The Nation January 19,2012

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

Billions of naira down subsidy drain

Jonathan for World Economic Summit

NEWS

Page 7

NEWS – Page 61

•President to join leaders in Davos

•Cash paid for unused fuel from 2006-11

www.thenationonlineng.net

TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

VOL. 7, NO. 2009 THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

N150.00

ACN protests troops in Lagos, Kano, Kaduna •Aregbesola: it’s dangerous From Yusuf Alli and John Ofikhenua, Abuja

T

HE opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) yesterday protested against the occupation of Lagos, Kaduna and Kano by soldiers. It demanded immediate withdrawal of the troops.

The party also blamed President Goodluck Jonathan for the increasing level of insecurity nationwide, especially the menace of Boko Haram.

It accused the Federal Government of allegedly spending the controversial N1.3trillon, spent on fuel subSEE sidy cash on the president’s elecALSO tion.

The party launched its antiPAGE 6 troops’ protest at a news conference in Abuja, by its National Secretary, Senator Lawal Shuaibu. It also presented a seven-point demand to President Jonathan.

Shuaibu said: “The invasion of Lagos, Kaduna and Kano and unleashing of armed soldiers and armoured tanks against defenceless civilians protesting against an unpopular policy is unacceptable, and most undemocratic. Our constitution does not perContinued on page 4

GOS: A group of soldiers manning an armoured tank at Ojota, Lagos Mainland ... yesterday •THE SIEGE OF LA LAGOS

PHOTO: OMOSEHIN MOSES

Boko Haram suspect: IG Ringim in trouble Police chief gets query over escape of Xmas Day bombing suspect Zakari Biu faces investigation panel

P

OLICE chief Hafiz Ringim’s fate was hanging in the balance last night. The Presidency is believed to be considering his removal over the escape of a suspected mastermind of the Christmas Day bombing in Madalla, Niger State.

Ringim, who is due for retirement next month, has 24 hours to explain the dramatic escape of a suspected Boko Haram member,

?

THE QUESTIONS

•Why was Kabiru Sokoto’s home not searched until Monday? He was arrested on Saturday •Where is the Air Force Officer arrested with him?

•Zakari Biu is said to have been dismissed from the police. Why? •Did the police take Kabiru Sokoto’s fingerprint and photograph? This is doubtful.

•Even if Sokoto is declared wanted, will he ever be found?

From Yusuf Alli and Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

Kabiru Sokoto, who was arrested last Saturday in connection with the Christmas Day bombing at St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State. Rights activist Femi Falana said Ringim should be punished for Sokoto’s escape.

•Biu

See also pages 2&3

The suspect was arrested at the Borno Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro, Abuja in company of an Air Force officer.

The suspect, who was in handcuffs, escaped on Monday from a team of policemen who took him to his home in Abaji, near Abuja, for a search.

It was gathered that after the search, the

policemen decided to take the suspect to the traditional ruler of the town (the Ona of Abaji) in a Toyota Hilux Van. A group of irate youths allegedly waylaid the police team. In the ensuing pandemonium, the suspect escaped, it was said.

Ringim ordered the suspension of a Commissioner of Police, Abubakar Zakari Biu, who faced a disciplinary panel yesterday.

Police Affairs Minister Navy Capt Caleb Olubolade (rtd), who issued Ringim a query, spoke with reporters at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday, describing the incident as “unfortunate”.

He said: “From the ministry, I have directed the IG to carry out full investigation and even at higher level, above that one, there will be another investigation to ascertain what led to the suspect’s escape. I have also directed that the officers involved and the personnel involved should be detained immediately.”

“The commissioner of police has been suspended. In fact, beyond that, I have advised Continued on page 4

•INDUSTRY P16 •SPORTS P23 •EDUCATION P25 •POLTIICS P43 •N/HEALTH P45

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

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NEWS DRAMATIC OF XMAS DAY BOMBING SUSPECT NEW YEARESCAPE MESSAGES

Zakari Biu: Fate of a controversial cop

Until a fortnight ago, many would have vowed that he was no longer a policeman. But controversial officer Zakari Biu, recently promoted Commissioner of Police (CP), has long been ‘secretly’ back in the force.

The escape of the Madalla bombing suspect from his custody has put the enigmatic policeman to the limelight. Will this be his end?

OLUKOREDE YISHAU and OLUKAYODE THOMAS write

‘

Zakari Biu was dismissed from the Nigerian Police and has been recalled into the Nigeria Police Force, despite his crimes against humanity during Abacha’s dictatorial rule by torturing innocent citizens. He could be likened to Charles Taylor of Liberia. He is brute and has no concern for humanity

‘

H

E was a man after the heart of Inspector-General of Police Hafiz Ringim. Zakari Biu, the embattled police officer in charge of terrorism in whose custody a bombing suspect, Kabir Sokoto, escaped two days ago, was until this year a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP). Ringim recommended him to the Police Service Commission (PSC) for promotion to Commissioner of Police. The PSC, after its 25th plenary meeting, approved Ringim’s recommendation.

The commission, in its wisdom, also decided that Biu’s promotion should take effect from last December 15.

As the commission announced Biu’s promotion on New Year’s Day, it also said nine other officers were reprimanded. A Deputy Superintendent of Police was demoted to Assistant Superintendent of Police for conduct not expected of a senior officer.

Its Chairman, Parry Osayande, said the PSC would always reward diligence with elevation and punish offenders. Less than a month after it happily promoted Biu, the commission, most likely, will have to review its decision, with Biu’s alleged negligence leading to the escape of a suspect believed to be central to the Madalla blast in which scores died.

He is on suspension. Sadly for him too, the officers, whom he asked to escort the suspect to his house before his gang waylaid them and set their colleague free, fled yesterday, leaving Biu all alone.

Like Ringim, Biu is due for retirement next month. For many who have had encounters with him, nemesis may be at work. Under the regime of the late Gen. Sani Abacha, the embattled cop was terror personified. As head of the regime’s Presidential Task Force on Terrorism, he terrorised journalists and human rights activists, who he labeled terrorists.

Journalists on the stables of The News, TSM and Tell were the worse hit. The publisher of the now rested TSM, Chris Anyanwu, who is now a senator, narrated how Biu physically assaulted her and practically got her eyes permanently impaired.

Founder of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) Dr. Frederick Fasehun, can never forget Biu, whom he told the Oputa Panel set up by former President Olusegun Obasanjo how the embattled cop assaulted him.

Senator Babafemi Ojudu, who was Managing Editor of The News, said Biu put a gun to his head, threatening to blast his brain.

The Borno-born cop is also criticised over the death of a reporter with The News, Bagauda Kaltho.Biu claims Kaltho was trying to detonate a bomb in a hotel and got killed in the process. Kaltho’s widow was also tricked by Biu to reveal information about Independent Communications Nigeria Limited (ICNL), publishers of The News on the pretext of reuniting her with her husband. It turned out he only deceived the woman, as he used the information to invade the magazine’s offic-

es, carting away its property. Of course, he also arrested workers found on site during the raid. Biu’s deceit became clear to Mrs. Kaltho after the dreaded cop announced her husband’s death. He claimed a copy of Wole Soyinka’s book, The Man Died, was found at the scene where Kaltho was supposedly consumed by a bomb he was trying to detonate.

Yet the book was not defaced by the explosion, which killed Kaltho! His remains were never released to his family.

Biu, at a press conference after Abacha’s death, said Kaltho was the “unidentified” person who died while planting a bomb which went off at Durbar Hotel, Kaduna in January 1996. He then showed the media a video recording of the scene of the blast and two photographs – one of a charred body and another of the journalist. Biu said he “strongly suspects the management of ICNL of having connection with the Durbar Hotel bombing or else James Bagauda Kaltho .”

He later said Abacha’s Chief Security Officer, Major Hamza al-Mustapha, may have been responsible for Kaltho’s fate. “I have never seen Kaltho in my life, either alive or dead and don’t know the whereabouts of Kaltho. Only the Chief Security Officer to the late Abacha, Maj. Hamza al-Mustapha, can explain what happened to Kaltho,” he said When Biu appeared before the panel, he refused to be put on oath with the Holy Quran, because “he is not pure.” He denied all the allegations against him.

A retired Commissioner of Police Abubakar Tsav, who also appeared before the panel, debunked Biu’s claim. He said: “Everything he is saying is not true. I mean the evidence he gave in respect of Bagauda Kaltho. He said he got photographs from the wife of Bagauda Kaltho. He also said he got reports from the SSS through the Inspector-General of Police, which said the person who was killed in the bomb blast at the Durbar Hotel was Bagauda Kaltho.

And he said that he never met Bagauda anywhere in his life. Then how could he come to that conclusion that the man killed was Bagau-

da Kaltho? He merely saw his pictures …He (Biu) should be in prison. As far as I’m concerned, he is a prisoner on parole.”

James Danbaba, a colleague of Biu, said Kaltho was “summarily executed on the orders of the InspectorGeneral of Police, because Kaltho was said to have seen IGP Ibrahim Coomasie suddenly collapse and was foaming in the mouth.”

Danbaba added: “ The journalist was ordered to be arrested and executed because of a disclosure that he (Coomasie) is suffering from epilepsy may jeopardise the I GP’s well preserved and seriously guarded position and ultimately lead to his untimely retirement from the police force.”

He added: “After the said journalist, Bagauda Kaltho’s summary execution, a bomb was attached to his corpse and detonated. I reliably learnt that this was directed at selling a story to the C-in-C that a NADECO journalist has died of a bomb explosion while attempting to plant a bomb, thereby finally covering their track of having killed Bagauda Kaltho and the reason for his murder.”

After the death of Abacha, his successor, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, deemed it fit to ‘dash’ Biu a national honour, a development which irked many of those who regarded him as a brute.

In his book, Trials and Triumphs: The Story of The News, Dr. wale Adebanwi, had harsh words for Biu. Adebanwi said: “Zakari Biu, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), the crude and sadistic officer in charge of the Presidential Task Force on Terrorism, was probably the best man for the operation designed as the “final solution” to the grave problem posed by the ICNL publications to the Abacha regime. Biu was an officer who represented the most grotesque face of the Nigerian Police.

He saw the force as a repressive organ of an unaccountable power. And with the official bigotry that not only sustained him to the heights of the force, anything that looked like ethnocidal project excited him.”

•The embattled Biu

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was sent to jail by the Abacha regime, felt Biu was not fit for the force. He was said to have asked then Inspector-General of Police Musiliu Smith if the controversial cop was still in the force, after meeting him at a function. Not long after this, Biu was dismissed.

But, unknown to many, he was long back. Soyinka, in an interview in 2010, said he was aware Biu had been recalled. The Nobel laureate said: “Zakari Biu was dismissed from the Nigeria Police and has been recalled into the Nigeria Police Force, despite his crimes against humanity during Abacha’s dictatorial rule by torturing innocent citizens. He could be likened to Charles Taylor of Liberia. He is brute and has no concern for humanity. For his past history, he should not be trusted with any national responsibility as he is capable of causing terror-

ism, which could destroy the image of Nigeria.”

The Nation learnt that after Obasanjo’s exit from power, Biu petitioned the PSC. Mike Okiro was the IGP then. Biu said he was retired without getting a fair hearing. He argued that by law, only the commission could fire him. Osayande saw merit in his case and ordered his recall.

The then Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Ojukwu, said: “Biu is back in the Force as his name had never been removed from the Police register. Biu is now an instructor at the Police Academy in Wudil, Kano State.”

Ringim’s emergence as IGP paid off for Biu, as he was entrusted with curbing terrorism, which in the country is synonymous with an insurgent group, Boko Haram, whose root is deep in Borno, Biu’s home state.

Now he may have got his fingers burnt. Only a few are weeping with him.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

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NEWS DRAMATIC ESCAPE OF XMAS DAY BOMBING SUSPECT VICTIMS FROM THE PAST

Soyinka: Biu the torturer Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka, in a piece written a decade ago, entitled ‘Portraits in Infamy and Criminal Impunity’ left no one in doubt that embattled Commissioner of Police Zakari Biu should have long been eased out of the police. Excerpts:

O •Dr. Fasheun

•Anyanwu

•Ojudu

TSA V ON BIU TSAV

‘

He (Biu) said that he never met Bagauda anywhere in his life.

Then how could he come to that conclusion that the man killed was Bagauda Kaltho? He merely saw his pictures …He (Biu) should be in prison. As far as I’m concerned, he is a prisoner on parole

N Friday, 24 November, I was present at the hearings of this panel. In the witness box was former Police Commissioner Zakari Biu who had featured consistently in the testimonies of political detainees and other categories of prisoners who came into his custody.

As for healing, let us not even raise our sights to such an extravagant goal. I attended the morning session of the Oputa Panel and could only remain for about ninety minutes. That was more than sufficient time however for me to obtain a disquieting affirmation of what I had already gathered concerning the atmosphere that characterised the proceedings, claims that suggested a virtual conversion of the hearings to a performance arena by those who had been accused of one violation or the other. Since then, I have also watched hours of replays on television.

I am now acquainted, in short, with what should become visual texts for students of criminal psychology as well as of the performance arts - crude and transparent, but performances nonetheless. I listened to the well-rehearsed responses of the notorious police Commissioner as he was led by his lawyer - confident, expansive, jocular, condescending. He was there to demonstrate his superiority - a fantasy of his own mind, purely gestura - over lesser beings - his accusers, the audience, and even the investigation panel. The change of postures and other forms of body language between Biu’s session with his own counsel, and cross-examination by the counsel for the victims, was only one of intensification, not of any basic attitude. That remained constant, and defiant.

But there was also fear. Underlying fear that showed in incautious moments of the eyes, those telltale moments that revealed a deep dread of this unaccustomed reversal of positions. And the only way that this creature should deal with his fear was through increased arrogance, posturing, intensified contempt for the proceedings and most maliciously of all, a resolve- evidently taken in advance - to ‘turn the tables’ on his accusers by concocting outrageous motives for their denunciations, mud-slinging in a calculated cynical manner, and simultaneously painting a portrait of himself as a man much misunderstood.

He mocked his victims. For Biu, the public arena was an invitation for further belittling of his victims.

‘No, I did not ill-treat him. He was like a father/uncle/elder brother to me.... We got on very well ... I did favours for him... He even embraced me on the day he was released- would he have done that if I had abused him?’ Asked by the chairman of the panel why his name was so recurrent in the catalogue of atrocities, fingered by military and civilian victims, he put it down to a conspiracy by his enemies - from a political and /or regional spectrum. Pressed to admit that he had imposed an inhuman regime of confinement on his last accuser, Dr. Fasehun, deprived him of regulation visit etc., he claimed that, with no provocation whatsoever, this doctor- or his wife, I forget which - had slapped him, while the other had held him from behind. Something along those lines,

and it all took place in the presence of officers Biu’s h e a v i l y armed escort!

He, on the other hand, had exercised maximum restraint, and even stopped his angry bodyguards from exacting immediate reprisals!

The gamut of contradictions in Biu’s statements was mind•Soyinka boggling, but this was not how it appeared to him. On the contrary, Police Commissioner Biu was supremely pleased with every answer he gave, and appeared somewhat disappointed that it attracted no applause. He had good precedent. An even more repellent creature, Major Al-Mustapha, had earned applause for his alleged ‘wit’ and ‘cleverness’, and for what were transparently improvisations, especially as he shifted blame onto his superiors, entertained the audience with conspiracy theories in arbitrary doses of probability and mind -boggling banality, and hinted at co-malefactors even beyond Nigeria’s borders.

Yes , Major Al-Mustapha, simultaneously on trial in a different setting for murder and attempted murder, was loudly cheered, at least by some, for his tomfoolery - such is the unfathomable ‘national character’ of a people known as Nigerians! Even the media got into the spirit- never has the word ‘brilliant’ been more fulsomely and grossly abused for the verbal antics that can be mustered by any two-penny torturer entangled in a web of lies, desperate in self- preservation, a drowning man whose delusion magnifies the weight of straws, and is practised in diversionary tactics that all children instinctively employ when they are caught with their fingers in a jar of sticky sweets.

Beyond the instinct of protecting his rear through secret recordings, and exercise that even employers indulged in to spy on their staff, or suspicious spouses on their partners, just what specific mark of ingenuity has this predictable powerdrunk mediocrity with a limitless budget, displayed? ‘Brilliance’ should be made of sterner stuff. No one questions, of course, that AlMustapha is a smoothie, and an impudent one. Once, in a fit of bonhomie, he exchanged caps with one of his victims - that is, snatched the cap of the unsuspecting man, placed it on his head and replaced it with his own. The survivor of Al-Mustapha’s erstwhile ministrations was briefly befuddled as to what should be his proper response in such a permissive atmosphere. He ended up responding- shall we say? - ‘like a good sport’? The ovation was impressive. Major Mustapha pandered uproariously to a gathering that was clearly starved of entertainment and of course, in a manner that diminished the gravity of the proceedings proportionately.

Brilliant? Let us just say that I have seen petty criminals in the dock take

on lawyers and the bench with far more astuteness and incisiveness.

And perhaps our media commentators need to revert to their school pupillage, where even the dullest wit becomes adept at stonewalling and or improvising, when caught playing truant from school. Quite predictable - to return to Biu - was that policeman’s evocation of the Eichmann defence” he was only discharging his duties. It was not he who should be in the witness-box, he claimed, but his superiors. But then, apparently forgetting that he had transferred all responsibility to those who gave orders, he would turn belligerent and try to justify the conduct of the security forces that he headed, snarling: ‘We had to deal with common criminals, reasonable felons who tried to set up secessionist movements - yes, they’re still doing it.

This man, this man who should be an elder, he’s still doing it! He wants to destabilise the nation.’ And then, screaming at the counsel: ‘You yourself, can you go to your state and go and declare secession there? You go and try it and see!’

And Mr. Biu leant back in self awarded vindication, took some moments to savour the lingering sound of his own voice, then leapt aggressively forward again to repeat his irrelevances even before the counsel had time to put his next question. One and on it went. Was Fasehun or Agbakoba on trial? Was the issue one of secessionist crimes or of inhuman conduct? The panel’s inertia certainly made one ponder that question. Suddenly, Biu’s erstwhile prisoner was no longer the avuncular guest with whom he had such cordial relations when the latter was in his custody. No, the accuser, the victim had become a demon, an corrigible rebel who still deserved to be kept under close watch...

Real or not, however, what matters is that Chris Anyawu, like other victims of her profession, were merely carrying out their journalistic duties. Guilty or not, the Panel ‘s mission was to investigate whether the accused were subjected to inhuman treatment by state operatives. Commissioner Biu was easily the most ardent of the interrogators. He had his own favourite form of torture which was called ‘roast chicken’ - and this was indeed a most literal description. Our journalist was not subjected to the ‘roast chicken’ treatment but she was physically assaulted, by this same police officer, and so viciously that it resulted in the permanent impairment of her eyesight. On his orders she was then kept under extremely inclement conditions and permitted no medical treatment. All this was contained in her deposition, and in her verbal testimony before the courts.

-Culled from www.nigerdeltacongress.com

‘

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THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

NEWS ACN protests troops in Lagos, Kano, Kaduna Continued from page 1

•President Goodluck Jonathan (right) addressing members of the diplomatic corps at a cocktail party for foreign diplomats at the Bauquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja.

PHOTO: AKIN OLADOKUN

Ogbeh advises Jonathan to set up ‘major’ enquiry

W

HERE are the policemen who were with Boko Haram suspect Kabiru Sokoto when he escaped?

Security sources said yesterday that they may have bolted, but The Nation could not confirm this last night.

The police are not taking chances with other suspects.

They have strengthened security at the Zone 7 Police Headquarters in Abuja where some Sokoto accomplices are being detained.

Police Affairs Minister Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade (rtd), has queried the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim, over Sokoto’s escape.

But a former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Audu Ogbeh, has advised President Goodluck Jonathan to set up a major enquiry into the incident.

Sokoto is suspected to have been one of the architects of the Christmas Day bombing at St. Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State, in which scores died and many got injured.

A security source, who spoke in confidence because he is not allowed to speak officially, said: “We have more challenges, with the escape of Kabiru Sokoto. The whereabouts of policemen on the team to Abaji where Kabiru Sokoto escaped is unknown.

“We are suspecting that they have also run away because they know the consequences of their action.

“While the police have launched a manhunt for these policemen, they may face summary trial in absentia.

But the police will surely get them.”

All the roads leading to the zonal headquarters in Zone 3, Abuja have been cordoned off.

Inspector-General of Police National Secretary, Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Senator Shuaibu Lawan (right); Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola; ACN National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and Senators Gbenga Ashafa and Adegbenga Kaka, singing the National Anthem during a news conference by the party on The State of the Nation, in Abuja ... yesterday.

PHOTO: ABAYOMI FAYESE

IG Ringim in trouble over Boko Haram suspect’s escape Continued from page 1

that they should be placed under ‘close’ arrest.”

He promised that adequate measures would be put in place to ensure that such an incident does not happen again.

Explaining why the IG was queried, Olubolade said: “He is the field officer; he has the responsibility to ensure all operations regarding arrest and all that are conducted in the usual manner. If he is found to have had complicity in that, he himself will have to account for his mistake.”

Asked whether the police chief could be sacked, Olubolade replied: “Yes; anybody, including myself.”

From Yusuf Alli and John Ofikhenua, Abuja

Hafiz Ringim has been queried by the Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade over the star suspect’s escape.

He has 24 hours to explain what happened.

The Minister was said to have acted based on a directive from the Presidency.

But a former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Audu Ogbeh, has raised some questions over the incident.

He said: “How does anybody convince us that Kabiru Sokoto was arrested in the Governor’s Lodge in the company of an Air Force officer, after he was tracked by the Air Force for so many days. He was handed over to a Commissioner of Police, Zakari Biu, who escorted him to the road and asked him to go home.

Then, he came out, explaining to us that he escaped.

“How does the government that has the troops to occupy Lagos not have the troops to follow such a criminal? And they escorted him to the highway and told him to go home and they are lying to us and

When asked if it was an indication that there has not been a good working relationship between his ministry and the police, Olubolade said: “It is not an indication. If somebody has erred in his responsibility, the outcome of the investigation will prove that. Whatever step we are to take as a result of this neglect, we have to take it immediately.”

Asked if Sokoto’s escape was not a confirmation of the President’s claim that Boko Haram has infiltrated the government, the minister said: “I cannot confirm that statement. What is important is all steps must be taken to re arrest the suspect.”

Biu yesterday appeared before an in-

the Almighty God. He may escape now, but he will not escape the wrath of God. “President Goodluck Jonathan admitted not too long ago that the security agencies have been infiltrated. This calls for a major enquiry, not just about suspicion and commitment. If the government in this country and individuals play with issues like this, then they have no plan for the survival of this country.

“Whether the bombing was of Islamic school in Warri or the church in Madalla, the ACN condemns all attitudes of violence. The A CN was to say that those who kill in the name of God don’t believe in God because if God wants you to die, He doesn’t need your help. He doesn’t need a bomber; he doesn’t need an assassin to take my life or the life of anyone.

“If you are an agent of God and you are bombing and killing, you don’t believe in God. Also, the President and the Inspector General of Police, if they haven’t being lying by now, let them tell us exactly what happened in the case of Kabiru Sokoto.”

The ACN chieftain went on: “They came out and named three persons as those behind

vestigation panel at the Force Headquarters.

He was asked to explain the circumstances behind the movement of the suspect to Abaji and how he escaped.

A source said: “We have started probing the escape of the suspect. That was why Biu appeared this evening before a panel at the Force Headquarters.

“We have to complete preliminary investigation to meet the 24-hour deadline given to Inspector-General of Police Hafiz Ringim to respond to a query from the Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade (rtd).

