The Nation February 26, 2012

LONDON TRIAL

CROSS RIVER GUBER POLL

Ibori enters plea bargain tomorrow Jega

–PAGE 5

Ibori

Bakassi protests, low voter turnout mar poll –PAGE 4

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

Vol.06, No. 2047

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

SUNDAY

N200.00

FEBRUARY 26, 2012

N1.3 TRILLION FUEL SUBSIDY PROBE

Tambuwal, Lawan under pressure Top presidency officials seek soft-landing for those indicted Speaker: Let committee submit report before next step –PAGE 2

OJUKWU

The final curtain call I am qualified to be Ikemba II –Ojukwu Jnr –PAGES 21-26

Tambuwal

Lawan

14 killed in Gombe Boko Haram attack Police foil attempted jail break by sect

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USPECTED members of the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, razed a police station in Gombe in an overnight raid on Friday killing 14 people.

Charred bodies of 10 of the victims littered the burnt station yesterday and the others still trapped in a burnt car just outside the building.

The city was put under lockdown, with no residents allowed to leave their homes following the imposition of a 24-hour curfew across the state by the state government.

The attackers, after the gun and bomb assaults, also tried to break into the Gombe prison in a botched attempt to free inmates, according to witnesses and local radio.

Eye witnesses said the gunmen and bombers moved into the premises from different directions.

They then launched their attack by first letting fly doz-

By Vincent Ekhoragbon, Gombe with agency report ens of their Improvised Explosive Device (IED).

Two of the attackers died when their IEDs went off on the way to Gombe Line.

The State Police Commissioner, Mr.Ebikeme Orubebe confirmed 12 deaths.

He said five others were injured but called for calm.

•Continued on Page 4

Abubakar

NEWS

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

N1.3 TRILLION FUEL SUBSIDY PROBE Pressure on Tambuwal, Lawan to dilute report • Top presidency officials seek soft-landing for those indicted T • Speaker: Let committee submit report before next step OP Presidency officials are uncomfortable with the House of Representatives probe of the controversial N1.3trillion oil subsidy.

They fear the report of the probe could damage the government. As a result of this, machinery has been put in motion to limit any such damage, sources say.

The first step, is mounting of pressure on Speaker Aminu Tambuwal and the chairman of the Ad-hoc committee, Alhaji Farouk Lawan by Presidency officials to water down the committee’s report or dump it altogether in the “national interest”.

The other is to give government officials that may be indicted in the report a soft landing.

It was learnt that certain top presidency officials and lobbyists acting on behalf of major stakeholders in the oil industry met separately with Lawan and told him why the report of the committee should be softened in order not to “embarrass some government officials.”

They allegedly expressed concern over the likely backlash of the report from foreign investors in the oil sector.

Some of the lobbyists were even said to have subtly threatened that Farouk Lawan might not get the governorship ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kano State in 2015 should the panel report hurt the government.

It was however learnt that Lawan insisted on doing what is right in the interest of the country.

A reliable source, who spoke in strict confidence, said: “Ahead of the outcome of the report of Lawan’s committee, some government officials have been lobbying the panel to soften its report in the national interest. But none of them could define this interest.

“In fact, some of these of-

From: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

ficials pleaded against the release of a damning report that could have an adverse effect on the oil sector.

“Some expressed fears that the report could bring down the government of the day in the light of the exposé on some functionaries.

“At a point, some said the report could make or mar the 2015 governorship ambition of Lawan and they advised him to have a rethink because of his political future that he is so passionate about.

“But Lawan told one of the emissaries that he will prefer to put the nation above

any other selfish interest.

“These lobbyists are however unrelenting in trying to influence the outcome of the report.”

Investigation also confirmed that the same forces attempted to prevail on the Speaker of the House, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal to intervene by convincing the probe panel to ‘circumvent’ its report.

Another source said: “The Speaker asked the lobbyists to let the committee submit its report before the nation thinks of the next step.

“Tambuwal said he cannot prejudge the outcome of the panel.”

Contacted, the chairman

of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Zakari Mohammed confirmed the pressure on the House to dump the report of the committee.

Mohammed said: “The House is under intense pressures from different quarters on the report. However the House is focused, it will not abandon the probe midway.

“We would be fair but whoever is indicted will be made known to the public.

It is then left to the government to determine what to do with the report.

“Oil is Nigeria’s mainstay and anybody who is stealing this oil is committing a serious economic crime.”The chairman of the

Senate ad-hoc committee looking into fuel subsidy regime, Senator Magnus Abe, recently released the list of the affected 38 companies.

The firms and the amount of money they received last year alone are: Oando Nigeria Plc, N228.506billion; Integrated Oil and Gas Plc, N30billion; MRS, 224.818 billion; A.A. Rano, N1.14 billion; A-Z Petroleum, N18.61 billion; A.S.B, N3.16 billion; Arcon Plc, N24.116 billion; African Petroleum, N104.58 billion; Aminu Resources, N2.3 billion; Capital Oil, N22.4 billion; Con Oil, N37.96 billion; Avante Guard, N1.14 billion; Avido, N3.64 billion; Boffas and Company, N3.67

PDP governorship candidate in Cross River, Sen. liyel Imoke casting his vote at Itigidi community polling booth during the governorship election on yesterday

US charges former, current Noble execs over bribes

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HE United States securities regulators on Friday charged three current and former executives for oil services company Noble Corp with participating in a bribery scheme to obtain permits for oil rigs in Nigeria.

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged the company’s former chief executive, Mark Jackson; the current director of its Nigerian subsidiary, James Ruehlen; and its former head of in-

ternal audit, Thomas O’Rourke, for their alleged roles in the scheme.

O’Rourke agreed to resolve the charges and pay a $35,000 penalty without admitting or denying the allegations.

The SEC said it is seeking monetary penalties against Jackson and Ruehlen.

A lawyer for Jackson said in a statement that Jackson “acted in good faith” at Noble.

“We unequivocally

deny the SEC’s baseless allegations,” said Jackson’s lawyer, David Krakoff.

“He looks forward to clearing his good name in this proceeding.”

A lawyer for Ruehlen said that Ruehlen initially raised the matter within Noble and “fully cooperated throughout the investigation.”

“We are deeply disappointed that the Commission decided to bring this action,” his lawyer, F. Joseph Warin, said in a

statement. “The claims against Mr. Ruehlen are wrong and they will be proven so at trial.”

An assistant to O’Rourke’s lawyer said he was traveling and not available for comment.

The company paid $8 million to resolve related Foreign Corrupt Practices Act civil and criminal charges in 2010.

The SEC said Jackson and Ruehlen bribed customs officials to process false paperwork that pur-

ported to show some oil rigs had been exported and re-imported — even though the rigs had never moved.

The scheme was designed to save the company from the costs associated with exporting the rigs and re-importing them under new permits, the SEC said.

The SEC said O’Rourke helped approve the bribe payments and allowed them to be booked improperly.

billion; and Brilla Energy, N960.3 million.

Others are: D. Jones Petroleum, N14.86 billion; Downstream Energy, N789.648 million; Dosil Oil and Gas, N3.375 billion; Inco ray, N1.988 billion; Eternal, N5.574 billion; Folawiyo Energy, N113.32 billion; Frado International, N2.63 billion; First Deepwater Oil, N257.396 million; Heden Petrol, N693 million; Honeywell Petrol, N12.2 billion; AMP, N11.417 billion; Ascon, N5.271 billion; Channel Oil, N1.308 billion; Fort Oil, N8.582 billion; Enak Oil & Gas, N19.684 billion; Bovas & Co. Nig Ltd, N5.685billion; and Obat Oil N85billion.

Abe also named AP, N104.5billion; IPMAN Investment Limited, N10.9billion; ACON, N24.1billion; Atio Oil, N64.4billion; AMP, N11.4billion; and Emac Oil, N19.2billion.

In 2006, only MRS, Total and Oando were listed as beneficiaries of the fuel subsidy recognized by the Federal Government.

The three companies were said to have been listed as “major marketers.”

But in 2007, AP and Mobil joined and were listed under the category of majors.

The same year, NIPCO was introduced and listed under the category of petrol depot owners.

A new category of “independents” included some marketers who had no depots.

AITEO Energy Resources and Triquest Energy were added in 2007, bringing the total to eight beneficiaries of the fuel subsidy.

The list of subsidy beneficiaries increased sharply in 2008 to 23, made up of six majors.

In 2008, Conoil joined, and NIPCO was joined by Capital Oil and Folawiyo Energy, under the category of depot owners.

The list of “independents” also increased from two in 2007 to 14 in 2008 as AITEO and Triquest were said to have been joined by Triquest Oil services, IMAD Oil & Gas, Integrated Oil and Gas, Rahamaniyya, AMG Petro Energy, Brittania, ACORN, A-Z Petroleum, SHIELD Petroleum and MAJOPE Investment Limited.

And in 2010, the beneficiaries of the subsidy payment under the category of major marketers remained six, the depot owners remained two, but the list of independent marketers went up to 28 with the inclusion of many relatively unknown companies

Column

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Q

UELLE catastrophe!!—, as the French would exclaim.

Darkness has descended on Dakar. While we were fixated on developments in Nigeria, another pearl of Africa is fast unravelling in a huge fireball of economic and political unrest. Veteran oppositionist and former professor, Abdoulaye Wade, is bent on taking his country down a familiar route. Having blackmailed and browbeaten the Senegalese Constitutional Council to review the constitution to allow him to contest for a third term, Wade is set to return to power in dubious and blood soaked circumstances.

There is something depressingly familiar about all this. Most African leaders never seem to learn from history. No matter the circumstances that propel them to power, they seem to lapse into amnesia once ensconced in the splendour of untrammelled power and privileges. Like good old King Louis of feudal France, they come to equate themselves with the state.

Wade is eighty five or much older, and possible senile dementia is probably the least of his age related infirmities. Unfortunately for Senegal and unlike in Tunisia in 1987, there appears to be no security kingpin to play Ben Ali to his Habib Bourguiba. But given the way Ben Ali himself had to be booted out in a popular revolt twenty four years after deposing the ailing autocrat, one must now be wary of a quick fix to what appears a deep continental malaise.

Like Robert Mugabe at eighty nine who has just declared himself as fit as fiddle and ready for more years of active service, Wade does not see anything wrong in ruling his country in perpetuity.

But the old octogenarian wizard of Harare has already applied the final bolts on the coffin of democracy and development in Zimbabwe. Let the dying bury the dead.

It is Senegal which has had a measure of political stability and development that must concern us.

As we have seen with Laurent Gbagbo, another professor of history who refused to learn from history, Wade is bent on upturning the delicate ethnic and cultural harmony which has powered Senegal’s development and prosperity since independence. Famously, Felix Houphuoet-Boigny, the Ivorienne founding father, had noted with chilling finality that a Baole chief never knows his own successor. He never knew his, but his country has known quite a few murderous conflicts and civil wars since the exit of the whimsical paterfamilias.

While Wade duelled serially and unsuccessfully to win the Senegalese presidency, he impressed many by his resilience and doggedness and above all by his sterling commitment to the democratic norm. He was a shining exemplar of the loyal oppositionist as an unwavering patriot. All that has gone up in a bonfire of political vanities.

A few years ago, snooper spent a wonderful time in the Senegalese capital of Dakar. Curled up in the futuristic, partially underwater Radisson Blue Hotel overlooking the beautiful beach and the historic island of Goree, it was not an experience to easily forget. Without much natural resources, and in particular without petro-dollar and its pathologies, the country appeared surreally contented, well-run and at peace with itself.

Dakar was neat, prim and welllit. The people were proper and well-behaved; friendly but without the hint of neurotic ebullience and rogue deviousness associated with

Senile in Senegal

S

3

nooping around With

Tatalo Alamu

•Wade

the equatorial temperament. At this point in time, AbdoulayeWade himself, sombre, sedate and exuding a professorial solemnity and equanimity, had become the nation’s favourite grand uncle.

Appropriately for a people with a deep sense of history, the most magnificent boulevard was named after the nation’s intellectual hero, the incomparable and world-historic Cheikh Anta Diop. Diop’s historic offence and contumely was that he had written a doctorate dissertation in which he advanced the incontrovertible and unimpeachable thesis that modern western civilization and western modernity itself owe their origin and original impetus to ancient Egyptian civilization.

For this egregious infraction, the uppity nigger was put through the meat grinder of compulsory conformity by the metropolitan

border patrol formation parading as objective scholarship. He had emerged bruised and brutally bloodied but with his noble head unbowed. If as Louis Althusser has famously observed that western intellectual tradition makes its intellectual orphans to pay a heavy price, a price ranging from exclusion, alienation, madness and even death itself, one can imagine the punishment reserved for paradigmatic black intellectuals and orphans from the periphery.

It will be recalled that Senegal’s founding father, the iconic and much venerated Leopold Sedar Senghor , was a minority Christian in an overwhelmingly Moslem country. But despite this fundamental disadvantage, Senghor was able to forge a national identity from the roiling crucible and to give his compatriots and country a sense of identity.

Like a philosopher-king, Senghor, himself a remarkable intellectual and globally acclaimed ideologue of cultural validation, ruled his country with much restraint and wisdom, and with the canny savvy of a traditional African savant. When it became obvious to him that the wind of change was blowing against sit-tight rulers and the monarchical despots that ruled the roost in Africa, the old man did not curse or violently abjure his compatriots.

He quickly consecrated his successor and thereafter retired to the blissful French countryside to enjoy a well-deserved retirement.

When his anointed successor, the gangling Abdou Diouf was subsequently defeated by Wade in a keen presidential contest that went to a run-off, Senghor quietly and wisely informed him that there was life after the presidency. Diouf followed his mentor to begin another life in France.

Given the fact that most of the deranged autocrats who had wreaked much havoc and destruction in post-colonial Africa were unlettered or barely literate thugs that sprang from the colonial military establishment, one had pinned much hope for the ultimate redemption of the blighted and benighted continent on the rise of a new class of intellectual rulers and emergent philosopher kings.

For all their failings and mortal foibles, the sterling examples of the Nkrumahs, the Nyereres, the Augustino Netos, the Awolowos, the Azikiwes, the Mandelas, the Nujomas, the Seretse Khamas and others warmed the heart. At least one can hold them down to certain

The editor takes a final detour

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ACH morning bell, the baron says, knells us back to a world of death. Death is everywhere in contemporary Nigeria. All over you, people are falling like sacks. Without any respite, the noise and din of death drill their way into your overloaded brains like a percussionist of disharmony. The dubious advantage of living in the postcolonial hell of Nigeria is that you no longer fear death. It has become a constant companion, a grizzled confidante. Over the decades, you have lost so many comrades, cronies and compatriots that death has lost its sting. It has become a phenomenon to be viewed with wary curiosity rather than fear. Death is truly alive.

These were the thought that drifted and wafted through snooper’s mind as we filed past the still and lifeless body of Tokunbo Aofolaju to bid him a final goodbye at his Ogudu GRA residence last Friday. Tokunbo had passed on the previous Friday and as meticulous and attentive to details as ever, he had requested to be interred within a week. His dutiful and devoted family duly obeyed. Snooper had come to pay his last respects to a gallant comrade in arms.

Aofolaju was a 1974 Economics graduate of the then Uni-

versity of Ife. But more importantly, he was the editor of the dreaded Cobra news magazine.

At Ife in those days, the fear of Cobra was the beginning of wisdom. In 1972, Aofolaju was appointed editor to succeed the fearsomely bearded and eternally scowling Abiodun Atafo with snooper precociously catapulted as his deputy. The Features Editor was, I believe, Inanoya Onogie, a distinguished professor of Education who was later to serve as the Federal Minister of Education in Shonekan’s interim administration.

Nobody could have associated the quiet, easy-going, patrician and cherubic Aofolaju with the dreaded scourge, not to talk of his being the boss. Aofolaju would attend those elitist students’ parties resplendent in his bow tie only to return midnight to a dingy room at the back of the old Agric Foyer for the more pressing duty of collating and conducting the Cobra insurgent orchestra.

Snakes and king cobras, they all came from different walks of life, faculties and other reptilian redoubts. Perhaps the high noon of Aofolaju’s editorship was a particular edition in which an elderly Malam Imouru was mercilessly pilloried. The irate and distraught malam had laid an all-night siege at Aofolaju’s doorstep. In the early

hours of the morning, a drowsy Aofolaju trying to obey nature’s call walked directly into malam’s trap. A brief scuffle after, Tokunbo fled abandoning his loincloth to a screaming and cursing Baba Imouru..

Forty years after, snooper wanted to ask Tokunbo whether he ever managed to retrieve his bed sheet from the malam. Cobra itself was briefly proscribed after this edition, but it bounced back in even more ferocious form. Snooper handed over the baton to Mazi Sam Ohabunwa, former MD Pfizer, Chairman, Neimeth Groups among other things. Bunmi Olaopa, another distinguished pharmacist and former MD of Glaxo was snooper’s deputy.

It was a time of prodigious human capital in Nigerian universities. But as they say, twenty boys cannot play for twenty years.

Snooper never saw Tokunbo for another thirty eight years until we met early last year at a Lagos State function. He was at the apex of a second career, having distinguished himself earlier as a top accountant at Mobil, Nigeria. It was pleasant to discover that unknown to either of us, we had actually married into the same family. Unknown to both us, the grim reaper was also hiding somewhere. May his gentle and meek soul rest in perfect peace.

universal human values or certain philosophical ideals about the civilised procedures in human governance. One might have hoped that the humanizing rigour of education and its ennobling accoutrement will temper the innate despotism and atavistic distemper associated with traditional African tyranny.

But one will now need to revise that optimism in the light of the sordid outing of the Mugabes, the Gbagbos and the Wades. We must now broach the unbroachable. Is the nation-state paradigm a curse on Africa given the continent’s unique historical trajectory, or is there something fundamentally and genetically amiss about the Black race? Many African rulers simply do not have an internalised or interiorised concept of the nation-state.

They view the new colonial wonders through the aperture of the old African traditional fiefdoms and in some cases as a mere continuation of their grandfathers’ estates. They are stuck in a dizzying and disorienting time-warp in which the appurtenances of medieval tyranny are grafted unto the ontological and modernising essence of new nations leading to a grim disarticulation. The schizoid disorientation is worse when they are products of the old colonial military which was nothing but an army of occupation for the sole purpose of colonial predation and pacification of turbulent tribes.

Yet most modern nations are conscious creations of human imagination which gives flesh and blood to visionary imagining of a new type of human society unlike mere contrivances of colonial convenience. Where they are not, the national identity has been forged by a series of collective enterprise dripping with blood, sweat and tears.

Colonial administrators in Africa were particularly cynical and contemptuous of the disembodied and dislocated African elite thrown up by colonisation. They knew that they were entirely their creation and had no organic linkage or connection with the mass of the people they claim to represent.

A colonial administrator in Nigeria wondered aloud about what would happen if a few of the city elites claiming to represent the Nigerian people were to be set down among their savage brethren in the prehistoric hinterland. What a moveable feast and consuming dialogue that would be!

Yet it is the same inchoate and inorganic elites that were called upon to make weighty constitutional pronouncements on the fate and trajectory of the new nation.

The nation is dead on arrival. This is the fate of most colonial nations.

Until African elites recreate themselves by reconnecting with the huge mass of their people in a truly collective enterprise for national validation, the colonial nation will remain a mere fictional notion. This was why the colonial masters feared rural movements and truly people-based political parties. If the Senegalese people as a collective whole manage to say no to Wade’s senile antics, it would be a major building block in the political architecture of modern Senegal.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

News

14 killed CROSS RIVER GUBER POLL Gombe Bakassi protests, low voter turnout mar poll in Boko Haram

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BOUT 6000 registered voters who were displaced from Bakassi, yesterday took to the streets of Calabar to protest their disenfranchisement from the governorship election in Cross River State.

Along with a general low turnout of voters, the protest was one of the sore points of the election to fill the vacuum created by last month’s sack of five state governors by the Supreme Court.

Sacked Governor Liyel Imoke of the PDP re-contested the election.

A late court order on Friday had stopped the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from conducting any election on Dayspring Island, where the displaced people should have voted.

Following the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroon by Nigeria on the strength of the 2002 judgement of the International Court of Justice, the state government had carved out three wards in Ikang in Akpabuyo local government and called it new Bakassi.

This arrangement was however disregarded by INEC which recognised only Dayspring Island, which is the remaining part of the land ceded to Cameroon.

INEC’s reason is that the 1999 Constitution does not recognise the New Bakassi.

In last year’s election, the displaced people registered and voted on the island.

Senator Florence Ita-Giwa who led the protest said while INEC has a point, the new Bakassi which is landlocked is not conducive for the people who are riverine.

Justice A. F. A. Ademola of the Federal High Court,Calabar gave the order in a suit filed by Edet Etim Asuquo, Chief Antigha Cobham, Chief Bassey Etim and Chief Effiong Iman for themselves and on behalf of the Ikang people of Ikang Clan, Esighi Clan, Antigha Ene Eyo Clan and Edihi Idim Ikot Eyi Clan of Bakassi LGA against INEC and the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the State.

The plaintiffs had sought a declaration that “ the Defendants conduct the upcoming February 25, 2012 in Bakassi Local Government Area of Cross River State and subsequent ones in accordance with ward delineation based on the current Bakassi Local Government Area created pursuance to Law No. 7 of Cross River State House of Assembly and not based on the ward delineation as existed before the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroon.”

Speaking yesterday on the protesters’ grievances, Ita-Giwa said:”Going to Dayspring to vote is a ritual we have been doing. We have done it three times. We voted there during the National Assembly, presidential and state assembly elections. As bona fide Nigerians we have the right to carry our voters’ card to vote where we were registered.

“But for some strange reasons, for this governorship elections, we have what we call a judicial ambush in the sense that an injunction stopping INEC from going to conduct election in Dayspring came out at about 4: 30 yesterday (Friday) evening. There was no opportunity for it to be vacated. INEC feels that they are obliged to abide by that injunction.

From Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

“But as a lawmaker, I am not a lawyer I do not know that the judiciary has jurisdiction over NASS matters and INEC matters.

“We would like Nigerians and the Federal Government, not the state government, we don’t have any problems with the state Government, but the FG that ceded Bakassi ten years ago, after the ICJ judgement and had promised us that we were going to be relocated, with our traditional, political structures and indeed entire people. We want to know why our people have not been relocated even after INEC located the place for us. The people standing here today are the people who requested for local government.

“We have kept quiet enough because what has been happening here is Cross River State and Nigeria have been playing house with Bakassi. Allocation meant for a whole local government has been going to three wards. I am quite ready to question it. As it is now, I do not have friends anywhere, I am committed to this people which produced Senator Ita Giwa,

because if not for their support I would not have become this much sought after brand called Ita Giwa.

So I am with them.

“We were assured that we were going to be relocated to a land that would accommodate them, taking into consideration their source of livelihood and the area of residence that goes well with their body chemistry which is riverine and their traditional structure, political structure. Now ten years on, that promise has not been made. Ten years on, only a year ago did INEC come up with a truth that there is a land left for Bakassi and all the structures and names are there and even went there to register.

“You cannot go and build one housing estate and call it a local government, housing estate in a farmland which is not conducive for their lifestyle.

“They are also inciting us against the people of Ikang, because we do not have any issues with the people of Ikang. Ikang did not pass the judgment. The only issue is that there was some semblance of marriage for some period when it is not election time.

The friendship ends when there is election, and it is only natural because everyone likes political power.”

Reacting, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mike Igini, said “You know very well that INEC is a creation of the law. Where there is an order of court even if not properly given or given out of jurisdiction, the proper approach on the part of a lawful organization is to abide by that court. Even when you disagree, you go to the court to tell the court that you are wrong in this order. The principle of election all over the world is that elections are conducted where people are registered.”

The election was generally peaceful but turn out was low in many parts although it was comparatively high in Itigidi,Abi Local Government area where Mr.Imoke comes from.

In most of the polling units materials arrived early.

Mr. Imoke cast his vote around 12.35pm and thereafter expressed satisfaction with the arrangements made by INEC and the backup provided by security agencies. .

L-R: Mr. Kennedy Uzoka, Deputy Managing Director, UBA Plc; Ms. Mosunmola Abudu, Presenter and Producer, Moment with Mo; Mr. Emmanuel Nnorom, Executive Director, UBA Plc; and Mrs. Foluke Abdul-Rasaq, Director, UBA Plc and Proprietress, Bridge House College, Ikoyi, during the official launch of Ruby Premium Account for women, by UBA Plc in Lagos on Friday

Kano stands still for Ojukwu

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HOUSANDS of Nigerians yesterday marched through the streets of Sabongari, Kano in honour of the late Dim Chukwuemeka OdumegwuOjukwu.

Sabongari is predominantly populated by non-indigenes.

The procession took-off from the No.2 New Road Secretariat of the Kano branch of Ohanaeze Ndigbo with placard-carrying women and children adding colour.

Addressing the crowd the Kano State President of the Igbo apex socio-cultural organisation, Chief Tobias Michael Idika described the late Ojukwu as an Iroko tree who came, saw and conquered.

His words, “In Igbo parlance, Iroko tree depicts greatness, power and valour. And when an iroko tree falls, it signifies an event of the extra- ordinary. A saying

From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

also goes that life is but a walking shadow, a poor player plays and frets his part on the stage, and when heard of no more, it is like a tale told by an idiot but signifying nothing—but indeed, the tales of the life and times of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Eze Igbo Gburugburu — Ikemba Nnewi, shall continue to be very significant to the present generation and to posterity.

“Precisely on November 26, 2011, an Iroko tree fell. The world tumbled, tears flowed and the talking drums were silent when the news of the death of a foremost world -recognized leader filtered into Nigeria. His own people— Ndigbo and it dawned on them — Ndigbo that a big gully has been created in our chequered history. Even the sincere elements

from the other divide of our country — Nigeria, knew, also, that a spice has leaked away from the nation’s troubled political ship.

“For the students of history, the contribution of the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu to the political development of Nigeria can never be underrated. His desire to keep this country as one in the face of mounting ethnic crises was grievously misconstrued and those who look at history with a blind eye erroneously tagged a patriot, a secessionist. For those who did not know, the late Dim Ojukwu was the only officer of the Nigerian Army from Igbo extraction who insisted on dialogue when our people were being massacred like goats and chickens in northern Nigeria without justification.

attack •Continued from Page 1 “I have seen at least 14 burnt bodies in and around the police station,” a witness in Gombe said on condition of anonymity.

He said he counted 10 bodies inside the police building, adding that the victims could be policemen, while four others were found dead in a burnt car outside the station.

“At a roundabout between the police station and the prison there was a car that was burned out with all its four occupants. It’s not clear who they were,” he added.

Locals said the police station was burned to the ground in the attack.

Another resident, Babandi Ali, said “the police station has been razed and there are burnt bodies inside, but I couldn’t confirm how many.” He confirmed the burnt out car at the roundabout with four bodies inside.

A jail guard told AFP late Friday that prison officers battled Boko Haram gunmen who tried to gain entry to the prison in an apparently failed bid to free group members being held there.

“The prison is intact,” a resident who lives nearby said.

The prison overlooks the police station and both are situated near the palace of the emir, the top traditional Muslim leader in the city of Gombe, the capital of a state of the same name.

Boko Haram has previously targeted Christian worshippers in Gombe.

Boko Haram, responsible for continued raids in northern states have repeatedly claimed its members are being illegally held in prisons and demanded their release.

Many of their recent attacks have targeted the police.

Suspected members of the group also gunned down five worshippers inside a mosque in Kano on Friday as the Maghrib prayers ended.

Later in Kano explosions were heard. Residents said gunmen stole a car belonging to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), but it appeared to have stalled a few hundred metres later, and they blew it up.

The sect’s violent campaign has intensified in lately with the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Oluseyi Petirin, saying last week that the group had formed links with Al-Qaeda’s North Africa branch, known as Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb.

Boko Haram launched an uprising in 2009 which was put down by a military assault that left some 800 people dead.

After lying dormant for about a year, the group has re-emerged with a series of shootings and bomb attacks that have killed around 1,000. Rights groups in January had a toll of more than 935 people.

Dozens of others have been killed since then in attacks blamed on the sect.

The sect’s deadliest assault left 185 people dead in Kano last month.

The group claimed responsibility for the Christmas Day bomb attack on a Catholic Church outside the capital Abuja that claimed at least 44 lives.

Witnesses and a medic said 30 vendors died in a attack on a market this week in Maiduguri, Boko Haram’s home base.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

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HE long-drawn corruption trial of the immediate past governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori in London may be resolved through plea bargain.

Unless there is a change of heart by either the London Metropolitan Police or Ibori, the agreement may be concluded over the next 24hours.

It was gathered last night that all that is now left the vetting of the plea bargain agreement.

A source close to the deal said: “Apart from the basic fact that such a thing will only come into being through a court proceeding, one would be right to say the plea bargain between Ibori and the London Metropolitan Police is already a done deal. It has been discussed, agreed upon, the terms already settled; all that remains is a court pronouncement. “ According to the source, the seven years of the investigation and trial of Ibori has taken a heavy toll on both the prosecution and the accused.

The police investigation, involving extensive travelling round the globe, is said to have cost the British tax payer over £14 million and is bound to cost more should the trial last the whole hog.

Ibori himself, sources said, is beginning to show signs of fatigue – as he has been attempting to fight off multiple suits at the same time – in Nigeria, Dubai and now Britain, both for himself and some of his associates.

The legal fees are said to be outrageous for him.

The Federal High Court

News

Dramatic twist as Ibori, London Police reach plea bargain pact Asaba, had ruled that the EFCC case filed there lacked any evidence – and they had nothing beyond what EFCC fed them.

Ibori was said to have been at first opposed the plea bargain option but his lawyers told him that the British jurisdiction had changed considerably since the war on terrorism began.

In more advanced criminal justice systems like the US, UK and Japan, plea bargain enjoys a prominent role. Its use is

actively sought by the parties more directly involved in criminal trials. These are the Courts, the Prosecution and the Defence as it brings a quick end to a trial –cutting out unnecessary de-

lays and prohibitive costs.

It is also a quick way for the courts to dispose of cases, which could otherwise have been very long drawn, time consuming and with potential for er-

I

T was kudos all the way yesterday for Northern leaders over their decision to go to the conference table for the purpose of restructuring the nation.

The Coalition of Con-

cerned Northerners, comprising the likes of Governors Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, and Sule Lamido (Jigawa), as well as former Senate president, Dr. Iyochia Ayu, Second Republic

Traditional dancers display at the funeral rally for Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu at the old parade ground in Abuja yesterday

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By Sam Egburonu

solved the tribunal via an administrative fiat. It took the intervention of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, the Honourable Mr. Justice Dahiru Musdapher, to restore the tribunal.

The second case was that of Anambra senatorial election. According to him, “Last December, the Court of Appeal holden at Enugu, annulled Dr. Andy Uba’s election to the Senate and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a rerun election within 90 days.

At the instance of one of the parties, the Acting President of the Court of Appeal set up another panel of the court to rehear the case. Even though the 60- day mandatory period had expired at the material time, the panel sat, suspended the order on INEC to conduct the rerun election and adjourned sine die for “judgment”. The Chief Justice was also compelled to intervene, which has prevented the Court of Appeal from giving two contradictory judgments in the matter.”

The lawyer also complained of PCA’s role in the Ekiti governorship election

roneous judgements. For the prosecution, plea bargaining gives them the opportunity of securing convictions particularly in instances where a conviction is highly desired, yet the

outcome of a full trial is unpredictable or tricky. “ This may have influenced Ibori to end lingering court defences across three continents.

Southern groups laud north over SNC

Investigate acting president of Court of Appeal, Falana tells NJC AGOS lawyer and human rights advocate, Mr. Femi Falana, has accused the Acting President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Dahiru Adamu, of subversion of the rule of law in three elections petition cases and called on the National Judicial Council (NJC) to investigate the matter.

In a report to NJC, a copy of which was made available to The Nation yesterday, Falana said: “We have continued to watch, with amazement, the subversion of the rule of law by the Acting President of the Court of Appeal, the Honourable Justice Dahiru Adamu, through the exercise of administrative powers.”

He cited the Borno State governorship election as one of the cases in which the PCA used administrative fiat to dissolve a tribunal. As he put it, “On October 30 last year, the Supreme Court vacated the order of the Court of Appeal, which had restrained the Borno State Election Petition Tribunal from proceeding with the trial of the governorship petition.

The order of the apex court was rendered nugatory by the Acting President of the Court of Appeal, who dis-

5

petition. “In the same vein, the Acting President of the Court of Appeal has set up another panel of five Justices of the Court of Appeal to rehear the appeal arising from the Ekiti State governorship election petition in which judgment was delivered on October 15, 2010.

The new panel is expected to sit at Ado, Ekiti State, on Monday, March 27, 2012.

The application for the review of the judgment was filed by Mr. Segun Oni whose petition, challenging the judgment on the ground of undue influence and corruption, has been dismissed

by the National Judicial Council,” he said.

Taking overall view of the development, Falana concluded that “notwithstanding the timely intervention of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, which has saved the Judiciary from unprecedented embarrassment, we urge the National Judicial Council to investigate the circumstances surrounding the issuance of administrative fiat to subvert the rule of law in the afore-mentioned cases by the Acting President of the Court of Appeal, the Honourable Justice Dahiru Adamu.”

By Dare Odufowokan, Oseheye Okwuofu and Bisi Olaniyi

deputy Senate president, Mr. John Wash-Pam and one time Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, at a meeting in Abuja on Thursday expressed the desire of the North to discuss the future of Nigeria in the face of what they termed threats confronting the region.

But they said the ‘lopsidedness’ in the polity and the economy must be part of the issues for discussion at the talks.

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain in Oyo State and Ibadan High Chief, Senator Lekan Balogun, commended the Northern leaders for their courage and said the form of federalism being run in the country is highly destructive and retrogressive.

He said for the country to develop, the present structure must be urgently refined.

He described the news from the Abuja meeting as an indication that the country is making progress. “It is a welcome development and I want to thank my Northern colleagues for the decision. I have always been an advocate of restructuring because when you look at the way things are going you will know that we are treading on a slippery ground, and that is why there is an urgent need to restructure the federation in the overall interest of all Nigerians,” Balogun said.

The Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on National Planning, Economic Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Chief Olufemi Lanlehin said:” This is what we have been saying for a long time .

Basically the kind of structure we are operating presently is not benefitting any part of the federating units and that is why we here in

Mandela in hospital but ‘not in danger’

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ORMER South Africa President Nelson Mandela has undergone a "diagnostic procedure" in hospital. However, officials confirmed that his life is not in danger.

Mr Mandela was treated for a long-standing abdominal complaint and is expected to be discharged from hospital tomorrow, according to a government statement.It added that the anti-apartheid icon, 93, is comfortable and "fully conscious."

The former president's health has declined in recent years and he rarely appears in public.

As the country's first black president after a history of white minority rule, Mandela occupies a special place in the hearts of South Africans.

The statement from President Jacob Zuma's office said: "The doctors are satisfied with his [Mr Mandela's] condition, which they say is consistent with his age.

"He was in good health before admission in hospital but doctors felt the complaint needed a thorough investigation."

The presidency asked for his family to be given privacy.

Mr Mandela had returned to Johannesburg last month from his rural home in the Eastern Cape and in January last year, he received treatment in the city's Milpark hospital for a serious chest infection.

the South have been saying that if we can restructure now, the better for the whole of the country.

“Let each of the federating units develop at its own pace. Restructuring should not be misconstrued to mean disunity or division, but to put things in the right way. I really congratulate the North for joining the fray.”

Prominent pro-SNC campaigner and Afenifere Chieftain, Chief Ayo Opadokun said: “Their readiness is a welcome development. Especially for those of us who have championed the call for the convocation of the Sovereign National Conference so that the issue of national restructuring and other serious matters can be discussed. It is pleasing. It is a commendable development that persons, groups and organizations that once treated our campaign as foolish, irritating and un-nationalistic have turned around to accept the fact that for the purpose of righting the many wrongs in our land, the ethnic nationalities, who are the building blocks gathered together by the colonial masters to form the polity called Nigeria, must be allowed to democratically assemble to discuss the national question.”

Nigerians, he stressed, should be allowed to decide if they wish to remain together as a people and on what terms this should be done.

“The national question here raises two posers. One, do we want to stay together as a people? It is possible that the answer to this will be yes, due to the prolonged interaction the various ethnic groups have had together over the years since they were lumped together by the Britons.

“The second poser would be on what terms do we want to stay together? What would be the rule of engagement of our staying together? If those two questions are answered sincerely, they would have to give and take among themselves.” Opadokun added.

Also reacting Chief (Mrs.) Remi Adiukwu-Bakare, a PDP chieftain and former Commissioner in Lagos State, praised the Northern elders for their decision, saying:” I am delighted that more and more groups, organizations, ethnic and political divides among others ,are seeing the need for the nation to be restructured. It is unfair if we do not address the lopsidedness in our current arrangement. It is unfair if we continue to ignore those complaining.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

News

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Parents to face prosecution over polio immunisation From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

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ANO State government has threatened to arrest and prosecute any parent that fails to release their kids for polio immunisation.

The Deputy Governor Alhaji Abdullhai Ganduje, who disclosed this to newsmen in his office yesterday, warned that parents that refused to present their kids would be punished appropriately.

Ganduje stated that top government functionaries and traditional title holders are involved in sensitising the general public on the exercise.

According to him, “Anybody who refused to take this polio vaccine will be arrested and prosecuted and we are very serious about this. ‘’The greatest disservice of polio eradication was caused by the last administration. ‘’They suspended it for two years. They introduced false religious indoctrination which increased noncompliance among the people just because they wanted cheap popularity by using religion.”

Protests mar Edo PDP primaries •Major-General Airhiavbere emerges winner

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EMBERS of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State yesterday protested the emergence of former Commander, Corps of Army Finance and Accounts, MajorGeneral Charles Airhiavbere, as the candidate of the party in the forth coming governorship election.

Airhiavbere emerged PDP candidate after scoring 403 votes to defeat his closest rival, Barr.

Kenneth Imasuangbon, who secured 178 votes.

He won in 16 out of 18 lo-

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

cal government councils in the state.

Other aspirants who contested for the PDP ticket include Prof. Julius Ihonvbere with 24 votes; Prof Oserheimen Osunbor scored 22 votes while Matthew Iduoriyikemwen had 94 votes.

Many of the aggrieved members shouted ‘PDP Ole, PDP Ole’ before the announcement of the results.

They left pouring invectives on the leadership of the party.

The aspirants neither shook hands nor congratulated Airhiavbere; they left angrily.

First to leave was Imasuangbon.

He simply told Journalists that “We don’t have a process”.

Prof. Ihonvbere and Prof.

Osunbor later left but said they will issue press statements at a later date.

Chairman of the electoral panel, Barr. Newson Nwike said the voting process would lead to PDP winning the July 14th governorship election.

Nwike said, “I hereby declare Airhiavbere winner of the election and he is the candidate of the PDP in the next election.”

State Chairman of the party, Chief Dan Orbih congratulated the aspirants for putting up a fierce contest, adding that the results shown that PDP was the party to beat.

In his speech, Airhiavbere called on other aspirants to join him in reclaiming Edo State for the PDP. He assured PDP members that he would work hard to win the elections.

Ajimobi commiserates with traders, donates N2m

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YO State Governor Abiola Ajimobi over the weekend commiserated with traders at the Bola Ige International Business Complex Ibadan over the death of seven of their colleagues in a motor accident.

The governor, accompanied by top government officials, announced the donation of the sum of N2 million to offset the medical expenses of the remaining 14 traders with varying degrees of injuries.

While describing the accident as unfortunate, the governor urged the traders to take it as an act of God and continue to pray.

He also seized the occasion to express his administration’s determination to provide all necessary basic amenities for the popular market which is the biggest in the state.

“This market is not supposed to be in this condition. This condition does not befit the international status of the market. ‘’It should be made more beautiful to meet international standard. All necessary amenities will be provided for the market by government before the end of the year,’’ the governor said.

To achieve this, he said that a committee would be constituted by government.

Ajimobi expressed concern over the environmental condition of the market, urging the traders

•L-R: Lagos State Commissioner for Environment; Mr. Tunji Bello; Chairman, Iwaya Local Council Development Area (LCDA) Asiwaju Yusufu and his Yaba counterpart Jide Jimoh; during monitoring of the monthly environmental sanitation exercise; yesterday.

PHOTO: OMOSEHIN MOSES

Vacate slums, illegal structures on drainage channels, Lagos tells residents

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AGOS State Government has advised residents living in slums and illegal structures built on drainage channels to vacate such property to avert disasters during the forthcoming raining season.

Commissioner for Environment Mr Tunji Bello gave the warning yesterday during the environmental sanitation monitoring exercise in Yaba Local Council Development Area (LCDA).

Bello noted there had been predictions of heavier rains this year, ca1ling on all hands to be on deck to minimise the impact of flooding across the state.

He said government is working round the clock to ensure that drainage channels are cleared ahead of the rains.

According to him, “The work on the Makoko drainage channel is a work in progress. What we are doing now is to dredge so that we can reduce the instance of flooding. ‘’Makoko is a low line area in the state, so what we are doing is to minimise the instance of flooding, but

By Miriam Ndikanwu

ordinarily people should not live in the low line”.

He said government has sought the assistance of the World Bank in developing some blighted areas, including, Iwaya, Makoko

and Ijora Badia for roads and infrastructural facilities.

Bello said, “Most of the structures there are illegal structures and they should be treated as such but as a compassionate government, often times we bend backwards and try and

provide relief for them. ‘’ Sometimes we relocate them like we did in Ajegunle and several other places in Lagos. But government cannot continue to do that, People must learn not to live in low line areas or swampy areas”.

Ogun issues alert on Lassa fever

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GUN State g o v e r n m e n t yesterday alerted residents recent outbreak of Lassa fever in parts of Nigeria and advised them to guard against possible spread of the disease in the State.

Commissioner for Health Dr. Olaokun Soyinka in a news briefing in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, said Lassa Fever is an “haemorrhagic illness caused by virus”.

According to him, “Recently, Lassa Fever has affected many States in the country, with resultant morbidity and mortality. A total of 397 cases had been recorded in 12 States with 40 deaths. ‘’Also, some of our neighbouring States have

From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

reported the disease.

“Although the last reported suspected case of Lassa Fever in Ogun State was in 2005.”

He said early sign and symptoms of the disease include fever, severe headache, neck/ facial swelling and bleeding from the nose, eyes, anus and genital.

The Commissioner said the alert is not to throw residents into fear or panic but sensitise them particularly those in village or crowded settings to brace up and start simple precaution against habits that breed rat, the host of the virus that causes Lassa Fever.

He advised all to discourage rats from

entering homes by blocking their routes or access-ways as well as covering all food items and storage houses.

He equally advised health care workers to take precaution against transmission of Lassa fever virus and recommended “isolation precautions” during treatment of infected persons.

•Gov. Amosun

Community seeks intervention in Obosi killings From Nwanosike Onu, Awka

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EADERS of Obosi community in Idemili North Local government area of Anambra State have appealed to Governor Peter Obi to intervene and save the community from killings and destruction of property.

They a1so called on the federal government and members of National Assembly (NASS) to save the land from extinction.

Speaking with reporters yesterday in Awka, Chijioke Onuigbo and Agom Tochukwu said suspects already mentioned should be prosecuted without delay.

They said anybody parading himself as the traditional ruler of Obasi land should be arrested as the community had not installed anybody.

“We want the federal government, Governor Peter Obi and the National Assembly to come to our aid otherwise within a short time, this community will be wiped away by hoodhums,”they pleaded.

They said half of Obosi community had relocated for fear of being killed.

New research centres for Akwa Ibom From Kazeem Ibrahym, Uyo

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HE Federal Government is to establish two research centres in Akwa Ibom State.

Minister of Science and Technology Prof. Ita Ewa stated this in Uyo, the state capital, during the opening ceremony of Akwa Ibom State Science and technology week/exhibition fair yesterday.

Ewa said the new establishments will be the Raw Materials Development Research and Development Council Cluster Centre (RMRDC) and the Nigerian Building Road and Research Institute Centre (NBRRI).

The RMRDC is expected to facilitate the utilisation of indigenous raw materials like rubber, cassava, oil palm, sea foods, kaolin, lime and glass sand while the NBRRI will enhance utilisation of alternative building materials for housing and access roads delivery, the minister explained.

He assured that the active integration of a national culture into science, technology and innovations will facilitate rapid economic growth and development for the country.

The minister also added that the ministry would promote strategies and procedures for accelerated commercialisation of research and development results.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

NEWS REVIEW

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

the SURE programme as palliative over the removal of oil subsidy; it was not well thought out. I have said this severally and I will continue to say it that our leaders think in bits. This is not how to run a nation and grow the economy. The SURE programme was hurriedly put together to placate Nigerians to think that the government cares about them.”

He said the budget was based on a complete removal of subsidy and now that this has been reversed because of public disapproval of its plan, the government has to source for fund to finance the budget.

“The 2012 budget is just to maintain the status quo and will not do much in the economy. Be reminded that only about 28% is capital budget, and even at that amount 80% of the 28% goes to personnel cost,” he added.

According to Nweze, “The Federal Government has incurred high trust deficiency (the trust deficiency level TDL is high). A former American president once said that “when you (the leader) tell the people the truth, the nation is saved.

The Federal Government over the years has not been sincere and has been wasteful in the way and manner the economy is managed.”

The federal government abandons a scheme it said was to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal.

In this report Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf, examines the rationale behind this decision.

I

N the wake of the backlash of protests against the sudden withdrawal of petrol subsidy on January 1, 2012, President Goodluck Jonathan hurriedly set up a scheme which the government christened Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment (SURE) programme. The scheme was meant to manage the expected proceeds from the withdrawal of subsidy as well as cushion the effects on the masses through provision of social amenities such as mass transit buses, power, and healthcare delivery, free and qualitative education, among others.

Road to subsidy removal In October last year, the president had sent the 2012-2015 Medium-Term Fiscal Frameworks and the 2012 Fiscal Strategy Paper to the Senate and intimated it of his administration’s plans to begin the withdrawal of fuel subsidy with effect from this year.

There were a lot of meetings aimed at building bridges across the country on the justification for subsidy removal. But the body language of the people out there showed that it was not a policy favoured by all, hence the Federal Government assurances that it would be put on hold until the 2011 budget year ends in March this year.

That was the understanding before the government ambushed the citizens on that fateful New Year day. It raised the pump price of fuel from N65 to N141 and the nation went into an uproar. After a week long nationwide strike that shutdown the country it backed down and reduced the pump price to N97.

Jonathan’s volte face However, last week the SURE scheme became unsure as the president developed cold feet over it. He declared matter-of-factly that the programme promised by his administration was no longer realistic.

To justify this sudden volte face, he claimed that SURE was hurriedly conceptualised in January on the heels of the nationwide protest against the removal of the fuel subsidy.

Jonathan who spoke at the 58th National Executive Committee meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) added that the implementation was no longer feasible since the zero-subsidy policy planned by his administration was not being implemented.

It was a bemused crowd of party men who listened as President Jonathan announced the reversal of the palliatives under SURE, barely a week after he had inaugurated a board, headed by a former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Dr. Christopher Kolade for the implementation of

President Goodluck Jonathan and other government officials at the launching of mass transit buses at the Eagle Square, in Abuja

No longer a SURE thing the programme.

In justifying the cancellation he said: “We developed this with the expectation that we were going to completely deregulate the downstream sector of the oil industry, (after) the 100 per cent removal of subsidy.

“We are working on a new document based on the reality, but we don’t want to promise what we will not achieve. Those who have it please withdraw it, we cannot realise the money that is stated therein, but we will still come up with a document based on what we get.”

Why SURE can’t work Working on its assumption that the withdrawal of fuel subsidy was a fait accompli, government had initially provided N155billion for the carry-over of 2011 subsidy payments. But when this failed it proposed additional N656.3billion.

This, according to Finance and Coordinating minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was because the estimated total figure for subsidy in 2012 was N888billion, made up of N656.30billion for 2012 and N155billion as carry-over from 2011.

In the government projections, it had put the total subsidy reinvestible funds at N1.134trillion based on an average of $90 per barrel of crude oil.

Of these funds, a total of N478.49billion was earmarked for the Federal Government, while state governments and local governments were expected to share N411.03 billion and N203.23 billion. The document in one word

was full of expectations and money not yet realised was shared out to federal, states and local governments. It was a clear case of spending what you have not earned. Counting your chickens before they were hatched, kind of policy!

So when it met with stiff opposition from all Nigerians it fell like a pack of badly arranged cards.

Divergent views over policy reversal For critics of the government and those opposed to the palliative programme, the government could not be trusted to implement SURE, a scheme many described as a “fraud.”

Mallam Alli Balogun, a public affairs commentator finds it scandalous that it was at a public gathering the government found the courage to announce the policy reversal.

“Were we supposed to learn that the SURE programme cannot be met anymore at a public gathering? This is really scandalous. One would have thought that considering the implication of the policy on the socio-economic wellbeing of the people, President Jonathan should have considered it worthwhile to give a nationwide broadcast. This shows high level of insensitivity on the part of our leaders.”

Gabriel Ojumah, a lawyer and President, Citizens Rights Watch, shares the same view. He declared that the action: “Simply shows that they don’t have direction. As such, one is not surprised by their action. The policy reversal as we

What becomes of Christopher Kolade Committee?

With the policy reversal on SURE, the Christopher Kolade committee set up to manage the subsidy funds now stand disbanded.

A cross-section of Nigerians, •Christopher Kolade are all agreed on the fact that the have witnessed with the SURE Kolade committee and others with programme is the hallmark of in- similar mandate have no locus competent leadership.” standi under the law.

Waxing philosophical, he Ajulo, who is President, Egaliadded: “A president is supposed tarian Mission Africa, said, “The to exude confidence. If you see issue now is that if actually the Barak Obama, David Cameron, president said he cannot fulfil the these are leaders who stand by promises he made over provision what they say anytime, any day. of palliatives, it equally means that They don’t say one thing now and the Christopher Kolade and other another the next moment. But we such committees set up to manage are just so unfortunate to have this the proceeds of the subsidy funds kind of leadership.” are all dead on arrival.”

