves as a scape goat, others will wake up.

He enjoined the lawmakers not to plead for any member of their constituents arrested for flaunting the law “if we want to move forward.”

•Akigbogun presenting car keys to Miss Akinrodoye. With them is Verma

continue to foster good business relationship, goodwill and better understanding between CFAO, its teeming customers and KFC. He assured KFC’s customers of the continuity of the partnership,

I

N an effort to bring sanity to the activities of commercial motorcycle operators (okada) in Lagos, a group of professional consultants is proposing a comprehensive training programme for all okada riders in the metropolis.

The group, God’s will Cornerstone Consultancy, trains okada riders in their thousands.

The body, which is made up of professionals from different fields of endeavours, agreed that a right thinking government would be left with no option than to advocate for the proscription of the activities of commercial motorcycle operators in the Lagos metropolis.

Speaking on behalf of the group, Mr Amos Ayinde, a part-time university lecturer, said any attempt to proscribe okada would deny about two million Lagosians means of livelihood.

“Frankly speaking and in all sincerity, the aforementioned notwithstanding, ban of okada operations in the state shouldn’t be the issue at this time, but rather the government should assist in facili-

which he described as successful.

“This is our first outing, and from the raffle draw to the presentation of the prize to the winner, it was all neat and transparent. These are some of the core Chevrolet values.

These are also the values of CFAO, which has been in this country for over 110 years. We will continue with this endeavour. We assure the driving public that we are here for them always,” he said.

Group trains commercial motorcycle operators tating training/workshops for all riders and ensuring it is mandated for all riders in the state to attend,” he said.

Ayinde said rather than total ban on the activities of the riders, he advocated constant training, sensitisation for these riders.

This, he noted, would make the coordinating of the activities of the riders easy and bring to the barest minimum commercial motorcycle related crimes.

He revealed that irrespective of the feelings of some people to okada riders, about 40 per cent of them who are university and polytechnic

graduates still coordinate themselves well.

Ayinde boasted that the training from his group has really helped majority of the operators who were once uncoordinated.

“Some of them have realised the importance of the training, that is why they turn up in large numbers anytime we announce training is coming up and the number keeps increasing,” he said.

Ayinde said the group was ready to cooperate in totality with the Lagos State government in bringing sanity to the activities of the commercial motorcycle operators in Lagos.

‘Some of them have realised the importance of the training, that is why they turn up in large numbers anytime we announce training is coming up and the number keeps increasing’

DRIVING TIPS

A

S I used to say, driving is a complex activity which requires the gathering, interpretation and application of information from multiple sources to ensure effective and safe vehicle control. Driving is, therefore, a job that requires a high level of intelligence and fitness (mental and physical).

•Driver devaluation : It is, however, disheartening that lot of Employers don’t know the value of Drivers. Few months ago, a driver told me that his Principal abused him and called him “a common and useless driver” simply because he left the office at 1:45pm instead of

Message to employers of drivers 1.30pm to pick her children from the school (an unofficial assignment for that matter). The word “common driver” disturbs the mind of drivers and I hereby recommend that no employer of drivers should allow that word to be used.

The same driver is next to God in the control of your life when you are fast asleep in the car, a time you are unconscious of what the driver is doing with the wheel should not be tagged a common driver. The driver that is fully awake and us-

ing his eyes, hands, legs, ears and brain throughout the stretch of your journey from Lagos to Abuja, Kano to Maiduguri, Benin to Enugu or elsewhere must not be tagged common.

How many people today want their children to be educated and become corporate drivers? None of course. It is because of the stigma attached to drivers. In developed countries, there are people with Masters Degree joyfully opting to be truck drivers because it pays

more than most administrative jobs.

As I once mentioned in one of my articles in this column, with further growth in the economy, there will surely be a dearth (scarcity) of drivers in Nigeria as it is already being experienced in several other developed and developing countries.

There was the case of an organisation that has found it difficult to recruit the number of drivers they need because of their record in driver maltreatment.

•To be continued next week

Jide Owatunmise

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LABOUR

Govt not doing enough for us, say nurses

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URSES are seeking more attention from the government. They are complaining

about not being carried along in decision making in matters affecting them.

The nurses, under the aegis of National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, are lamenting marginalisation by the administration at the Federal Ministry of Health.

Their President, Comrade Lawal Hussaini Dutsinma, a specialist nurse said: “ The Ministry of Health is not carrying us along. I have to tell you that during the time of Mr Eyitayo Lambo and Mr Oshotimehin, things were better in terms of consultation with stakeholders to discuss things such as the best ways to achieve the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) etc.

“What they do now is to invite the people they want to see there and that’s all. Maybe they are doing this because there are certain facts or critical things that we say when we attend such meetings that they don’t want to hear.

He, however, said the association was able to have two nurses promoted to the rank of director in the Federal Ministry of Health for the

•Dutsinma Stories by Dupe Olaoye-Osinkolu

first time in the history of the ministry, and since the Industrial Arbitration Panel award of 1981. The implementation of Consolidated Salary Structure for nurses and midwives is another achievement.

Dutsinma said his association is already asking for a review of the shift duty and call duty allowances as contained in the agreement it signed with the Federal Government.

He said nurses have a lot of unresolved issues with the government.

Asked whether dialogue can resolve

the issues, Dutsinma said there is a lot of discrimination in the health sector against majority of the professional groups. And that no matter how good your contribution is you are not welcome.

“The normal tool we employ to resolve issues as a trade union cum professional association is dialogue.

But it appears in most cases that it doesn’t work in the health sector in Nigeria.

“The way we see things happening in the health sector always makes us ask ourselves for how long do we continue to employ dialogue as a means of resolving the issues we have with the Federal Ministry of Health? We are using other means as well like the courts. Right now there is a case pending in the National Industrial Court between the association and the office of the Head of Service of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Health on the professional status of nursing in Nigeria and nurses scheme of service, which could not be resolved through dialogue between the government and NANNM for decades. Of course we also lobby as you know it is allowed in democracy.

“The National Health Bill issue is also another source of misunder-

standing between the Joint Health Sector Unions and government as well as the issue of amendment to the National Tertiary Hospital Act. Other issues that have to do with the welfare of our members are being handled by the Joint Health Sector Unions which of we are a very important member.”

He, however, vowed to remain focused and continue to improve on what his administration is doing with a view to taking the association and the nursing profession to greater heights.

Dutsinma, who is also a Vice President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said NANNM under his leadership has been able to restructure the national secretariat of the association for better performance.

“There is more transparency and accountability in the way the resources of the organisation are handled. Therefore, there is more efficiency and effectiveness in running the affairs of the organisation which is making it easier for us to deliver on our mandate.

“We also embark on more capacity building training programmes for our staff and members in order to equip them to meet the challenges of modern times.”

Senators move to transform pension administration

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ONCERNED senators have assured pensioners that their suffering will soon be over with the ongoing pension reform.

The Senate Joint Committee of Establishment & Public Service and States & Local Government Administration, at a public hearing on pension administration held in Lagos, promised to bring to book all perpetrators of pension fraud.

The Committee Chairman, Senator Etuk said the hearing was conducted to enable pensioners present their grievances, and to ensure that perpetrators of corruption, embezzlement of the fund which subject pensioners to hardship are brought under check.

He said the pensioners have spent their youths rendering meritorious service to the nation, and do not deserve the sufferings they are being subjected to.

Lagos State Commisioner for Establishment and Training, Mrs Modupe Oguntase, called for decentralisation of pensioners’ verification centres for convenience of the old citizens.

She said taking of verification centres to local governments will be less expensive for the pensioners.

Asked why some living pensioners are suddenly exempted from pension payment, the Commisioner said many pensioners travel out of the country without informing the pension office, at times for as long as two years. Once the banks alert the government that some accounts are not being operated, names of such pension accounts owners are removed from the Lagos State pensioners list.

She said once the names are removed, it is not easy bringing them back. That, according to her, is the cause of disappearance of pensioners names from the payment list.

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T

HE African Development Bank (ADB) says it is determined to take advantage of the opportunities in the agricultural sector to create jobs for the unemployed youths.

The Resident Representative of the bank in Nigeria, Mr Ousmane Dore, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the measure would address the problem of youth unemployment. ·”ADB’s expected involvement in this field is going to focus around this type of area, which is likely to create more jobs because she wants to boost agriculture for food security.

“But she wants to also make it the engine of job creation for millions of youth who really are not lucky enough to find jobs.

“So, I think we see agriculture as a good way to go forward; it is gonna probably, motivate ADB to finance projects in this particular important sector.”

Dore said agriculture would feature prominently in the bank’s projects for the 2012 project because it formed the key component of the Federal Government’s Transformation Agenda.

He added that agricultural transformation should also focus on developing the value chain approach to production.

The resident representative said the bank had embarked on water supply projects in some parts of the country and identified Oyo and Cross River states as the beneficiaries.

Kwara seeks efficient civil service

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• A cross-section of retirees at the event.

Chief Eni Olotu, a pensioner, said comprehensive investigation into the management and administration of pension funds and payment of pensioners in Nigeria pursuant to Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended is laudable.

He said it is a re-awakening of lost hope, trust and confidence.

“This is a period of renaisance to the senior citizens, hitherto we have been treated as senior sufferers, when each and everyone of us

has one leg in the grave.

“In a situation where the welfare and well being of pensioners are put on the back burner, the exercise of Task Team on Biometric verification has become an anathema as it is characterised by the lacklustre handling occasioned by casualities recorded nationwide each time.”

Debts accrued from payments made by Lagos State on behalf of the Federal Government to the

state’s retirees, according to Permanent Secretary, Local Government Establishment, Training & Pensions Office, Mrs R.I. Obasa and Mrs F.S. Adetoye, Permanent Secretary, Civil Service Pensions Office, stand at N1,107,267,537.95k. The amount was paid to retirees between January, 1999 and May, 2002.

The Federal Government allocation to the State Local Government Pensions Fund is said to be in deficit of N10.1billion.

SUBEB needs N2.6b to pay teachers in Benue HE Special Adviser to Governor Gabriel Suswam on Local Government and Chieftancy Affairs, Mr Solomon Wombo, has said the Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) needs N2.6 billion to implement the new minimum wage for teachers.

Wombo said in Makurdi at a press briefing that the teachers had an overbloated wage bill.

He said with the current workforce of 26,472 teachers estimated by SUBEB across the state, it would be difficult to pay the wage

ADB to create jobs through agriculture

bill.

The governor’s aide said the National Union of Teachers (NUT) wrote the Board in December 2011, indicating its desire as beneficiaries of the N18,000 minimum wage introduced by the state government.

Wombo said upon the receipt of the letter, he directed the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) to forward the number of teachers in the state to the Bureau.