“By Thursday (today), we should be able to conclude our preliminary findings.”

the sponsors of Boko Haram.

One of them, a serving Senator, was arrested and charged to court. The other died in a car crash. What has happened to the third accused, the former Governor of Borno State? Is he missing? Is he on immunity (because the constitution of Nigeria does not allow that)?

Then, what happened?

“If we are saying nobody is a sacred cow, and the Presidency is covering up some people, it is hypocrisy of the highest order.”

The National Movement for Equity and Transparency (NAMOET) has faulted the call for the resignation of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Hafiz Ringim, over Sokoto’s escape.

In a statement by the President of the movement, Dr. Johnson Okechukwu, the group said the attempt to drag President Jonathan into the matter is not only hasty but tends to smack of a premeditated and mischievous agenda.

The statement said: “It is our view that the escape of a suspect who is under investigation and in police custody has nothing to do with the President or the Inspector General of Police (IGP), particularly where the investigative team is

•Ogbeh ... yesterday

being headed by a Commissioner of Police (CP) who is in the Force CID Command.

“If the President or the IGP or both have to be involved in the movement of every high profile suspect in a country where there are so many of such high profile suspects, then the President and IGP must be ready to have themselves shared into several units.”

A Lagos lawyer, Mr Femi Falana, has called on President Jonathan to immediately sack Ringim, alleging that police authorities might have decided to release the suspect because he had implicated some highly-placed Nigerians in his statement.

Campaign for Democracy chief Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin also described Sokoto’s escape as a national embarrassment.

She said the Jonathan administration “is directionless and incapable of appreciating what the urgency of the moment is”.

To some others, including former Commissioner of Police Abubakar Tsav, Sokoto’s escape has confirmed President Jonathan’s assertion that Boko Haram members have infiltrated his administration.

mit the President to declare war on the people or lawful protesters.

“The military is designed to uphold and defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Nigeria. Using the military to suppress legitimate agitation of the people is an aberration and alien to democratic norms.

“We therefore demand the immediate withdrawal of ‘occupation forces’ from the streets of Lagos.

“We have seen through the smokescreen of Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the goal of the deployment of troops to Lagos State is nothing but a prelude to declaring state of emergency in Lagos State.

“We strongly advise the PDP-led government to immediately retrace its steps as the ACN in every corner of this country will defend any attempt to erode our democratic gains.

“Mr. President and PDP should be reminded that never in history has any army ever defeated the will of the people.

“We condemn in similar vein the harassment, intimidation and the suppression of the rights of our members illegally detained by the Police in Niger State. We demand the immediate release of leaders of our party in Niger State, Alh. Abubakar Magaji, Alh. Mohammed Adams Erana, Alh. Dattijo Aliyu and Idris Abubakar Azozo.

“Nigerians and indeed the rest of the world are watching with utter disbelief the ever-decreasing democratic space owing to the desperation of the PDP government.

Mr. President cannot afford to fail so he needs to put on a thinking cap and come up with better programs.”

The ACN said it has no regret for standing with the masses during the protest against subsidy removal.

The National Secretary said: “We have heard the Government propaganda mouthpieces complaining about the opposition having sponsored the protest or even hijacking it. How laughable!

What does the government think is opposition all about?

“It is the duty and responsibility of the opposition in a democracy to provide alternatives when the ruling party is fumbling and give leadership when ruling party is lost.

We are proud to perform and fulfil our duty to the citizens of this country, we shall not abandon them to clueless government that is clearly groping in the dark and failing to find solution but accusing everybody and threatening citizens, indeed, killing its own citizens on the streets and hanging on them the badge of treasonable felony for coming out to defend their rights.

Continued on page 6

CORRECTION The headline, “Ace broadcaster eyes golden age”, in the Midweek Magazine section yesterday should have read “Ace broadcaster marks golden age”. Mr Olalekan Ogunbanwo actually turned 50 yesterday.

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

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

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NEWS OUTRAGE OVER SOLDIERS’ DEPLOYMENT IN LAGOS

Aregbesola to Fed Govt: soldiers’ deployment alarming dangerous O SUN State Governor Rauf Aregbesola yesterday cautioned the Federal Government on the consequences of the continued retention of the troops deployed to the states in the Southwest states.

He urged the President to realise that the deployment of soldiers in Lagos and other Yoruba states was a dangerous and alarming development, which could re-enact the nation’s ugly history.

Demanding immediate withdrawal of the soldiers in a state broadcast yesterday, the governor reminded the Federal Government of how soldiers were deployed in the defunct Western Region in 1965, a development that eventually led to the January 15, 1966 military intervention in the nation’s fledgling First Republic.

Urging that the past history of Nigeria should serve as guidance to avoid the pitfalls of the past, the governor said.

“We are asking that the soldiers be removed from the streets of Lagos and other affected states in Yoruba land.

We must be guided by history. The first military misadventure in government be-

gan with their deployment in the Western region in 1965”.

Advising that the nation’s democracy must be deepened and strengthened, Aregbesola noted that past experiences in the country had shown that once deployment of soldiers took place in a democratic setting, military intervention always followed.

The governor added that the military could not be restrained from interfering in the process of governance saying; “once they were out, like a genie in a bottle, they could not be restrained again. The rest is history. We must assiduosly work at depenning our democracy and restraining the military to their barracks and strict professional duties.

“Deployment of soldiers to quell legitimate and peaceful protest is therefore clearly undemocratic and a dangerous policy of militarisation of society with grave consequences”.

Aregbesola went on: “By its training, the orientation and temperament of soldiers were

not suited to maintaining law and order in a civil environment.

“It is usually done, if it must be done at all, as an extreme measure in a vanquished and occupied territory after a war in order to forcibly pacify the subjugated people. This is never directed at citizens in the homeland.”

The governor reiterated the fact that soldiers existed for the defence of the nation’s territorial integrity and could only be deployed in extreme circumstances of insurrection, natural disaster and any such crisis beyond the capability of civil authorities.

Rejecting the deployment of soldiers in Yoruba states, Aregbesola argued that the situation during the nationwide strike did not warrant the deployment of soldiers.

His words: “What the Federal Government must know is that democracy is a system of government in which sovereignty resides absolutely with the people. Its most

popular definition is the government of the people by the people and for the people.

“In a democracy, sovereignty, which is the supremes authority of the state, belongs to the people. In classical times, it resided with the emperor and in medieval time, it was with the nobility and royalty. In our pre-colonial era, the monarchy was the repository of sovereignty. However, in democracy, the people are supreme.”

He urged elected political officers to always know that they hold the offices in trust for the people.

Aregbesola said: “We must shun the perverse notion that all there is to democracy is periodic election, whichever way it comes by.

“Yes, a free and fair election necessary, but not a sufficient condition for democracy. It is the first condition and thus only the beginning of democracy. After election, the policy choices and programme must reflect the will of the people.

“As political leaders we do not have any authority over

and above the people. If the people feel they are not heard enough, it is their inalienable right to speak through other legitimate means like peaceful protests and the government must listen to them.”

He warned that any government that attempted to muzzle the people stood the risk of provoking them to speak by other means that may undermine democracy which, he advised, must be avoided.

Expressing gratitude to residents for making the protest peaceful in the State of the Living Spring, Aregbesola, however, regretted the death of some people.

He spoke of plans by his administration to provide succour to cushion the effects of the removal of fuel subsidy.

His words: “As your government, we are conscious of the challenge that the increase in the price of petrol will constitute to the already traumatised people.

“We are going to do everything possible to ensure that the pains and sufferings induced by the current situation are assuaged.”

‘We don’t want soldiers’

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CHIEFTAIN of the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) in the Southsouth, Senator Gbenga Ogunniya, has pitched tent with those condemning the deployment of soldiers in Lagos and other parts of the Southwest zone by the Federal Government.

Ogunniya, who was the Senate Committee Chair on Interior, said the approach adopted by the federal authority to prevent further protest

by Nigerians against the unpopular policy of subsidy removal was not only unwarranted, but most unfortunate.

“He joined the likes of Governors Babatunde Fashola (Lagos) Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) and Nobel Laureate Prof. Kayode Soyinka, among others to call on the Federal Government to stop its siege on Lagos and other southwest States.

In a statement, Ogunniya noted that it was expected of citizens to resist any unpopular policy and decision taken by the government.

The statement reads: In a democracy, unpopular policy decisions by governments are often met with popular resistance by the citizens, who believe that the essence of government is making life more abundant to the people, and not the spreading of hardship, as seen with the subsidy removal by the Federal Government.

“Lagos State, like most parts of Nigeria, rose stoutly to protest what most Nigerians adjudged an unpopular government’s decision, especially the hasty manner it was done (on New Year’s Day) when majority of Nigerians were out of their stations, with limited resources following an exhausting Yuletide celebration.

“It must be noted that in these protests, Lagos was particularly convivial.”

‘ASUU, FG dispute ends soon’ THE Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Wednesday said its prolonged conflict with the Federal Government over non-implementation of an agreement would soon be resolved.

ASUU President Prof.

Ukachukwu Awuzie hinted that all parties in the dispute had shown interest in its quick resolution.

The varsity lecturers had, on December 5, embarked on an indefinite strike over the non-implementation of the agreement it entered into with the government in 2009.

The agreement included the elongation of the retirement age of professors from 65 years to 70 years, better teaching and learning environment, improved funding of universities, university autonomy and improved remuneration, among others.

Awuzie told reporters that talks were ongoing between the parties involved in the conflict with a view to finding a lasting solution.

His words: “We are talking; we look forward to resolving the matter very soon. All the parties involved in the matter are interested in getting the issues resolved very soon; I think it is a welcome development.’’

The reconciliatory talks resumed shortly after the suspension of an eight-day national strike in protest of the government’s removal of petrol subsidy by Organised labour.

Four arraigned for assault on Ogun CP •Some of the miltary personnel deployed in Lagos...yesterday

PHOTO: MOSES OMOSEHIN

Lagos ACN urges Jonathan to withdraw soldiers HE Lagos State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) yesterday demanded the immediate withdrawal of the soldiers deployed in Lagos by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The party urged the President to listen to the wise counsel of Governor Babatunde Fashola and other eminent Nigerians in the interest of peace and harmony.

In a statement by its spokesperson, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, the party reminded President Jonathan that the deployment and retention of armed military men in Lagos, was a violation of the tenets and principles of democracy and the rule of law.

According to the party, the governor, in his capacity as the Chief Security Officer (CSO) in the state has said that such action was unnecessary, unwarranted and unacceptable.

The statement reads: “There was no serious organised threat to security of life and property in Lagos , the rallies were 80 per cent concentrated at Gani Fawehinmi Park Ojota and Lagosians were very reasonable and creative during the protests to warrant the

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‘It’s imperialistic’

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HE Ogun State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), has faulted the deployment of soldiers on the streets of Lagos to stop further protests by Nigerians against the removal of petrol subsidy.

It described the situation as imperialistic and dehumanising.

The party’s spokesman, Mr. Sola Lawal, decried the use of soldiers to intimidate and oppress Nigerians who embarked on a peaceful protest against what they felt was inimical to their existence.

Describing as awkward the use of soldiers to suppress a lawful agitation by citizens under a democratic dispensation, the party urged President Goodluck Jonathan to “redeem whatever is left of his democratic identity by recalling the soldiers to the barracks as this was causing panic among the peace- loving people of Lagos and some border towns of Ogun State.

“The deployment of the soldiers in the streets epitomises recourse to neo-colonialist retarded dictatorship. The shame could only have been engineered by a national political leadership bereft of basic ingenuity in intellectual engageArmy of occupation in the metropolis.

“As at the time of writing this statement, soldiers are seen in different parts of the metropolis, thereby creating a sense of siege in the minds of law abiding and very so-

ment of its people in contentious national policy malady.

“It exposes a disdainful managerial paralysis expressed through primitive muscle-flexing with a people whose only arsenal against oppression is a combination of grit and brain.”

The ACN expressed its disappointment that “a president produced by a party (Peoples Democratic Party), which prides itself as the largest political party in Africa could deface the beauty of democracy which, among other things, is the freedom of association and expression with the jackboots of the military on our streets, at a time, pro-government protesters in Yenagoa, the capital of the presidents home state, and Port Harcourt, were allowed free reign.

“The presence of soldiers on our streets reminds us of the dark days of the military when the voice of the people was vehemently stifled while anti-people policies were forced on them with impunity and in disregard of their wishes and aspiration.

“Nigerians today deserve a better deal and that is what they are demanding in unison”.

phisticated Lagosians.

“Lagos ACN reminds President Goodluck Jonathan that we are in a democracy and no sensible democratically elected president can deploy soldiers on the strets at the drop of a hat at peacetimes un-

less such a president is saddled with dictatorial tendencies.

“Lagos ACN warns that nothing should be done to diminish the integrity and high rating of the Fasholaled government in Lagos.”

FOUR persons yesterday appeared before an Abeokuta Chief Magistrate’s Court. They were charged with harassing and molesting the Ogun Commissioner of Police, Mr Nicholas Nkemdeme.

The accused persons, who were also charged with shooting at a policeman, Mr Augustine Omueti, are Waheed Akinwande, 35, Mutiu Akinbo, 28, Yekini Shittu, 28 and Olukunle Adeyinka 32.

The police prosecutor, Mr Augustine Ozimini, told the court that the offences were committed on January 11, at about 2.20 a.m. around Oloorunsogo area of Abeokuta.

The prosecutor further alleged that the accused organised an unlawful assembly in a manner likely to disturb the peace of the state on the same day and venue.

He said: “They disguised like protesters to rob, harass and intimidate innocent citizens, the CP and his entourage ran into them and they seriously molested him and shot at one of his aides.

“It will interest the court to know that they even threatened to shoot the CP himself; it took his wisdom before he could leave the scene alive, and the policeman shot is currently receiving treatment.”

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

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NEWS Mutilated body of hunchback dumped in bush THE body of 24-year-old Ade Dowo, a humpback, who has been declared missing since January 13, has been found mutilated and dumped in a a bush at Ago-Alaye in Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State.

Speaking with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Odigbo, near Ondo on Tuesday, a source close to the victim’s family, who declined to be identified, said that Dowo went missing on Friday morning.

“Ade was an Senior Secondary School (SSS 3) pupil in a private school who lived with his parents at Bashorun Quarters at Ago-Alaye area in Odigbo,” said the source.

The source also alleged that a “very pretty” girl passed the night with Dowo on that fateful Friday night.

“It was suspected that four assailants used the girl as bait and as Ade was seeing her off around 5 a.m. they pounced on him and took him away to an unknown destination,” the source told NAN. The mother of the deceased, Mrs Lydia Dowo, said that Ade, whom she described as very brilliant in his studies, was her only son out of six children.

“I went through series of ordeals to bring him up; he only started walking at the age of 12, the only place he goes to is his school or on short errands,” she said.

The Divisional Police Officer in Odigbo, CSP. Adekimi Ojo, who confirmed the incident, said that one of the four suspects had already been arrested.

“The hump of the deceased was removed which leads us to believe it was used for ritual purposes, the suspect we apprehended led us to the body,” he said.

“The corpse has been deposited at the mortuary of a private hospital in Ore. Our investigation into the case still continues,” the DPO said.

Sacked Katsina Senators, Reps sue INEC, others From Kamarudeen Ogundele, Abuja TWO Senators and eight members of the House of Representatives sacked from the National Assembly have sued the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for withdrawing their Certificates of Return.

In the suit before before an Abuja Federal High Court Justice Gladys Olotu, the plaintiffs are asking the court to declare the action as unlawful, null and void.

According to them, the Supreme Court’s decision of December 16 relied on for the action “does not confer any right, power or authority on the defendants to withdraw, recall, nullify, cancel, extinguish, void, invalidate or render of no effect the Certificates of Return” issued to them unless so empowered or authorised by the Order of a Court of competent jurisdiction.

The are Senators Abdu Umar Yandoma and Ahmed Stores, as well as Honourables; Musa Salisu Aminu Ashiru, Murtala Isah, Muntari Dandutse, Umar K, Umar Dankawa, Tasiu Doguru and Mohammed Tukur of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).

•Senators - Solomon (left), Tinubu and Odunsi...yesterday

PHOTOS: ABAYOMI FAYESE

•Mustapha (left) and Senator Omoworare

ACN protests troops in Lagos, Kano, Kaduna Continued on page 4

“The measures announced by the President in the morning of Monday 15/1/12 clearly show that the government does not even understand the citizens much less communicate with them. By unilaterally announcing N97 per litre without showing any scientific basis for it undermines the whole argument for the removal of “subsidy”, forcing us to ask how the government arrived at this figure?

“How now does the government finance the remaining “subsidy”?

What happens to the budget that was submitted to the NASS? Is this going to add to the existing budget deficit of more than one trillion Naira? How does the government intend to finance the deficit in the first place? One of the items of expenditure in the current budget is the purchase of two more aircraft to bring the presidential fleet to over ten aircraft.

“What does the president need a fleet of aircraft for? How can Nigerians believe him and make sacrifices if he cannot himself make such sacrifices?

In any case, how many aircraft has the Queen of England? The British Prime Minister does not have any Prime Ministerial jet, he uses the British Airways. President Obama pays for his food (unless when hosting a state banquet) and even pays rent for his official residence.

On the controversial N1.3trillion fuel subsidy incurred by the nation last year, the party said it suspected that the fund was allegedly used for Jonathan’s campaign.

Shuaibu said: “In the last few days, the data and information exhumed from the heavily-guarded government records have since shown the colossal amount of embezzlement, rip-off and wastage that has been the hallmark of the PDP government.

“That there was never any subsidy at all, better still, that the fraud called “subsidy” was simply a smoke screen for enriching cronies, which in an election year tripled to finance the presidential election has now all come out in the open. Nigerians are being asked, in the name of withdrawal of fuel “subsidy” to pay for the extravagant and wasteful Presidential election campaigns, last year.

“This data, which is still emerging, has raised several questions. How did a N240b subsidy in the 2011 budget grow astronomically to N1.3trillion

by October 2011 (reaching about N1.6trillion by December 2011)? How did the number of companies involved in fuel importation shoot up from only 11 in February 2011 to 120, more than ten times, by the next month, March 2011?

“The quantity of fuel imported is far in excess of the real consumption need of the country, could all the fuel that is claimed to be imported real or is it sheer scam to raise campaign funds for President Jonathan?

“How exactly was the Jonathan Presidential campaign funded where daily media expenses were estimated to be about N100m? Where did the

‘No government on earth has ever succeeded without the trust of its citizens. It is the confidence that citizens have in their government that inspires them to pay taxes, accept legislative and judicial decisions’ lavish Neighbour to Neighbour campaign get its funds from? Is this not all funded by the racket called Fuel “subsidy”?

“Thanks to advances in information and communication technology, the KPMG audit report is now available on the internet and could be accessed by anybody and Nigerians have feasted on this and similar information. It is no longer possible to hide these atrocities anymore.”

The party asked the President to direct the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani AlisonMadueke, to step aside while investigation of the oil sector by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is on.

Shuaibu said: “Mr. President also said that the EFCC will investigate the NNPC and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources while the same minister being accused of all these malfeasance remains on her seat.

“How can this be possible?

Honesty in dishonesty? This clearly fits to the anecdotal saying of asking the “thief to investigate the theft”!

Where on earth is this done? It violates basic principles of investigative justice. The government may as well save the nation the trouble.”

The party said the PDP should come to terms with the reality that Nigerians have distrust in the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Shauibu added: “Perhaps even more serious than corruption is the total lack of trust between government and its citizens.

“No government on earth has ever succeeded without the trust of its citizens. It is the confidence that citizens have in their government that inspires them to pay taxes, accept legislative and judicial decisions, accept and implement policies and defend the State. Today a great majority of citizens don’t trust this government. They have said as much to the glare of the media.

“The creative text messages being circulated and cartoons being shared across the social media further display the depth of cynicism of Nigerian citizens. The recent ambush of citizens by their government in declaring over 100 per cent increase in the price of fuel when they had given the impression that consultation would continue until April, had

shattered the hearts of many citizens.

“This gross breach of trust means that whatever the ministers and propaganda mouthpieces say is dismissed outright. Unfortunately, it is lost on government that citizens don’t trust it anymore. This total break down of trust where citizens openly call ministers in their governments liars, means that the basis of the social contact has been broken.

Government will have to step back and cultivate trust once again.

“Negotiation with Organised Labour is no remedy to the crisis confronting the PDP government; threats by Ijaw parochialists will not answer the questions of malfeasance and sleaze, it will only compound them.

“Similarly, using the forces of coercion to block streets to stop citizens from exercising their rights to protest will not cure the crimes of corruption and Nigerians are not going to stop asking these and many more questions.

“To be sure, the real import of the subsidy protest is not only the unveiling of the fraud called subsidy and the cartel of beneficiaries behind it, but also and more importantly, the unmasking of the PDP Government.

“The protest has brought to the fore the shallow frame of mind of the regime, that when confronted by facts all it does is to respond by primordialism and appeal to such sentiments as would divide the nation. In point of fact there are three key issues that this protest has revealed that we have to confront and resolve if the country is to survive and thrive: “The recent KPMG audit report on NNPC that shows about N800b revenue leakage from the Federation Account and another revenue leakage of N1.2trillion from the downstream operation symbolizes the rot in that organisation.

“One looks at this year’s budget to discover the ridiculous amounts allocated beverages and snacks, computers and scanners put at five to ten times their market prices, worst still, huge amounts allocated simply as welfare packages and unbelievable sums for vaguely defined budget lines.

“When the list of some of the beneficiaries of the so-called subsidy started coming out, they were those who contributed heavily to the 2011 Presidential campaign, establishing the link between “subsidy” and Jonathan’s election funding.”

The ACN also blamed the Federal Government for the high-level of insecurity in the country.

Shuaibu said: “Governments exist precisely to protect lives and property and deliver services to its people. In the last six months or so, this government has woefully failed in protecting the lives of its citizens by tackling the mounting insecurity challenges in the country. If anything, the President’s declaration that his government has been infiltrated

by Boko Haram amounts to surrender and total helplessness.

“All his National Security Adviser (NSA) has done is to invite Americans to takeover the security of the country.

“The allocation of nearly a trillion Naira for national security, several times more than the meager allocation for the power sector, is all in the same spirit. What we are witnessing is not just the depth of the rot but that corruption has reached a suffocating level that the country and its people cannot breathe until we deal with it.

It has to be dealt with at this juncture and at this time or the nation simply asphyxiates.”

The ACN made a 7-point demand as follows: 1. Mr. President should withdraw the bloated budget and slash the recurrent expenditure by 50 per cent.

2. Mr. President must trim the size of his government, our economic priorities cannot afford this senseless gluttony, 3. Mr. President should send the Minister of Petroleum Resources on compulsory leave and appoint a Judicial Commission of Inquiry headed by a retired Justice of the Supreme Court and manned by credible Nigerian across stakeholders to properly dig into all form of infractions and abuse of due process in the Petroleum ministry.

4. The National Assembly Public Accounts Committee should immediately commence investigation into the KPMG report and at the same time investigate who authorised the payment of the socalled subsidy that rose from N240Billion to over N1.4 trillion in the 2011 budget, without appropriation.

5. Mr. President should review his government’s approach to security problems of this country. He himself has admitted in not too many words that his approach is not working.

Throwing money at it has not worked, it will not work, and this country cannot afford this extravaganza.

6. The savings from these cuts should immediately be channeled to provide jobs for the teeming young people in this country. Agriculture and housing alone can generate not less than five million new jobs in the interim over a two year period.