To Abdullahi Umar, a political Position of the constitution science graduate, the president has In a telephone interview with only wasted Kolade’s time by drawKayode Ajulo, a human rights law- ing him out of his well earned rest. yer based in Abuja, he said the conNweze is on the same page stitution is clear on the duties and with Ajulo and Umar. “The responsibilities of government to Christopher Kolade committee will the governed. be disbanded of course, unless the Specifically, he said: “In the 1999 Federal Government has another Constitution, the roles and proce- role for them. You don’t run an dures are spelt out. Chapter 2 of the economy by setting up too many constitution under fundamental committees. It’s not as if they are objective and directive principles working for free. For example, talks about state policy, including about N350 million was earthe duty and responsibility of gov- marked for the committee raised to ernment to exercise executive, legis- look at the NNPC and the oil and lative and judicial powers.” gas sector to carry out the investiHe said it was therefore dis- gation. This is tantamount to deheartening to hear that President pleting an already scarce reJonathan, who swore to defend the sources”, he stressed. constitution, was the same person Parodying Prof. Peter Lewis, an acting at variance with it.

American, who spoke at a recent In dismissing the scheme, Dr public event at the Nigeria InstiAustin Nweze accused the Nige- tute of International Affairs, Lagos, rian leadership of acute lack of Nweze said the current economic “Strategic thinking.” Nweze, who team, do not have what it takes to is a public affairs analyst and lec- deliver good results or grow the turer at the Pan African University, economy.

Lagos said, “When the Federal Strong economies are not built Government decided to introduce on happenstance chances!

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

News Review

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More Boko Haram mayhem and Boko Haram targets two churches

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ORSHIPPERS at two churches in Suleja,Niger State,narrowly escaped death on Sunday after two bombs suspected to have been planted by the Islamic sect,Boko Haram,missed the target.Services at Christ Embassy and The Triumphant Ministries International Church were in full session when the bombs were detected by vigilant security men engaged by the churches.The apparent intention of those who planted the bombs was for the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) to explode as the worshippers filed out at the end of the service.The churches were quickly evacuated and within minutes the bombs went off.No one died although some were injured.

A similar bomb attack on St.Theresa’s Catholic Church in the town on Christmas day claimed 44 lives and scores of others injured eight of whom are said to have lost their sight.

Wamakko declared winner of Sokoto gov election ...Sworn-in

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LHAJI Aliyu Wamakko of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was declared winner of last Saturday’s governorship election in Sokoto State with 518,247 votes or 71.18% of the 728,108 cast.He was trailed by ANPP’s Yusha’u Ahmed who was credited with a paltry 131,048 votes while CPC’s Abubakar Yabo got 7,323.

Yusha’u swiftly rejected the result and accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of breaking faith with its promise to be fair in the conduct of the election.

He said:”I thought men should live by their word as consience 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 incidents.” Yusha’u’s protest notwithstanding,Wamakko was sworn-in with his deputy,Alhaji Muktar Shagari on Wednesday.

30 killed as Boko Haram, soldiers clash in Maiduguri market

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P to 30 people were killed on Monday in a gun battle between suspected members of Boko Haram and soldiers of the Joint Task Force (JTF) at the popular Baga Fish market,Maiduguri.The attack was launched by the Boko Haram members after they set off bombs and opened fire on traders in the market.The sound of their guns reportedly attracted the attention of the soldiers who stormed the market and engaged the insurgents.Spokesman for the JTF,Lieutenant-Colonel Hassan Mohammed said eight of the insurgents were killed by the soldiers and three traders by the Boko Haram members. Other sources said the casualties were up to 30.

Campaign for 2015 now and get sacked –Jonathan warns govt officials

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan told the 58th meeting of PDP National Executive Committee (NEC) in Abuja on Tuesday that he would not hesitate to sack any official found campaigning for the 2015 elections.

He said those elected in last year’s polls should be allowed to concentrate on the jobs for which they were voted. His words: “The idea is that people who were elected into office as governor and president should be given time to work.In

SACKED

Supreme Court removes Kebbi gov, Dakingari

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HE Supreme Court Friday sacked Governor Usman Saidu Nasamu Dakingari of Kebbi state from office.

His removal was sequel to an appeal that was lodged before the apex court by the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, and its candidate in the April 26, 2011, governorship election in the state, Malam Abubakar Abubakar.

The 5-man panel of justices of the Supreme Court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to conduct fresh election in the state within 90 days.

Justice Walter Onnoghen w h o delivered t h e lead judgment nullified t h e verdict of t h e Sokoto Division of the Court of A p peal which ab-initio affirmed t h e ousted governor as the bonaf i d e winner of the gubernatorial election in the state.

• Protesters in Herat, Afghanistan vandalize a police truck during an anti-U.S. demonstration over the burning of Korans at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan.

a situation whereby a governor has not stayed for a year, the President has not stayed for a year,you started harassing people for 2015,it is another way of saying everything is election.

“There must be time to work.At the federal level,if you are holding a political office and I notice that you are involved in meetings for 2015 election,I will ask you to leave and go and hold your meeting because that meeting is too early.Government must not be distracted.”

No stopping Cross River gov election –INEC

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HE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it would go ahead with yesterday’s governorship election in Cross River State amid media reports that a Federal High Court,Abuja had restrained it from conducting the election.

Justice Abdu Kafarati was reported to have restrained INEC from proceeding with arrangement for the election while ruling in an exparte application filed by the ANPP candidate in the poll, Dr.Obol Okomiso.

But INEC said it was going ahead with its plan in respect of the poll as no such injunction had been served on it.

CHARGED

EFCC files fraud charges against Sylva

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HE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Friday, filed a 6-count criminal charge against the former Governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva, before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja.

Prosecuting counsel, Festus Keyamo, filed processes at the high court registry Friday afternoon. Sylva is accused of siphoning over N2.5 billion from the Bayelsa State treasury between October 2009 and February 2010.

He will be answering charges touching on conspiracy, money laundering and obtaining by false pretence, contrary to sections 1(1)(b) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2004 and punishable under section 1(3) of the same Act.

JAILED

Halliburton boss gets 30 months for bribing Nigerians

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HE former head of US con struction company KBR was sentenced to 30 months in prison over the bribing of Nigerian officials to win contracts, the US Justice Department said Thursday.

Albert Stanley, the former chief executive officer of the engineering giant, will also pay his former company $10.8 million in restitution under the judgment handed down in a Houston federal court.

Stanley, 69, pleaded guilty to violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. KBR and its parent company, Halliburton, have also agreed to pay a $579 million fine after pleading guilty to corruption charges in Nigeria.

Stanley was accused of participating in a bribery scheme between 1995 and 2004 to obtain construction contracts worth more than $6 billion, according to a US Justice Department statement.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

News Review

another sacked gov Kwara restores sacked Chief Judge

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HE Kwara State government has restored Justice Raliat Elele-Habeeb as Chief Judge in obedience to the recent ruling of the Supreme Court that her removal, three years ago by ex-Governor Bukola Saraki,was unconstitutional,null and void.

The state Attorney-General and Justice Minister, Mr. Kamaldeen Ajibade, said government as a respecter of law “will not, by any means, encourage the flouting or outright disobedience of the judgement of the apex court of our nation.”

Fed Govt revises 2012 budget

T

T

Four killed in Lagos as NURTW crisis escalates

HE leadership crisis rocking the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Lagos escalated on Monday as supporters of the two sides in the dispute clashed on Lagos Island on Monday leaving four people dead. Twenty vehicles park in the affected area-Isale-Gangan were vandalised by the hoodlums. Youths from Isale-Eko reportedly stormed Onola/ Agarawu/Itafaaji early on Monday and unleashed terror. The police said they have arrested 110 suspects in connection with the clash while the national leadership of the NURTW announced the dissolution of the caretaker committee set up to manage the affairs of the Lagos branch and replaced it with a 13-man management committee headed by Alhaji Tajudeen Agbede.

COSTLY MISTAKE

Afghan Koran protests

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HOUSANDS of enraged Afghans took to the streets for several days during the week, af ter US soldiers inadvertently set fire to copies of the Koran. In the deadliest day of unrest so far, at least 12 people died across the country Friday, as mobs charged at US bases and diplomatic missions.

More than 20 people have been killed since the unrest began, including two US soldiers who died on Thursday. President Barack Obama has apologised for the Koran-burning incident.

In a letter to his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai, Mr Obama said the books had been “unintentionally mishandled”. US personnel apparently put the books into a rubbish incinerator at Bagram air base, near Kabul.

HE National Assembly is now in receipt of the revised 2012 budget of N4.6trillion.

The revision followed recent government cuts announced by Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

President Goodluck Jonathan had,on December 13,2011,presented a budget proposal of N4.749trillion to the NASS without provision for fuel subsidy. A total removal of fuel subsidy was announced early in the new year with the pump price of petrol shooting up to N141 per litre from N64.The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC),Trade Union Congress (TUC) and civil society organisations immediately called a nation-wide strike to protest the government action.A review soon followed and the price came down to N91 per litre which informed the injection of funds for subsidy in the revised budget.

In a February 15 letter to Senate President David Mark,President Jonathan said the revised budget proposal was on account of “recent domestic developments,key among which was the partial withdrawal of subsidy o petroleum products and the ripple effect on government revenue and expenditure items.”

THE WEEK IN QUOTES ”What Nigerians want are good roads, health facilities, power and so on; not people wearing boxing gloves in different forms.”

– President Goodluck Jonathan speaking on leadership at the 58th meeting of the PDP National Executive Committee (NEC) in Abuja.

"The Senate must not approve the loan. It is going to put the future of this country in jeopardy. The World Bank and other lenders' loans are usually attractive but are phallic poison."

-Professor Tam David-West, former Petroleum Minister on request

by President Jonathan for National Assembly's approval to seek external loans to the tune of $7.9billion from the World Bank, Islamic Bank, African Development Bank, China and India.

“It is not just the problem of Boko Haram.

All the problems of insecurity should be solved together...To talk of one and not tackle the entire insecurity facing the nation holistically, we will be deceiving ourselves.”

–Former governor of Kaduna State, Senator Ahmed Maikarfi on the state of insecurity in the country.

“The day will come when I will become sick.

As of now I am fit as a fiddle. I have died many times. That’s where I have beaten Christ. Christ died once and [been] resurrected once. I have died and [been] resurrected and I don’t know how many times I will die and resurrect.”

- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, 83, poking fun at reports that suffers from a life-threatening disease.

APPOINTED

Kofi Annan named UN Syria crisis envoy

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11

HE United Nations on Thursday named its former Secretary General Kofi Annan as the in ternational troubleshooter to try to end the Syrian government’s deadly crackdown on protests. As special envoy for the UN and Arab L e a g u e , Annan will “provide good offices aimed at bringing an end to all violence and human rights violations, and promoting a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis,” the two bodies said in a statement.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Arab League chief Nabil el-Arabi said they were “grateful to Mr. Annan for accepting this important mission at a critical time for the people of Syria.” A deputy envoy from the Arab region is to be named soon, the two added in the statement.

More than 7,500 people have been killed in 11 months of protests against President Bashar al-Assad in Syria and there is growing international pressure for an initiative seeking to end the murderous government crackdown.

•West

•Goodluck

•Makarfi •Mugabe

POLICE BRASS

Police appoint DIGs, sack Biu

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HE Police Service Commission during the week ap pointed seven (7) Deputy Inspectors-General of Police with five of them elevated from the ranks of Commissioners of Police.

Also appointed by the PSC, were 13 Assistant InspectorsGeneral of Police from the ranks of Commissioners of Police while the Chairman of EFCC, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Lamourde, was elevated to the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Police.

The list included the Assistant Inspector- General of Police in charge Zone 3, Suleiman Dauda, Mr. John Haruna, Mr. Emmanuel Kachie Udorji, former Lagos State Police Commissioner, Mr. Marvel Akpoyibo, former Commissioner of Police, Plateau State, Mr. Abdurahaman Akano, CP Peter Yisa Gana and former AIG Zone 7, Alhaji Atiku Yesufu Kafur.

Zakari Biu, the infamous police officer indicted over various allegations of human rights violations during the military dictatorship of the late General Sanni Abacha was also fired by the Police Service Commission, PSC, on Wednesday for his role in the escape of Boko Haram suspect, Kabiru Sokoto.

12

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

News Review

Election petitions: Judicial confusion over 180-day limit

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HEN the National Assembly, while reviewing the Electoral Act in 2010, mooted its plan to stipulate a time limit for the prosecution of election petitions, most Nigerians, supported the move.

The amended Act stipulated that State Election Petitions Tribunals dispense cases arising from elections within 180 days following the polls. Section 285(6) provides that “an election tribunal shall deliver its judgment in writing within 180 days from the date of the filing of the petition.”

Section 285(5) of the same constitution states that: “An election petitions shall be filed within 21 days after the date of the declaration of the result of the elections.”

When these provisions were made public, there was much rejoicing among politicians - especially the opposition parties.

But one question nobody asked was what will become of ongoing cases that had been on for more than the stipulated 180 days. And since judges handling such affected matters continued with the cases, it appeared as if existing cases were not affected by the enactment.

But things became complicated when the Supreme Court berated lower courts for not aligning with the 2010 provisions. The apex court ruled that all election petitions are bound by the provision without any exception.

Consequently, it dismissed the petition against Borno State Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima by the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) in the state, Alhaji Mohammed Goni, on the ground that an election tribunal lacked the power to hear a petition after 180 days from when it was filed.

Acting on cue, the Akwa Ibom State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, struck out the petition filed by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and two others against the election of Governor Godswill Akpabio.

Tribunal chairman, Justice Ayuba Kwajafa, based his judgement on the Supreme Court verdict on the Borno governorship suit.

Still relying on the Supreme Court verdict, the electoral tribunal in Awka, Anambra State also dismissed a petition by former Information Minister Dora Akunyili challenging the election of Dr. Chris Ngige as the senator for Anambra Central senatorial zone.

After listening to legal arguments from lawyers on both sides, the chairman of the tribunal, Justice Onajite Kuejubola, ruled that the tribunal must bow to the Supreme Court’s decision on the180 days limit.

“We have taken a careful study of the Supreme Court’s decision and there is no doubt that it had been finally settled,” she said, adding that her tribunal lacked jurisdiction to continue hear-

• Musdapher

By Dare Odufowokan

ing the petition.

Justice Walter Onnoghen, who delivered the Supreme Court judgment that set the ball rolling for the above judicial ‘sudden deaths’, had said the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal to hear appeals from the relevant tribunals was circumscribed in relation to the time/period within which the appeals must be heard and determined in line with the constitutional provision.

And as more politicians whose cases at various tribunals and court have dragged on beyond the stipulated 180 days usually for no faults of theirs, await the same fate as above, arguments are raging as to the appropriate manner to apply the ruling.

Constitutional lawyer, Dupe Oduguwa, condemns what she called the arbitrary application of a provision of the constitution which ordinarily should not be faulted.

According to her, the application of the provision in the Anambra Central senatorial zone electoral dispute was unconstitutional.

“The process in question is a product of a judicial pronouncement by a court of competent jurisdiction. The case was sent back to the tribunal for retrial by a higher court. It is a fresh process.

The 180 days for this process is just starting.

To dismiss the case even before it started based on the Supreme Court pronouncement on the Borno case is frightening. It is more or less a judicial somersault.

“In applying the provision, it is important that each case and situation is treated as a distinct development.

That is what will ensure that we do not provide room for confusion.”

Oduguwa, says some of the cases thrown out should have been kept until the issue of the 180 days limitation is sent back to the Supreme Court for re-interpretation.

But Duro Adeleye, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), thinks the position of the Supreme Court is very clear. He challenged the competence of the tribunal to continue to entertain the matter after the apex court’s judgment.

Adeleye, who was a counsel to Akpabio in the disputed trial, said the tribunal acted properly. “The Supreme Court has made it clear that any petition that is not decided within 180 days is dead on arrival.”

To Prof Itse Sagay, (SAN), it is yet another conflicting verdict from the Supreme Court.

“I have not seen the ruling but I think the press is misinterpreting what the Supreme Court has said. In the case of Akwa Ibom and Benue state, it was the Supreme Court that returned the cases back to the tribunals for hearing. This was done more than 180 days after the cases were filed. It was done on the grounds that the tribunal and Court of Appeal relied on technicalities. That was why they were returned the case to be heard.

“Now is the ruling as extensive as we are making it to be? No, I don’t think the ruling of the Supreme Court is so extensive; I think it is probably narrower and may be limited to the cases concerned.

“A more urgent provision is the section of fair hearing. And that section of fair hearing belongs to the fundamental rights part of the constitution, which is superior to other parts of the constitution. Because those are the sections of the constitution you can only amend by three quarter majority whereas all the other sections can be amended by two thirds.

“So, I think since the 180 days is in conflict with that provision it cannot be enforced, because it may encourage the respondents in these cases and judges who might have been compromised, to deliberately delay cases and the cases will end without being heard,” he argued.

Lawyer and human rights activist, Bamidele Aturu, believes the Supreme Court decision was in order.

He said recent rulings by the court to the effect that electoral petitions must be heard within the constitutionally stipulated 180 days prohibits any tribunal from adding even a second to the period allowed by the constitution for petitions to be disposed.

“The position of the Supreme Court cannot be faulted because it is based on the constitution. There is already a constitutional provision that prescribes time limit in which an election petition can be determined and it cannot be more than 180 days. So the Supreme court is acting constitutionally.”

And so the debate rages on with arguments and counter arguments flying from both sides of the divide.

Is there a window of escape for those cornered by the application of the judicial limitation? Only the Supreme Court has the final answer.

COMMENT and ANALYSIS

13

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Still on Nuhu Ribadu’s ‘dilemma’ A

T breakfast, after church service on Sunday, February 12th, 2012, I launched into what I had thought would be a pleasant and intellectually-rewarding reading of Idowu Akinlotan’s Palladium on the back-page of that day’s publication of The Nation newspaper. Nothing, however, prepared me for what turned out, in fact, to be the most nauseous and superlatively depressing piece of journalism to waste a full page of an otherwise interesting newspaper on!

In the article entitled The Nuhu Ribadu Dilemma, the self-styled “analyst” ostensibly strove to make some sense out of what he saw as the former EFCC boss’s dilemma in accepting, in spite of his personal, well-established principles (and his position as the Presidential candidate of the “ideologicallyprogressive” ACN), an “appointment under a pre-emptive Petroleum Ministry and an evasive and sometimes unprincipled Jonathan government”.

There is something “frightfully wrong”, he opines, “when someone who rose to the position of being a candidate in a national election takes a job offer, no matter how altruistic and patriotic, from an opposing party famous for its ideological and policy sterility”. In a rather confusing assessment of the former EFCC boss, Akinlotan states that “…Ribadu’s integrity is not in doubt, nor is it expected that he would compromise with a political party that has famously proved almost totally incompetent in ruling the country”. He, nevertheless, assesses the man, at bottom, to be no more than “a pragmatist who can work with any party and excuse this on national service”! Our self-styled analyst’s confusion stems, in my humble view, from his failure to determine the exact ideological or moral prism through which to contemplate Ribadu’s acceptance of the President’s call to service. He ascribes it at one and the same time, to national and altruistic patriotism, in which he finds something “frightfully wrong”; then he ascribes it to serving an opposing part, which he finds “totally incompetent in ruling the country”. Then, again, he ascribes it to serving President Goodluck Jonathan, who, he says, is merely looking for “reputable names to burnish his Administration’s soiled reputation”.

It is in this last third of the article under review, however, that our “analyst” sheds all pretentions and the real nature of the article is starkly revealed for what it really is – another edition in the growing odious heap of anti-Jonathan journalistic garbage, most probably procured for an unwholesome stipend and designed to becloud the thinking of any unwary readers and poison their collective intellect. The article, in my humble view, thus posits Idowu Akinlotan in the growing class of ninja journalists, led by Segun Adeniyi, who have now devoted their poison-dripping pens, no doubt for illicit pecuniary considerations, to an endless virulent attack on the person, government and family of President Godluck Ebele Jonathan.

Akinlotan, on the basis of one single reason alone, to wit, “the unexampled manner the President appointed and dismissed the T. Y. Danjuma-led Presidential Advisory Committee in his acting days”, avers that it would be “over-rating him to say that he is selfless, principled and visionary. The president is none of these”. It matters very little to our self-styled “analyst” that the tenure of the

•Ribadu

REJOINDER

By Samuel A. Nyingifa-Williams

defunct Presidential Advisory Committee logically came to an end on 28th May, 2011, or that the President retained the prerogative of either renewing that tenure or otherwise. The President’s exercise of that prerogative in the latter regard provides sufficient grounds for this “analyst” to, not only conclude that the president is, neither selfless, principled or visionary, but also that “even more profoundly, Jonathan is not a democrat”. Having observed, in his words, that “we have not heard any original idea on democracy, federalism or rule of law from him”, he proceeds to prognosticate that “…until his Presidency expires, nothing original or profound is likely to issue from him on any lofty or noble matter”.

Nowhere in our dubious “analyst’s” assessment of the intellectual or philosophic capacity of the President does he allude, even vaguely, to the bomb-infested atmosphere in which the President was to have indulged in the philosophic and intellectual exercise leading up to original and philosophically profound declamations on democracy, federalism, rule of law, or, any other matter.

Akinlotan’s irreverent description of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as the “flip-flopping Jonathan who assumed the presidency with a mind as virtually bare of solid and dignified views of life and society as a child approaching life with the innocence of birth”, surely has as footnote, a certain address read by one of the candidates at the PDP Presidential Primaries held at the Eagle Square, Abuja, early in 2011. What could be more flip-flop than declaring that “the man (Ribadu) will do some good in the task force and he will put the fear of God in public officials in the oil sector”, and then conclude, within the same article, that: “I am unable to predict whether Ribadu will make a success or not of his new assignment”?

“What could be more flip-flop than declaring that “the man (Ribadu) will do some good in the task force and he will put the fear of God in public officials in the oil sector”, and then conclude, within the same article, that: “I am unable to predict whether Ribadu will make a success or not of his new assignment”?

Yet our self-celebrated “analyst”, who is unable, by his own admission, to predict whether or not Ribadu will succeed in his new assignment, considers himself quite competent to pontifically predict, within nine months into President Jonathan’s presidency, that nothing original or intellectually profound will issue from him on any lofty or noble matter, throughout his tenure.

Akinlotan describes President Jonathan as a man “often excessively inspired but lacking in the capacity and discipline to transform his permanent illusions into something more solid, something we can measure in terms of democracy, constitution, law, economic development, human rights, etc.” Nothing could more aptly illustrate our self-styled “analyst’s” extreme prejudice against President Jonathan. Only such a prejudiced and jaundiced perspective could fail to notice, for example, the remarkable democratic advancements inherent in the 2011 elections over its 2007 predecessor.

Only such a myopic analytical mind could have failed to notice the landmark constitutional reforms and new milestones attained within Jonathan’s presidency, represented, for example, by the amended Electoral Act and the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, to mention just a few. Such a jaundiced mind would, of course, fail to see any good in the Administration, in spite of the substantiallyincreased megawatts of electric power generation, not to mention the courageous decision to remove the dubious subsidy on petroleum products and introduce the SURE Document, as a means of seizing the nation’s intractable infrastructure problems by the horns. With regard to human rights, it would appear to be just a coincidence that the protracted murder trial of Major Al Mustapher et al, came to a conclusion, at least, at the preliminary level of trial, only within the first year of President Jonathan’s full tenure. Only a mind as prejudiced as those of Adeniyi and Akinlotan would fail to see through President Jonathan’s feigned childlike disposition and recognize the shrewd, Socratic intelligence beneath!

Akinlotan’s article under review would have been saved and elevated above the status of a cheap exercise in character-assassination, in my humble view, were it to have contained, at some point, a few well-reasoned pointers, suggestions or outright prescriptions, on how the President could transform his vision for Nigeria (what our celebrated “analyst” terms “permanent illusions”) into solid, enduring achievements.

It would, surely, have enhanced the columnist’s pretentions to the status of a genuine political analyst. Akinlotan arrogantly informs us in his article that he could never have accepted an appointment under former President Obasanjo, a man he knew “to be full of schemes, was too provincial and too egregiously tyrannical”. We must, indeed, thank Providence that the revered elder-statesman never even remotely contemplated such an unmitigated disaster!

Segun Adeniyi, Idowu Akinlotan and their ilk in the otherwise noble profession of Journalism should take heed and be welladvised, that the contemporary Nigerian reading public is more enlightened, more analytical and more intuitive than ever before and, therefore, rightly deserves much more respect than is accorded it by articles written in their infamous style. It is my humble view, that the Nigerian reading public would very readily appreciate even the most scathing criticism of our political leaders and their policies, especially where this is garnished with well-reasoned suggestions as to viable alternative lines of action. Nigerian journalists must realize that nothing more negates the popular axiom that ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’, than when the former is wielded as a weapon of character-assassination. God bless Nigeria.

•Nyingifa-Williams wrote from Abuja

Lekan Otufodunrin lotufodunrin@yahoo.com 08050498530 (SMS only)

Journalism’s two of a kind

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WO memorable experiences stand out in my professional career. In 1998, I had the opportunity of participating in a three - month media training programme at the Thomson Foundation in Cardiff, Wales in the United Kingdom.

Thanks to the British Council and Punch Nigeria Limited which paid for the trip, I joined colleagues from other developing nations to have a professionally transforming experience. As the training organization promised, it was indeed an opportunity to review my career, share experience and learn new skills to become a better journalist.

It was at Thomson Foundation that I first had a computer assigned to me. With an unrestricted Internet connection which I didn’t have access to back home, I remember being glued to my system all to learn as much I could. My friend, Nunu from East Timor opened my first email on Hotmail for me.

The facilities at TF were up to date and the trainers had the necessary practical experience to lead the various training sessions. I returned to Nigeria not the local journalist I was before the trip but a global journalist and citizen.

The one week which I spent at Poynter Institute (School for Journalists) in Florida, US, from February 12-17, 2012, brought back memories of Thomson Foundation.

I joined other fellows of The Media Project for a Coaching and Leadership training. Like TF, I have always dreamt of being at Poynter which also has excellent facilities and staff to inspire journalists to excel in the profession. You can imagine my excitement savouring every moment I spent at this world class media training centre.

As I returned to Nigeria after the course, I couldn’t help but feel the same way I felt at the end of the TF training in 1998. I have been wondering why it is impossible to have a training centre like the two aforementioned institutes for journalists in Nigeria.

Roy Thomson and Nelson Poynter who established the TF and Poynter respectively were media owners who were committed to the development of the profession.

Thomson who built up a global post war media empire of over 200 newspapers, magazines and TV stations, including The Times, The Toronto Globe and Mail and Scottish TV was a passionate advocate of press freedom who described communication as the ‘spine of civilization’.

For 40 years, Poynter produced newspapers in St. Petersburg that reflected his belief that excellent journalism, published independently, could help a community prosper and democracy flourish. He founded the Modern Media Institute in 1975, which later became Poynter Institute and willed, upon his death in 1978, that his new school would own controlling stock of the St. Petersburg Times Company.

What is very instructive about the life of Thomson and Poynter was that they were not only interested in making money from publishing; they were very interested in the training of the journalists who worked for them. Long after their death, journalists worldwide have continued to benefit from their legacy of continuous training.

God bless Thomson and Poynter for their foresight. If only many other rich people still alive could learn from their example, professionals, especially journalists will get better doing their job.

14

Ogochukwu Ikeje ohgeeoh@gmail.com 08084235961 (SMS only)

BOMINABLE acts are grabbing the headlines in Nigeria but the country cannot by any stretch of the imagination be described as one of abominable people. Thankfully, vice does not define us. It soils our image but it does not make the country. I consider that perhaps our greatest strength. Even as crime and corruption grow, the country still brims with exemplary people. Thus, in the valley of hopelessness, there is hope. When decent Nigerians are subjected to the most horrible and dehumanizing search at an international airport, right down to or beneath their undergarments, we must cheer up. Those compatriots are only paying for the sins of a few countrymen and women.

Two reports this month captured those atrocious acts. One appeared on February 3, the other on February 22. Both were on corruption, the sort that has chained the country to the ground since its birth. The first report was on pension scam, the second on oil theft. A little over three weeks ago, Mr Abdulrasheed Maina, chairman of the Presidential Task Team on Pension was quoted as saying a pension racket was making over N3 billion monthly before his team was set up.

And that is at the expense of taxpayers and the federal government. Maina said the pension racketeers sent a bloated number of pensioners to the government. This suggests that the cartel inflated the number of retirees forwarded to the authorities which released a payment sum far in excess of what they were supposed to release. And this happened perhaps for years before

A

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Comment & Analysis

One great thing about Nigeria In spite of sweeping vice, we are not all rogues Maina’s team came on stream.

N3 billion is a tidy sum by any standard.

Collected over months and perhaps years, you can imagine what the pension scammers have been taking home, and what they have been denying the government and taxpayers of. That amount of money can provide clean water for a thirsty community.

It can rehabilitate 10 dilapidated primary schools.

It can provide good health centres for five communities whose people are dying of the commonest and preventable diseases. But the money has not been doing anything of the sort. Rather, it has been going into the pockets of pension cartel members for months and years, according to Maina. Yet, the scam is not new. Nor is the ordeal of pensioners strange. Is the

fate of retirees not public knowledge? Do senior citizens not keel over and die on the verification queue or while waiting to collect their entitlements? Some too old to walk have ridden to the screening ground on the backs of their children or neighbours.

Some have died without getting anything. It is a study in how a country should not treat its people, especially the seniors. It is a sad story that cuts across ministries and agencies, a bitter ordeal relieved by retired military and police personnel as well as railway and other retired civil servants.

Now consider the fact that while these compatriots who served their fatherland with their best years and energies have been gnashing their teeth in their twilight, some smart fellows have been growing richer and fatter off pension funds.

“Like pension scam, oil theft is familiar. So is the tale of contracts awarded and re-awarded at staggering sums. Indeed, scams and scandals have not been in short supply and are well documented to our grief. What has been missing is a determined government to deal decisively with sleaze. What the country needs are those institutions promised last year by President Goodluck Jonathan to get the country up and running”

It is a familiar corruption story that is by no means restricted to pensions. It is everywhere. Fictitious characters collect pension just as much as the dead vote. We discovered in 2007, for instance, that American boxers voted and helped to elect our president that year. And from their graves, the dead also exercised their rights and partook in enthroning the Commander-in-Chief of their choice among the living.

On Wednesday, that is, four days ago, another unfortunate development was reported, this time concerning some dreadful activities in the oil sector. Multinational oil firm, Royal Dutch Shell reportedly said Nigeria is robbed of 150,000 barrels of oil everyday by thieves who breach the pipelines and siphon the product. Shell also appeared to question the running of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) which regulates foreign oil firms on behalf of the government.

The multinational company said Nigeria pumps out 2.4 million barrels per day but can increase the output to four million if we can manage to overcome oil vandalism.

Like pension scam, oil theft is familiar.

So is the tale of contracts awarded and reawarded at staggering sums. Indeed, scams and scandals have not been in short supply and are well documented to our grief.

What has been missing is a determined government to deal decisively with sleaze.

What the country needs are those institutions promised last year by President Goodluck Jonathan to get the country up and running.

That firm government may tarry. It may be some time before those great institutions take root. Abominable acts that continue to bleed the country and tarnish its image may endure still, but the good of the land will eventually overcome the bad someday. We are not a country of rogues.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Comment & Analysis

15

180 days or nothing Deadline on petitions may be a new albatross on electoral justice UDICIAL judgments have a way of unnerving democracy sometimes. While some judgments settle frayed political nerves, others set the democratic process into confusion.

Across party lines, the recent judgment of the Supreme Court interpreted as confirming that all election petitions at the tribunals must be settled within 180 days has resulted in massive retreat of court’s intervention as balm to electoral malfeasance. With that decision, many of the election petition cases that were referred back to the tribunals for retrial by the superior courts have suffered still births.

In Borno, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Rivers, Kebbi and some other states, election petitions that are on retrial at the tribunals for one reason or the other have been struck out, following the judgment of the Supreme Court in the Borno State governorship election petition. In Akwa Ibom State, the retrial of the petition filed by John Akpanudoedehe of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) as ordered by the Supreme Court was last week struck out by the tribunal on the premise that the same Supreme Court in the Borno case had ruled that no petitions can be heard after 180 days.

As things stand, the Supreme Court’s judgment has dealt a technical knockout on the doctrine of fair hearing with respect to the petitions still at the legislative and the governorship election petition tribunals. In his reaction to the Akwa Ibom State’s case, Femi Falana correctly stated that: “the mandatory period of 180 days was not entrenched in the constitution to chase aggrieved petitioners out of the temple of justice on the basis of crass legalism but designed to arrest the wanton delay in the trial of election petitions.” Now, unless the Supreme Court

J

I

AM one of the few admirers of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. I also have a lot of respect for him despite some of his shortcomings. My admiration of him was born out of two or three encounters I had with him shortly before his election and while he was in the Presidential Villa. I could notice in him a man who has a great passion for the peace and progress of Nigeria. He seemed to have worked tirelessly to achieve his lofty ideas and vision. The General felt that two terms in office allowed by the constitution were not enough and so he tried to amend the Constitution to pave way for a ThirdTerm which was aborted by the National Assembly with active collaboration of the Press. I must admit here that I wrote an article then to support the Agenda because of the faith I had in his vision.

Even though my respect for the elder-statesman has not changed, however I am beginning to have a second thought that the current socio-economic and political challenges that the nation is facing may not be unconnected with the abortion of the third-term agenda. It seems Baba Iyabo actually laid the foundation for the failure of the successive administrations after his tenure.

He seems to be the main architect of the problems that

quickly intervenes at the earliest opportunity to clear the fog over this judgment, the provisions of section 285(6) of the 1999 Constitution as amended may turn a Frankenstein monster to haunt our electoral process.

The implication presently is that after a successful election rigging, what the defendant election-rigger needs to do is to use all manner of subterfuge to ensure that the 180 days lapse at the election petition tribunal in order to enjoy the stolen mandate. In essence, the guilty party will strive to ensure that there will not be a proper adjudication on merit, while enjoying an unmerited term of office. This cannot be the intent of the amendments in the constitution and the electoral act; neither does it serve the end of justice. We therefore think there is the need to tinker with this process, so that parties are not emboldened to see the end as justifying the means.

In our view, while there is the need to ensure that matters are not allowed to linger forever at the courts, there is also the need for courts to apply the demands of natural justice on fair hearing which is also enshrined in Section 36 of our constitution, as a fundamental right. We believe that where parties in a suit

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

•Editor Festus Eriye •Deputy Editor Olayinka Oyegbile •Associate Editors Taiwo Ogundipe Sam Egburonu

•Managing Director/ Editor-in-Chief Victor Ifijeh •Chairman, Editorial Board Sam Omatseye •General Editor Kunle Fagbemi

are not allowed by technicalities in the statute to state their case, and have it determined on its merit, the fundamental legal doctrine of audi alteram partem (let the other party be heard) has been defeated; and the end of justice not served.

The parliament and the judiciary, in seeking a way out of the present challenge, may just concentrate in ensuring that procedures are put in place to discourage frivolous interlocutory applications by parties and, if possible, that petitions are determined before parties are sworn into office. They may also ensure that the tribunals are compelled to hear and determine the cases on merit within the stipulated time; even if that will be done together with the tribunal’s final decisions on all the interlocutory applications before it. By the same token, the judicial authorities could also ensure through practice directions that there are strict time limits for all the procedural matters, from the filing of the petitions, to all interlocutory applications, to the final determination by the tribunals.

Where for any reason the tribunals act in a manner showing connivance with any of the parties to frustrate a petition, the National Judicial Council (NJC) should immediately ensure that adequate disciplinary measures are taken against the culprits. In the meantime, those affected by the cases that have been struck out based on the limitation of time, may as well push their appeal to the Supreme Court, to avail the court an opportunity to look at its earlier judgment, and determine whether it has served the end of justice; or whether indeed the lower courts have misrepresented its findings in the Borno case.

LETTERS

A nation at the crossroads

this country is facing today, with his insistence on handing over power to the late President Umaru Yar’Adua who was terminally sick then, was anything to go by.

And to complete the scheme, he also ensured that another candidate that was ill prepared for the Presidency became President Umar Yar’Adua’s running-mate.

General Ibrahiim Babagida has ascribed to himself the title of an evil-genius but the current mess in our polity that is remotely linked

T

HE importance of transportation to human development and the need to ensure movement from one location to another has gone a long way to ameliorate some of human’s articulated problems.

Travelling has created an enabling environment for mankind’s economic sustainability and be in tune with realities of modern world. Kogi State been centrally located in this part of the country has seen vehicular movements of persons from one area to

late last year lamented at a Civic function held in his honour that the $35 Billion he left in the country’s foreign reserves for the rainning day has been depleted by his successors who claimed that the rainning day is already here.

That is part of the price the whole nation is paying just because the General did not allow normal democratic process to take place in the selection and election of his successors.

This lamentation further serves to buttress the fact that

the current mess in our polity is traceable to General Obasanjo. We therefore admonish him to own up and clean-up the mess so that foulair can stop.

The late Yar’Adua may look weak and fragile because of his ill-health but the man had a mind of his own. If this administration should fail, the nation may find it difficult to forgive former President Olusegun Obasanjo for his political permutation that has led the country to this crossroads.

Revitalizing Kogi Traveller

overall interest of the state.

The state government should as matters of urgency procure this vehicle to ensure it meets the needs of the people. I call on the government of Captain Idiris Wada to look into the issue of transportation system in the state to enable the good people of state feel proud. He should make sure modern vehicles are bought so that they will last and be a source of pride to the people of the state.

to General Olusegun Obasanjo seems to have made him the same. General Obasanjo has the same capacity to do both good and bad.

And he pursues them with great passion. I may be wrong in my observations and I stand to be corrected, but the PDP Board of Trustees Chairman needs to stand up now and clean the current mess which he cannot just wave aside. The General should note that good success without a good successor is a failure. The former President

another, hence there is the need for Kogi to have an efficient transport system that would place her in contention with other states that have such.

Kogi State Transport company popularly called Kogi Traveler has been in a comatose situation for quite some time now, and many people in the state who are desirous to travel are disappointed. The recent fuel subsidy removal has awakened many state governments in the country

to increase their fleet of vehicles to meet the needs of their populace who travel to different locations in the country.

During one of the state executive council meetings, it was made known to the people that the state would acquire more vehicles to ameliorate their suffering.

However, corruption which has bedeviled the management of the transport corporation prevented the management from buying more vehicles for the general

Bala Nayashi, Lokoja, Kogi State

To start with, General Obasanjo should assist the Jonathan Administration to tackle issues of insecurity, corruption and inequalities. A lot of politicians who have looted their states and national treasuries who should be behind the bars are still calling the shots in their respective political parties. Besides, the General should emulate American millionaires who shed part of their excess wealth and pledged to donate to charity foundations. Baba Iyabo and his colleagues should lead by example and teach this generation of politicians, businessmen and women in the country that there is more blessing in giving than in receiving. The probe being conducted by Ad-Hoc Committee on the Oil Subsidy regime has shown how some businessmen, bureaucrats and politicians have turned themselves into a cabal that is ripping off the nation of billions of Naira that is meant as a welfare package to the public.

In other words, less then 0.01% of the nation’s population has hijacked the subsidy benefits to themselves.

Succinctly put, our leaders (both temporal and spiritual) should lead by example and save this country.

Oluwagbemiga Olakunle, General Secretary National Prayer Movement

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16

Ropo Sekoni ropo.sekoni @thenationonlineng.net

T

HERE is a popular saying about insanity or madness.

It states that a person is insane when he does the same thing over and over and in the same manner and expects a different result from his action each time. There is a sense in which the recent decision by the federal government to re-organize the country’s unitary police system can be seen as a classic example of efforts to expect different results from repeated actions of the same nature.

Only a few days ago, Vice President Sambo inaugurated a police re-organization committee to be headed by Mr. Parry Osayande. The Vice President repeated descriptions of the problem afflicting the central Nigeria Police Force that Nigerians had heard before: “A time has come when the whole force should be re-examined and re-organised for efficiency and effectiveness.”

It was the recognition of the rot in the police and the force’s ineffectiveness that led previous governments to set up committees to make the law enforcement monopoly of the federal government since 1966 improve its image, increase its efficiency, en-

Femi Orebe femi.orebe @thenationonlineng.net 08056504626 (sms only)

T

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Comment & Analysis

HERE has been so much obfuscation about the new fees schedule at the Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, that the ViceChancellor, Professor Diipo Aina, had to go on television this past week to educate students, parents and sundry stakeholders about what is, unfortunately, being misrepresented as an increase in the N50, 000.00 tuition fees prescribed by governor Kayode Fayemi at his inauguration on 16, October, 2010.

Indeed, so deliberately misrepresented was it that some individuals, amongst them eminent citizens who had been privileged to hold not just academic but very senior administrative positions in universities in the past, took up positions indicating that the N50,000 was most probably inclusive of age old university administrative charges, even if those charges were to be in excess of N50, 000 in their own right.

In the course of our usual interrogation of issues of this nature on the Ekiti intellectual roundtable, a distinguished professor privately sent me a mail asking me to 'reaffirm the veracity' of the following: ‘earlier on, in consonance with the manifesto of the Action Congress of Nigeria, he had announced on assumption of office, a free and compulsory education for all children from birth to secondary school, just as he abolished tuition fees and pegged fees payable in tertiary institutions at N50,000 from its stratospheric N200,000 plus during the Oni administration,' in my article – ‘Fayemi: One Year of Quiet Revolution in Ekiti’ –which appeared on this page on October 23, 2011. The article was, I dare say, a

Police re-organization: another wild goose chase?

The culture of federal monopoly over law enforcement system bequeathed to the country by decades of military rule is obsolete and needs to be replaced hance its effectiveness, and earn the trust of the citizenry. Only a few years ago, late President Umaru Yar’Adua set up the Mohammed Yusuf committee to carry out similar charges given to Osayande’s committee.

If despite implementation of the far-reaching recommendations made by the committee chaired by a former IGP the force still needs another round of reorganisation, it is conceivable that it is the structure or architecture of law enforcement that needs to be re-designed. If after several attempts to re-organise the central police since 1966 the NPF still needs to be repositioned “to face the challenges of a democratic society,” there must be something that is fundamentally wrong with the philosophy behind the preoccupation with a central police force as the only way of enforcing laws in a federation.

The obsession with a central police force in a multicultural society can be illustrated with a popular saying of late Professor

Sam Aluko. In his Action Group and Unity Party of Nigeria days at the University of Ife, Professor Aluko used to explain the rudderless character of the Nigerian government at that time as follows: If a man that plans to go to Okitipupa on the coast reaches the Ibadan-Ife road from the main gate of the university and chooses to turn right towards Ibadan in the savannah, the faster he goes, the longer it will take him to reach his destination.

The fear of the federal government since 1966 to recognize that it has made the wrong turn by insisting on federal government’s monopoly of law enforcement in a country of diverse cultural values can be likened to a man turning south towards the coast at an intersection when his destination is Ibadan on the way to the north.

The consequence of such turning is more than taking an Israelite journey; it is that such traveler may end his journey in the lagoon or in the Atlantic, with-

out the possibility of retracing his journey back to his desired destination. For almost fifty years, the trustees of federal power in the country have insisted that it is only the federal police that can protect property and people of Nigeria. The periodic ritual of establishing committees to reposition the force for effectiveness every five years or less suggests that the choice of a unitary police in a multicultural society and federal state is a wrong step.

The lesson to learn from the decades-long failure of the NPF is that a time has come to think outside the box, to re-conceive the law enforcement infrastructure in a country that claims that it wants to optimize its cultural diversity. The infantile insistence of some groups or sections of the country that there must be only one police system that is controlled by the federal government is in contrast with best practices in other parts of the world. Even, in the United Kingdom, the creative force behind

the multiethnic Nigerian state, the police system is diversified.

All federal countries use the model of diversified police systems that include some form of federal police for federal matters, state, and local or community police to protect citizens and their property. Such countries include the United States of America, Canada, Germany, Australia, and Mexico.

The culture of federal monopoly over law enforcement system bequeathed to the country by decades of military rule is obsolete and needs to be replaced.

A unitary police system as a symbol of unity has proven over the years not to be anything more than a symbol. Law enforcement is not about how to create a united country out of diverse cultures. It is more about how to use the various cultures to ensure public safety, public order, and peace in a country and thus create peace and stability that make people comfortable to trust their neighbours.

Those with federal power who believe that Nigeria’s unity depends on federal monopoly over law enforcement are only being myopic. No amount of energy spent on imposing unitary governance on a federal and multicultural state and society is likely to yield the desired goal of unity. The current unitary police system in the country is one such effort to hide the true cultural identity of Nigeria and thus lose the advantage of cultural diversity for law enforcement and peace keeping.

Understanding the new fees regime at Ekiti State University It may be apposite to mention that one of the first things the Vice-Chancellor did on assumption was to cancel the sale of handouts in the university comprehensive and incisive piece which arose out of a 2-day interface with many members of the state executive council, together with, in some cases, written report of achievements in some key agencies of the Fayemi administration.

Knowing full well that I manufactured nothing, I replied my friend to kindly re-direct his query to the Commissioner of Education or, in the alternative, seek no further than governor Fayemi’s inaugural speech to the Ekiti people.

Obviously imbedded in that question, and this seems to me most embarrassing seeing that the interlocutor is a professor, is the lingering innuendo that the N50, 000 was inclusive of any and, all fees payable in the university. It was an adumbration of the position of another discussant who wrote inter alia: ‘The statement then was ‘not pay more than 50k’. How the university was to adjust all payments/ tuition’ was its own business’. I considered this as being totally ‘disingenuous’ and I said as much because not even with the longest stretch of imagination should anybody, however remotely unfamiliar with university affairs, think that a government, qua government, would attempt to legislate beyond tuition fees in a university.

It is common knowledge that other miscellaneous fees are strictly matters of detail and within the purview of each university. These subsidiary fees are usually so diverse that departments on their own do come up with some, payable only by its students.

It is equally a well known fact

that even though in the past, the Federal Ministry of Education used to prescribe fees for bed spaces that practice has since disappeared given the increasing inadequacy of on-campus accommodation, and the fact that boarding has long become optional. Indeed, I had to ask if it is usual for governments, whether state or federal, to factor library or these other departmental charges into bursary awards.

I digress.

This article is aimed, not at disputation, but rather as a further attempt, as already done by Dr Eniola Ajayi, the state’s Commissioner for Education, as well as the Vice-Chancellor, at making clearer any misunderstanding arising from the reviewed schedule and to emphasise, as both did,that the state governor remains unshakably committed to his promise to make education affordable in the state and that as far as his government is concerned, the N50,000 tuition fee he prescribed remains sacrosanct.

In order to be able to do that faithfully , I took time out to visit the state this past week to speak with both the State Commissioner of Education and the university’s Vice-Chancellor, a long time friend and contemporary at the Great University of Ife, Ile-Ife. As it turned out, all projections of crisis engulfing the university turned out to be nothing more than a storm in a tea cup. Better put, it was in fact a case of weeping more than the bereaved because in arriving at the fees, which were in no way new, the leadership of the uni-

versity was thoughtful, inclusive and reasonable. The new schedule is therefore a product of effective, multi-pronged communication, not only between the authorities and the national student Associations but with faculty-based associations as well.

According to the Vice-Chancellor, a meeting involving all these relevant stakeholders was held on Monday, 20 February, 2012. At the meeting he shared his vision of repositioning the institution, saying that with the co-operation of all, he intends to make it a respected world class university. The process he told them, will include the provision of state of the art infrastructure, ICT facilities that will enable students link up with the academic world outside these shores etc. A key requirement of achieving his vision, he told them, was to appropriately capture all payments to the university which he said necessitated putting in place the epayment system. It was a concomitant of that, therefore, that all existing fees, including the N50, 000 tuition fee, had to be codified.

In his words, the students exhibited commendable maturity and understanding even while it pleaded with the university administration to reduce some of the existing administrative charges to which request, the authorities acceded. It was as a result of this discussion that field trip charges came down from N10, 000 to N7, 500.

Payment for this item, for example, guarantees that the university will provide everything the students require on these trips.

A few others were also reduced.

In further addressing challenges con-

fronting students, it may be apposite to mention that one of the first things the Vice-Chancellor did on assumption was to cancel the sale of handouts in the university. In their place departments will now be encouraged to publish relevant books since there is a university press in place. This is a major achievement by the Vice Chancellor given the tenacity of many lecturers in wanting to ensure that nothing disrupts this easy avenue for making money.

He had all along carried the University Council along by ensuring that its Chairman, Emeritus Professor Jide Osuntokun was being properly briefed on developments on the revised fees.

It was only on the conclusion of all these processes that he instructed that the new fee schedule be uploaded on the university’s website and, in order to ensure that all stakeholders, students and their parents, in particular, were well informed of these developments, he approved that it be advertised in two national newspapers with additional information to the effect that the Registration deadline remains 3 weeks after which it will be firmly closed for the semester emphasizing that only students without any outstanding fees will be permitted to register.

In my meeting with the Hon Commissioner, she affirmed the N50,000 tuition fees and the government’s unbending determination to provide affordable and quality education in the state and that nothing will change this given the governor’s single-minded determination to improve education in the state, a decision he had made very early in his administration. The Commissioner also affirmed the administration's support for the university whilst stressing that the government’s solemn undertaking to make education affordable in the state remains sacrosanct.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Tunji

Adegboyega tunjade@yahoo.co.uk 08054503906 (sms only)

I

F President Goodluck Jonathan does not change his mind, then the presence of the World Bank will be stronger than ever in the country, with his proposal to establish a desk to be manned by officials of the Bank in his office, to vet Federal Government’s contracts. The purpose is to check corruption in the procurement system.

Speaking in an interview with TELL magazine, the President said: “Very soon, we will get people from the World Bank to be at my office.

For every contract we want to award, irrespective of the structures we have on the ground, they will assess it, so that if a job is supposed to cost N10,000 and it’s awarded for N10,000, the likelihood of that contractor bribing anybody will be reduced. Even if he wants to do public relations, it will be minimal.

It will not be like the scandalous thing we have now,” Jonathan added.