He said the statistics he received showed that teachers under the payroll of the state government were

26, 472, which, he said was “outrageous”. ”The statistics of teachers in the state, according to SUBEB, is 26,472 which to us was very outrageous because the Bureau would need about N2.6 billion to pay their salary if the N18,000 minimum wage is to be implemented with this number.”

Wombo said it was in a bid to ascertain the actual number of teachers in the state that his office wrote to the governor, seeking approval to conduct school to school screening before commencing the pay-

ment of the new minimum wage.

Wombo regretted that after securing the approval of the governor to conduct the screening, the NUT members proceeded on strike to protest the exercise.

The special adviser wondered why the teachers would refuse to be screened and appealed to them to end the strike in the interest of pupils and the state.

He assured that “the school to school” screening was not intended to witch-hunt teachers but to “ascertain their actual number in the state”.

HE Kwara State government is to embark on monitoring and evaluation of all ministries and extraministerial departments to ensure efficiency in the public service.

Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed said this at a meeting with all Permanent Secretaries in the state’s Civil Service held at the Government House, Ilorin.

Stressing the need for periodic monitoring and evaluation to ascertain the prospects and problems of each ministry,he directed all ministries to set medium term targets for which they shall be assessed.

He urged the Permanent Secretaries to collaborate and cooperate with their Commissioners for enhanced productivity and establish cordial relationship with their subordinates.

“As career officers of your various ministries and parastatals, I advise you to be in tune with your commissioners, who are the political heads and avoid being at loggerhead with them, as only a harmonious working relationship can assist the state government to achieve the desired level of development”, the governor said.

Every desk officer, he said, will henceforth be held responsible and accountable for his action or inaction, warning that it will no longer be business as usual.

Ahmed also told the career officers that promotion will now be tied to productivity as against length of service or maximum number of years on a particular grade level, insisting that “the old system is anachronistic; it is totally unacceptable because it cannot produce effective result.”

He, therefore, enjoined them to bring their experiences and administrative acumen to bear in governance in the true spirit of collective responsibility so that we all can take our state to the next level.

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THE CEO Mutiu Sunmonu sits atop oil giant Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC). In this interview with BISI OLANIYI , he speaks on the company’s relationship with the Ogoni community; illegal bunkering and refining of crude oil in the Niger Delta.

‘Shell not liable for Ogoni problem’ • Sunmonu

H

OW will you react to the rising crude oil theft in the Niger Delta?

I feel extremely saddened, as a Nigerian, at the scale of lawlessness, criminality and lack of care for neighbours that is going on in the area where you have just overflown. I am extremely worried and frankly, something has got to be done. Otherwise, our oil and gas operation in the Niger Delta is not going to be sustainable. If you talk to any IOC (International Oil Company) or any operator in the Niger Delta, I

am sure they have similar stories to tell, but on a smaller scale than that of Shell, because of our footprints in particular. This is very worrisome. This is the reason we have decided to bring the issue to the forefront of the media and to give you an opportunity to see things for yourselves and also use your network to appeal to fellow Nigerians, who are perpetrating these heartless activities.

Frankly speaking, it is not about the money that is being made, it is not about the production loss that really worries me; it is

about the danger to the environment, which is about what they are doing to the source of livelihood of other law-abiding Nigerians.

I believe this is not a war that Shell alone can win. We need the coalition of other wellmeaning Nigerians, civil society groups and organisations to help us in this campaign.

Do you feel this situation will scare other foreign investors away?

On our part as SPDC, we will continue to dialogue with the government, with civil society groups, with international agen-

cies, to see how we can help in accelerating the development of the Niger Delta.

We are going to be attacking this on so many fronts. On the front of development, and on the front of bringing this to the attention of authorities, to try and stamp out this criminality. I know a number of international agencies willing to come to the Niger Delta to help develop agriculture, but when there is this sort of crime • Continued on page 51

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THE CEO

‘Shell not liable for Ogoni problem’ •Continued from page 50

going on, I do not think anyone will like to come.

Is the situation hopeless?

No, the situation is not hopeless. I believe that the concern I am expressing is also being felt at the highest level of government. President Goodluck Jonathan has made it clear that he wants to wipe out illegal bunkering. I know that the federal military agencies have also stepped up their activities, in terms of stamping out the menace. There are efforts being made by government, but the point I am making is that, first, the efforts need to be improved and they need to be sustained. It is not just about military intervention or security agencies’ intervention. There must also be a social face to it. We need to look for ways of creating employment for people in the Niger Delta, such that there will not be any excuse. I do not succumb to the excuse that because you are poor, therefore, you must engage in criminal activities. Government will need to work on both sides. The security agencies are stepping up their efforts, but these need to be sustained. So, we want a two-pronged approach – tackling the wantonness and criminality in crude theft activities and confronting the social issues that tempt our youths to take to crime.

The issue of environmental degradation was experienced in Ogoniland; now it is looming in Nembe Creeek. In the next few years, will SPDC not be found culpable?

Let me say straightaway that SPDC is not liable for the Ogoni situation. Even the UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) report did not put the blame of Ogoni on SPDC’s doorstep. But the real issue is not about SPDC being made culpable, it is about Nigeria, it is about the Niger Delta, it is about the welfare of our people, it is about the wellbeing of our children and grand children. That is why I am really concerned. It is an industry issue; it is an issue of criminality; of people taking the law into their hands. That was what we saw in Imo River, exactly what we are seeing now in Nembe Creek and other places. It is really a Niger Delta menace. What we are seeing is not peculiar to SPDC. If you go to Agip’s facilities, you will see exactly the same thing going on there.

What is SPDC doing about community relations?

SPDC is doing a lot to improve the lot of the communities, but I will also be the first to admit that whatever we do, given the scale of needs of the Niger Delta, we cannot solve the problems of the communities alone. That is why we continue to say all we can do is to be a catalyst of change.

We have GMoUs (Global Memorandum of Understandings) in our host communities, for big projects. In Nembe, we have electricity projects, among others, but the projects take time. You do not just get electricity in one day. Look at how many years as a nation we have been talking about electricity. So, it is not a small project. It has to be carefully planned and executed. The Nembe GMoU experience is a winner any day. Working closely with the Bayelsa State government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), we took the Nembe Cluster Development Board to a point where they are now a Foundation, capable of attracting external support. Listening to their achievements, you would think this is a local government council establishing a printing press, a transport company, guest houses etc. This is the kind of thing we want to see encouraged in the Niger Delta.

So, in terms of community development, I really feel very proud about SPDC’s contributions to communities. We are putting in so much money in the GMoUs, for the communities to take their developments in their own hands. We no longer do those things that we used to do like building roads, schools etc. We believe the communities can approach them better. We are giving the communities the opportunity to decide what development they want. We help them set up foundations and fund the foundations. We believe that is the way to go. Apart from Nembe, we are seeing very good examples of how these funds are being utilised in some communities. Some communities might be complaining, but

• Sunmonu

frankly, I will say that the time has come when the development of communities must stop being seen as the responsibility of the oil companies in their areas. We have a role to play, I am not denying that, but we just cannot be a substitute for government, when it comes to community development. Ninety five per cent of our revenue after cost goes to government. Even if I spend the money I make on community development, we will not see the effect. The man who makes the 95 per cent is in a better position to develop the communities, better than any other company.

Do you trust the security agencies?

If I do not trust the security agencies, I will probably just pack up and stop operations in Nigeria. So, I have to trust them.

They are agencies of government and we have to trust them. We have to also work with them, to see that if there are complaints that are making them to be ineffective, we have to see how we can play the necessary level of advocacy with government to come to their support, so that they can be a lot more effective. That is all we can do. Regardless of how concerned we are, we are not going to set up our own

army; we are not going to set up our own police force. So, we have to rely on government security agencies and continue to support them to be effective.

Is it not possible to know those behind the illegal bunkering and illegal refining in the Niger Delta, just like the fuel subsidy cabal members were exposed?

If I know those who are behind illegal bunkering, even if I do not mention them to you, I will mention them at the right quarters, but the truth is that I do not know. People speculate, but I do not go by speculation.

During the overfly, it was observed that illegal bunkering and illegal refining of crude oil in the Niger Delta are organised crimes, involving the use of vessels, hightech equipment and sponsors. Don’t you feel that these have gone beyond the issue of poverty in the region?

The best we can do is to continue to engage in strong advocacy for change, a strong advocacy for enforcement of the rule of law. A strong advocacy to make sure the security agencies that protect these strategic national assets are effective. Our expertise is in producing oil and gas. We

‘It is an industry issue. It is really a Niger Delta menace. What we are seeing is not peculiar to SPDC. If you go to Agip’s facilities, you will see exactly the same thing going on there’

do not have expertise in security. Unfortunately, there is not much we can do, in terms of preventing illegal bunkering, other than advocacy.

Returning to Imo River, what is the situation there now?

We observed incessant illegal bunkering activities in March 2011 at Bodo West and Ogbogolo in Rivers State which the security forces succeeded in tackling. Ever mobile, the crude thieves migrated to Imo River, installing valves on pipelines in the area. The bunkerers would transfer the stolen crude from large canoes, boats to flotillas of locally made barges or sell straight to the illegal refineries that are in the creeks. The barges would transfer the product to illegal storage depots from where, the product is sold to illegal transporters who lift it either via land tankers or large barges. The illegal transporters sell the product to the end users. Faced with the enormity of the problem, we had no choice but to shut down production from Imo River District 28 in August, last year, to starve the bunkerers in order to prevent further environmental pollution. Some 25,000 barrels of oil per day were shut in.

Thankfully, the Abia and Rivers State governments as well as security forces intervened and the situation has eased off a bit.

We have since repaired the damaged lines and are conducting reliability tests.

Is it that the same bunkerers simply shifted base?

Could be, who knows?

What is the role of your surveillance guards in this activity?

Well, I need to make clear these are indigenes of communities in which we operate. They are not security forces, they do not carry arms and are not trained or encouraged to confront the crude thieves.

They just act as early warning posts, to inform SPDC of illegal bunkering activities so we can in turn quickly alert the security agencies. Their role is simply to alert us to crude theft activities.

Is it possible that your contractors or even members of staff are involved, considering the sophistication and knowhow involved in the trade?

Nothing I have seen or heard so far either suggests or confirms the picture you are painting.

But when we talk of spills from crude theft, we should also be concerned about what results from operational failures. Are these spills not from your facilities?

The great majority of spills in the Niger Delta are the result of third party interference, either deliberate damage, or the result of the activities of oil thieves, which we collectively call sabotage. For example, such third party interference accounts for more than 75 per cent of all oil spills and more than 70 per cent of all oil spilled from the SPDC JV facilities in the delta between 2006 and 2010. Unfortunately, the rest of the volume is caused by operational failures, such as equipment failure and human error. Any spill is a serious concern and SPDC staff and contractors are working hard to eliminate operational spill.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has resumed hostilities in the region, with the attack on Agip’s trunk line in Brass, Bayelsa State.