7. We condemn unequivocally the gradual ascendancy of authoritarianism and “jack boot tendencies” in our democracy.

Others at the news conference are the Deputy National Chairman Mustapha Boss; a former National Chairman, Chief Audu Ogbeh; a former National Secretary, Dr. Usman Bugaje; a leader of the party, Chief Tom Ikimi; the National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; Senator George Akume; Senator Oluremi Tinubu; Senator Femi Ojudu; Senator Ganiyu Solomon; Senator Domingo Obende; Senator Gbenga Ashafa; Senator Ehigie Uzamare; Senator Gbenga Kaka; Senator Jide Omoworare, Hon. Samson Osagie, among others.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

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NEWS ECWA Plateau hosts 400 displaced Christians from Yobe From Yusufu Aminu Idegu, Jos

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HE Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) in Jos, the Plateau State capital, is hosting over 400 Christians from over 100 families. They fled Yobe State in the wake of the killings by the Boko Haram sect in the state.

The Chairman, ECWA Emergency and Conflict Committee, Rev. Etannibi Alemika, spoke in Tudun Wada, Jos, where about 177 of the displaced Christians are being camped.

The church had assembled assorted food items and household essentials such as detergent, beverages, mats, blankets, mattresses and clothes for distribution to the displayed Christians.

Alemika said: “We have over 400 of them: men, women, aged and children, who escaped the persecution going on, particularly in Damaturu and Portiskum. Many others have been killed in the Boko Haram organised attacks in Yobe State. The families taking refuge here are lucky to have escaped to Jos...”

WAEC’s name struck out of ANPP’s petition against Suswam From Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi • Some of the displaced persons in Jos, Plateau State...yesterday

Subsidy: ‘Nigeria pays daily for 24m litres of unaccounted fuel’ HE House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on fuel subsidy regime yesterday learnt that Nigerians have been paying for 24million litres of petrol that were smuggled to neighbouring countries on a daily basis.

This was revealed when the management of the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) appeared before the Farouk Lawan-led committee.

PPPRA Executive Secretary Reginald Stanley said the payment and smuggling have been going on since 2006.

According to the agency’s figures, while Nigeria imports 59 million litres of fuel on a daily basis, only 35 million litres are consumed in the country.

Stanley said Nigeria pays subsidy on the 59 million litres imported on a daily basis.

According to him, until he assumed office, the system in place at the agency paid for all the fuel discharged. He said the discharged fuel from vessels and the volume consumed are two different things, because the country paid for the bulk.

“In the past, what was discharged was what was paid for. That is what I met on the ground,” Stanley said.

The PPPRA chief said the practice would soon end as he promised to introduce what he called “triple two system”.

This, he said, would assist in tracking the volume of fuel consumed in Nigeria.

Stanley said the figures of consumed PMS since the beginning of the subsidy were arrived at through two different approaches of the actual or the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth.

He said: “In 2007, our GDP growth was 6.4. That was statistically sound, while in actual fact, what was recorded as our consumption on PMS was 26million litres per day as against 27million litres per day. The variance was very minimal.

“For 2011, the figure quoted 35million litres per day, while the GDP growth rate put it at 36.3million litres per day. So, the variance was also

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From Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

minimal. The projection for 2012 is 39.2 million litres per day. These figures cannot be faulted.

“Even if our GDP growth is driven by high crude prices, it means there will be more revenue for government to power its activities of infrastructural development and more macro-economic activities in the land.

“The apparent confusion was between what stock and consumption is. But based on what we have done, I think there is not much difference of opinion on the actual consumption vis-à-vis the stock.

This is why we are advocating strategic stock, in case of supply shock in the event of glut.”

The PPPRA chief said he appointed an independent inspector, based on his experience in the oil sector, adding that there was no need for the Customs to verify the volume of imported fuel since no payment of duty is made on petroleum products.

Lawan bemoaned a situation whereby the consumption level of the country is known but certain people still import extra and pay subsidy on it. This is criminal, the lawmaker said.

He added: “Taking 2011, for instance, per day discharge was 59million litres and, consumption, from what was presented to us here, was an average of 35million litres per day. What that means is that there is a gap of 24 million litres per day being funded by Nigerians as subsidy that was not utilised by them.

“This, of course, amounts to overpayment; or, in order words, sharp practices, while we are paying for 59million litres per day instead of 35million litres per day.

Someone, somehow, is being short-changed. That is, Nigerians, by 24million litres per day.

“The second implication of this is that smuggling is being encouraged by the system because if local consumption is 35million litres per day and we are paying for 59million litres per day, it means we are making available 24million litres per day for importers to smuggle out, because it cannot be

consumed and this is on a daily basis for 365 days in a year.

“Moreover, it was being stated that we do not have enough storage capacity for this unaccounted for fuel that could possibly be used at the end of the year.”

NNPC Group Managing Director Austin Oniwon said at no time did he illegally take money out of the Federation Account for subsidy payment.

He said: “Let me put it on records that I have never taken money from the Federation Account. The same way this Act allows the NNPC to deduct cash call before the balance is paid into the Federation account, is the same way the Bill allows the NNPC to deduct subsidy before the balance is paid into the Federation Account.

“If we are not quarrelling about deductions of cash calls, which is allowed by the same law, I am always at a loss when I am being accused that I am touching the Federation Account.

“We don’t take money from the Federation Account. We take as provided for by the law. But the adequacy or inadequacy of what was provided for is a question I believe the Ministry of Finance will be able to talk about.

“So, I do not touch the Federation Account, I do not intend to touch the Federation Account and in a totally deregulated environment without subsidy, nobody would have any recourse to deduct anything at all.

“I only deduct what is authorised by PPPRA. Once they give me the certificate, after checking with all authorised inspectors and auditors, it is that value that constitutes what is deducted as per the Appropriation Act. “I don’t go outside that. So, it is not for me to determine what is deducted from the crude’s value. Before I deduct, I write to the Minister of Finance that the PPPRA has approved it for me.

“That is the procedure I have been using and I believe that it is the same my predecessors used. I hope that everybody would join hands to ensure that we move towards a fully deregulated environment where subsidy is placed on production rather than con-

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sumption.”

On the differential between N360billion against N630billion claim as subsidy for 2008, Oniwon argued that NNPC at no time provided information to the Nigerian Extractive Transparency Initiative (NEITI) on its operation.

He said: “For NEITI, I don’t know how they arrived at that calculation. I have not communicated to NEITI; I never knew where the body got that figure from. I only heard the figure for the first time. We have that document for N630 billion. The N1.348 trillion was the reconciled figure between NNPC, PPPRA and Ministry of Finance.

He added that the corporation recovered N15 billion from oil marketers when the price of crude oil nosedived and the demurrage cost was built into the subsidy.

According to him, the amount paid as subsidy include the cost of five days demurrage and other cost elements on imported fuel based on the approval of the PPPRA Board.

Oniwon said: “It was the arrears of N250 billion for kerosene that was responsible. In the component of N1.3trillion that was presented, N250billion of that was for kerosene and there was kerosene arrears paid at different points, not stated in that document with you.

The N1.09trillion was for PMS for the period under review, that is, 2011.

“Nigeria was declared a war zone by other exporting countries that forced vessels to pay high premium on insurance as well as on the vessels too. Secondly, the exchange rate to the dollar, whereby we buy in dollar and sell in Naira.”

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HE Benue State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Makurdi, the state capital, has struck out of the name of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) from the petition by the All Nigeria Peoples Party Governorship (ANPP) candidate, Prof Daniel Saror, challenging the election of Governor Gabriel Suswam.

Ruling on a motion brought by WAEC’s counsel, Godwin Enebeli, which sought an order of the tribunal that the examinations body be excluded from the petition, Justice S. E. Chukwu held that there was no cause of action against WAEC from the reliefs sought by the petitioner to warrant joining it in the petition.

He said the petitioner could only summon the examinations body.

Justice Chukwu held that since WAEC is not a “necessary party to the proceedings”, there is no need to join it in the petition.

The tribunal struck out WAEC’s name from the petition.

It also ruled that from the pleadings of the petitioner and the respondents before it, both parties have traversed the pleadings in the petition.

On the second motion, the tribunal dismissed the application by counsel to Prof Saror, which sought an order of the tribunal to give a default judgment in his favour because Suswam failed to file his reply.

The tribunal held that givin a default judgment would defeat the cause of justice and insisted on hearing the petition on its merit.

Justice Chukwu fixed January 24 for the hearing of the main petition.

The petitioner is expected to call his witnesses and tender evidence to prove his case, when the matter resumes.

Kwara Assembly approves N10b loan

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HE Kwara State House of Assembly has approved N10billion credit facility for the completion of projects in the state.

The approval followed a letter from Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed to the lawmakers seeking their consent. The loan is to be taken from Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) Plc. Majority Leader Abraham Ashaolu, representing OkeEro Constituency, urged his colleagues to give the request accelerated attention.

He said: “As a government of legacy and continuity, many fundamental projects

Ilorin

initiated by the immediate past administration, which have direct and positive impact on the lives of the people, need to be completed.”

The projects, according to him, include vocational centre at Ajase-Ipo; the state University (KWASU), Malete; Cargo Terminal; Metropolitan Square; the Ilorin township water reticulation projects; construction of road projects in local government areas; an ultra-modern diagnostic centre and the International College of Aviation.

Adamawa lawmakers urge Jonathan to intervene in Assembly closure

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EMBERS of the Adamawa State House of Assembly yesterday sent a delegation to President Goodluck Jonathan to direct Governor

DPR seals off five filling stations in Kano From Kolade Adeymi, Kano

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From Adekunle Jimoh,

HE Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) yesterday sealed off five filling stations in Kano.

The Director of DPR office in Kano, Alhaji Suleiman Abubakar said the stations sold petrol above the N97 per litre approved pump price.

Suleiman warned that any independent petroleum marketer that indulges in sharp practices would be punished.

He said: “There are some elements who still do not want to comply with the new price regime for petrol. We at DPR would not allow them to exploit the people of the state.”

From Barnabas Manyam, Yola

Murtala Nyako to open the Assembly complex which has been shut for over two months.

The closure was allegedly ordered by the governor.

It was learnt that the lawmakers ran President Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national leadership to intervene to avoid chaos.

The lawmakers have allegedly vowed to convene sitting next Monday.

The lawmakers’ efforts to sit yesterday were resisted by some youths said to be loyal to governor. They reportedly threatened to lynch the legislators.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

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NEWS Court adjourns ACN’s suit against Ondo Govt to Jan. 31 From Damisi Ojo, Akure

FEDERAL High Court, sitting in Abuja, has adjourned till January 31 hearing in the suit filed by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), seeking to stop the Ondo State Government from issuing a N50 billion bond.

The suit was filed on December 13, last year, by the party’s lawyer, Dr. Tunji Abayomi.

The defendants were alleged to have concluded arrangements to secure a loan and issue the bond without following due process.

The defendants, including the state’s Attorney-General and Secretary to the State Government (SSG), were not at the preliminary hearing on Tuesday. However, they were said to have confirmed that they were served the necessary papers.

Justice Bilikisu Aliyu directed the Registrar to serve the defendants the hearing notice, having failed to appear in court. She adjourned the case till January 31.

Abayomi said: “This suit was instituted to challenge the unlawful process the state government and other respondents are taking to issue a N50 billion bond without due compliance with relevant laws of the land.

“The defendants are proposing to issue a fixed rate bond of N50 billion with maturities of seven years or longer on behalf of the government and the people of the state at the earliest possible time.”

The ACN alleged that the government plans to service the loan through a monthly deduction of N315 million from the state’s allocation from the federation account for seven years or more.

It said the state would be required to make monthly contributions of N377 million from the third year of the bond scheme and the money would be credited to the Series One Sinking Fund on a monthly basis until maturity.

Abayomi said: “There is no law passed by the House of Assembly that meets the requirement of the constitution to support the said N50 billion bond scheme.”

But a top government official, who spoke in confidence, accused the opposition of raising unnecessary alarm over the purported bond.

The official said the government means well for the state and was confident that the court would rule in its favour.

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Lekki protest: Lagos to sue newspaper

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HE Lagos State Government has said it will sue The Tribune newspaper for a publication, which alleged that someone was killed during a protest

by Lekki residents against the commencement of toll collection on the Lekki- Epe road on December 17, last year.

Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General Ade Ipaye and his counterparts in the ministries of Environment, and Information and Strategy, Tunji Bello and Aderemi Ibirogba, spoke with reporters yesterday at the Balgauda Kaltho Press Centre, Alausa.

Ipaye said the government’s decision was spurred by an advertorial published last Monday in The Tribune newspaper, ask-

By Jude Isiguzo and Miriam Ndikanwu

ing Governor Babatunde Fashola to practise what he preaches.

Presenting the report of an investigation into the matter, conducted by his office and the police, to reporters, he said there was an incident between the police and the protesters, but no one was killed.

Ipaye said the man alleged to have been killed is a 39year-old employee of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Mr. Femi Ogunsanya.

“Nobody was killed during the protest at the Lekki Toll Plaza on December 17, neither did the police use firearms on anyone.”

The Justice Commissioner frowned at last Monday’s

advertorial, which was signed by Adamu Maimagani, the Social Secretary of One Nigeria Group.

He said the government would not only present the case before the Nigeria Press Council, but would also institute legal action.

Ipaye said: “The Lagos State Government does not have any running battle with any arm of the press.

What we expect is the truth, fairness and professionalism. We will consider all legal options available to do what is suitable for us.”

He alleged that the newspaper deliberately doctored the report and the photograph of the alleged protester that was killed to aggravate the protest and drag the image of the government in the mud.

“The man was actually arrested by the police during the pandemonium, but was later released to Mr. Alaba Williams,” Ipaiye added.

The government representatives played a video of Ogunsanya being questioned by Police spokesman Samuel Jinadu.

Ogunsanya, in the video, admitted that he took part in the protest. He said: “I did not die. I recollect that I was pulled between the protesters and the police and I did not know how I got hit on my forehead.”

Bello described the publication as the height of irresponsible journalism, saying: “We are taking up the issue. This is not a matter for only the Press Council; we are taking it to the court.”

Daniel returns to court From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

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ORMER Ogun State Governor Gbenga Daniel will return to court today to answer charges of corruption levelled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Daniel was arraigned before Justice Olanrewaju Mabekoje at the State High Court in Abeokuta, the state capital, for stealing and fraudulent conversion of government property to personal use.

He was also accused of failing to truthfully declare his assets as is statutorily required. He was subsequently granted N500 million bail bond.

Daniel’s trial had been stalled by the inability of the anti-graft agency to present adequate evidence to support the charges, leading to two adjournments.

In one of such instances, Justice Mabekoje had to adjourn owing to on-going investigation by the EFCC. The commission also sought and got an adjournment to enable it amend some clauses in the charges initially filed against Daniel.

The prosecution counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, said the adjournment would enable EFCC conclude its investigation and avail the accused sufficient time to study the case.

Daniel’s counsel, Prof. Taiwo Osipitan, said his client is waiting for EFCC to prove its case.

Court refuses 23 suspected ritualists bail

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From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

N Osogbo Magistrate’s Court yesterday refused to grant bail to 23 suspected ritualists, who were arrested by the police last week.

The suspects are members of New Millennium Church, Alekuwodo, Osogbo.

They were accused of conspiring to cause breach of public peace.

The accused pleaded not guilty.

Defence counsel Bola Ige moved an oral bail application, which Magistrate Olusola Aluko ordered him to file formally.

Ige urged the court to remand one of the accused persons, Jumoke Oladele, a nursing mother, in the custody of the State Criminal Investigative Department (CID) office, instead of the prisons.

But the prosecutor opposed the application, stating that the two cells at the CID’s office were congested.

The accused were remanded at Ilesa Prison and the case was adjourned till Febuary 29.

•From left: Fashola’s media aide, Mr. Hakeem Bello; Bello; Ipaye; and Ibirogba...yesterday

PHOTO:OMOSEHIN MOSES

Oyo PDP, ACN disagree over investment

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HE Oyo State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Renaissance Group yesterday urged Governor Abiola Ajimobi to lay out his plan on how the state’s share of the expected revenue from petrol subsidy removal would be invested.

It advised the governor to invest it on “meaningful projects.”

In a statement after its reconciliation meeting in Ibadan, the state capital, the group’s Protem Secretary, Alade Babatunde alleged that the state is expecting N8.3 billion from the subsidy revenue.

But the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) said the Ajimobi administration

‘How come PDP pointsmen are today answering charges of predatory looting of the Oyo treasury, if they know so much about prudent spending?’

From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

comprises of responsible persons, who would not act like the past administration, which looted the state’s treasury.

In a statement, ACN Publicity Secretary Mr. Dauda Kolawole said: “We have heard them saying that N8.3 billion would accrue to the state from the subsidy removal. We assure Oyo PDP that unlike it government, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) would not be on our trail, as the people would be at the epicenter of the total spending of the state.

“We do not engage in barren econometrics. We would not spend the people’s money like drunken sailors, as the PDP did during its gangster reign in Oyo State. At the end of the day, whatever money accrues to the Oyo coffers would be spent by

Oyo people.

“It is laughable that Oyo PDP wants to teach government about prudent spending.

“How come PDP pointsmen are today answering charges of predatory looting of the Oyo treasury, if they know so much about prudent spending?

“How come they subverted every known meaning of decency in financial matters and today, we are being made to collectively suffer for their merciless profligacy and theft?”

ACN said until the PDP leaders on trial for the alleged stealing of N50 billion are proved innocent, the PDP has no right to advice anyone on prudence.

Police arraign 20 youths in Lagos over protests

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HE Police in Lagos yesterday arraigned 20 youths before two Ikeja Magistrate’s Courts for offences ranging from possession of offensive weapons, unlawful assembly, conspiracy and breach of public peace.

The suspects were arrested during the six-day protests against petrol subsidy removal. They were charged

By Adebisi Onanuga

before Magistrates A.T. Omoyele and A.O. Akinde.

Ahmed Jayeola, Daniel Sani, Taye Alani, Abiodun Olatunji, Gbenga Balogun, Ganiyu Amoo, Hassan Sikiru, Moshood Alao, Jamiu Alabi and Rasheed Gani were arrested at Ijora on January 10.

The prosecutor, Inspector

Roman Unnigbe, said the accused persons wielded four cutlasses and other weapons and caused fear in the public.

Jamiu Oyewole, Jubril Wasiu, Bola Shinabola, Suraju Yakubu, Adekunle Yusuf, Kamorudeen Owolabi, Nojeemdeen Oshota, Fadare Babatunde, Sule Oladeyinbo and Oluwafemi Adewole were arrested at Ijaiye and Iyana Ipaja last Friday.

Police prosecutor Bridget Abor said the suspects conspired with others at large to cause a breach of peace.

All the accused pleaded not guilty to the charges.

They were granted bail in the sum of N10,000 each with one surety in like sum, who must provide evidence of tax payment.

The magistrates adjourned hearing till February 16.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

NEWS ‘Immortalise Ojukwu’ From Adimike George, Onitsha

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HE Anglican Bishop of Amichi Diocese in Anambra State, Rev Ephraim Ikeakor, yesterday said the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu should be immortalised in every state.

He said: “Institutions, streets and monuments should be named after Ojukwu because he was a true patriot, who sacrificed his life for Ndigbo.

“Ojukwu deserves our all and not only a national burial which is one day.

“Even if other zones do not understand the importance of immortalising Ojukwu, the states in the Southeast should do so,” he said.

Ikeakor said Ndigbo should not be hasty in replacing Ojukwu or thinking about his successor because Ojukwu was not crowned but emerged as an Igbo leader.

Akwa Ibom workers suspend strike

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KWA IBOM State workers yesterday suspended their two weeks old strike.

The workers had gone on strike to protest the government’s refusal to correct certain grey areas in the minimum wage salary structure table.

Governor Godswill Akpabio had, on Tuesday, met with elders, monarchs, religious leaders and youths to plead with the workers to return to work.

He ordered the Head of Service, Mrs. Cecilia Udoessien, to open registers for workers in the state’s employ.

From Kazeem Ibrahym, Uyo

The governor said he would give the workers time to resume, saying failure to do so, his government would be forced to implement the No-Work-NoPay rule.

Addressing reporters in Uyo, the State Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Unyime Usoro, said the union had suspended its strike, following pleas by some elder statesmen and monarchs.

Usoro said the government had agreed to review and correct the distortions in the current salary struc-

ture.

The NLC chairman also said the government had agreed to implement the Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS) and review the Consolidated Judiciary Salary Structure (CONJUSS).

He noted that the government and Labour had agreed to set up a committee to review the new salary structure.

The NLC chairman said the committee would work out modalities for the implementation of all sectoral wages within one month.

His words: “Following the commitment of the

governor to review and correct distortions in the current salary regime in the state, Labour has agreed to suspend the strike.

“It was agreed that no worker would be victimised as a result of participating in the strike.

“Workers are hereby directed to resume work immediately.”

But a visit to the Idongesit Nkanga Secretariat yesterday showed that workers are yet to comply with the directive.

A Police Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) was parked at the gate of the secretariat.

From Ugochukwu Eke, Umuahia

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

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Enugu doctors protest kidnap From Chris Oji, Enugu OCTORS in Enugu State yesterday took to the streets to protest the non-release of their expectant colleague, Mrs. Chidinma Okwor, who was abducted by suspected kidnappers eight days ago.

Mrs. Okwor is eight months pregnant.

The doctors,dressed in their professional regalia, carried placards with various inscriptions, such as “Release our Colleague now”; “Remember that an unborn child is involved”; “We condemn the abduction of a foetus”, among other things.

At the Central Police Station, the doctors said if the government and security agents failed to secure the release of the woman, they would go on strike next week.

The Commissioner of Police, Dan'azumi Job Doma, said: “We are very close to them and we will soon get them.”

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THE Enugu State Government has hailed the state chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) for its decision to review transport fares in the state.

Chime gave the commendation when the union’s executive members visited him at the Government House.

The governor described the union’s decision as a welcome development and the importance it attaches to the people.

He thanked the union and Labour for their understanding and support during the nationwide strike, describing the action as a show of maturity.

Orji appoints 19 perm secs

Edo Assembly passes budget HE Edo State House of Assembly has passed the N150.9billion 2012 Appropriation Bill into law.

The budget is N2.03billion higher than the N148.87billion presented by Governor Adams Oshiomhole in December.

Recurrent Expenditure was put at N64.5billion against N63.9billion proposed and Capital Expenditure was put at N86.4billion against N84.9billion proposed by Oshiomhole.

Chairman, Committee on Appropriation, Peter Aliyu said the increase in the Recurrent Expenditure was due to the implementation of the new minimum wage.

Other allocations include Education N7.7 billion, Health N3billion, Agriculture N0.5billion; water was allocated N695billion.

Chime hails transporters

•Oshiomhole (right) at a filling station...yesterday

Oshiomhole threatens to revoke marketers’ C of O

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DO State Governor Adams Oshiomhole has threatened to revoke the Certificate of Occupancy of any petroleum marketer who refuses to sell petrol at N97 per litre.

Oshiomhole said any marketer who hoards fuel would face the same penalty or relocate from the state.

The governor spoke during an inspection of projects when he ran into long queues of vehicles at Con Oil station at Uselu Junction.

At the Con Oil station, the governor directed the station manager, who had stopped selling to the public at about 4 pm, to resume sales.

Oshiomhole said: “The Federal Government has directed all petroleum marketers to sell at N97.

“If you don’t sell to the public, I will revoke the Certificate of Occupancy of the land belonging to the marketer.”

He said it was sad that the marketers were quick to adjust their pump to reflect N141 to N145 per litre, but are reluctant to reduce it to N97 per litre.

The State Petroleum Monitoring Committee has sealed off three filling stations in Benin for selling fuel at N140.