Ordinarily, one should sympathise with the President over his frustration with our system that is not working. But then, that is the reason he is there. By handing the challenge over to the World Bank officials, the President has passed a vote of no-confidence not only on the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) but also on the anti-corruption agencies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences

Postscript, Unlimited!

By

Oyinkan Medubi 08187172799 (SMS only) puchuckles7@gmail.com

D

ROWNING we are, to be sure people, yet our leaders are ignoring the lifeline thrown to us as a nation because at the foot of the governmental mountain, it is ‘business as usual’.

During the week, one turned with a deep, sorrowing sigh from the talk on the billions of naira stashed away by a pensions fund functionary, only to be confronted by another talk on the billions of Naira obviously pilfered by a former government functionary, and then one heard about someone else who ‘made’ millions of naira just for sitting on a government committee… It is all we can do to hold on to our fragile, equanimous peace. I don’t think we should be under any illusion that we will still have a country called Nigeria in a few years if things continue like this because, clearly, the country is going to the dogs.

Last week, I provocatively suggested a course of action that might assist us to determine our destiny as a nation. From the reactions I received, I rather thought that people did not quite understand my stand. While I am not wholly against a sovereign national conference which I said might be reduced to nothing but talk, talk, talk by our unconscio-

Comment & Analysis

17

World Bank to vet our contracts? Haba!

Commission (ICPC) as well as the security agencies and even the Judiciary. Things cannot work because when a hunchback carries a load, people tend to see that the load is bent at the top; no, the fact is that those who have eyes will see that the problem is right from the bottom.

Things cannot work here because virtually from head to toe, corruption is an indispensable companion.

At least two assumptions can be made with regard to the President’s proposed invitation to the World Bank. One is the usual tendency of the President to want to pass the buck, and the other is his belief that the World Bank officials are saints who would not make themselves available to be bribed. Both assumptions are faulty.

We have seen attempts, especially since the fuel subsidy protests in January, by the government to set up all kinds of committees, all of which boil down to admission of inefficiency and corruption in the federal bureaucracy. Yet, what we keep proposing in our budgets to sustain that bureaucracy is astounding. Some Nigerians have said they would support the President’s initiative if only it would not cost us a dime. This should not be our approach. The point is that what is not good cannot go by any other name; it is not good. The thing should not be narrowed down to money; it is beyond that. Where is our sovereignty?

There Jonathan goes again!

Where is our sense of national pride?

These people (the foreign experts) already know much more than we can imagine they know about us; to now formally invite them to oversee our contract awards is taking an already bad joke too far.

Moreover, we should not lose sight of the fact that they are also human beings, so, they are susceptible to temptation; forget about the colour of their skin. Even in the World Bank, there had been at least one randy top shot that was fired for corrupt practices - Paul Wolfowitz - over his affair with Shaha Riza, World Bank Senior Communications Officer (and Acting Manager of External Affairs) for the Middle East and North Africa Regional Office, whose salary he was accused of jacking up arbitrarily. However, the difference between those other climes and ours is that over there, people caught over inappropriate relationships or corruption get punished. In the Wolfowitz case, World Bank members of staff began what we could call ‘civil disobedience’ as part of the strategy of deviance to force him out of the system. Here, he would have bagged National Honour or chieftaincy titles and still be allowed in the corridors of power.

There have been many jokes about Nigeria as a country where

“The World Bank has given us our minister of finance who doubles as coordinating minister for our economy. That is enough. Things cannot be so bad that a father would wring his hands in frustration, only to hand over his troubles to his deceased son”

many things that are impossible elsewhere are common. Gbenga Omotoso wrote one at the back page of this newspaper on Thursday and the summary is this: there was this man who died and was hell-bound; but since there are different kinds of hell (German hell, American hell, UK hell, Russian hell, etc.), he wanted to find out which suited him most. In the end, he settled for the Nigerian hell, because there, there is no light to power the electric chair that will be used to ‘kill’ him; as for the bed of nails on which he was supposed to sleep, irrespective of which of the hells he chose, the Nigerian hell still appeared the preferred choice because even though the nails had been paid for, they are never supplied; so the man still has the opportunity of sleeping on a comfortable bed. And as for the devil that is supposed to whip people who end up in hell, the man was happy to discover that the devil is no other than the civil servant. And, in Nigeria, civil servants hardly go to work; they only go to sign the attendance register and return to wherever, to attend to their personal matters. So, being in Nigerian hell is like being in Paradise! No wonder there are too many people queuing to end up there because of these attributes that are peculiarly Nigerian!

That the country has become the butt of these expensive jokes should worry President Jonathan. And the best way to show such concern is not by shirking his responsibilities; it is by confronting the monsters that are holding us down as a nation, particularly corruption. Nigerians

Between a referendum and going to the dogs nable leaders (as has happened before), I said I rather preferred a simple referendum. Only one reader got me right but then he was peeved that I did not explain myself. Dear reader, wherever you are, move to the top of the class. Anyway, I pick up on the issue of referendum today.

A referendum, said my dictionary which I am sure is the same as yours, is a vote by the whole population on an issue put to it by a government or a ruling body. It’s a funny thing really, conducting a referendum. First, a group of people, both sane and insane, vote in a government. The sane ones vote in a sane government, the insane ones vote in an insane government. So if you look around you critically, you will be able to determine the kind of government that you have and what you are; particularly, if you remember that the government you voted in some time ago raised the price of fuel beyond everyone’s reach and changed the design of our vehicular number plates all on the first day of the year. Who does that in the world if not an …? Then it promptly diverted all our attention with a bogus enquiry into how oil reaches your vehicle tank, as if we did not know already. You open your tank cover, direct the nozzle into the tank and voila, you have oil. Imagine, an enquiry had to be raised to tell us that. Did you say something about the enquiry being about how the oil comes into the pump itself? Oh, everyone

knows that too. First it was brought in by the ignorant first children of the ignorant past heads of state and now it is brought in by the ignorant first friends of the present government. Did we really need an enquiry to tell us that also?

As I was saying, the people vote in a government and then the people vote on the solution to its problems. Why then go through the tortuous route of voting in a government first, I ask? Anyway, voting is an acceptably ingenuous exercise that helps one determine the status of one’s idea. For example, we once put a matter to the vote in my house. Should we or should we not give the dog a bath?

Everyone said yes, except the dog.

As soon as the time came to carry out the task, we armed ourselves to the teeth. First the basin was procured, then the soap, then the sponge and then the towel. By this time, the dog had wizened to the idea and had begun its own counterinsurgence tricks. First it growled deeply, and then it spread out its front paws as if ready to spring at anyone who dared to attempt to lift it into the bowl. Everyone moved back, wisely. We also moved back its food until it got the message clearly: no bath, no food; and then it was desperately outnumbered. So you see, votes are very powerful things. If you don’t believe me, ask Jonathan; he came in by a simple vote of yes or no, and since then, he has not heard a single word we have said. He was only after our yes.

I think I’ve told this story before but I’ll tell it again anyway because I love old stories. When the lion wanted to know if he was still the king of the jungle, he went from one animal to another and growled out the question. Of course none dared say no to him; everyone said yes except the elephant. After listening, the elephant simply picked up the lion and threw him into the air from where he landed with a thud on the ground. Painfully, the lion picked himself up, dusted his body and muttered in pain, ‘Just because you don’t know the answer does not mean you should get violent!’

I am aware that in many homes, this referendum has caused many a violent response. When the call comes from the woman, ‘I think we need to increase the housekeeping allowance’, many men’s responses have come in the form of deep, unfriendly growls that have not sounded like yes or no; they have sounded just like growls.

There is no record of any man on earth ever going something like, ‘I think you’re right, what with the way inflation is going.’ As a body, indeed, they turn violent. I think just because men are opposed to the rise in the temperature of inflation does not mean they should turn violent.

There we have it, people. To solve this national quagmire to which nature, Britain and our own dear selves have contributed, we must answer a simple question: should we continue to exist as a

fought the government in January because they were amazed that a President who could not deal with a few corrupt people who are milking the country dry wanted to foist on them an arbitrary fuel price increase robed deceptively in the garb of deregulation. The President said he has had to redeploy directors in ministries and has done ‘everything to reduce corruption’. Yes, the government has done everything but it has not done the most important thing to reduce corruption.

How many companies have been sanctioned for giving bribes to government officials? How many top shots have been sent to jail for corrupt practices? In most cases, the matters are treated as a ‘family affair’.

But for how long are we going to continue to sustain people who are consuming unproductively in government? The President should forget this idea and let Nigerians have the value for the hefty sums that we are spending to keep our public officials. Let there be more rigorous thinking in government. I would not even subscribe to the idea that corrupt practices would seize in contract award as some people are saying once the President sets up the National Council of Public Procurement because, irrespective of its objectives, the council would fail if the political will to fight corruption squarely is not there.

The World Bank has given us our minister of finance who doubles as coordinating minister for our economy. That is enough.

Things cannot be so bad that a father would wring his hands in frustration, only to hand over his troubles to his deceased son. nation or not and on what basis, via a referendum. To run away from those two questions is not to be honest. Who knows, it could even settle a few things for us.

First, a referendum would help us come to terms with, settle or remove one nagging question that has bedeviled this country from the beginning – our diversity in tongue, culture and ideology. It would tell us whether we are prepared to accept one another’s language and culture, warts and all, like Canada did not too long ago.

Warts are ugly things to look at but they define the owner. Choosing yes to corporate existence means agreeing to see those warts everyday and eventually growing to love them. We don’t need a long talk to settle that.

The other thing it would settle is how we should continue to exist: either as a true republic, where the regions can exercise some measure of autonomy so that the burden of the centre can be lifted off its shoulders, or not to exist anymore. Our voting yes to regionalism will certainly give every individual a better chance to have a more meaningful life where access to the wealth, security and social services such as health, good transportation, infrastructure, etc., of the land can be better procured.

A referendum can better affirm us as a nation and give us a map for upward direction faster than a national conference can. Failure to have either though is asking Mother Nature to take its course and send us to the dogs. Truth is, there be some among our leaders who do not care right now whichever way the stone rolls, as long as the money keeps rolling in, but the time will come when they will cry ‘Wolf!’ because there would be a real one in the house; and it will be coming after the dogs. But no one will be listening.

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News Reel

•Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, Swedish Ambassador Per Lindegarde (left), Norwegian Ambassador, Kjell Lillerud (2nd right), Finnish Ambaassador, Ms Riitta Korpivaara and Chairman, Honeywell Group of Companies, Mr. Ayoola Oba Otudeko , during the opening of Nordic Spirit in Business and Culture event at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, on Thursday.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

•Akwa Ibom's Governor Akpabio addressing supporters, who turned up to congratulate him on his victory at the Election Tribuanal, at Ibom International Airport

The governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, (third left) Commissioner for Education, Mrs Tokunbo Fayokun (left), Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye (second left), former Vice Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Professor Wale Omole (right), Founder, Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Dr Frederick Fasehun (second right), and Chief Michael Adeojo, Chairman Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola with his Anambra counterpart Peter Obi, his wife, Elizade Group (third right), when the Governing Council of the Yoruba Education Trust Fund Margaret, former Governor of Lagos State Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and members of Lagos paid a courtesy call on the governor in his office on Thursday.

State Executive Council during a visit to Lagos House, Marina, on Thursday.

•Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola SAN (2nd right), with his Anambra State counterpart, Dr. Peter Obi (2nd left), former Governor of Lagos State Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (left) and Chief Pius Akinyelure (right), during a courtesy on Governor Fashola at the Lagos House Marina on Thursday.

•The Enugu State Commissioner Finance and Economic Development Mr. Godson Nnadi (right) conferring with the state chairman of NUJ Enugu State Council during the briefing ……at the weekend

•Lagos State Deputy Governor, Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire receiving the “Excellence in Leadership” Award from Deputy Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Thokozani Khupe on behalf of Governor Babatunde Fashola during the African Achievers Awards organized by The Institute The new Executive of NUJ Enugu State Council taking Oath of office administered by the Assistant for Leadership and Management and Transforming Africa Initiative at the King’s College, Strand, London, United Kingdom on Wednesday National Sec. Mr. Gbenga Bamidele (right).

POLITICS

19

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

ably gathered that various party and elected offices had been shared amongst the various interests in the party. Ladoja’s faction; sources disclosed, would produce the state chairman of the party, with Teslim Folarin penciled down for the governorship ticket. Ex-governor Akala, it was further learnt, is likely to be fielded as the party’s senatorial candidate for Oyo South currently occupied by Senator Ayo Adeseun of ACN.

Oyo PDP game plan for 2015 The fear of going into political oblivion beyond 2015 is forcing leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State to close ranks amidst doubts of a sustainable peace, writes Remi Adelowo

I

T was secret meeting only known to a few leaders in the Oyo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). And that was deliberate.

For PDP members in Oyo State, the one and only priority at the moment is reclaiming the Agodi Government House from the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2015. Nothing is being left to chance. To achieve this objective, the last few months has witnessed a flurry of overt and covert moves aimed at putting the divided party house in order.

Back to the secret meeting: Sometimes late last year, the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi had arrived at the hilltop residence of the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, early on a Saturday morning.

The Agenda The meeting was called to serve two purposes: first; a reapproachment between Alaafin and the former president, who had fallen out in the run-down to the 2011 general elections; and secondly, to enlist the support of the traditional ruler in favour of the PDP for the 2015 elections.

The Nation learnt that the Alaafin, as blunt as ever, laid bare his grouse against the former president and the former governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala, whom he accused, undermined his authority as a paramount traditional ruler while at the helm of affairs in the state.

He was also reported to have told the former president of taking sides with Akala to rubbish his person and status.

The Alaafin specifically made reference to the former president’s utterances at a campaign rally with Akala in Oyo town early last year, during which he made uncomplimentary remarks of his person and also refused to pay a courtesy call to his palace as demanded by protocol.

The meeting reportedly ended on a convivial note, with both parties agreeing to bury the hatchet.

Other meetings of strange bedfellows The Abeokuta meeting opened a floodgate of more reconciliatory moves (formal and informal) by feuding top PDP members in Oyo State. One of such parleys took place in Ibadan about three weeks ago. In attendance were an Ibadan High Chief and former lawmaker, Senator Lekan Balogun; former Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin; former deputy to exGovernor Akala, Alhaji Taofeek Arapaja, another former deputy governor, Hazeem Gbolarumi; Akala’s ex-Chief of Staff, Dr Saka Balogun; former SSG, Chief Olakojo; ex-Minister, Chief Wole Oyelese, Minister of State of FCT, Chief (Mrs) Jumoke Akinjide, to mention but a few.

Ordinarily, the meeting could be likened to a congregation of strange bedfellows but not in politics where just anything is possible.

Prior to the 2011 elections; the PDP in Oyo State was enmeshed in a deep crisis with some of the leading lights not seeing eye-to-eye.

It was a battle that claimed lots of casualties. The anticlimax was the arrest and detention at Agodi Prisons in Ibadan of Senator Teslim Folarin for the alleged murder of a factional leader of NURTW in the state, Alhaji Lateef Salako (Eleweomo), who was believed to be a staunch supporter of Akala.

One of the resolutions at the Ibadan meeting was the need to forge a united front to dislodge ACN in 2015, with the hitherto sworn enemies promising to forgive and forget.

Oladipo’s meeting with Ladoja The seriousness attached to the reconciliation of PDP members in Oyo State was further re-enforced when, last week, the National Vice Chairman (South West) of the party, Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo held a closed-door meeting with the former governor, Rashidi Ladoja, at the latter’s Bodija residence.

Ladoja, a former PDP member before he decamped to the Accord Party where he flew the party’s flag as the governorship candidate last year, has become a power broker of sort in the state.

Though he lost to ACN’s candidate, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, at the polls, his party produced six members in the State House of Assembly as against ACN’s 13 and PDP’s 11. Ladoja thus became the beautiful bride to be courted by PDP and ACN on who would become the Speaker of the state House of Assembly.

After an intense horse-trading, the ACN eventually produced the Speaker, while Accord Party nominated the Deputy Speaker. Ladoja was also allotted two slots in the state executive council.

Ladoja may move to PDP In the last couple of days, the biggest news in the state is the planned movement of Ladoja’s return to PDP in the next few months. But if that happens, the biggest immediate political puzzle would be what becomes of his party’s gentleman’s agreement with ACN? Sharing of offices ahead 2015 Barring any last minute change of plans, The Nation reli-

Akala’s volte-face The programme was called ‘Bulls Eye’ on a private radio station based in Ibadan.

Ex-governor was the guest on this particular edition. While responding to a question on his relationship with Folarin and his alleged culpability in the murder of Eleweomo in 2010, Akala, in a full turnaround, had absolved the former Senate Leader of any wrong doing. He added that Eleweomo’s killing may not be unconnected to the internal wrangling within the NURTW in the state.

This was contrary to his earlier stance as governor when he had vowed to get to the

roots of the murder of Eleweomo.

According to a PDP member in the state, “Akala’s volteface should not surprise anyone. Both Akala and Folarin have realised they need each other at this time. Eleweomo was just a pawn in a game of chess. Akala’s statement was also to prove that PDP members have resolved their differences,” he said.

Arisekola, Kola-Daisi & Alaafin’s roles These three influential indigenes of Oyo State are quick to tell anyone who cares to listen that they are not politicians.

However, the reality on ground is that no one becomes the governor of the state without their support.

But the big question now is: who would they support for the 2015 governorship?

In the case of Aare Arisekola Alao, taking a decision would not be a tea party, as he is not only regarded as Folarin’s godfather, but a close ally of Chief Kola-Daisi, who is an in-law to the incumbent governor, Abiola Ajimobi. (Daisi’s son, Kolapo is married to Abisola, Ajimobi’s daughter). Arisekola is also one of the closest allies of Alaafin, with their relationship dating back to over 40 years.

While it is guaranteed that Kola-Daisi and indeed the influential Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII) would likely support Ajimobi, if he indicates his interest to run for a second term, analysts say Arisekola and Alaafin’s backing for the governor all depends on how the later manages his relationship with the duo in the next three years.

ACN’s counter-strategy The ruling party in the state, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) fully aware of PDP’s plots, is quietly working on a counter-move to checkmate PDP ahead the 2015 elections.

The Nation gathered that ACN is determined to break the ‘one-term jinx’ in the state once and for all.

Part of the strategies being worked on is to woo some members of Accord Party in the House of Assembly to ACN in order to make the House ‘trouble-free’ for Ajimobi. According to a source, “Don’t be surprised if you start seeing a rash of defections from Accord to ACN”.

The other strategy is the resolve of Governor Ajimobi and his party to execute unprecedented developmental projects across the state and make the second-term ambition of the governor easier to accomplish.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Politics

Political Politics

An umpire’s scorecard E

LECTIONS into the positions of governors in the five states of Kogi, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Sokoto and Cross River have come and gone but some issues raised by the conduct of the elections are still raging.

The positions became vacant following the judgment of the Supreme Court that faulted the elongation of the tenures of the former governors by the Appeal Court. Consequently, the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) moved in to conduct fresh elections within ninety days as stipulated by the constitution.

Expectedly, there is as much celebration in the camps of winners of the said gubernatorial elections as there is immeasurable sadness among friends and supporters of those who lost their bid to win the same elections in the five states.

In the midst of all these, the Professor Attahiru Jega-led INEC appears to be up for serious re-appraisal as allegations and counter allegations bothering on the complicity or otherwise of the commission in the various malpractices that allegedly characterised first set of staggered gubernatorial elections in the history of the country.

While the camps of those who won are wont to sing the praises of Jega’s commission to high heavens, the losers are saying INEC’s credibility as an independent umpire is fast dwindling.

Such divided appraisal of the electoral body by partisan politicians, of course, cannot be the only parameter for measuring the performance of Jega’s men. This is because it is natural for the victors to agree with the umpires while the losers will shout wolves.

But when institutions like independent election monitoring groups, who were in the affected states to monitor the said elections, and other eminent Nigerians, now come to town with tales that are capable of eroding the credibility of the commission, a re-appraisal becomes necessary.

If the testimonies of Dr. Silas Baba Bala of the Free Polls Africa (FPA), who monitored elections in all the five states, is anything to go by, then Jega’s men may have some questions to answer as they might have allegedly derailed from the noble ideals that earned INEC the trust and confidence of many Nigerians during and after the 2011 general elections.

Bala, whose organisation had to threaten court action before being allowed to monitor the elections, simply wanted Jega and his men to throw in the towels, alleging that they were no longer capable of conducting credible, free and fair elections under the current dispensation.

Project Swift Count (PSC), another election monitoring group, is of the opinion that the last gubernatorial election in Bayelsa is a far cry from being free and fair though the organisation thinks there was a slight improvement on the part of INEC during the Sokoto governorship election a week later.

Comrade Rasaq Oladosu was in Kogi, Bayelsa and Adamawa to monitor the election for the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR).

For him, Jega’s INEC should no longer be relied upon as an independent arbiter.

“I think there is a big credibility question hanging on the neck of Jega and his men. The INEC we saw at work in Kogi, Bayelsa and Adamawa, during the last gubernatorial elections, is nowhere near independent. What we saw was a conniving agency ready to do the bidding of the ruling party,” he alleged.

“INEC is no longer credible. The commission performed poorly, especially in Bayelsa and Adamawa States.

They connived with the security agents and the PDP to rig elections. This is

As the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) concludes the governorship elections in the five states of Kogi, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Sokoto and Cross River, Dare Odufowokan reports the assessment of election monitors and other observers

•Jega

shocking and very disappointing. They refused to accredit opposition party agents. Their officials watched as thugs moved away ballot boxes and replaced them with ballot boxes filled with already thumb-printed ballot papers,” he alleged.

“The last set of elections have exposed Jega and his men for what they really are; agents of the ruling party. It is in the interest of our democracy if we start thinking of how to reject these pretenders. It was as if INEC had a mandate to deliver the five states to the PDP. There was simply no way any other party could have won any of the states,” Bala and the FPA said in their report on the elections.

But the PSC does not think the situation is as hopeless as the FPA will want Nigerians to believe it is. While briefing newsmen on the observations of its monitors who went round the five states during the staggered polls, the body said “though incident of malpractices were noticeable in all the five elections, the gubernatorial contest in Bayelsa stands out as grossly tainted.”

The report however gave the commission thumbs up in its conduct of the governorship election in Sokoto state where it said the contest was more credible with INEC playing roles expected of an independent arbiter.

PSC which is a coalition of election monitors said, “The conduct of this election was markedly improved. But problems remain with late arrival of polling staff and materials, voters not remaining at polling units during accreditation (opening the possibility for multiple voting) and cases of intimidation.”

The concerns raised however, did not occur at levels and rates that would substantially undermine the overall credibility of the process or of the results announced by INEC. It regretted that INEC had not overcome its logistics problems which marred previous elections in the country.

“INEC continues to suffer logistical challenges, as evidenced by the delayed movement of polling officials and election materials to some polling

units,” the report said.

The group also observed that INEC did not make available the voter registers in each polling unit for the observers to verify the number of voters duly registered to vote. The report also claimed accreditation of voters started at 73 percent of polling units at 9am. This, it said, was unlike in Bayelsa where only 32 percent of polling units were reportedly opened by 9am.

Even the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), which also monitored the elections through its Election Working Group, is of the opinion that INEC may not have done too badly.

In its preliminary report released to the press and entitled, “A peaceful and orderly election,” the NBA said, “voter turnout for the election was low. Some of the registered voters stayed away from the polling units for a variety of factors. Some of the voters claimed they stayed away because of the confusion relating to uncertainty as to the authentic candidate of one of the political parties. Others claimed that they stayed away on account of the confusion on whether the court will accede to the request of some litigants to postpone the elections.”

The report signed by Dafe Akpedeye (SAN), Chairman, NBA (EWG) and Festus Okoye Esq, Alternate Chairman NBA (EWG) respectively, said that “though voter turnout was low, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) used the election to prove to the world that it was capable of conducting a peaceful election.”

But CDHR’s Oladosu will not agree with the above position by both NBA and PSC. According to the human rights activist, the election processes in all the five states were fraught with irregularities bothering on the complicity of INEC officials.

“If we are to go by what we saw in those elections, INEC and even Jega lack the credibility to conduct any other election in this country again. It was as if they thought nobody was watching their conduct. The irregularities were reckless. The umpire simply became an active participant in the ‘win at all cost campaign’ embarked upon by the ruling PDP,” he alleged.

But as the debate on INEC’s credibility generated by the elections in Adamawa, Kogi, Sokoto, Bayelsa and Cross River continue to rage, the commission says it performed creditably in its conduct of the recent polls.

INEC dismissed allegations of connivance with PDP and advised losers, who were not satisfied with the results, to go to court.

But not minding the commission’s posture, its critics are alleging that it can only assert its independence if the party on the receiving end is not the PDP.

turf

with Bolade Omonijo boladeomonijo@yahoo.com

Who is afraid of new revenue allocation formula?

I

T is really not surprising that the Northern political elite and technocrats are calling for a new revenue allocation formula, arguing that some states, especially in the South South, are favoured by the formula in operation. Speaking on behalf of his colleagues during the week, Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, who is also the chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, argued that the existing sharing scheme is inequitable and unsustainable. He posited that many of the states in the North, including Niger, are barely surviving and lack the capacity to undertake major capital projects. He therefore called for a review of the formula within the year.

This has been the song of many political leaders, patriots and scholars from the South in the past decades. However, the prisms are different. During the Obasanjo National Political Reform Conference (NPRC), delegates from the Niger Delta argued strongly for resource control, fiscal federalism and genuine restructuring of the country. Delegates from the residue of the South backed their Niger Delta counterparts. Those from the South East who had, in the past, canvassed the need for devolution of power to the federating units and went through a civil war to push a demand for secession, saw their Southern neighbours as fresh converts to the idea. The earlier Ahiara Declaration and the Aburi agreement set out the eternal position of the Igbo.

And, the men and women from the South West remain committed to best practices as exemplified by the freedom and fairness that recommend federalism to plural societies like Nigeria. The delegates from the West have continued to campaign for the fairness and equity embedded in true federalism. This informed the summit held in Ibadan between March 13 and 15 where legislators, governors and leaders from the region emphasized the need for devolution of power to the states in the long-term overarching interest of the country.

The heat resulting in terrorism in different parts of the country and spearheaded by different organizations are believed to have stemmed from the concentration of resources and power at the centre. The President can virtually have his way in every situation. He decides what happens in all parts of the country and has enough money to force his views on the people and regions. This inequity finds expression in unbridled interregional struggle for scarce resources and mutual suspicion that can only lead to violence on different scales and form.

I still vividly recall the logical presentation by South South delegates to the NPRC that the areas bearing oil and other mineral resources should be allowed to tap them and market them and merely pay agreed tax to the centre. The North opposed the moves on the same grounds that they have just raised. The North is suggesting that the 13 per cent set aside for the despoiled by oil exploration is too much. It is patently unfair to suggest that people who enjoyed wide latitude to market and retain revenue from agricultural products when they meant so much in the First Republic would now want to deprive others canvassing a return to that formula. If fund generated from the groundnut pyramid and cotton in the 60s could be retained in the North and only 50 per cent paid into the coffers of a Northerndominated federal government, why the hues and cries now?

Many of the federal agencies, commissions and departments are needless and should be scrapped. Why should the federal government be involved in the establishment and running of primary health care centres? Why should the federal government get bogged down by running primary and secondary schools? Where else is this done?

It is now time to reexamine the structure of this federation.

Unless something is done to strengthen the federating units and wean them off the overweening power of the supermen at the centre, we should expect more flashpoints. Boko Haram, even if this war is won, is likely to resurface in a different form and shape at some point in the near future.

Yes, the cake sharing formula must be equitable, but the cake should be baked in various centres and the states must be encouraged to be more ingenious in generating the revenue to sustain their operations. Sheer jealousy will not pay.

Watch it, Jega Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega and his commission have come under fire in recent times. Some commentators have accused the Political Scientist of playing the PDP game. I have no facts to support the charge. I still maintain that Jega is too decent and polished to do the bidding of the ruling party.

But, I agree with those who contend that the commission has made many erroneous calls in recent times. I do not see his business in deciding who should be the rightful governor of Kogi State. His duty is to conduct the election. That he did last December 3. If there was a controversy over whether the Speaker of the House of Assembly or the then governor-elect should step in, that should be left to the law courts, not the Jega court.

The adjustment of the timetable is a matter that would likely end up in the courts, too, especially as concern the governorship election in Cross River and Sokoto States.

It would be a tragedy if Jega loses his head to the praises following INEC’s performance so far. We still have a long way to go.

COVER

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

OJUKWU The final curtain call As the family, governments, committees and other stakeholders put finishing touches to the burial arrangements of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, in Nnewi, took a tour of the strategic places and offers a detailed account of the preparations FEW hours from today, the remains of Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu, the Ikemba Nnewi and Eze Igbo Gburugburu, will arrive the country and commence the journey to its final resting place in Nnewi, Anambra State.

The former Biafran leader died on November 26, 2012 after a battle with stroke and today, his father’s massive compound is the center of attraction as Ojukwu’s final resting place and his Mausoleum stood left and right to his main building, inside the historic compound.

It would be recalled that Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State and his team left for London on Wednesday after his function at Ondo State to accompany the remains back home.

The burial ceremonies started long before now. In fact, the ceremonies formally kicked off on 12th December, 2011, with the

A

Ojukwu’s search, tagged in Igbo as ‘Icho Madu’ rite, a traditional ceremony usually organised to search for a worthy deceased. It formally announced the commencement of his burial.

That day, major streets in the state capital, Awka, were closed down as youths led by Governor Peter Obi, searched all through Awka for Ojukwu. Traditionally, such search heralds the preparation for the burial of an illustrious son in Igbo land.

Ashibi, cooks for Ojukwu: breaking another record Baring any hitches in their arrangements, about 551 different types of ‘Ashibi’ will be adorned by mourners of the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu on March 3, 2012, The Nation can authoritatively reveal.

The clothes ranged from N2, 000 to N25, 000 for six yards depending who designed it and the material.

A member of the Anambra State

organising committee for the Ojukwu’s burial, Mr Ikechukwu Ejesieme, informed that the clothes are so many that he can’t give exact number they would be. ‘’One cannot say how many they are but I know there are so many of them. As at now (Wednesday) we have about 21 that are ready but I know that many other group like the market women, Umuada Igbo to mention but a few.’’ He said there are fez-caps and T-shirts among other innovations that would be introduced.

Ejesieme, who is also the APGA’s Organising Secretary and Coordinator-General APGA Ambassadors Forum, informed that over 500 groups have indicated interests in wearing special dress code for the burial ceremony of the late Dim. Director of MASSOB, Comrade Uchenna Madu, confirmed too that MASSOB has already four different brands of uniform for the burial and

may increase the dress code. He said, “MASSOB has four different designs for the burial.’’

But Ikemba 2, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu Jnr, son of the late Dim, admitted that the Ashabis were too numerous but he was unable to give exact number of the people that will wear the uniforms.

He said he has made some and was aware that many have prepared for that.

We also gathered that there would be over 1000 caterers that would cook at different occasions associated with the burial. Six or more would be handy on the burial day at Nnewi, so said Ojukwu Jnr. Enugu State Governor, Mr. Sullivan Chime’s representative or his Alternate Chairman, Prince Bob Onyema, who is anchoring the hospitality committee, could not be reached to comment.

But Chairman of the Works Committee/APGA National Chair-

man, Chief Victor Umeh, assured that all constructions both Nnewi and Enugu internal and external renovations, electricity and water supplies would be ready before the burial date. Already, the asphalt over lay has been done. Electricity and water supply are through too in the compound.

Ndigbo, MASSOB AND APGA: Beyond the death of Ojukwu MASSOB will literally ground movement in Nnewi during the burial as about one million members, mostly youths from the states in the former Eastern Region, would gather there. Director of Information, Mr. Uchenna Madu, said that the group has long been preparing for the burial, and confirmed that about one million members of MASSOB would be at the burial to bid their leader farewell.

MASSOB leader said, “as mark •Continued from Page 22

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Cover •Continued from Page 21

of honour and respect to His Excellency, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu , we have declared sit at home on the 2rd March for Biafrans. All markets, shops, motor parks, schools, airport, banks and offices shall be closed from 7am to 4 pm. Ndigbo residing outside Igboland are mandated to observe the sit at home order as mark of loyalty to Eze Igbo Gburugburu.”

The Nation observed that MASSOB members have been keeping watch at Ojukwu’s country home since the announcement of his death. They would collaborate in providing security on the day of the burial. The Nigerian police and Army would also be there, that probably would be the first time the government forces would be willing to work with MASSOB members.

Ojukwu’s last resting place The final resting place of the late Eze Igbo Gburugburu is Nnewi and not Enugu as was rumoured earlier, The Nation reports. When our correspondent visited the Mausoleum being constructed in Ojukwu’s family compound in Nnewi for the interment of the remains of the Igbo leader, on Friday, it was 90 percent completion.

The Mausoleum in front of his house, facing the main entrance, was appropriate to say the least. It is a little more than six feet with marble carvings in the walls. We gathered that there would be four elephant tusks touching each other at the front and back as sign of strength which Ojukwu stood for while alive.

Monuments for Dim Ojukwu When asked about monuments for Ojukwu recently, Colonel Joseph Achuzie said,’’ I’m not used to issue of this nature, immortalisation of people. So, I cannot say exactly how Ojukwu should be immortalised. Nigeria knows how they immortalise their people. I will leave that to those whose job it is to do so’’.

However, the Imo State Government had already immortalised Ojukwu with a square that houses an international conference center and the likes. The Federal Government has inaugurated a National Monument on the civil war at Amichi, near Nnewi, 42 years after, even as Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka named a portion of an international standard hostel’ ELMADA’ after him, which has attracted criticism as many wondered why the entire hostel was not named after the hero?

The exhibition was formally declared open by Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, while the Director-General of NCMM, Mallam Yusuf Usman, said, “This exhibition in Amichi is a celebration of the peaceful resolution of the war. It cannot come at a better time when our dear country is yet again challenged by disenchanted centrifugal forces. This exhibition is therefore meant to highlight the supremacy of peace and reconciliation over war, no matter its justification.”

The Nation reports that the surrender of the Biafra in 1970 was done at the home of Atuchukwu, with the Biafra team led by General Philip Effiong, while the Nigerian side was led by Col. Olusegun Obasanjo.

However, Governor Peter Obi Solidarity Front (POSF), has charged the South Eastern Governors not to fail in the expectation of the public by naming monuments after the late Ezeigbo Gburugburu, Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu.

Coordinator of the group, Felix Obi-Okafor, made the call in a statement made available to The Nation in Nnewi. POSF called for the

Ojukwu’s final journey begins

•Condolence register section

•Men at work on the Mausoleum in the Ojukwu's compound

•The 7ft tomb inside the Maosoleum

•Renovated Sir Ojukwu's house with his tomb

One of the uniforms for Ojukwu's final burial.

immortalisation of late Ezeigbo Gburugburu, as part of respect and recognition of his intrepid contributions to humanity while alive and enjoined Ndigbo to emulate him.

Jonathan, Obasanjo, world leaders to Ojukwu’s burial Former President Olusegun Obasanjo was among the first to express sadness at the death of Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka OdumegwuOjukwu. He has equally indicated interest to attend the burial, alongside other world leaders. Obanjo had said, “It is with deep sadness that I received the news of the demise of my friend and colleague. He and I were subalterns in the army at Nigeria’s independence in 1960.

In a way, his death marks the end of an era in Nigeria.”

Indications emerged recently that aside Obasanjo, President Goodluck Jonathan will personally attend the burial. He is expected to lead other leaders to attend the burial.

Full military and national burial for Dim Ojukwu Senator Uche Chukwumerije, Vice chairman burial committee has confirmed that Dim Ojukwu would

be given full national burial. He informed that Ojukwu’s burial will feature prominent people from all walks of life from within and outside the country.

He confirmed that the remains will arrive the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on February 27, where a programme, tagged Onye Ije Nnoo (Welcome home), would be held, while the body would depart immediately to major towns in the South-East for further funeral ceremonies.

“You know Ojukwu is one of the greatest leaders produced by this country, so, everyone is welcome. The funeral will be conducted with the highest level of peace and tranquility; it will be a solemn occasion and though he will be buried in the highest tradition of Nnewi town, we don’t want to ‘parochialize’ the programmes, but he will get a national burial,” he explained.

For Ojukwu to be buried in peace, the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, (MASSOB) has agreed with the Federal government on the proposed plans to give the late Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu a full state burial.

The FG has stated that as part of conditions to give Ojukwu a state burial, all groups, not accredited by the burial committee, including MASSOB, will not be assigned any official role during the burial.

According to the statement on Tuesday by the MASSOB leader, Chief Ralph Uwazurike, who spoke through Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka, the proposed burial arrangement which had stipulated full military burial for the late Igbo leader has been accepted.

“We hail the President of Nigeria for approving full state burial for late General Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the leader of Biafra and Ezeigbo Gburugburu. The decision to stop MASSOB from participating during Ojukwu’s burial as a group which was reached at the meeting with the burial committee and representatives of Chief of Army Staff and Ojukwu’s family shall not be contested. MASSOB had earlier agreed to allow the federal government to complete their burial rites on the first day and take over the second day,” the statement said.

The Nation gathered that the golden casket, bearing Ikemba’s remains will be draped with the Nigerian ‘green-white-green’ flag and a

pair of Army boot will be placed on top of the casket. The pall bearers will place the casket in an empty NA jeep and it will be driven around to ‘inspect’ the guard of honour to be mounted by a contingent of the Brigade of Guards.

“After the military and other social reception ceremonies, the body will be flown to Owerri for the continuation of the funeral rites there.

“From the moment the body arrives at Abuja and until it is buried, the Nigerian Army will take complete custody and will guard it with their lives until the Ikemba’s remains are lowered into the ground at 5pm at Nnewi on Friday, March 2.

“The Army chaplain will be part of the requiem Mass in Nnewi and will officiate at the burial proper where the Army personnel will perform the flag-folding rite, which involves solemnly folding of the flag and handing it and the pair of the boots to the wife of the fallen hero, Lady Bianca Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu.

The coordinator of the military aspects of the funeral ceremonies, The Nation learnt is a no-nonsense colonel, who would be reporting directly to the Chief of Army Staff •Continued from Page 23

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

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Awka agog for Ikemba Nwanosike Onu in Awka reports the final preparations for Ojukwu’s burial

S

•Ojukwu's final resting place

•Men at work along Nnobi -Nnewi road preparatory for Ojukwu' arrival

One of the new hotels ready for the burial

(COAS).

Chief Okwuosa, Alternate Chairman for tradition/customary activities of Ojukwu’s burial, who is a chieftain of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and a former Commissioner for Works during the administration of Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju, also said that, ‘’Ikemba connotes different things to different people. He was Dim Umudim. From the traditional parlance, people that bear that title must be buried by night, in a special way. He was Ikemba Nnewi, you cannot talk about his burial without carrying the community along as a major title holder’’. ‘’Ojukwu will not be buried like a commoner but as a titled chief he was.

Businessmen take positions to make fast money Already, all kinds of musicals and books as well as souvenirs concerning Ojukwu have flooded the markets in Anambra and smarter business men and women are designing special back covers and front covers, souvenirs and musicals for special sales on the burial date.

Some merchants have carried the business to Ojukwu’s compound, especially those selling things concerning his books, speeches and in-

signias.

But there is fear on the faces of many petty traders and artisans who have completed plans to make fast money through hawking of sachet water, handkerchiefs, souvenirs and other sharp businesses. This was because of the report that the burial arrangements shows that many who would attend the burial in any of the cities may not bother coming to Nnewi on the day of the final burial.

This fear notwithstanding, our investigation shows that all hotels, including relatively unknown new hotels, within Nnewi and neighbouring communities, are almost fully booked for 2nd to 4th of March as at Friday, one week to the day of the burial. For example, at a new hotel along Nnewi-Okigwe road Twin Towers Hotel Ltd that opened two weeks ago with 30 rooms, 10 of it were booked when this correspondent visited. Its pent house costs N100,000 a night and the cheapest room N10,000 a night with mini swimming pools inside.

Other guests have booked hotels in nearby cities like Awka, Onitsha, Oba as well as Nneni, Okija and Ihiala.

INCE November 26, 2011, when the former Biafran leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, succumbed to the cold hands of death at a London hospital, it has been one event or the other in Anambra State, nay the entire South-East geopolitical zone.

Apart from arrangements going on for his burial in the old East Central State, some people have been struggling to succeed him as the next Igbo leader.

Committees upon committees had been set up at both the national level and states in order to give him befitting funeral rites.

In Anambra State, a local Burial Organising Committee has been set up by the government, which is headed by the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Dubem Obaze.

Others in the committee included the State Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Chief Maja Umeh and the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Peter Obi, Mike Udah, among others.

Already, the committee had organised a procession for the late Ikemba Nnewi in Awka and its environs, which commenced in front of the state Governor’s Lodge at Amawbia and climaxed at Dr. Alex Ekwueme Square in Awka.

It was led by the former President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Dr Dozie Ikedife, who composed a song with Ojukwu’s name in Igbo (Obukwa Ojukwu K’anakwa) meaning (it is Ojukwu we are burying), warning that people should not cause trouble.

He said, he did it because in an event as magnitude as Ojukwu’s burial, anything could happen and warned that evil doers should beware.

According to him, “if anybody has a score to settle anywhere, it should not be at Ojukwu’s funeral, we want peace because it is Ojukwu that is being buried”.

The enlarged burial committee, headed by Senator Uche Chukwumerije, had been around the family house in Nnewi to inspect the quantum of work which had been completed.

The committee observed that Ojukwu’s tomb is ready as well as the statue in front of his house while the surface tarring has equally been completed.

Also, arrangements had also been concluded with the priests in charge of Saint Josephs Catholic Church beside Ojukwu’s compound, where the mass would be conducted for the late hero. The committee has equally provided parking lots as vehicular movements have been prohibited within and inside the family and church premises.

The Nation gathered that Ojukwu’s body will first arrive in Enugu; the capital of the old Eastern Region, from where it will proceed to Amansea, the border between Enugu and Anambra states on March 1st.

Then, the procession would

•Ojukwu

move to Anambra State Government House, after being received by the State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi and prominent Igbo sons and daughters, including Ohaneze Ndigbo.

Ojukwu’s son, Barrister Sylvester Ojukwu, told The Nation that service of songs will be held for the father at Nnewi on 29th February by 9am. Also, there will be procession in major areas in Nnewi community while the body would retire at Saint Michaels Church, with service of songs too.

Before then, according to Sylvester, state funeral would have been held for the former Military Governor of East Central State at Enugu before the body would proceed to Nnewi.

Furthermore, the head of Ojukwu family said that on 2nd March, the funeral Mass proper and interment would follow, while there would be grand reception at St. Michael’s Church on the 3rd of March, where he would receive his in laws.

Again, he announced that the funeral would continue for about four days, while on the 5th March, different masquerades would perform.

Anambra State Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Chief Maja Umeh, told The Nation that the state government of Mr. Peter Obi had been in the forefront of Ojukwu’s burial in making sure that things work out smoothly.

He confirmed that Ojukwu’s body will be received at Amansea while the state government has mounted bill boards of Ojukwu in all the strategic positions of the state.

According to him, “Uniforms have been sown; the polio campaign going on in the state has been dedicated to the late Ikemba Nnewi.

“The state is also going to have

a football competition which will be dedicated to him also after the burial in March. The state is doing a lot in making sure that Ojukwu’s name will be written in gold,” Umeh said.

The chairman of the burial committee in charge of works, Chief Victor Umeh, told The Nation that everything has been put in place to make sure that a befitting burial is accorded the late Igbo leader.

Umeh, who is the National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), said that different dates had been allocated to different political parties to pay their last respect to Ikemba. He added that Ojukwu’s death would spur APGA the more.

The APGA boss said that his political party had chosen 6th March to mourn Ojukwu, adding that APGA being the Chief mourner after Ndigbo, the party will kick start the mourning process of the parties.

However, he said that the only problem that could be encountered on the burial day was crowd control, adding that the Chairman of the Decongestion Unit and Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Commissions (FRSC), Osita Chidoka, will be equal to the task with his officers.

Already, a complete renovation work has taken place at the massive Ojukwu’s compound, while a brand new transformer for power has been mounted inside the compound.

Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, awarded contracts of reconstruction of Nnewi roads, worth about N8Billion and the works are almost completed.

From all indications, all is set for the funeral rites for the late Ezeigbo Gburugburu, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu who died three months ago.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Cover SUCCESSION BATTLE

AOil subsidy Ojukwu trouble and challenge of good governance

FEW days before the March 2, 2012 burial of the late, charismatic leader of the Republic of Biafra, Ikemba Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, his second biological son, Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Jnr., has become embroiled in what I consider an un-winnable, toxic and perennially divisive battle: his hasty and untimely decision to accept and take the title of Ikemba II, from his maternal kinsmen/chieftains in Nawfia, Anambra State. His great and battle-tested father was given the title of Ikemba (the strength of the community/nation) Nnewi, shortly after his return from 13 years exile in Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) in 1982, following a presidential pardon by Shehu Shagari.

First, I believe that this controversial, hasty and untimely chieftaincy award by the Igwe Nawfia Chijioke Nwankwo of the certain and prestigious title of Ikemba II to Emeka Ojukwu Jnr on February 19, 2012 are reflections of unwise local maneuvers, petty tactical gamesmanship and matrimonial political struggles hiding under maternal sentiments and some grandiose Nri claims over Nnewi.

Igwe Nwankwo is the current traditional ruler of Nawfia, the home town of Emeka Jnr’s mother, Njideka, daughter of a previously prominent Nawfia man, Chief C.T Onyekwelu.

Second, it is not surprising that the hurried award of Ikemba II to Emeka Ojukwu Jnr has set off what will be a long-drawn uncivil war of sorts, within the immediate family and among the Ikemba faithful. In short order, the three issues are: the timing of the chieftaincy, the title and the issuing chieftaincy authority for the title.

Pointedly, many Igbo activists and leaders of various interest groups consider the award of the Ikemba II title as derogation to the memory of the brave, late Ojukwu.

Third, for valuable context, on what, in part, it means to be the Ikemba, here are the words of the Ikemba, himself: “For you (the Igbo and Eastern Nigerians), I abandoned all ease and embraced pain. For you, I impoverished myself to buy your protection. For you, I walked every battlefront to assure your welfare. For you I stood when every other person crouched.

For you, I endured 13 years of bitter exile. For you, I endured 10 months

and Ikemba titles

Igwe Nwankwo decorating Ojukwu Jnr.

By Chido Nwangwu of maximum security prison. For you, I embraced priestly poverty. For you, I continue to struggle...What I have said is not harsh, it is only the naked truth and it reflects only the intensity of the love I habour for my people.”

I believe you have to be the Ikemba to be the Ikemba. To be sure, anyone can take any title. But I know that the Igbo nation, the Igbo tradition and almost every culture make no room for inherited warriorhood; you can only earn the title of lion killer!

Fourth, Igwe Nwankwo claims, contrary to the facts and living witnesses, that ‘’the Ikemba title did not come from Nnewi; it came from Nri kingdom and we are restoring it; and, since Ojukwu Jnr’s mother is from here (Nawfia - a part of the Nri kingdom), we have chosen to

honour him (Emeka Ojukwu Jnr) with the title.”

It came from Nnewi; not Nri. I do know that the Ikemba title was given to the People’s General by his Nnewi community as a measure of respect for his bravery and leadership in war and peace. I was, at the time, a very young staff of the Electronic News Gathering (E.N.G) team of the Nigerian Television Channel 6.

Fifth, I think that the imperial arrogations and condescending tone of Igwe Nwankwo over Nnewi, Nnewi’s chieftaincies and authority constitute a risky overreach of tradition, privilege and slap on commonsense. He undercuts Nnewi as a community deserving of their own independent royalty/chieftaincies.

I believe that the ‘ahistorical’ and illogical public square dance

Igbo in Ikorodu celebrate Ojukwu

A

The Igbo community in Ikorodu, Lagos, under the auspices of Igbo General Assembly has mapped out series of programmes to honour and pay their last respect to Dim Chukwumeka OdumegwuOjukwu who died on 27th November, 2011. Speaking to The Nation about the March 2, event which will hold at the Igbogbo Police Playground, Ikorodu, the Secretary of the body, Dr. Simeon Nwagwu said: “On that day, we will first of all pay homage to the Oba of Ikorodu, S.O Oyefusi, the Ayangburen, who has given us the permission to organise the programme.”

According to him, the group will then move in a procession from the palace to the venue where series of programmes will take place. “After •Nwagwu service of songs that will last for one hour, we will proceed with other

By Edozie Udeze events. Right now we have five pastors and priests who will lead us in for justice and loved his people so prayers and songs. For us, it is not immensely. So, what we will do on even a burial, for Ikemba is not dead; that day is to celebrate this icon, this people like him do not die. He stood fearless leader,” he said.

There will also be a public lecture to be handled by different Igbo elites. “Yes, the theme of the lecture is: ‘The life and times of Ojukwu.’

The topics will be varied and will take care of the different aspects of his person, his achievements and roles in the Nigerian society. This will be followed by refreshment because like I said, we are not really mourning; we are celebrating a hero of his people. You know heroes don’t die; they live perpetually in the minds of their people,” Nwagwu said.

The event will be climaxed with variety of cultural dances by different Igbo groups and other invitees.

The event, which will commence by 9 am will last the whole day and it is expected that those concerned with the organisation will be on hand to receive dignitaries so that it will be a smooth event. “Yes, we have the security, welfare and protocol committees, who will man the necessary segments to ensure cohesion and proper organisation,” Nwagwu explained.

by Igwe Nwankwo whereby he stomps, giddily, on the scrotal sacks of Nnewi leaders and royalty is unbecoming of an Igbo king; any king! He continues to kick the Nnewi collective dignity by continuing the untidy argument that he is right to deny the Nnewi people of their basic Igbo canon and privilege of naming titles after their own sons and daughters, in respect of their own town, for example: Ikemba Nnewi, Okosisi Nnewi, Ikenga Nnewi, Oduma Nnewi….