Are you not worried and how will you advise the youth of the Niger Delta?

My advice to the youth is that we can only thrive where there is peace. Prosperity can only be felt in the Niger Delta and in the country, in an environment of peace. I will be encouraging the youth to uphold peace, to eschew violence and to obey the rule of law. They have a voice that can be heard. If they have issues and concerns, they should really look for peaceful means to convey their issues to the authorities.

Will the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) be able to address the issues affecting Niger Delta communities and the oil companies?

I do not want to speculate on PIB. We all know that the PIB is being re-looked at now. I do not know what is going to be in there or what is not going to be in there.

Can dialogue work in stemming the tide of criminal activities in the Niger Delta?

I am not hopeless. I am very hopeful that dialogue can help us in stemming the tide of things in the Niger Delta and even in Nigeria as a whole. We have seen that work at different times in our history. This is not going to be an exception.

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PERSONAL FINANCE

Email: taofad2000@yahoo.co.uk

Investor’s Worth

Owning the oil major

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HE oil majors, the multinational downstream petroleum companies and a handful of indigeneous companies quoted on the Nigerian stock market, are the quintessential blue chips and first-grade stocks.

Stable and influential core investors, professional and experienced board and management, generally good compliance with best corporate governance, stable fundamental performance and credible stock market profile set the oil majors apart from the motley crowd of stocks.

The top oil majors are denoted by share price and the quantity on offer. Given their reputations as reliable stores of values, oil majors are expectedly highly priced and scarcely available in large quantity.

Either in bullish or bearish market, they remain reliable preservers of values as steady and almost predictable cash dividend flow or the bloc shareholdings of the core investors reassure retail investors.

Total Nigeria Plc is evidently the lead oil major, and generally one of the most-valued stocks on the Nigerian stock market. The third highestpriced stock on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Total Nigeria is the most capitalised petroleum-marketing company with its N61 billion current market capitalisation nearly twice of the closest rival.

A subsidiary of French multinational and Europe-leading oil company-Total S. A. Total Nigeria is, undoubtedly, a company of considerable influence and size in Nigeria and globally.

With more than 500 retail outlets, five Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) bottling plants, three lubricant blending plants, four aviation depots and many other facilities, Total Nigeria has over the decades etched its name as the leader in the oilmarketing industry.

Given its share price- a single share of Total Nigeria will buy more than two shares each in all the quoted banks or put differently, someone who holds a share in Total Nigeria has higher value than another investor who holds two shares in all the quoted banks, and the prestige of a blue chip, holding shares in Total Nigeria is both prestigious and reassuring.

As such, investors are contented with owning just a few dozens or hundreds of shares in the oil major. Most shareholders of Total Nigeria hold between one and 500 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each.

Out of the nearly 27,000 individuals and institutions that own the oil major, more than 46 per cent hold not more than 500 shares while 31 per cent hold between 1,001 shares and 5,000 shares. Fourteen per cent of the total number of shareholders hold between 501 shares and 1,000 shares.

As the quantity increases, the number of shareholders decline. Only one per cent of shareholders hold between 20,001 shares and 50,000 shares and just 0.41 per cent hold between 50,001 shares and 100,000 shares.

Among the directors of Total Nigeria, Wole Adeyinka ranks within the 1.04 per cent or 273 persons that own between 20,001 and 50,000 shares.

According to statutory disclosures, the shareholding of

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•Adeyinka

Adeyinka nearly doubled the entire shareholdings of all other Nigerian directors on the board of the oil major.

A University of Lagos-trained mechanical engineer and reputed expert on downstream oil sector, Adeyinka knows the downstream oil business like the palm of his hand and he, particularly, knows the inherent value in Total Nigeria.

He had joined Total Nigeria as lube engineer and later worked a t K o k o a s p l a n t manager. He was later assigned as supply and distribution manager. With time, he rose to the position of assistant general manager, Operations. He retired from Total Nigeria as executive director, Special Duties.

B eyond Total Nigeria, Adeyinka was a great rallying point for the oil majors as the head of the Major oil marketers Fuel Importation Committee.

In retirement, Adeyinka owns and runs his own private business while keeping maintaining his nest eggs in Total Nigeria, the stock he knows and can predict. Adeyinka is a classical example of knowledge investor.

Ask a Broker

S

INKING fund is one of the protective mechanisms in debt issue. A sinking fund is a pool of funds created by scheduled deposit of fund by the debt issuer through the tenor of the issue.

Many debt issuance documents usually provide that the debt issuer retire a specified amount of the par value of

What is sinking fund? outstanding issues every year until the maturity of the debt issue. Sinking fund serves a dual purpose of reassuring debtholders and minimising default risk while also reducing the indebtedness of the issuer and enhancing its ability

to meet obligation upon maturity of the debt issue.

Also, many quasi-debt issues such as preference stock also do have provisions for sinking funds, which serve as mechanisms for the redemption of the issues.

Ways and Means

How to safeguard your electronic cards EPORTS by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that many Nigerians are fast adopting electronic payment systems, especially card-based payment systems.

According to the reports, Automated Teller Machine (ATM) remains the most patronised of the various echannels and in an instance, it accounted for 98.09 per cent and 91.37 per cent of the volume and value of electronic payment transactions respectively.

While the adoption has been driven by personal choice and convenience, the commencement of the new cash withdrawal and lodgement policy of the CBN would definitely compel more people to transact on the basis of e-cards. The new policy fixes daily cumulative limit for individual and corporate customers on cash withdrawals and lodgements from June 1, 2012. The pilot run

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of the policy has already commenced.

Although the apex bank and financial institutions have instituted commendable rules, processes, systems and technologies to forestall card fraud, the primary responsibility for safety of e-card rests with the cardholder. The following tips will assist cardholders in safeguarding their cards: 1. E-card is a personalised item; never let your credit card out of your sight whenever possible and do not let another party privy to your Personal Identification Number (PIN).

2. Be wary when using an open-air ATM; insist on a safe distance between you and the next person on a queue.

3. Do not give out your account number over the phone unless you initiate the call or respond to any email or letter requesting for your card details.

4. Do not use your card to transact through an unsecured website, be sure to confirm the

Landmines and goldmines in IPOs (1) LandminesandgoldminesinIPOs(1)

security of the website.

5. Do not save your credit card number or PIN on your handset or write the card details on your wallet in case any of these gets stolen or missing.

6. Carry only card that you absolutely need; do not carry around other cards that you rarely use.

7. Destroy anything with your credit card number written on it.

8. It is recommended to carry ecards separately in a small pouch or a zippered compartment, away from the normal wallets.

9. Periodically change your PIN to code or contraption known to you alone.

10. Notify the card issuer and other relevant agencies of the lost of your card or in the event of any suspicion of card fraud.

11. In relation to the tip 10 above, keep handy the contacts relevant to your card including the emergency alert number of the card issuer, CBN and other agencies.

HE 2003-2008 period was the peak of the Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) boom in the Nigerian capital market.

With the secondary market’s swelling gains and yearly world-leading double digit returns, several private companies and entrepreneurs latched on to the market boom to monetise their ‘locked up’ values.

The road shows, the investors’ fora, special marketing techniques, personality endorsements and massive advertisement campaigns overawed many previous bystanders and first-time investors, bringing the largest number of investors since the start of the market. It was a period of great boom for the capital market.

But the foundation for the great depression that has characterised the post-2008 period was also laid during the 2003-2008 period.

With torrent of offer documents, most investors, especially the new investors, were buying on the basis of advertisements and personal promises of the directors.

Few paid attention to the facts of the offers.

The capital market regulators were either overawed too or complacent as several offers were rushed through approval processes without due scrutiny. In some instances, the regulators were granted waivers to ‘newly’ formed companies to float their shares.

Recent and emerging reports have continued to illustrate the massive misinformation and corrupt practices that characterised the period.

While most of the listed IPOs and new companies are trading at abysmally low prices to offer prices, several others are yet to surmount the courage to list their shares, trapping investors’ funds.

Beside the values that were lost to bubble valuation, the trapped funds are part of the main reasons for the lackluster performance of the market.

But who is to be blamed for the failure? Mainly, investors of course! The capital market thrives on knowledge and information and the underlining assumption is that every investor must have taken time to read and understand the offer documents. That’s why every offer document carries an advisory warning on its front page.

This basic underlining assumption is the reason why investors are never compensated for any loss suffered on their investment decisions.

But where it is discovered that the offer documents contain falsehood or that the parties engaged in unethical manipulation, capital market regulators in several jurisdictions usually claim damages on behalf of investors. In spite of obvious manipulations unraveled by the bubble capital saga, the Nigerian regulators are yet to file any such claim on behalf of investors.

The underlining point is that every investor must strive to understand the market prior to making investment decisions.

In buying an IPO, investors

By Taofik Salako

must understand what is an IPO, the difference between IPO and supplementary share offer, the pricing methodology for IPO, reasons for floating IPO, the parties to an IPO, the approval process and requirements for listing of an IPO, management and board assessment, corporate valuations, economic and market cycles and likely traditional post-listing pricing trend for a particular IPO. Many of the IPOs that turned out to be booby traps for investors actually had the telltale signs for discerning investors to see through.

Why was it that all the companies that listed or raised IPOs during the boom period had outstanding shares in billions while bigger longstanding companies had less number of shares? What was the historic value of a company coming for IPO and valuation in the immediate year or period preceding an IPO? The stock market will definitely still witness the return of the IPOs but investors need to take this guide now to make good investment decisions. Running away from the stock market or shunning all IPOs and public offers, like several angry investors have vowed, is not the wise decision but rather arming oneself with knowledge provides the confidence to sieve the offers, rewarding the good ones and punishing the bad ones. Knowledge-based investment decisions would contribute to market efficiency and good price discovery.

To start with, IPO is the first sale of shares to the general investing public by a company. This implies that a company could have undertaken private placement before floating an IPO. Going forward, one area that investors need to understand is the capitalisation of companies. A share capital represents the probable or existing core capital and shareholders’ interests in a particular company.

Share capital is denoted by its dormant value or active value. The authorised share capital, the dormant value of share capital, means the maximum value of shares that a company can legally issue to its shareholders as authorised by the shareholders and in line with relevant regulations and laws.

It’s also important to take note of the nominal value of a stock. The nominal value, otherwise known as par value, refers to the face value or ordinary value of a security. Usually, a security is denominated by its par value and this serves as a differentiating factor from similar securities or other class of securities.

The issued share capital of a company is denoted and expressed in its nominal value.