The stations sealed were Faith

•Three filling stations sealed off •Petrol is N97 in Rivers

Petrol attendant arrested in Ebonyi

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FUEL attendant at Tycoon Filling Station, Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, was yesterday arrested for allegedly selling petrol above the approved price of N97.

The State Taskforce on the Enforcement of N97 Government Approved Pump Price for petrol handed him over to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Petroleum Product, Pricing and DistribuFrom Osagie Otabor, Benin, Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt and Chris Oji,

Enugu

in God, Atutec and Loba V. Faith in God filling station was sealed off for not selling; Atutec and Loba V were selling above N97.

A visit round the capital city showed that marketers have resorted to selling fuel at the black market, usually between N200 and N250 per litre.

Long queues were found in different stations visited and many are yet to adjust their pump price to N97.

Filling stations in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, have started selling petrol at the approved price

From Ogbonnaya Obinna, Abakaliki

tion, Chidi Ejem, said the taskforce was set up by the government to ensure that dealers do not shortchange the people.

Ejem said the government will seal off any filling station which sells above the approved pump price.

He said the affected dealer would be arrested, prosecuted and pay a fine of N300, 000 before the station would be reopened.

Most of the filling stations in Abakaliki have remained closed. Transport fares are still high.

of N97 per litre.

The few stations which were selling had long queues of vehicles with people struggling to buy in jerry cans.

The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC’s) Mega Filling Station at Lagos Bus Stop is selling at N97 per litre.

At Oando and Conoil filling stations on Port Harcourt-Aba Expressway, there were long queues of vehicles, with petrol sold for N97 per litre.

The same thing was observed at Conoil Filling Station on Ikwerre Road.

At Conoil on Aba Road, an elderly woman bought 20 litres of petrol at N1,940 and offered to sell it for

N5,000.

Fuel scarcity has hit Enugu State, following the refusal of most members of the state branch of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria(IPMAN)to sell the product at N97.

But as at yesterday, only two filling stations were selling the product between N170 and N200.

The Chairman of IPMAN in Enugu State, Linus Mgbakogu, appealed to the people to be patient, saying the states in the Southeast are peculiar because of the moribund NNPC depot in the zone.

He stated that because of moribund state of the depot, the marketers buy the products from Lagos and Port Harcourt.

ABIA State Governor Theodore Orji has approved the appointment of 19 permanent secretaries. They will be sworn in tomorrow.

The permanent secretaries include the Director -General of the State Broadcasting Corporation, Chinedu Ogbuagu and Rev Ernest Onyeukwu.

It was gathered that the new appointments cuts across the 17 local governments.

The government had fixed a tenure of four years for permanent secretaries and directors in the state civil service.

All permanent secretaries and directors who have served for four years and eight years were compulsorily retired on December 1.

Commissioner for Information and Strategy Don Ubani said the governor, who is a product of the system, “knows that the sittight of many top bureaucrats has been a major source of frustration among subordinates in the civil service.”

Ultimatum for Shell From Okungbowa Aiwerie, Asaba

A GROUP, Niger Delta Coastal Communities (NDCC), has given a week ultimatum to Shell Petroleum Development Company and the Federal Government to clean up the Bonga oil spill.

It threatened to shut down oil installations if a clean-up of the communities is not embarked on.

NDDC President Afro Biukeme decried the neglect of the communities.

He said: “We are giving Shell one week to carry out a clean-up and if it does not respond, we will shut down all oil installations.

“I want to make it clear that if nothing is done at the expiration of the ultimatum, oil installations in Delta, Bayelsa, Akwa-Ibom states will be shut down.

“Over 840 communities were affected in Delta, Bayelsa and Akwa-Ibom states. It has not been easy for these communities. The Federal Government has abandoned the people for too long.”

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

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NEWS Amaechi swears in chief of staff

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IVERS State Governor Rotimi Amaechi yesterday swore in the new chief of staff, Government House, two commissioners and 15 special advisers.

The new Chief of Staff is Tony Okocha while the commissioners are Emeka Wogu and Samuel Eyiba.

Among the special advisers are Tex Wariboko, Godliffe Nmekini, Okey Okirie, Sam Etetegwung, Nwankwo Nwankwo, Alakuye Cotterel and Chituru Amadi.

Others are Briggs Kurotamunoye, Solomon Ubeku, Austine Nwankwo, Abiye Amakiri, Iboroma Harry, Godknows TamGeorge, Nnamdi Okere and Boma Iyaye.

The Vice-Chairman of Port Harcourt City Local Government, Mrs Tamuno Nancy Stephens, was also sworn in as the Acting Chairman of the Council.

Mbadinuju hails Obi

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NAMBRA State former Governor C h i n w o k e Mbadinuju has hailed Governor Peter Obi for his prudence and judicious management of state resources.

Mbadinuju gave the commendation while speaking to reporters at Amawbia yesterday.

The former governor noted that Obi has distinguished himself as a good manager of resources and recorded remarkable

achievements in human and infrastructural development.

He said the state has benefited from the governor’s friendly and cordial disposition with the President and the Federal Government.

Mbadinuju thanked Obi for paying his entitlements, saying he never derided pensioners as dead woods as widely alleged.

He assured that he will continue to identify with the affairs of the state

NDDC to deliver 59 projects in Aug From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

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HE Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Christian Oboh, has said 59 of its ongoing projects across the nine states of the Niger Delta would be delivered in August.

Oboh urged the commission’s contractors to return to sites next week. He said this yesterday at a meeting with contractors and consultants at the Hotel Presidential, Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

Oboh said within two weeks after the contractors might have delivered their projects, they would be paid.

He assured that NDDC will pay outstanding funds to contractors who are due for payments.

‘Policeman’ escapes lynching in Edo

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‘POLICE officer’, whose identity could not be verified, yesterday escaped being set ablaze by some youths selling fuel at the black market on Dawson Road, Benin, the Edo State capital.

Trouble started when the ‘policeman’, who was in plain clothes, attempted to seize a gallon of petrol from one of the youths.

Sources said some ‘policemen’ approached the boys pretending to be customers and one of them seized a jerry-can.

The witness said the boys

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

overpowered the ‘policemen’ and in the process beat up one of them and poured petrol on him but could not find a match.

According to the witnesses, other ‘policemen’ came in to rescue their colleague.

Police spokesman Peter Ogboi said the command was not aware of any policeman sent to the area.

“Any policeman operating without an identity card or uniform is fake,” he said.

Amaechi (left) congratulating Okocha ...yesterday.

Police, SSS parade suspects in Rivers, Edo

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HE police in Rivers State yesterday paraded some suspects for alleged kidnapping and robbery.

Parading the suspects at the Police Headquarters, Port Harcourt, yesterday, the Commissioner of Police, Suleiman Abba, said a gang of four robbed a liquor shop on Ikwerre Road.

He said: “The patrol team from Rumuepirikom Division engaged the hoodlums in a gun battle.

“The hoodlums escaped with bullet wounds; three policemen were injured.

“The policemen pursued the hoodlums to NTA Junction where a combined team of policemen from Swift Operation Squad (SOS), Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Metro Patrol, Ozuoba and Rumueprikom Divisions joined them.

“Two of the gang members were found dead in their Passat Station Wagon car and three AK 47 rifles were recovered.

“The dying gang leader gave his name as Tochukwu and confessed that his gang robbed another liquor shop on Ojoto Street in Mile 2 on December 29.”

Two robbery suspects were arrested by the Special AntiRobbery Squad at Fruit Mar-

From Clarice Azuatalam, Port Harcourt and Okungbowa Aiwerie, Asaba

ket, D/Line, Port Harcourt.

Abba said the confession of one of the suspects, Ibinabo Reuben, led to the arrest of the second person, who gave his name as Doctor Horsfall from Buguma, Akuku Toru Local Government.

Items recovered from the duo include one AK 47 military rifle with three magazines, two locally made revolver pistols, 303 AK 47 ammunition, 60 LAR rifle ammunition and two revolver pistol ammunition.

Also paraded were Obe Ikaah from Nyokori-Boue in Khana Local Government, his wife and a man who deals with Improvised Explosives Devices (IEDs).

Abba said Ikaah sells IEDs that can pull down big buildings.

“His wife collects money for him from dealers. One of the dealers was arrested with them.”

The commissioner said the suspects were arrested with 14 cartridges of Nitrogerge gelatine, high explosives of 1.25kg per cartridge making it 17.5kg, 19 pieces of non electric detonators and about 100 metres of safety fuse.

Abbah said the corps member, who was kidnapped in Udoga, Etche Local Government would be rescued soon.

In Delta State, the State Security Services (SSS) arrested a musician, Vershi Sammy Takum, and two others in connection with the kidnap of two teenage girls, Blessing Ogugua and Fidelia Onochie.

The kidnap took place on November 25 last year in Asaba, the state capital.

SSS State Director Florence Ikanone said the suspects were members of a six-man kidnap gang that has been operating from Nwanbodo Street , Dennis Osadebe Road, Asaba.

Takum (22), whose stage name is Lezy, Anabonam Robert Amobi (23) from Anambra State and Frank Atusue (22) from Amai in Delta State were arrested on Monday.

The Benue State-born musician said he was given N56,000 from the N500,000 ransom collected from the victims’ relatives.

Amobi, who claimed to be an Okada rider, said he got N52,000; Atusue said he was given N10,000.

Opposition absent in Ebonyi by-election

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PPOSITION parties in Ebonyi State have refused to present candidates for tomorrow’s by-election in Ezzama Ward 11 in Ezza South Local Government.

The Chairman of the State Independent Electoral Commission (EBSIEC), John Nkwuda, yesterday said only the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presented a candidate.

Nkwuda said the commission met with the parties, stakeholders and security agencies.

“We informed them of the by-election as a

From Ogbonnaya Obinna, Abakaliki

result of the death of the councillor representing the ward,” he said.

Nkwuda said the time for the parties to field candidates had expired, an indication they don’t want to take part in the election.

The EBSIEC chairman said the commission would ahead with the election based on the electoral law, by allowing the electorate to vote “yes” or “no” in favour or against the sole candidate.

Bayelsa blames PDP for political imbroglio •Agbaje knocks INEC

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HE Bayelsa State Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Strategy, Nathan Egba, has flayed the role of the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the crisis rocking the state chapter of the party..

Egba said the role of the party’s leadership has not helped the situation.

He regretted that the governor, as the party leader in the state, was sidelined in the conduct of the controversial primary election.

“Governor Timipre Sylva was not contacted and was treated like a stranger in the whole affair.

“The way the national leadership has been speaking on this matter is not giving us room for reconciliation, it is not in our best interest.

20 parties threaten boycott From Isaac Ombe, Yenagoa

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HE political imbroglio in Bayelsa State is far from over. Twenty governorship candidates of various parties have threatened to boycott the election, if a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate is imposed on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The candidates, under the aegis of “Committee of Bayelsa State Governorship Candidate 2012”, said they would boycott the election, if any candidate not cleared is foisted on INEC by the PDP. The group advised INEC to guard against being used by the party, individuals or interest groups.

From Isaac Ombe, Yenagoa, Muritala Omikunle and Bola Kougbe

“I believe that the leaders need to change their body language, they need to change the way they speak.”

“The national leadership has not been fair to the people of Bayelsa.

“If we are asked to go back and unite we should be able to speak to one another and not to see ourselves as enemies, we are one PDP family.”

Egba said the way forward is to wait for the courts to decide.

“Where we are now, the way forward is clear, we have to wait for the courts to decide.

“Sylva will be comfortable working with everybody in the party.”

A lawyer, Fred Agbaje, has said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)

is shying away from its statutory constitutional role.

Agbaje spoke with reporters in Lagos yesterday.

He advised INEC to do the right thing and stop acting on sentiments “I wonder under which provision of the Electoral Act INEC is empowered to say it is not going to accept a candidate or a party because there are litigations in court.

“They said Sylva was on the list and all of a sudden another primary was conducted and the man decided to fight for his right in the court.

“The basic substance in the case is that PDP should not go ahead with the conduct of the primary and if it should do that Sylva is still the authentic candidate nominated in the first place and that is the position until the court decides otherwise.”

He said the court would have not granted the injunction if the case was not serious.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

11

BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net

The goal of the National ICT policy is to provide a framework for streamlining the ICT sector and enhancing its ability to help address some socioeconomic and development challenges.

-Mrs Omobola Johnson, Minister of Communications Technology

‘Oil demand may fall in Q1’

Naira gains at interbank

O

T

IL demand could fall in 2012 due to the re moval of fuel subsidies, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said yesterday.

It, however, questioned the government’s method of abolishing the subsidies after the move sparked mass civil unrest.

President Goodluck Jonathan scrapped the subsidies last Monday, effectively more than doubling the price of petrol, sparking protests and a threat by workers to shut oil production in Africa’s largest crude producer.

Total product demand in Nigeria averaged 280,000 barrels per day last year, down 10,000 b/d or 3.8 per cent yearly, the IEA, the West’s energy watchdog, said in its monthly report. It is expected to remain flat in 2012.

“Nigeria is on the watch list for 2012, with oil product demand likely to fall, at least in (the first quarter of 2012),” the IEA said.

“Persistent industrial disputes, of the kind seen in January, could further reduce forecasts, not just for oil demand but also for economic growth in general.”

Jonathan later reinstated part of the fuel subsidy, ending the confrontation.

“This suggests that, in hindsight, a more gradual process might have been advisable,” the IEA said. “Nor do the measures seem to have been accompanied by much in the way of public consultation or targeted assistance for the poorest members of society.”

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

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

•Executive Secretary, PPPRA, Mr Regionald Stanley (left); Director, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mr Austin Olorunfunsho and Head, Down Stream, DPR, Mr Mordecai Ladan (right), during a Public Hearing on Subsidy Removal by the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy, at the National Assembly, Abuja ... yesterday.

PHOTO: ABAYOMI FAYESE

FEC okays oil payments, solid T minerals audit

O tackle corruption, the Federal Govern ment yesterday approved an independent audit of payments in the country’s oil and gas industry as well as the solid minerals sectors.

Already, two consultants (Messrs Sada Idris &Co and Messers Haruna Yahaya & Co) have been hired. The audit covers 2009 and 2011.

The audit costs N364million. While Messrs Sada Idris &Co, which will audit the oil and gas will receive N226.613million, Messers Haruna Yahaya & Co would be paid N137million for the solid minerals sector.

Briefing reporters at the end of its weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan, Minister of Information,

From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

Labaran Maku, said the firms have nine months to turn in their findings.

Nigeria is part of the socalled Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, which aims to increase transparency in payments to governments from the natural resources industry.

The last audit of its oil industry was carried out between 2006 and 2008.

President Jonathan said this week that he would tackle corruption in the oil and gas industry and prosecute offenders as a weeklong strike against a government decision to scrap subsidies on gasoline came to an end.

Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, on January 16 promised to end corruption and speed up reforms of the country’s oil industry. She set up a panel to investigate the management and controls in government firms including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and report to her within 30 days.

Maku noted that the appointment of consultants will establish processes and procedures; physical volumes and financial flows from the sectors; improve revenue remittances into the Federal Government account and enthrone competition and corporate

governance.

He further said: “The industry audits also provide relevant information and data for the governments’ anticorruption agenda.”

On the spate of work expected of the auditing firms, the minister said: “The audits would be carried out in all major revenue generating entities and all revenue remitting government institutions in the oil and gas and Solid Minerals sectors of the country from 2009 to 2011 and 2009 and 2010.”

He said the consultants are to carry out Nigeria’s hydrocarbon and solid mineral values; adding that “they shall access the volumetric aspects of production, export, imports, unaccounted oil and gas and solid minerals and other relevant streams.”

Nigeria loses N207b to fuel price strike

T

HE National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) yester day laid to rest speculations on the cost of the eight-day labour strike.

It estimated its loss to the nation at N207.1billion (($1.27 billion).

It said the biggest losses were recorded in the retail and the oil and gas sectors.

Consumer inflation edged down slightly year-on-year last December to 10.3 per cent, from 10.5 per cent the month before, it also said.

Food inflation rose by 11 per cent last December, up from 9.6 per cent in November, the bureau’s data showed.

Labour unions called off their strikes and protests on Monday, ending a major confrontation over fuel prices after President Goodluck Jonathan said he would cut them by one third.

But a week of shutdown was damaging to the economy, especially in its two biggest cities of Lagos

• Retail, oil sectors worst hit From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

and Kano, where protests were most widespread.

“The sector, which accounts for about 18 per cent of GDP, was worst hit by the crisis was the Wholesale and Retail Sector, which recorded a loss of approximately N86,981.84 million,” the bureau report said.

“This sector accounted for 42 per cent of the overall total loss in output during the period. This was followed by the Crude Petroleum and Natural Gas Sector, the largest source of government revenue accounting for N28,710.87 million, and 14 per cent of economic losses,” it said.

This was despite the fact that oil workers did not carry out a threat to shut down production. Most oil majors say their production was not affected

during the strike at all.

“Our production wasn’t touched at all. We made no losses,” said an official at one oil major.

Jonathan reinstated part of a subsidy on petrol after Nigerians took to the streets in anger at an attempt on January 1 to scrap it, which doubled the pump price of petrol overnight to around N150 ($0.93) per litre from N65.

The compromise, settling on N97 per litre, still slashes the cost of the benefit to the government and leaves the way open to talks on phasing it out again later.

Analysts said December’s inflation figure was broadly in line with expectations, but warned that they expected January’s figure to be affected by the hike in fuel prices.

“The market will be anxiously awaiting the January

2012 inflation data given the recent 50 per cent increase in fuel prices,” said Standard Bank’s Samir Gadio.

“We see inflation rising by up to 200 bps this year, with highs of 14 per cent to 14.5 per cent y/y in July-August.”

But he added that this would most likely spur monetary tightening, which could make the bond market more attractive.

“For now, we would recommend a carry trade at the short end of the curve (the 364-day T-bill yield has fluctuated around 20 per cent lately,” Gadio said.

The Crop Production sector also suffered substantial loss estimated at N15.22 billion, representing 0.07 of the lost GDP. The report stated: “The real cost of any socio-economic disturbance is the tragic but avoidable loss of human life, the value of which cannot be accurately computed.”

HE naira strengthened against the United States’ dollar on the interbank market yesterday, supported by dollar sales by local unit of Royal Dutch Shell and Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) company to some lenders.

The local currency, according to Reuters News, closed at N161.55 to the dollar, firmer than N162.70 to the dollar at Tuesday’s close.

Traders said Shell sold around $100 million, while NLNG sold $15 million to some banks, boosting dollar liquidity in the market and providing support for the naira.

On the official window, the Central Bank sold $250 million at 156.85 to the dollar, compared with $198.12 million sold at 156.70 to the dollar on Monday. The apex bank again did not disclose the amount of dollar demanded at its bi-weekly auction.

“The Central Bank continues to advise banks on the level of bids they should bring to the auction.

I think the essence is to reduce pressure on the auction and give the impression that demand has been subdued,” one trader said.

Japanese firm to pay US penalty in Nigeria probe

J

APANESE trading house Marubeni Corporation agreed to pay a $54.6 million criminal penalty for its role in a decade-long scheme to bribe Nigerian government officials to obtain contracts, the United States Justice Department announced Tuesday.

The bribery scheme for contracts to build a liquefied natural gas facility on Bonny Island, Nigeria, valued at more than $6 billion, violated the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Department said in a statement.

The other companies involved in the scheme, according to AFP, were the Paris-based Technip SA; Snamprogetti Netherlands BV; US-based Kellogg Brown & Root Inc. (KBR); and Japanese firm JGC Corporation.

The four companies comprised the TSKJ joint venture, which obtained four contracts from Nigeria between 1995 and 2004 to build the natural gas facilities.

Marubeni was hired by TSKJ to help obtain engineering, procurement and construction contracts to build Bonny Island facilities “by offering to pay and paying bribes to Nigerian government officials,” the Justice Department said.

Between 1995 and 2004, Nigeria LNG Ltd. awarded TSKJ four contracts “valued at more than $6 billion ... to build the LNG (liquefied natural gas) facilities on Bonny Island.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

12

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

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

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Arik Aero Arik Aero

1. Arik 2. Aero 1.

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

LAGOS – KADUNA Aero 08.00 Chanchangi 10.00 Arik 10.00 Arik 15.10

By Ayodele Aminu, Group Business Editor

leased Global Economic Prospects (GEP) 2012, said global growth is now projected at 2.5 and 3.1. “Using purchasing power parity weights, global growth would be 3.4 and four per cent for 2012 and 2013,” the report said.

The bank also urged Nigeria and other developing countries to prepare for further downside risks caused by the Euro Area debt problems and weakening growth in several big emerging economies.

It, however, noted that growth in Sub-Saharan Africa remained robust in 2011 at 4.9 per cent. “Ex-

cluding South Africa, which accounts for over a third of the region’s GDP, growth in the rest of the region was even stronger at 5.9 per cent in 2011, making it one of the fastest growing developing regions. Increased investment flows, rising consumer spending, and the coming on stream of new mineral exports in a number of countries should accelerate SubSaharan Africa’s growth to 5.3 per cent in 2012 and 5.6 per cent in 2013. Nonetheless, merchandise exports, tourism receipts, commodity prices, foreign direct investment and remittances are all susceptible to a Euro Area recession,” the report stated.

09.10 11.00 11.10 16.20

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LAGOS – WARRI 08.15 11.50 11.55 14.55

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

08.50 09.45 09.40 14.00 15.45 19.55

LAGOS – OWERRI 07.20 14.00 16.30

08.30 15.10 17.40

LAGOS – UYO 10.35

11.35

LAGOS – MAIDUGURI 1. IRS 11.15 13.15 2. Arik 15.50 18.00 08.00

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

While prospects in most low-and middle-income countries remain favorable, the report noted that the ripple effects of the crisis in high-income countries are being felt worldwide. “Already, developing country sovereign spreads have increased 45 basis points on average and gross capital flows to developing countries plunged to $170 billion in the second half of last year, compared with $309 billion received during the same period in 2010,” the report noted.

The World Bank’s Chief Economist and Senior Vice -President for Development Economics, Justin Yifu Lin, said developing countries need to evaluate their vulnerabilities and prepare for further shocks, while there is still time.

Clearing agents seek 100% demurrage waiver

By Uyoatta Eshiet

C

12.15 12.45

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

LAGOS – ILORIN 1. Overland 07.15

• Forecasts global slowdown in 2012

08.50 12.40 14.10 17.20

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HE World Bank yesterday lowered its 2012 growth fore cast for Nigeria and other developing countries from 6.2 per cent to 5.4 per cent.

Nigeria had recorded a Gross Domestic Growth (GDP) of 10.3 per cent, 10.6 per cent, 5.4 per cent, 6.2 per cent, seven per cent, six per cent, seven per cent, 7.4 per cent and 7.2 per cent in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 The World Bank also lowered its growth projection for high-income countries and Euro Area from 2.7 per cent to 1.4 per cent and 1.8 per cent to -0.3 per cent, citing the Euro Area debt problems and weakening growth in several big emerging economies, which dim global growth prospects.

The World Bank in the newly-re-

08.30 09.10 11.50 12.45 13.40 15.20 16.30 16.40

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

1. Arik 2. Arik 3. Arik

World Bank cuts Nigeria, others’ growth rate

• From left: Minister, Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke; FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed and Minister of Culture & Tourism, Mr Edem Duke; Minister of State for Education, Nyeson Wike, during the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja ... yesterday.

PHOTO: AKIN OLADOKUN

Bankers’ Committee signs sustainable banking pact T HE Bankers’ Committee says it is committed to sustainable banking.