Sixth, without mincing words, Igwe Nwankwo and those who encouraged and gave Emeka Ojukwu Jnr the unwieldy title of ‘Ikemba II’ have failed the Igbo nation, under the present circumstances of the Ikemba’s body still in a land foreign to his ancestors and the Igbo nation.

Recall that it is the same concern millions among the Igbo and millions of other Nigerians felt that Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan should have showed more sensitivity and discretion by telling him, bluntly, he was lacking in discretion to announce his nomination of the late Ikemba’s loving wife Bianca for an ambassadorial position a few days following the death of the Ikemba in London on November 26, 2011; and before burial plans or burial was to occur. I believe Jonathan’s presidency made the announcement on December 2, 2011. To be sure, Bianca deserves many professional appointments; she’s qualified.

Let’s get back to the chieftaincy title palaver, and my seventh point.

If the Ikemba Nnewi title came from Nri kingdom which Nwankwo claims “authorized” the Nnewi people to use the name of their own town Nnewi to come up with “Ikemba Nnewi”, please permit me to say this, in the best possible polite manner, that: I, Chidozie Nwangwu, have been to Nnewi several times, I have been to Nawfia and several parts of the Nri Kingdom, including a memorable 1988 exclusive interview with a

prominent Nri king, the Igwe of Enugwu Ukwu, Osita Agwuna, in his abode (at the direction of the late former President of Nigeria’s Senate, Dr. Chuba Okadigbo); No One ever told me that the resourceful, boisterous and enterprising people and royalty of Nnewi, umu Anaedo, as embodied and led by Igwe Orizu III, are colonial outposts and footstools of any of their neighboring Nri chieftaincies and kingdoms, especially Nawfia.

What do I know? Did I just hear the now humbled and subdued Nnewi colonial citizens of Nri Kingdom grind out their deep, loaded words: ehiemewolu… Sorry, for the land of The Ikemba; the home of Odumegwu…

Eighth, I do know, however, that the triple challenges of tradition, culture and common sense have combined to become a thorny burden on the neck of one of the legendary Ojukwu’s sons, Emeka Ojukwu Jr. Fact is, he remains a young man who is yet to cut his teeth on the frontlines of Igbo struggles, Igbo enterprise, Igbo distinctions and specifically on any of the key defining issues of the younger generation, his generation, my generation.

Hence, the prominent pan-Igbo group which the late Ikemba Ojukwu signally inspired, MASSOB, harshly stated on Tuesday February 21, 2012, that “Ojukwu Jnr took the traditional title of Ikemba II with utmost disregard and disrespect to Igbo tradition and culture. The Ikemba II title conferred on Ojukwu Jnr by Igwe Chijioke Nwankwo (of Nawfia) is unacceptable to MASSOB and Ndigbo in general….

The Ikemba Nnewi title bestowed on the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was a mark of respect and honour to him by the Igwe Nnewi. It was a result of his outstanding and eloquent performances. Igbo leadership is not hereditary. Even if it is, Ojukwu Jnr is not the first son.”

As a communications specialist, I know the chieftaincy title awarders/givers in Nawfia/Nri cannot un-ring the bell.

Unfortunately, their actions and its consequences will remain an embarrassing disservice to the courageous Odumegwu Ojukwu heritage, to the Nri Kingdom, Igbo tradition and a bigger blight on the Nawfia chieftaincy institution. I’m personally concerned - especially for the fact that Ikemba Odumegwu Ojukwu whom I interviewed 3 times (in his Villaska Lodge residence and here in Houston) is one of my eternal heroes. He lived a life of definable consequence and rose to history’s challenge; no matter his failings. I spoke to the transgenerational meaning and legacy of Odumegwu Ojukwu at the memorial in his honor on February 2, 2012— at the invitation of the Igbo community in Dallas, Texas.

He deserves more respect than the searing shenanigan and games being played by the awarders of the Ikemba II title.

Equally risky, is what I consider an untimely, needless, personal burden and, without a doubt, an increasingly explosive situation for young Emeka Ojukwu Jnr (whom I chatted with about his late father in December 2011). If he does not properly handle and defuse this hot issue, this Ikemba II title tangle and bungle will follow him like his shadow. If sorted well, he could gain less trouble; otherwise, it seems more like a title that will only yield heavy, episodic rain of arrows and thunder.

•Dr. Chido Nwangwu is publisher of USAfrica multimedia networks

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

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SUCCESSION BATTLE

Ojukwu Jnr.

I am qualified to be Ikemba II - Ojukwu Jnr Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Jnr., the second son of the late Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu, in this exclusive interview with our correspondent, Odogwu Emeka Odogwu in Nnewi, bares his mind on the preparations for his father’s burial, the controversy over his new title as Ikemba II, and likely successors of the late Igbo leader. Excerpts

Y

OU were recently crowned Ikemba Ndi Igbo 11, but MASSOB said you do not merit it? How would you react to that?

Everybody is entitled to his opinion. The people that gave me the title know that I merited it and that is why they gave it to me and I accepted it. I don’t need to reject it. However, it was Igwe Nawfia that gave it to me, and as you know, my mother is from Nawfia. So, it is acceptable and expected that Nawfia would give me a title when they feel I have a reason to be given that.

Some people have asked about Nnewi. I am from Nnewi and any day Nnewi elders feel like honouring me, I will also accept that. There is nothing wrong in that. The spokesperson of MASSOB that made the comment is entitled to his opinion. I also heard that MASSOB said they will cancel it – of course you know that they are not in the position to cancel it, they are not even in the position to seize it or take it away.

Our royal fathers we entrust

them (unless we are no longer Igbo) with certain responsibilities and if they believe Nnofia is the second after Nri community. I was also given Offor Nri (Nri staff of power) and that means that they have trust in me.

And they have a lot of hope in what I have been able to do and that is what it means to me. If you can recall, when my father got the title of Ezeigbo gburugburu, upon everything he has done, to Ndi Igbo and Nigeria, there were still a lot of people that raised objection to that. So, it is nothing. I am what I am and I have been given the title that I deserve.

So what you are saying is that MASSOB has no power to cancel that title given to you?

I don’t need to tell you that or are you not an Igbo person?

But apart from the MASSOB, elders also raised objection. They said you should first go and marry before you will be conferred with such a title.

I am married.

They said you are not married Is it them that will tell me whether I am married or not? It is me that will tell you whether I am married or not. So, I am married though it is my private life. But certainly it was a public occa-

“Some people have asked about Nnewi. I am from Nnewi and any day Nnewi elders feel like honouring me, I will also accept that. There is nothing wrong in that. The spokesperson of MASSOB that made the comment is entitled to his opinion. I also heard that MASSOB said they will cancel it – of course you know that they are not in the position to cancel it, they are not even in the position to seize it or take it away.”

sion. My father was there and many people where there in Enugu many years ago.

We are surprised that these people have not finished this mausoleum. Are they going to finish it as scheduled?

They will finish it before the burial. What remains in the work is tiling and the frontage. Why they have not finished it is because of the spring glass window we want to put there. So, we are expecting it to come. Once it comes, they will finish it. So, we expect that place to be ready by Saturday.

Are you satisfied with the mantle of MASSOB guard of honour at the gate and the likely clash between the police and MASSOB on that day?

Nobody will be satisfied with any clash at least no peace loving person will be satisfied with that. I don’t anticipate any clash.

What we are doing is that we are mourning our fallen hero. We are celebrating his life and we are all his children. MASSOB has the right to celebrate his life, Nigeria has the right in fact, Ndigbo, everybody has the right to celebrate his life and we are going to do that in a peaceful manner. Anybody, be it MASSOB, police or soldier that is going the way of violence or disturbance purely doesn’t have respect for the man we are trying to honour. So, I don’t see any situation where there would be a clash. And by the way, it is not every time that MASSOB and military or police meet that they clash. I don’t know why people anticipate this.

Is not that it could not happen but we don’t pray for that and we are working against it. I think that the leadership of these groups understand what is at stake and give appropriate warning and everybody will behave in appropriate manner. I believe that is what will happen.

Did Mr. President assure you that he will come for the burial?

Yes, he had assured us that he will come. The details of what we discussed with him will not be disclosed, but I know he will be here by what he told us.

Whether here in Nnewi or Enugu or anywhere that he chooses to come, that is up to him and his people to decide not us, but he will surely honour my father.

It is said that about 551 mourning clothes (Ashabis) are already set for the burial of your father. Is it true?

I haven’t heard of that number, I must tell you. But it should be a large number because everybody I know who can, have done that and there may be many who wish to, that may not be able to.

So, I don’t know the number but there will be different uniforms. I only know of APGA, Anambra State Government, Imo State Government, some other states and individuals, my father’s wife and her friends and so on.

We learnt the cost of the Mausoleum is N2billion I don’t know how much it is. I don’t involve in the monetary aspect of these things although I supervise things as they happen. I am here to make sure things are going on well. But the exact cost of things, I don’t know and it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to deal with money in this type of thing. However, I am sure it is not N2billion.

But the total cost of the burial, is it up to N50 billion as people are speculating?

That I don’t know. There are many expenses that are being carried by some people. These are

events that are happening all over United States, England and other African countries. So, if you add that up, individual, government and family expenses, it will certainly be a heavy amount of money that is being spent but N50billion sounds totally ridiculous and I don’t think my father will like that wherever he is. He is a man of the people. I think he will rather take the N50billion to help somebody. So, that figure is totally outlandish.

Your father’s remains will soon be interred but his legacies will live forever. But as a member of the family and people that will take over from him, what do you envisage immediately after his burial?

You are asking me who I think will step into his shoes.

There are many people who have done well for Ndi Igbo. We have people in government, prominent people in their different capacities and certainly there are people who have that ambition. I have not seen any person that has emerged as a courageous leader, who is going to take over from him. But I think I know one or two of them who certainly are pushing forward in terms of the activities, in terms of Igbo cause and Nigerian cause.

Like who and who?

We have people in the government like Anyim Pius Anyim, Mr. Peter Obi, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, Ralph Uwazurike, Uche Chukwumerije and I think I am forgetting somebody but forgive me. So, we have people who have the capacity if they wish to. My uncle ABC Nwosu, former minister has the capacity if he wishes to.

Definitely, there is a vacuum and there is a need for somebody to step up. But if you look at my father’s life, you will know that is exactly what he teaches.

When it is time for people to step up, step up. In his own time, he could have hidden or ran away, his father was very wealthy, he was very comfortable.

But because he stands against injustice, he made those sacrifices and stood up to be counted. So, we hope for such people to emerge again. It could come from anywhere.

Do you have anything like monument in his honour?

Yes, I know there are some things going on in Imo State. I have not had a chance to go there.

I know that there are plans by Anambra State and the family is also planning to set up some kind of memorial. A lasting tribute to his life but that will come later.

Right now, we want to focus our attention on giving him a befitting funeral.

Why can’t you step into his shoes as Ikemba II? Nothing stops me but I have no desire for doing so. The expectation is great being his son. The expectation is also great when I am given such a title. It’s either because you have achieved much or because they see in you the potential to achieve much and they say to you, take it and go with it.

So, that is how I see it. My job is to try to live up to the expectation.

Suppose father’s burial somebody comes up to say he is incharge of his dynasty. What will happen?

We shall cross the bridge when we get there. I am my father’s son. The blood runs through my veins. When such a thing comes, I will know what to do.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Cover

SUCCESSION BATTLE In death, Ojukwu still unites Ndigbo

‘We shouldn’t be in a hurry to replace Ezeigbo Gburugburu’

The Anglican Bishop of Amichi Diocese, Right Reverend Ephraim O. Ikeakor (JP) spoke to Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, in Nnewi on the intending burial of the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. Excerpts

I

S it right for Chief Ralph Uwazurike to take over from Ojukwu as Ezendigbo Gburugburu?

Ojukwu is the hero of Igbo race and Ezeigbo Gburugburu is a very serious position that nobody should toy with. We can’t be in a haste to look for Ojukwu’s replacement as Ezeigbo Gburugburu.

You know nobody even chose Ojukwu, it was his activities that placed him in that position. So, if anybody is coming out now to say he is crowning somebody Ezendigbo or Ezeigbo Gburugburu, that person is making a great mistake.

Ojukwu was never crowned by anybody but his actions spoke for him. He has started defending the Igbo race far long before it was formalised. His activities made every Igbo man to believe in him and to accept Ezendigbo Gburugburu as his correct title. A situation where one is given a name or a title and nobody accepts to call him or her that, is that justified?

So, we should not be in a hurry to name a successor to Ojukwu because these people you are naming, I don’t know what they have done for Igbo land.

I don’t even know their sacrifices to Ndigbo that would merit that position. That they joined a particular group because they believe in this or that does not make them to become Igbo leader. Do you know what it means to be Eze Igbo Gburu gburu?

You must have convinced every Igbo man of your achievement, your commitment, your sacrifice and denial of your rights. You know that Ojukwu would have relaxed if he wanted and government would be pumping in money for him and he would betray the

•Reverend Ikeakor

Igbo race like so many others did.

But Ojukwu sacrificed his comfort, his rights, his conveniences to see that his people are not marginalised; his people are not treated as subordinates or subjugated in their own country. So, it is hasty for us to start crowning somebody Igbo leader even when Ojukwu has not been buried. Let that person prove it as Ojukwu did and all of us will follow him as our leader.

Any regrets over the death of Ojukwu?

There is nothing like regrets because even while alive he never regretted any of his actions. It should be what we will miss by his death. We, as Ndigbo, will miss a true Igbo patriot and we have lost in Ojukwu a man of unflinching conviction. Nothing moves his conviction. Ojukwu is a man of determined resilience.

These are the three words I will

use to summarize Ojukwu for you.

Ojukwu is a great man of valour.

Do you think that the national burial for Ojukwu is enough?

The national burial is just casual. Ojukwu should be nationally and state wise immortalized. They should look for universities, major institutions and major streets in all parts of this country and name it after Odumegwu Ojukwu.

They should go to Abuja and look for a major street and name it Odumegwu Ojukwu street, avenue or road. They should go to each state of the federation and look for an institution and name it after Ojukwu.

That man is just our all because he sacrificed his all for this country. So, national burial is just a casual thing-one day thing and it’s over but we need something that Ojukwu would be remembered for.

We need monuments in his honour. That is a challenge, especially for the South-East leaders and governors because the other parts of the country may not see it this way we are seeing it. The state governors , political appointees and members of the National Assembly of Igbo race should think in that direction.

Do you think the late Ikemba Nnewi represented Ndigbo well before his demise?

Yes and without fear of contradiction, I don’t want to know what anybody thinks. My answer is a very solid yes. That man is an Igbo man to the core.

That man is a true son of Igbo land. That man really made us to know that an Igbo man is somebody who is very resilient in whatever he believes in.

He is very firm to the blood. So, I hail that man he represented us very well. We are proud of his antecedents.

Ikemba: Buried with ‘The Book’?

As the Ikemba Nnewi is to be buried next week, Olayinka Oyegbile, asks when is the much talked about book on the country’s civil war going to be published?

I

T is a widely acknowledged fact that in Africa when an old or wise man dies, a deep reservoir of knowledge or the equivalent of a well stocked library has been consumed by an inferno! Such a tragedy becomes monumental and irreplaceable because a wide and deep trough of wisdom is lost.

The above sums up the feelings that have gripped the world since the death of Dim Emeka OdumegwuOjukwu, the Ikemba Nnewi. There is no doubt that his death has robbed Nigerians and the world in general, the opportunity of reading his memoir about the Nigeria Civil War which lasted three years (1967-70). The late Ikemba had several times in numerous newspapers interviews promised that he was going to write “The Book”, his own exact words.

Many people around the world have been looking up to the day when the book would be published. It promised to be a well loaded book that would have thrown light into many dark areas of that grim period in the annals of our nation’s history. How-

ever, the Ikemba delayed too much to give the world his own side of the story. So far many of the side participants, including those who operated from the remotest periphery, have written their own memoirs. However, the two principal actors- the late Ojukwu and the then Head of State, Gen Yakubu Gowon- have not done this. Why? Could it be that they were not keeping diaries or notes of the events?

Or are they feeling that to write would whip up sentiments and bad memories for many?

Now that the Ikemba is gone, the only person still alive to tell us his own side is the elder statesman Gowon. Will he oblige the nation this duty?

One is not aware if the Ikemba had written his own and was just waiting for the time to make it public. However, in most of the interviews he granted while alive he had always said the “The Book” was on the way. Can the family please go into the archives and let us know whether this has been done? In 1989 when he wrote Because

•Ojukwu I am involved Nigeria went agog thinking it was the long awaited book only to discover that it was a mere collection of essays which hardly touched on the civil war.

The death of Ikemba is the death of history; a large portion of that historic period of the country is dead with his demise. So, whence comes “The Book”?

As committees and groups work together in unity to ensure a befitting burial for Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Sam Egburonu, reports on the journey for Igbo unity and asks if the current spirit of oneness so elaborately exhibited at the burial ceremony preparations would be sustained after the burial?

I

T began in the early hours of Monday, December 12, 2011, in Awka, the Anambra State capital, 16 days after Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu’s death in a London hospital.

It was the traditional ‘Icho madu‘ rite, the search ceremony for the departed Igbo hero.

Reports across Igbo communities and other areas inhabited by Ndigbo in Nigeria and abroad, confirmed that as the Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, led mourners in Awka to comb all the nooks and crannies of the state capital in search of Dim Ojukwu, other state governors in the five states of the South-East and South-South also kick started arrangements to ensure a befitting burial for the late Eze Igbo Gburugburu, who died on November 26, 2011.

Ndigbo resident in other states of the federation and in the Diaspora did not also wait to be mere guests or spectators. They all come up with their different plans on how to honour their fallen hero. Thus, when the national committee for the burial of Ojukwu was inaugurated, their tasks centred primarily on how to harmonise the various programmes into a single national arrangement.

More than any other personality in recent history, Ojukwu has served as the single most significant symbol of Igbo unity since 1966 when mantle of leadership of Ndigbo first fell on his lapse. The genuine and selfless leadership he provided the people during the civil war years endeared him all through the rest of his life.

The fear, since then, has been that after him, it may be difficult for Ndigbo to see in any other individual this unifying aura.

That was the major concern that informed the utterances of many speakers during the 78th birthday celebration of Ojukwu on Friday November 5, 2011 at his Casa Bianca Mansion, GRA, Enugu. Incidentally, that birthday celebration, which held in his absence, 21 days before he breathed his last, was the last in his very historic life.

That event, like anything that has to do with Ojukwu, witnessed the coming together of Igbo elites across political and state boundaries. Even political rivals and chieftains of opposing political parties from different states forgot their differences to discuss the modalities of achieving the dream united Igbo nation as Ojukwu would want it.

Considering the deteriorating state of Ojukwu’s health at that time, the leaders feared that if he joins the ancestors, Ndigbo’s unity may be seriously threatened.

Governor, Chief Rochas Okorocha of Imo State captured this fear when he said: “Our problem is ourselves and no one is holding us but we are holding ourselves. Let’s embrace each other. Let’s work in unity… If there is marginalization in Igboland, indeed, it is the Igbos who have marginalised themselves... My appeal to the Igbos today is that we should use this Ojukwu’s birthday to make a re-think. What are we really looking for? What are we really looking for that we cannot unite?”

“The day the Igbo nation comes together...the Ekwuemes, the Iwuanyanwus, the Arthur Nzeribes...all our leaders, the governors, all coming together, eating on the table of brotherhood; I tell you,

•Obi

nations will bow before the Igbo nation. Our problem is ourselves and no one is holding us but we are holding ourselves.”

“No matter the party in which we find ourselves, no matter the association we find ourselves, let every Igbo man first of all be an Igbo man before joining any political party.

Political party must never divide us because at times in life, the Igbos say when the corpse begins to smell, the friend greater than a brother will certainly take his leave. That’s why I enjoin all Igbo men here to imbibe the spirit of Igboness. Even if you belong to any political party, don’t lose your Igboness in case of eventuality of life.”

Given this fear, insiders close to the burial committees told The Nation that it is therefore a promising development that now that the Ezeigbo Gburugburu is dead, and preparations for his burial is at the final stages, Ndigbo leaders are working in perfect unity irrespective of their differences.

Leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazurike, for example, said, “There are so many challenges Ojukwu’s death will throw up. The number one is unity and in this unity, I know certainly that there is nothing like discipline in Igboland but now there will be discipline, so that this his death will unite all Ndigbo. The death of Ezigbo should be the basis for the unity of Ndigbo,” Uwazurike said.

Sir Victor Umeh, National Chairman of APGA extended the vision when he said of the current spirit of oneness, “For our people, the Igbos, this is a time for action. They must be united in his death. All of them are claiming his corpse today; they must come back to follow his footsteps. The Igbos must be united at this point in time that he has passed on. Those who accepted him but were far from him should come very close to his message.

They must come very close to his ideals for the good of our people,” Umeh said, adding pointedly, “So our prayer is that God should unite the Igbo people now because individually, we cannot do anything because when Ojukwu was alive, it was difficult for us to unite even with his presence.”

Already, brewing rivalries and petty struggles to step into his big shoes are disturbing signals that suggest that except something is done, his exit may make it even more difficult for Ndigbo to fully unite and work for their common good.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

‘A woman can be conservative, yet stylish’ –PAGE 41

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Glamour

•Stay warm and stylish all through the cold weather

Kehinde Falode Tel: 08023689894 (sms)

E-mail: kehinde.falode@thenationonlineng.net •Adorable crochet cap •Adorable crochet cap

•Kenneth Cole women's double breasted pea coat

Rainy season update

•Seyi Alewi

D

ESPITE the fact many girls think there is no place for fashion during rainy season as we have to put as many layers as possible to keep warm, we say there is a way to stay in style during these months. And the easiest thing to do is to choose the right accessories. Since rainy season is the coldest period of the year in Nigeria, it’s only natural that most women and men will need to bundle up to keep warm when they go out. A great hat, scarf (neck warmer) can update your look in no time; make it classier and more stylish.

So, what are you waiting for? Update your rain look with classic hat, scarf or jacket.

•Single breast

•Another great choice

•Knot a neck scarf

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Glamour

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•A model wearing human hair lace wigs •Fine green weave cotton scarf

•Encendida neck warmer scarf

r o f g n i Car g i w r u yo D

•Prada

•Jacket that you will love to wear

•Iretiola Doyle

•Sophisticated and elegant Black Pea Coats for Women

•Long pants

ON’T throw away your lace wig or human hair wig! If it has matted or is beginning to matte, but washing instructions will vary, depending on if your wig is human hair or synthetic.

Most wigs are made of synthetic hair, allowing for the easiest washing and styling.

Determine if your wig is synthetic or human hair and follow the appropriate care instructions below.

Synthetic wigs Gently brush the wig thoroughly with a wig brush.

Add one tablespoon of wig shampoo to a bowl or sink filled with cold water.

Immerse wig for one minute and work up gently. Do not rub.

Rinse the wig gently in cold clear water twice or until thoroughly rinsed.

Blot the wig gently with a towel.

Do not squeeze or wring.

Apply conditioning spray very lightly over wig, spraying 10-12 inches from the wig.

Allow the wig to air dry on a slender object like a can of hairspray or a shampoo bottle covered with a hand towel.

Do not use a hair dryer, aAir dry only. You may gently style the wig with your fingertips.

Brush wig only when completely dry. Do not allow the wig to dry in direct sunlight.

Human hair wigs To achieve a natural appearance and unique colour variations, all human hair wigs are chemically processed. To give your wig the longest life, it is very important to use sulfate-free hair care products that are specifically made for chemically processed hair.

To wash your human hair wig, follow these steps: Detangle the wig using a wig brush or comb. Start at the ends and work upwards to the base of the cap.

Rinse the wig in cold water, with

the water flowing in the same direction of the hair to avoid tangling. Do not soak your human hair wig in a bowl or sink. This will cause the hair to tangle and mat together.

Using your fingertips and phosphate free shampoo specifically for human hair wigs, distribute the shampoo evenly throughout the hair.

Rinse with cold water to remove shampoo. Rinse so that the water is flowing in the same direction as the hair.

Remove excess water by gently patting with a towel. Do not wring or squeeze.

Condition the wig with wig conditioner, using your fingertips to distribute the conditioner evenly throughout the hair.

Remove the conditioner by rinsing with cold water. To remove excess water, pat gently with a soft towel. Do not squeeze or wring.

Allow the wig to air dry on a folding wig stand or a tall can of hairspray.

•Halima Abubakar

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Glamour •Leather blazer

•Dolce Gabbana black textured blazer

•Dolce Gabbana black velvet winter blazer

•OC Ukeji •Dolce Gabbana maroon velvet blazer

•Trendy Boyfriend Jacket

•Tejumola Oyelakin

•Desmond Eliot

•Basketmouth

Guys, make that fashion statement with a jacket

A

MONG fashionable men, blazers, one button jacket or bottomless jacket are receiving the most attention now.

Smartly sown blazer jacket of any colour and design is now worn on jeans trousers and mostly without ties, although they could also be worn with ties. And the reason may be because they are suitable for both formal and informal outings. It is perfect for today’s men who do not always want to dress up for all formal outings. Dressing casually cool, especially with any of these blazers, is one

way to keep you from looking slapdash.

Indeed men jacket, in terms of combination, designs, material and usage have undergone a revolution. Blazers and suits without ties create a distinctly up to date taste.

They are particularly great choice to match with jeans.

Stylish and smartly combined jacket gives the wearer a classy look that no other fashion is ever able to give. So it is no surprise that men, especially the fashionistas and career types, are spending fortunes to get classy jacket. They are trendy and eye catching!

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Glamour

On the 29th of January 2012 at the Agip Hall, Muson Centre, “Women with Destiny” from all works of life gathered together for a time of transformation in God's presence.

The event was an inspirational evening organized by Architect Jumoke Adenowo's Awesome Treasures Foundation with entrepreneurial women on a mission and organized in partnership with LanreDa Silva Ajayi, AD Consulting, Voice of Change, Ty Bello, Omar Gardens, Leap Africa, Zappahire Events, Today's Woman and House of Tara. Kehinde Falode brings you the red carpet glamour.

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8

9

2 7

1

6

5 4

Funke Olumi's simple, classic and elegant 1 choice is elegantly effortless. Kudos!

We are not sure this ensemble has the 2 desired effect on Stella Isichei. Oops!

Tewa Onasanya makes a pretty picture in this 3 tweed number and black pumps. Kudos!

3

The Duchess of the Adenuga family Oyin picks a simple but stylish Ankara piece for this public appearance, 4 and the weave hair gives her look a youthful frame. Kudos!

Sola looks at ease in this shirt dress. Kudos!

5

Though I don’t quite get her comb, Amaka .O. sparkles in this little Ankara garb. 6 Uloma Iro positively shines in this deep pink gown. Kudo! 7 Trading in her usual short attire, Ono Bello, high almost-empire line waist gives the look a Cinderella edge. 8 Arch. Jumoke Adenowo oozes red carpet glamour by choosing this lemon and purple gown. Kudos! 9

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Glamour

34

Go for new look with timeless fashion accessories C

LASS and style are the to party, there are different sizes designed, urbane and sexy shoes with words that describes solid heel will always have and shapes, dominating each the dazzling range their place. You can’t just season. Handbags come of fashion accessories afford one in your shoes in a great variety of •Ethnic beads that we have today. And rack. styles and keeping in tune with the designs. Your Jeggings- This changing styles and fads collection should season’s fad of has been the essential comprise of clutch choice is the footless features. Below are some purse, oversized leggings/tight timeless fashion items that handbags and wears. Not only ladies must have in the daytime handbag have they shone wardrobe to be able to combine and up all over the run Shoes- no other set mix successfully. way, they have of shoes have Scarf-get them in bulk and in also become captured the different colours, patterns and favourite of imaginatio designs; each hue, design n of and style speaks fas volumes of the restorative and irresistible universe of fashion and poise.

They are the fashion •Big handbag staple for every woman.

Necklaces-ethnic beads designed mixed h i o n b u f f s with gold or silver this season jewerly are the as peep toe elaborate designs s h o e s , that are much in s t i l e t t o s demand for their s h o e s , engrossing styles. w e d g e E a r r i n g s - shoes, flat •Nkiru Anumudu chandeliers, hoop, shoes and s a n d a l s , round earrings.

Bags-handbags s t r a p change by minutes. From casual, dinner sandals.

W e l l -

the young and leading fashionistas.

Jeggings and leggings can be paired with a mini-skirt and this is the in-thing among the fashionista’s.

Leggings enable skin-shy women to wear skirts of all lengths.

Jeggings and leggings have become a woman’s favourite style these daysa style that died in 802 s and was thought could never to return; well

•Tiny belt

•Chioma Okoye

•Bold and tiny belt The newest trend in scarves is the cowboy, square style scarf. It is popular among the hipsters and fashionistas.

Neck scarves have always being a big hit.

Scarf is a classic accessory to own in 2012.

They are available in trendy fabrics and patterns.

•Christian Loubutin banana peep toes pumps

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Entertainment

For Tsema Kayoh, the journey to stardom started as way back as age 10 while performing at concerts in different churches. Now with an album and an acting career in full swing, the Echoes star relives her journey to music. Fragrance, as her stage alias goes, speaks to OVWE MEDEME on the challenges and the whatnots of being in the spotlight as well as her forthcoming album.

Entertainment

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

H

OW easy was breaking into the music industry for you?

Well, I will say it was just the right time for me to go professional, I went to a church back in Warri, Delta State to perform and someone walked up to me after telling me how great I was on stage with the solos he gave me a number to call. I did and after sometime I was asked to come for an audition in Lagos. I came down to Lagos, I didn't even get to the end of Maria Carey’s 'Through the rain' song I performed before I got signed on by a Record label and the rest is history.

Are you still signed on to the label?

I left the label after two years because I found out they were exploiting me. They made a lot of promises and no one was kept.

I ended up doing most of the things myself so I had to leave them. I am independent for now until I get a good offer At what point in your life did you decide to take on music as a career?

I've been singing since I was very little. I was at my church adult choir when I was 10years old actually taking most of the solos in my church back then in Warri Delta State, playing in concerts and different churches.

In 2006, I decided to take the bold step and relocate to Lagos to do it professionally because I know I have what it takes and I get to confirm it from family friends and fans how great a singer I am especially my mum. She would always tell me 'you are not going to stop this singing here. The world will have to hear you.' Then she called it disturbance because I was always singing.

So I relocated to Lagos and the rest is history Since then, how has it been?

Is been fun all the way. I've just some little challenges here and there but it made me stronger and understand the industry more. So I call them stepping stones; singing is what I enjoy doing so it has been good Is there any particular incident that made you decide to venture into music?

Not really, I love to sing and as I've said before I've been doing it in front of people since I was 10yrs old. I just know it's what I want to do and I watched and listened to a lot of Celine Dion and Maria Carey. When I watched them do their thing either on stage or their videos I would be like 'I can do this' so when the opportunity surfaced I made good use of it.

How would you describe your style of music?

I won't really box my kind of music. If the song is good, I go for it. In my new album Now and Forever, I showed some versatility because I featured a whole lot of artistes and I tried to make them comfortable when we sing together. I catch up really fast so I tend to actually try to copy them.

An example is the song I did with Rhymzo titled Raindrops. When it comes out, it will sound so good that you will say I think this is your style Fragrance What does the name Fragrance connote?

Fragrance is a lovely name and of course if it got you asking then the idea is working.

When I came into the industry 2006 I sat down with my crew and thought about what I would want to sell to the people and Love was the first thing that came to mind but because Love is never enough, love for your spouse, your kids, your family, brothers

The kind of man I want —Fragrance and sisters, friends and neighbours and above all Love for God, so the name Fragrance was suggested by one of us. He said that love spreads like a wide fire, like a perfume when its opened, I am going to be the Fragrance of Love. That is how Fragrance came about, just like a joke but personally I think is a beautiful name In an industry where competition is rife, who are your role models?

I love Celine Dion for her vocal strength and the fact that she sings about Love. You just want to be in love when you hear her sing. There is no Celine Dion album I didn't have back then. I also admire Maria Carey.

She sings like an angel. I just love her.

Beyonce is beautiful, she can sing, she can dance and to me, I love her dress sense. I also love the fact that she's supporting the womenfolk. She's a strong woman and she works really hard and I must confess a whole lot of us women look up to her in the Entertainment industry. She calls herself D'Diva and she truly is a Diva How many albums do you have to your credit?

I have two albums, So Lovely and Now and Forever but the Now and Forever album is not out officially. So Lovely was launched into the market in 2007 with hot singles like Lover and Friend, Free, Shake Shake etc which gave me a lot of mileage and nominations and topped charts. The second album hopefully will be launched into the market officially in the first half of this year. So watch out for it.

At some point you also ventured into acting. How is that coming up?

I am now a full blown actress. I started with the series Echoes and it seems like fun so when I got other offers I couldn't just say No because it seems like it is what I've always wanted to do but because singing and acting just go along. I ended up doing most of the sound tracks so it has been fun.

What is the album Now and Forever like?

The project I'm working on at the moment

is my sophomore album. It is a 17 tracker album. I decided to make 17 songs so my fans will know I am capable of doing other style of music instead of boxing me in just R&B. When I brought out my very first single Lover and Friend in 2007, they loved it so they want it to be just that one style. It is not that I won't have those kinds of songs in this album but this time around, there are other blends so they know how versatile I can be.

I worked with a lot of producers so it will come out with the different feel like I wanted so I went for producers like Puffy T, Rhymzo, Charles Duke, Tonyross and Bjay and I featured artistes like 2face Idibia, Rhymzo, LKT, Brace, Adol, The African Kings, Longjohns, J13 and a host of others. I will be launching it pretty soon In an industry where the females are now beginning to make a statement, how do you hope to stand out?

I don't see any competition yet my dear.

Everyone is unique and special in their own way. When your time is here your name will be heard Have you ever been a victim of male dominance in the industry?

Not at all, not saying I'm a saint I've just been careful Is it true that you are from a polygamous home?

Yea, I'm from a polygamous home. My dad is an Itsekiri man from Warri in Delta

State a proper African Man. Growing up was fun. I had my Mum and siblings. Even though we were not very rich we were ok because we had each other and one Love kept us together till date even though both my parents have passed on In that case, are you saying you would tolerate a polygamous husband?

No! I won't. The experience is not a good one, there is nothing like having your Mother and Father living happily together under the same roof as one big family.

What stands Fragrance out from the others?

One word: Fragrance is unique.

They say Warri is tough. Has growing up there rubbed off on you in any way?

I really don't understand why they kept saying that the place is aggressive yet most of our Nigerian stars today are from Warri.

The likes of Dede Mabiaku, Omawumi and a whole lot of them are all from Warri so I beg to disagree with that statement. I was born and bred there and I think being aggression depends on individuals. It is not right using it to describe a whole town.

What has being an entertainer changed in you?

I will call it growth. Over the years I have learnt a lot: the struggle, sweat, pain, joy, fun... It has made me who I am today. I am better and much stronger now Have you got a man in your life?

I no be woman? But seriously that's not number one on my list at the moment. I have a goal and I am trying to concentrate but if Mr. Right comes along the way then so be it. The knot can only be tied when Mr. Right comes along What qualities would you love your man to have?

Loving heart!

Could you recount your most embarrassing experience with a fan?

It was at a show I went to perform in Port Harcourt alongside Junior Reed. After my performance, I stepped down from the stage and a girl just walked up to me and kissed me. I was in shock for about five minutes because I wasn't expecting that, at least not from a girl.

From your photographs, you look very light. Is that your natural complexion?

Yes, it is my natural colour, I got it from my mum whose father is Scottish, so I am more of a quarter-cast.

As one on the path of success and fame, are you looking at giving back to your community?

Of course, the only reason God blesses you is that you can be a blessing to others.

So really you need not talk about what you will do or what not, when the time is right it will be done, by the Grace of God.

There is no Celine Dion album I didn't have back then. I also admire Maria Carey. She sings like an angel. I just love her. Beyonce is beautiful, she can sing, she can dance and to me, I love her dress sense

•Patti Austin

Cape Jazz Festival unveils 2012 acts

•Patti Austin

J

37

AZZ enthusiasts no longer have to hold their breath with the final announcement of artists for the 2012 Cape Town International Jazz Festival scheduled for March 13.

The Jazz Festival is another exciting outing meant to titillate South African audiences and lovers of Jazz all over the world who make out time to be part of the annual jamboree.

Organizers of the festival have announced at Katzy's in Rosebank, Johannesburg, the various stars who will be performing at the popular Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), with the headliners reflecting the festival's philosophy of broadening audience's perspectives of the jazz genre.

"If it's music, sweet music, lets it play," is the philosophy of Jamaican-hailing reggae band Third World - one of the headliner acts aimed at bridging these divides.

Originally formed in 1973 in Kingston, Third World has over its three-decade spanning career interwoven subtleties of funk, soul, R&B and rock into reggae music, releasing 23 albums in total.

Brooklyn based multiinstrumentalist and producer, Marcus Miller is another major artist who headlines the festival. While Millers' main instrument is bass, his prolific work started in the late 70s. He has worked as an arranger, songwriter, film score composer, keyboardist, clarinetist and saxophonist.

Harlem born songwriter and vocalist Patti Austin and her trio will tour her Grammy award-winning jazz program

•Kevin Mahogany

which includes hits ranging from Ella Fitzgerald to Avant Gershwin. Austin has a legacy of 16 solo albums which cross musical boundaries. Her road to success was paved early as she made her debut at the Apollo Theatre in 1954 at the age of four and had a contract with RCA Records when she was five.

There is also Kansas Cityborn vocalist Kevin Mahogany. New Yorker Magazine has labeled him "The Standout jazz vocalist of his generation". Starting off his career as an instrumentalist, Mahogany has focused his career on being a jazz vocalist in the style of Other international performers at the festival include Chinese minimalist solo pianist Xia Jia and French bossa nova meets nuwave act Nouvelle Vague.

Joining them is Allen Stone, a storytelling guitarist and singer from Washington who could be described as a funky white boy with soul. Angolan afro-funk singer and composer Gabriel Tchiema completes the line-up of international acts.

One of the most exciting elements to the festival is the annual free Community Concert which brings thousands together in the centre of Cape Town on Green Market Square. This year the concert will take place on March 28th, the Wednesday preceding the festival. The line-up is usually a teaser of some of the local and international acts that will feature at the festival.

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Entertainment

Though he has a firm passion for drama and film, Pax Osaro holds a Masters in Software Engineering from Manchester University, England. With an acting career that started at the National Theatre Lagos, in its glorious days at the age of nine, the Producer of the flick Turning Point speaks with OVWE MEDEME on the business angle of the Nigerian movie industry.

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HAT is the story behind the movie, Turning Point?

Turning Point centres around a Nigerian investment banker who bows to family pressure to abandon his American sweetheart for an arranged wife from back home. His life is turned upside-down when the marriage turns out not too rosy, setting off a chain of events that forces him to confront his reckless past. This well-written intriguing plot sets the tone for a provocative thoughtful conversation, and the quality mix of Hollywood and Nollywood stars sets the tone for a quality film experience.

What is the unique selling proposition of Turning Point?

My dream is that our film serves as a turning point in the industry. We wanted to show that you can make quality films if we are humble enough and committed to doing just that. Our Hollywood partners were even comparing the quality to other foreign independent films and were amazed. It is just a quality film, a turning point, in title and in deed.

How did you succeed in putting together a multicultural cast?

That wasn't easy but I think the best part of it was our Hollywood and Nollywood cast trusted us and our vision. As you would expect, our Hollywood cast and crew were more professional but didn't act superior. They were just excited to work with their African brothers. We also worked hard on preparing our Nollywood cast for a fresh professional attitude and they delivered in a big way. We are just pleased.

In putting the flick together, did you face any challenge as regards budget?

At first, some of our close friends and associates were worried we had committed such huge sums of money to a film project.

When they saw the cast, the crew, the initial output and the buzz it generated abroad before we even hit Nigeria, they were amazed. The film is set in New York and Nigeria, so shooting in the United States was much more straightforward than in Nigeria. In Nigeria, we had to worry about facilities, security and raise the general professional attitudes of an excited Nigerian crew. To be honest, we did our best to prepare well. I set up our financial proposal with proper figures and projections. Niyi's experience with Twisted was vital and investors were willing to commit funds within a couple of weeks to get things rolling. We haven't looked back since.

As Producer of the movie, how much did you sink into it?

We had a life cycle budget of close to 1.5 million dollars. Credit has to go my Director Niyi Towolawi who is also the CEO of our production company. He had this vision of creating award-winning

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Our challenge shooting Turning Point in Nigeria —Pax Osaro they hope would inspire people. quality African films that compare With the scourge of piracy, would you favourably with international standards describe movie production as a low risk and he was willing to collaborate to do it. investment?

That is why I am here to seek movie My Director and I actually don't believe investors. there's a piracy issue in Nigeria. There are This term may seem strange to the average Nigerian, so please tell us who is a massive issues of bootlegging, which is a different problem. This stems from not movie investor? having a proper distribution framework, A movie investor is any discerning investor seeking to diversify and invest in a and that means marketers are not able to provide a verifiable audit of sales to the sector that promises an attractive return on film producer. investment. The film industry has other What are viable steps that can be taken perks, including having one's name by movie producers and investors to associated with successful films, the ensure sound returns? glamour and celebrity appeal for those that Like any business, a proper strategy enjoy that sort of thing. In the past, people needs to be in place to ensure that the who invested in the Nigerian film industry investment is sound and will be successful. did so because they just had a soft spot for Get a solid product that would appeal to the industry. They weren't really expecting your target audience. The script has to be to make any returns on investment. That sound and it has to be professionally has definitely changed now because a few implemented. Like every product, there is filmmakers are emerging who are brand loyalty and the film industry is no determined to step up the quality of our different but you still have to work hard on filmmaking. marketing your film, highlighting its What has the response been so far? unique aspects. Get the right distribution The response has been amazing. As strategy and trust in the product and usual, when corporate bodies see the right pedigree of the producers. If we all make an quality they are excited and willing to effort to do things professionally in this commit their brands in partnership. We industry, there are abundant rewards to be encourage every one of them to trust us as had. That's when movies get to enjoy the we take them on an exciting pioneering multiple streams of revenue like the journey. We'll be creating opportunities for cinema, TV, DVD, brand partnership and so product placement, marketing events and on. exploiting all modes of communication Given the history of Nollywood, what radio, TV, internet and social networking. would you say are the causes of the Given your experience, what sources of decline of the industry over the past few investment could be introduced into the years? art of movie production?

I just feel there is a lot more pressure on Film is the best the industry to step up. medium to sell anything. monster returns of I just feel there is a The All over the world, it is previous years can not be used to subtly sell lot more pressure on sustained without an products, services, in investment, the industry to step increase tourism or ideologies and this extra investment even. That's why a lot of up. The monster has to translate into better corporate bodies, quality. Our returns of previous all-round charities and public audiences are tired of bodies allocate a lot of years can not be poorly made films, their marketing budgets of existing sustained without an rehashing for the film industry. stories and the preference They would use product increase in of quantity over quality. placements and partner number of notable investment, and this Afilms with filmmakers for in recent years have recognition and credit. extra investment has had large budgets, Some individuals and invested in quality and to translate into governments just invest were rewarded with in films for recognition or better all-round unprecedented success. credit and help set Would you describe its quality agenda on issues that viability as a good

investment?

I came on board because I shared that vision and eventually came up with the story for Turning Point. It is a great story, has a great cast of some of the best Hollywood actors like Ernie Hudson, Todd Bridges, KD Aubert, Cynda Williams and our own Nollywood actors like Mama Gee (Patience Ozokwor), Jackie Appiah, Oge Okoye, Enyinna (Nwigwe), and Ebbe Bassey. It had a stellar crew with Niyi directing some of the best technical guys in the business who have worked on such Hollywood blockbusters as I am Legend, Spiderman 3, The Devil Wears Prada, Duplicity etc. The output is a stunning, crisp film that combines the best of Hollywood quality and Nollywood swagger, and it has rightfully got all lovers of African film around the world excited.

Will you say the Nigeria movie industry is a viable investment product?

The Nigerian film industry is very much under-developed and has hundreds of millions of consumers globally yearning for quality offerings. Even with a sustained investment of a billion US dollars annually, it will take over a decade to saturate the market, even if such were possible. Such a prediction was made of Hollywood decades ago, with singular film budgets now hitting $300m and yet investment keeps rolling in!

How do you think the industry can be packaged to make it attractive to investors?

The Nigerian movie industry just has to get professional for investors to stand up and take notice. We are talking about having accurate accessible financial figures from previous films for realistic forecasting such as box office mojo. The government could also create a viable environment with supportive legislation.

What role has the government got to play in the scheme of things?

The least a filmmaker can expect is a viable environment and enforced laws in place to ensure their investment is not at risk. Such laws include copyright enforcement, adequate security, a proactive film relations agency that cooperates with filmmakers, issues permits and provides logistic support. Many countries have numerous incentives in place for film producers such as tax breaks and cash back schemes which ensure that filmmakers come to their country rather than another.

They would also help the local film industry by issuing grants and other funding to help enterprises, create jobs and nurture expertise.

Entertainment

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Every song should have a message —Airis

Victor s e t e f o f i a Uw GUS 8 s n o i p m a Ch

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UITAR Boy, Victor Uwaifo and his pass time came to the fore again when leading contestants in last year's edition of the popular Gulder Ultimate Search (GUS) stormed his gallery in Edo state recently. The team on tour of six states across the country made their second stop in Edo, the home state of Patience Ihongbe, one of the 10 Champions, as they are called.

Patience, it would be recalled was the first contestant to be evicted twice but voted back to compete in the last edition of the Nigerian Breweries' sponsored reality show. Finding her position in the top 10, it was home-coming for Patience who was visiting with her nine colleagues, led by the ultimate winner, Christopher Okagbue.

Accompanied by Nollywood actor and co-anchorman of GUS, Bob Manuel Udokwu, the other eight were: Anastasia Azike, Kevin Durst, Anthony Igwe, Tony Horsfall, Fejiro Ejogbamu, Peace Ojiegbe, Sunday Gyang, and Olanrewaju Alawoki.

While in Edo state, the Gulder Ultimate Search 8 Champions, were treated to a warm reception at the Revelation Tourist Palazzo, founded by Nigerian highlife music maestro, Sir Victor Uwaifo. The resort houses, paintings and other artworks of the musical legend.

How does the 'Guitar Boy' find time to compose music in addition to painting,

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I went to the beach with my camp bed. I saw the mermaid and I can vividly recall that she called out my name. Yes, it's true that I met a mermaid sculpting and lecturing at the University of Benin? “I run after time. I bring whatever I think of immediately into action. Don't allow time to overtake you, because if you waste time it will overtake you. Once you have an idea, put it down and move immediately to implement it. If you are to be a successful person, don't wait till you have everything. Just start”, he said.

Did he really meeting a mermaid in the course of his career as recorded in one of his songs? The visitors wanted to know. His response: “Yes, I truly met a mermaid. In those days, I used to go to the Bar Beach in Lagos for inspiration.

On this particular evening, I went to the beach with my camp bed. I saw the mermaid and I can vividly recall that she called out my name. Yes, it's true

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that I met a mermaid.”

The GUS 8 Champions also enjoyed the privilege of being serenaded by Sir Victor Uwaifo to rhythms from his guitar. They danced at the Palazzo as their host treated them to old tunes from his musical hits. The Palazzo turned out to increase the knowledge of the visitors about the Benin Kingdom.

An elated Patience Ihongbe said to their host: “This visit has given us more insight into the personality of Sir Victor Uwaifo. We thank you for this knowledge enriching experience. We have been able to know more about the Benin Kingdom. We have also been exposed to your musical works. On behalf of Nigerian Breweries Plc, manufacturers of Gulder beer, we thank you for this visit.”

IKE a young professional seeking recognition in her homeland, international artiste, Airis has come back home to carve a desired niche for herself on the local music scene. Born in Cairo, Egypt to a Nigerian father and an Egyptian mother, Airis (Asmaa Idrisu) spent her young adult years shuttling between Nigeria, the United Kingdom and Egypt.

Her brand of music which is greatly influenced by Mediterranean Rock, Pop and African music forms has also placed her music on the international spotlight. Airis first moved to Nigeria in the fall of 2009 and she succeeded in creating the Airis Music, her record label at the time.

The Industrial engineering graduate of George Mason University in Virginia, USA, is a singer and song writer who discovered her passion for music at the tender age of five when she first heard 'Faith' by George Michael. At age 16 she became a professional singer while also perfecting her passion as a multidimensional artiste.

While growing up, she got inspired by a collection of artistes such as Sade, Sting, Michael Jackson and Madonna.

Airis also aspires to collaborate with Quincy Jones, David Guetta, Daft Punk, Darkchild and Cobhams sometime soon as her career develops.

Now working on her full length album The Airis Project, the burgeoning artiste is of the belief that every song should be able to pass on a message.

“I think every song is a lesson or short story that anyone can listen and relate to or learn from, no matter how small the message is,” she said.

•Airis

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Entertainment

BIG

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

African kids get place in Nickelodeon Awards!

PICTURE Supported by: SILVERBIRD CINEMAS

The Descendants: Comedy meets intrigue

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HOUGH romance stories take varied dimensions, there is always a peculiar mix which transcends tribe. In romance/comedy flick, The Descendants, Matt King (George Clooney) is a Honolulu-based lawyer and the sole trustee of a family trust that controls 25,000 acres of pristine land on the island of Kaua'i.

The trust will expire in seven years because of the rule against perpetuities, so the King family has decided to sell the land to Kaua'i native Don Holitzer for development. Just before family members are ready to formally

endorse the deal, which Matt favours, a boating accident near Waikīkī renders Matt's wife, Elizabeth, comatose.

They have two daughters, 10year-old Scottie (Amara Miller) and 17-year-old Alex (Shailene Woodley). Matt is not very close to his daughters and refers to himself as the "back-up parent."

Matt learns that Elizabeth will never awaken from her coma, which means that under the terms of her living will she must be disconnected shortly from life support. He tells Alex, but not Scottie, that Elizabeth will not recover and must be allowed to

die. Alex tells her father that Elizabeth was having an affair at the time of the accident. Matt confronts two family friends, Kai and Mark, and learns that Elizabeth's lover is Brian Speer (Matthew Lillard).