The nominal value of each quoted company is indicated on the official list of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as public quotation price immediately after the name of the company or stated in the IPO document for a new company.

While Adswitch has a par value of 20 kobo, Capital Oil

has 25 kobo while most other companies have 50 kobo.

Nominal value serves as valuable index of measurement for discerning investors. Trading at or below nominal value for a long-listed stock may be a red alert for exit or entry depending on stock-by-stock evaluation.

The paid-up share capital or issued share capital represents the number or value of a company’s authorised share capital that has issued to shareholders either by way of payment of cash- initial offer, supplementary offer, rights etc or by capitalisation of reserves through bonus shares.

To increase its share capital or issue any portion of it, a company needs the approval of its shareholders and such alteration must be registered with the corporate affairs registration agency.

Paid-up share capital is important in knowing many performance indices including net assets per share, earnings per share, dividend per share, price to book value ratio and many other technical and fundamental indicators of the inherent value of a company.

Related to these is the concept of stock split. Stock split simply refers to the division of the nominal value of a company’s share to create more shares.

For instance, a company with one million ordinary shares of N1 each may decide to undertake a stock split to break into the popular nominal value of 50 kobo per share common on the Nigerian stock market.

This will result into two million ordinary shares of 50 kobo each. Many limited liability companies undertake stock splits in the process of going public to tactically lock-in values for founding shareholders.

However, investors must be wary as bogus stock splits, as seen in the bubbling rush period of initial public offerings and private placements during the 2003-2008 may undermine long-term returns to new shareholders.

However, it is not only previously unquoted companies that may undertake stock split. An already quoted company on the Exchange may also undertake stock split to increase number of outstanding shares available for trading and thus increase liquidity.

Companies such as Nestle Nigeria, Total Nigeria, Mobil Oil Nigeria, Guinness Nigeria and Dangote Cement, which, currently, trade between N100 and N400 per share, may decide to undertake stock splits to increase number of shares, which theoretically bring down their share prices within the popular trading range.

Taking altogether, one of the manipulations that were evident in many IPOs was the over-capitalisation of the company for the purpose of the IPO. A small private limited liability company with for instance 100 million shares prior to the IPO processing would suddenly emerge with several billions of shares due to stock split, bonus issues and earlier private placement.

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

53

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

54

EQUITIES NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 17-2-12 Company Name FTN COCOA PROCESSORS PLC LIVESTOCK FEEDS PLC OKOMU OIL PALM PLC. PRESCO PLC Sector Totals

No of Deals 5 26 11 2 44

Quotation(N) 0.50 0.85 21.89 8.55

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 13,950 6,975.00 2,260,529 1,965,937.25 2,633,400 57,608,720.00 60,000 513,000.00 4,967,879 60,094,632.25

Quotation(N) 1.63 7.40

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 50,000 81,500.00 2,037,868 15,014,120.12 2,087,868 15,095,620.12

Quotation(N) 1.19

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 2,862,493 3,345,564.98 2,862,493 3,345,564.98

Quotation(N) 6.75 2.40 4.15 1.38 10.75 14.21 7.05 3.68 0.92 1.89 7.81 0.50 0.53 12.28

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 31,200,393 210,017,176.75 6,986,442 16,732,533.22 18,085,094 75,033,950.88 2,305,600 3,195,167.93 13,645,085 146,391,312.41 8,508,970 121,303,846.63 1,249,986 8,817,868.56 33,083,082 121,275,731.79 624,742 574,762.64 163,037,119 300,480,795.20 106,626 832,749.06 4,114,334 2,057,167.00 751,771 380,392.12 52,797,800 648,173,134.77 336,497,044 1,655,266,588.96

Quotation(N) 220.55 5.70 97.70

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 238,304 52,577,703.57 20,505 111,592.15 3,108,640 302,969,574.81 3,367,449 355,658,870.53

Quotation(N) 10.70 4.71 110.20 44.00

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 171,303 1,850,528.04 10,000 47,080.00 65,000 6,820,579.09 102,143 4,462,562.00 348,446 13,180,749.13

Quotation(N) 8.36 13.78 4.86

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 105,000 877,800.00 22,176 308,275.80 80 369.60 127,256 1,186,445.40

AIR SERVICES Company Name AIRLINE SERVICES AND LOGISTICS PLC NIGERIAN AVIATION HANDLING COMPANY PLC Sector Totals

No of Deals 1 46 47

AUTOMOBILE & TYRE Company Name R. T. BRISCOE (NIGERIA) PLC Sector Totals

No of Deals 31 31 BANKING

Company Name ACCESS BANK PLC DIAMOND BANK PLC FIRST CITY MONUMENT BANK PLC FIDELITY BANK PLC FIRST BANK OF NIGERIA PLC GTBANK PLC STANBIC IBTC BANK PLC SKYE BANK PLC. STERLING BANK PLC UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA PLC. UNION BANK OF NIGERIA PLC UNITYBANK PLC WEMA BANK PLC ZENITH BANK PLC Sector Totals

No of Deals 167 22 19 37 429 290 32 184 10 285 10 11 16 233 1,745 BREWERIES

Company Name GUINNESS NIGERIA PLC INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES PLC NIGERIAN BREWERIES PLC Sector Totals

No of Deals 43 4 100 147 BUILDING MATERIALS

Company Name ASHAKA CEMENT PLC CEMENT CO. OF NORTHERN NIGERIA PLC DANGOTE CEMENT PLC LAFARGE WAPCO PLC Sector Totals

No of Deals 17 3 13 14 47 CHEMICAL & PAINTS

Company Name BERGER PAINTS NIGERIA PLC CHEMICAL AND ALLIED PRODUCTS PLC PORTLAND PAINTS & PRODUCTS NIGERIA PLC Sector Totals

No of Deals 4 8 1 13

COMMERCIAL/SERVICES Company Name RED STAR EXPRESS PLC Sector Totals

No of Deals 6 6

Quotation(N) 2.40

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 34,400 79,320.00 34,400 79,320.00

Skye Bank postpones 2011 earnings report

T

HE board of Skye Bank Plc has postponed deliberations on the 2011 earnings report and dividend recommendation following delay in the completion of the audit of the financial statements for the immediate past year.

Directors of the bank had earlier scheduled a meeting last Thursday to consider the 2011 earnings report and possible dividend recommendation but stepped down the agenda due to what the bank described as “unforeseen delay in the completion of the audit”.

Analysts said the delay implies that shareholders might have to wait a bit longer for the dividends while speculators that had bought on the earlier notification would have their investment horizon extended.

No new date has been fixed for the consideration of the report.

Skye Bank had distributed N5.3 billion as cash dividends for the 2010 business year and many analysts estimated there could be improvement in cash payouts for the immediate past year.

Third quarter report for 2011 showed gross earnings of N73.29 billion as against N66.17 billion in the comparable period of 2010. Profit after tax rose from N8.55 billion in third quarter 2010 to N9.37 billion in 2011.

Many quoted companies are expected to announce

COMPUTER & OFFICE EQUIPMENT Company Name NCR (NIGERIA) PLC. OMATEK VENTURES PLC Sector Totals

No of Deals 2 1 3

Quotation(N) 9.75 0.50

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 1,833 17,871.75 9,326,252 4,663,126.00 9,328,085 4,680,997.75

Quotation(N) 1.32 26.93 0.50 29.50 27.95

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 281,402 376,418.88 1,868,859 49,982,534.99 500,560 250,280.00 609,325 17,931,606.72 475,910 13,072,559.32 3,736,056 81,613,399.91

Quotation(N) 22.01 0.50

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 132,750 2,802,532.50 950 475.00 133,700 2,803,007.50

Taofik Salako and Tonia Osundolire

their audited reports and accounts and dividend recommendations for the 2011 business year within the next two weeks.

Already, the boards of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Zenith Bank Plc have met and considered the audited financial statements for their 2011 earnings and are expected to make public announcements in the days ahead.

Meanwhile, turnover increased on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) last week as bargain hunters took advantage of recent sustained decline in share prices to lock in new values.

Turnover stood at 2.45 billion shares worth N10.0 billion in 16,760 deals last week compared with turnover of 1.34 billion shares valued at N7.01 billion traded in 15,166 deals two weeks ago.

Investors remained bullish on banking stocks staking N6.9 billion on 2.1 billion bank shares in 9,421 deals. United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc remained the most active stock with a turnover of 1.36 billion shares, representing 66 per cent and 55.4 per cent of banking subsector and aggregate turnover respectively.

Insurance subsector placed second on the activity chart with a turnover of 90.8 million shares valued at N74.3 million traded in 417 deals.

CONGLOMERATES Company Name A. G. LEVENTIS (NIGERIA) PLC PZ CUSSONS NIGERIA PLC TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATION OF NIGERIA PLC UAC OF NIGERIA PLC UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC Sector Totals

No of Deals 4 76 8 68 40 196

NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE

CONSTRUCTION Company Name JULIUS BERGER NIGERIA PLC MULTIVERSE PLC Sector Totals

No of Deals 11 1 12

ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY Company Name CUTIX PLC Sector Totals

No of Deals 4 4

Quotation(N) 1.39

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 200,000 278,000.00 200,000 278,000.00

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS Company Name NEWGOLD ETF Sector Totals

No of Deals 1 1

Quotation(N) 2,668.00

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 503 1,342,004.00 503 1,342,004.00

FOOD/BEVERAGES & TOBACCO Company Name 7-UP BOTTLING CO. PLC CADBURY NIGERIA PLC DANGOTE FLOUR MILLS PLC DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC FLOUR MILLS NIGERIA PLC HONEYWELL FLOUR MILL PLC NATIONAL SALT COMPANY NIGERIA PLC NESTLE NIGERIA PLC UTC NIGERIA PLC Sector Totals

No of Deals 12 22 63 83 35 13 19 39 4 290

Quotation(N) 46.00 9.29 4.04 3.60 56.00 2.46 3.80 441.00 0.50

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 24,920 1,097,691.50 250,987 2,332,283.36 1,549,625 6,039,141.34 2,275,880 8,255,581.74 211,738 11,862,388.12 569,358 1,398,400.68 769,700 2,901,345.00 76,693 32,691,467.38 8,030 4,154.60 5,736,931 66,582,453.72

HEALTHCARE Company Name EVANS MEDICALPLC. FIDSON HEALTHCARE PLC GLAXOSMITHKLINE CONSUMER NIG. PLC MAY & BAKER NIGERIA PLC. NEIMETH INTERNATIONAL PHARMACEUTICALS PLC Sector Totals

No of Deals 1 9 7 9 21 47

Quotation(N) 0.61 0.62 22.00 2.75 0.98

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 1,000 580.00 851,725 541,069.50 10,198 225,491.00 192,408 522,758.98 876,574 859,042.52 1,931,905 2,148,942.00

Quotation(N) 1.20

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 2,682,780 3,118,516.80 2,682,780 3,118,516.80

HOTEL & TOURISM Company Name IKEJA HOTEL PLC Sector Totals

No of Deals 17 17

INDUSTRIAL/DOMESTIC PRODUCTS Company Name VITAFOAM NIGERIA PLC VONO PRODUCTS PLC Sector Totals

No of Deals 15 1 16

Quotation(N) 3.42 2.88

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 660,718 2,224,123.72 1,000 2,880.00 661,718 2,227,003.72

INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY Company Name CHAMS PLC STARCOMMS PLC Sector Totals

No of Deals 4 1 5

Quotation(N) 0.50 0.50

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 13,000 6,500.00 100,000 50,000.00 113,000 56,500.00

INSURANCE Company Name AIICO INSURANCE PLC. CONTINENTAL REINSURANCE PLC CUSTODIAN AND ALLIED INSURANCE PLC EQUITY ASSURANCE PLC GREAT NIGERIA INSURANCE COMPANY PLC GOLDLINK INSURANCE PLC GUARANTY TRUST ASSURANCE PLC LASACO ASSURANCE PLC.