In a pact endorsed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, managing directors of the 24 banks and discount houses, the Committee said it is positioned to further the economic growth and development in the country through regulatory, lending and investment across a diversity of segments and sectors of the economy.

“The context in which we make business decisions is, however, characterised by complex and growing challenges relating to population growth, urban migration, poverty, destruction of biodiversity and ecosystems, pressure on food sources, prices and se-

By Collins Nweze

curity, lack of energy and infrastructure and potential climate change legislation from our trade partners, among others,” it said in a statement.

It said it has been demonstrated that the development imperative in Nigeria should not only be economically viable, but socially relevant and environmentally responsible.

“We recognise that we have a role and responsibility to deliver positive development impacts to society whilst protecting the communities and environments in which we operate – for today’s gen-

eration as well as for future generations. We believe that such an approach, one of sustainable banking, is consistent with our individual and collective business objectives, and can stimulate further economic growth and opportunity as well as enhance innovation and competitiveness,” it added.

The committee said it is prepared to take steps to ensure that “business decision-making take these considerations into account and are, where applicable, consistent with applicable international standards and practices, but with due regard for the Nigerian context and distinct development needs.”

It said it is committed to developing and launching a voluntary set of sustainable banking principles.

LEARING agents yesterday rejected the 50 per cent waiver on demurrage offered them by terminal operators and shipping companies.

The demurrage accrued as a result of the eight-day strike embarked upon by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Civil Society to protest the recent petrol price hike by the Federal Government.

The different clearing agents groups visited several terminal operators in Lagos to demand a 100 per cent waiver on demurrage, which accrued during strike.

One of the groups of freight forwarders – The Save Nigeria Freight Forwarders-Importers and Exporters Coalition visited Maersk Line office at Apapa, Lagos yesterday to present its position to the management of the shipping firm. Its management, however, refused to receive the group.

Already, at a meeting with Maersk Line to make the same demand were the coalition of the Association of Nigeria Customs Licensed Agents (ANCLA) and the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF). All efforts to get the response of Maersk Line proved abortive.

Addressing the press and stakeholders in the APM Terminals Office, the National Co-ordinator and Chairman of the Save Nigeria Freight Forwarders, Chief Chukwu Osita and the Apapa Chapter Chairman of ANCLA, Mr John Ofobike, said the freight forwarders in the country will not accept anything apart from a 100 per cent waiver.

They insisted that the strike was not called by the agents, but rather it was a national problem that culminated into a loss of over N1 trillion to the country.

Why PHCN workers were transferred, by minister

M

INISTER of Power, Prof.

Barth Nnaji, yesterday ex plained that the redeployment of the Power Holding of Nigeria (PHCN) staff was not a displacement or redundancy but a routine.

He noted: “Staff of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) at the corporate headquarters in Abuja are being redeployed to its successor companies, following the winding up of PHCN with effect from January 1, 2012.”

A statement issued by the ministry said the regulatory agency has already directed that no further funds be made available to the PHCN as a corporate body.

He added that staff who choose to remain in the former PHCN corporate headquarters building – rather than proceed forthwith to the companies to which they have

From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

been redeployed – would find that there is no work to do in the building and that there is nobody to pay them at the end of the month for doing nothing in that building.

The statement reads: “For the record, the Electric Power Sector Reform (EPSR) Act, 2005 empowers the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) to incorporate an initial holding company within six months of the coming into force of the Act. This holding company would assume the staff, assets and liabilities of the defunct National Electric Power Authority (NEPA).

This was how PHCN came into being.

“The NCP was also mandated (Section 8) to create a number of successor companies which will assume PHCN staff, assets and li-

abilities. This was to be done within eight months after the incorporation of PHCN. Subsequently, NCP created six generation, one transmission and distribution companies, in addition to other marketing, bulk purchase, and liability asset management companies. “ The EPSR Act (Section 7) also mandates the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to issue an interim licence to PHCN ,which shall be valid for not more than 18 months. NERC duly issued this licence in 2006 for the period required by law. What this means is that, by law, PHCN should have ceased to exist by 2007.

“Finally, under Section 10, this law stipulates that not later than one year after the creation of successor companies, NCP shall issue a binding order to PHCN to transfer its remaining employees, as-

sets, liabilities, rights and obligations to the successor companies. “ The PHCN has been issued with this transfer order by the authorities, which has occasioned the current transfer of PHCN corporate headquarters staff not only to the various successor companies but also to the parent ministry and other agencies of government where their services would be required.

“These processes are without prejudice to prior agreements reached with the workers on their entitlements, including the 50 per cent salary increase which the government has graciously granted the workers. The transferred workers shall enjoy their enhanced salaries, benefits and allowances in whichever successor company to which they have been redeployed.”

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

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THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

14

NEWS

Senate considers 70 years retirement age for professors sors in Nigerian universities to 70 years scaled third reading yesterday in the Senate.

The Senate also raised the pensionable age of other academic staff and non-academic staff to 65 years.

Universities lecturers and non-academic staff have been on strike since last year, demanding, among others, that the Federal Government should increase the retirement age of professors to 70 years.

According to the Bill, registrars, librarians and bursars of tertiary institutions will hold office for five years, with their services to be extended for one year if the need arises.

Senate President David Mark said with the passage of the Bill, which will fulfil one of its demands, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor and Sanni Onogu, Abuja

expected to call off its strike.

He said: “We have passed the Bill into law to meet the demands of ASUU. There is the need to get ASUU back to the classrooms.

“There are serious constitutional issues to be addressed and we have to pursue them, and unless we do that, we may be confronted with problems in the future and that is why we have to take cognisance of Section 318 of the 1999 Constitution.”

Committee Chairman on Education, Senator Uche Chukwumerije explained that the Bill is for an Act to harmonise the retirement age of academic staff of universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.

He said the Bill was read for the first time in Senate on December 8, 2011.

“It is pertinent to mention that these Bills were passed

at the expiration of the Sixth Senate. The Bill was not assented to by Mr. President because of some observations raised by ASUU, which led to disharmony between the union and the Federal Government,” he said.

Chukwumerije said the committee, after calling for memoranda from stakeholders, adopted and sustained sections 5,6,7,8 of the amendedUniversities Miscellaneous Bill.

He added: “Section 9 of the proposed Bill was amended to read as follows: An academic staff who retires as a professor in a recognised university shall be entitled to pension at a rate equivalent to his last monthly salary provided that the word annual salary was deleted and replaced with last monthly salary.

“The committee endorsed 70 years as retirement age for professors in a recognised Nigerian University. Other academic and non-academic

T

• Mark

staff would retire at 65 years.

“We hope that the passage of these Bills would eventually translate into laws, with the assent of the President.

“We urge the Senate to support the passage of these Bills to restore harmony and put an end to strikes by unions of respective tertiary institutions, especially ASUU.”

HE Niger Delta I n d i g e n o u s Movement for Radical Change (NDIMRC) has called for the sack of the Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Austen Oniwon.

NDIMRC hailed President Goodluck Jonathan for directing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe the over N1.3 trillion subsidy fund and the reduction of petrol price to N97 per litre.

In a statement signed by its President, Nelly Emma, Secretary John Sailor and Public Relations Officer Mukoro Stanley, the group said the probe of NNPC was long overdue and hailed the Federal Government for the move.

But it said NNPC chief Mr. Austen Oniwon should be dismissed before the EFCC begins its probe.

NDIMRC said: “We have been saying it that NNPC is rotten and all the rotten eggs in thecorporation must be sacked. We welcome the directive that EFCC should probe fuel subsidy payments but before this is done, the NNPC boss must be fired.”

The group alleged that Oniwon has been working with the ‘cabal’ to frustrate the efforts of the President Jonathan administration, saying he shold go so as not to frustrate the probe by the EFCC. “The NNPC Group Managing Director, Austen Oniwon has all the records of the corporation; we do not want a situation where they will set the NNPC Headquarters on fire to cover up their dirty tracks before

The NNPC Group Managing Director, Austen Oniwon has all the records of the corporation; we do not want a situation where they will set the NNPC Headquarters on fire to cover up their dirty tracks before the probe by EFCC From Okungbowa Aiwerie, Asaba

the probe by EFCC. This is why we are calling for the sack of the NNPC boss and when this is done, the Federal Government should pick a qualified person working within the NNPC and who is either from the Southsouth or the East to pilot the affairs of NNPC. We plead that the EFCC should do a clean job in the probe of the corporation,” the group said.

NDIMRC went on: “We want to commend the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke for inviting the commission to intervene in the matter; we are solidly behind her. ‘’We are also with the President and Finance Minister all the way, they should not be afraid because time is running out on the ‘cabal’.”

The group hailed Labour for suspending the nationwide strike, saying some politicians were already hijacking it for their selfish interests.

LCDA Exco members must be involved in development CHAIRMAN, Agboyi Ketu Local Council Development Area (LCDA) in Lagos State Obafemi Durosimi has urged newly sworn in members of his Exco to partner him to develop the local government.

He spoke at the swearingin ceremony of the newly appointed Secretary to the Local Government, Supervisors and Special Advisers of the LCDA at the council secretariat, Agboyi, Ketu yesterday.

He told them that “your appointment is a call to duty and for you to contribute towards the development of Agboyi Ketu Local Council Development Area.

“I will want you to develop a positive mindset and ensure that at the end of this noble assignment your names are written in gold as worthy ambassadors”, Durosimi said.

Advising the Exco, the state Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Deputy Chairman, Alhaji Sumola Seriki, said they must join hands with the chairman to develop the LCDA because it is a collective responsibility.

“Your regime should be appreciated by members of the community and members of the society should feel your impact; be prepared to work for the community, good

‘

I will want you to develop a positive mindset and ensure that at the end of this noble assignment your names are written in gold as worthy ambassadors

‘

A

Bill which seeks to increase the retirement age of profes-

Group urges sack of NNPC boss

By Oziegbe Okoeki

name is better than gold, support your chairman to succeed”, Seriki said.

Thanking the chairman on behalf of other appointees, Oyedele Olufemi promised that they would work with the chairman to develop the LCDA .

Those sworn in include Secretary to the Local Government, Osinowo Dele, Chief of Staff, Monsuru Agbalajobi, Special Adviser on Marketing, Sina Ibrahim.

Others are Supervisors: Oyedele Olufemi; Peter Bamishaye; Oguntade Goriola; Oresanya Bukola; Dele Fashoranti; Alaba Saliu; Ezekiel Aina; Jide Kerele and Mufatiu Okusi.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

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NEWS

Lawmaker hails Nigerians for uniting against fuel subsidy removal

A

TWO-time Speaker of Bauchi State House of Assembly and a chieftain of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Haliru Dauda Jika, has hailed Nigerians for unifying against the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government.

Addressing a news conference yesterday in Bauchi, Jika said ‘’it is worthy of note that Nigerians shunned religious and tribal differences to fight for a common goal during the protest.

He added that Nigerians

From Austine Tsenzughul, Bauchi

are peace-loving people, who have been divided by the misrule of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Jika, who defected from the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), regretted that ‘’Nigerians by mistake voted PDP into office and now PDP is rewarding them with hardship after using crooked means to manipulate elections at state and federal levels. ‘’It is a good development

to see Christians protecting Muslims and Muslims protecting Christians while praying, Muslims visiting churches, this is exactly what we want Nigerians to do and remain. We must unite against all negative forces and the PDP misrule,’’ he said.

However, while decrying the loss of lives as a result of the protest, he said families of the victims should be compensated.

Jika said he was disappointed with the Nige-

rian Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) for calling off the strike, saying ‘’the struggle of Nigerians and those killed during the protest should not be in vain.’’ ‘’The protest should have continued until the price of petrol was brought back to N65per litre’’, he said.

Jika urged Nigerians to believe in people rather than political parties during elections, and advised the people to vote PDP out of office in the next general election.

NDLEA discovers liquid cocaine at Lagos Airport

By Kelvin Osa- Okunbor

•Giade

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FFICIALS of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, have apprehended a 32-year-old man, Patrick Chukwuemeka, with 7.1kg of liquid cocaine.

The drug, which was emulsified in a solvent and factory packaged as wine, was intercepted during the screening of passengers for an Emirate flight from Brazil enroute Dubai.

Three of the nine packs of wine that the suspect imported were found to contain cocaine with an estimated street value of N63.9 million. Seized cocaine in liquid form is not common in the country as most seizures are in powdery form.

NDLEA’s Chairman/Chief Executive Ahmadu Giade, while inspecting the mode of drug concealment, said the Agency would expose the

tricks of drug barons in the country.

He said: “We are poised to expose the tricks of drug barons in the country. Their calculation was that they could pass undetected but we have proven them wrong. We shall bring these enemies of the society to book.”

Anti-drug Commander at the airport Mr. Hamza Umar said the suspect is believed to be working for a Brazilian drug syndicate.

His words: “This is the second arrest this year and both suspects came from Brazil. This suspect, Patrick Chukwuemeka was caught with 7.1kg of cocaine in liquid form while the first suspect, Martins Henry Anuo, imported 1.500kg of powdery cocaine from Brazil. Five hundred grammes were in the sole of his shoes while 1kg was concealed in his hand luggage.”

The suspect, Patrick Chukwuemeka, who had an Emirate flight ticket number: 1764539551392, arrived at about 2300 hours on Monday January 16.

He hails from Enugu and had lived in Brazil for over seven years.

In his statement, Patrick

Court refuses 23 ritualists bail From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

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N Osogbo Magistrate’s Court yesterday refused to grant bail to 23 suspected ritualists arrested by the police last week.

The suspects, who are members of a New Millennium Church located at Alekuwodo in Osun State, were arraigned before the court for allegedly causing a breach of public peace.

Last week, the mob razed the church building, a Cyber Cafe and shoemaker’s shop belonging to members.

According to the charge sheet, the accused persons on January 11, 2012, at Oremeji Street, Alekuwodo, committed misdemeanour and abused the Christian faith in public by urinating on a N20 note. The act was described as fetish.

Police Prosecutor Sergeant Elisha Olusegun told the court that the accused persons, who included a septuagenarian, referred to the late Joseph Adebayo Oladele, the church founder, as Jesus Christ. He said they conducted themselves in a manner likely to cause the breach of peace by using drums to hawk pap.

He said the offences were contrary to and punishable under sections 516, 204, and 249 (1) of the Criminal Code Cap. 34, Vol. II, Laws of Osun State of Nigeria, 2003.

The accused persons, however, pleaded not guilty. Defence counsel, Mr. Bola Ige, moved for an oral bail , which the Magistrate, Olusola Aluko, ordered him to file formally.

Ige appealed to the court to remand one of the accused, Jumoke Oladele, who is nursing a one-year old child, in the state Criminal Investigative Department’s (CID’s) office instead of the prison custody.

But the prosecutor, who opposed the application, said the CID’s office and the two police cells were congested.

The Magistrate ordered that the accused be remanded at Ilesa prison and adjourned the case till Febuary 29.

It was alleged that human skulls and other vital parts of human body before the hoodlums burnt the church.

A resident, who preferred not to be named, said the worshippers always sing at night.

said he indulged in drug trafficking due to financial difficulty. “I earn a living in Brazil as a barber. A Brazilian lady, whom I impregnated delivered a baby girl and since then I have been under financial stress to cater for

myself and my family. In a bid to survive I have to smuggle the drug for N1.2 million. It was my last resort because there was nobody to assist me. I am sad.”

He will soon be charged to court soon.

NTDC seeks tourism investors at world fair

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HE Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) has joined 172 countries for the first tourism event of the year, Feria de Madrid, a tourism fair that brings together countries and private industry practitioners from all over the world.

During the first day, NTDC hosted some European investors, who seeking to explore opportunities in Nigeria´s tourism sector.

Top among these is the Eventoclick, a world class top tour packaging company. According to its representative, Mr. Javier Arambarri, the company is seeking new opportunities and would want to package tours to Nigeria for different categories of their clients.

Director-General of NTDC Otunba Segun Runsewe said Nigeria participates in some of the world‘s leading fair because of such opportunities.

Runsewe said tourism would play its role in the transformational agenda of the present administration to improve the economy.

According to him, through the fairs, Nigeria has continued to make its presence known and inform tourism investors the huge opportunities that abound in the country.

Runsewe said in line with the peace efforts in Plateau State between NTDC and the Office of the Chief of Defence Staff, he would suggest the state as a possible destination to Eventoclick.

Thirty-two African countries, including Nigeria, are participating in the 2012 FITUR tourism fair. The fair, which kicked off yesterday, ends on Sunday.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

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INDUSTRY

How to resolve subsidy crisis, by industrialists I

NDUSTRIALISTS have a six month deadline for the revitali sation of the refineries to break the logjam over fuel subsidy removal.

The deadline, according to the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mine and Agriculture (NACCIMA), will enable the Federal Government settle all issues relating to subsidy input and removal .

A statement signed by NACCIMA President Dr Ademola Ajayi, said the right way to address the subsidy crisis is for the government to “maintain the existing four refineries to become fully functional within six months, and thereafter, be made ready for privatisation, under the chairmanship of Mr Vice President.”

In its position statement on the

Stories by Toba Agboola

ongoing imbroglio over the removal of fuel subsidy, a copy of which was made available to our correspondent in Lagos, NACCIMA said as an immediate solution, “Government should reconsider and reverse its decision for an agreed period to enable the Belgore Committee to determine the true cost of the subsidy, by

first removing/extracting alleged corruption element.”

He said the importation and distribution of petrol should be considered sensitive enough to be made transparent at this early stage.

Ajayi also called for an incisive review of the factors that made the previously granted licences for refineries not to have become operational, with a view to putting right

‘If the government had been more patient and allowed for the ongoing (and apparently) meaningful and effective consultations to be concluded, in addition to the awaited National Assembly’s conclusion, it would have been much easier to douse tension’

whatever could have been wrong along the line.

“All private operators previously granted licences for refineries should be re-invited to partner with the government and be assured of the supply of feed-stock of crude oil, the refusal of which, NACCIMA understands, aborted their intervention,” it urged.

The body assured President Goodluck Jonathan that Nigerians “are willing and ready to support this administration’s plan to improve the quality of lives of the populace and provide better business environment.”

It, however, stressed the need for the government “to bend over backwards and prevent the timing and method of removing the subsidy on fuel from eroding the

trust and its good intention for the people of this country.”

NACCIMA, nevertheless, agreed with the government that fuel subsidy removal was inevitable, alongside the deregulation of the downstream subsector of the petroleum industry.

“However, we are convinced that the timing of this removal is wrong and did not address the immediate effect on the citizens and business, and may not achieve the desired result.

“If the government had been more patient and allowed for the ongoing (and apparently) meaningful and effective consultations to be concluded, in addition to the awaited National Assembly’s conclusion, it would have been much easier to douse tension,” it stated.

SON to reduce sub-standardisation by 60%

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HE Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) will reduce substandardisation by 35 per cent before the end of this year, its Director-General, Dr Joseph Odumodu, has said.

The agency was able to achieve 25 per cent reduction last year.

Odumodu told reporters in Lagos that the agency will collaborate with other agencies, such as Customs, Police and others to achieve its plan.

He said the agency will also begin the process of reviewing its Off-shore Conformity Assessment Programme, otherwise known as SONCAP. “ We intend to reduce substandadisation by 35 per cent this year.

Last year, it was reduced by 25 per cent.

So, by the end of this year we would have achived 60 per cent. We are coming from a very bad situation , but we thank God that things have improved.

And to achive this, we are going to focus more on the use of SONCAP,” Odumodu said.

He said more offices will open this year and some of the testing laboratories would be refurbished. “ Part of our plan is to also train some of our staff. We are going to construct A new facility in Ogba, Lagos,” he said.

Odumodu said SON will also begin testing of petroleum products.

He said this is part of efforts to ensure that adulterated petroleum products no longer get to the Nigerian market.

Odumodu said right from the landing point to the pump point, petroleum products would be tested and given a pass mark or otherwise when

needed.

“Anyone or station found wanting will be made to face the music. Not only will such station be closed, the people behind such atrocity will be made to face the wrath of the law”, Odumodu warned.

This new move, according to the SON boss, was as a result of several reports sent by the Nigerian consumers of petroleum products on the spread of adulteration.

While noting that his organisation would be collaborating with the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Odumodu stated that some products get adulterated along the way of distribution to the filling stations, hence the need for the testing of the fuel pumps.

He said: “We have received several reports on fuel adulteration and this will form our major agenda for 2012.

We will not only carry out the testing at the landing points at the ports, we will take it to all the over 15,000 filling stations across the country.”

On the review of SONCAP, Odumodu said was part of his zerotolerance policy, aimed at sanitising the nation’s import sector to be able to meet the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.

He noted that with the current reality of things, it has become imperative to review the programme to accelerate the process of goods clearance at the seaports, while taking into considerations the genuine observations of some stakeholders on the need to strengthen the programme.

•Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, inspecting the tank of a filling station in Basiri area, Ado-Ekiti, during the monitoring exercise he carried out to ensure compliance with the price regime in the state on Tuesday.

Nigeria, Finland to renew trade pact

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HE Federal Government has initiated moves to renew the bilateral trade pact with Finland.

The joint economic commission between the two countries, which expired in 1985 was not renewed for investment and trade portfolio hitherto envisaged from the start.

Foreign Affairs Minister Olugbenga Ashiru said the government will revive the joint commission of the two countries.

While conferring with his Finnish counterpart, Dr. Erkki Tuomoija, during a visit, Ashiru, also requested for the assistance of the government of Finland to enable Nigeria combat pollution.

According to the minister, resuscitating the joint commission would primarily promote trade and investment between the two countries. But complementarily the nation’s infrastructural base would be the better for it.

He said: "Since Finland is Nigeria’s biggest trading partner among Nordic countries, we want Finnish investors to take advantage of untapped opportunities in Nigeria to diversify its investments,

including those in the energy sector."

According to the minister, Finland’s commitment to the preservation of the environment and sustainable development, particularly in combating pollution is highly commendable.

•Goods arriving at Ibrahim Taiwo Road market in Kaduna on Tuesday as organised Labour called-off the strike.

PHOTO:NAN

Cocoa tops Nigeria’s non-oil exports in five years

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OCOA has been dominating non-oil export products since 2006, according to the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC).

According to NEPC figures, the cocoa products yield was about $215.2 million in 2006 as against $229.6 million for sheep, goat skin and leather.

It is also higher than $32.3 million for sesame seeds & oil; $62.7 million for rubber; $17.6 million for plastics; and $49.9 million for cotton, yams and fabrics, among others.

Figures for 2007 indicate that co-

coa yields $312.6 million as against $300.5 million for sheep, goat skin and leather; $71.6 million for sesame seeds & oil; $79.7 million for rubber; $73.1 million for plastics; $45.5 million for cotton, yams & fabrics; $47 million for Aluminium & article; $75.9 million for cashew nuts & edible fruits; $36.1 million for Gum Arabic; and $46.7 million for prawns, fish & crustaceans.

In the 2008, the product realised $487.8 million as against $333.6 million for sheep, goat skin and leather; $105.2 million for sesame seeds & oil; $129 million for rub-

ber; $100.6 million for plastics; $60.7 million for cotton, yams & fabrics; $64 million for Aluminium and article; $55.4 million for cashew nuts and edible fruits; $37.1 million for Gum Arabic; and $47.9 million for prawns, fish and crustaceans.

The trend continues in 2009 where cocoa yielded $662.2 million while sheep, goat skin and leather yields $289.4 million; sesame seeds and oil $115.2 million; rubber $62.5 million; plastics $70.6 million; cotton, yams and fabrics $59.4; Aluminium and article $25 million; cashew nuts and edible fruits $45.6 million; Gum Arabic $43.6 million;

prawns, fish & crustaceans $44.1 million among others.