Matt decides to tell Brian that Elizabeth will soon be dead to give him a chance to visit her while she's still alive. He discovers that Brian is a real estate agent currently vacationing on Kaua'i. After telling the family of Elizabeth's terminal prognosis, Matt, along with the girls and Sid (Alex's slacker friend), travel to Kaua'i to find Brian.

Jill's desire for attention and aggressiveness is maddening to Jack, turning his normally tranquil life upside down. When Jack and his sister get off on the wrong foot, the only way to make it right is to invite her to stay through Hanukkah. But, when actor Al Pacino (playing himself), whom Jack desperately needs to star in a commercial, takes a shine to Jill, Jack may be forced to extend his sister's visit even longer.

In order to keep the Dunkin' Donuts account, Jack's agency needs to lock down Pacino to advertise their new Dunkaccino.

So Jack takes Jill to a Lakers game

to stalk him. He doesn't have a hope of convincing him to do the commercial. To his surprise though, Pacino is feeling nostalgic for his Bronx roots which they both share. This makes him take an instant attraction to Jill.

Expectedly laced with humour, Pacino endures one indignity after another in the hands of Jill Jack and Jill is a 2011 comedy film starring Adam Sandler and directed by Dennis Dugan, who has collaborated with Sandler on most of his films. It was distributed by Columbia Pictures and released on November 11, 2011.

Jack and Jill: Between family and business

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HANKSGIVING is usually a happy time when families gather to share rare moments. For some, it is that singular time of the year when they get to see each other.

However, Jack Sadelstein, a successful advertising executive in Los Angeles with a beautiful wife and kids, dreads the event each year because that is when his identical twin sister Jill visits.

Jill, as with Jack, is played by Adam Sandler, a rarity on the Nigerian scene in recent times. She is the real homely and kind of a jock and has a loud, squawky voice and a lisp. And she has a pet cockatoo called Poopsie. Jill keeps extending her stay and this drives Jack nuts.

•Will Smith

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ITH the show billed for Saturday, March 31, 2012, Nickelodeon has announced the nominees for th the 25 Annual Kids' Choice Awards (KCA), helmed by international superstar Will Smith and scheduled for Los Angeles' Galen Center.

The show which premieres on Nickelodeon rd (DStv Channel 305) on 3 April at 18:00 CAT, enjoys a star-studded line-up of those vying for the coveted Kids' Choice Blimps.

A special attraction is that kids will be honouring their favourites in film, music, TV and sports, including Jessica Alba, Antonio Banderas, Justin Bieber, Big Time Rush, Jack Black, Ty Burrell, Jim Carrey, Miranda Cosgrove, Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez, Victoria Justice, Bruno Mars, Taylor Lautner, Danica Patrick, Katy Perry, Michael Phelps, LMFAO, Taylor Swift, Daniel Radcliffe, Sophia Vergara, Adam Sandler and Kristen Stewart.

Beginning March 1, kids are expected to cast their votes in 20 total categories across all of Nickelodeon's digital outlets, including www.2012KCA.com as well as Nickelodeon's Facebook page and Twitter feed. For the first time ever, kids in Africa can cast their votes for their favourites by logging on to www.2012KCA.com!

Wizards, Smurfs and a martial arts panda dominated the movie categories, with the Harry Potter franchise conjuring up top nods with four nominations for Favourite Movie, Favourite Book (the Harry Potter series), Daniel Radcliffe for Favourite Movie

Actor and Emma Watson for Favourite Movie Actress.

The Smurfs nabbed three nominations, including Favourite Movie, Sofia Vergara for Favourite Movie Actress and Katy Perry for Favourite Voice in an Animated Movie. The megahit Kung Fu Panda franchise ate up nominations for Favourite Movie, Favourite Cartoon and Jack Black for Favourite Voice in an Animated Movie.

This year's dual nods include The Muppets for Favourite Movie and Amy Adams for Favourite Movie Actress and the Twilight franchise for Favourite Book (the Twilight series) and Kristen Stewart for Favourite Movie Actress. In the music categories, international superstars LMFAO, Katy Perry and Taylor Swift go head-tohead, all receiving two nods for Favourite Group/Female Singer and Favourite Song.

In television, the stars of Nickelodeon's hit comedy iCarly - Jennette McCurdy, Nathan Kress and Jerry Trainor - duke it out as they dominate the Funniest TV Sidekick category.

Additionally, American Idol grabs its eighth nomination for Favourite Reality Show up against returning contenders, America's Funniest Home Videos, America's Got Talent and Wipeout.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Glamour

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‘A woman can be conservative, yet stylish’ She is one of the few Northern women who are making waves on the fashion scene. The Creative Director of Vintage Collete, a Kanobased fashion house, Binta Shuaibu won the MTN/British Council Young Designer Award last year. In this interview with Kehinde Falode, she shares her passion for fashion and other sundry issues

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HAT is fashion to you?

Fashion means three basic things to me; it must be comfortable, artistic and stylish. Fashion is a personal self-expression that reflects the radiance from within one's individuality.

How would you rate the Nigerian fashion industry?

The Nigerian fashion industry has improved over the decades with room for more improvement. Nigeria is a country with a lot of talented and creative minds. The last decade has unveiled a lot of potentials in the Nigerian fashion industry, with our designers featuring in famous fashion shows in the world.

What are the kinds of fabrics you

experiment with?

Most times, I work with silk, cotton and some other fabrics but usually Nigerian, African and Western fabrics.

How would you describe your style?

My personal style is simple and artistic.

Tell us a little about your background, education, career and how your fashion career started?

I am an indigene of Gombe State, but was born and raised in Kano State. I attended St. Louis primary and secondary schools in Kano. I studied Biochemistry and also had my Ciscocertified networking academy course from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. After my youth service in Abuja, I got married and moved back to Kano

where I enrolled at the Alliance Francaise and obtained an equivalent degree certificate in French.

Thereafter, I enrolled for a Masters course in International Affairs and Diplomacy (MIAD) at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, which I completed earlier last year. My fashion career started as a hobby from the age of eight when I watched the late Maryam Babangida on television. I began sketching and my fashionable parents also helped me with styling my wardrobe and dressing me up smartly from a tender age. At the age of 13, my mum sent me to a tailoring school at the women's centre in FCT for a three-month course.

I didn't like the classes because I preferred the cookery classes and also because I was the youngest in the class and was constantly teased by the other women that my parents sent me there because they had plans of marrying me off as soon as I completed my secondary school.

They teased me and said I was going to be a tailor in the future. I hated going for the classes. I eventually continued to sketch as a hobby for myself, family and friends, but stopped after a while because people thought my designs were too eccentric. Later on after having my baby, I decided to continue without worrying so much about what others thought. I simply focused on what I felt from the inside and put it down on a piece of paper.

Asides fashion and designing, what are your other interests?

Before auditioning for the MTN show, I worked as an event planner and also did some creative writing. I was asked at the audition how I joggle all of that with family life and my designs too. It is quite simple actually for me, because everything I do is creative and I get inspirations from all over. Life itself is also creative from my own perspective.

Fashion design is something I have always done effortlessly, but I now intend to take it up as a full time career and give it my best shot.

What inspires your designs?

I derive my inspiration from the simplest things to the most complicated. It could be architectural, nature-based, art or lifestyle.

How do you keep fit?

My personal regimen for keeping fit is dieting and a high metabolic rate, which by the way, I think is genetic.

The combination of these two things helps me keep in shape.

What is your area of specialisation?

My area of specialisation at the moment is haute couture. It is a bit complex while putting together because of the amount of detailing involved in creating one dress, but it's something I am passionate about. I absolutely love it.

How did you come about the name of your outfit?

That brand name came up because I want to infuse the use of vintage designs with contemporary concepts to make any woman between the ages of 19-55 feel comfortable, stylish and sexy without revealing too much. A woman can be conservative yet stylish, sexy and fashionable without indulging in indecent exposures.

What is your take on love, marriage and relationship?

I think it's best to be married to your friend and someone who deeply understands you. Love is an important ingredient in the equation, but in the long run, it's those two things that keep a relation or marriage going.

How do you unwind?

I hang out with my close friends and family. Sometimes, we go to the movies but generally, I enjoy hang outs with my family and close friends.

How do you balance your personal life, home and family with your job?

Having a successful career could be hectic, but the realty is that I'm neither the first nor the only woman to be in this position. I enjoy the full support of my family on this job, even though adjusting was tough initially. If there's anything I've come to learn in my few years of experience, it is that eventually things work out and you'll reap the fruit of your labour.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Glamour

&

OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL (08033572821) raphseg2003@yahoo.com

Lagos Commissioner, Bosun Jeje hits gold

By OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL, Photo: DAYO ADEWUNMI

S

OME days ago, the Lagos State Commissioner for Housing, Mr Bosun Jeje, clocked 50. And to herald the birthday boy into the golden club, friends, colleagues and political associates organized a classy shindig in his honour.

The event held at upscale restaurant, Jade's Place, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos and was graced by personalities, which included the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, Senator Ganiyu Solomon and former Deputy Governor, Mrs Sarah Sosan amongst others.

L-R: Chief Tunde Ayanwale and Senator Ganiyu Solomon

Celebrant, Bosun Jeje and wife Tokunbo

Mr and Mrs Adeyemi Nelson

L-R: Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, Mrs Ronke Solomon and Abike Dabiri-Erewa

Senator and Mrs Olorunnibe Mamora

L-R: Alhaji Lai Mohammed and Yomi Badejo-Okusanya

Otunba Olawale Cole and Mrs Sarah Sosan

Otunba Doyin Ogungbe gives out daughter in nuptials

F The Couple: Abisola and Femi Osagbemi

ORMER Commissioner of Commerce and Industry in Ogun State, Otunba Doyin Ogungbe, was over the moon penultimate weekend when he gave out his daughter, Abisola, in holy matrimony to Olufemi Osagbemi. The wedding was solemnized at the Methodist Church, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, while reception held inside the expansive hall within the church premises, writes Olusegun Rapheal

Bride’s parents, Otunba and Mrs Doyin Ogungbe

Groom’s parents, Mr and Mrs Osagbemi

Bayo Odulana, Ogun State Deputy Governor Otunba Segun Adesegun and Mr. Bisi Olatilo

Mr & Mrs Saanu Otudeko

L-R: Senator Jubril Martins-Kuye and Asiwaju Feyi Shoyewo

L-R: Akogun Kola Adeniyi and Mrs Moji Dokpesi

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Glamour

The many troubles of Chris Brown, Rihanna's ex

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IS Grammy win and performance horrible human being,' before going on to at the prestigious award ceremony argue that the R&B singer 'does not even prompted a furious backlash pretend to be sorry' for having 'brutally among fans and celebrities assaulted and threatened to kill a woman. such as country singer In 2009, Brown pleaded guilty for Miranda Lambert. assaulting former girlfriend And now the Rihanna and is now serving five backlash against years of probation.

Chris Brown is The comic then adds that continuing with the Grammy Awards have writer and comic 'blood on their hands.'

Kevin Seccia He adds: 'Not actual offering $1,000 for blood, of course, like the the first person to kind Chris Brown had on 'beat up the singer.' his hands after he In a blog post, committed that heinous Seccia writes that crime he never paid for, I'm Brown is 'a talking about the figurative kind.'

Seccia goes on to explain that for legal reasons, his blog and offer is 'partially a joke and partial ly a

way to bring some measure of pain and discomfort (non-physical) to a terrible, vicious human being who deserves far worse.'

He says that he will pay the $1000 prize to 'the first person to deliver proof that they hit Brown with 'at least two solid punches.'

Meanwhile there was more bad news for the star today, as he was accused of 'angrily snatching a girls iphone outside a nightclub in Miami and driving off with it,' law enforcement officials told TMZ. A representative for the Miami Beach Police Department told the website that 24year-old Christal Spann filed a police report on Sunday for 'robbery by snatching.'

She claimed that she followed Brown and rapper Tyga out of a nightclub early in the morning and took a photograph of the singer getting into his Bentley.

Christal told police that Brown 'flipped out when he saw her camera phone' according to TMZ and told her: 'B****, you're not going to put that on the Internet.

According to the police report, Chris then rolled up his window and drove off with the iPhone in his hand.

The police representative added that no arrests have been made and no warrant has been issued yet and the investigation is continuing. Browns representatives are yet to comment on the matter.

TMZ also reports the LA District Attorney's Office is now keeping a close eye on Brown and is waiting to see what action, if any, the L.A. County Probation Department is taking.

Brown is still on probation for beating his then girlfriend Rihanna in 2009 and any criminal charges could result in probation being revoked and the singer being sent to prison for up to four years.

The latest Twitter backlash against Brown comes after country singer Miranda Lambert spoke out against the star after he bagged two Grammy awards.

She tweeted: 'Chris Brown Twice? I don't get it. He beat on a girl…Not cool that we act like that didn't happen” Brown responded to Lambert with a tweet which he has since taken down. He wrote: 'Hate all you want because I got a grammy now! That's the ultimate f*** off.'

He also responded with a sarcastic tweet: 'Using my name to get publicity? I love it! Perform your heart

43

out! Go buy Miranda Lambert album! So motivational and 'PERFECT'!'

The following day, Lambert tweeted back: 'I'm done for now. But not for good:) nite love bugs & remember… Be who you are an stand for what u believe in. NO MATTER WHAT!” later adding, “Oh and one more thing for all who are asking….I have a Grammy too:)' She also responded to Brown during a concert that weekend, telling the crowd: 'Listen, I just need to speak my mind.

Where I come from, beating up on a women is never OK. Brown has also been embroiled in another angry Twitter exchange with WWE wrestler CM Punk who tweeted on Monday: 'I would like @chrisbrown fight somebody that can defend themselves. Me curb stomping that turd would be a #wrestlemania moment.'

According to The Huffington Post, the singer tweeted before deleting: '@CMpunk needs more followers. He's such a leader!' before making an allegation about him using 'roids 'making it utterly impossible for him to pleasure a women.'

The wrestler responded with a video directed at Brown: 'I never meant to include Chris Brown's name in one of my tweets for publicity.

Now that he's accusing me of using steroids please allow me to retort.

'I am a life-long, proud, drug-free straight-edge individual.'

Later in the posting, he added: 'And I don't hit women. Period. In my world women are meant to be revered and respected, and I firmly believe that in this life there are consequences and repercussions for people's actions and I think Chris Brown hasn't paid for what he's done.

'Picking up trash on the side of a highway does not make amends for repeatedly striking a woman to her face and sending her to a hospital.'

The 33-year-old then offered Brown the opportunity to meet him in the ring.

I say put some gloves on in the ring and I will choke you out and make you feel as weak and powerless and scared and alone as any woman has had the misfortune of knowing any sad, cowardly little boy as yourself,' he wrote.

'And all proceeds can go to a women's charity of my choosing.'

Brown then responded: '@cmpunk the video u posted was cute! It's so funny how defensive you are. And the fact that I really don't know who you are and could give a [expletive] is the funny part!

'I really hope this 15 minutes of fame is paying you for the long run becuz music last forever! Wrestlers come and go according to ratings!”

44

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Glamour

Social KAYODE ALFRED

(E-mail: kayflex2@yahoo.com, Tel: 08035733605, 08099400057)

Rumours of crashed marriage trail Charles Ahize

C

HARLES Ahize, the popular Lagos businessman, is certainly not in the best of moods at the moment. The foul mood may not be unconnected to the rumour that his recent marriage to Maureen is allegedly in trouble.

Though no one has confirmed it yet, news making the rounds is that Ahize's marriage has crashed. The story is that his wife has moved out of her matrimonial home to start a new life. Many would remember that their traditional wedding was star-studded and shook Owerri, Imo State, to its very foundation. Top shots, showbiz stars, Lagos big boys, politicians amongst others, stormed the city in a big way. However, Charles has vehemently denied the rumour, insisting that his detractors may be up to mischief.

Funke Fowler is pregnant

Baby unites Lolu Sodeinde and Linda Mesrob

M

ANY would remember the superlative threedimensional wedding of Abi Kuku, the handsome son of Chief Bayo Kuku and Funke Fowler that was spread over months and shookmthe social scene. SC can reveal that Funke is carrying her first baby. Some claim to have spotted her with a slightly rounded tummy betraying an alleged baby's presence. Last year, the wedding ceremony began with an introduction ceremony that took place inside Parkview Estate. It was followed months later with a wedding engagement which took place at the parade ground of Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), Lagos. Many thought this was the ultimate, but the climax of it all was the wedding proper which took place in Dubai early in the year. Since that time, not much has been heard of the duo until the pregnancy story surfaced.

W

HEN news made the rounds sometime ago that Rehab nightclub boss, Lolu Sodeinde, was an expectant father, many dismissed it with a wave of hand. The news, however, proved to be true when petite Linda was thereafter sighted with a rotund mid section. Lolu and Linda's joy seemed to know no bounds as it seems their previously on and off relationship was coming to a fruitful point. But the challenge at the time was Lolu's family's refusal to accept the imminent union. Lolu's mother most especially proved difficult at the time, and everyone thought it was a dead-end. During the nine months of the pregnancy, Lolu and Linda maintained a very low profile. Those who should know, however, revealed that Lolu successfully brought his family around to seeing Linda in a new light, and a small ceremony was held to cement the union. The latest gist in town is that the very beautiful Linda put to bed in a Manchester hospital in England on the 7th of February, 2012, and her baby's daddy, Lolu, has jetted out of the country to be by her side. The little tot, many believe, is the welcome bond that would further strengthen the young couple's union.

Jide Adenuga serenaded at 30

F

OR those who do not know Babajide Adenuga, he is the first son of Globacom boss, Chief Mike Adenuga. Self-assured, the handsome dude clocked 30 on February 3rd, and he really celebrated in style. Unlike other silver-spoon kids who embrace every opportunity to step out and dazzle, Jide has been very reserved. Jide has been known for his abhorrence of partying an habit that has caused many to view him as a pariah. But on the occasion of his 30th birthday, he threw caution to the wind and stepped out of his cocoon. He gathered friends and family alike for a feast in celebration of his birthday. Many who had never received such an invite from him made it a point of duty to grace the occasion.

Accompanied to the party held at an exclusive club in Lagos by his sisters-Oyin and Bella, Jide partied like never before, and everyone wondered if the amiable chap was finally ready to step out of his shell.

Iyiola Omisore floats bank in Ghana

F

OLLOWING his 'landside defeat' at the polls last year, Senator Iyiola Omisore is refusing to stay idle, if the gist at the disposal of SC is anything to go by. The Osun State-born politician, sources say recently floated a bank named First Atlantic Merchant Bank in Ghana. The financial institution has already begun operations.

From From the the Campus Campus

With

Prof.

Emmanuel Ojeme 46

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Fall of English Clubs in Europe

T

HE UEFA Champion’s league resumed last week and the first leg of the knock-out stage has been completed. In an article I wrote after Manchester United and Manchester city were knocked out of the competition, I asked if the dominance of the English teams in Europe has come to an end. One season is not enough to conclude that, but judging by the performances of England’s last two representatives in the first leg of the round of 16, I guess we can conclude that all is not well in England. Arsenal went to the San Siro with a very good record against Italian teams and history on their side in the competition, they were annihilated by an aging Milan side. The 4-0 score line does not tell the true story, it could easily have been six goals for Milan. It was a horrible performance by the Gunners and a terrible way for Thierry Henry to end his loan spell at Arsenal.

For the neutrals, the Napoli vs. Chelsea game was quite entertaining but for the Chelsea team and fans, it was the same old story. Their defence was nonexistent. If not for Cannavaro’s dreadful mistake that gifted Juan Mata Chelsea’s only goal, Napoli were superb. Lavezzi, Cavani and Gargano were outstanding for the Italian side. AVB’s line up for that game already raised eyebrows amongst Chelsea fans and pundits even before kickoff. What is really going on in the Chelsea camp? According to the sun, “Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and Michael Essien were all dropped from the Chelsea line-up against Napoli on Tuesday for daring to criticize manager Andre Villas-Boas before the match. Cole told the boss: "I came here to win medals, and trophies, but I'm never going to do that with your tactics."

Perhaps it is more of a senior player’s revolt. Looks like they want AVB out and want to get him fired like they did with big Phil (Scolari) and Carlo Ancelloti. You have to feel sorry for the 33 year old manager who happens to be about the same age or even younger than some of his players. Yes he was brilliant with Porto and did very well to win a treble with the Portuguese club but I think it was too soon for him to have taken up a challenge as big as managing a Chelsea team with aging legs and worse of all, an interfering owner like Roman Abrahamovic. Only Roman knows how much longer AVB has at Chelsea, considering his predecessors weren’t as bad as he is at this stage and they were kicked out. Roman is beginning to ask questions, he wants to know why the trio of Ashley, Frank and Micheal were dropped. The “boy’s” is living on borrowed time if you ask me, his days are numbered.

Whatever the case come Tuesday and Wednesday next week, truth is there won't be any English premier league representative in the quarter finals. I don’t see a way back from the first leg defeats for Arsenal and Chelsea. AC Milan can and will score at Emirates and so will Napoli at Stamford bridge with their attack line and Chelsea’s p o r o u s defence. The midfield is not much better as they don’t connect with the attackers right now and maybe this is why Torres hasn’t done well at Chelsea, unlike at Anfield where Steven Gerrad was a supplier for the one time prolific striker. I hope h e regai ns the f o r m •Arsene Wenger that got

him the nickname “El Nino”, more woes for him though as he has been dropped from Spain’s friendly match next week despite the fact that David Villa is injured.

Typical example of when it rains, it pours.

Manchester United and Manchester City are safely through to the next round of the UEFA Europa league, a second tier competition.

United fans seem to have gotten over the shock of “Thur sda

y night” football especially as the red devils put up a brilliant performance in Amsterdam. The return leg at Old Trafford was a disaster and almost cost them a place in the next round. They lost 1-2 to a much improved Ajax side but still qualified on a 3-2 aggregate. I wonder who got the hair dryer treatment from Sir Alex as he was obviously very upset as he walked off the pitch. City on the other hand went through very comfortably, winning home and away and finishing with a 6-1 aggregate. I would love to see a Manchester derby in the Europa League.

I cannot end this piece without talking about the brilliance of Basel so far. They have proved that knocking out Manchester United from the competition was no fluke as they also beat former champions Bayern Munich in Switzerland on Tuesday. Are they about to do a “Greece” or a “Zambia” on us? Only time will tell how far this fairy tale will go. They will have to overcome Bayern at home, and trust me it is a BIG task for them as Bayern will be fighting to lift the prestigious trophy at the Allianz arena (their home stadium), come May 2012.

•Andre Villas Boas

Re: FIFA and the Right of Sovereign Nations Each time Nigerian football reaches a cross road, as it is now, the axe of FIFA is often dangled. The dangling of FIFA's axe by NFAs men is used as an ablibi to disable Nigerian Sports Officers from having any control of football affairs. I have personally been pained by this fallacious FIFA trump card because for me, FIFA is an NGO. As non-member of United Nations, this body cannot control activities conducted within sovereign national boundaries.

On the 4th and 11th of July 2010, the foregoing arguments were marshalled by this writer in two Sunday editions of the Nation Newspaper. The issues raised by these publications on the above topic have resurrected by the recent court case against the Nigerian Football Federation concerning its legitimacy. As reported in Sunday, 18th February edition of the Vanguard Newspaper, a perceptive, patriotic, reflective and nationalistic legal practitioner has clearly supported my position as stated above as he declared: “FIFA should stop threatening Nigeria as FIFA is but a charitable organization registered under the Swiss Law and is too small to threaten Nigeria with hammer”. This declaration should be of great interest to all Nigerians who are unable to bring the Nigerian Football minders at the NFF under the control or even shared control by state sports authorities.

I am not a legal practitioner but my logic tells me that FIFA has cajoled the entire world to surrender an aspect of sovereignty to it through football. So are their affiliates in CAF, WAFU and National football federations, who constitute themselves into government of some sort through other means, based absolutely on FIFA rules of engagement. Based on FIFA as a source of empowerment, football affairs in Nigeria can hardly have peace because of the jostle for power. It is usually characterized by unbridled manipulation through which all sorts of men and sometimes women without any minimum cognate professional qualification, seize its governance not really for any concrete development but more for its tour potentials and self aggrandizement.

A part of my essay on this subject matter, as earlier mentioned reads as follows: “Who is FIFA? Why does it not listen to the wishes, desires, and the right of nations to its own way of self reexamination in relation to football? Has FIFA not unknowingly become a neocolonial and imperialistic organization? Has it not become a neocolonial and imperialistic and irredeemable despot and audacious dictator and we are not asking questions? Unlike the United Nations, relationship of FIFA with sovereign nations is undemocratic. Nations are tied to its apron strings and led by the nose. An affiliate Federation is designed by FIFA to operate like its own colony in a sovereign nation and the host nation must never touch it.

What is the logic behind all of these and is it justifiable?

The logic is upside down and it is not justifiable. The dealers in football as a sport who find it a honey pot never ask questions about the misconduct of FIFA. They do not even see anything wrong with the insolence heaped on a nation by F.I.F.A. each time there is a disagreement with it. I do not belong to this group. I have a lot of query for FIFA to answer as shown in the foregoing paragraphs”.

I am eternally grateful to Barrister Belo Aidelogie for his legal astituteness in bursting this imperialism of FIFA over sovereign nations, which some Nigerians have continued to exploit for their own benefit. I found your assessment a very scholarly and legal insight that would, if pursued properly, lead to reform of FIFA as an organization. The reform of FIFA has been a subject of great interest to me as a political sociologist of sports who has been very disturbed by the domino hold on Football affairs by FIFA within national boundaries. My argued position is that FIFA should concern itself with the coordination of international football competitions and allow local football to be ruled by authorities within national boundaries. I also urge other interested parties to break the global monopoly of FIFA as it is in Boxing, where there are WBA, WBC, WBF, among others, organizing international competitions. So long as FIFA is not a united Nations affiliate, it cannot control how national governments control their football affairs, as a mere NGO.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

47

VOL 1 NO. 037

Accountability comes to advertising (2) (Continued from last week)

I

T is at the Plans Board Meeting the key ingredients of marketing are screened for correctness and sharpened ready for application. Among such very important elements are: 1. Own-Brand Information. For a start, the Client service team is expected to know its brand inside-out, to the extent that all its members (and indeed the agency) should ably represent and talk about and for the brand. The agency should, therefore, by reason on investigation and research, establish the brand's distinct physical characteristics, its offer and value-essence, its attributes, its personality and image. Of course all these are irrespective of the information the Client has given, because the agency must treat such information from client as hypothesis that should be tested, to eliminate biased report or mistaken identity due to inadvertent individual report dependent upon brand-brand owner emotions.

2. Competitive analysis. At this stage the attendees at the PBM wait to hear the position of competition as the play against own-brand. The first stage is clearly and safely identifying who are the competitors.

Identifying competing brands can be very delicate because leaving out any by reason improper identification immediately compromises own-brand's fighting power. It follows rationally that an unidentified enemy poses great threat, so it is very important that any given brand's competition be properly identified and profiled for safer defence (which is by attacking). In the case of brands management strategic planning, competition can be taken in primary and secondary categories depending on the nature of product category under consideration.

Take for example the toothpaste market; while other toothpaste brands stand as obvious direct competition, those other dental care or mouth wash brands which usage pattern and benefits places them within the toothpaste target user's consideration bracket as alternative to toothpaste becomes secondary competition. They are so safely considered because they possess the potentials to take away from toothpaste market share, ultimately. Identifying the competition is followed by an analysis along the line of Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat – SWOT analysis or swot matrix. Every of the brands that fall within the consideration bracket by reason of market category, offer and value-essence goes through the swot analysis to enable classification and market position. SWOT analysis will help identify the individual brand's present performance and competitive ability in the near future, apart from the obvious determination of their individual strength, weakness, opportunity and threat. At this stage, the client service team leader should be clear in his/her presentation how the various brands within the competitive bracket are positioned as market leaders, followers, laggards and outright failures are, by reason of their share of market, share of consumer-mind, shelf presence and off-take, etc. In doing so, own-brand is also placed where it belongs. So, it is also very important that nothing goes wrong at this stage because such will amount a grievous strategic error of immense danger to the entire assignment. In addition to brand(s) positioning, there has to be a rational for such deductions, to enable critical considerations that will in turn guide strategic and even creative planning and input for the purpose of solving identified market and marketing challenges, depending on what the campaign and advertising objectives are. It is always so important that every such relevant information and deductions are derived that if the meeting session is not satisfied with what they get at this stage, the plans board session risk being called off for a restart.

3. THE TRADE. Much as other considerable elements open to critical research and investigation at this stage trade

investigation is also of critical important here. Among other top-of-mind information, the agency should know competition's distribution strategy and pattern, trade's perception of the given brand, the range of trade margins at play in the given market, types and number of trade reward incentives that are instrumental in the co-operation and support given by the trade in contribution to recorded distribution successes, which of the competing brands enjoys competitive advantage among trade (and why), whether the influential critical mass among trade are discriminatory in favour of any of the competing brands (and why). These are all part of the questions trade investigation should answer. To also appreciate the influence of trade over end-

users/consumers is a safe start-point in strategic planning for own-brand success. This is one of those points of correlation points between sales and marketing; where the sales and advertising support look at the same issues – the trade is critical to every brand support initiative given to improving brand's market performance.

4. THE SMP – Single-minded proposition. Some practice school would rather call this creative input (UNIQUE SELLING POINT). The SMP as we know it is an encapsulation of every single creative element considered in determining the strategic and creative direction towards the execution of the predominant advertising and campaign thrust. While the creative team like to see the SMP as the creative steering wheel, it is a distillation of the brands unique person and its offer; a summary statement that gives vent to the brand's positioning statement, and how it should be seen by the target consumer. Building up to a brand's single-minded proposition is the consideration of its offer, value-essence and promise. It will also take into consideration, some elements of target consumer perception, expectation, traits & habits and the peculiarities of the brand's world. All these are finely differentiated though similar issues of strategic importance that will always require careful professional consideration. Still at the Plans Board Meeting stage, the process leading up to

the SMP and the rationale are all considered within the wide frame work within which the controllable and uncontrollable variables are considered and put to test. It is only when the SMP passes the test that the client service and creative teams can think of moving forward with the rest of campaign planning.

5. MEDIA CONSIDERATIONS. Unlike what happens today, clients are not known to indicate media preferences. Choice of media vehicle, scope and pattern of media mix, weighting and deployment plans are challenges for the advertising agency media planning and buying experts.

It is as important as all the strategic and creative issues considered at the planning stage, that it is also critically considered at the Plans Board Meeting.

It is of immense competitive importance to know the target consumer's media habit, media message usage pattern, possible time period of most probable opportunity to reach TA from one media vehicle option to the other. It is also of importance to have an idea of key competing brand's media vehicle selection/engagement and deployment plans and budget spend, in comparative terms. It is on the strength of such robust research findings the agency can fashion out a workable media plan for the client's consideration. Those were times when professionalism was at play in every department of brands advertising development and execution.

Every single campaign we ever worked on to date go through this intense preparatory process. It is quite unfortunate that many service providers in advertising and marketing communications in today's environment subvert this critical process, resulting in all manner of compromised creative products and advertising/campaign materials that are far from achieving set objectives. Perhaps we should mention here that all the professional and intellectual work put to play within the professionally regulated advertising and brands management environment is towards achieving set-objectives, advertising/campaign or market/marketing. It is all about the BIG PICTURE. We keep questioning the rationale behind most clients' agency selection process and engagement today, because the manifest compromises evident in today's brand management and advertising market has thrown up all sorts of things as campaign materials. Mostly among banks and government departments, professionalism in advertising and brands management is given little or no consideration in today's business environment. Brands management is a science and not an art. That is why journalists and non-professionals in the practice will always amount to little, in terms of achieving results.

The brand suffers from such incompetence. Like in the concept of GIGO – Garbage In Garbage Out – the client gets what he/she pays for.

We professionals in brands management cry out against known compromises, not because of the financial implication, as much as it concerns the general good of all, the brands that fall victim and the teachable public. Brand owners must wake up the fact that every such compromise in the science of brand management amount to losses for the brand and corporate person so represented.

So we ask: WHO MANAGES YOUR BRAND? Brand management, advertising and marketing communication must come to accountability because it is all about quantifiable deliverables. There are firm achievable standard against which expended brand support funds should be valued and measured. Nothing in advertising is given to flamboyance; we must begin to value it on the basis of results. The grand rules have not changed, and will not change, not minding the permissible innovations.

48

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

y g e t a r t s s s My succe Mrs. Njide Ndilli, Chief Executive Officer of Lionstone Health Care Partners, was for several years Chief Operating Officer for Hygeria Health Maintainance Organisation (HMO) as well as other reputable international organizations. In this interview with Rita Ohai, she sheds light on role as a director and the values that have helped sustain her.

H

Working life

OW did you get into Health Insurance and what were your reasons?

To be honest, my foray into health care was actually out of passion. My access health care from their local hospitals. background is in Information technology As it is now, the processes are very manual but coincidentally, most of my siblings are so we are doing what we can to make it in the medical profession, they are Medical easier for the patients to access their Doctors and Pharmacists generally. doctors, records, medication and Although I was more inclined towards medical tests that they have done technology, I found a convergence between without having to go through the laborious paper process. So health and technology. we are looking at ways to While I was in the United States, I started automate the health care working for Independence Blue Cross industry. Though the project which is one of the largest not-for-profit is still under development, at HMO in the United Stated so that was some point, when all the really how I got into health insurance and I plans have been put in place, have been in the industry for over fifteen it will be made public. years. So naturally when I relocated back What can you say is the home, I went back into health insurance. I enjoyable part of can say that predominantly, all my most m a n a g i n g y o u r professional life has been centered around businesses? technology and health care.

Well, the fun part of it is As a Chief Executive Officer, what are some of the activities you find yourself that these are very diverse businesses. Diverse in the doing on a daily basis? sense that they focus on I wear a number of hats and my daily entirely different industries. activities revolve around thinking, To be honest, Lionstone strategy, putting together business plans Energy and Marine Services is on how to go launch a project into the the largest indigenous owners market and how to make it successful but of oil rigs or platforms that are aside from that, I am also involved in quite used in oil exploration. I oversee a number of things for the Lionstone Group all of these businesses with the of Companies (which my husband and I support of my husband founded about seven years ago after we and both of us tend to relocated to Nigeria from the United States m a n a g e a l l t h e of America) such as the off-shore company activities among the which is our Oil and Gas subsidiary and different companies. also the Golden Tulip West Africa. It is a Since you set up the joint venture between Lionstone Group of company, what are some Company and Louvre Hotels, Paris and of the successes you have right now we are one of the largest recorded so far? operators of branded hotel rooms in West The major successes Africa. We have four hotels spread across Accra, Kumasi, Festac and Port Harcourt on each line of business and all together we have over one thousand are quite tremendous.

For example, with rooms under our management.

Golden Tulip, we All together, there are quite a number of started out without any operational activities which I oversee that hotel rooms but now criss-cross between Lionstone Health Care w e h a v e o v e r a Partners, Lionstone O i l a n d thousand hotel rooms Gas, Lionstone u n d e r Marine Services and managem Prioritize.

It is Golden Tulip Hotels ent and and they keep me very important. I we are quite busy. For looking to try to get things example, I am expand. working on specific done right which Right now, it projects which I could mean that I ai s bn o to j uus t t cannot talk about right now but it has to am a bit of a expanding the do with technology business, it is perfectionist but I as a way of moving about doing it well think that the health care and doing it to the industry in Nigeria as whatever you set extent that the well as Africa brand name is your hands to do recognizable forward. I am trying and to make it easier, should be done the feedback we through technology, g e t f r o m well for individuals to people gives

you the impression that the services we offer are very good.

On the oil and gas business, its major success is that ninety-percent of the time, our oil rigs (platforms) are being used. That means it is functional, operational and in the market and that translates to more revenue coming in. At this point, we are looking to acquire more rigs. From what we have seen in the market, there are not enough rigs available for oil companies to rent so we would need to expand.

On the health care partnering project, this is a new business with tremendous prospects. It was incorporated in March of 2010 after I had left my

previous employment as the Managing Director of Hygeia Nigeria Limited so it is a relatively new company. It is still too young to judge but in another year by the time the product is out in the market we can judge whether the project is successful or not but it is all about finding a need and trying to meet that need What are some of the setbacks you have encountered so far?

It would be the 'not-so-fast' pace at which businesses run in Nigeria especially if you try to do things the right way. At Lionstone, we do not cut corners at all which is contrary to the way things are done here.

Integrity is very important and so if you decide to follow the right path, it would take a lot of persistence and determination to get anything done here.

Could you highlight some of the values that have helped sustain you through the years?

Prioritize. It is very important. I try to get things done right which could mean that I am a bit of a perfectionist but I think that whatever you set your hands to do should be done well. If for example two people walked into a room, you would find that it is the well dressed one or the neatest one that would grab your attention. It is the same thing with business.

Having come this far, could you give us some insight into your background?

I am the fifth child out of six siblings. I attended Ekulu Primary School in Enugu and then I went to Federal Government College, Onitsha. From there, I attended the University of Nigeria where I studied Computer Science and also got my postgraduate degree in Finance and after that I moved to the United Kingdom to get my Masters of B u s i n e s s Administration (MBA) from the University of Houston. I am married and I have four children.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

New WOMAN

49

Relationships Deola Ojo

Should female soldiers t a b m o c o d jobs?

08027454533 (text) Pastordeegfc@yahoo.com

Marriage anchors (3) Continued from last week

N

GOZI and Fred could not understand why all their friends seemed to be getting divorced one after the other. These couples seemed to be doing well financially; they did not understand why they were separating now. When they were younger, they used to talk about how they would take cruises and holidays once their children were all grown up and out of their homes. Now that they and their friends had reached that stage of their lives, they expected to take things easy and plan group vacations together.

Unfortunately, most of their friends were now divorced or separated. Societal standards have changed over the years and some couples got caught in the web. There was a time when divorce was virtually unheard of.

When a couple got married, they usually stayed married. Fifty years ago, most countries hardly had divorced families. Today, the percentage of divorced couples is gradually rising in many nations.

As these nations become more westernized, they have embraced everything western including divorce. There was a time when couples endured their marriage even when they felt they were no longer in love with one another.

The society around them frowned at getting a divorce so they themselves did not consider it.

Some couples soon discovered that tough times never last but tough people do. They found out that it was possible to rebuild love, perhaps not the passionate hormone driven love they felt when they first got married, but a more stable compassionate and abiding love that was based more on reason and less on feelings.

Culture was another anchor that helped some of these marriages to endure and be strong. In some cultures, a man was expected to take care of his wife. There are some cultures, which do not permit the women to do strenuous work and believe that it is the responsibility of a man to take care of such things. Such cultures also frown on divorce and would mediate in conflicts until differences were resolved between couples. People who come from parts of the world with such strong cultures often have long abiding marriages. While some cultures have enabled marriages to be strong, happy and stable, some other cultures do the opposite.

Ola could not believe her ears, when her husband's relatives told her during her traditional wedding that she should not think that she would be the only one that he would marry. They had just stuck a dagger in her heart, but seemed oblivious to her pain as they went on with the ceremony.

She thought the marriage ceremonies meant that her husband was pledging the rest of his life to her as she was pledging the rest of her life to him. But apparently their cultures were different. His culture allowed him to make a partial commitment to her while she made a total commitment to him. She wondered if he husband believed

The military's ban on women in combat jobs is absurd, writes Shoshana Johnson. In this report she argues that women are already in combat, fighting alongside men but without the recognition or the promotions to top jobs

Source: The Daily Beast

in this culture and whether he would really contemplate taking another wife. She was hoping that he would clarify things and tell his relatives that she was going to be his one and only wife. Her husband said nothing and she decided not to ask him about it.

She would rather keep hoping that have him confirm her worst fears.

There are different cultures in the world and each couple need to determine the parts of their culture that support their union in a wholesome manner. They may need to pick and choose parts of their culture that will be embraced and parts that they might want to discard.

But beyond external anchors of “Societal values” and “Culture”, there are other important anchors that are dependent on the couple.

Such anchors include “Mutual joy and benefits”. Just as a person with a voracious appetite needs no encouragement to eat a delicious meal, couples who are both enjoying their marriages do not need to be persuaded to stay together. The anchor of “Mutual joy and benefits” is an anchor that many couples start their marriage with but discard within a short time. It is important to note that most people would rather be celebrated than be desecrated. For a marriage to remain strong, each partner must continually ensure that the other partner receives benefits and joy from the union.

While every marriage has seasons where one partner seems to be putting more into the union, this should be short and infrequent in occurrence.

It is 5am, Kola is already up, and he knows he has a busy day ahead.

His daily routine starts in the kitchen where he makes a meal for his three children. Then he would wake them up, to get them ready for school. He would give the youngest one a bath and help her get dressed while his wife is still in bed. By the time he is ready to leave the house by quarter to seven, his wife will still be in bed.

She sleeps late because she has been watching the television and usually does not get up until 8.30am. She has a private business which she operates from home and only goes out when she needs to have a meeting with her clients.

Kola gets back by 6pm after picking the children from school.

He then makes a meal for them, helps them with their homework and gets them into bed. His wife is usually watching television or reading a magazine. So what exactly is keeping this marriage together?

It is the combined anchors of “Financial provision” and “Sex”.

Kolas wife has a private business that brings in over three million naira profit on a monthly basis. He has a job where he earns about two hundred thousand naira monthly.

They live in a good house in a lovely neighbourhood. He has access to his wife's money and feels that helping her with the children is not too much to give in exchange for the money the wife is contributing to the home. He also happens to be a man who is disciplined and has never slept with another woman other than his wife.

Continued next week

50

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Arts & Life

SUNNY SIDE

Cartoons

By Olubanwo Fagbemi deewalebf@yahoo.com 08060343214 (SMS only)

POLITICKLE

Some people should not die

CHEEK BY JOWL

OH, LIFE!

THE GReggs

Fame is a bee, It has a song – It has a sting – Ah, too, it has a wing.

— Emily Dickinson “‘I HAVE everything’, ‘I have nothing’, ‘I have everything’, ‘I have nothing’ …,” read the visiting cousin after picking up the empty case of a cassette of mixed recorded music. Cousin could not understand why anyone would want a cassette full of just two tracks by the same artiste.

But the writer could, as well as the friend who lent the cassette – for such was the enduring charm of Whitney Houston who was buried last week in New Jersey a week after she was found lifeless in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton hotel in California. The 48 year-old’s funeral was followed worldwide and attended by a galaxy of stars including Kevin Costner, her co-star in the film, The Bodyguard. The cause of death may not be known for several weeks until toxicology tests are released.

The demise of the star struck a sad chord in the writer and he finds himself fiddling with yet another lost string on his musical side – the first and infinitely disappointing being favourite, Michael Jackson.

Perhaps the most famous voices of the eighties and nineties, Michael and Whitney enlivened dreary mornings and serenaded dull nights; but it is of the latter that the writer is more concerned today.

Whitney was not just a great voice – she was the voice. With more than 170 million albums, singles and videos sold, the six-time Grammy award winner was one of the world’s best selling artistes. Mentored by original diva, Aretha Franklin, Whitney inspired Alicia Keys, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Beyonce, Rihanna and other contemporary divas with her powerful and effortless voice. Her initial decision not to follow the more soulful style of Aretha and other predecessors, however, drew criticism by some who saw her as playing down her black roots for pop music favoured by white audiences.

She eventually transformed into an enduring diva while unleashing an unforgettable string of hits including Saving All My Love for You, How Will I Know, You Give Good Love, The Greatest Love of All, Where Do Broken Hearts Go and I Wanna Dance with Somebody. Big screen score I Will Always Love You, a remake of Dolly Parton’s timeless hit, predated similar accomplishments.

Long-time followers will also not forget in a hurry her inspired rendition of the American anthem, The Star Spangled Banner at the Super Bowl venue of the American football league final, during the first Gulf War in 1991. The moving performance set a new standard and reaffirmed her standing as America’s darling.

But Whitney punctuated her career highs with drug abuse and blamed her troubled marriage on partner Bobby Brown. As the end neared, there were missed concert dates, a stop at an airport due to drugs, and public meltdowns. A world tour launched overseas confirmed suspicions that Houston had lost her treasured gift, as she failed to hit notes and left many fans disenchanted.

If the public stared and mocked as Whitney sank to the depths of abuse and despair, shall we now solely blame the individual? The writer thinks not. The best memorial to her life is acknowledgment that she came as flawed as the greatest of them: Achilles, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Joan of Arc, Mohammed Ali and Jackson of the serial child molestation scandals; and like them, gave much more than any bargained for. Even Ghandi, the meekest of the pantheon of mythological and real idols, was not free of a vice or two.

There is thus great merit in the thought that the souls of the gifted feed on vices to the extent of tragedy. Besides, millions of ordinary folk demonstrate worse demeanour under the shelter of anonymity. Shall we not choose then to downplay failing for the exquisite experience of Whitney’s voice? That is a sentiment clearly supported by her mentor Clive Davis. “You wait for a voice like that for a lifetime,” he said.

Whitney will be remembered by daughter Bobbi Christina, 18, from her failed marriage to Bobby Brown, her mother Cissy (father Russell Houston, Jr. passed away in 2003), cousin and fellow diva Dionne Warwick, as well as fans across the world. She will always be our baby.

Jokes Humour Tipsy Analogy A HERD of buffalo can move only as fast as the slowest buffalo, and when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular culling of the weakest members.

In much the same way the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, we all know, kills off brain cells, but naturally it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first.

In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, constantly making the brain a faster and more efficient machine.

The chief says to the first guy, “As punishment for trespassing I give you a choice, death or Frum Frum.”

Not wanting to die, he picks Frum Frum. He is then beaten and clobbered to unconsciousness in front of his friend.

Asked to choose his punishment the second man says, “I’d rather die than suffer that.”

The chief says, “Great, death it is – death by Frum Frum!”

Ready Customer

A FELLOW getting a shave asked a rather rough barber if he had another blade.

“Why?” asked the barber, “Is there something wrong with this one?”

“I don’t know,” replied the customer.

“But I would appreciate a chance to defend myself.”

Frum Frum

QUOTE

TWO guys get stuck on a desert island.

They are soon caught by the natives and brought to a village and put before the chief.

Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.

—Napoleon Bonaparte •Culled from the Internet

U

SING a structure: Writer ’s Broth There is no one right then to push him out a window so he can enjoy the structure for a book any more than there is one right structure for a inner courtyard. house. Some will be linear, and take the reader Use strong verbs and nouns: step by step directly through to a conclusion like a The verbs are the action words. They put things in motion. Make yours as strong as possible. long hallway opening into an inner courtyard.

The verb to be (am, is, are, was, were) puddles on Others will feature a spiralling staircase that takes the reader around and around the topic, al- the floor. Eliminate it wherever possible. In English ways climbing higher to the secret chamber at the we can’t leave verbs out of our sentences, but we top, or to the rooftop view where everything be- can make those we use work hard for us.

Nouns name the people, places, and things in comes clear. The fair thing to do is to use a reasonable route to the destination. It’s unfair to take our world. English has multiple words for almost your reader up the staircase to the fourth floor and everything. A male parent can be father, dad, pop, daddy, the old man, pater, progenitor, sire, begetter, Some things you should know: conceiver, governor, abba, papa, pa, pap, pappy, •Walt Disney, the creator of Mickey Mouse, pops, daddums, patriarch, paterfamilias, stepfather, was afraid of mice while Thomas Edison, the foster father, and other family nicknames. Choose light bulb inventor, was afraid of the dark! the noun that does the best work for you.

•Google (or googol) is actually the common Short words are usually best. They have more name for a number with a million zeros. punch. They hit the gut hard.

•The verb “cleave” is the only English word Be wary of adverbs and adjectives: with two synonyms which are antonyms of If your verbs and nouns are strong, you can get rid each other: adhere and separate. of many adverbs or adjectives. Don’t know what •Peanuts are one of the ingredients in they are? They are the “describing words” your dynamite. elementary school teachers told you to use to make •Every three months our bone cells are your writing “more interesting.” completely replaced.

Be particularly wary of words ending with -ly.

51

SUNDAY INTERVIEW THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

‘There is no Nigerian nation’ Tam David-West

•David-West

PHOTOS: Taiwo Ogundipe

His living room in his vintage abode secluded within a section of the verdant residential quarters of professors and lecturers in the sprawling University of Ibadan was a sight to behold. Strewn all over with hundreds of fresh and aging back issues of a number of the national newspapers and magazines as well as odd documents, there was hardly, space to sit. The reporter had to navigate gingerly through the myriad of publications, to settle down to the engaging interview with the professor of virology who was once Nigeria’s Petroleum Minister in the regime of former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari, and Minister of Mines, Power and Steel under President Ibrahim Babangida. David-West delved into history, metaphysics and economy to dissect the state of the Nigerian, nation. He spoke with Associate Editor, Taiwo Ogundipe

W

HAT is your general assessment of the state of the nation?

I am going to talk about the state of the nation in a very general sense because there is no Nigerian nation. That is one of our problems. We have a conglomeration of nations. On June 12 2002, the Gamji Forum invited me to be one of the speakers on the same topic: The State of the Nigerian Nation. When it came to my turn to speak, I was given 20 minutes to present my paper. I rose up to say that it was generous of the Gamji Forum to give me 20 minutes to deliver my message but that I could do it in two minutes. Of course, when I said that, there was this consternation. I said I could do it in two minutes because there is no nation called Nigeria. That sentence could come in two minutes and I could have gone to sit down but I wanted to develop it further. Why do I say there is no nation called Nigeria? I am not echoing Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s statement which has always been quoted, saying that Nigeria is a geographical expression. I go beyond that. Papa Awolowo was one of my great heroes. But to say that Nigeria is a geographical expression is not saying much. Every state is a geographical expression of longitude and latitude. But fortunately Baba never said Nigeria is a mere geographical expression. He never used the word, mere. Some people used to put it in his statement.

His book on it did not reflect that. He went further to qualify his statement by saying that there is no Nigeria nation … as Britain, Wales, England.