No of Deals 9 3 21 2 1 11 27 3

Quotation(N) 0.50 0.72 1.50 0.50 0.50 0.63 1.13 0.50

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 94,571 47,569.12 502,100 361,512.00 2,998,100 4,697,964.00 20,000,000 10,000,000.00 2,000 1,000.00 898,705 546,184.15 2,420,959 2,694,149.51 30,000 15,000.00

Altogether, the financial services sector accounted for 2.2 billion shares valued at N6.971 billion traded in 9,860 deals.

The improved appetite for financial services stocks also impacted positively on the pricing trend in the sector.

The NSE Banking Index appreciated by 3.8 per cent to close at 283.33 points while the NSE Insurance Index increased by 0.4 per cent to close at 114.74 points.

However, the overall market situation was negative as the benchmark index, the All Share Index (ASI) declined by 1.0 per cent to close at 20,411.17 points as against its week’s opening index of 20, 623.63 points.

Aggregate market capitalisation of all equities dropped from N6.500 trillion to N6.433 trillion. The NSE 30 Index depreciated by 0.5 to close at 925.91 points.

The NSE Consumer Goods Index also declined by 1.1 per cent to close at 1,666.30 points while the NSE Oil and Gas Index dwindled by 2.4 per cent to close at 208.73 points.

The negative market position reflected losses suffered by some 35 stocks, especially highly capitalised oil and gas and manufacturing stocks.

Total Nigeria Plc led the losers’ list with a loss of N18.52 to close at N171.48 per share. Dangote Cement Plc followed with a loss of N5.80 to close at N110.20 per share.

On the upside, 27 stocks appreciated during the week with Nigerian Breweries Plc leading the pack with a gain of N2.30 to close at N97.70.

Access Bank Plc followed with a gain of 89 kobo to close at N6.75 per share.

DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 17-2-12 N.E.M. INSURANCE CO. (NIG.) PLC. NIGER INSURANCE CO. PLC. PRESTIGE ASSURANCE PLC. UNIC INSURANCE PLC. INTERCONTINENTAL WAPIC INSURANCE PLC Sector Totals

6 2 3 1 4 93

0.50 0.50 0.70 0.50 0.52

161,781 61,559 1,104,000 1,000 513,200 28,787,975

80,890.50 30,779.50 772,800.00 500.00 259,600.00 19,507,948.78

Quotation(N) 0.80

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 520,746 412,592.17 520,746 412,592.17

MARITIME Company Name JAPAUL OIL & MARITIME SERVICES PLC Sector Totals

No of Deals 26 26

MORTGAGE COMPANIES Company Name ASO SAVINGS AND LOAND PLC RESORT SAVINGS AND LOANS PLC Sector Totals

No of Deals 1 3 4

Quotation(N) 0.50 0.50

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 5,000 2,500.00 25,000 12,500.00 30,000 15,000.00

OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS Company Name ROYAL EXCHANGE PLC Sector Totals

No of Deals 1 1

Quotation(N) 0.50

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 15,600 7,800.00 15,600 7,800.00

Quotation(N) 1.55

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 446,398 691,628.33 446,398 691,628.33

PACKAGING Company Name NIGERIAN BAG MANUFACTURING COMPANY PLC Sector Totals

No of Deals 23 23

PETROLEUM(MARKETING) Company Name CONOIL PLC ETERNA OIL & GAS PLC. FORTE OIL PLC MOBIL OIL NIGERIA PLC. OANDO PLC TOTAL NIGERIA PLC Sector Totals

No of Deals 3 21 18 8 90 12 152

Quotation(N) 28.00 3.75 11.01 133.00 18.35 171.48

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 20,000 532,000.00 871,342 3,140,367.86 200,621 2,208,837.21 5,725 723,353.75 576,170 10,465,453.83 2,836,939.41 17,401 1,691,259 19,906,952.06

PRINTING & PUBLISHING Company Name LEARN AFRICA PLC UNIVERSITY PRESS PLC Sector Totals

No of Deals 1 11 12

Quotation(N) 2.81 3.21

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 17,000 45,390.00 65,626 219,559.62 82,626 264,949.62

Quotation(N) 11.90

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 1,387 15,686.97 1,387 15,686.97

REAL ESTATE Company Name UACN PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT CO. PLC Sector Totals

No of Deals 3 3

ROAD TRANSPORTATION Company Name ASSOCIATED BUS COMPANY PLC Sector Totals

No of Deals 1 1

Quotation(N) 0.50

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 5,000 2,500.00 5,000 2,500.00

THE FOREIGN LISTINGS Company Name ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL INCORPORATED Sector Totals Overall Totals

No of Deals 22 22

Quotation(N) 9.95

Quantity Traded Value of Shares (N) 5,531,857 55,015,494.12 5,531,857 55,015,494.12

3,008

411,930,361

2,364,599,168.82

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

55

MONEY LINK

T

HE Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is working on developing a regulatory guideline to guide operations of mobile payments (m-payment) in Nigeria .

Additionally, NCC said it was working on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ensure a seamless operation of the mobile payment scheme.

Speaking with The Nation on the sidelines of the 66th NCC Telecoms Consumer Parliament in Lagos , NCC’s Director of Consumer Affairs, Mrs Mary Uduma, said the guidelines to be developed by the commission are expected to guide NCC- guide licensees; while CBN would develop

NCC, CBN to sign MoU on mobile payment

By Adline Atili

guidelines that would guide its own licensees.

She explained that the regulation is expected to provide guidelines on the interoperability of the m-payment system among the key players in the chain of transactions, from regulatory perspectives.

NCC had earlier stated that all mobile payment operators in the country would require licences to enable them interconnect with telecoms operators in the operation of mobile payment services in the nation’s financial sector.

operators.

“Because of this, NCC is preparing a regulation and its category of licence for bids. There has been issues about the CBN’s licensing of mobile payment operators and the CBN as we know, is a statutory body of its own that we do not control; it chooses who it gives licence to and who it does not.

“The process would be, you get a licence from the CBN and you come

According to the Executive ViceChairman of the Commission, Dr Eugene Juwah, though the core business of mobile payment resides in the banks and is subject to regulations and licensing of the CBN, consent of telecommunications operators would be required, and as such, NCC’s licensing.

He said: “Actually, the core business of mobile payment resides in the banks and the licence for mobile payment services is being issued by the CBN, but the CBN is fully in consultation with the NCC because it would involve getting the consent of telecoms

Access Bank, CWC Group partner

A FirstBank gets three certifications F IRSTBANK Plc has been given three certifications affirming its leadership position in the Nigerian banking industry. The bank secured the BS25999 Business Continuity Management System Certification, followed with the enhanced certification for the ISO27001 and the ISO38500 IT Governance Certification.

A statement from the bank said the certifications came after more than two years it emerged the first Nigerian company to be conferred with the ISO/IEC 27001:2005 Information Security Management Systems certification (ISMS) by the British Standards Institution (BSI), a leading organisation in the field of auditing management systems and processes.

The bank explained that while the BS25999 Business Continuity Management certification is a clear demonstration of the highest level of evidence that its activities and services will not be disrupted or impaired as a result of man-made or natural disasters, the certification

By Collins Nweze

for ISO27001 is an enhanced version of the one conferred in September 2010.

“Apart from the head office, the certification now covers the Document Management Centre, the Centralised Processing Centre and the Disaster Recovery Centre of the Bank, in compliance with the state-

CCESS Bank Plc has partnered the CWC Group, an international non-governmental organisation renowned for expertise in Oil, Gas, Power and Investment in hosting this year’s edition of the Nigeria Oil and Gas conference (NOG) 2012 holding at International Conference Centre, Abuja from today to Wednesday.

In its 12th year, the annual conference is a platform for strategic interaction between government and stakeholders in the Oil and Gas sector of the nation’s

ment of applicability. The third certification, ISO38500 IT Governance Certification provides guiding principles for the Bank on the effective, efficient and acceptable use of Information Technology within the Bank.

The three certifications were anchored by Global InfoSwift, a leading Nigerian IT service provider with a robust track record,” the statement said.

Tax institute woos professionals

T

HE West African Union of Tax Institutes (WAUTI) has com menced drive for membership to enable it achieve its objectives.

Aside setting up membership, publicity, conference and technical committees, the tax institute has visited some West African Countries to involve more tax practitioners in their activities as well as enlarge its current membership base.

The WAUTI President, Kunle Quadri said the body was formed to enable the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) and the Chartered In-

Chairman of Publicity and Publications of WAUTI, Chukwuemeka Eze said the body has made a listing of the existing tax associations or tax practitioners within the sub-region that can help promote its activities by assisting it get new registered members.

He said the institute has adopted a strategy, which includes establishment of a Technical Committee implementing a five-year plan that will move the group forward. The committee is expected to liaise with the Treasurer and the Finance Committee to attach figures to the various programmes and projects identified in the strategic plan.

stitute of Taxation, Ghana (CITG) and other emerging tax institutes in collaboration with Revenue Agencies in the West African Region have a common forum to address all tax matters.

He explained that the WAUTI held its executive meeting in August 2011 in Ghana and continued its activities by participating in the tax conference held in Senegal in December 2011.

“Our target is to get, by the end of the year 2013, majority of tax professionals, institutes and any other stakeholders involved in WAUTI activities,” a statement from WAUTI said.