For the year 2010, cocoa yielded $822.8 million while sesame seeds & oil yielded $188.8 million; rubber $150.4 million; plastics $84.3 million; cotton, yams and fabrics $78.7 million; Aluminium and article $72.1 million; cashew nuts and edible fruits $63 million; Gum Arabic $39.9 million; while prawns, fish & crustaceans yields $49 million.

Although the 2011 figure is not completely out, Cocoa still tops the non-oil exports with $533.3 million between January and June.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

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INDUSTRY Filling stations sealed

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HE Joint Inspection team of the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment comprising Weights and Measures Department, Consumer Protection Council (CPC) and Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has sealed dispensing pumps of a filling station in Abuja, for under dispensing products to customers.

This was carried out by the Weights and Measures Department, CPC and SONin Abuja According to a statement from the Ministry of Trade and Com-

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•Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Allison Madueke (right) with the Group Managing Director, NNPC, Mr Austin Oniwon (left), during the House of Representatives AD-HOC Committee on the monitoring of subsidy PHOTO: ABAYOMI FAYESE regime at National Assembly, Abuja.

Non-oil sector to drive GDP growth

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HE non-oil sector will drive economic growth this year, with the Gross Domestic Product, (GDP), expected to grow at 8.1 per cent, some analysts have said.

In a report, entitled: ‘2012 outlook: the upside from holding firm,” the analysts also predicted that the GDP will rise to 8.2 per cent next year.

The report predicted that the sector will be the major driver of the economy in the current year, due to a robust private consumption and a significant recovery in oil production following the Niger-Delta amnesty programme.

To achieve this, however, the report said: “The government must pursue its reform agenda if dou-

Stories by Toba Agboola

ble-digit growth is to be achieved, and it has made a start with the deregulation of the petrol price.

“Its challenge with all its reforms will be to hold its nerve against opposition from vested interests but some additional palliative measures may be required to fully win the argument.

“The direction of the economy in 2012 will be determined above all by the success of the reform programme. If the government stands firm over the deregulation of the petrol price, the first major step within the programme, it will be emboldened to move on other core elements of the agenda. If it backs down, which is not our central

view, then the vested interests which are opposed to deregulation will themselves feel emboldened and resist other reforms with renewed vigour.

FBN Capital also expressed confidence in the Nigerian capital market, predicting a 14 per cent increase in the All-share index from its December 31, 2011 position, to 23,500 points by the end of 2012.

“We are Positive on equities for 2012 but Neutral on fixed income as a broad asset class. Our end-2012 target for the All Share Index is 23,500, 14 per cent over December 31, 2011 levels.

“Our view is underpinned by attractive valuation for banks in particular. Within the fixed income space, the long end of the curve appeals to us.”

Strike: Manufacturers count losses

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HE Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has said the country cannot afford to have its economy grounded by strikes, citing the recent subsidy removal protest for its stand.

According to the Chairman, MAN, Apapa branch, Mr John Aluya, the country lost billions of naira to the strike. The action, he said may affect the projections of government on revenue generation.

Besides, he said members of MAN were counting their losses, adding that the strike compounded the woes of manufacturers, who at the moment are battling with so many challenges.

Aluya disclosed that it remained

difficult for him to give the revenue figure lost of the strike action because members are yet to submit the individual amount lost by each company to the secretariat.

‘...corruption remained the bane of good governance and people have not really benefitted any thing form government and as such see no reason why deregulation should now be an issue at this point in time when the masses are finding it tough to earn a living’

On deregulation, he said MAN has always supported deregulation, submitting that the only snag remained the timing, which, he said, was wrong.

Aluya called on government to tackle the issue of corruption at all levels, so that the people can begin to reap the dividend of good and effective governance at every facet of government.

Essentially, he said corruption remained the bane of good governance and people have not really benefitted any thing form government and as such see no reason why deregulation should now be an issue at this point in time when the masses are finding it tough to earn a living.

Firm to solidify ties with Castel

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ABMiller, the world's second largest brewer, is interested in acquiring French brewer, Groupe Castel’s African operations. It will also solidify its ties with Castel by making a few organisational changes in its African operations,its head of media relations, Nigel Fairbrass said.

He said this would involved combining the operational management of Castel’s and SABMiller’s businesses in Nigeria and Angola, with the Nigerian businesses to be managed by SABMiller and the Angolan businesses by Castel.

SABMiller Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Graham Mackay said: "Our relationship with the Castel Group has gone from strength to strength over the decade that the

strategic alliance has been in place.

We believe that these operational changes will benefit our local businesses, our minority partners, and our customers and consumers in both Angola and Nigeria, and demonstrate both groups’ long-term commitment to the alliance."

Amendments to the terms of the alliance agreement had been agreed to provide for improved sharing of best practice and technical expertise, the company said.

In 2001 the companies agreed on mutual pre-emptive rights over each others’ beverage operations in Africa (excluding South Africa and Namibia), where they have first rights to buy each others’ operations if put up for sale. The reorganisation further clarified this

agreement, SABMiller said.

Castel executive chairman, Pierre Castel said: "After 10 years of alliance, it was deemed appropriate to review and upgrade our partnership with a stronger focus on synergies."

Last year a Goldman Sachs report said the beverages sector would likely see merger and acquisition activity in the next few years and named SABMiller as the prime acquisitor, with Foster’s and Castel as possible targets. Last year SABMiller finalised its purchase of Foster’s.

The existing agreement, in which SABMiller has a 20 per cent shareholding in Castel’s other African beverage interests and Castel has a 38 per cent shareholding in SABMiller’s principal African holding company, remained unchanged.

merce, during the inspection it was discovered that the dispensing pump short-changed five litres of fuel for every 20 litres of PMS (19.5 as 20 litres), diesel 1.7 litres less for every 20 litres (18.3 as 20 litres) while kerosene pump dispensed .29 litres less from 20 litres (19.73 as 20 litres).

The head of the team, Mr Mohammad Sidi directed the NNPC Mega station opposite Oando at Zone 1, Abuja to stop dispensing fuel from two pumps based on the technical default of the pumps until the defect is corrected.

Indomie wins awards

NDOMIE instant Noodles, manufactured by Dufil Prima Foods Plc, has further reaffirmed its position in the noodles segment by clinching awards.

The awards include ‘Overall Most Trusted Brand in 2011’ the DAME (Diamond Awards for Media Excellence) award for best commercial in consumer goods category in 2011.

The Indomie Mama Do Good commercial won the award at the 20th edition of the awards which took place at the Sheraton Hotel Ikeja, Lagos.

Indomie also won an excellence award presented by the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) in recognition of the outstanding and valuable contribution of Dufil Prima Foods Plc

to the development and growth of the education sector through its CSR initiatives support at all levels - Primary, secondary and Tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

Public Relations Manager, Dufil Prima Foods Plc. Mr Temitope Ashiwaju, noted that the awards has further reinstated the leadership status of Indomie Noodles as the number one noodle brand in Nigeria.

Ashiwaju described the award given to the brand and the company by the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) as very symbolic, which clearly indicates that the huge investment in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is recognised and appreciated.

China praises Africa as 'Golden Ground'

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HINESE Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi has praised Africa as a "golden ground" for foreign investment, and vowed to work with Chinese firms to ensure they comply with local labour laws.

"Africa is a fertile place for foreign investors and it is a golden ground for Africa to attract foreign investors, especially for infrastructure which is the blood and muscle of a country," Yang said during a visit to Namibia.

Yang spoke after meeting with his Namibian counterpart, Utoni Nujoma in Windhoek, on the last leg of an African tour that also took him to Niger and Ivory Coast.

China has aggressively moved into African markets, tapping into natural resources to fuel its own economy but also taking a major role in building roads, bridges and other infrastructure across the continent.

The arrival of Chinese companies and workers has sometimes stirred conflict with locals, with Namibians complaining that some Chinese firms fail to respect the minimum wage and other labour laws.

"I am not saying every Chinese company here behaves in a perfect way. If not, I hope Namibia tells us and we do our best to solve it," Yang told reporters. "We told our companies to adhere to laws here."

How to develop SMEs, by stakeholders

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TAKEHOLDERS in the Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME) sector in Abuja, have agreed that the establishment of venture capital firms to increase access to equity capital, would go a long way in bridging inadequate funding or difficulties in accessing developmental funds.

In a communiqué signed by NASME Council Chairman/President, Garba Gusau and the Executive Secretary, Mr Eke Ubiji, also identified the nation’s porous borders, lack of adequate import restriction, and failure of ideas with respect to leadership as some of the challenges facing the development of SMEs. According to participants at the conference tagged: Revelotionising Job Creation through Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Growth

and Development, continuous and consistent pursuit of developmental initiatives for MSMEs, would yield the desired result with respect to national security, unemployment and economic stability.

The stakeholders identified the menace of unemployment as a global issue, sighting the case of South Africa where unemployment was reported to have reached 25 per cent as a reference point.

The communiqué, therefore, urged the government to put more measures in place to create an enabling environment to aid the growth and development of MSMEs. It acknowledged that in view of the prevailing problem of unemployment, the theme of the conference was very much in tune with the reality of things and hence the need to tackle same appropriately.

Govt urged to focus on solid minerals

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HE Miners Association of Nigeria has urged the Federal Government to make solid minerals an alternative revenue source to reduce the reliance on oil.

The National President of the association, Alhaji Alhaji Sani Shehu, made the call in Jos. Shehu said the current economic situation had shown that oil alone was incapable of sustaining the country’s economy growth.

The president said that the disagreement over the removal of fuel subsidy pointed to the fact that petroleum alone could not meet the fi-

nancial challenges of the government.

According to him, the solid minerals sector has the potential of becoming a major alternative revenue source to rescue government from the current economic challenges.

He recalled that the sector contributed to the country's foreign exchange earnings between the 60s and 80s and urged the government to pay the desired attention to the sector.

"The revenue Nigeria will derive from solid minerals will compete favourably with what it is currently obtaining from petroleum, if the sector is fully developed.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

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EDITORIAL/OPINION Comments

EDITORIAL FROM OTHER LAND

Jonathan’s response to fuel protest •Govt still has to demonstrate seriousness in subsidy probe; it hasn’t yet

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F we are to draw any conclusions from the national strike just ended on Monday, it is how far the Federal Government under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan is far from grasping the several issues provoked by the socalled removal of subsidy in petrol price.

The announcement of a new pump price of N97 per litre by President Jonathan on Monday, as against the reversal to the original price of N65 demanded by Nigerians may have been disappointing; indeed, it may have doused the fire at this time, it is far from saying that the embers have been put out, or even that the nation is nearer addressing the roots of the crisis.

Clearly, we are disappointed by the tone of the President’s broadcast on Monday.

Far from conciliatory coming after a supposed truce was brokered, it was more of fury and righteous anger. The President neither acknowledged that his administration was responsible for the policy that drew the nation to the edge, even long after it claimed to have recognised that it

‘As it is, the Jonathan administration may have succeeded in buying itself more time. How far it goes to address the issues raised by the protesters would obviously determine how well it does to regain the trust of Nigerians. The citizens have gone past promises that are never kept. They expect to see a new momentum to tackle the issue of corruption; they expect to see drastic cutbacks in recurrent expenditure at all levels – in short, a leaner government’

would bring pains. He spoke of “persons who took advantage of the situation to further their narrow interests by engaging in acts of intimidation, harassment, and outright subversion of the Nigerian state”.

Nowhere in the speech was reference made to those who died – especially those shot by security agents for no other crime than coming out to exercise their rights to dissent. The luckless citizens were perhaps no more than expendables – sacrificed on the altar of the administration’s deregulation god. And worse, nowhere did the President articulate any fresh ideas on his agenda except the usual resort to finding imaginary enemies.

One of the fallouts was the administration’s resort to scare tactics.

The Presidency seems to have opted to find imaginary enemies to fight as against providing effective governance. Part of this of course explains the desperate measure of deploying troops into major streets in our cities. Here, we must say, if merely for the record, that the reports we got from most parts of the country was that last week’s general strike was generally peaceful. In Lagos for instance, it was carnival-like punctuated by speeches by speakers. To deploy troops to occupy the space used by the protesters in the guise of forestalling an imaginary potential breakdown of law and order smacks of a desperate act by a budding dictator. It certainly offends the rights of those Nigerians to peaceful assembly, rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the republic.

Of course, the President did nothing to checkmate his own loyalists – particularly his kinsmen from the Niger Delta who threatened the nation with fire and brimstone should the President not have his way. While the Presidency may not have sponsored the groups, it cannot escape the

charge that it tacitly encouraged them.

The implication is that the nation is today more fractious and divided than President Jonathan met it.

As it is, the Jonathan administration may have succeeded in buying itself more time. How far it goes to address the issues raised by the protesters would obviously determine how well it does to regain the trust of Nigerians. The citizens have gone past promises that are never kept. They expect to see a new momentum to tackle the issue of corruption; they expect to see drastic cutbacks in recurrent expenditure at all levels – in short, a leaner government. Of course, they expect to see the so-called new Greenfield Refineries come into fruition.

Finally, the nation wants to see how far the government can go to implement the KPMG report on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

At the moment, we must say that we are not comfortable that the office of Minister of Petroleum Resources has assumed the responsibility for the review of the report. Neither the minister nor the ministry should be allowed to be a judge in its own case. As a matter of fact, the petroleum minister ought to step aside as her department is central to the investigations in question. The same applies to the Group Managing Director of the NNPC and some other top government functionaries.

There are many questions begging for answers on the subsidy issue. We need an independent body with definite timeline for the assignment of probing the disbursements. It is not for the petroleum minister to invite the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).The government has to demonstrate more seriousness in this crucial matter.

Barred!

•Nine Nigerian varsities’ medical graduates can’t practice in the UK

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NITED Kingdom’s General Medical Council has barred graduates of nine Nigerian universities from practicing medicine and from sitting for Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board examination (PLAB) that enables foreign-trained physicians to undertake post-graduate medical training in the UK. The universities whose graduates were barred are Ambrose Ali University, University of Benin, University of Jos, University of Nigeria, University of Port Harcourt, Ebonyi State University, Igbinedion University, Ladoke Akintola University of Science and Technology, and Nnamdi Azikiwe University. Medical students who graduated from these universities’ colleges of medicine after December 10, 2010 were barred on the ground that they completed their medical training in universities without accreditation to train doctors.

According to the registrar of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), the body responsible for accrediting medical training institutions, the nine universities lost their accreditation in 2010. But all of them, except LAUTECH had their accreditation re-

‘Until the governments return excellence to tertiary education in general, and professional training in particular, Nigeria may continue to suffer the kind of embarrassment that emanated from the recent decision of GMC to bar our medical graduates from practicing in the United Kingdom’

stored in 2011, after rectifying identified deficiencies.

The de-accreditation of affected medical programmes had arisen from overstretching of medical training facilities caused by over-admission of students to their medical schools, in contravention of the quota set by MDCN. Admitting too many students to medical training in the affected institutions had been traced to frequent dissolution (and delay in reconstituting) the boards of two bodies central to assuring quality in medical training: the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria and the National Universities Commission (NUC). It has also been suggested that the frequent dissolution of MDCN enabled NUC to admit too many students for limited training facilities in the affected institutions.

One of the matters arising from the decision of UK’s GMC is the agency’s efficient speed of response to guard standards that is palpably absent in Nigerian governments’ attitude to making sure that regulatory boards are enabled at all times to carry out their supervisory functions. Nigeria’s MDCN has also acted right by de-accrediting institutions that had failed to meet minimum standards, but there is no excuse for the body’s delay to inform foreign institutions of MDCN’s decisions on time. Without such delay, GMC might not have had to bar the graduates.

Another important issue concerns the Federal Government’s failure to recognise the importance of ensuring that new boards are constituted on time to take over the functions of boards that are dissolved for political or other rea-

sons. There is no doubt that the lethargy on the part of the Federal Government had caused avoidable embarrassment for innocent medical graduates.

Students who should not have been admitted to medical schools were admitted because of the governments’ failure to constitute regulatory boards on time to enforce admission quota for medicine.

The lesson from the embarrassment dispensed by GMC’s decision should not be lost on the federal and state governments. The story of too many medical students for limited training facilities is reminiscent of the general problem identified repeatedly by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) as characteristic of tertiary education in the country in recent years.

Apart from the case of GMC, it is already common knowledge that graduates of our health science institutions: medicine, pharmacy, and nursing are no longer passing their examinations to practice in the United States and the United Kingdom as readily as their counterparts did 20 years ago. There are cases of medical students from our universities who opted to re-train as nurses in the United States because of failure to pass professional certification examinations.

Until the governments return excellence to tertiary education in general, and professional training in particular, Nigeria may continue to suffer the kind of embarrassment that emanated from the recent decision of GMC to bar our medical graduates from practicing in the United Kingdom.

Convenient, but how secure?

A

CCORDING to a survey commissioned by the American Bankers Association last year, 62 percent of Americans preferred to do their banking online rather than at a branch or ATM. Banks and their online customers also lost more than $2 billion in 2010 because of payment card scams, fraudulent wire transfers and other Internet swindles, according to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as reported by The Financial Times.

Losses have declined from their peak of $8 billion in 2006, as banks have gotten better at preventing fraud. But criminals aren’t giving up and regulators have decided that current security systems based on passwords, tokens and cookies aren’t strong enough.

Starting this month, they want financial institutions to add a new layer that detects unusual patterns of activity — like a volley of transfers to an account in Russia — in real time. Too many banks are not yet up to speed with the new guidelines. Regulations limit losses for individual victims of a cyberstrike to $500, forcing the bank to cover the balance. But businesses are not covered, and small companies are especially vulnerable because they move more cash around than individuals and cannot afford hightechnology defenses.

New malware has been designed to get around the security fixes of recent years. Qakbot, which has been infecting computers since 2009, downloads from infected Web sites and piggy backs on legitimate online transactions to evade the security provided by one-time, changing passwords. The Zeus trojan propagates through spam and is estimated to have infected 3.6 million computers in the United States. It waits for users to log on to their bank accounts and steals their information as they type it. It can even replace the bank’s Web pages with its own on the victim’s browser to entice the user to divulge even more information.

If the new guidelines fail to stem the tide of online fraud, regulators have suggested additional possible measures: Banks could require customers to authorize transactions through two devices, like a computer and a phone; they could limit the size or number of transactions allowed; and they could block connection to bank servers from unknown or suspect Internet addresses.

Regulators will need to push bankers to improve security, especially at community and regional banks whose systems lag far behind those at large multinational institutions. The safety instructions are guidelines — not makeor-break rules — that will figure among many others when regulators evaluate the general safety and soundness of banks’ operations. That may not be enough.

The Financial Times reported that a poll of bankers done by a bank technology firm in November suggested that 40 percent of banks weren’t even aware that regulators want them to adopt new measures to detect anomalous online transactions.

- New York Times

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief Victor Ifijeh • Editor Gbenga Omotoso •Chairman, Editorial Board Sam Omatseye •General Editor Kunle Fagbemi •Editor, Online Lekan Otufodunrin •Managing Editor Northern Operation Yusuf Alli •Managing Editor Waheed Odusile •Deputy Editor Lawal Ogienagbon •Deputy Editor (News) Adeniyi Adesina •Group Political Editor Bolade Omonijo •Group Business Editor Ayodele Aminu •Abuja Bureau Chief Yomi Odunuga •Sport Editor Ade Ojeikere •Editorial Page Editor Sanya Oni

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THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

20

EDITORIAL/OPINION

S

IR: Most Nigerians are incurably optimistic. Their optimism is based on two myths. That somehow, God loves Nigeria more; and that Nigerians are always a happy lot whatever the shape of leadership. But then, God loves all his subjects equally, and citizen happiness is a subjective affair, but leadership driven. There is a third factor often neglected by Nigerians. Situations create myths.

National situations point out good or bad faith in leadership, which as time passes, develop into myths. Ignoring evidences that myths are situation created but leadership driven, Nigerians naively believe that their future will somewhat represent an improved version of their past.

Whoever their leaders, Nigerians think they can be heroes of their own lives, with or without interventions by leaders of good faith. It is this pleasing illusion of

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Between optimism, reality and leadership of bad faith progress that creates the myth surrounding the portrayal of Nigerians as the happiest people on earth. Sadly for so long, Nigerians unfortunately have been bonded to leadership of bad faith, who continue to sustain the happiest people on earth myth. The myth has now reached a level of acceptable-fact that any of the socalled leaders feel the ability to embellish it, however falsely, to make a point.

Leadership of good faith must wean Nigerians off a habitual

culture of not seeking message details. In situation of crisis, deciding to shoot the messenger or the message takes a lot of learning processes. Leadership of good faith has an uphill struggle in teaching Nigerians the basic concepts of separating message details from the messenger.

Not being sufficiently knowledgeable to separate myths and actualities create the difficulty called Nigeria and her lot. You can read and understand their behaviours, but true intentions are

difficult to judge.

Myths, behaviours and true intentions combine to give conflicting signals to the outside world. The chaos and shallow faith exhibited by all in the future of Nigeria is a resultant collective tragedy. The singular act of supreme tragedy is corruption.

That silent manipulation of decent behaviour widely acceptable in the society, which denies ordinary people their birthrights.

The most natural of birthrights is access to equality of opportunity.

Corruption robs people access to

Now that Bola Ige resurrects

S

IR: sIf there had been haziness about it in April, 2011, the certainty of the resurrection of the assassinated Chief Bola Ige, the Esa-Oke-born lawyer/ politician became crystal clear recently when the tenth anniversary of his death was marked with fanfare by ACN governors.

We should have known that Bola Ige, the political heir-apparent to the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo who was calculated to have been dead and forgotten would rise again when the Edo, Ekiti, Osun, Oyo and Ogun States joined Lagos State to fly the Awo’s flag but the confusion long created by the Awocap wearing PDP members, some of whom were outright opponents and strangers to Awo’s ideology and others who were turn-coat Awoists, had prevented due proclamation of Bola Ige’s rise from the dead, figuratively speaking.

If you ever had an inkling, the familiarity of the faces of such disputable Awoists around the Ikenne home of the late sage would make you tarry; a familiarity which had been virtual annexation of the late leader’s home by an infiltrating

opposition party which had fervently desired to lay claim to Awo’s legacy as their inheritance since it was so fashionable and so badly needed as legitimacy stratagem.

If ACN governors were taking over in the South-west and there was neither jubilation around the Awolowos nor homage paying to Ikenne by ACN governors, we couldn’t have been seeing clearly in the circumstance; but now we know that there are people who want to appropriately celebrate the slain Bola Ige and even revisit the case of his assassination in court: if that would not amount to seeking vengeance.

Chief Bola Ige’s fate was akin to that of our Lord Jesus Christ who, despite his worthy service to humanity, was crucified, pierced with the sword, watched to die and buried to be forgotten.

In the case of Jesus Christ, He was supposed to have been convicted by the Jewish court and sentenced to death by crucifixion; so, no one needed to be arrested for His murder. Yet, in spite of the Jewish court and the Roman authorities, Jesus is accepted as the Lord and Saviour of the world today by the

large number of Christians all over the world and He is being adored and worshipped as such.

If Chief Bola Ige was a mere mortal, not comparable to Jesus Christ, he had a good enough cause in the Awo’s ideology to which he was committed and dedicated before he met his death.

There is even a large school of thought who believes that he died for that cause, the cause of good governance, fore-sighted leadership, creative development, people-oriented policies, enlightened programmes and disciplined administration.