A nation is where the members feel committed and are ready to die for their nation. We talk about one nation, one destiny. It is a lie. There is a multiplicity of nations, there is multiplicity of desti-

nies. The moment we are able to get one nation, one destiny, then, we have made it. For now, we are a conglomeration of ethnic nations. And the ethnic loyalty of most people transcends the collectivity. We always blame Lord Lugard. We always say he amalgamated Northern and Southern Provinces. He had left here since over 50 years ago. We have developed from that level since. I am not the best intellectual. There are many who are better than myself. But I am diligent and meticulous, which is congenital. Nobody, not even the grammarians, had looked closely at the word. Lugard in 1914 said he was amalgamating the North and the South provinces for administrative convenience to him and the British monarchy. Not for Nigerians. And in elementary chemistry, amalgam is just a compound. And I am likening a nation to a compound. When you have three elements: A, B and C and you make an amalgam of them; you have brought something into a state in which all of them stay. But inside each of them is clear A, B and C. They are held together by loose bonds and they still retain their identity. That is amalgam in chemistry. As in chemistry, is when A, B and C come together and form a compound, they lose their individual identity into a compound called X. Lugard described what he did as an amalgam. So why are we blaming him. After he has made an amalgam of the Nigeria units, it is left for us to make a nation out of it. Don’t blame him. Since 1914 till now, Nigeria has not been able to forge a nation, in term of commitment to a nation called Nigeria.

Conception is there but the practical aspect of it is not. We are in the habit of fighting with the past rather than fighting the past. We are always saying all sorts of things: This one did this or that to us, Lugard instituted amalgamation, colonial masters did this and that to us and the army ruled us. Why are we always looking for alibis?

Why don’t we after the amalgamation or even after independence make a nation? Why don’t we make a democracy after the military rule?

Based on this preamble, I will tell you about the state of the state of Nigeria; I won’t say the state of the nation, because there is no nation. It is sad that in 2012 with an Ijaw man as president of some sort – I keep saying Jonathan is a legal president and not a moral one – I will come to that later. And no Ijaw man should celebrate that Nigeria is being led by an Ijaw man just like I would not say that the US is headed by a black man. Obama is not a black man. Why am I saying that? During the subsidy removal imbroglio - a national matter - a group, I would rather call them a bunch, of people, some of them are very knowledgeable… may (Chief Matthew) Mbu’s soul rest in peace, someone like Karibi-White, a judge of the Supreme Court, could not see beyond their nose. They made subsidy removal an ethnic matter. They were saying some people wanted to overthrow Jonathan. In my lifetime, two issues in Nigeria had brought us together across tribal boundaries: June 12 and the protest against subsidy removal. All the people who demonstrated did so regardless of ethnic or religious background. So why should the Ijaw people, the Niger-Delta people or the South-South, which, I’ve said, does not exist some of them a bunch of sycophants, a bunch of people who are not relevant without politics, signed a document that some people wanted to overthrow Jonathan and they would not allow that. I, an Ijaw man, said subsidy does not exist. It is shocking that people at this time and age are still talking about ethnicity and not nation. By so doing, they are making Jonathan an

•Continued on Page 52

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012 •Continued from Page 51 Ijaw president. (I wrote my first article in the newspaper in 1956. I had been involved in reflecting on the Nigerian system since then or from my undergraduate days.

I love Nigeria. What I am going to say will end up as pathos, sadness, and unfulfilled dreams of Nigeria. I have not lost faith in the country though. If I have lost faith in Nigeria, I won’t be talking to you or to another person. I still have hope. But when that hope will be fulfilled, I don’t know. I also don’t know if I will live to see it. But like Moses of the Bible knew there was Canaan but never reached there, I know there is Canaan for Nigeria.

One would have thought that with your fellow Ijaw man and a South-South person, President Jonathan being in the saddle as president, you would have felt fulfilled.

No! Even if it is my father that is acting the way Jonathan is, I will work against him. Jonathan is a disaster. I will talk about that later. Let me be through with assessing the state of the Nigerian nation first. Nigeria is a great nation, so endowed by God. No natural disasters. If you watch television, you’ll see what is happening in other parts of the world – hurricane, typhoon etc. Nigeria has luxuriant vegetation.

The country has population of over 160 million healthy people… impressive human resources. Then the natural resource: black gold. How much more do we want God to bless us? But what have we done with all these blessings?

I have been x-raying the society called Nigeria since my undergraduate days.

I am disappointed because none of my dreams has been materialised. Nigerian leaders have failed this state called Nigeria. Our founding fathers, Zik, Awolowo and Sardauna fought for us.

None of them died a multimillionaire.

They left landmarks: first television station in Africa, free education in Western Region, Cocoa and palm kernel farming were booming, etc. These were the golden years of Nigeria’s history.

Some of them died in very pathetic conditions. They fought against one another. But they got independence for us almost on platter of gold. You don’t have to die or shed blood to get independence before you know its value. It is rubbish when some people say we are doing badly because we got independence on a platter of gold. We don’t have to shed blood before we realize what we’ve got. We have messed up the gift given to us by our founding fathers. They had their differences but they always fought for that concept: Nigeria. That was why they were able to get independence.

During one of the constitutional conferences in London, Zik went to Sarduana and told him, “Let’s forget our differences and work together.

Sardauna told Zik, “No, I don’t agree with you. We should not forget our differences. It is in realising those differences that we can work together. I’m a Northerner, you’re an Easterner. I’m a Moslem, you’re a Christian.” He listed the differences. To me, that was a fantastic philosophy. The north was then not enthusiastic to be independent.

Look at the catch in the interaction between Zik and Sardauna. Zik never went to Sardauna with Awolowo. If Zik had gone to Sardauna with Awolowo, and if both Zik and Awolowo were telling Sardauna this, I would have said there was hope for one Nigeria. But Zik went to Sarduana alone as the premier of the Eastern Region. I still regard Zik as one of my greatest heroes.

He didn’t go to Sardauna with Awolowo because the South was divided between East and West while the North was one North. Was Zik trying to pull off a hat trick to get East North unity against the West? Zik should have gone to Sardauna with Awolowo.

While Zik called himself an Easterner Sardauna branded himself a Northerner. Sardauna did not see Zik as a Southerner because he didn’t believe there was a united South. He also told Zik, “I’m a Moslem you’re a Christian.”

Look at all those nuances. These were subtle things that had great implica-

Sunday Interview

52

‘Revolting against bad government is an act of God’ tions.

What have we done since independence? Nigeria reminds me of the title of my lecture at the 50th anniversary of University of Ibadan. I was guest lecturer at NIIA (Nigeria Institute of International Affairs) at the event organized by the alumni association. The title of lecture was ‘Nigeria Academia: the bloom, the gloom, the doom’. I have seen it all in academia from my undergraduate years as a student, a lecturer, a professor, a member of council twice, and also through my service years at the Bendel State University, Ekpoma as a pioneer member of staff.

So I’ve seen the Nigerian university system holistically. The title of my anniversary lecture also applies to Nigeria. The boom period was when we had regions. The boom period was soon after independence. The boom period was the time of the great Nigerians - Zik, Awolowo and Sardauna, the others did not matter. At the risk of their lives they got us independence and handed it over to us as a legacy.

They bequeathed to us a great fortune to move ahead. We didn’t. We now entered into the doom phase after they had left the scene. There was even still some form of umbilical cord. When we had 30 months of civil war; Chief Awolowo was jailed in Calabar by the system. But General Gowon gave him a reprieve, brought him and made him deputy chairman of the Federal Executive Council, although caveat, Gowon never allowed him to be chairman of the executive council for one minute.

But he did something fantastic by making Awolowo the Minister of Finance to prosecute the civil war. Awolowo prosecuted the war for 30 months without borrowing one penny. He was a financial wizard. He was one of the greatest heroes we had. These were the people that bequeathed to us independent Nigeria. We messed up and, as I said, Nigeria is now in the gloom phase.

We are not improving; we are creating more thieves than saints in government. We are creating more people that love themselves more than the country. How can you explain that with his salary of $400, 000 a year, Obama feeds his family from his own pocket?

Nigeria’s president and vice-president budget over a billion naira for food.

Are their stomachs digesting rock?

What do you do with N1 billion? And if you said you were a poor person, you didn’t have shoes when you were going to school, can’t that humble you?

You are not afraid to vote over N1 billion in your budget for food for you and your vice-president. You cannot pay N18, 000 minimum wage. I’m just pointing out to you that except we break out from this nonsense, there is no hope for Nigeria. Nigeria will not disintegrate because of ethnic differences.

Nigeria will not disintegrate because of Boko Haram. Nigeria did not disintegrate because of civil war. If we have another one, we will not disintegrate.

God has brought us together. But Nigeria will disintegrate and die because of bad and corrupt politicians that love themselves more than the state; that are insensitive and are eating what the poor man cannot eat. In every country, the common man makes the poorest majority. There is a time they will say, “This is the end of it. I refuse to take it.”

That is when Nigeria will go. Jonathan has eight presidential jets. We are a

•David-West mad, crazy country, crazy government.

They have eight presidential jets. They want to buy another two. Yet the Prime Minister has none. He goes with British Airways. Are we not mad? The First Lady has no place in our Constitution.

There is no place for First Lady in American Constitution. But here we have office of the First Lady. Obama’s wife has no office. She has no special place. Here we have office of the First Lady at both state and federal levels.

You voted about N500 million for the office of the First Lady. Anyone that does that is an enemy of Nigeria. He is a crook. The First Lady has no place. If Jonathan wants to build marble Taj Mahal house for his wife, that is his own business. He has to do it from his own pocket. But he should take no kobo from the Nigerian state. The Nigeria state does not recognize her. She is his wife. He should provide for her. She has office. People that were occupying that office were ejected for her. We are a mad country. And except this madness stops …. The saying goes that “Whom the gods want to destroy they first make mad.” If we don’t want Nigeria to be destroyed by the gods, we must retrace our steps and be sane.

When they went to Addis Ababa, the First Lady alone went with 32 people paid for by Nigeria - tickets, food, estacode and nobody says anything.

Right now Nigeria is at the gloom state of the alliteration triad of bloom, gloom and doom. If we don’t take time we go to doom. But may God not take us there.

So what should we do specifically?

What we should do we had nearly done it – the demonstration against subsidy. Revolting against a bad govern-

ment is an act of God, a blessing. What should Nigerians do? Nigerians should be alive to their rights. When you are fighting for your rights, you are fighting for justice, you are fighting for God. Without justice there will be no peace.

We Nigerians should make up our minds to say, “Here you stop.” We go to the streets. We make bad government unworkable. And we can do it.

June 12 protests nearly did it. The other time was when Nigerians came together across ethnic and religious divides against subsidy which, to me, does not exist. I’ll come more to that later. The government was afraid. They were shaken. They took soldiers to Lagos. The Southwest voted for him and even ditched their own man, Ribadu. He took soldiers to them. He was afraid he was going to be overthrown. Then he called the trade unions and he told them his government was going to be overthrown and if that happens, they will be blamed. So what if you are overthrown? If you are good you’ll not be overthrown. If you are overthrown because of bad policies that are making the masses to suffer, why not? No person overthrows good government. Bad government must be overthrown because it is anti-people.

So they were cowed; they were afraid. I laughed.

When we were drafting the 1979 Constitution – I was a member of the Drafting Committee - we decided to put a clause that says nobody can rule Nigeria except by the Act of the Provisions of this Constitution. The late Chief Rotimi Williams who was the Constitution Drafting Committee asked us: “Ladies and gentlemen, when there is

“Nigeria will not disintegrate because of ethnic differences. Nigeria will not disintegrate because of Boko Haram. Nigeria did not disintegrate because of civil war. If we have another one, we will not disintegrate. God has brought us together. But Nigeria will disintegrate and die because of bad and corrupt politicians that love themselves more than the state; that are insensitive and are eating what the poor man cannot eat. In every country, the common man makes the poorest majority. There is a time they will say, “This is the end of it. I refuse to take it.” That is when Nigeria will go.”

a successful coup, how do you go to court?” The first thing the military would do is suspend the Constitution.

And there won’t be a court to go to. So if a bad government is overthrown because of subsidy, how will he fight the people?

What was the situation with the refineries during your time as petroleum minister?

During my time with General Buhari our refineries were working.

We were servicing them. We were carrying out constant turn-around maintenance. The refineries were later sabotaged. I signed the fourth refinery contract with a capacity of 150, 000 barrels per day. Then we were refining our crude oil in Nigeria. There was no middle man. However, during that time, occasionally we would project, for example, that what we were going to get from the refinery would not be enough, and we would need additional thousands or millions of litres of refined crude, we would then get Shell and other major players to go into offshore processing. We would give them enough crude to go and refine abroad and they would bring to us the agreed litres of refined fuel to make up the shortfall. So no middleman was paid millions of Naira. So when they refine for us we pay them their commission.

The money was paid directly into their accounts. We never had middle man and we never suffered from petrol shortage. So what happened thereafter? During Babangida’s time, there were only about six middlemen. Now from the Obasanjo period to the present moment, they have over 105 middlemen importing fuel. Along with that, they killed the refineries. So what they have done is to get middlemen who are taking all the trillions into their pockets. Now we really don’t know the amount of money paid to the cartel or cabal. Government officials are also members of the cabal or cartel. There is no head of state, apart from Buhari and Abdusalami that has not gotten a little finger in the cartel.

Do you mean in term of oil blocs?

Oil blocs is even a different issue.

Our oil industry is the worst managed in the whole world. I have travelled round the Gulf or Arab states. I also travelled round the African continent when I was to form the African Petroleum Producers Association. I went round the continent for OAPEC. Our refineries were increasingly killed and they were not repaired. Professor Sam Aluko of blessed memory once told General Obasanjo during his time as civilian president that “You built three refineries in 30 months. Why can’t you build one refinery in eight years?” The general could not answer. To get the refineries working is not in the interest of the cabal.

As part of the good fallout of the recent demonstrations against fuel subsidy removal, the government has been forced to set up the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on subsidy. And a lot of scandals are being revealed. So I’ve been proved right.

There is no subsidy. The trade union collapsed because the government blackmailed them. Their collapse was in bad taste. But the collapse of Jonathan was worse. Here was the head of state who said, “Except I sell petroleum N141 per litre, Nigeria will collapse.” He said “No going back.” He eventually backed down to N97 per litre. This meant that he wasn’t even sure of his figures. According to my own calculations, petrol must not sell in this country beyond N40 per litre. Fortunately for me, two other independent experts agree with my calculations. One of them was a professor here at UI. He was the head of department of Petroleum Resources Engineering. He is now in Texas, USA, a Nigerian with his own energy company. He had calculated that petroleum should not cost more than N33. 35k per litre. The other

•Continued from Page 70

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

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Uganda’s growing army of single mothers —PAGE 55

‘My greatest ambition is to win Grammy, Senate seat’ Many know him as a Fuji musician, however, when Dare Odufowokan met King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, popularly known as K1, he discovered many things a lot of people who are familiar with his music do not know about him.

H

IS admirers both at home and abroad know him simply as K1, the Ultimate.

However, his full name is Alhaji Wasiu Anifowoshe Ayinde Marshal. He belongs to the clan of musicians who modernised and made the Fuji genre of music acceptable in the international circuit.His rise to global fame began on the dusty streets of Isale-Eko in Lagos.

As a barefoot youngster, he went around Lagos Island in the 70s dishing out his ‘little Fuji’ lyrics to the admiration of his admirers, and the little icon of yesterday has become the big oak of today, doing nothing other than singing Fuji. This has taken him to every corner of the world and his fame and fortune have continued to leap in bounds.

More than just a musician However, what many people may not know is that behind the lyrical masque is a politician. Stepping into his sitting room at the Castle of Peace, as his residence in the Okota area of Lagos is christened, what is likely to first attract a reporter’s roving eyes is a six-inch tanned bookshelf. A cursory peep into the shelf reveals the mindset of the politician cum musician and perhaps his heroes.

Neatly arranged are copies of books not just on world leaders but notable thinkers such as Mahatma Gandhi of India, world leaders such as Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and John Fitzgerald Kennedy of the United States of America, and of course, Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, is the most conspicuous.

Talking with the musician it became obvious that it wasn’t going to be all about the fame and fortune of a successful musician, he unveiled parts of him that many did not know.

Reflecting on one of his hit tracks in which he sang in support of the presidential ambition of former President Olusegun Obasano in 1999, Ayinde said he regretted singing to support Obasanjo’s ambition.

According to him, the former president “had a lot of opportunities and he made a huge mess of everything. I don’t see how he can correct them now. I doubt if he can ever correct them. Three generations

of Obasanjo, if they keep trying, cannot correct the damage. Going from Lagos to Ibadan, you will know what we are talking about. From Lagos to Benin, you will know what we are talking about. Lagos to Ilorin, it’s the same You can imagine how many people we have lost on those roads across the country. Everything boils down to Obasanjo’s misrule. Obasanjo’s eight years is a waste. If you take into account how much money his regime squandered. What did he spend it on? He spent it on his third term agenda. Sincerely, I regret singing to support him,” he lamented.

Asked to explain why he decided to lend his voice in support of the former president in the first place, he said he was moved by the political situation of the country at the time.

“The reason behind that song was to tell everybody to be patient and give Obasanjo a benefit of the doubt. Let us tolerate and see what this new government will usher into our lives. Let us see what manner of transformation we would witness, having suffered greatly before that particular time.”

He recounted that the business mogul Moshood (M.K.O) Abiola had died in the same struggle for good leadership. He, therefore, felt that since those who denied the late Abiola the opportunity to rule the country and put his business acumen at its service had realised their error by backing Obasanjo, he was going to correct the mistakes. This was not to be. “We felt that they were asking for forgiveness by nominating an Egba man to become the President. That was what moved me to do the song. But the man, after getting to office, turned himself to something else,” Ayinde explained.

Socio-political commentaries The musician’s venture into social commentaries predated the coming of Obasanjo. According to him, all his works as an artiste have been about the people and events around him. “If you talk about Wasiu, it was in 1984 that I sang…Oro NEPA, eba wa da si.

Mr. President. Ojojumo lo n mu na lo pelu ba se nsan owo ina o… (Mr. President help us with the NEPA problem. We pay tariff, yet we don’t have light.) To buttress the point, I have

always been doing that ever since.

There can be no music without the people. So, whatever music not aimed at bettering the lot of the people in a way is no music at all.

What you are seeing now is something that keeps building up and that is the difference. I will simply say the Wasiu of today is a serious improvement on the Wasiu of 1984.

The people and the societies have always been the focal point of my music.”

A new brand of music Assessing his performance, he said his style and delivery as a musician has improved tremendously over the years. To this end he feels it may no longer be apt to continue calling his brand of music Fuji.

“I now call it Classical Fuji.

That is t h e name I gave to m y music when people kept aski n g m e for a name.

It is a mus i c that is attractive in terms of the presentation, arrangement, rhythm and purpose. I combined all in the present day Fuji that I am playing and those who shared that inspiration of mine seem to play that same thing with me now. If you can’t do something that will stand the test of time, something that will outlive you, then you are not doing anything.”

His plan is to work assiduously so as to leave a lasting legacy for generations to come. Looking into his glowing eyes there was no doubt that he meant what he was saying, his love and passion for his profession was infectious; it hung in the air and was so real that it could be touched! In a mellifluous voice, he said, “I love singing.

Music is my life.” This was obviously not in doubt.

Mixing politics with music H e did not bat an eyelid before confessing his political preference “Yes. I am

a politician. I am a politician and my affiliation is as a progressive.

My political sympathy is for the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

If ACN with one state in 2003 could perform to expectation like (Babatunde) Fashola did in Lagos, what it means is that if the same opportunity given to Fashola in four years was given to ACN as a party nationally, we would have had good stories to tell by now.”

Asked if he has ever given a thought to seeking an elective office given his interest and participation in politics, the musician did not mince words in expressing his readiness to throw himself into the murky wa-

ters of politics at the appropriate time. According to him, it is only a matter of time before he would step forward to be counted among candidates of his party.

“Yes I will love to seek office. If God allows it, I will go to the Senate.

I chose the Senate because that is where I can argue very well and contribute my quota and not at any executive position. Honestly speaking, I would rather go to the Legislative arm to argue about the reason why this and this has to be done.”

Reminded that he sang of his senatorial ambition way back in 2011, he said the song was an expression of a burning desire and he is still very optimistic that his dream can still be realized.

“When I sang that it does not mean that it would be 2011. It might be another time. And it would be totally wrong if one does not have a dream while nurturing an interest. Then one is as good as dead. So, if what I said is that I have an ambition that is knocking: I am sure by the grace of Almighty God and by what is usually known as common sense, I will get to that point one day.”

Shedding light on how he got into politics, he said, “Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu should take the credit for my political leaning. Our relationship is like that of a father and son, adviser, confidant, everything.

He is a teacher, mentor and all in all.”

Growing up Like all children who dreamt of what they wanted to be in future, his childhood ambition was to be a lawyer.

The death of his father perhaps denied him of that dream.

“When my father was alive, whenever there was an argument on something he would call me because he knew that I could argue very well. And when I argue on a point, all you just need to do is to give it a second thought and look at it critically. You will see that something good will come out of that argument. My dream was to become a lawyer.”

He was however quick to add that becoming a lawyer would not have affected his decision to pursue music as a career. To him, music is a talent that would have simply been impossible to hide or ignore.

“Even at that time that I was dreaming to become a lawyer, I had started singing. I started singing when I was seven years old. So music has been part and parcel of me. I would probably go to the class and after training; I would still have come back to my music.” He is not alone, some of his children who are specialising in different fields are today expressing interest in playing music.

Dreaming of a Grammy Asked if for a musician of his clout, who has won multiple awards both at home and abroad, if there is any other thing he wants, he said, “Yes. The Grammy is still there to be won. I am still very much there and I am working very hard towards it. I can never retire. I have gone past that age that I think I would have probably retired.,” he said matter-offactly.

54

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Life

•STF ready for the battle in Jos

Peace breaks out in Plateau When was the last time you heard of an attack in Jos? The new found peace is part of innovative schemes adopted by the government and the Special Task Force (STF), writes Yusufu Aminu Idegu

T

HE Special Task Force (STF) on Jos crisis, code named ‘Operation Safe Haven’, recently embarked on a strange project, when it decided to testrun the prevailing peace in Plateau State so as to ascertain its genuineness. The Commander, Major General Olayinka Osinowo,who was recently named as the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 82 Division, Enugu organised a football tournament to bring together youths across tribal and religious divide. This was meant to see if these youths, who recently took arms against one another have actually forgiven one another, and forgotten the past.

It was also meant to see if the STF can close the gap created by the ‘No go area syndrome’ because the football tournament was designed to take Hausa Muslim youths to play match in the so-called ‘No go area’ while the Christian youths were made to do the same.

The football tournament was so successful that many were surprised that that was all it takes to re-unite Plateau youths and restore the love that used to bind them together.

The STF have stopped enforcing peace, they are now peace ambassadors on the Plateau.

As at the time the sectarian crisis of Jos was at its peak, even prophets were not ready to stick out their necks to predict peace in Jos in recent time. Plateau was just in the news globally for negative reasons. The news used to be the same on daily basis; attacks, attacks and attacks.

These attacks were either reprisals or fresh. The ugly trends then were such that after each attack, reprisal is expected, after each reprisal one should expect a fresh attack somewhere. It was a seemingly endless era of bloodshed.

While the circle of bloodshed was on, the government kept strategizing and restrategizing on how to bring a lasting solution to the conflict and return Jos to

its glory as home of peace and tourism. At a time the Plateau State government in frustration asked the federal government to withdraw its soldiers from Jos. The call was obvious as the presence of the STF, comprising the Army, Police, Navy and Air force seemed to have no relevance. The first year of the STF in Jos was more of a disaster than a relief.

Rather than disbanding the STF, the federal government increased its powers and operations. The task force used to be headed by a Brigadier-General, the federal government handed over the STF leadership to a Major-General and as well directed the Chief of Defense Staff to take charge of security situation in Plateau State.

These changes were applauded in certain quarters but majority were pessimistic on the efficacy of these changes. But all stakeholders were hopeful and prayerful.

These changes brought the STF under the leadership of Major-General Olayinka Osinowo and he was being directly supervised by the Chief of Defense Staff, Chief Air Marshal Oluseyin Peterin. Fresh deployment of units of Mobile Police followed these changes and Plateau State was saturated with thousands of soldiers and Mobile Police.

It was a resemblance of a state under state of emergency.

These changes actually proved pessimists wrong. It was as if those changes were all the state needed to have peace. The attacks came to a halt due to consistent and intensified patrol and intelligence network.

One can only point at few isolated incidence at the suburbs. The main city of Jos was breathing a new found peace.

With peace in Jos, the state headquarters, the STF troops dropped their guns by their side and began the process of re-uniting the people of the state by words of mouth.

The ideas were such that since the people are no longer fighting, all that was needed was to re-unite them and sow seeds of love among them.

The STF Commander, Major-General

•A cross section of youths at a peace conference in Jos

• Gbong Gwom Jos, Da Jacob Gyang Buba

Osinawo, led his troop on diplomatic voyage of the state, talking to people; especially youths and religious leaders, to renew their love for one another and be tolerant of each other’s religion. The Plateau State Government on the other side programmed a series of dialogue sessions with all stakeholders in the state. The series of dialogue was coordinated by the Directorate of Research and Planning, Governor’s office, Rayfield Jos. It is called “Plateau Oneness Dialogue” The combined effort of the STF and Plateau State government in using dialogue to restore the lost love was the pathfinder to peace in the state today. But the STF took the prevailing situation in the state to another level when it initiated the football tournament among youths of the state.

Speaking of the strategy, the STF commander said, “The idea of the Plateau Peace Tournament was conceived since October, 2011 and the competition is part of the peace process on the Plateau. There is no doubt that peace has returned to the state, all we need to do is to begin to resume doing all the things plateau people used to do together irrespective of tribe or religion.

“The tournament is structured in such a way that Muslim youths will go to Christian areas to train and Christian youths will go to Muslim areas and train together. We registered 24 teams and they are from Jos North, Jos South, Riyom, Barkin Ladi where the crisis was higher.

Youths of these areas will be united in this tournament and they will make new friends after the crisis that had separated them for some time.”

The STF is not only sending massage of peace in Jos, it also went further by providing medical services free to citizens of the state to alleviate the effects of the war era.

Like the football tournament, the free medical services were concentrated at the six local governments within the Plateau North senatorial District where the conflict was more.

Chief of Defence Staff (CODS), Air Marshall Oluseyin Peterin, while flagging off a week-long free medical services recently, said the federal government’s effort in deploying military troops to Plateau State is generating dividend as relative peace has been restored to the troubled state.

According to Peterin, “The crisis in Plateau state has been a major source of concern to the federal government and all well meaning Nigerians, which was why the federal government deployed military troops to restore peace in the state.”

He said, “The deployment of soldiers has really helped in the prevailing peace we now enjoy in the state. The stakeholders, especially the youths, have agreed with us to stop the violence and they have demonstrated this resolve by refusing to react as a result of the last bomb blast that occurred in a Church last Christmas day.

“If it were to be in the past, such attack will witness violent reaction from all over Jos, but nobody reacted when the bomb blasted in the church last Christmas. This shows that everyone here has resolved to end the violence.

“Let me use the opportunity to commend the youths for cooperating with the soldiers in restoring peace to the state and I urge them to maintain the new spirit of peace prevailing in the state but so far, I can say the effort of government is not in vain.”

The CODS said, “We are embarking on a comprehensive peace building programme in Plateau State in collaboration with Nigeria Tourism Development Cooperation (NTDC) and Alliance Professional Resource Service Limited (APRESEL), one of which is the free medical week we held recently.

“The slogan of our peace building programme is ‘Plateau for Peace, Jos for Joy’ we started with the first phase where we established dialogue among stakeholders and this second phase is to offer free health services for Christians and Muslims in Barkin Ladi, Riyom, Jos South, Jos North and Jos South.”

If Jos can serve as destination for displaced natives of other states in the north, then one need not doubt that Plateau has regained its lost glory; Home of Peace and Tourism. The fact is that even if it is STFmade peace, or it is people-oriented, the most important thing is that peace has returned and plateau people are celebrating.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Life

55

Uganda’s growing army of single mothers Sunday Oguntola recently visited Uganda. In this report he writes about single ladies groaning under the yoke of single motherhood and child neglect.

P

EACE Musumba, an undergraduate of Makerere University, Kampala, considers herself a lucky survivor. Six years ago, while still in her teens she was impregnated by her equally teen-aged lover. He absconded and left her to struggle with the baby alone. It was such a traumatic experience for the political science undergraduate. ‘’I almost lost my senses,’’ she recalls. ‘’I never imagined someone I loved so dearly could turn around to deny me. I came out of it through sheer luck’’.

Uganda has many of her kinds. Most ladies in the country are raising children all alone.

Their children’s fathers have either absconded or abdicated responsibilities. This leaves these young, unprepared mothers with providing moral and financial support for such children.

The Federation International De Abogadas (Fida), a woman right group based in Kampala, estimated that over 1,000 single mothers report cases of child neglect by fathers and failure to offer maintenance support every year. In 2009, about 1,600 women filed such reports, according to Fida.

Children without fathers This situation has created an army of young single mothers all over Uganda. An unconfirmed statistics said one out of every three Ugandan lady has a child not catered for by a father.

Most single mothers who spoke with our correspondent bemoaned the development. ‘’Our men are just irresponsible. They get ladies pregnant and refuse to cater for the kids,’’Ms. Angumya, a social worker said. She has four kids for two men who have never been responsible for their upkeeps. This trend, she said, is common among Ugandan men. ‘’I don’t know why they do this, maybe you can ask them. But they hardly accept their responsibilities’’.

Beauty Kamukama echoes the same view. ‘’Believe me, it is the biggest worry with us (ladies). These guys profess loving you only to dump you once you are carrying a baby. It is a shame but what can we do? We are learning to cope,’’ she declared. Kamukama’s two kids are ‘’fatherless’’ she likes to say. ‘’Of what use are they? For me, they (the fathers) don’t exist because they are nothing to me or the kids.’’ She has tried every means to get them to provide upkeeps to no avail. ‘’I reported them at the probation office but nothing has changed. They keep making promises they have never fulfilled’’. ‘’We have children without fathers,’’ declared Rachael Mulumba, another single mother. Her four kids attend schools and live on her petty trading. Yet, this was far from her dream when she met Edris, her estranged husband. ‘’He was so convincing that I gave him my all. We lived apart but saw everyday. When the babies started arriving, he became an animal. He told me off when I had the last baby. I had been responsible for all of them ever since,’’ she stated in tears.

Unbearable burden This imbalance is causing Ugandan single mothers serious strains. ‘’I struggle all alone for them, feeding, schooling and clothing them.

How am I supposed to cope without a helper?’’, Angumya lamented. Her four children are too young to fend for themselves. The eldest just entered secondary school. Others are in primary section. Her braiding business does not generate enough to feed herself, let alone four kids.

She barely exists without much of hope. Her lot

is to struggle for the children until they can possibly help out.

Musumba is lucky to have supportive parents. But it has not been less strenuous. ‘’My parents help with my tuition but I have to get my son’s tuition. He is in a boarding school and has many requirements that I cannot provide. It is a tough thing to do and only God has been helping me’’.

Kamukama said it is an ‘’unbearable burden’’. ‘’I carry this burden everyday for myself and two children. I stumble every now and then.

Many times, we go hungry. I have watched my children thrown out of school and clothe less.

Yet, they have a father who has chosen to be dead while alive. It is something I do not wish for my worst enemy,’’ she shared.

Single mothers in government and corporate settings Our correspondent observed that most top Ugandan government officials are single. Some of them however have kids out of wedlock.

While some have separated, others have become estranged. The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, is a Ms. She was elected the first female speaker last year. Finance Minister, Maria Kiwanuka, is still a Ms. Ditto for Water and Environment Minister, Ms Maria Mutagamba. Police Spokesperson, JudithNabakoba, is also unmarried. Kampala Capital City Authority Executive Director, Jennifer Ssemakula, is also in the league of unmarried government officials. Ditto for State House Comptroller, Ms Lucy Nakyobe.

Many more of them exist in corporate organisations, local sources said. Many of them, it was learnt, chose career and personal freedom over marital encumbrances. A local journalist said, ‘’my interactions with some of them revealed they would rather make it to the top than be besieged by demanding husbands’’.

They can provide for their children without blinking. But it is not so with young ladies battling for survival. ‘’Many of us have not even fended for ourselves, let alone catering for kids.

It is so callous but what can we do? ‘’Kamukama observed.

Where are the men?

Investigations revealed that most Ugandan men abdicate paternal responsibility for economic reasons. Unemployment remains high in the country with rising inflation. A dollar exchanges for Shs 2,300(Ugandan shilling).

Poverty remains pervasive, especially in towns and villages. Purchasing power is dwindling.

This is forcing many young men to walk away from the reality of unplanned fatherhood.

Emma Talemwa, a shoe mender, has two kids with a 20-year-old lady said he cannot assume responsibility because he is poor. ‘’I want to help but I cannot. I can barely feed myself. How can I add other mouths? I wished I did not have them but the lady said she wanted babies. Now, she has them and has to look after them,’’ he told our reporter on a football field in Kampala where he was watching a match. If the lady had agreed to abortion, she wouldn’t have been in such a mess, he insisted. ‘’We were not ready but she wanted the baby. When I have money, I will go for them’’.

Samson Kasadha believes every rightthinking man loves to be responsible. ‘’We are eager to help out but how can we? You cannot even feed yourself yet. The economy is tough and you have to survive first before others,’’ he

•Single mothers at a vocational centre in Kampala

•Musubma (r) at a camp for single mothers

reasoned. His child has remained with a lady he impregnated some four years ago. ‘’I call to ask after him. During festivals, I try to see him.

He knows me but I cannot help much now.

Maybe later,’’ he added.

But poverty is not exclusive to Uganda.

How come Ugandan men are not living up to their responsibilities? ‘’I think it is a mindset,’’ according to Stecia ‘’They just want to use women and dump them. It is such a big issue here. They want to eat their cake and have it’’.

Pat Eupal agreed. Men have dumped her several times after having their fill. ‘’For them, it is just fun. Have as many men as possible and move on. They don’t want strings or anything to tie them down’’.

Such reckless living is responsible for the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the East Africa nation. It took intensive injection of grants and government’s steadfastness to reduce the pandemic to 6.5% national rate. Over 1.2 million children have been estimated to have died from HIV/AIDS. Experts say 64,000 Ugandans die of HIV/AIDS every year. While ladies have learnt to live with the scourge, they dread pregnancy like a plague.

Esther Kasirye Kisekka, a nurse and HIV/ AIDS counsellor in Kampala, says Ugandan ladies fear pregnancy more than HIV/AIDS. “Two university girls, between 19 and 21 years old, sat in my office about six months ago. Both were found to be HIV positive and pregnant.

Surprisingly they did not care about the HIV infection and how to manage it. All they cared about was how to get an abortion. This is only one of the many stories we hear.’’

A united front The fear of single motherhood, for them, is the beginning of wisdom. They have seen many of their friends and acquaintances choke under its yoke. They will rather die than become

single mothers. The pain of bringing up ‘fatherless’ children is so unbearable, the prospect better imagined than experienced. This is why they formed an association to better their lot.

Single Mothers Association of Uganda (SMAU), it is an interest group heavily funded by international donors. The group has trained over 800 child mothers and 1,500 adults in vocational skills in the last three years.

It offers trainings in children rights and responsibilities, child parenthood issues, life skills, child sexual abuse, reproductive health rights, parenting s and communication and counselling skills, leadership skills and basic human rights.

Key donors include Red Barnet, The British High Commission , Netherlands Embassy, DANIDA, Save the Children Denmark , World Bank, Ministry of Health and EU — Civil Society Capacity Building Programme etc.

The group is empowering single mothers with vocational skills for self-reliance. Some of them are reporting cases of child neglect to relevant authorities. But using the law has never been effective. Joy Nsamba, 46, a single mother of six and nursing officer, said ‘’I gave up after three years of trying talking to him (father of her child) and reporting him to the probation office in my home district because nothing changed.

They tried to use force on him and he eventually ran to the village. That is when I threw in the towel.”

This is why these ladies are taking their destiny into their own hands. They are taking the bull by the horn. Forming a united front, they believe, will offer them solace, protection and provision. Musumba, who is a member, says she is a living testimony. But sometimes, she wished she did what her friends suggested six years ago: abortion.

56

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Life

I

N Africa children are regarded as gifts from God, and as gifts they are never rejected. However, sometimes they go to parents who are poor and may not be able to feed or take care of their needs.

It is also a common proverb on the continent that “children are blind and as such cannot choose their parents”, the wisdom of this is that if they (the children) were not ‘blind’ they would choose to be delivered to a wealthy family. This is because multiple births are very common among the less privileged, mostly artisans.

One of such women with the multiple blessing is Mrs Nwakaego Ezeama from Uli, Ihiala local government area.

A full time housewife, she has been blessed with four sets of twins! That is not all she recently delivered triplets again.

Now she has eleven mouths to feed and to compound her plight, the father of the children has absconded from house because he could not think out how to feed the ‘football team’ at home.

Not wanting to allow the children to die in hunger, Mrs. Ezeama resorted to begging at the Pedestrian Bridge, Awka.

Here she solicits for alms from passersby and use the proceeds to cater for them. This may soon stop as she was last week listed among the beneficiary of a programme of benevolence by the First Lady of Anambra State, Mrs Margaret Peter-Obi. The programme being coordinated through the office of the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, has empowered and encouraged her and other less privileged women to join a co-operative society in her village. Through this she could get loans and start a trade of her own.

Mrs. Ezeama was full of praises for Mrs. Obi and the state government for remembering her as the burden of taking care of the triplets with their brothers and sisters have been reduced by the government’s gesture. She assured that she would take advantage of the government skill acquisition centres and co-operatives to upgrade her income. She said she has been suffering until this assistance from the government as nobody wanted to know how she was taking care of the babies hence she resorted to begging.

Teaching a woman to fish Some of the other beneficiaries included Mr. and Mrs. Chinenye Uba, a house wife with triplets from Igboukwu; Okoye Nnamdi Chikwendu with her triplets; Oluebube Okonkwo from Ifite Awka, also with triplets. That is not all; Mrs Anthonia Ifeanyi from Amansea is also a mother to triplets while Mr. and Mrs. Joel Okafor from Umunze are also belessed with same.

At a ceremony at the Women Development Centre, Mrs. Obi gave bounties worth about N2 million to parents of triplets and multiple children in the state.

The parents, drawn from the three senatorial zones of the state were given N30,000 each with baby beverages,

•Mrs. Obi and aa set of triplets

In aid of multiple births Anambra State government has created a programme through which it assists parents with multiple births. Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, reports

•Cross of the mothers and their children

food stuff and other toiletries as a support from the government.

Addressing the beneficiaries, Mrs. Obi encouraged them to make judicious use of the assistance from the state government for the benefit of their children. She encouraged them

to join Co-operative societies in their villages and avail themselves of the opportunity of using the soft loans available to them to improve on their lives and expand their businesses.

“My advice is that they should use it wisely, put it in

anything that can yield income. You can put it into farming, trade or petty business which Igbo people call ‘Afia table’. There is nothing you cannot sell and from there you can yield extra income which you can combine with that of your husband’s to take care of

your children. I encourage you to identify with the various cooperative societies that are available in your communities to expand your business for the betterment of your family’’.

Mrs. Obi, however, expressed sadness with some mothers of twins and triplets who used the babies for street begging, an act she described as child abuse. She urged such mothers to have a change of heart and avail themselves of the state government’s offer of learning a trade at the various skills acquisition centres or join the co-operative societies the government has encouraged in their villages.

She charged mothers to train their children in a way they would be useful to the society and country at large to avoid regrets, describing as wonderful and superfluous the way gives children to people with low income while those living in affluence may not have similar blessings.

The Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Dr Ego Uzoezie said the monetary assistance from the government to the women was a means of empowerment and not for the family to avoid a struggle between the men and their wives over usage of the money.

She said the “Anambra State Integrated Development Strategy (ANIDS) has become a philosophy for an all-round and simultaneous development, a fulcrum around which social, economic, political, educational and human engineering revolves. A close look at the principles, which underscores ANIDS will show its affinity with the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals, and Nigeria’s current seven point agenda.

“The philosophy of the skills acquisition programme of Mr. President which embodies, among other things, the 1st, 3rd and 7th UN Millennium Development Goals relate to eradication of extreme poverty, empowerment of the females, and ensuring environmental sustainability.’’

In an interview the Desk Officer/ Director of Child Development , Mr Emeka Ejide, said apart from the monetary gifts to the ten families, nutritional support were give to the parents of the triplets and multiple children noting that the unique thing in the bounties was that the Governor did not discriminate, it went to both indigenes and non indigenes.

According to him, the bounties to parents of triplets and multiple births was initiated by the Military Government in 1972 as a way of alleviating the sufferings of parents of multiple births in the training and upkeep of their children because of the discovery that multiple births occur mostly among the poor.

Another beneficiary Mr Onu Cyril from Enugu-Ezike thanked the governor and his wife as well as the people of Anambra State for the honour and support to their families noting that if not for gestures from well spirited individuals and the government it would have been difficult to discharge the responsibilities of taking care of God’s blessings alone.

57

BUSINESS

‘Employee motivation key to productivity’

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

T

O borrow or not to borrow?

That is the psychological question of the hour being hotly debated by Nigerians.

President Goodluck Jonathan recently sent separate letters to the Senate and House of Representatives requesting the approval of both chambers to borrow the sum of $7.9billion (about N1.89trillion), from the World Bank, African Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, Exim Bank of China and Indian lines of credit, for the funding of pipeline projects in the country. The loans are to be used to cover pipeline projects captured in the 2012 to 2014 External Borrowing Plan.

In one of the letters read by the Senate President, David Mark, President Goodluck Jonathan said, “The pipeline projects are at various stages of finalisation. Therefore, I present herewith a total external pipeline borrowing in the amount of $7,905,690,000 or $2.64billion a year, being the cumulative facilities offered by the World Bank, African Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, Exim Bank of China and Indian lines of credit.”

“In that regard, a number of projects have been designed to create employment opportunities with a view to growing the economy. We also urge the National Assembly to note that the objectives of the projects conform to the transformation agenda of our administration and cut across various sectors of the economy. The initiatives are meant to put the economy on track through growth and employment.”

Justifying the need for the loans, the President also informed the National Assembly that the initiative is geared towards the implementation of the transformation agenda of his administration and also aimed at driving growth, employment, which would ultimately put the economy back on track.

Implication If the National Assembly approves the requests for the loans, Nigeria’s foreign debt will increase to $11.5billion. The Federal Government currently owes $3.5billion ($2.9billion from multilateral loans and $597.65million from other commercial sources).

Opposing views against borrowing In the view of a social scientist, Mr. Gbenga Oyebanji, the pplan to borrow is an unwise decision considering the nation’s antecedence.

Going down memory lane, Oyebanji recalled that: “It was the crude oil price decline of late 70’s that made the then Shehu Shagari regime to apply to the International Monetary Fund for a three years extended facility loan of $2.3billion.”

The IMF, he recalled: “Gave over 17 conditions for such a loan and negotiations dragged on through the Buhari regime to Babangida’s regime, which started the hunger for debt in Nigeria. Debt spent on capital project makes economic sense but Nigeria’s case is cutting the nose to spite the face.”

Speaking further, he said: “In November 2005, Abuja won Paris club approval for debt relief that eliminated $18billion of debt in exchange for $12billion in payments, a total package worth $30billion of Nigeria’s total $37billion external debt by the then Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala.”

Citing statistics from the Debt Management Office, the Lagos State University graduate said: “Between 2007-2012, Nigeria’s debt has grown

Does Nigeria need $7.9bn loan?

President Goodluck Jonathan has hinted of plans to borrown $7,905,690,000 or N1.89trillion, being the cumulative facilities offered by the World Bank, African Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, Exim Bank of China and Indian lines of credit to fund pipeline projects. But opinions are divided as to the propriety or otherwise of the decision, with many Nigerians asking, are these loans in the public interest? Reports Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf

• Jonathan

•Okonjo-Iweala

• Kalu

•Onalo

to $40billion”, adding: “It took us 22 years to owe $37billion. It’s unbelievable that in five years, we are indebted to the tune of $40billion.

Echoing similar sentiments, Taofik Buraimoh, a public affairs analyst, holds the view and very strongly too that the nation’s economic leaders are inadvertently living above their means, hence the craze for loans.

According to him, “When the 2011 budget was presented, projected revenue stood at about N3.2trn but projected expenditure was over N1.1trn. How can one live above his means without being a thief?

“Our current external debt is $5.6billion and serviced with N0.51billion. When $7.9billion debt is added, we shall owe $13.4billion.

Proportionately, we shall service with N1.22trillion or 38.14% of our total revenue at current earnings.

Whosoever consents to the passage of the request will be doing Nigerians of this generation and those yet unborn a lot of harm than good”, Buraimoh stressed.

Buraimoh, who fell short of calling the Jonatahn-led administration a spendthrift, recalled that: “In his speech at the PDP presidential election primary, Mr. Atiku Abubarka accused Mr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan of drawing down the external reserves from $20billion to $3billion within eight months of his reign as president of Nigeria. No one has refuted it.”

Proponents of loan There are few discerning Nigerians who feel strongly that the groundswell of opposition over the Federal Government’s decision is missplaced.

One of the proponents of borrowing is renowned economist, Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu. Speaking with The Nation recently, he described as “scandalous” remarks by Nigerians rallying against loans from multilateral organisations as uncalled for and largely based on ignorance.

“Loans from such organisations as IMF, World Bank and others are cheap funds for anybody’s asking.”

The loans, he stressed, are at ridiculously cheaper rates compared to

conventional loans from banks.

Dr. Chris Onalo, Registrar/Chief Executive Officer, Institute of Credit Administration is also on the same page with Kalu.

Speaking in a telephone interview with The Nation, Onalo, said, there is nothing wrong about borrowing at all.

“I think in the first instance, there is actually nothing wrong in government borrowing as long as the borrowing is development-driven. If they need to deliver development and raise the standard of the economy to a solid level there is nothing wrong in borrowing”, he said.

“Nigeria as a country is a member of many multilateral and development agencies and therefore must take advantage of its membership of these bodies to access funds that it has the basis to borrow because if we don’t take it, other nation may take it.”

He was however quick to add that: “The reason why Nigerians are skeptical of the borrowing is because of lack of transparency in borrowing.”

Canvassing support for borrowing, he said: “The truth is, we have a lot of development projects in Nigeria begging for funds. The internally generated funds may not be enough.

Therefore government must go out to look for additional funds. To be a credit-worthy economy is not when you don’t borrow. An economy that is not borrwoing is a redundant and lazy economy. So, Nigeria must borrow because we have need for infrastructural development.

“If you have to build good road networks, rail system, waterway transportation system, borrowing becomes necessary because with the level of infrastructural limitations we have, it shows that Nigeria is not in existence in the real sense of the word.”

“But like I said, we have got the problem of resource management.

So far, although government is trying its best, their best is not good enough because of the problem of corruption which is endemic in the system. As much as these fears are not unfounded, we cannot sustain it.

Even if we say people will decide to pocket about 40 per cent of monies borrowed, it is still better than not borrowing at all because local funds will be stressed.

“My advise therefore as a credit analyst, is that our leaders should show dividends of transparency. Our government should be ready to tackle this monster of corruption without fear or favour.”

Pray, are the authorities listening?

-- Page 59

Briefs Institute to host forum on HR

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HE Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria has hinted of plans to host its annual Special Human Resource Forum in April, President and Chairman of Council, Mr. Abiola Popoola, has said.

He spoke in Lagos at a press conference.

According to him, the institute’s fourth HR forum is targeted at human resource personnel in both private and public organisations.

The CIPM boss added that the theme of the forum was, “Maximising Employee Performance for Corporate Success.”

Expatiating, the CIPM boss said the annual forum is designed to address the topical issues facing HR practice in Nigeria, adding that an internationally renowned HR expert had been invited to anchor the programme and deliver the leading thoughts.

He said, “The special human resource forum is envisioned to create regional integration of HR leaders and practice by attracting globally renowned HR authorities to discuss topical issues and the guest speaker at this year’s event is Prof. Michael Dickman of the Cranfield Scholl of Management, United Kingdom.

“The essence of HR is to make the organisation get the best from its workforce and this forum will teach participants how to achieve this with fewer struggles.”

Popoola further noted that the forum, which commenced in 2008, aimed at contributing to the continuous professional development of its members and non-members who are interested in HR issues for sustainable national development.

He explained that the forum will allow participants to debate and ask questions from chosen resource persons for insights that could affect implementation of whatever was articulated at the gathering.

“Organising such forum is in line with realising CIPM’s vision to be the foremost people management institute in Africa, respected across the globe,” he said.

Also present at the press conference was Mr. Sunday Adeyemi, Registrar/CEO and Mr. Segun Openiyi, Chair, Institutional Development Committee all of the institute.

STOCK MARKET REVIEW THE Nigeria Stock Exchange All-Share Index recorded an impressive outing in key sectors last week.

Leading the pack, was the banking sector, which went upbeat last week as participants took positions in anticipation of Financial Year results, leading to a rally in the prices of all but three stocks in the sector.

GTBank lost less than 1.0% cumulatively, as demand hovered between N14.00 and N14.30, while Union Bank also lost 5.0%. On the flip side, robust demand for UBA during daily sessions resulted in a 25.9% gain, while First Bank and Skye Bank also moved up by 14.4% and 13.0% respectively.

Profit taking trimmed off marginal points from Eterna Oil, while bearish sentiments also shaved off 8.3% and 9.8% cumulatively from Forte Oil and Conoil respectively. On the other hand, Oando rallied with a 9.6% cumulative gain.

The building materials sector however went fully to the bears, with Lafarge Wapco shedding over 7.0% and closing at N40.80, its lowest price this year. Dangote Cement, CCNN and Ashaka Cement also lost 4.7%, 2.3% and 1.9% respectively.

• Compiled by Daniel Popoola

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

How non-oil exports drive economy In this report, I b r a h i m Apekhade Yusuf gives insight into the potentials of the non-oil exports T a time when the country’s earnings from its major revenue source, oil, is dipping as a result of instability in the world market occasioned by oscilating prices, there is a consensus of opinion that the nonoil export sector holds a lot of promise as a ready cash cow.