FGN BONDS Amount N

Rate %

M/Date

3-Year 5-Year 5-Year

35m 35m 35m

11.039 12.23 13.19

19-05-2014 18-05-2016 19-05-2016

WHOLESALE DUTCH AUCTION SYSTEM Amount

Price Loss 2754.67 447.80

OBB Rate Call Rate

7.9-10% 10-11%

PRIMARY MARKET AUCTION (T-BILLS) Tenor 91-Day 182-Day 1-Year

Amount 30m 46.7m 50m

Rate % 10.96 9.62 12.34

Date 28-04-2011 “ 14-04-2011

O/PRICE

GOLDINSURE UBA OANDO ACCESS NAHCO MAYBAKER DANGFLOUR SKYEBANK ETERNAOIL GYASSURE

0.60 1.80 17.48 6.43 7.05 2.62 3.85 3.51 3.58 1.08

Current Before

C/PRICE

CHANGE

0.63 1.89 18.35 6.75 7.40 2.75 4.04 3.68 3.75 1.13

0.03 0.09 0.87 0.32 0.35 0.13 0.19 0.17 0.17 0.05

SYMBOL

O/PRICE

9.00 8.22 58.90 11.58 8.79 1.03 1.71 0.89 1.38 0.73

C/PRICE

CHANGE

8.55 7.81 56.00 11.01 8.36 0.98 1.63 0.85 1.32 0.70

0.45 0.41 2.90 0.57 0.43 0.05 0.08 0.04 0.06 0.03

Date

450m

452.7m

450m

150.8

08-8-11

250m 400m

313.5m 443m

250m 400m

150.8 150.7

03-8-11 01-8-11

147.6000

149.7100

150.7100

-2.11

NGN GBP

239.4810

244.0123

245.6422

-2.57

NGN EUR

212.4997

207.9023

209.2910

-1.51

149.7450

154.0000

154.3000

-3.04

(S/N) Bureau de Change 152.0000

153.0000

155.5000

-2.30

154.0000

156.0000

-1.96

NSE CAP Index

27-10-11 N6.5236tr 20,607.37

28-10-11 N6.617tr 20,903.16

% Change -1.44% -1.44%

NIGERIA INTER BANK (S/N)

MEMORANDUM QUOTATIONS Name

153.0000

DISCOUNT WINDOW Feb. ’11

July ’11

Aug ’11

MPR

6.50%

6.50%

8.75%

Standing Lending Rate ,, Deposit Rate ,, Liquidity Ratio Cash Return Rate Inflation Rate

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 1.00% 12.10%

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 2.00% 12.10%

9.50% 5.50% 30.00% 2.00% 9.4%

Offer Price

Bid Price

9.17 1.00 120.97 98.43 0.76 1.04 0.88 1,642.73 8.24 1.39 1.87 7,276.62 193.00

9.08 1.00 120.79 97.65 0.73 1.04 0.87 1,635.25 7.84 1.33 1.80 7,088.65 191.08

ARM AGGRESSIVE KAKAWA GUARANTEED STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND THE LOTUS CAPITAL HALAL BGL SAPPHIRE FUND BGL NUBIAN FUND NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL DEB. PARAMOUNT EQUITY FUND CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST CENTRE-POINT UNIT TRUST STANBIC IBTC NIG EQUITY THE DISCOVERY FUND • ARM AGGRESSIVE • KAKAWA GUARANTEED • STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE

LOSER AS AT 17-2-12

PRESCO UBN FLOURMILL FO BERGER NEIMETH AIRSERVICE LIVESTOCK AGLEVENT PRESTIGE

Rate (N)

C u r r e n t CUV Start After %

NGN USD

Parallel Market SYMBOL

Exchange

Sold ($)

CAPITAL MARKET INDEX Year Start Offer

(S/N)

GAINERS AS AT 17-2-12

Amount

EXHANGE RATE 26-08-11 Currency

INTERBANK RATES

Amount

Offered ($) Demanded ($)

MANAGED FUNDS

NIDF NESF

economy. Deliberations from the conference have facilitated the development of key policies that have had significant impact on the sector.

A statement from the bank said the sponsorship demonstrates its commitment to the growth of the sector through partnership with credible organisations such as the CWC group and provision of funding and advisory services to industry operators.

Specifically, this year’s conference will focus on addressing burning issues facing the sector and also look to assist the country as cementing itself as the leading exporter of oil and gas in Africa. It will also address key areas that are in need of attention in the country’s energy sector as well as address the challenges facing the ever changing energy market in Nigeria.

Amongst the facilitators at the event is Access Bank’s Executive Director, Institutional Banking, Okey Nwuke, who is expected to make a presentation titled “ The Outlook of The Recently Sold Blocks, Nigeria’s Marginal Field Prospects and International Lessons in Economic Production” to the cross sectoral gathering on the second day of the conference.

DATA BANK

Tenor

Initial Current Quotation Price Market N8250.00 5495.33 N1000.00 N552.20

to NCC for a licence to interconnect with the operators.

“Because we cannot put the cart before the horse by saying, ‘okay take the licence and go to the CBN,’ there has to be some order to it.

“Therefore the mobile money operators that have been licensed by the CBN can come to us for a licence to interconnect with the telecoms operators.”

• AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND NIBOR Tenor 7 Days 30 Days 60 Days 150 Days

Rate (Previous) 24 Aug, 2011 9.0417 9.6667 11.2917 12.1250

Rate (Currency) 26, Aug, 2011 10.17% 11.46% 11.96% 12.54%

Movement

OPEN BUY BACK Previous

Current

04 July, 2011

07, Aug, 2011

Bank

8.5000

8.5000

P/Court

8.0833

8.0833

Movement

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THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

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THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

59

NEWS

Kwara ACN hails Supreme Court judgment

T

HE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has hailed last week’s judgment of the Supreme Court which ordered the reinstatement of the sacked Kwara State Chief Judge, Justice Raliat Habeeb-Elelu.

The party said it received the “news with extreme joy because the judgment represents a step forward in our people’s longstanding quest for justice and fairness.”

The Supreme Court last Friday reinstated the sacked

T

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

Chief Judge of Kwara State, Justice Raliat Habeeb–Elelu.

In a statement, the Kwara State Chairman of ACN, Mr. Kayode Olawepo, said: “For us, the unlawful sack of Justice Habeeb-Elelu was just one of the many injustices and impunities of the immediate past administration.

Similar to this case is the continued seizure of pension arrears due to Kwara pensioners and entitlements of some

councillors and council chairmen in the state.

“If anybody doubted that the government was one of impunity, lawlessness and disregard for due process, the Friday ruling serves as an eye-opener and further strengthens the people’s confidence in the rule of law.

“We are not unmindful of the antics of the PDP government to dampen the spirit of the honourable justice and undermine the Supreme Court ruling, but, as the court

Kogi jail break not by Boko Haram, says Minister

HE jail break in Kogi State last Wednesday during which over 125 inmates were set free was carried out by unknown gunmen/armed robbers who sought to free their colleagues, Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, said at the weekend.

He said this while on a visit to the Koton–Karfi Prison to ascertain the extent of damage done to it, the welfare of the officers and inmates.

He made some clarifications surrounding the jail break, saying: “On the various misinterpretations given about the jail break, the attack was carried out by unknown gunmen/armed robbers who sought to free their colleagues.”

According to a statement made available to The Nation

From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

in Abuja by his press secretary, Mrs. Helen Osuagwu, the minister lamented the rate at which productive and energetic young men take to crimes, describing the trend as alarming and very worrisome.

He observed with dismay the decay at the prison which was built in the early 1930’s by the colonial masters, describing the situation as a far cry from the expected ongoing prison reforms, as the prison is not a punishment place/settlement, but a reformation centre where inmates could learn various vocations that would help them become

better and useful people after serving their sentences.

Moro also visited Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State and sought approval so that modalities would be worked out with the Federal Ministry of Interior, Nigerian Prison Service (NPS) and Kogi State Government for the relocation of the Koton-Karfi Prison to a permanent site in the same locality, in line with the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.

He pleaded the state government’s cooperation in the dispensation of justice at the prison which has 120 inmates out of which only 27 are convicted, while the rest are awaiting trial.

He advised security officers

Woman held for allegedly killing husband

A

WOMAN, who allegedly killed her husband at Okota in Lagos State, is in police custody.

The suspect, Mrs. Chikodi Anakwe, allegedly hit her husband on the head with a hard object over a disagreement they had.

It was gathered that the incident that led to their quarrel started around 9pm on Saturday.

By Jude Isiguzo

A source told The Nation that the couple always fought, so when neighbours heard them, they thought it was the usual quarrel and decided not to interfere.

Neighbours began to be suspicious when Mrs. Anakwe ran out of their apartment and tried to escape. It was learnt that neighbours rushed in to find out what was happening. They found

her husband on the floor.

He was later rushed to a private hospital in the area where he was certified dead.

Police spokesman, Mr. Jayieoba Joseph, confirmed the incident. Joseph, who said the suspect is now in the police custody, added that investigation has commenced. He said the suspect would be transferred to the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) Panti, Yaba, Lagos.

Kwara pledges to complete roads WARA State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed at the weekend reiterated his commitment to the completion of 21 road projects in the next four months.

He said this during the presentation of a Second Class Staff of Office to the 7th Emir of Yashikira in Baruten Local Government, Alhaji

K

Usman Umaru Sariki, Sabi Kpassi.

The governor said approval has been given for the construction of 374 km. of rural roads across the 16 councils, while government intends to build 20 comprehensive health centres this year.

The new emir, who thanked the governor and

Yashikira kingmakers for ensuring a crisis-free selection process, promised to make fairness and justice his watchword.

Sariki an alumnus of the University of Ilorin and University of Louvin, Belgium, was born in Yashikira in 1954 and until his new appointment, was a deputy director at the National Population Commission.

Kano votes N2.08b for new varsity

P

LANS have been finalised to establish the proposed Northwest University, Kano as the state government has awarded N2.8 billion contract for the construction of a complex that will serve as one of the faculties in the in-

From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

stitution.

The contract has been signed by the Commissioner for Higher Education, Alhaji Umar Haruna Doguwa, with two companies, Eagle Construction Compa-

ny and Sarb & Glaman Nigeria Limited.

Doguwa told the contractors to meet up with the deadline of 48 weeks, saying more projects would soon commence in the proposed university.

Shettima ready to accommodate opposition

B

verdict has shown, there will always be a tragic end to impunity and mischief.

“We urge anybody or group of persons who may have been sucked in by the antics of the PDP hawks to resist the reinstatement of Justice Habeeb-Elelu to review their position because injustice done to one is injustice done to all. It is Justice Habeeb-Elelu today; it may be you tomorrow.”

ORNO State Governor Kashim Shettima has appealed to the opposition parties to team up with his government to rebuild the state, saying there was neither a winner nor a loser in last Friday’s Supreme Court judgment.