By Bola Ige’s assassination, a plot as heinous as that of the Jews against Jesus Christ had been hatched; so, shouldn’t God be seen to have been at work to allow the murder of Chief Bola Ige for a purpose; His own purpose, that Awo’s ideology might be permanently planted in the land as vindication of the slain, erudite lawyer/politician? And couldn’t the vindication be the type that would justify the victories of the ACN in the South-West as being not mere coincidence but a divine course of passing the zone to ACN as enduring inheritance?

Well, these would be suppositions

only but the suppositions could also pose a challenge to the ACN governors that they owe it a duty not only to the electorate but also to the Almighty God to make the suppositions a reality, a duty to solidly entrench the Awo’s rule to the utter disappointment of those who had wished Awo’s rule passed permanently into history.

Talking of vindication reminds one of the truth that vindication is the best form of vengeance, which is why it is advisable that the ACN governors should devote more time to good governance, the Awo’s style, than they do to reviving the court case on Bola Ige’s assassination.

Perhaps one, in fact, should pose questions: “Why reopen old wounds, open a Pandora box and court fresh distractions while God had been ahead working out His vengeance? Isn’t vengeance God’s prerogative anymore? Isn’t it better to let Bola Ige live on in our hearts, in commemorations and regular celebration of his assassination anniversaries, long after his adversaries must have gone into oblivion?”

• Jide Oguntoye, Oye-Ekiti State

opportunities and therefore self actualization and quality of a decent life. Since the quality of a people determines national development, a nation can only truly develop inversely proportional to its corruption index; everything else is therefore secondary.

Home and abroad, this is the context which without pacifying illusions, everyone sees Nigeria.

Save for its fossil deposits and “population threats” Nigerians are treated as objects rather than subjects. Stripped of patriotic nonsense, Nigeria continues to exist as an irrelevant global state.

Naturally, the typical Nigerian leader of bad faith is completely blind to this fact.

The energetic, optimist and dreamy ordinary Nigerian is at the tipping point, waiting patiently for a Nigeria that will lead the world.

However, the means by which Nigeria achieve sustained economic development and improve the collective welfare for her people should now be reexamined. Real development will vary according to the vision and illusions which is attached to the primacy of the relationship between corruption and prosperity.

Since the complexity that is Nigeria is unique, the vision is to see beyond the myths, examine message details and peep into prospects for national progress.

This is with the current struggle of so called subsidy removal, but which message and perhaps true intensions had been muddled up.

The message and the messenger are gradually being shot at by entrusted citizens, who have penchant for headlines, and none for details. The focus of the message and the messenger should not have been about fuel or subsidy, but the reactivation of the most natural of birthrights for all Nigerians; access to equality of opportunity.

But then, the Nigerian crowd is entitled to a long dream. Patiently awaiting leadership of good faith, to descend and articulate their collective dreams into a coherent vision.

• Fakunle Odifa Ada, Ghana.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

21

EDITORIAL/OPINION

Survey of Nigeria’s foreign policy - 1

T

HE word “Nigeria” is a 20th century coinage by Flora Shaw who later became Lady Lugard after she married the “founder” of modern Nigeria, Sir Fredrick Lugard. Of course, the area that became Nigeria has always existed and the origins, migrations, evolution of the peoples and states in the area are rooted in historical antiquity. The first reference to the area in modern diplomacy goes back to the Berlin West African Conference of 1884-85 when, at the instigation of Prince Otto Edvard Leopold von Bismarck (18151898), the German Chancellor, the territories around the Niger and Benue Rivers were recognized as being under British influence. The partition of Africa began in earnest and by the Brussels Act of 1890 the European powers agreed to the rules of the partition which, among other things ensured that weapons of precision were no longer to be sold to Africans, thus making the task of pacification of Africa easy for the Europeans who had by that Act imposed unilateral disarmament on Africa. Africa remained quiet in the world of diplomacy until the out-break of the First World War. A purely European affair exploded into a worldwide cataclysm simply because Europe had captured the world and her dominance of it was written large on all the continents of the world and particularly on Africa where the people were regarded as a charge on civilization. Nigerians as well as other African peoples were recruited to fight the colonial armies of Germany in Africa and in the case of French colonies hapless Africans were taken to fight and die on the Western front particularly in winter.

‘Thus Africans including Nigerians were involved in a war, the cause of which they knew nothing about and against an enemy that was not of their own making. When the war ended, the colonial administration, manifesting the desires of some Nigerian rulers such as the Shehu of Borno and the Lamido of Adamawa, bid for annexation of some part of German Cameroun’

G

RADUALLY, President Goodluck Jonathan is showing us the stuff he is made of. He is not as cool as he looks. That is just a deceptive look he put up to fool us. And boy were we fooled? We all misjudged Jonathan. We were fooled by his genial looks, which portray him as someone who cannot hurt a fly.

With his looks he won over the hearts of Bayelsans when as then deputy to former Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha he appeared not in a hurry to take over when the sun set on his boss' political career.

He played the same card when his immediate past predecessor, the late President Umaru Yar'Adua, was ill and away from home for months. Another person in Jonathan's shoes would have shown his hand early in the day and wrecked himself politically.

But not so Jonathan, the master of the waiting game. Many attribute this to luck, afterall is his name not Goodluck? To me it is not luck but guile. We have underestimated Jonathan for too long that we are today paying the price.

No wonder he is now showing us his true colour after getting what he was looking for. Many who have met with Jonathan have always come back with a story of a man who is passionate about Nigeria. He is so passionate about the country that he is ready to chastise us with scorpion under the guise of laying the foundation of a better tomorrow for us. Sooner than later as we have always said on this page, something was

Thus Africans including Nigerians were involved in a war, the cause of which they knew nothing about and against an enemy that was not of their own making. When the war ended, the colonial administration, manifesting the desires of some Nigerian rulers such as the Shehu of Borno and the Lamido of Adamawa, bid for annexation of some part of German Cameroun. They did not succeed because Britain had to accommodate France in the struggle for territorial aggrandizement that marked the end of the war. Whatever territorial accretion came to Nigeria did not match the war effort of the Nigerian administration in German, Togo, Cameroun, East Africa and all the way in Turkish Mesopotamia. This was to be a forerunner of the stupendous effort Nigeria made during the Second World War to ensure Allied victory not only in Ethiopia but particularly in Burma in the campaigns against Italy and imperial Japan.

The First and the Second world wars in which Nigeria was involved and which by the propaganda of the time were to make the world safe for democracy did nothing of that sort.

Rather, a cold war ensued after 1945, but particularly after 1949 following the catching up with America in the nuclear race by the Soviet Union when she succeed in splitting the atom. China in the same year fell to the forces of communism under Chairman Mao Zedong (1893-1976). What was unique about this period was the unlikelihood of big power military confrontation because of the awesome destructiveness of nuclear weapons, a scenario which made John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) the 35th President of the United States to say that in the event of a nuclear holocaust, “the living will envy the dead”. In spite of this there were several proxy wars in Latin America and particularly South East Asia between states embracing communism led by the Soviet Union and China and the so-called “free” world led by America.

It was in this environment of Cold War and bipolarity in world affairs that the process of decolonisation gathered momentum. America traditionally had been opposed to colonialism, with the exception of the aberrant behaviour of the conquest of Spanish territories in Cuba and the Philippines in the 1880s. America’s anti-colonialism has been demonstrated since their emergence on the world stage from the time of James Monroe in the 1820s through the time of Woodrow Wilson to that of F. D. Roosevelt. Their opposition to Franco-British intervention in the Suez Canal in 1956, during the presidency of the 34th President of United States, Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969), was in tune with their opposition to propping up the old Empires of Britain and France. Throughout the Second World War, American policy

makers had left the British in no doubt that they would strenuously work for the dismantling of the European colonial of empires. The existence of colonial empires, the Americans reasoned, contributed to the outbreak of wars.

America also wanted to occupy the high moral ground in their Jide titanic struggle with Osuntokun the Soviet Union.

Both the United States and, ironically their foe, the Soviet Union were committed to a policy of decolonisation for different reasons. America was driven by anti-colonial idealism fundamental to the origin and evolution of the United States itself but for Soviet Russia, right from its foundation

by Vladimir Iliyich Lenin (1870-1924), anti-imperialism was an article of faith because Lenin believed that all wars were imperialistic, fought for carving out the world into markets as a result of not knowing what to do with surplus production and primitive accumulation of capital in the highly industrialized countries. Whatever may be the reasons for support of the liquidation of the European Empires in Asia and Africa, the nationalist leaders of these areas exploited the situation to their countries’ advantage in the traditional European fashion of power politics and national interest.

By 1947, beginning in India and ending in the 1970s in Africa, the Europeans lost their colonial empires and by 1990 the remnant of colonial empires in Africa notably Namibia was freed. The biggest prize, South Africa, was finally freed in 1994 from institutionalized policy of racial discrimination and apartheid. She had since joined the civilized world under a non-racial majority democratic regime. This happy ending could never have been achieved but for the determined effort and struggle of independent African countries joined by other progressive forces in the world, notably in the Socialist countries and The Scandinavia. The United States’ policy oscillated between support for justice, benign neglect and what in the Reagan years was called constructive engagement, which was a euphemism for support for racist oppression in South Africa

The making of Emperor Jonathan bound to give over the ill-advised January 1 removal of fuel subsidy.

Nobody is saying that subsidy be retained at all cost. No, what the people are saying is that certain things be put in place before the introduction of the policy.

But those who believe that they love Nigeria more than their fellow compatriots felt otherwise.

Subsidy, they told the president, must go now and he listened to them. What are their reasons for the immediate removal of subsidy? They claim, among others,that subsidy benefits the rich more than the poor; and that Lagos has more number of cars than any other state in the federation. Petroleum Resources Minister Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, and one Atedo Peterside appear the most vociferous among those in this camp.

In the heat of the nationwide subsidy strike, Peterside spent time and money to defend his indefensible position. Mrs AlisonMadueke also did the same thing.

While many in his class were protesting in support of the people last week in Ikoyi and Victoria Island, Peterside was busy deceiving himself on air with implausible argument on why the president did what he did. It is people like him that put our leaders in trouble with their unsolicited advice.

Where they should call for restraint before an action is taking, they goad a leader to leap before

‘Even at N97 a litre of petrol , how many poor people can afford that price? Is that how to subsidise the poor? If Mrs Alison-Madueke and Peterside so love the poor, they won't have advised the president to remove subsidy now’

he looks. Peterside and Mrs Alison-Madueke are angry with the rich because, according to them, they are depriving the poor of what rightly belongs to them.

If I may ask, when did the government start existing for the poor alone? Must the middle class, who by their definition, constitute the vast population of the rich, be killed for the poor to live? Is it the fault of the 'rich' that the government blew N1.3 trillion on subsidy? Is it an offence, again according to them, for the 'rich' to have more than one car?

How does the government subsidise the 'rich' with more than one car? Since they are defending the poor, how many in that class can buy petrol for N141 per litre, the price it was before it was brought down to N97 following the strike? Even at N97, how many poor people can afford that price? Is that how to subsidise the poor? If Mrs AlisonMadueke and Peterside so love the poor, they won't have advised the president to remove subsidy when he did.

The poor, as we have seen in this case, will always bear the brunt of policies not well thought out before being implemented.

The duo wanted to play the poor against the rich but they did not succeed because the people saw through their trick. They wanted to break the rank of the people through divide-and-rule, a tactic adopted by the colonialists before our independence in 1960. Fiftyone years after, these neocolonialists failed in their mission to break the country over an issue which could have been sorted out peacefully, if people like them had not advised Jonathan to take an hasty deci-

sion.

But the president has to carry the can because the buck stops at his table. Who knows Mrs AlisonMadueke or Peterside? We have no business with them because we never voted for them. They can blab as much as they like, but as long as the president does not act based on their prompting, all is well. But he did and nearly threw the country into anarchy. Now, he is looking for scape-goats. The subsidy strike could have been averted if the president really mean well for the country. He never did anything tangible to nip the strike in the bud in the first place.

ATHER he made a broadcast justifying his action and promising a 25 percent cut in the salary of those in the executive arm of government, as if many of them live on their pay. It is rather unfortunate that we are finding ourselves in this position with a president, who should know what it is to be poor, considering his humble background. Has the president forgotten so soon where he is coming from? Has he become so comfortable that he has forgotten that he once had no shoes? Power is indeed an intoxicant. That shodless boy from Otuoke has since grown in stature that he has forgotten where he is coming from. If he still remembers, it will be only in his dreams.

Like the president, many of us are from humble background and it is never too far from our minds.

The thought of it keeps us on the straight and narrow path, always, otherwise we will fall into temptations. Man is not infallible, but there are certain things that can keep him in check and one of these

R

Lawal Ogienagbon

lawal.ogienagbon@thenationonlineng.net

is to always remember where he is coming from. People like us do not want the president to fail no matter what those around him may be saying. We do what we do because Nigeria belongs to us all and nobody, including those in government, has a monopoly of wisdom. Thank God that the strike has come and gone.

But did we learn any lesson from it? Can we really say that those who carried placards demanding the exit of the president were asking for regime change? What is treasonable in their action? If our Inspector-General of Police can be seen on national television tagging that as treason, aren't those in power giving treason another definition? Is this why soldiers were deployed in Lagos? Was there any attempt to overawe the government during the rallies in Lagos to warrant the deployment? Was this why labour, which organised the strike, was accused of championing regime change?

There are many questions to be asked, but the foregoing will suffice for now, with an appeal to the president to be wary of those around him before they turn him to another thing.

SMS ONLY: 08056504763

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

22

EDITORIAL/OPINION

P

RESIDENT Jonathan has often demonstrated his lack of skill in decision making. The latest fuel subsidy fiasco has also confirmed his advisers are self serving.

While thousands of poor Nigerians many of whom his CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido claimed live below two dollars a day were demonstrating against his declaration of war against them, instead of the cabals he had identified as saboteurs of the nation’s economy, while the traumatized residents of Jos, Maduguiri and other parts of the north were expecting him to declare a war against their tormentors, he took the battle to peaceful South West and Lagos.

If Jonathan squandered away whatever good will he had left among Nigerians by the ambush of his unexpected announcement of fuel subsidy removal on January 1 of all days, the drafting of soldiers to South- west and Lagos was self inflicted tragic loss of a critical ally.

This was the group that demonstrated on the streets to secure for him his constitutional position of acting President, appropriated by the Yar’Adua mafia. In the April, 2011 election, the areas where the President secured more votes than Lagos was the South-east and South-south, with their questionable voting percentage returns.

The President had in his broadcast on Monday spoken of “near-break down of law and order in certain parts of the country as a result of the activities of some persons or groups of persons who took advantage of the situation to further their narrow interest by engaging in acts of intimidation, harassment and outright subversion of the Nigeria state”. That couldn’t have been Lagos where the organization and coordination of the protest had been so creatively done to make the organizers of the Arab Spring green with envy.

But this should not come as a surprise.

‘Ethnicisation’ of national issues, divide and rule tactics and sometimes resort to religion are some of the tools Jonathan and the clique he represents have used over the years when members engaged themselves in war of attrition, not over the good of society, but to satisfy the greed of its members. He effectively employed the tools to subvert PDP constitution to secure the party’s nomination.

We have passed through this road before.

For a mere scuffle among lawmakers in the Western House of Assembly the self-centred small clique within the ruling class declared state of emergency, brought Murtala Muhammad back from the United Nations engagement in Congo to assist Dr.Majekodunmi, the Prime Minister’s personal physician, he had appointed administra-

O

N Monday January 9, I joined many Americans from the “Occupy Atlanta” movement or, as they like to call themselves, “Atlanta’s 99 percent,” to protest against President Goodluck Jonathan’s revoltingly conscienceless war on the poor though his thoughtless and ill-conceived hike in petrol prices.

We converged at the Nigerian Consulate in Atlanta in symbolic solidarity with the admirably dauntless Nigerian people at home who have chosen to bracket their differences and unite in defense of their common humanity against a notoriously malevolent and incompetent government.

Atlanta is just one of several cities where ordinary Americans of all races came out forcefully and passionately to support Nigerians against this embarrassingly inept, IMF/World Bank-controlled government.

Across major cities in America, scores of Americans joined Nigerians in America in demonstrations against the most usurious petrol price hike in Nigeria’s entire history.

But why would Americans who live thousands of miles away from Nigeria and who have a reputation for being provincial and indifferent to world events that have no direct consequence on their lives be interested in what goes on in our country?

There are three reasons. First, the Internet, especially social media, has annihilated the boundaries of time and space in hitherto unthought-of ways. A lot of Americans became aware of the desperate conditions of the Nigerian people at home not through their legacy, mainline news media, but through online social networks and citizen blogs.

I take delight in saying that my October 22, 2011 article titled “Fuel Subsidy Removal: Time to ‘Occupy’ Nigeria!” and a sequel titled “Biggest Scandal in Oil Subsidy Removal Fraud” were major catalysts in this awakening.

The articles went viral on the Internet, attracted an unprecedented traffic to my blog, and caused scores of inquiries to be directed at me. Of course, as I said on my Facebook page, I don’t claim any credit for the “Occupy Nigeria” movement. I think its emergence is the product of a spontaneous outpouring of

Political class as the scourge of the nation tor of the West. When the region became ungovernable following the rigging of the 1965 regional election, the same clique refused to declare state of emergency in order not to lose their trophy (West and Mid-west) until they were swept away by the soldiers.

But we must situate this crisis beyond President Jonathan who is just a tool in the hands of a small clique within Nigerian political class which max Weber says live ‘for’ politics and live ‘off politics. This group, then known as ‘Ikoyi clique’ emerged in 1954. Its nucleus consisted of, Tafawa Balewa, Inua Wada, Mohammed Ribadu, Festus Okotie- Eboh and Ozumba Mbadiwe. They shared a common socio-economic and political philosophy which they imposed on Nigeria. They were opposed to Awolowo’s ‘welfarism’. In fact Ribadu once declared during a parliamentary debate that Awolowo, for his audacity to send his deputy, S. L. Akintola to preach the gospel of ‘free education, free health, full employment and life more abundance, among the feudal subjects in the north, ought to be in prison. That was long before he was sent to Calabar prison, for among other reasons, writing in his diary that he dreamt he would one day become Nigeria’s Prime Minister.

Those Chukwuma Nzeogwu referred to as 10 percenters of course would include such members like Festus Okotie-Eboh, who led the life style of a Saudi prince in the midst of poor people of Niger Delta and Ozumba Mbadiwe who built a scandalously massive mansion amidst his people’s squalor and named it ‘palace of the people’.

With the destruction of the opposition, the struggle for how much of the resources mem-

bers of the group can corner for themselves and their family members as against the generality of the poor people of the East and the North became more vicious, especially after the 1963 census crisis which led to the substitution of the parasites from the East with ‘vultures’ from the Mid-west. To show how cohesive this group was, some members of NCNC still accepted portfolios from Tafawa Balewa in spite of his show down with Zik over the largely boycotted federal election of 1964.

The greed of members of the clique led to the collapse of the economy and the eventual collapse of the Second Republic. Greed was also behind the abortion of the Third Republic as losers failed to accept defeat. And the recent fuel crisis has shown that the victims of the mindless looting of our commonwealth in the last 13 years are neither the West, East or the North but individual members of this evil clique. Those who benefited from the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of our refineries, those indicted by government probe over $16 billion power project contract, those who benefited from the Identity Card scam, the fuel cabals, are all individual members of the depraved clique. The privatization scheme only short-changed poor Nigerians while the monetisation policy paved the way for sharing of our common patrimony.

National Assembly members that allocated themselves outrageous salaries and allowances that would make their counterparts in USA and Europe green with envy are representing not the masses but themselves. Where Obama paid for his dinner in the White House, Goodluck Jonathan was allocated N1 billion of the taxpayer’s money for food. Where

Why Americans are angry with Jonathan on subsidy

By Farooq A. Kperogi righteous anger against a smothering and insensitive government policy. Of course, several other Nigerians also wrote many thoughtful articles and analyses on the cruelty, fraud, and illogic of the Jonathan government’s inhuman petrol price hike.

These disparate initiatives all coalesced to form a compelling social media narrative of what is going in Nigeria.

The second reason ordinary Americans identify with the current struggles of the Nigerian people is that many of them were intensely scandalized to learn that Nigerians, 80 percent of whom live on less than $2 a day, were paying more for petrol than they who live in the world’s wealthiest nation. The lowest paid worker in America receives the equivalent of 185,000 naira per month.

Nigeria’s current minimum wage of 7,500 naira translates into $47 dollars a month. If the Jonathan government honors its promise to increase the minimum wage to 18,000 naira, that would translate into $112 per month.

A softhearted American friend of mine who saw this statistic wept profusely a few days ago. “That’s just not fair!” she cried. “Someone with a 47-dollar-a-month wage pays $3.6 for a gallon of gas while a minimum wage worker in Georgia who receives nearly $8 an hour pays $2.99 for the same? That’s just wrong on so many levels!”

She would probably have literally cried her heart out if she knew that the Nigerian government actually pays millions of dollars to an avaricious cabal of primitive capitalist vultures to import toxic, low-grade refined petrol into the country. As I said in a previous article, the petrol price comparison between Nigeria and the United States— and other countries— is, in fact, grossly inaccurate

because all of the petrol that is imported to Nigeria is so low-grade that it’s a criminal offense to use it in America, Europe, and other parts of the world.

Thirdly, and most importantly, contrary to the intentional lies being hawked by the economic policy thugs of the Jonathan administration, the American government heavily subsidises the fuel consumption of its citizen. Most responsible, socially sensitive governments do.

According to a TIME Magazine article of January 3, America’s 50 states collectively spend $10 billion a year to subsidize the fuel consumption of their citizens. In America, with all its vast material prosperity, the surest way for any government to collapse irretrievably is to encourage any policy that causes the price of petrol to go up. As TIME put it beautifully, “One of the fastest ways to alienate voters is to be seen supporting anything that intensifies pain in the pump.”

American state governments subsidize petrol prices for their citizens through low taxes on their oil companies. During the 2008 presidential election, for instance, Hilary Clinton and John McCain, in fact, advocated a “gas tax holiday” regime. That meant oil companies would not be taxed at all for an extended period so that gas prices would come down by about 18.4 cents a gallon for petrol and about 24.4 cents for diesel.

According to TIME, “politicians’ refusal to increase gas taxes in line with inflation and construction costs starves needed infrastructure of funding.” Sounds familiar?

The perennial reason our governments in Nigeria advance to increase fuel prices is that the government needs money for “infrastructural development,” which by the

Cameron’s official residence consists of only a three bedroom flat, with only two cars attached to his office, Jonathan was allocated N512m to refurbish his wing of Aso rock villa, N530m for bullet proof cars and SUVs, in addition to 480m to maintain the existing fleet of 22 cars.

He has also been allocated N553m, for kitchen equipment, more than the amount needed to establish a kitchen equipment assembly plant.

We all know the bulk of the monies like the rip-off on importation of fuel are going to members of the clique who put shoeless Jonathan in the presidential villa.

Jonathan has been in the presidency for about five years. It has taken Nigerians marching on the street to force him to talk ‘of government irrevocable commitment to tackling ‘corruption in the petroleum as well as other sectors of the economy’. Putting in place legal and regulatory regime for the petroleum industry to address accountability issue and current lapses in the industry’, give accelerated attention to ‘the petroleum industry Bill, and to take a look at KPMG’s report of the monumental fraud in the NNPC. And suddenly the president now agrees that there is a need to ‘reduce recurrent expenditure in line with the current realities and cut down on the cost of governance’. Great victory.

But this is the beginning. Our elected or selected representatives, (governors and legislators) have all failed us. The clique of predatory buccaneers that has impoverished Nigerians since independence remains answerable to none. Our hope therefore lies in the people’s power. The real battle lies ahead. It is the restructuring of our nation. The present unwieldy, unviable military created states serves only the greed of expanded members of the parasitic clique.