But the irony, however, is that the sector, promising as it is, has suffered serious setbacks, chief among which is the inconsistency in government policies.

Potentials of non-oil sector From available information, the Nigerian non-oil export sector has deep agro-allied linkages made up of semiprocessed and processed agricultural products such as cocoa, cashew, sesame seed, ginger, gum Arabic, shrimps, cotton and rubber. The country is also a major exporter of finished leather which has direct linkage to the livestock growers.

Expectedly, the export sector has helped in no small measure to boost the incomes of over ten million farmers in

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rural areas across the length and breadth of the country.

A case in point is that during the global financial crisis, Nigeria’s non-oil sector not only soared high but helped absorb the shock caused by sharp fall in oil revenues.

Giving an insight into the benefit of the non-oil sector on the economy, Dr. Gbadebo Odudaru, in his book, titled: “Nigeria-U.S. Trade Relations in the Non-Oil Sector”, he said the country had received respectable earnings from nonoil sector, a fact, made manifest in the rising GDP growth.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria Economic report for the third quarter of 2007, was estimated at 6.05 per cent compared with 5.73 per cent in the second quarter. The growth was driven by major agriculture activities in the non-oil

sector such as yam, Irish and sweet potatoes, groundnuts and maize, which was estimated at 9.47 per cent.”

Impact of government policy The Federal Government in its determination to drive growth in the non-oil sector has put in place certain policy frameworks such as the Export Expansion Grant (EEG) scheme which operates under the legal context provided under the Export (Incentives and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1986.

The policy which is a fiscal policy instrument is implemented under the guidelines issued by the Federal Ministry of Finance and enforced by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), the apex agency responsible for the administration of the policy in conjunction with other key implementation agencies such as the CBN and Nigeria Customs.

The export grant is given

PHOTO SHOP

•L-R: Mr Rufai Ladipo, member, Jericho Businessmen Club, Remi Babalola, General Secretary, and Chief Olatunde Aboderin, President, during the 10th Anniversary Press Conference organized by Jericho Businessmen Club held at Airport Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos recently.

PHOTOS: BADE DARAMOLA

•L-R: Ms Arunma Oteh, Director General, SEC addressing the pressmen and Communication Adviser, Mr Adindu of SEC, at the media briefing on the Nigerian Capital Market organized

by Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) held at Sharaton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos recently

•Robert Orya, NEXIM boss

to exporters to cushion the impact of infrastructural disadvantages faced by Nigerian exporters and make our exports competitive in the international market.

The fund is only available to exporters who have repatriated in full the proceeds from their export transactions, which must be certified by the CBN as eligible.

Interestingly, the present EEG Policy underwent clinical reform in 2006 during the first term of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the then Finance minister. With technical assistance from international consultants PriceWaterHouseCoopers (PWC), the scheme was streamlined to make it more effective by categorizing the export products according to degree of value addition and processing and rewarding those companies which generated higher export growth and new investment in export capacity building.

Besides the EEG, the Export Adjustment Scheme (EAS), Export Processing Zone, the Nigeria Import Export Bank (NEXIM), among other instruments have been put in place to ensure a hitchfree export trade.

Investment profile of non-oil export According to export market analysts, the growth in non-oil exports in the last few years has been enormous, rising from $1 billion in 2006 to $2.3 billion in 2010, a development, they attributed to the favourable policy matrix of government made possible during OkonjoIweala’s first term as finance minister.

It is also instructive to note that the Bank of

Industry’s intervention in the sector may have also impacted positively.

Analysts easily point to the almost comatose Nigerian textile industry. With the lifeline from the BOI, some of the remaining textile mills have embarked on re-tooling of their equipment. Some companies are even going in for industrial or technical textiles to have a competitive edge.

Market diversification It’s interesting to observe how persistent efforts of Nigerian exporting companies have led to the acceptance of their products in some of the highly quality conscious customers and markets. Consider a few examples.

Ten years after AGOA (African Growth & Opportunity Act) was passed by USA to allow duty free access to products from sub-Saharan Africa, Nigerian exports seem to have achieved a breakthrough.

Today, Nigerian products such as cocoa beans and butter, dried-split ginger, leather, woven sacks and technically specified rubber (TSR) are being exported to the US. Hibiscus flowers are also being exported to USA. Available information from the NEPC indicates that EU accounts for 56% market share of Nigeria’s non-oil exports, followed by the regional ECOWAS with 11% share Employment generation There are over two hundred exporting companies in Nigeria. CBN publishes the list of top 100 export companies. According to industry experts, the direct employment in the non-oil export companies is estimated at about 200,000 while indirect employment in the agriculture sector which gains from the market linkages provided by the exporting companies is estimated over ten million. A large cashew processing plant set up in Kwara State directly employs 1500 people, mostly rural women. The cashew kernels are processed and packed, direct for shipment to developed countries such as USA and Europe.

Cluster development A very positive fall out of the non-oil export expansion has been the emergence of export processing clusters.Challawa Industrial Es-

tate in Kano has emerged as a major export cluster with modern tanneries situated in this zone.

Annual exports from this industrial zone which also has an integrated textile mills are estimated over $700 million.

Likewise,cocoa processing clusters have emerged in south Western part of the country,rubber processing in Sapele in Delta State and large scale shrimp processing in Lagos. The private companies located in these clusters have invested in plant and machinery and infrastructure, almost substituting the role of the government, to meet international quality standards and provide employment to hundreds of thousands directly and indirectly.

Boosting foreign exchange earnings Boosting export earnings becomes even more pertinent today in view of weakening exchange rate of Naira and shrinking foreign exchange reserves. According to an NEPC official who is familiar with the past export trends, “a positive feature of the EEG scheme has been the tendency on the part of exporters to operate through official channels which compliments CBN efforts to discourage the unofficial forex market in Nigeria”.

Top 20 Exporters (2009)Rank Country Exports (USD) Billion 1 China 1202 2 Germany 1126 3 USA 1056 4 Japan 581 5 Netherlands 498 6 France 485 7 Italy 406 8 Belgium 370 9 South Korea 364 1 0UK 352 1 1Canada 317 1 2Russia 303 1 3Mexico 230 1 4Spain 219 1 5Taiwan 204 1 6Saudi Arabia 192 1 7UAE 175 1 8Switzerland 173 1 9India 163 2 0Malaysia 157 Total world exports 12,490 Source: WTO International Trade Statistics 2010

Kwara woos American agro investors

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MERICAN global agro companies have hinted of plans to partner with the Kwara State government on the proposed agric mega city.

Renowned international plant breeder, Prof Ronnie Coffman announced this while participating at the inauguration of the Committee on Kwara AgricCity Masterplan recently.

Coffman, an international professor of plant breeding and Director of International Programs, Cornell University, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, New York, said, Kwara has productive and livable land to produce food for the West African subregion.

The varsity don expressed confidence that Kwara State has what it

By Daniel Essiet

takes to develop the agriculture sub-sector and ultimately lead the global fight against hunger and rural poverty.

To achieve this, he said the state needs the collaboration of global agro businesses ready to invest in new and emerging markets, adding that as a proposed agric hub for West Africa, Kwara stands to enjoy the support of world class investors.

While responding, the Executive Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, said the government is determined to ensure that the people of the state move out of poverty and live a meaningful life.

According to him, the agric city masterplan is aimed at achieving better and sustainable results in economic

growth and ultimately reducing poverty.

He said the government is determined to transforme the state into a modern economy and modernization of agriculture is central in the process of transformation.

In the state government’s determination to strengthen the state’s capacity for agriculture-driven development, the governor inaugurated an eight-man Kwara Agriculture Modernisation Plan Team made up of three professors of agriculture from Cornell University, New York and their counterparts from the Universities of Ilorin and Kwara State University, KWASU, as well as Abayomi Ogunshola, Senior Special Assistant on Investment Promotion, Policy and Strategy to the Governor.

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Business

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HAT informed the membership validation being carried out by the institute?

You know the institute has been in existence for a long time. We were actually chartered since 1992. And many of our members have become dormant. Going through our records, we found out that our nominal rolls, in terms of those who have registered with us, vis-à-vis our active members, we only have under 2, 000 active members. So, there is a high level of dormancy of people who have been old in the institute, either due to lack of interest, either due to the fact that they have ignored what is expected of them in terms of their duties. We want them to know that as our members, there is a minimum level of participation in the activity that we expect of them.

So, the essence of the issue of trying to revamp is just to bring them back.

How soon do you expect to get results?

We are already placing advertisements in the dailies to sensitise our members on the need to live up to their responsibilities in terms of paying subscription fees, in terms of participating in either branch programmes; you need to assure us that you are still active in practice. Because as our member there is a minimum level of standard you have to deliver as far as professionalism is concerned. If you don’t participate in our activities how are we sure that you are still current, ok? So this is just to remind our members that to bear our membership there is a minimum level of exposure required of you.

Does the institute have any affiliation either locally or internationally?

We are part of the professional bodies in the country made up of ICAN and so on. As professional bodies, we have a relationship but not affiliation. Each professional body has its own mandate, which the government or the authorities will want you to face.

But behind that mandate, we have areas where we collaborate from time to time.

Outside the country, we have relationship with bodies like CIPD in the UK, HSRS in the US, and the programmes that they run over there and the ones here, we try to see how we can leverage each other’s strength.

You talk about building the skills set of your members. Is there any programme for those who are getting to retirement, for life after retirement?

You know the Human Resources skill set is a very big one. And part of that is managing cessation and managing transitions, managing change. So when you are transiting from paid employment to retirement, it is a very major transition state of ones life and part of the skill set that we have in HR, is advisory; it is how do we get people to understand the changing phases of their lives and all that. We have skill sets in the institute which helps people to prepare for retirement, life after retirement. There is one programme to address specific requirements of people.

Don’t forget, as HR we are the expert on people. We help to recruit staff, get them trained and retrained, to motivating them.

Motivation is a very big issue. Ok, I can get a good person to come and join me, but he may come here and not do his best.

So, there is a whole issue in HR, which focus on how do you get people to give of their best all the time, maximising employee performance.

You cannot just assume that because I have the skills set and knowledge that I will use it. There are people in some companies that don’t use their capabilities; they don’t feel like doing it.

The public service is peopled with individuals with very high qualifications, but we don’t think they are giving of their best to the civil service. It all boils down to the issue of motivation.

Also take the case of Nigerian professionals like sportsmen for instance, when they play for the national team how do they play, it is anyhow. But when they play with their clubs in Europe, it is fantastic! And it is the same person. What

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

‘Employee motivation key to productivity’ Mr. Abiola Popoola is President/Chairman of Council, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM), the umbrella body for human resource expert operating in public and private organisations. Popoola served as the Human Resource Director, Guinness Nigeria Plc until his retirement in 2004. He is currently the Managing Partner, Context Consulting. In this interview with Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf, he shares his perspective on HR practice in the country among other issues

• Popoola

INTERVIEW has happened? That is motivation. As HR managers we are concerned with how do we get employees, who form the core assets of our companies to get them to do the most for their companies.

As an HR expert, which motivation model do you think will align with present realities?

You see models are ways of explaining complex things in simple ways. There are so many models to use. The model that is appropriate is the A-Way of thinking, a

paradigm, that we believe is very important. See the individual as a whole person that has different sizes to them. So, if you don’t address the totality of the human being as a person, you cannot get the most out of him, ok?

So motivation is important. Human beings are sovereign entities, as such they are able to take decision, and they can pretend to be pleasing you. But for them to do their best, you should see them as a total person that has different kinds of needs.

They have physical needs, they have emotional needs, they have spiritual needs, and they have intellectual needs.

“The public service is peopled with individuals with very high qualifications, but we don’t think they are giving of their best to the civil service. It all boils down to the issue of motivation. Also take the case of Nigerian professionals like sportsmen for instance, when they play for the national team how do they play, it is anyhow. But when they play with their clubs in Europe, it is fantastic! And it is the same person. What has happened? That is motivation”

HR professionals tend to look at employees as a total person; hence they must do things that make them stay connected and involved to ensure even development.

What are punitive measures you have in place to reprimand members who may flout the code of conduct?

We have a disciplinary committee that is on ground to treat cases of infraction involving our members. Whenever there is a case, it must be reported, there must be a genuine reportage of a default and then the committee will look at it and where it is found to be below expectation, different level of sanctions are applied. That is what we have in place now. The worst case scenario is that when you fall short of our code of conduct, which guides us, when this is flouted, the person is at risk of losing his membership, that is the most grievous punishment we can hand down.

Have there been cases of members being delisted as a result of their nefarious activities?

There is actually none yet. I don’t think it is because they are not flouting it. But we have not got well-documented cases formally reported to us. Once we get a report about a defaulting member, the committee will look at it and where the person is found guilty, we will not hesitate to delist that member from our register.

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Business

THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2011

COMPANY NEWS

Beyond Int’l body partners local agencies Talent to improve outdoor ads I A crash course in

By Adetayo Okusanya

N their determination to raise the bar in the area of outdoor advertising in the country, some of the leading outdoor advertising agencies in the country have forged a synergy of cooperation with the Federation European Publicite Exterieur, (FEPE) International, the global body for outdoor advertising companies across the world.

The memorandum of understanding on possible part-

Stories by Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf

nership was the highpoint of the discussion following the visit of Mr. Barry Sayer, President of FEPE International, to Nigeria recently.

Sayer who led a South African delegation made up of Dafe Diejomaoh Adelaide Mckelvey and Julieah Muthama was received by the President Outdoor Advertising Association of

Nigeria (OAAN), Dr Charles Chijide and other professionals.

Explaining the status of FEPE, Sayer observed that: “Since its inception FEPE has become a global association playing a leading role in the direction of outdoor advertising research and engages in worldwide lobbying for outdoor advertising with authorities, international organisations, political opinion formers and the media.”

The OAAN boss who later held a roundtable meeting with relevant stakeholders in the advertising sub-sector, lamented the proliferation of state government-owned revenue generation advertising body laws, policies on enforcement.

Expatiating, Chijide decried the excessive tax regime required for billboards, stressing that the tax imposition is not based on globally accepted standards.

UN, others target 2030 for sustainable energy in Africa

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XPERTS have expressed optimism that Africa can achieve sustainable energy by 2030.

Making this projection recently was Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and Adnan Amin, Director General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

According to these experts, if all stakeholders across Africa can make the right commitments, it is possible to achieve sustainable energy for all on the continent by 2030.

Speaking at an event marking the Africa rollout of the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All at the

UNEP headquarters in Nairobi, they emphasised the importance of energy for economic and social development across the continent, to improve the lives of the poorest in a more sustainable manner.

Investments in clean energy allow countries in the region to harness substantial renewable energy resource endowments and leapfrog to modern and efficient infrastructure development.

The two leaders referred to many examples that are implemented throughout the region already and that should be replicated and scaled up.

H.E. Ms. Terezya Luoga Hovisa, Minister of State, Ministry for Environment,

Tanzania and Vice-President, the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), highlighted the enormous renewable energy potential ranging from solar, geothermal, hydro, wind and modern biomass that can be harnessed to achieve universal access to energy.

“I call upon all actors to work together to implement the commitments outlined in the 2011 Johannesburg Declaration of the Africa Energy Ministers Conference,” Hovisa said.

Steiner and Amin called attention to the Sustainable Energy for All initiative launched by UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon – a

unique partnership between business, government and civil society designed to achieve sustainable energy for all by 2030.

The Secretary-General has three interlinked objectives for his initiative: to ensure universal access to energy, double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency, and double the share of renewables in the global energy mix, all by 2030.

Steiner, who also serves as a UN Under-Secretary-General, called for implementation of the initiative’s “Framework for Action,” designed to guide the work of governments, the private sector and civil society as they mobilize, facilitate, and monitor efforts

IFAD President tasks leaders on poverty reduction

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ROM the President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Kanayo F. Nwanze, has come a clarion call: we must adopt “perseverance, patience and determination” to reduce rural poverty and create climate-smart ways for smallholders to build their resilience.”

He made this declaration in his address to the 35th Governing Council in Rome, Italy, stressing the world must stay committed to pull up to 90 million people out of poverty.

“The time has come for smallholders to play their rightful role in contributing to economic growth and food security,” Nwanze told a gathering of world leaders, international policymakers, farmer representatives and government ministers.

“When these farmers are recognized as small entrepreneurs, when they have access to better resources and incentives, and when they have access to markets and an enabling environment, they can transform their communities, their own lives, and indeed the world.”

With a world population projected to be more than 9 billion in 2050, Nwanze called for “perseverance, patience and determination” to reduce rural poverty and create climate-smart ways for smallholders to build their resilience.”

Specifically emphasising IFAD’s ground-breaking Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme, Nwanze added that the Fund has a critical role to play helping smallholders adapt to a

changing climate while also reducing emissions and safeguarding the natural resource base.

Nwanze highlighted the importance of women, who shoulder a heavy workload in rural areas. IFAD has long recognized that there will be no substantial progress in poverty reduction unless there is greater investment in women,

one half of humanity.

And with more than half of the rural population in developing countries between the ages of 15 and 25, Nwanze challenged leaders of the developing world to work in partnership with IFAD to “harness youth’s tremendous energy and provide opportunities for them, particularly in rural areas.”

“We will need the young people of today to be the farmers of tomorrow,” he added.

Since taking office in 2009, Nwanze has overseen a change and reform agenda which has improved IFAD’s efficiency with projects being implemented more quickly, with less delay between approval and first disbursement.

Institute honours rector

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S a result of his outstanding leadership role in entrepreneurship education, the Rector of the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Professor Godwin Onu, was invested with an honorary fellow and patron of the Institute of Entrepreneurs, Nigeria, recently.

Professor Onu who was ably represented by his Deputy, Dr. Don Muo, expressed his appreciation to the Institute for recognizing and rewarding his team’s effort.

He also thanked them for their “wonderful collaborations that have been motivating his institution to teach and practice entrepreneurship as guided by NBTE.” The ceremony which also saw the induction of over 100 new members was graced by the President of the Institute, Dr Usman Bokani Ahmed, Professor Sola Fajana of Ayo Babalola University, Professor Godwin Oshodin of University of Benin and Dr. Olu Akeusola of Micheal Otedola College of Primary Education, Epe, Lagos.

•Deputy Rector, Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State, Dr. Don Muo receiving an honourary fellowship award on behalf of the Rector, Prof. Godwin Onu from the Executive Secretary, Institute of Entreprenures, Dr. Rotimi Oladele in Anambra recently

Email: adetayookusanya@hotmail.com

career construction

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UILDING a successful career is similar in many ways to building a house. For many of us, owning an asset such as a home is a long term investment because it consumes a great deal of our time, energy and finances. We are willing to make this sacrifice because we believe our capital investment will appreciate. A successful career can be as much an asset as a house. Today I will share with you concepts in building construction that, if applied to career management, will increase your chances of having sustained success in your career.

Vision: One can never over-emphasize the power of a vision. Every technological innovation that has ever come about started as an idea in someone’s mind. You must see in your mind’s eye the end goal. What is the big idea for your life and career? As easily as the image of your dream house comes to your mind, picture yourself at height of your career. What are you doing? What are you saying?

Who are you doing or saying it to? Where are you? What are others saying or writing about you at that time? Translate your answers into long term goals and career ambitions and write these down in your journal. Let them be your true north i.e. the compass that guides you towards self-actualization.

Teamwork: It takes more than one person to successfully build a house. It takes a team of architects, engineers, builders and inspectors to transform a house from idea to reality. So also, a successful career is built through the help of a team of mentors, sponsors, career advisers, coaches, counselors, supporters etc. They help you avoid career pitfalls, call attention to your blind spots, show you how to gain competitive advantage and keep you on the right track to accomplishing your career goals.

Design: Only an inept builder begins construction on a house without having the architectural and engineering plans in place. Your career blueprint (plan) should be a timeline of activities you will undertake to reach your desired end. Best practice suggests that your plan should not exceed a ten year time frame and should be broken down into manageable short term goals. This way, you are able to regularly measure how well you are doing against your plan. Focus your career plan on experiences, competencies and skills you need to function successfully at the height of your career. A job or a promotion can be taken from you, but the experiences, knowledge and skills you have acquired remain yours for life.

Foundation: You can have the best architectural design for a building however, a foundational mistake can result in the ultimate destruction of that building. A career can also be destroyed if the foundation of that career is unstable. At the root of every career lies a certain set of core values, some of which foster success and longevity, while others do not. As you gear yourself up for the year, revisit the ideologies that guide the worth you place on ideas, things, behaviors, and by extension your choices. What core values will you stand for this year? Being aware of the values that are important to you will help you be more effective in managing conflicts, making decisions and maintaining the integrity of your character.

Framework: Many business management consultants will tell you that you can have the best idea in the world and still fail if the idea is not set within the right framework. The framework must be built according to the design, if the building is to truly serve its purpose. The framework of your career consists of pillars upon which your work outputs and success will rest. The choices you make about your education, professional training, the types of roles you take on and the industry, company, department and associations that you become a part of, will frame the course of your career. Inconsistent choices will result in a career that is less than optimal.

Finishing: You can have two buildings built exactly the same way, i.e. the same design, foundation and framework, but differences in finishing can ultimately result in differences in the perceived value of both buildings. Similarly, you can have two professionals with similar background and job responsibilities, but one will be valued over the other if his work output is considered to be of superior quality and his style (personality and vibe) is preferred. The frequency of errors in your reports, the visual appeal of your presentations, your depth of insight, your communication style, your professionalism, your confidence, your attitude to work, your appearance, your contributions to decisions and your ability to work in teams, all contribute to perception of value that others place on you.

When you invest time, energy and resources in establishing the right vision, team, design, foundation, framework and finishing for your career, your professional brand will experience significant increase in value and market demand.

• Okusanya is CEO of ReadinessEdge

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WORLD NEWS THE NATION ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Taming Boko Haram, rebel Car bomb kills 25 in Yemen A groups in West Africa F

OR almost two years now, there have been instability and security challenges in most Arab countries in North Africa and the Middle East including Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Sudan and Syria. In what is now generally referred to as the Arab spring, former Tunisian President, Ben Ali and former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak were ousted, former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed and civil uprisings against the governments of Syria and Bahrain have increased.

The crises made access to small arms, heavy and dangerous weapons easier.

Because of the easy movements of these weapons from these Arab countries, and connections and support of Alqada and other international terrorist groups, security challenges in some West Africa countries have continued to escalate.

It is now believed that there are massive caches of dangerous weapons in West Africa and provision of trainings and support by international terrorist groups to some new terrorists groups in the region.

As a direct consequence of these, what could have been thought to be impossible in the region some years ago, now happens. Suicide bombings, car bombings, piracy and other insurgencies under whatever guise have become the order of the day.

In Nigeria, the onslaught of the deadly Islamic sect, Boko Haram has resulted in the death of about 1,000 persons in the past year. The group, in well coordinated attacks in the northern part of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja, has used both locally improvised bombs and real bombs in their operations.

Members of the sect have opened fire on innocent Nigerians without any provocation, with christians worshipping in churches and members of the security agencies, being their major targets. The United Nations Headquarters in Abuja was also hit by the sect on the 26th of August last year.

Security and humanitarian situations in Mali and Niger have also been worsening. The Mouvement National de Liberation de l’Azawad (MNLA) rebels have been threatening the territorial integrity of Mali. In the past months also, there have been increasing threat of piracy and other organized maritime crimes in the Gulf of Guinea, coastal areas of the region.

To tackle these challenges, the 40th Ordinary session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) last week in Abuja considered the Report of the 29th Meeting of the Mediation and Security Council.

The Heads of State and Government while taking decision on the regional peace

Suicide bombing, car bombing, shootings, rebellion and piracy are gradually becoming the order of the day in some West African countries.

Augustine Ehikioya takes a look at the issues and measures being taken by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to arrest the security threats. Additional reports by Joe Agbro Jr.

car bomb outside the gate of a presidential compound in a southern Yemeni city killed at least 25 people, a health official said, hours after the country’s new president was formally inaugurated and vowed to fight al-Qaida.

A security official said it was a suicide blast, and that it bore the hallmarks of an operation by the militant group. He did not provide a death toll. Both al-Qaida and southern separatists are active in the region.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not allowed to speak to the press.

The blast came as Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi was sworn in as president to replace longtime leader Ali Abdullah Saleh, following an election aimed at ending over a year of political turmoil.

In his televised speech before parliament, Hadi swore to keep up Yemen’s fight against al-Qaida-linked militants, who took advantage of the country’s upheaval to

seize control of several parts of the country.

Hadi also pledged to work to bring home the thousands of internal refugees created by fighting between government troops, southern separatists, mutinous military units, tribal movements, and numerous other factions.

“One of the most prominent tasks is the continuation of war against alQaida as a religious and national duty, and to bring back displaced people to their villages and towns,” Hadi said.

Hours later, the bomb exploded in the city of Mukalla in the province of Hadramout, part of formerly independent south Yemen, that federated with the north in 1990.

Ahmed al-Rammah, who witnessed the blast, said by phone from Mukalla that he saw a pickup moving slowly to the gate as soldiers were coming out. Then it exploded, he said. The blast was followed by heavy gunfire from the surviving guards.

Foreigners behind Arab unrest - Saudi king

•Nigerian President and former ECOWAS chairman Goodluck Jonathan (L) shakes hand with his successor Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara at the closing ceremony of ECOWAS Summit in Abuja on February 17, 2012.

AFP PHOTO

and security expressed deep concern about the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in the Sahel region, particularly in Mali and Niger.

According to the communiqué issued at the end of the summit, “Authority strongly condemned the MNLA rebellion in Mali and expressed its full support for the efforts being exerted by Mali to defend its territorial integrity.”

“Calling for an immediate and unconditional cessation of hostilities by the rebels, Authority ordered them to immediately surrender all occupied zones in the country, and called on all parties involved in the crisis to engage in an inclusive dialogue to determine peaceful means and modalities for resolving the crisis.”

“Authority approved the release of Three Million US Dollars to assist Mali deal with the humanitarian consequences of the rebellion.

Summit expressed its preoccupation with refugee flows and internal displacement, as well as worsening food insecurity in the Sahel region.”

“To this end, it urgently called on humanitarian agencies and the International Community to join ECOWAS in taking all necessary measures that would guarantee protection, relief and succour for the populations adversely affected by the crises in Mali and Niger.”

On piracy in the region, the ECOWAS Authority said: “Acknowledging the increasing threat posed by piracy and other forms of organized maritime crime in the Gulf of Guinea, the Heads of State and Government

stressed the importance of the political leadership and coordinating role of ECOWAS in combating the scourge.”

“To this end, Summit tasked the Commission to urgently develop a holistic strategic maritime policy framework to guide future actions and cooperation, and to also strengthen collaboration with ECCAS, the Gulf of Guinea Council, and all other relevant stakeholders, with a view to confronting the challenges.”

The ECOWAS Summit also instructed its Commission to convene an urgent meeting of the Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff to review all the emerging security threats in the Sahel region and in the Gulf of Guinea and propose concrete recommendations to address them.

According to Dr. Wale Aderemi, a lecturer in the department of international relations, Lagos State University, terrorism started rearing its head in West Africa during the periods of conflicts in countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea.

He said, “a lot of the countries (in West Africa) are Muslims. And some people are ignorant that the cause of a terrorist organisation like the Boko Haram is also the cause of Islam.

“And unfortunately, quite a number of young people have been recruited into terrorist groups. The matter is even beyond what ECOWAS realises.

Speaking on the rising insecurity in West Africa, the Associate Professor in Charge of Security Studies, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Prof. Charles Dokunbo said: “It is not

something one country on its own can do. There is need for a coordinated process in which stakeholders in the sub-region will come together and device a common strategy to tackle the problem.”

“In Nigeria, we have NIMASA and the maritime agencies that are involved in containing the threat. But the problems with these organizations are that their assets and platforms are not sufficient to contain these threats.”

He went on: “The Nigerian Navy is a strong one but then they don’t have some of the equipment they need to perform their job and that is why people are talking about working with the United States or with Africon. We also need new ideas to tackle the issue.”

On Boko Haram, he said: “I am of the opinion that Boko Haram is a security issue, not like any other one that is known. So it becomes difficult quite all right.

“But to tackle them, you need reliable information and intelligence.”

Recently, it was reported that some foreign trained terrorists migrated to the north of Nigeria from countries such as Chad and Niger. But, as the sect Boko Haram, which has been causing havoc the country, Aderemi said, “I don’t think they are actually Nigerians.”

While the various governments are working within their domains to find lasting solutions to the security challenges facing them, it is hoped that ECOWAS and other international bodies will give concrete supports to ensure peace and stability in the region.

S

AUDI Arabia’s King Abdullah says that “unnamed hands” targeting Islam and the Arabs are behind recent events in the region.

The king, who delivered a televised address Friday night to a conference of prominent Saudis, did not name any country. But Saudi officials have used similar terms to suggest a connection with Shiite Iran.

“There were hands that are

known to you all ... behind what has happened in the Arab world, regrettably targeting Islam and the Arabs,” he said.

Sunni Saudi Arabia is wary of the wave of Arab Spring uprisings, particularly in nearby Bahrain, where a Shiite majority is demanding greater rights from its Sunni rulers.

However, the kingdom strongly backs the largely Sunni uprising in Syria against Iran’s ally, President Bashar Assad.

Obasanjo proposes Wade soft landing

A

FRICA’S top envoy has proposed Senegal’s President Abdoulaye Wade retire in two years if he is re-elected, in a bid to stamp out tensions on the eve of the nation’s most contentious polls yet.

The west African nation, a haven of stability on the continent, is anxiously awaiting the start of the vote where the 85-year-old Wade is seeking a controversial third term.

Wade’s candidacy, which came after he circumvented term limits that he previously introduced into the constitution, sparked weeks of protests that left six people dead.

Speaking in Zambia, UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon said he was “concerned” by the pre-poll violence and urged “peaceful and transparent” elections.

Nigeria’s ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo “introduced a new element, a roadmap which states Abdoulaye Wade will only stay in power for two years if he wins,” said Abdoul Aziz Diop, spokesman for the opposition June 23 Movement (M23).

“Our wish remains that

Abdoulaye Wade loses the election,” he said, noting that Wade has not promised to resign after two years.

“It is these guarantees which will carry the coming negotiations with Obasanjo.”

Obasanjo’s deal also calls for creating a new constitutional court and independent electoral commission, M23 co-ordinator Alioune Tine told RFM radio, saying the opposition movement was “open to negotiations...to conserve peace.”

Obasanjo arrived in Dakar on Tuesday as head of a joint mission launched by the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and has met with Wade, the opposition and diplomats.

•Wade

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

World News

Republican candidates: Lovers of hate T

HOSE of you with the misfortune to find themselves as regular sufferers of this column know I am not an ardent fan of President Obama. He is too enthralled by conservative economics to do much good for the nation or the working class backbone of it. He holds a misplaced affection for an austere fiscal reduction because he is wracked by fear of the impossible: U.S. government insolvency. The brunt of his economic policies is intended to forestall something that can never happen. He fights a nonexistent battle. His policies are diet of stale hardtack and old tea. They go down rough and bitter in the throat of the unfortunate ones to whom he promised something better. In foreign policy, he is too hot blooded and too ready to use force whenever lesser opposing nations deviate from the line of obedience. In foreign affairs, the brew he mixes is a bit to acrid for my taste.

Despite the policy differences I have with President Obama, I attempt to describe him accurately if critically. I do not demonize him because he is not a demon. Although a greatly flawed politician, he is far from the worst among the current political class in America.

In fact, he is one of the best of an inferior harvest. In a contest between him and any of the Republican jesters, I cast the ballot for Obama.

Yet, I would do so in resignation and no euphoria of spirit. It would be as if compelled into a bleak game were the winner in selecting the right card is only divested of one arm while the loser is divorced from both. Though relieved upon retaining my better limb, I would see no cause for gaiety. I would still have to visit the hospital to mitigate a serious injury wholly unwarranted. This is the nature of my grievance with President Obama. I stand beside it despite the illogical conventional wisdom that a black man who does not blindly support President Obama is either a sell-out or too radically progressive.

These charges are intended to herd black people away from critical thinking. But we are not sheep in need of a shepherd. We are people in need of leaders with epochal ideas.

A critically thinking black leader should be disappointed in the Reaganite streak in the President of which Obama is obviously proud. A thinking black man would have no strong cause to support President Obama but very strong reason to oppose Republican atavism. This we vote for Obama not because he is good but because he provides some insulation from the Republican thrust against us.

This brings us to the Republican critique of President Obama. Their attacks are blatantly unfair because they attack someone who does not exist. President Obama is but a toady of the political establishment. Billionaire George Soros recently quipped there was little substantive difference between President Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney save for the company they keep. Soros is correct. Yet the picture Republicans paint of President Obama is as if an afro wearing, machinegun-toting Black Panther from the 1960’s jumped the White House and instead of pilfering the television decided to commandeer the Oval office. But the reality is the Republicans inwardly detest him because he is as staid and buttoned as a man can get. He has paid his dues by selling himself to the real power behind the publicly visible seat of power. He dresses well, does not raise a fuss, and cuts an attractive figure. He has earned the tainted right to sit at the inner room of politics with the Republicans. They know he has earned it and that is what upsets them.

They simply do not believe a black man should be there except as a waiter or to deliver a message. They detest him because he is a constant reminder that a black man can be as accomplished in the disdainful art of modern America’s quasi-democratic politics.

Over the decades, black men have invaded sports, entertainment and other fields once the reserve of white men. They fear black men and other minorities will invade and take over one of the last bastions of white privilege and domination. This fear is exaggerated but it is real. I am down on Obama because he chose to play the same political game as every mainstream operative in Washington and every state capital. The Republicans are down on him because he has played the

When despising another human being it is incumbent to so do for the correct reason

• Gingrich

• Santorum

By Brian Browne ambitious political game better than they.

Thus, they seek to disqualify him from the field of play by caviling he is intent on destroying the game instead of merely beating them at it.

The election of President Obama shows racism can be overcome. The Republican reaction to him proves that it has not been overcome. The most telling aspect of the Obama Presidency may not be his actions or policies. The real story is people’s reactions to him. The Republicans label him as a militant black although he is more like the Republicans than the average American black man.

Obama’s greatest value as a president may not be what he does but how his presence stirs the racist bile in the Republican belly.

He literally makes the Republicans crazy.

Their racism explodes from under the rocks where they hid it. The mean vapors converge to form a dense nimbus over the electoral proceedings.

Thus, Republican candidates make the most outlandish claims against the president.

Both former Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Senator Rich Santorum assert Obama supports “infanticide” because Obama, as a state legislator in Illinois, refused to support a bill that included several restrictions on abortion rights. The bill included a provision that a fetus managing to live outside a woman’s body despite being the subject of an abortion must be provided life- sustaining medical care.

The above provision was unnecessary as it was already law. Obama’s decision not to support the bill had nothing to do with this emotional point. Yet, Gingrich and Santorum act as if this provision was central to Obama’s thinking. Either these two men are too unintelligent to understand what was a fairly rudimentary, straightforward legislative position taken by then State Senator Obama or these two born again Christians have no qualms about publicly lying just so they can label a black man “a child killer.”

President Obama supports a certain level of abortion rights but to label him a child killer is wrong; his position is that of most Americans. They too are child killers if Obama is one with regard to this issue.

In the area of foreign policy the claimed infanticide is true. President Obama has escalated the use of drone bombing over Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya and the Horn of Africa. Some of the bombing has been indiscriminate; hundreds of innocent children have been killed. Because the killing is done by remote control using advance

technology we have been seduced to believe it is not barbaric or savage. We are told it is the inevitable collateral damage of war. That is hogwash. If you don’t know who is walking along the trail, riding in the vehicle or sleeping in the house, perhaps you should not drop the bomb.

Yet on this point, Gingrich does an about face. Here he complains Obama is too soft.

He claimed Obama is the most dangerous president in the history of the nation; that Obama has placed national security on the ledge of an open window for any enterprising thief to snatch. This claim is counterfactual. There have been no successful terrorist attacks in America during President Obama’s tenure. Additionally, the President has expanded the scope of war and the power of the military, even to detain American citizens without trial. If anything, Obama has gone overboard by making too easy resort to armed force and by undermining constitutional guarantees of due process in ordering the execution of American citizens suspected of terrorism without attempting to bring them to trial.

Gingrich would not be satisfied unless Obama unilaterally bombed Iran. However, if Obama were to indulge in this insanity, Gingrich would complain the President had irresponsibly launched World War III. Meanwhile, Santorum castigated the president for following a “phony theology” because of the president’s environmental concerns. Santorum expostulated God made man steward over the world and its resources.

However, those who believed in climate change worshipped the earth and thus placed the earth over man in contravention of God’s instructions. What? By making this zany statement, Santorum showed he is utterly disqualified for the highest office of the land. No wonder he was once selected “the dumbest man in the Senate.” For him to believe this odd hash, Santorum would have to ignore the elementary fact that climate change proponents sound the alarm because they fear the changes afoot will jeopardize human life as we know it. If we let climate change run abated, both the stewards and the ship are endangered. That Santorum cannot see this obvious logical nexus means he needs a double dose of logic class and Bible school.

His claim is like the child whose mother cautions “see those cookies on the table, don’t eat them,” only to return to find the cookies gone. She asks what happened. The boy says he move the cookies from the table. Because they were no longer on the table, he believed her maternal injunction no longer applied. Thus, he ate them. In a child, such

reasoning is understandable, even charming.

In a presidential candidate, it is the clatter of sophistry, revealing a troublesome vacuity of thought and shallow disregard for the public’s intelligence.

But the worse racist indictment came from a man of the right wing cloth. Reverend Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, questioned whether President Obama was a true Christian, calling him a “Son of Islam” because the president’s father was Muslim.

With this statement, Graham creates a second class citizenry among Christians. Apparently for Graham, those born into atheist/agnostic families or into Hindu, Taoists, Buddhists, and Islamic backgrounds are inferior Christians because their blood parents were not Christians. Thus, those who convert to Christianity instead of being born into it are lesser believers. This is a strange notion coming from a man who preaches one must be born again to receive Christian salvation.

If one must be born again, what does the natural birth matter? Graham’s voice is that of Pharisees for it is leavened with hypocrisy and hatred.

Second, why is Graham citing his interpretation of Islamic law as controlling. Does this mean Graham believes Islamic law is paramount and superior to other legal systems in all matters? If so, why does he not follow Islamic law in every instance? If not, why does he seek to honor it on this narrow point concerning Obama’s birth?

Most importantly, why are so many people seeking to denigrate Islam and turn its name into a slur? In the Republican view, claiming that a person is Islamic connotes the person is not fully American and thus unfit for public office. This is prejudice at its ugliest. Being Muslim is to be the new Nigger despite the fact that the old one still has it rough and hard.

The crux of the matter is that the Republicans do not fight Obama to fight Obama.

Their battle is a bigger one. So must ours be.

The Republicans caricature him to caricature the entire black race. Should they put him down, down goes the feared black menace of invading their sanctum of political power and influence. No more black faces allowed is the sotto voce campaign slogan. Although he has diligently avoided doing anything that remotely appears to help black people, Obama’s mere presence brings racism to the fore. In a strange way, this may benefit black people. It is a resounding alarm for a people in a stupor.

It is a call for black people to wake up before we fall prisoner to an era of aggressive racism of the 21st century variety. However, black people must be wise to the alert’s deeper purpose. Many will be fooled, believing the objective will be to reelect the president. This beats having a Republican president but is still grossly inadequate. The better purpose is for blacks to realize we must again circle together to reconstitute ourselves as a progressive vehicle in the political economy. Just as Dr. King urged during his final years, we need to constitute ourselves as the vanguard of a politics that encourages broad participation, establishes a foreign policy not easy swayed into war, and opens the gates of economic justice in order to battle poverty and extend a living wage to the many. Left to himself, Obama would move decisively on none of these. However, we should vote for him because he is less an obstacle than the Republicans. Obama’s election should not be seen as an objective for black people or for that matter the working class. His election must be seen as defensive tactic albeit one with strategic consequences.

February is Black History Month. As we end the month, we must keep an eye on the true meaning and battle in this election. The Republicans are a purposed opponent with sword in hand. They want to return to the old ways. President Obama is a shield. It would be foolish not to value the shield. But it would be equally foolish to value its welfare above all else. It is a dead man who uses his body to protect his shield. In 2008, we celebrated and extolled the shield, placing it on a pedestal. We got battered in the process.

This year, we must use this instrument more wisely.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

66 CHANGE OF NAME AMIDA

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Aristolin Onoye Amida, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs Aristolin Mark Ogoro. All former documents remains valid.

General public should take note.

EJIGA

I,formerly known and addressed as Ejiga Emmanuel Eleojo, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Eleojo Toyin Okutepa. All former documents remains valid.

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MORONKEJI

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

ABOH

DIBIA

ADELODUN

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OMIRIN

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OKON

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SANUSI

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ADEWUSI

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OLALUDE

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POPOOLA

I,formerly known and addressed as Nwaji Chichi Uchenna, now wish to be known and be addressed as Nwaji Chike Lancelot. All former documents remains valid. CAC and general public should take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Olalude Bosede Olanike, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Akande Bosede Olanike.

All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Popoola Olufunke ‘Kemi’, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Ogunniyi Olufunke ‘Kemi’.

All former documents remains valid. NYSC, FEGO Ogbomosho and general public should take note.

AKINTOLA

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Akintola Olujoke Temitope, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Adeniran Olujoke Temitope. All former documents remains valid. NYSC and general public should take note.

APELOKO

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Apeloko Bukola Hellen, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Awosusi Bukola Hellen. All former documents remains valid.

General public should take note.

OGIDI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Martha Ifeyinwa Ogidi, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Martha Ifeyinwa Chukwuma Ele. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

UMANDE

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Monica Dooshima Umande, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Monica Dooshima Iorhena. All former documents remains valid. Kaduna State University (KASU) and general public should take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I,Adewole Mercy Folasade is the same and one person as Osere Folasade. All former documents remains valid. University of Nigeria, Nsukka and general public should take note.

BELLO I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Bello Fatimat Ayoka, Fatimat, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Oyetoyan Fatimat Ayoka. All former documents remains valid.Ekiti State hospital management Board, Ado-Ekiti and general public should take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Adelodun Adebolajoko Nike, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Adimula Adebolajoko Nike. All former documents remains valid. Ekiti State Teaching Service and general public should take note.

OLAYINKA

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Olayinka Bosede Abiola, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Ogundana Bosede Abiola.

All former documents remains valid. NYSC, Headquarters, Abuja and general public should take note.

NWAJI

EGEKWU

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Nancy Nneoma Egekwu, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Nancy Nneoma WilliamsEbiokobo. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

NZEGWU I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Chineze Scholastica Nzegwu, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Chineze Scholastica Obi. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

ADAMS

I,formerly known and addressed as Asams Ebube Ibrahim, now wish to be known and be addressed as Arinze Earnest Ebubechukwu. All former documents remains valid.

Nigerian Immigration Service and general public should take note.

OMOSEBI I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Omosebi Adenike Bunmi, now wish to be known and be addressed as Ibrahim Adenike Bunmi. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

FAGBEMI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Fagbemi Toyin Alaba, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Afolayan Toyin Alaba. All former documents remains valid.

Federal College of Education and general public should take note.

AWOYEMI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Awoyemi Mojisola Clementina, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Omolere Mojisola Clementina. All former documents remains valid. Ekiti State Local govt. Service Commission and general public should take note.

CHANGE OF NAME IDEMUDIA

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Idemudia Doris, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Ekpa Doris. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

ADEBAYO I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Adebayo Margret Temitope, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Kolawole Margret Temitope. All former documents remains valid. St. Clares Nursery and Primary School, Osogbo and general public should take note.

ODUNUGA

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Odunuga Abisola Motunrayo, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Adeoye Abisola Motunrayo. All former documents remains valid. Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso and general public should take note.

OLANREWAJU

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Olanrewaju Olufunke Abigel, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Okome Olufunke Abigel. All former documents remains valid.

Guaranty Trust Bank Plc. and general public should take note.

ADENIYI I,formerly known and addressed as Mr. Adeniyi Emmanuel Ademola, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mr. Adeniyi Emmanuel Adebiyi. All former documents remains valid. NYSC, OSCOTECH, Esa-Oke, NECO and general public should take note.

OJONIYI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ojoniyi Helen Olubukola, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Lawal Helen Olubukola. All former documents remains valid. Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, NYSC and general public should take note.

CHANGE OF NAME OCHI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ochi Vestina Nneka, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Enekwe Vestina Nneka. All former documents remains valid.

General public should take note.

ALUBI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Chituru E. Alubi, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Chituru E. Eke. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

COLE

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Helen Cole, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Hele Adonike. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

ANIPOLE

I,formerly known and addressed as Anipole Mariam Adenike, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mabadeje Mariam Adenike. All former documents remains valid.

General public should take note.

YOHANNA

I,formerly known and addressed as Yohanna Silas, now wish to be known and be addressed as Yohanna Silas Zomani. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

OGEDEGBE

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ogedegbe Christy Beauty, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Eseigbe Christy Beauty. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

SEGUN-ALFRED I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Segun-Afred Sebiotini, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Osa-Idehen Sebiotini. All former documents remains valid.

General public should take note.

ADAMU

ADAGUNODO

I,formerly known and addressed as Mr. Adamu Christian Newton, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mr. Ameh Christian Zakari. All former documents remains valid.

General public should take note.

OLUWAWOLE

I,formerly known and addressed as Ojei Onwemmadukaego, now wish to be known and be addressed as Eseigbe Michael Ojei Onwemmadukaego. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Adagunodo Deborah Taiwo, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Awodiya Deborah Taiwo. All former documents remains valid. GTBank Plc. and general public should take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Oluwawole Adedoyinsola, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Famakinwa Adedoyinsola.

All former documents remains valid.

OAUTHC, Ile-Ife, NANNM and general public should take note.

ADEOYE

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Adeoye Janet Waleade, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Omotoye Janet Waleade.

All former documents remains valid. Ilesa West Local Govt.,Local govt. Service Commission, Osogbo and general public should take note.

KAYODE

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Kayode Oluwaranti Grace, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Ojo Oluwaranti Grace. All former documents remains valid. Osun State Teaching Service Commission, Osogbo, Oriade Local govt., Ijebu Jesa and general public should take note.

OLAYINKA

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Olayinka Taiwo, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Adeyemi Taiwo Esther. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

AGOMUO

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Peace Agomuo, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Peace Okwuosha. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

CHIOLOJI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Glory Nma Chioloji, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Glory Nma Nwandodu. All former documents remains valid.

General public should take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I,Mr. Festus Ugiagbe Okoro-Boi and Mr. Festus Ugiagbe Agbi are one and same person. Now wish to be known and be addressed as Mr. Festus Ugiagbe Okoro-Boi. All documents bearing the above names remains valid. General public should take note.

ADESHOLA

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Adeshola Joda, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Adeshola Adeosun. All former documents remains valid. Nigerian Ports Authority and general public should take note.

EJIMNKEONYE

We were formerly known and addressed as Ejimnkenonye family, now wish to be known and be addressed as Madufor Family.

All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

OJEI

JIMOH

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Jimoh Mutiat Yetunde, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Yekini Mutiat Yetunde. All former documents remains valid.

NYSC and general public should take note.

ADEYEMI I,formerly known and addressed as Adeyemi Babatunde OLUYEMI, now wish to be known and be addressed as Sikiru Olanrewaju Nollah Oluyemi. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

SHOPEYIN

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Azeezat Olawunmi Shopeyin, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Azeezat Olawunmi Shopeyin Dosunmu. All former documents remains valid.

MDCN, NYSC and general public should take note.

JOHN I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Anna John Idoko, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs Anna Sunday Ugbede Shaibu. All former documents remains valid.

The general public should take note.

ARALAMO I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Aralamo Shakirat Adenike Akanke, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs Tijani Shakirat Adenike Akanke. All former documents remains valid. The general public should take note.

OMOTOSHO I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Omotosho Bolatito Josephine, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs Olatunji-Ogegbo Bolatito Josephine. All former documents remains valid. The general public should take note.

HAMZAT I, formerly known and addressed as Omolara Adebukola Hamzat, now wish to be known and be addressed as Omolara Adebukola Tella. All former documents remains valid.

First Bank Plc and general public should take note.

LASISI

I, formerly known and addressed as Mr Lasisi Adisa, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mr Sanni Adisa Wasiu. All former documents remains valid. Ogun State Universal Basic Education Commission and general public should take note.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012 CHANGE OF NAME CHANGE OF NAME FEMI-FADIYA I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Femi-Fadiya Toluwalase, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Adebisi Toluwalase. All former documents remains valid. Ilesa West Local govt. and general public should take note.

OBASI I,formerly known and addressed as Obasi Ogechi Juan, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Ndubuisi Ogechi Juan Ukaefu. All former documents remains valid.

Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, NYSC and general public should take note.

EKAT I,formerly known and addressed as Ekat Obono Efoli, now wish to be known and be addressed as Rev. Shallum Odinta Ekat. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

TAIWO I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Taiwo Oluwatoyin Eunice, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Ameh Oluwatoyin Eunice. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

TAJUDEEN

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Tajudeen Funmilayo Seun, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Ogundeji Funmilayo Seun. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

AZEEZ

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Azeez Idayat Iyabosola, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Lateef Idayat Iyabosola.

All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

OLASEINDE

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Olaseinde Jumoke Silifat, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Omoniyi Jumoke Silifat. All former documents remains valid.

Teaching Service Commission, Wema Bank Plc. and general public should take note.

ALADEMOMI I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Alademomi Folakemi Victoria, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Adedeji Folakemi Victoria. All former documents remains valid.

Teaching Service Commission, Ekiti State and general public should take note.

FATODU

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Fatodu Deborah Adebimpe, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Awolumate Deborah Adebimpe. All former documents remains valid. Hospital Management and general public should take note.

FAGBOYO I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Bosede Olubukola Theresa Fagboyo, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Adunbi Bosede Olubukola Theresa. All former documents remains valid.

Federal Medical Centre, Ido-Ekiti, Federal Ministry of Health, Abuja and general public should take note.

ADEBISI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Adebisi Kemisola Abiodun, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. GbengaOlayiwola Kemisola Abiodun. All former documents remains valid.