The governor, who spoke

From Abiodun Joseph, Maiduguri

through his Commissioner of Information, said: “We are using this opportunity to call our people in the opposition to join us in our desire and determination to improve the lives of our people.”

On his victory, he said: “We

thank God that it has been resolved and even to our favour, but I must add that for us, it is a no winner and no vanquished situation. What is important to the government in Borno is to deliver what we have promised the people because they deserve good life.”

Borno UBEC awards N4b contract

B

ORNO State Universal Basic Education Board has awarded a contract worth N3 billion for the construction of primary school classrooms and staff common rooms.

The Commissioner incharge of the board, Professor Tijjani Ali, said another contract worth N1 billion has also been awarded for the procurement of text books, instructional materials and other educational equipment.

Ali said to address the problem of enrolment and retention facing primary education, committees would be set up in every local government, comprising educationists, district and village heads as well as PTA chairmen to

educate parents on the need to allow their children acquire education.

He said plans are underway to provide housing units in the local governments for teachers, to address the imbalance in the number of teachers in urban and rural areas.

Ali said the N18, 000 minimum wage would be paid to primary school teachers.

Emphasis, he said, is being placed on training and retraining of teachers so that the policy of making NCE the minimum qualification would be realised.

The commissioner praised the determination of Governor Kashim Shettima to revamp the education sector.

New agenda for command

K •Acting Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Abubakar

on the need for alertness and effective strategic policing “which is inevitable in combating incidents like this.”

Spokesman for the NPS, Mr. Kayode Odeyemi, told our correspondent in a telephone conversation that so far, “37 escapees have been rearrested. The securities operatives are everywhere and no stone will be left unturned.”

ANO State Police Command has come up with a seven-point agenda to boost the morale of men and officers.

In a meeting with top police officers yesterday, the Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Idris, underlined the need for the police to face the challenges of fighting crime.

The police boss stressed his

T

From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

resolve to stop corruption, undue gratification and favouritism in the force.

He said the measures include war against corruption and abuse of office and authority, harassment at checkpoints, assault of innocent citizens at the stations, extortion, among others.

Funeral for woman

HE death has occurred in Lagos of Mrs. Deborah Tejumade Babatunde (Nee Adekeye). She died after a brief illness at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja on January 26. She will be buried on Friday after a Christian service at her residence, 8 Adikat Mogaji Street, IraNla, off Ado Road, Badore,

Lagos.

Mrs Babatunde, 62 was an elder sister to Mrs Seyi Adekeye, Assistant National Secretary, the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abuja.

She is also survived by two children: Mrs Kojusola SolaAdebayo of Cheveron Nigeria Limited, Lagos and Mr. Akintunde Babatunde, a businessman.

60

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

FOREIGN NEWS

Suicide bomb in Iraq kills 19 policemen

A

SUICIDE car bomber has killed 19 police officers and cadets in an attack on a crowd outside a Baghdad police academy.

Police and hospital sources said 14 cadets and five police were killed, and 26 people were wounded, all but two of them police or cadets.

"I can see body parts scattered on the ground and boots and berets covered with blood. Many cars were set ablaze," said a policeman working at the academy in north-eastern Baghdad.

The attack was the deadliest since 27 January when a suicide bomber set off an explosive-laden vehicle near a Shia funeral procession in Baghdad, killing at least 31 and wounding 60.

It breaks a short period of relative calm that accompanied an easing in a political crisis pitting the Shia prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, against senior members of the Sunni-backed Iraqiya political bloc.

Tensions rose on Thursday when a panel of judges detailed 150 attacks they said were carried out by death squads under the command of the Sunni vice-president, Tareq al-Hashemi. Maliki sought Hashemi's arrest in December, sparking the crisis.

Hashemi, who has taken refuge in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan, has denied accusations made against him, dismissing them as a plot to destroy Maliki's opponents.

•Security forces ready to remove a car destroyed in the suicide bomb attack in Baghdad…yesterday

Egypt’s presidential poll delayed

US primary

Under pressure, Romney struggles for the right pitch

A

LITTLE more than two weeks after his off-key but enthusiastic renditions of “America the Beautiful” captured the spirit of a candidate who had won the Florida primary and seemed on the verge of locking down the Republican nomination for president, Romney is back in lackluster mode.

It’s not just that Romney is facing a surprising challenge in his native state of Michigan from Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator who vaulted into contention in the stateby-state nomination battle with wins in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado.

What alarms many Republican Party leaders and strategists are the signals they see from Romney’s campaign as he struggles to support the notion that he is the inevitable nominee to face President Barack Obama in the November election.

They see the former Massachusetts governor as a candidate whose confidence appears shaken, and whose strategy and message now can seem off-key.

Gone are the vibrant rallies Romney held in Florida, replaced in Michigan by a series of low-energy round-table discussions.

This week, Romney often rushed through his stump speech as if he had a plane to catch, and made awkwardly curious remarks - “I love you” to a business group, and, “The trees are the right height” in Michigan - that made him seem particularly desperate for approval.

“I really count body language for a lot,” said Republican strategist Rich Galen, adding with a joke that Romney, who ran for president in 2008, might have “hit the wall at the 5 1/ 2-year mark” of campaigning.

And then there were the two opinion pieces Romney wrote for newspapers - one in the Detroit News defending his opposition to the federal bailout of the auto industry, another in the Wall Street Journal in which he attacked Obama’s policy on China as that nation’s likely future leader, Xi Jinping, visited the United States.

The moves were aimed at attracting support from conservatives who oppose government bailouts and think that Democrat Obama has not been tough enough in his trade policy with China.

But Romney’s column on the auto bailout raised questions even within the Republican Party about his strategy in Michigan, where his father was an auto executive and a governor - and where a loss in the Feb. 28 primary could be devastating to his campaign.

Some strategists and party leaders wondered why Romney would continue to remind Michigan voters - millions of whom have ties to the auto industry - that he opposed the $81 billion bailout widely viewed as having saved the industry.

“I think his personal confidence is shaken,” said political analyst Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia. “He thought it was all over after Florida.

“No matter what they say,” Sabato said of Romney’s campaign, a loss to Santorum in Michigan would be a “major psychological blow.”

Sabato said that the longer the campaign goes on, the more Republican voters are reminded of the concerns they have had about Romney’s ability to beat Obama.

•Culled from ABC.com

Ex-Grenada PM dies at 69

F

ORMER Grenada Prime Minister George Brizan is dead.

Political colleagues say the 69-year-old Brizan died Saturday at a Grenada hospital after a long battle with diabetes.

Prime Minister Tillman Thomas issued a statement describing him as a “great contributor to our society.”

Brizan served as prime minister for four months in 1995 following the resignation of Prime Minister Nicholas Braithwaite.

Brizan’s National Democratic Congress lost all of its parliamentary seats in the 1995 vote.

E

GYPTIAN election officials have failed to confirm the date of the first presidential election since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak.

An election commission briefing only expressed hope the process could be over by the end of May. The commission chairman told local TV the problem lay in organising the expatriate vote.

Mr Mubarak stepped down on 11 February last year after 18 days of street protests in which hundreds were killed.

The military took over but has faced continuing unrest from protesters demanding an earlier transfer of power.

Parliamentary elections have already been held and a

Nominations starts March 10

T

HE head of Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court says that nominations for presidential candidates will open March 10 and last four weeks.

Farouq Sultan also says the date for the presidential election has not yet been set but that a decision is expected soon.

He said yesterday the vote will likely take place over one or two days, and vowed it will be held before the end of June.

That is in line with the current timetable set forward by Egypt’s military rulers.

Activists who are angry with the military’s handling of the country’s transition since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak last year are calling for early presidential elections, but the ruling generals still have the support of a broad spectrum of the Egyptian public.

new assembly dominated by Islamist parties held its first session earlier this month.

The BBC’s Jon Leyne in Cairo says confirmation of a date in June had been expected but after a long preamble, the

commission only expressed hopes about the timetable.

He says the delay suggests there may be a behind-thescenes battle over the timing of returning to civilian rule.

Commission chairman

Faruq Sultan said on the Nile News channel that the delay was because of problems organising the vote of Egyptian expatriates and that the foreign ministry had asked for more time.

Mr Sultan said nominations for president still had to be in by 10 March and the timetable for polls would be announced before then.

According to rules set by a referendum last year, the president will serve for four years and be able to serve two consecutive terms.

Earlier, election commission member Ahmed Shams el-Din had told Egyptian media: “The election will start in the first days of June and will end in the last week of June if there is a run-off.”

Mugabe assures of elections this year

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RESIDENT Robert Mugabe has said he will definitely call elections this year and described as “cowards” politicians who say polls cannot be held until 2013.

In an interview with state media before his 88th birthday tomorrow, Zimbabwe’s president dismissed objections to early polls. “That is what cowards say. Elections can happen at any time …

Definitely, yes [this year],” he said.

He told the loyalist Sunday Mail newspaper that money would be found to pay for the presidential and parliamentary elections.

The prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party has said polling cannot go ahead until constitutional reforms are complete, and rights groups have warned of an imminent upsurge of election violence.

Zimbabwe’s power-sharing coalition was formed after disputed and violenceplagued elections in 2008.

Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party, in power since independence in 1980, lost the parliamentary race and Tsvangirai boycotted a presidential run-off in protest at violence and intimidation of his supporters.

Mugabe acknowledged in the birthday interview that there were “negative forces”

in his party in 2008 along with factions wanting to see him defeated. He said he had not groomed a successor.

“There is no one who can stand and win at the moment,” he said. Choosing a successor would “cause much more division in the party”.

At its annual convention in December, Zanu-PF nominated Mugabe as its sole presidential candidate in future elections.

Somali leaders reach agreement on ending crisis

K

EY Somali leaders have signed a plan to try to end the country’s two-decade-long political crisis.

The agreement provides for a new, smaller parliament and an upper house of elders.

The deal came at a meeting in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, but did not include some key actors.

Al-Shabab militants, who control large areas of central

A

and south Somalia, and the self-declared independent state of Somaliland did not take part.

The latest agreement provides the first indication of what Somalis would like to see from this week’s key conference in London.

For three days Somali leaders had met in Garowe, the capital of Puntland.

Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was joined by leaders of the pro-

government militia, al-Sunna Wal Jamaaca, and senior officials from another semi-autonomous region, Galmudug.

The consultative conference hammered out a blueprint for a future government, to replace the current transitional government, whose mandate expires in August.

Somalia would become a federal state, with Mogadishu as the federal capital.

The Garowe agreement was

witnessed by representatives of the international community, including the African Union and United Nations special representative, Augustine Mahiga.

Matt Baugh, the British ambassador to Somalia, welcomed the agreement as “a step forward in the political process”, but warned that all parties to the plan would have to “deliver on what they have said they are going to do”.