Ekiti State Ministry of Finance, Economic Dev. Accountant, Civil Service Commission and general public should take note.

EGUNLUSI

I,formerly known and addressed as Pastor Egunlusi Samuel Abiodun, now wish to be known and be addressed as Pastor Oluwalusi Samuel Abiodun. All former documents remains valid. RCCG and general public should take note.

AKINDUTIRE

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Akindutire Morayo Rachael, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Oluwafoise Morayo Racheal. All former documents remains valid. Ikere Local govt. Secretariat and general public should take note.

OLAJIDE

MADAODU

ANAKOR

I,formerly known and addressed as Madaodu Adewale Thompson, now wish to be known and be addressed as Daodu Adewale Thompson. All former documents remains valid. Ogun State Local govt. Service Commission and general public should take note.

JOSEPH

I,formerly known and addressed as Mr. Ajuwape Dele, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mr. Afuwape Bamidele Emmanuel. All former documents remains valid.

Ogun SUBEB, LGEA Abigi and general public should take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ojo Folanmi Oluwakemi, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Ekundayo Folahanmi Oluwakemi. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Anakor Francisca Chinonye, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Nwoke Francisca Chinonye. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Mrs Joseph Grace Abimbola, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Olalekan Oluyomi Grace.

All former documents remains valid. Osun State Civil Service Commission General public should take note.

SALAU

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Salau Banke Rukayat, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Adedokun Banke Rukayat.

All former documents remains valid. NYSC and general public should take note.

AREMU

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Aremu Victoria Oluwatoyin, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Ibitoye Victoria Oluwatoyin. All former documents remains valid. Gboyin Ekiti Local govt., Ode-Ekiti and general public should take note.

AJIBOYE

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ajoboye Grace Christianah, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Adeola Grace Oluwayanmife. All former documents remains valid. Federal Medical Centre, Ido-Ekiti and general public should take note.

ALOKAN

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Alokan Oluwafunke Busayo, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Omotosho Ayodeji Busayo. All former documents remains valid. Ekiti State Hospital Management Board, General Hospital, Iyin Ekiti and general public should take note.

ADU

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Adu Modupe Mercy, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Asaolu Modupe Mercy. All former documents remains valid.

General public should take note.

IJABAMIDO

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ijabamido Mary Oludolapo, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Ogungbe Mary Oludolapo. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

ADEBAMBO

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Adebambo Christiana Keke, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Odugbose Christiana Keke. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

OLUWAYOMI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Oluwayomi Christianah, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Kuboye Christianah Folayemi. All former documents remains valid. Ogun SUBEB,, Remo North Local govt. Education Authority, Isara and general public should take note.

OGUNFOWOKE

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ogunfowoke Idowu Selimot, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Alayo Idowu Selimot. All former documents remains valid. Sagamu Local govt.

Education Authority, SUBEB, Abeokuta and general public should take note.

ADEKOYA

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Adekoya Azeezat Omowunmi, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Alatise Azeezat Omowunmi. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

ORIOLA

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Oriola Afusat Kikelomo, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Akala Afusat Kikelomo.

All former documents remains valid. Ogun SUBEB, Odogbolu LGEA and general public should take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ajayi Taye Gbemisola, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Folorunso Taye Gbemisola.

All former documents remains valid. NYSC and general public should take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Olooto Silifat Omowunmi, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Kuku Silifat Omowunmi. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

ORIDOTA

I,formerly known and addressed as Mr. Oridota Emiloju Samson, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mr. Emiloju Samson Damilare. All former documents remains valid.

Federal University of Technology, Akure and general public should take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

OJO

I,formerly known and addressed as Olajide Bosede Tolulope, now wish to be known and be addressed as Oluwafoise Bosede Tolulope.

All former documents remains valid. College of Education, Ikere Ekiti and general public should take note.

AJAYI

News

OLOOTO

ALEWI I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Alewi Bolanle Grace, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Oladunjoye Bolanle Grace.

All former documents remains valid. Ekiti State Local govt.

Service, Ado-Ekiti and general public should take note.

AJUWAPE

OGUNBOLUDE I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ogunbolude Rachael Lola, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Oke Rachael Temilola. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

EZECHI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ezechi Ukamaka Anthonia, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Ozofor Ukamaka Anthonia. All former documents remains valid. ESUT, NYSC and general public should take note.

NWANORO

CHANGE OF NAME KAFARI I,formerly known and addressed as Mrs. Abiodun Sherifat Anifalaje, now wish to be known and be addressed as Miss Abiodun Sherifat Kafari. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

ADEJUMO

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Adejumo, Saidat Bukola, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Akinloye, Saidat Bukola.

All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

LIGALI

I,formerly known and addressed as Ligali Omotara Saidat, now wish to be known and be addressed as Apiome Omotara Saidat. All former documents remains valid.

General public should take note.

OKEIYI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Okeiyi Ogechi Jennifer, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Diogu Ogechi Jennifer. All former documents remains valid.

General public should take note.

ADEYEMO

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Nwanoro Olivia Oluchi, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Olivia Oluchi Sunday Onumaegbu. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Adeyemo Tawa Olaitan, now wish to be known and be addressed as Miss Adeyemo Tawakalitu Motunrayo. All former documents remains valid. WAEC and general public should take note.

RAYMOND

OLADIMEJI

I,formerly known and addressed as Raymond Alaitari Eli, now wish to be known and be addressed as Abraham Raymond Eli. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

ERUGU

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Uloghonaan Arugu, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Uloghonaan Rev. Itari. All former documents remains valid.

General public should take note.

ANTHONY

I,formerly known and addressed as Mr. Anthony Ukim William Etim, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mr. Anthony Okon Etim. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

SORUNKE

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Sorunke Christianah Omolola Olubisi, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Oyewole Christianah Omolola Olubisi. All former documents remains valid.

Ogun State Internal Revenue and general public should take note.

JOKOTOLA

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Jokotola Florence Oluwaseun, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Akinde Florence Oluwaseun. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

ABIDOYE

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Abidoye Jelilat Temilade, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Sanusi Jelilat Temilade. All former documents remains valid. Ogun SUBEB and general public should take note.

PDP kicks against RMFAC nominee From Damisi Ojo, Akure

UDEH

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Udeh Maryrose Ngozi, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Eneh Maryrose Ngozi. All former documents remains valid.

General public should take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Dr. (Miss) Bilikis Jumoke Oladimeji, now wish to be known and be addressed as Dr. (Mrs) Bilikis Jumoke Akindele. All former documents remains valid.

General public should take note.

AGOSU I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Agosu Pauline Lydia Dotun, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Pauline Lydia Dotun Elegbede. All former documents remains valid. Nursing Council of Nigeria, Ogun State Local Govt. Service Commission and general public should take note.

AKINWANDE I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Akinwande Oyinade Olusunbo, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Famudehin Oyinade Olusunbo. All former documents remains valid.

Ondo State Local govt. Service Commission and general public should take note.

OLADUJA

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Oladuja Olakitan Mercy, now wish to be known and be addressed as Mrs. Adebiyi Olakitan Mercy.

All former documents remains valid. Ondo State Hospital Management Board and general public should take note.

ADVERT: Simply produce your marriage certificate or sworn affidavit for a change of name publication, with just (N3,500.) The payment can be made through - FIRST BANK of Nigeria Plc. Account number - 1892030011219 Account Name - VINTAGE PRESS LIMITED Scan the details of your advert and teller to gbengaodejide@yahoo.com or thenation_advert@yahoo.com For enquiry please contact: Gbenga on 08052720421, 08161675390, Email- gbengaodejide @yahoo.com or our offices nationwide. Note this! Change of name is now published every Sundays, all materials should reach us two days before publication.

67

T

HE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo state has kicked against the nomination of Fagboyegun Ajibola as the state representative on the Board of Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission (RMFAC).

The party, in a letter of protest to President Goodluck Jonathan, said that the nomination was not sponsored by the state chapter of the PDP because he was no longer its member.

The letter signed by the chairman of the state PDP Transition Committee, Hon. Ebenezer Alabi, a copy of which was sent to the Senate President, David Mark, added that Fagboyegun was from Owo Local Government Area which already has two people as members of federal commissions.

ABU graduates 51 risk managers From Tony Akowe, Kaduna ORRIED by the slow response to disaster management and control in the country, the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria in collaboration with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has trained 51 post graduate students in disaster risk management.

The 51 students were drawn from the military, paramilitary, medical and social sciences as well as disaster agencies in the country.

They rounded off their training at the weekend with a dinner at the weekend at the ABU Dining Hall.

Director of the Centre for Risk Management in the University Prof. Edwin Ekwuzi said the programme was aimed at effectively tackling the problem of disaster management in the country.

Representative of the graduating students, Pharmacist Abdullahi Galadima expressed happiness to be the pioneers.

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‘Why Assembly increased budget to N83bn’

By Nwanosike Onu, Awka NAMBRA State House of Assembly yesterday gave reasons why it increased the 2012 budget presented by Governor Peter Obi to Eighty three billion, two hundred million, three hundred and forty five thousand naira (N82, 500,340.00).

Obi had presented a budget of Eighty-two billion, five hundred million, three hundred and forty thousand (N82, 500,340.00) to the Assembly on 14th December, 2011.

But the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation increased the budget by over Eight hundred million naira (N800 m) of which the budget was passed on Friday.

Chairman of the committee, Hon. Nikky Ugochukwu, said it was raised because of the additional N600 million allocated to Anambra State Teaching Hospital at Amaku in Awka.

Ugochukwu said that the project capital expenditure of the ministry of Economic planning and budget was raised from N350 million to N451, 460 million.

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‘How Africa can fight poverty’

A

FINANCIAL analyst Professor Dogo Onanefe has advised Africans to develop personal wealth creative mentality to combat the high rate of poverty in the continent.

He spoke over the weekend during the presentation of The Manual of Money, a customised wealth crea1tion book.

Onanefe said the importance of money to the sustenance of peaceful coexistence

The Manual of Money is sold in Nigeria by PLUTOCRATS publishing. Sales personnel’s are on duty round the clock to dispatch your order once you call on any of the hotlines: 0813 222 9674, 080 2 103 9858. www.plutocratspublishing.com

Distributors wanted nationwide

between families, friends and the society at large cannot be overemphasised.

He posited that the unrest in Africa continent and the violent approach wealth repel investors.

The expert stated that if Africans imbibe the viable methods of prospecting wealth contained in the book, there would be much development.

According to him, “I have read many books on money by several authors and none has matched the astuteness, exactness to truth and sincerity of purpose both in subjectivity and objectivity as contained in this book.

“The book covers every aspect of money making from secular to spiritual and the facts there are absolutely incontestable. ‘’The Manual of Money is definitely a delight to study. The facts in it are a lamp to the feet of every man and woman who desires to achieve financial success.

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WORSHIP THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Living Faith

By David Oyedepo

Vital keys to a sanctified life!

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ELCOME to your regular column. Last week, I taught on why you need to live right, the price for living a sanctified life and God’s ultimate provision for your sanctification.

Living a sanctified life is profitable in all things. It does not just come that easy. There is always what to do to have whatever you desire. That is why, this week, I will be showing you some of the vital keys to a sanctified life, as I conclude this series: 1. Disconnect from sin: To live a sanctified life, you must disconnect from sin. Sin will never go on its own. If you don’t rise up against it, it won’t go. You can wait from now till eternity for sin to go; but until you rise up against it, it won’t. This is because it is determined to destroy your destiny.

God has not planted sin in your life. His Word says that whosoever is born of God does not sin, because the seed of God abides in that person (1 John 3:9). So, you need to disconnect from that sin now!

Look at that sin and the bad habits that want to deny you of your glorious destiny. Say to them, “You have no power over me from now! I disconnect from you now, by my will and through faith in God, in the name of Jesus!”

2. Keep the right company: If you want to live right, you must keep the right company, and relate with the right things. Somebody shared a testimony of how he used to watch a certain programme on T.V., which led to his backsliding. He lost his eternal life for at least two years, before he returned home.

It is right company for right living! No matter how dedicated you may be, evil communication will always corrupt good manners (1 Corinthians 15:33). The company you keep determines the type of life you live.

3. Engage the power of the tongue: To live a sanctified life, you must learn to engage the power of the tongue. Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof (Proverbs 18:21). So, your mouth is a weapon of war, and when you engage the power of the tongue, you can bring down your Goliath.

What you don’t declare, God has no legal right to confirm (Isaiah 44:26).

The same way, when sin wants to overrun you, declare, “No! Sin shall no more have dominion over me! Enough! Satan, get your hand off my mind! I overcome you by the Blood of the Lamb and by the words of my testimony.” We need to open fire in response to every attempt of the devil to defile us. The power of victory is in your mouth.

4. Engage the name of Jesus: The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe (Proverbs 18:10). Unclean spirit can be dislodged by engaging the name of Jesus, because that Name is self-anointed.

5. Active engagement in spiritual stewardship: We are God’s building and when that building suffers much slothfulness, it decays. Spiritualize your engagement. Active engagement in spiritual stewardship enhances our life of sanctification (John 9:4; John 5:17).

If you do not want your life to pack up, then engage active spirituality in Kingdom stewardship to live a sanctified life.

6. Engage the Spirit of love: There is a Spirit of love, which we can engage to conquer sin (Romans 5:5). So, when the Spirit of love dominates your life, you think no evil; you are free from evil acts.

Love thinks no evil (1Corinthains 13:5). So, engaging the Spirit of love is one way to live a sanctified life. That Sprit of love is simply the Spirit of obedience.

7. Engage the weapon of fasting: Through fasting, we destroy the yoke of filthiness. You can destroy anything that wants to destroy your life, through the weaponry of fasting (Isaiah 58:6).

8. Engage the weapon of prayer in the Holy Ghost: It is a mystery and when you pray in the spirit, you are speaking mysteries unto God. So, when you are confronted with mysteries, you dislodge them with a greater mystery (2 Thessalonians 2:7). Engaging the weapon of praying in the Holy Ghost enhances our sanctification.

You engage the forces from above to subdue the forces that are attacking you here below.

9. Engage the weapon of thanksgiving: We need to engage thanksgiving to secure audience with God, and response from Him (1 Thessalonians 5:18). You have to thank God for your sanctification before it can be fully made manifest in your life. When you thank Him, you commit His performance.

Friend, the grace to benefit from this teaching is the privilege of those saved. You can be saved by confessing your sins and accepting Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. If you are set for it, please say this prayer: Lord Jesus, I come to You today. I am a sinner. I cannot help myself.

Forgive me my sins. Cleanse me with Your precious blood. Deliver me from sin and satan, to serve the Living God. Today, I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Thank You Jesus for saving me! Now I know I am born again!

I invite you to come and fellowship with us at the Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, the covenant home of Winners. Our midweek services hold on Wednesdays between 6 and 8 p.m. We have four services on Sundays. The first one holds between 6.30 and 8.15 a.m., the second between 8.25 a.m. and 10.10 a.m., the third between 10.20 a.m. and 12.05 p.m. and the fourth between 12.15 and 2.00 p.m.

Every exploit in life is a product of knowledge. For further reading, please get my books — Walking In The Newness Of Life, Conquering Controlling Powers and The Blood Triumph.

I know this teaching has blessed you. Write and share your testimony with me through: BISHOP DAVID OYEDEPO, Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, P.M.B. 21688, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria; or call 7747546-8; or E-mail: bishop@davidoyedepoministries.org

INTERVIEW

‘My challenges with women’

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HE name of your church… …No, I don’t like

saying my church. I like to call it the church Why? That is because we have abused the privilege of leading God’s church. Nobody owns the church really but Christ. If you say my church, you are claming possession over something that does not belong to you.

You are contending with God and it is an aberration.

Okay, the church you pastor has an unusual name. Why is this?

Well, I was praying when we started and I asked God to give me the name of the church. I heard a name that sounded like house. I realised Lagosians do not like long names and told God to give me a short name. He gave me House favour. I knew it should be something like House of favour but I realised leaving it like that will generate interest. And that is where we are now.

So, what is the church all about?

It is simply about restoring the dignity of man through the word of hope.

Where are you coming from?

I was born and bred in CAC, Akure. I had been prophesying right from my primary school days. I remember always telling our church leaders then ‘’God asked me to tell you’’. I had always known I would be a preacher. In my secondary school days, I will take my colleagues to the river to conduct deliverance service. Besides, my mother told me the woman who took delivery of me saw my head and said, ‘’this boy is a prophet and he is here to work for God’’. I love God passionately but I never wanted to suffer. In those days, men of God will come to my mother to beg for food. I never wanted that and said I must be rich before surrendering to God. My brother, that made me suffer a whole lot. I dropped out severally from higher institutions. I eventually studied Business Education after much toil-

Senior Pastor of House Favour Egbeda Lagos, Rev. Bayode Olude, spoke with Sunday Oguntola on his sojourn in ministry and diverse challenges. Excerpts:

• Olude

ing.

Did you ever do business?

I came to Lagos to work.

I was a model when I came.

Emeka Opara, the Corporate Affairs Manager of Airtel was my friend. He told me I should find something else to do. So, I decided to look for a job. All efforts proved abortive. So, I started going to my girlfriend’s office. It was a computer institute. I will just stay at the reception and heard all the IT terminologies. I would wake up early, dress smartly and resume there.

One day, the daughter of the owner breezed into the reception and asked me, ‘‘can you supply us printers?’’

Well, I did and made

my first money from that deal. I started the business from the proceeds. It was basically IT business.

Within few years, I had enough clients to live big. I serviced Lagos State House of Assembly, Berger Paints, Punch Newspapers, Nigerian-German Chemical, Shell, Evans, Nigeria French Village and others.

Money was coming in but I was not fulfilled. I was just sowing the money in my church then.

In 2004, I opened an office complex with N1.7million. During the commissioning, Rev. Samuel Olubiyo just said, ‘’as we consecrate you to ministry today’’. Immediately, he said that all passion for business died within me. I stayed in the

office for 49 days fasting and praying. That was how I closed the business and became a minister.

What will people find here that might be difficult to find elsewhere?

It is simply favour. We have been enjoying favour here like nothing else. God has given me revelations on favour. In 7 years, we have had over 20 house dedications, weddings and countless vehicles. In the first two years, we had 25 babies.

What is your biggest challenge in the ministry?

I have gone through a lot in the hands of women.

It’s been tough but God has been helping. I dress well. I look attractive and take care of myself. I have a focus and know what I am doing.

Women love all of these.

So, how have you been handling them?

It’s been my wife. After God, she is the next support I have. I have a wonderful wife. God forbid but if there is a challenge in my marriage tomorrow, blame me and not my wife.

Two, I talk about my challenges. Ask my church members. They will tell you my full story. When I have challenges with any woman, I tell my church members. I can even mention names. The anointing attracts women. An average woman wants somebody with self confidence and belief. I am caring and kind. So, when they come, they think I am a wood but I am not. I am still human.

My friends might be reading this and they know what I am saying. I have been through a lot but God has been faithful.

How far have you gone with women?

I have never slept with any other woman. I have been close severally but I have never slept with any of them. I am not ashamed to say this because that is where I am now. Every man of God must go through challenges. If it is not women, it may be power, pride, money or any other thing. I want to make heaven and that is my goal. I want to wear the crown.

NEWS Fashola, Adeboye, others get Methodist awards

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AGOS State Governor Mr Babatunde Fashola and General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Pastor Enoch Adeboye are to receive life time/leadership award today.

The award is part of activities marking the 5th Diocesan anniversary of the Methodist Church Nigeria, Lagos West.

Others to receive the award include Chairman of MTN Nigeria, Chief Paschal Dozie, Professor

Pat Utomi, Asoju Oba of Lagos, Dr Okoya Thomas, Chief Cosmos Maduka, Evangelist Ebenezer Obey and Sir Akintola Williams.

The event holds at Methodist Church, Opebi Lagos by 10am.

Bishop of Lagos West Rt Rev. Ayo Olawuyi said the diocese has so much to thank God for since inception.

He said the awardees have demonstrated exemplary leaderships in the areas of operations.

Worship

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

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NEWS

CONTROVERSY With Sunday Oguntola (08034309265)

Should pastors receive salaries?

Y OUTHS in a mainland church exploded recently. It was at a council meeting. The recording secretary had tabled the next item on the agenda: annual increment of pastors’ salaries. Hands went on before he could even finish. A youth representative belled the cat, ‘’Why should we consider another increment when our pastors have not justified the last one?

How many more members have joined us? How many more branches have we opened?’’

Silence pervaded the meeting. ‘’Even in corporate environments, you make more before getting more.

Why is our system different?

We have too many overfed and lazy pastors that are doing our system no good,’’ another young council member added. The proposal from the youths jolted elders: pay salaries based on performance.

Their proposal may appear outlandish but paying pastors salaries has strong biblical roots. In the Old Testament, God commanded the Israelites to provide for the Levites. God explicitly told Moses, ‘’ Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen?’’. In I Corinthians 9: 14, Paul declared, ‘’Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.’’ In Galatians 6: 6, Paul added, “Let anyone who receives instruction in the Word share of all good things with the one who instructs him.”

Based on this, most pastors in mainland churches are on salaries. They also receive fringe benefits such as housing, library and feeding allowances. Some have other welfare packages, including pensions and retirement benefits depending on the inclination of their churches. The idea, investigations revealed, is to make pastors slightly comfortable and committed to ministry works without much distractions.

But in many new generation Pentecostal churches, this salary system is becoming unacceptable.

Many general overseers who spoke with our correspondent said they are not on salaries. Rev. Solomon Ojigiri founded Ever Winning Faith Ministries, Ikeja over a decade ago. According to him, he wasn’t initially on salary because the church lacked financial capability. ‘’But as time went on, I told the council about placing me on a salary and they did,’’ he began. ‘’But after two years, I stopped receiving salaries because we were having a massive project. I decided to stop as a sacrifice. Incidentally, God opened doors of international ministry for me about the same time and I have never received any salary since then,’’ he dis-

Arguments for salaried pastors

• Reduces temptation to spend church’s money • Forecloses financial manipulation and tinkering • Gives them economic comfort and enhances financial planning • Enhances transparency and respectability • Helps church’s accounting system

• R-L: Odesola presenting the vehicle to Chu

RCCG donates van to police

Case against • Reduces their inestimable spiritual value • Makes them subservient to church council and members • Creates rooms for politicking and back-stabbing • Makes pastors lazy and unproductive • Allows them to operate like civil servants closed. This was in 2002.

Ojigiri said being on salaries limits pastors and drains them of creativity. ‘’There are many things a pastor can do to make money. But when he concentrates on salaries, he tends to become complacent.

If you are a qualified professional, you could use your training to earn money. You could start a business, write books and consider other creative ways,’’ the lawyerturned-preacher said.

He however said if a church is young and the pastor full-time, it would be foolhardy not to be on salaries. ‘’If you say you are not on salaries when you are full time, then you are not suffering for God. You have only yourself to blame. You have responsibilities to your children and family and being a pastor does not immunise you from economic pressures,’’ he stated.

On the belief that pastors without salaries can be tempted, Ojigiri said, ‘’whoever wants to steal church money will do so with or without salaries. The key is to make God your dependence at all times’’.

Areo Olushola pastors Grace Chapel, Osogbo, Osun State. He believes general overseers should not be on salary. According to him, ‘’it is an insult to place men of God on salaries. Who can determine or evaluate how much they are really worth?

Can anyone really pay them?

You see when you start receiving salaries, people start feeling they are your employers and should gag your function.’’

Olushola is uncomfortable with the idea of ministers, especially church founders receiving monthly pays. ‘’Once you get a takehome from the church, you have cheapened yourself.

You should look up to God for sustenance. If He called you, He should be the one paying your salary,’’ he added.

By Adeola Ogunlade • Adeyemi

• Ojigiri

• Atilade

• Akin-John

But President of Gospel Baptist Conference of Nigeria and Overseas Archbishop Magnus Atilade said such argument is illogical and unreasonable. ‘’You see you are deceiving yourself when you are not on salaries. Very soon, you will have no choice but to take from the church purse,’’ he explained.

He said ministers who refuse to be on salaries are either proud or self-conceited. He attributed this to strange theological leanings with biblical foundation. ‘’Many people have weird doctrines that are illogical and unreasonable. How can anyone work without expecting anything? That is why people become aggressive in prosperity preaching because they don’t know when their next meals will come from’’.

General Overseer of Gospel Pentecostal Assembly, Agege Lagos Pastor Julius Adeyemi is all for salaried ministers. ‘’It will backfire if pastors are not on salaries.

They will be thinking of sorting themselves out instead of ministering. It will be like the case of the tortoise. You know when others are sharing, he will say ‘no, go ahead and share’. Then he will turn around to say, ‘you know I did not get anything, so let me have a little of your own’. That is what we will have,’’ he said.

He however has nothing against those who claimed

to have received expressed instructions from God not to receive salaries. ‘’If God says so and they are sure, then no problem. He will sustain them since He asked them not to get anything’’.

Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church, Festac Lagos Rev. Victor Akerele concedes nobody can really estimate the worth of pastors.

But he said they must draw salaries, no matter how little. To minister without being paid, he said, is ‘’unrealistic and insincere’’.

Akerele said only pastors that were not called by God will be complacent because they get regular salaries. ‘’You must minister even when you are not paid but getting a regular salary makes you more comfortable and relaxed. It allows you to concentrate more on ministry’s works,’’ he contended.

Church growth consultant Dr Francis Akin-John believes ministers should be on salary. He however explained they must justify whatever they receive and grow the church. ‘’If a pastor works so well, he won’t even rely on salary. Members will take care of him without asking. They will bless him until he is tired. Let them work well. Let churches pay them. Let the council not believe pastors are under them. Let pastors not think they deserve more and start unnecessary battles. If we work, God will take care of us all,’’ he stated.

T

HE Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Throne of Grace, Lagos has donated a Mitsubishi Patron Van to the Dentist Division Police Headquarters, Ebute Metta.

The Special Adviser to the General Overseer of the RCCG and Provisional Pastor, Province 1, Pastor Johnson Odesola, presented the van.

Odesola said that the donation was to strengthen police efforts in promoting peace and stability within the community.

He explained, “in recognition of the efforts of the police station within the community in the face of mounting threat of ensuring sustainable peace and stability, we are giving you this token to encourage you to do more and not relent in spite of the insecurity threat facing the nation.”

He said the church will continue to support security measures.

“God has been good to us within the community as there has been relative peace and we will continue to appreciate and support the Nigeria Police toward peace and orderliness in Nigeria,” the cleric added.

The Divisional Police Office, James N. Chu, said the donation was a challenge and call to duty.

He pledged better protection of lives and property within the community.

While applauding the effort of the church, Chu appealed to other churches to follow suit.

According to him, “Christians should continue to help and support the Nigeria police force in any way they can within the immediate community.”

Cleric pledges support for the poor at 60

By Sunday Oguntola

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ENERAL Overseer of Elshaddai Covenant Ministries, Dr James Iruobe, has charged wealthy Nigerians and corporate bodies to intensify efforts in reaching out to the less privileged.

He spoke last Sunday during his 60th birthday celebration at the international headquarters of the church in Lagos.

Iruobe, who was particularly disturbed by the number of children dropping out of school yearly, said the best way to demonstrate love is to put smiles on the faces of the deprived.

He pledged the remaining years of his life to lifting the less privileged.

According to him, ‘’my topmost priority henceforth is to help as many poor people as possible. God has been good to me and the least I can do to reciprocate is to help people he created.’’

He lamented the poverty level in the nation, saying wealthy Nigerians should do something about it.

His words, ‘‘The current situation of insecurity in the country could be attributed to what ignorance or lack of education and unemployment can do. ‘’Knowledge is light but when people do not have access to light, darkness becomes the reigning king and minds can be turned to anywhere depending on whoever wants to take advantage of the person.’’

He went on, ‘’Education is a good gift to give a soul that is ready to be liberated as ignorance is a disease. Educate a child and you have saved that soul from destruction and manipulation. ‘’ Our society will be a better place if the number of children outside school could be reduced to a barest minimum, thereby increasing and equipping our children for future challenges.’’

On his part, he said he will be giving out scholarships to indigent students. ‘’I want to focus on giving scholarships to those children out there who cannot afford it due to financial reasons. I know that this is an enormous task but I have decided to do it for God and for the benefit of mankind. ‘’I appeal to all well-meaning Nigerians to join hands together with me through their generous donation to make this dream a reality.”

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Sunday Interview •Continued from page 26

person that calculated independently is also from America. He said petroleum should not sell for more than N34 per litre. N97 is still too much.

But Nigerians seem to have resigned themselves to the N97 fixed by the government. Don’t you think there is no need for further agitation on your part?

The protest is not over. What the government has done is like pouring oil on troubled water. The turbulence is still underneath. It is like a sore that has a temporary covering. At N97 people are still suffering. Prices of goods have gone up. The young ones cannot go to school. The government has placed more burdens and suffering on the masses. Any government that does that will be punished. They are supposed to make the masses comfortable. I believe that the protest will erupt again. We don’t really know how much petroleum should sell in Nigeria. All the government was giving political figures of convenience. Oil is the most important asset Nigeria has.

Over 90 percent of money Nigeria has abroad is oil. Over 80 percent of budget is oil. Every family depends on oil.

The industrial sector depends on oil.

Can’t you be more serious and responsible to sit down with experts across the field and come up with a reliable figure?

What do you think of the committees up directly by the federal government? These include the Kalu Idika Kalu and Nuhu Ribadu committees.

Nonsense.

Why nonsense?

All the committees formed by the government are nonsense, redundant and not appropriate at this time. If they are going to set up committees to look at the oil industry, they should have waited until the reports of the Senate and House of Representatives Committees are out and deliberated upon.

The government can then set up its own committees on those deliberations.

Setting up committees while the legislative probes are still going on is preemptive and self-indictment. They should have waited. Why didn’t they set up the committees before the demonstrations?

Kalu Idika Kalu was with me in the Babangida government. I was the Minister of Petroleum. He was the minister of Finance. He is a very brilliant man. He is more brilliant than Okonjo-Iweala. He is my personal friend. He introduced a magic strategy in Imo state as Commissioner of Finance, which was tagged Imo Formula. Why is he getting involved in this current rubbish with the government? When Babangida changed Kalu Idika Kalu from the Minister of Finance to be Minister of National Planning, he came to me in my house. He said, “Look at what General Babangida has done. I’m a finance man. I don’t know anything but finance. What am I going to do in National Planning? He was to resign. I think his wife dissuaded him.

He finally decided not to go. But now if Kalu Idika Kalu found himself unfit to be Minister of Economic Planning, how does he find himself fit to be chairman of a committtee to rehabilitate refineries? What does he know about refineries? Kalu had nothing to do at all with oil in his life. He has always been a finance man. People should learn how to say no to government appointments for goodness sake. If you take certain appointments they ruin your image. This particular assignment given to my friend, Kalu Idika Kalu, honestly - I respect him a lot - has put a dot on him.

Then the other one was that of Ribadu set up to investigate how petroleum was spent. Why did the government not set up the committee before now? He was EFCC boss. Did he not discover mess in the NNPC at that time or did Obasanjo cover it up?

Ribadu’s committee is also redundant and nonsensical. The government should have waited till all the legislative legislations are done with.

Then that of Kolade set up to talk

‘I’m not proud of Jonathan’ “All the committees formed by the government are nonsense, redundant and not appropriate at this time. If they are going to set up committees to look at the oil industry, they should have waited until the reports of the Senate and House of Representatives Committees are out and deliberated upon. ...Setting up committees while the legislative probes are still going on is preemptive and self-indictment.”

•David-West

about how to make use of the subsidy like the PTF of Abacha and Buhari… he has been appointed chairman to manage something that does not exist. It has not been established yet if there is subsidy. The government is using big names to glorify or give dignity to their nonsense schemes. All these big names they are using will at the end have their image destroyed. Why must Kolade, a great man and former High Commissioner to Britain, allow Jonathan and Okonjo Iweala to use him and his name?

The government had said even before the crisis that it had formed a good body to manage the N1.3 trillion that would be saved from fuel subsidy. The body is to manage fund that does not exist. Now it has been proved that it doesn’t exist.

Has the government not made a fool of him? Have they not used him for nothing? The expected fund is mystical. The information coming out from the National Assembly has shown that the fund does not exist. The basis for N1.3 trillion was for oil selling at N141 per litre.

But now the government came down to N97. Would it still get N1.3 trillion?

No! The totality is this: the government is not sure of how much money was being siphoned to corrupt people. The government has five different figures for what they are selling on so-called subsidy. So they are not even sure. They don’t even know the amount of petrol that comes into the country. The Customs man that appeared before the committees of the National Assemblies said his establishment was not even allowed to examine the boats. The importers would park their ship in Cotonou and bring the fuel in small boats. The Customs people were not allowed to examine them. And when the Customs queried why they should not board the boats, it was revealed, they were told to keep their eyes off.

The Minister of Information listed 74 things to be done with subsidy money. Now there is no more N1.3 trillion, so where are they going to get money to do the 74 things. Subsidy was made the magic wand.

As an Ijaw man, you are not proud of Jonathan at all?

At all! I’m ashamed of him. He could have saved himself from this logjam. It was leaked in the newspapers that Okonjo-Iweala had over seven meetings with Jonathan and the vice-president. She also talked and talked at Executive Council meetings. At a point, the report said Jonathan eventually capitulated. The report had it that he had all along doubted the figures being touted by Okonjo-Iweala. He was cautious. At that point, if he is a good leader

and reasons properly, he should have told Okonjo-Iweala: “Hold on, let me go and sleep over it”. Then he would have taken the issue to some experts or consultants to look at it. He would have then come back equipped. But he collapsed. So the figure you are seeing was Okonjo-Iweala’s figure not that of Jonathan. Jonathan himself was not initially convinced. I have documents here to prove it. He did not show courage. A lady overpowered him by talking; a lady who supposedly has BA magna cum laude, Havard. Magna cum laude is Second Class. In the American system, there is cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude. There is no question that she is brilliant but she is overblown. Why did Obasanjo move her from the Finance Minstry to External Affairs? She could not work with Obasanjo because she is too obtrusive.

She is too ‘I know everything’. I know Obasanjo. He is my friend. When she was appointed to her present position, Richard Quest of Quest Means Business fame on CNN asked her pointedly, “You’ve been there before, what do you think you can do now?” She couldn’t answer that question immediately. She paused for a while and said, “It is the same shoe but with different flavor.” It was ridiculous answer. She has nothing to offer. Jonathan has an adviser on economics, a brilliant professor, more brilliant than Okonjo-Iweala. He was here at UI, Professor Garba. OkonjoIweala is writing IMF and World Bank script. If Jonathan doesn’t see beyond that, then he is not a good leader. Naira has been devalued. It is going to be devalued more. That is what IMF wanted.

Buhari said no.

I don’t have anything personal against Jonathan. I don’t know him. I’ve not met him before. He is of the same age with one of my sons. I’ll respect you for your brain, your talents and how you love Nigeria. I won’t respect because you are an Ijaw. Even if you are my father, I’ll treat you equally. I arrested my uncle, my father’s brother, when I was Commissioner for Education in Rivers State in 1975. I handcuffed him out of my ministry with the help of the then Commissioner of Police, the late Omolowo. I told Omolowo that my uncle was asking for bribe. Omolowo sent plainclothes policemen with marked currencies. They arrested him and I threw him out of my ministry.

As I said, I have nothing personal against Jonathan. I’ve said it before that I will be very happy if an Ijaw man becomes president. In 1987 I gave a talk to the Ijaw National Union in Lagos at the Mainland Hotel and I quoted Martin

Luther King’s speech that one day I have a dream that a minority man will be president of this country.

As an experienced hand, what is your prescription for managing the chaotic oil sector?

Complete overhaul. I still say the period of Buhari was the golden years of the oil industry in the country. I’m not saying that because I was the oil minister. The Latin language will call it Anni Mirabiles. This is because we made impact. Nigeria got increased oil quota.

It had never been done in the nation’s history. This is not self-glorification. Dr. Nnamidi Azikwe on his own sent us a letter to say I’m the best oil minister.

I’m not the only person who did it. I did it along with my staff and the system. This now brings me to the present antic of Jonathan who told the House of Representatives not to invite me to Abuja to give my own presentation. If I had been allowed to come, I would have told them that all the committees the government is setting up cannot solve the problems. I would have told them that the total oil industry should be reviewed. The paradigm has changed. Now you can lift Nigerian oil without satisfying the necessary conditions. The law I met there which was operated by Buhari stipulated that to lift Nigerian oil you must have a refinery. That was one of the crucial conditions. If you don’t have a refinery, you must have a long term contract with a refinery for about 10 or 20 years. To lift Nigerian oil, you must deposit with us, three consecutive years of audited reports of your company so that we see how healthy your firm is. These reports will be sent abroad to be verified by secret people.

All these conditions are no longer there. If you are a boy friend or a girl friend to a minister or head of state or you are well-connected, you can now lift Nigerian oil. To show you how badly we are managing our oil, Professor Jubril Aminu, a former petroleum minister, said he awarded oil bloc to Mike Adenuga and one or two others without the knowledge of the then head of state, General Babangida. He said it again recently during a newspaper interview. Either Jubril Aminu was lying or Babangida shirked his responsibility. How can you take oil, the life of Nigeria and as a minister awarded oil bloc to a Nigerian? The president must know. How could Aminu have said what he said? By the grace of God, I was the most powerful oil minister Nigeria has produced.

Buhari made me the Minister of Petroleum and Energy. I was the chair-

man of NNPC board of directors and its chief executive officer. I, even, in all those powerful positions could not award oil blocs. I could not even award mere contracts without Buhari seeing it. See how bad the management of our oil sector has now turned out to be?

We need total overhaul of NNPC. I had very good staff who I’m still very proud of. But they had destroyed them for political purposes. No self-respecting professional would stay and be dictated to by politicians. NNPC needs complete overhaul. Setting up all these small, small committees will not solve the problems.

When Buhari came in, we knew that all the contracts awarded by exPresident Shehu Shagari were inflated.

He got hundreds and hundreds of millions from them. He would call them for renegotiation. One big Nigerian politician whose name I will not mention, a big Yoruba personality, on his own wrote to Council and said I’m shaving off N10 million from contract A. Those who were present at the meeting clapped. Buhari said: “No, don’t clap.” He said, “I know there are other hidden millions.” The man coughed out more. That is what should have been done with this present cartel about 505 of them including even the jeweler of the present petroleum minster. If I were oil minister, I would summon them and ask them to pay back 50 percent of what we’ve overpaid them. Okonjo-Iweala herself said that they discovered magomago in the dealings, but she said the government shall leave it for the members of the cabal. How can they do that? If the government had my proposed option of asking the oil dealers to refund 50 percent, they’ll surely respond if they are threatened that they would lose their business.

Give us more information on your invitation to appear before the National Assembly that was aborted.

Yes, I was invited by the House of Representatives probing the subsidy through a letter of invitation dated 12th of January 2012. I replied them accepting the invitation. I attached some of my previous position papers to the letter of acceptance. They phoned to tell me that the chairman of the committee, Lawan Farouk was so excited about the attached papers that he told them to make photocopies of them and circulate to all the members. I was informed that the arrangement was that they would take me about the last contributor. I am the only past oil minister that was invited. And not only that, I was also the most powerful oil minister in history with all the positions I held then. And I’ve been writing on oil issues for years. It was a good choice by the grace of God. And finally when it was time for me to be called, I learnt that Jonathan told them not to call me.

And they agreed to that. I was monitoring the House committee. I kept on phoning them. First they told me they were going to take me about the last.

They later said they were through with public hearings and they were going to hear me in camera. I said No, I was not going to be heard in camera.

How were you able to establish that President Jonathan stopped the House committee from inviting you, as you claimed?

Some recent newspaper reports have confirmed this. One headline quoted Farouk Lawan thus: “We are under pressure over subsidy probe. “ The story reads thus: “A member of the committee who does not want to be named said: ‘We are put under tremendous pressure by the presidency. The chairman was summoned and he has been receiving calls not to invite certain people.’ I’m the only one left to be invited. They have murdered sleep. They cannot gag me.

What I’m doing is for the interest of Nigeria and the common man of this country. I’ve spent over N22, 000 preparing documents I was going to present to the House committee. What am I now going to do? I’m going to hold a World Press Conference and nobody can stop me. I’m going to say what I should have said if I had been invited.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012

71

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QUOTABLE “My understanding of Ojukwu was that he was a man who could not withstand injustice, and as a student of art or history, you know that the beginning of a struggle is the presence of an attempt to deny the rest their right of existence, and Ojukwu felt that he could lead his people out of the injustice meted on them by the Federal Republic of Nigeria.” ”

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL. 6, NO. 2047

— Governor Rotimi Amaechi, during a public lecture in Ojukwu’s honour in Port Harcourt, Rivers State

T

HE hall was packed during the threeday legislative summit on Southwest integration held in Ibadan inside the iconic Premier Hotel, lately renovated. The spirit of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, whom one speaker described as the modern ancestor of the Yoruba, hovered over the summit as powerfully as the spirits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln still hover over the history and people of the United States. The ambience of the hotel located on Mokola Hill reminded summiteers of the glories of the region before, during and after the First Republic, as if the footprints of Yoruba political giants were still echoing down its stately halls. But it was the sage’s accomplishments, recounted by speaker after speaker, that reverberated in evocative assertions of the time one colossus bestrode the region and stamped his eternal footprints in the sands of time.

It was a summit designed to explore legislative options for advancing the cause of integration, and to some extent, regionalisation. It achieved that goal; but it also went much further to underscore the ineluctability of a truly federal arrangement if Nigeria is to survive as a nation, a federalism doubtless anchored on regionalisation, and a regionalisation in turn based on linguistic affinity. Among the motley crowd that attended the summit were secret service operatives, political naysayers, avowed irredentists, nostalgic political economists, journalists, and consequential and inconsequential men and women, many of them uninvited, but nearly all passionate about integration. I do not know what sort of reports were filed on the summit by the secret service operatives, but I know how easy it is to misunderstand what transpired on those three revealing days. As one or two speakers sighed, the Western States are a highly misunderstood people.

But it is not only naysayers and secret service operatives that were likely to misunderstand the integration summit, even many respectable Yoruba men and women emphatically did. Ogun and Lagos States sent token representations, demonstrating either that they were not truly convinced about integration, or they felt it was merely a costly, distracting bother. Ondo State made no gesture whatsoever in the direction of integration, whether token or not. Its leaders have always argued that you needn’t be in the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to be a progressive, and that all progressives needn’t come together to proclaim their progressivism. They have chosen to walk alone, convinced they have read their people well.

For all their sophistication, there is still so much poor understanding of the Yoruba by the Yoruba. If leading Yoruba sons could misunderstand the worldview of their own people, it is not surprising that outsiders, some of whom a few days ago published appallingly illiterate views and analyses on the integration summit, misjudged the Yoruba. The presentation of Governor Abiola Ajimobi was relevant, prognostic and cerebral, but it was measured, even restrained. He appeared to understand the place of Ibadan in modern Yoruba history, but I judge that even he did not quite soar to the metaphysical height Ibadan rose to in Yoruba history, a height that saw the undefeated warrior city approximating and coalescing Yoruba spirit and power in one indescribable and unapologetic whole. What carried the day were the infectious enthusiasm of both Governors Kayode Fayemi and Rauf Aregbesola.

While the three governors support integration, Fayemi in his usual way was scholarly about his recommendations, and Aregbesola, perhaps the most cultural of the Southwest governors today, immersed himself in the symbolisms and metaphysics of the race – flag, anthem and all – as only a mobiliser could. This probably explains why some impatient analysts have made the farfetched insinuations that the Osun governor was thinking insurrection. The analysts saw the hand of this newspaper in the organisation of the summit and concluded that the ACN leadership planned something sinister about the unity of Nigeria, when in

Rebooting Western Region

•Fayemi

•Aregbesola

fact the idea to hold the summit was not even original to this newspaper.

Those who do not really know the Yoruba can misunderstand the race as much as they like, and see the summit as a veiled attempt at dismembering Nigeria. Whether progressive or conservative, opposition or mainstream, a Yoruba man will have to be an unrepentant obscurantist not to see the value of integration at a time of shrinking economic opportunities, massive poverty, regressive sense of nationhood (accentuated by parochial national leadership), and almost total and irreversible collapse of social, religious and political values. There is so much in the history of the Western Region to embrace in order to reclaim not only lost grounds, but also lost glory. From the preFirst Republic era and up till now, the Yoruba have never really championed secession.

They are an excessively patient people who

will not take extreme measures until it becomes unavoidable. This was why the summit ignored the suggestion by a speaker that the Yoruba put in place certain strong measures, including setting up intelligence group, to secure the race in the midst of an increasingly hostile country.

The summit, as anyone who attended it would have noticed, came close to reawakening the spirit of the Western Region and rebooting it. The summiteers recalled that the sophisticated political development of the Oyo Empire was unequalled in Africa in its days, and that it even rivalled the best in Europe, having achieved separation of powers and operated a secular government rather than a theocracy. They also recalled that though Yoruba political, social and economic developments were arrested with the advent of colonialism, in the brief seven-year period when Chief Obafemi

Still on Ribadu and the task force job

P

UBLISHED in this edition of The Nation on Sunday is a rejoinder to my February 12 article entitled The Nuhu Ribadu dilemma. It is a well-written piece by a certain Mr Samuel Nyingifa-Williams whose right (assuming someone by that name exists) to disagree with my view on the subject matter I respect. Though I regret the writer’s inability to apply his talent to the more appropriate and virtuous task of defending what is true and just, I am nonetheless constrained to make a few remarks on the rejoinder only because I feel his pain in comprehending what he argues was a contradiction between my assessment of Nuhu Ribadu and my conclusion on the inadvisability of taking the task force job.

I thought I was unambiguous enough in drawing a line between Ribadu as a man on one hand, and the needless job he has taken on the other hand. I restate it once again, though Samuel at first pretends to the nobility of defending Ribadu, that I have the highest regard for the personal qualities of the former boss of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). I am thankful that Samuel recognises this. I only attacked Ribadu’s judgement in taking up what is disguised as a national assignment. There are some presidents a man of integrity should never work for: Jonathan is one, and Obadsanjo is another.

I am surprised that Samuel fails to understand that while I respect Ribadu’s integrity, it does not follow that I must expect him to invariably be a success, especially seeing as he has taken a job from someone whose political integrity is suspect. Samuel thinks it was irreverent of me to describe Jonathan as an unsteady politician, and for which he condemns me as having attacked the president for pecuniary considerations.

It is clear from my February 12 piece that I do not have regard for the president’s administrative capability; I still don’t, whatever defamatory thoughts course through Samuel’s ingratiating mind.

I think in the end Samuel is less concerned with my opinion of Ribadu’s competence or integrity as he is unsettled by my dismissive characterisation of Jonathan as a flip-flopping president whom he says I criticised too early, and whom he is eager and sworn to defend. As the reader will judge after reading Samuel’s rejoinder in the Commentary section of this newspaper, there is nothing concrete Jonathan has done to advance the cause of democracy; nor, even if we are charitable to the increasingly autocratic president and view his modest talents with consideration, has he said anything to give us the impression he understands the concept, not to talk of advancing its cause.

Awolowo led a self-governing Western Region, his achievements were unrivalled.

The summit then reminded itself of the deep and seemingly inscrutable essence of the Yoruba spirit, its resilience, its secularism, its self-confidence, its innovativeness, its republican cum federalist worldview, its robust and avant-garde culture, and its belief that the race can compare with and even best the best in the world. It is this constant reminder of the rest of Nigeria by the Yoruba of a race that can take on the world in every field that infuriates other tribes and makes them fear it, loathe it, and gang up against it.

The summit regretted that a people so advanced culturally in music, drama and literature; and so politically vigorous in advanced systems of government, federalism, charter of rights, secularism and large-scale and complex organisations; and so economically modern in advanced bureaucracy, commerce and the professions, could be so hamstrung by the rest of Nigeria.

Outsiders are unable to decipher the intangibles and profundities that have taken place in the Western Region, or appreciate how the Yoruba feel about themselves and their talents and potential. Outsiders confuse the effort to reboot the region with an unfounded intention to secede. The summit recognised that except a rebooting of the Western Region took place in order to give the Yoruba the chance to reclaim and rebuild their glorious past and advance even beyond it at their own pace, the so-called unity other Nigerians fret about would in fact be threatened the more. Just like many analysts are drawing the wrong conclusions about integration in the Western Region, Nigeria’s rulers are also making their worst errors trying to stifle regional autonomy and self-expression.

Except Nigerians urgently dismantle the unworkable and decrepit unitary system which they now operate in the name of federalism, the unity they crave to sustain and nurture will sunder for sure. There is no way on earth the current arrangement can stand.

It was once said of the Ottoman Empire in the mid-19th century that it was the sick man of Europe which no amount of doctoring could save. The same can be said of Nigeria today. It should be broken down and rearranged when we still have the initiative. Once we lose the initiative, as sure as day follows night, it will be broken down without the opportunity to rearrange. Integration offers a way out of the dilemma. Do we have the perceptive leaders with the will to anticipate history and do what is right?

Ondo State had the opportunity to go to Ibadan for the integration summit to argue that Western Region is an integral whole irrespective of ideology or political party. It chose to stay away without any assurance that it could successfully keep the Ondo Yoruba away from their kindred, or abort the rebirth of greatness yearning to break forth. Lagos could benefit the most from integration if it understood the concept. But it kept its legislators away from the legislative summit perhaps because it misread history by failing to understand that the industrial estates, which have contributed hugely to making Lagos the commercial capital of Nigeria, were the inevitable fruits of an integrated Western Region economy. Ogun ought to have approached the summit with an expansive vision; it instead displayed a constricted vision by its token presence.

Outsiders may be forgiven for their apprehensions over integration; it is, however, inexcusable for any insider to shun it, let alone oppose it. Nor, as some mainstreamers want, should any insider apologise for thinking and acting integration, and recognising and accepting the region’s advanced social, political and economic ethos. It must be remembered that before colonisation, the nations that make up Nigeria were at different stages of development and civilisation. Western Region was arguably primus inter pares – a region whose development is now arrested and retarded by the abysmally low national average, an average bifurcated by religious schisms, and overwhelmed by national leaders who are themselves products of poorly developed systems.

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