Woman slumps, dies in Ibadan

MIDDLE aged woman, a fufu (Cassava meal) seller, slumped and died at the weekend in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, while trying to recover a N50 debt.

The incident occurred on Saturday at Adifase, ApataGanga.

The deceased was simply identified as Iya Fatimah.

An eyewitness said: “Iya Fatimah saw a young lady who had been owing her

From Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

N50 for two weeks ago and attempted to retrieve the debt.

“She left the spot where she was selling her fufu and pursued the young lady, who said she had no money. The two women were engaged in a hot argument and the fufu seller suddenly slumped.

“Effort to revive her failed.

She was rushed to a nearby

hospital where she was confirmed dead.”

It was learnt that the debtor ran away and is still at large.

The deceased’s husband, simply identified as Aregbesola, reported the case at Apata Police Divisional Headquarters.

When policemen came to take the body of the deceased to the mortuary yesterday, her children said they were not interested in pursuing the case.

They blamed Aregbesola for reporting the case to the police. They said he had no say in the matter because their mother did not bear him any child.

The children, it was learnt, went to the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Apata Police Divisional Headquarters, Mr. Ganiyu, and pleaded for the release of the deceased’s body, so that she can be buried according to Islamic rites, but he refused.

THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

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THE NATION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

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TOMORROW

www.thenationonlineng.net

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

IN THE NATION

‘IBB, ACF, Gbonigi and Clark are not the president.

Goodluck Jonathan is. He is the latest occupier of the Lugardian throne of systemic injustice; and the likely fall guy, should Nigeria today come a sad cropper’

OLAKUNLE ABIMBOLA

VOL.7, NO. 2042

C OMMENT & D EB ATE EBA

O

N Boko Haram, what we have struggled to articulate is that the harbingers of death and destruction suffer a familiar ailment of modern civilisation: loneliness.

Its founder, Mohammed Yusuf, understood the power of loneliness. Since government failed the youth, he decided to be their government. When they were hungry, he gave them food. When they were naked, he clad them. When they were out in the chill, in near-desert heat and relentless downpour, he gave shelter. When they were of age with little money for expensive weddings, he secured cheap nuptials.

He was their father and the group their family. He gave them hope in a Sahel of despair. When they were sick, he healed them.

When they were in the dumps, he raised them up. He brought their odds to an end. He gave faith in place of fear, he imposed order where chaos ruled them, he offered them heaven when earth was scorched as hell.

In a world of money and technology, they had no answer. No government opened the access to schools or literacy. They had no power to compete. The first condition for them was loneliness. They lived in the awful twain: fear and solitude.

They had no way to define their role in this world. They were condemned to suffer, but no one told them what to do with their suffering. Most people suffer with dignity.

But these persons pined for this dignity so as to give it a name. It was like the loneliness of the long distance runner.

Then came Yusuf and men of his stature.

He provided for them what the government failed to do. So they became faithful. Under that shelter and in that ambience, they ate, loved, grew, travelled, married, hated. This went on for 30 years. Latin American author Gabriel Garcia Marquez captured the feeling in one of the greatest novels of all time, One hundred Years of Solitude. It is a rendering through a fantastic fictional imagination of a century of his country. Here the people are cut off from the world, but the characters are cut off from other people. One of them is tied to a tree. It is a history of false power and grandeur, of claustrophobic peace.

In the case of Boko Haram, they were cut off from the society. They accepted a bliss others cannot understand. They lived in 30 years of solitude. Now that they are burning police buildings, killing Christians and Muslims, threatening governments and foreign missions, the rest of society is waking up to a neglect that mocked us ominously for decades. We just had our Pavlov’s moment. We just saw the light because they, Boko Haram, accused us of being in darkness. But the truth was a case of mutual darkness, them and us.

Darkness entered into darkness. Neither

RIPPLES NATIONAL ASSEMBLYPROMISES TO FIGHT TERRORISM-News

And CORRUPTION!...another form of TERRORISM

SAM OMATSEYE

IN TOUCH

intouchsam@yahoo.com 08054501081(sms only) •Winner, Informed Commentary 2009& 2010 (D.A.M.E)

Home alone

•Yusuf comprehended the other. Jean Paul Sartre phrased it well: “hell is other people.”

It was a similar situation in the Niger Delta.

As a reporter in the rested African Concord magazine, I travelled through the Niger Delta in 1989, and I was amazed at the scores of youths without jobs. Many were graduates and full of energy and nothing. I wondered then in my report what would become of these people. Gradually they found a voice in the militancy. It was not just a voice, but a place of belonging, many hiding under a lofty principle of justice. But they craved luxury more. Their quest for the good life was a place of belonging for them, but a place of foreboding for the rest of us.

What both of them built is what is called an alternative society. This is not peculiar to us.

It happened in the United States with the hippies and the Baby boom generation in the 1960s. Osama Bin Laden helped bolster it in

Afghanistan, which was a verdant happy society until the Russians invaded and the government was taken over by rabid politicians, a thing captured in the novel, The Kite Runner

by Khaled Hosseini.

We have to be wary of alternative societies.

They happen when leadership fails. Such societies attract people who have lost faith in themselves and society. They seek meaning elsewhere. They hide their identity inside the group because they have little or no self-esteem. The group becomes their life stream, their reason for being. “A man by himself is bad company,” remarked Eric Hoffer, author of The True Believer and one of the best writers on mass movements and group psychology.

He was referring to such persons.

We have had such groups all over the country, whether in the North, Southeast, Southsouth or Southwest. In the height of militancy, we suffered disruptions in oil production and steep fall in earnings. The Southeast saw how kidnapping waxed profitable. In the Southwest, the OPC reigned ruthlessly. Now Boko Haram is the rage. Thank goodness that after much pressure from the media and civil society and the opposition, the intelligence has been stepped up with help from foreign countries and we are seeing evidence of key arrests. We cannot guarantee they will not return until we banish the social condition in which they festered, the dangerous cocktails of poverty and ignorance.

But the impact of the movement is incalculable. We read of droves of southerners leaving the North. We must note that these southerners are northerners in sensibility. They have lived there all their lives, generation upon generation. They eat their food, wear their clothes, speak their language and love the scents and sounds of the ambience. They are southerners in outward identity, but in truth, they belong there more than anywhere else in the world. I give two true examples. A friend of mine, frustrated by the killings, told

me he wants to relocate his family to the South, but he will remain because he has properties he has to dispose of and it may take a few years. This is a man who has lived all his life in no other place. The other experience is of a grandma who has held the rest of the family “hostage”in the North because she would not leave. She said she would rather die in Kano than go to a place she would find no joy. Those who go South would feel like strangers at “home.” Those who stay fear for their lives. In both examples, they will be home alone.

The call for a national conference ought to consider how Nigeria is a web that has locked us together, and that is why we have to seek templates to live together through building institutions and a caring society where no one is left behind.

Abati, lend me your ears

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residential spokesman and my good friend Reuben Abati featured on this page last week doing his job as laundry man for President Jonathan. He struggled from sentence to sentence in proving that Jonathan spoke in metaphor in the stone-throwing speech in Bayelsa. What Abati could not show, with all the verbiage, was that Jonathan meant stone throwing as a metaphor. As I posited last week, if the stone throwing episode against Gov. Sylva was real, how suddenly did Jonathan’s reference soar to a metaphor? Or was the crowd also a metaphor? He should have done well, in one or two sentences, to articulate this.

He also fired an innuendo at me about calling Jonathan names week after week with “sadistic pleasure.” Am I to take it that when he was on the other side, he wrote out of sadistic pleasure? His pen had many victims in those ancient days. So involved was Abati in this piece that he misused a word, accusing me of writing for an “imaginable” audience, rather than “imagined.” I am sure he did not mean that word as a compliment because “imaginable” is rather a praise. Well done, my friend.

Imo Governor’s case and the Supreme Court Last week many in the media waited for the Supreme Court to give a definitive verdict on the case between former Imo State Governor and Governor Rochas Okorocha.

But it was put off to March 2. We hope that the court would rule according to the facts before it. The Borno State case was exemplary as the apex court was not swayed by the rascality of the Appeal Court that did not want judgment and justice in that state.

Kashim Shetimma now has peace. Justice should come to Imo State without external pressure.

HARDBALL

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N Saturday, the Joint Action Front (JAF), Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), and The Muslim Congress (TMC) organised a rally in Lagos in memory of those who lost their lives during the fuel subsidy protests early last month. The peaceful, well-publicised rally was to terminate at the Gani Fawehinmi Park, which was made famous by the January fuel subsidy protests that attracted middle class professionals, artistes and pro-democracy activists. Midway to their destination, the rally was violently and unlawfully aborted by the Nigeria Police on the excuse that the organisers did not produce a permit.

Under Nigerian law, permits are not required to stage a protest.

Some 16 participants, including the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi’s widow and son, were arrested and later released on bail. It was obvious that the government tactics to frustrate the rally from reaching the Gani Park was to disperse, arrest and then release the participants.

The unstated goal of the police is to ensure that for some time to come, the now iconic park, which in a special way symbolises the democratic aspirations of Lagosians, does not receive visitors.

Enthusiasts who think Nigerian democracy

Nigeria’s unusual democracy was making progress have in a little over a month received multiple blows to their optimism. The first rude awakening was during the protests against fuel subsidy removal. Not only did the police use live bullets on protesters, both the National Assembly and state governments were incapacitated from acting to protect the fundamentals of democracy or even the principles of federalism as enshrined in a limited form in the 1999 Constitution. Much more humiliating, the Federal Government even went ahead to deploy the army against protesters under the guise of diffusing threats to national security. The deployment was unconstitutional and the courts of the land have so affirmed, but neither the governments of the states that witnessed the deployment nor the National Assembly that should compel executive compliance with the provisions of the constitution really challenged the extraordinary federal imposition.

Now, see how a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. The rule of law will witness more

audacious affronts in the coming months and years, for Nigerian governments are incapable of tolerating any robust expression of dissent. More and more, they will expand the frontiers of tyranny as long as they think they can get away with it. They will make it clear that the democracy we thought we secured in 1999 is firmly circumscribed by the whims of those in government. Nigerians had thought the kind of democracy they practised was modelled on the democracies of the developed West. Now, they are beginning to understand that their democracy is modelled on China and other one-party democracies of the East. This model of democracy is of course not what the 1999 Constitution envisages; but this is what the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) wants, having worked feverishly to foist a one-party state on Nigeria.

The abortion of the Saturday rally in Lagos is not only a reminder of the appalling state of Nigeria’s democracy and total absence of federalism; it is also an indication of the complete absence of any democratic vision among Nigeria’s governing elite. Judging by the actions of those who have ruled the country since 1999, it is clear real democracy and federalism will not be secured by sermonising and criticisms.

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