‘The President had in his broadcast on Monday spoken of “near-break down of law and order in certain parts of the country as a result of the activities of some persons or groups of persons who took advantage of the situation to further their narrow interest by engaging in acts of intimidation, harassment and outright subversion of the Nigeria state’. way is a fat lie. (They should be honest for once and admit that they need more money to steal). But the point is that no responsible government starves its people to death because it wants to build infrastructure. Only the living use infrastructure.

There is an instructive example in the Midwestern state of Iowa of how a caring government, faced with a cash crunch, responded to recommendations for an increase in petrol prices to raise money. I will reproduce parts of the story, which is from TIME, without authorial intervention: “In Iowa, which hasn’t raised its tax in 22 years, a citizen advisory panel recommended an 8 cent to 10 cent bump per gallon in November. Republican Gov. Terry Branstad quickly took any increase off the table, instead asking his Department of Transportation to look for savings. “‘Everyone realizes that we need more funding for roads and bridges,’ said Tim Albrecht, a spokesman for Branstad. ‘I don’t think the legislature was especially willing to put a burden on Iowa’s tax payers at this time.’”

So an American state was in dire need of money to fund projects that would benefit the people and a panel made up of professionals not affiliated with the government recommended that the government increase the pump price of petrol to raise cash.

What did the government do? It said no. It said increasing petrol prices by just 8 or 10 percent would impose an unbearable burden on its citizens. It then said the state should raise money by saving. And this is a state in the wealthiest country on earth. Do you see any parallels here with Nigeria?

Well, that’s why every American who is familiar with what is happening in Nigeria is deeply angry with Jonathan on our behalf. So don’t give up, Nigerians. The whole world is watching you, supporting you, and celebrating your extraordinary gallantry!

• Kperogi , a journalism professor writes from United States.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

24

41

NATION SPORT

NATION SPORT

LONDON 2012 OLYMPICS

NSC sends Chukwumerije, Adam to South Korea

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VERWHELMED by the qualification of Chika Chukwumerije and Isa Mohammed Adam for the London 2012 Olympics, the National Sports Commission Director General, Dr Patrick Ekeji has approved a training tour of South Korea for the duo to sharpen their skills for the summer Olympics.

Chukwumerije and Adam would be gunning for glory in the Taekwondo event of the Olympics after picking their tickets in the qualifiers in Cairo, Egypt.

Chukwumerije, a bronze medalist at the Beijing Olympics suffered a fracture on his nose and has been moved over to a London Hospital where the NSC would be picking the bills.

President of the Taekwondo Federation of Nigeria, Dr Jonathan Nnaji confirmed yesterday that the NSC has approved a tour of South Korea for the two potential medalists at the Olympics. “Dr Ekeji has given his express permission for the Taekwondoists to train in South Korea, the home of Taekwondo. It is indeed a good omen for us because they are going to train at the birth-place of Taekwondo. This is a clear indication of how serious

we are preparing for the Games. The DG is doing everything possible to see that they get the best. He has been most supportive and I know that these athletes will bring glory to their fatherland at the Olympics”, Nnaji who is also the first Vice President of Nigeria Olympic Committee, NOC, said.

• Chukwumerije

the new boys in the NPL. “We have all it takes to do well in the league, we have a management that is well to do, the coaching crew led by Evans Ogenyi, formerly of Enyimba, is fantastic and the group of players we assemble will do us proud,” added a confident Isa. “We are not afraid of playing any team in Nigeria, so we are going to Kaduna United to get a good result on Thursday.

“We have the full support of the government led by Governor Sule Lamido. They made us comfortable by providing us with what we need. He is a sports-loving Governor.”

LOC delegates to seal deal weekend at Emirates

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By Julius Okorie UPER Eagles’ Captain and Fenerbahce defender Joseph Yobo and his teammates will have to wait for the next two weeks before having new import and African brother Moussa Sow join them.

Unlike Yobo who will be on duty 24-7 for Fernerbahce following Eagles non qualification for the Nations Cup, Sow has already joined Teranga Lions ahead of the Nations Cup kick off Saturday in Gabon.

L’Equipe reports that Sow who before now maintained a super striking position for Lille emerging Ligue 1 top scorer last season with 25 goals has agreed to seal a deal with Fernerbahce but will get into action after the African showpiece.

The 25 year old scored 6 goals in 18 games this season and is now set to leave Stade Lille Metropole.

According to L’Equipe, Fenerbahce have agreed to pay •10 million for Sow, whereas Lille will also be entitled to 20% from his next sale.

Sow had one and a half years left on his contract at Lille, but decided to accept a bumper offer from the Turkish giants.

The Senegalese international will enjoy a four-and-a-half-year deal worth •3.2 million per season Lille have already found a replacement for Sow, having signed striker Nolan Roux from Brest.

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ARSENAL PRE-SEASON TOUR OF NIGERIA

NGLISH side Arsenal FC will host the Nigeria Local Organising Committee (LOC) at the Emirates Stadium this weekend.

A delegation led by Razaq BelloOsagie will finalise discussion with Arsenal and sign the tour’s contract alongside DanJan Sports limited.

This will formalise and officially ratify the club’s summer pre-season tour to Nigeria.

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EST BROMWICH Albion manager Roy Hodgson has no plans to sell Super Eagles striker Peter Odemwingie after revealing there was a ‘semi-jocular’ approach to sign the striker on loan.

Odemwingie was the Baggies’ top scorer last season during his debut campaign at The Hawthorns, but he has struggled to replicate the impact this time around.

Yobo, teammates await Sow

Jigawa snaps up Pillars’ star Chigozie N EWLY promoted Jigawa Golden Stars have signed defender Maurice Chigozie from neighbours Kano Pillars to underline their ambitions in the Nigerian top flight, officials said.

“We just signed Maurice Chigozie from Kano Pillars, he is an experienced, quality player who will add to the qualities we already have,” Jigawa team manager Dodo Isa told MTNFootball.com.

Chigozie is a sweeper who played a big role as Pillars won the 2008 NPL championship before going as far as the semi-finals of the CAF Champions League the following year.

Pillars long-serving skipper Bala Mohammed has also teamed up with

Hodgson: Osaze not for sale

It will be the English side’s first ever visit to Africa.

The club traditionally hosts an annual pre-season tournament at the Emirates Stadium, but they opted to postpone the event for a year because of the 2012 London Olympics.

As part of their preparation for the 2012/13 season, the club have opted to connect with their huge fan base in Africa, by visiting the continent.

The arrival of Shane Long from Reading has increased competition for places and the Nigeria international has also struggled with injuries at times.

However, the 30-year-old remains part of Hodgson’s plans for the rest of the season and says there is no pressure to cash in on the former Lokomotiv Moscow forward.

Hodgson said: “I’m not aware of any interest in Peter. We don’t need to sell him, we don’t want to sell him.

“We can’t stop clubs making offers.

One club rather cheekily early on (in the transfer window) said they’d like to loan him for a few months but I think that was a semi-jocular approach.”

Meanwhile, Hodgson insists he will not make any panic signings this month after West Brom saw a bid for defender Liam Ridgewell rejected by Birmingham City on Tuesday.

He said: “I’ve said all along that if the player isn’t there, then there is no desperation or panic on my side.

“You just don’t want to bring in extra bodies for the sake of it. I believe in my team and we have players who can get us home this season.”

FIFA WORLD RANKING

Nigeria drops th two places to 45 N

IGERIA has dropped two places in the latest FIFA World Ranking released yesterday, sliding from the 43rd spot to 45th on the log, as Spain remains atop as the best team in the world.

According to the information on the FIFA website, Nigeria now ranks 6 th in Africa as against the initial 5th position with Ivory Coast, Ghana, Egypt, Algeria and Senegal ahead.

Meanwhile, at the summit, world champions Spain continue to lead the way ahead of the Netherlands, Germany and Uruguay, who are still close together in the chasing pack.

As expected, there were very few changes to 2012’s first edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, as precious little football was played around the world. In fact, only 11 matches were taken into account, including six that were

• Nsofor

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HE Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has asked Super Eagles coaches, Stephen Keshi and Daniel Amokachi to ensure they return to the country from February 6 in order to continue preparation for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying first leg match against Rwanda in Kigali on February 29 after being cleared for the pundit job with Supersport.

Chairman Technical Sub committee of the board, Chris Green said it is also expected that the opportunity will serve as an advantage for the coaches as they will watch the 16 teams play at Africa’s most prestigious football event.

“Keshi and Amokachi will have the chance to watch the 16 teams at the Africa Cup of Nations and analyse them. They will also listen to other people analyse them. So we believe this will be an advantage to them as we may likely meet any of the 16 sides during the 2013 Nations Cup qualifiers.

“We expect them to return to their

duty posts from February 6 so that they can prepare the national team for the game against Rwanda, which is a priority now,” said Green.

The NFF has okayed the coaches to work as a TV pundits at the 2012 Nations Cup which kicks off on January 21 in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

Green told SuperSport.com that Amokachi and Keshi have got “the blessing” of the federation to work as TV pundits for SuperSport during the Afcon.

“Yes the NFF has okayed Stephen Keshi and Daniel Amokachi. They have the blessing of the federation to work as pundits,” confirmed Green.

The NFF Executive Committee member explained that the two coaches were cleared for the job after they convinced the federation on why they needed to work as pundits during the Africa Cup of Nations.

The pundit job had caused a furore in Nigeria following the Super Eagles’ failure to qualify for the Afcon for the first time in 25 years.

AFCON 2012

• Keshi

A

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EST HAM UNITED are reportedly considering a move for Blackburn striker Yakubu.

The Nigerian forward has netted 13 goals for Rovers this season including four against Swansea last month.

West Ham boss Sam Allardyce is searching for a striker to boost their promotion hopes and a move for the 29-year-old could be on the cards.

Nigeria or South Africa to win it,” said the 1991-1993 African Footballer of the Year who helped Marseille conquer Europe.

“Having said that, a trophy is a trophy.

If you are able to lift the Cup of Nations it means you have worked hard for it and you have sacrificed so much,” stressed the Accra-based businessman and football club owner.

Where Pele and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger differ is the effect the absence of record seven-time African champions Egypt and the other four countries will have.

“There are going to be a lot of surprises in this tournament because the teams who have qualified are not going to central Africa for a holiday,” said the father of Ghana’s squad midfielders Andre and Jordan Ayew.

“With the absence of some great countries, the small nations want to beat the big ones. Botswana and Niger will target the likes of Ivory Coast, Ghana and Senegal.”

ANGERS could offer VVV Venlo striker Michael Uchebo a trial according to reports.

The 21-year old Nigerian recently underwent a trial with Stoke City but the Potters decided not to make him offer and now he could be showing his wares at Murray Park.

‘Gers boss Ally McCoist is weighing up whether or not he should bring Uchebo in for a training run as the Glasgow giants continue to search for some strike reinforcements.

• Uchebo

Taiwo eager to prove worth AYE Taiwo is disappointed that he has so far been unable to prove himself worthy of the Milan jersey.

The 26-year-old moved to San Siro in the summer on a Bosman after his contract with French outfit Marseille expired.

However, the left-back has failed to break into the first team plans of boss Massimiliano Allegri. He’s played just four games in Serie A and four in the Champions League.

“He’s saddened that he hasn’t been able to demonstrate how much he is worth,” representative Fabio Parisi told Radio Sportiva.

“A lot of clubs wanted him and he chose Milan.”

The defender has been linked with a January exit given his lack of playing time and Genoa are the latest club paired with his signature.

“There has never been any kind of negotiation with Genoa,” Parisi continued. “Let’s see what solutions are possible.

“At the moment there is nothing concrete. Taye just wants to play.”

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AFCON 2012

Equatorial Guinea offered $1 million win bonus

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Nsofor praises Italian Doctors

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actually played in 2011.

Of the top 20 teams, only Chile have been in action recently, their 3-2 victory over Paraguay seeing them overtake Russia and move into 12th place on the global ladder.

Although there was not much movement this month, some teams did still climb into their highestever position on the FIFA/CocaCola World Ranking, namely Bosnia-Herzegovina (19th, up 1), Panama (47th, up 2), Estonia (52nd, up 5) and Belize (133rd, up 8).

Montenegro (50th, up 1) have also returned to the top 50.

• Okays participation

FRICAN football legend Abedi ‘Pele’ Ayew says the absence of Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa from the 2012 Cup of Nations saddens him.

Egypt won the last three tournaments in the biennial continental showpiece and the five countries boast 15 titles between them in a championship that has been staged 27 times since its 1957 debut in Khartoum.

All failed to make Gabon and Equatorial Guinea for the January 21-February 12 tournament after a shock-riddled qualifying competiton that ended with ‘no-hopers’ Botswana and Niger making the finals for the first time.

“It is sad, really sad,” said former Ghana midfielder Pele said with a sigh as he reflected on the missing giants, “because these are big-name football countries who bring excitement to the game throughout Africa.”

“If you defeat Mauritania to win the Cup of Nations it will not be the same as defeating Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt,

Yakubu linked with West Ham switch

of our club doctor. Must do everything gradually. No need to hurry. If you hurry, maybe worse,’’ Obinna said.

The Locomotiv Moscow forward, who joined the rest of the squad at a training camp in Portugal on Tuesday, spent a part of his rehabilitation in Nigeria. ‘’I went back to Abuja. Saw family mother, father, brothers and sisters. In Nigeria was unrest. Events moved rapidly, and soon I had to leave immediately. Two days before the general strike, I left the country, as predicted, then the problems started.

Otherwise I would be stuck there for long. This is all sad.’’ Obinna concluded.

By Innocent Amomoh

Rangers trial for Uchebo

NFF wants Keshi, Amokachi back Feb 6 R

Abedi Pele laments missing Nigeria, others

INJURY SCARE IGERIAN international Victor Obinna Nsofor has spoken on his recent treatment, and the recent events in his homeland to Russian daily SportExpress.

“In Rome there was no time for anything. Was kept in the clinic,Villa Stuart. But never mind. My task was to deal with health, not tourism.

However, I am not very sorry about this, because when I played in Italy, this great city, have traveled far and wide. ‘’Doctors at the clinic are very good. I hope everything will be fine.

I exercise with a physiotherapist individually and under supervision

• Now 6th in Africa • As Spain stays atop

PUNDIT JOB

• Yobo

QUATORIAL Guinea will share a $1 million win bonus and earn $20,000 per goal against Libya when the co-host makes its debut at the African Cup of Nations on Saturday.

The cash has been put up by Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the son of the country’s president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasolo, who has controlled the oil-rich nation since 1979, team liaison officer David Mosiwy told the Associated Press on Wednesday.

“This is a personal gesture—there is no official standing to the prize,” Mosiwy said. “The news has given the players an injection of enthusiasm and morale. It shows the popular support everybody has for the team.”

Equatorial Guinea, which qualified as co-host of the tournament with west African neighbor Gabon, has never appeared at the African Cup before.

The country has enjoyed a 10-year construction boom fueled by oil and gas reserves but has attracted criticism for the alleged lingering inequality between rich and poor, a flawed

democratic record under President Obiang, and a perceived lack of human rights.

Equatorial Guinea has an unemployment rate of around 22 percent, according to U.S. intelligence estimates, while UNICEF lists life expectancy at just 51.

Mosiwy said it was unclear whether similar jackpots will be on offer for the team’s other Group A matches against Senegal next Wednesday and Zambia four days later.

Ranked No. 151 behind Yemen and Samoa, Equatorial Guinea has a squad of largely unheralded players led by Rodolfo Bodipo, a striker who plays in the Spanish second-tier with Deportivo La Coruna.

The team, known as the Nzalang Nacional, suffered a blow to its preparations when experienced French coach Henri Michel resigned just weeks ago. Michel was replaced

by Brazilian coach Gilson Paulo, who has had little time to impact his tactics.

WHEELCHAIR BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

WBFN sets Friday as deadline for registration

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HE wheelchair Basketball Federation of Nigeria has set Friday 20/01/2012 as deadline for registration of states participating at the forthcoming maiden edition of the Victor Ochei Wheelchair Basketball Championship.

The championship which is been sponsored by the Honourable Speaker, Delta State House of Assembly, Victor Ochei will hold as

from 18th-25th February, 2012 at the Indoor Sports Hall of the Delta State Stadium, Asaba.

According to the Wheelchair Basketball Federation of Nigeria Secretary General, Hajia Wasilat Aliyu Abass, the decision to set the Friday deadline was to ensure that all documents related to the championship are on ground at the federation secretariat for adequate preparation ahead of the games.

25

THE NATION

EDUCATION

THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

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

email:- education@thenationonlineng.com

Primary and secondary schools have finally resumed for the second term of the 2011/2012 session, following the suspension of the strike by Labour. KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE, MEDINAT KANABE, JANE CHIJIOKE and PASCAL OKEZU report on the effect of the strike on resumption.

•Children protesting in Agege, Lagos

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PHOTO: OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL

Strike ends, but schools not yet in full swing

HEY travelled the same road last year. As schools were about to resume, it was time for registration for the general elections. To ensure a hitchfree exercise, the resumption was extended by three weeks. There was uproar over the extension.

This year, it was a strike that forced many schools to shift their resumption. With the exception of Federal Government Colleges and military schools, others were on forced holiday between January 9 and 16 during the fuel subsidy removal strike. For the shut schools, their decision was informed by safety of the pupils.

Even in schools with boarding houses, lessons could not begin fully because day students and some teaching and non-teaching staff who live off the premises could not get to school.

King’s College Principal Otunba Dele Olapeju said the school focused on extracurricular activities during the period to engage the boys.

“We are still in school but we are just doing extra-curricular activities. We have to keep the boys busy. We gather the boys in larger classes. I just finished teaching them how to debate,” he said.

But for the majority of children who stayed

at home, the extra one week was spent playing or helping with chores – with little time devoted to their studies.

For many of them, it was also time to participate in the strike. Last Thursday, scores of school-aged children trailed adults protesting in Funmilayo/Agbotikuyo areas of Agege, Lagos.

Those interviewed in parts of Lagos had picked up information about the subsidy crisis from their parents, peers and the media.

When The Nation visited pupils in schools

on Tuesday, there was a high attendance on the first day of resumption after the strike.

The reason for the large turnout was explained by Paul Uchenna, an SS3 pupil of Holy Infant College, Okokomaiko.

“We are happy that they have suspended the strike because, to tell you the truth, staying at home has been boring, and we have not been able to start preparations for our WAEC exams. So, I am very happy that the strike has been suspended,” he said.

Another pupil, Albert Utite said he has had enough of the strike.

‘Some pupils who travelled for the holidays are having difficulties coming back. Some of our parents have called to tell us that the fare is too high and they cannot afford it.

A parent called me and said she was still in the village because the fare has increased to N8,000 when she budgeted N4,000’

He said: “The strike is enough.

Government has tried in bringing down the price of petrol to N97 per litre, so I feel it was the right thing to suspend the strike off.

There are some people that ran out of money last week, and if the strike had continued this week I wonder what would have happened.”

With the resumption, parents have marginally increased the pocket money given their children to enable them meet increased transportation costs and buy snacks which have also recorded price hike.

George Dudu, a JSS 2 pupil of Summer Rain Secondary School, Isolo, said: “My parents have increased my money from N100 to N120”, while his school mate, Ogunmola Sunday said he now takes N150 to school up from N100.

“I felt bad when petrol price moved from N65 to N141 per litre and when everybody started protesting, I became scared. I want the price to go back to N65 and not N97. I was busy during the strike watching news, reading and playing. My parents increased my money from N100 to N150,” he said.

Ironically, though Patrick Osifo, SS3 pupil of White Field High School, Mazamaza, •Continued on Page 26

•18 YEARS AFTER, VARSITY SEEKS TAKE-OFF GRANT - Page 28 •UNILAG INTRODUCES DEGREE IN TERRORISM - Page 37

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

26

EDUCATION

Students' groups seek end to strikes

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IX weeks ago, students from all government-owned universities woke up to face the strike declared by their lecturers under the aegis of the Academic Staff Unions of Universities (ASUU) over the non-implementation of the agreement signed with the Federal Government in 2009.

There were fears the strike could last up to three months. However, most students thought the stakeholders would not allow them to stay at home that long.

Those who were not prepared for semester examinations in some institutions saw the strike as a blessing in disguise as they would be better prepared when the strike is called off.

As 2011 ended, many students were optimistic that they would resume after the New Year’s celebration but, again, they were disappointed as the fuel subsidy removal by President Goodluck Jonathan on January 1 plunged the nation including ASUU into another bout of strike.

The recent development confirmed the fears of some students that the government may not attend to ASUU as there are other pressing matters to consider.

With this, many of them are agitated and have called on stakeholders in the education sector not to sacrifice the future of the youth on the table of politics.

When The Nation visited the University of Jos, the three campuses were deserted but some students who stay off campus had returned after the Christmas and New Year’s celebrations. They claimed boredom at home and the need to be around the school environment with their friends drove them back to school.

Also speaking, Lola Ogunlusi, a 300-Level Accounting student, said: "I came back to Jos on January 3, because it was very boring just sitting at home. I did not think this subsidy thing would turn out this way. But, I just had to get busy, reading my books when I could and visiting colleagues who are around just to keep me occupied".

Lola as well as Bola Odulami, another student of Medicine, appealed

From Marie-Therese Peter, Jos

to government not to relegate the ASUU issue to the background so they could resume classes.

Students under the aegis of the National Association of Nigerian University Students (NANUS) are also appealing to their lecturers to consider their future and call off the strike, saying it is having ''deepening negative implications on students in particular and the Nigeria's educational system in general.”

In a statement signed by NANUS President, Comrade John Ofia, the students regretted that the strike has been allowed to linger unnecessarily with its attendant negative consequences, especially on the students' future.

The statement reads: ''The academic calendar has been disrupted, the stipulated period for students graduation is now a mockery while many students have taken to vices all because of the strike. This is very unfortunate. ''Since the strike started on December 4, 2011, the students have been at the receiving end and no one seems to be doing anything concerning the situation".

They urged the Federal Government and ASUU to do everything possible to resolve all contending issues regarding the industrial action.

Commenting on the strike by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) over fuel subsidy removal and its impact on the ASUU strike, the National Secretary, National Association of Nigerians Students (NANS), Patience Dalyop, said while strikes by the unions against government policies are an integral part of democracy, adequate dialogue and negotiations could strengthen democratic institutions better.

She argued that prolonged strikes cripple the economy and bring more hardship on the citizens.

However, she faulted the President's advisers, saying: "If the Federal Government had consulted properly and dialogued with the relevant stakeholders, we would not have witnessed the wanton destruction of lives and properties in the country in the past few days."

• A cross section of Female Muslim Students at the rally

Why we joined protest,

by MSSN leader

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HE leadership of Muslim Students' Society of Nigeria (MSSN), Lagos State Area Unit, an organisation that represents Muslim pupils and students in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions, has spoken on the reason its students came out in their thousands to join the protest against the removal of fuel subsidy.

In a chat with The Nation, MSSN President Qasim Badrudeen said the society considered the negative impact of the policy on the majority of Nigerians, especially the students, whose parents, he said, are already overburdened by other economic challenges, including the increase in tuition fees by the management of the Lagos State University (LASU).

Besides, the society said the untold hardships caused by the removal since January 1 has gone beyond what the Nigerian students can endure further.

The students' leader urged President Goodluck Jonathan to

By Tajudeen Adebanjo

go after the cabal collecting the socalled subsidy without commensurate effect on the masses.

The cabal, according to Badrudeen, is known to the government. What the government needs to do is to summon the political will and courage to bring them to justice rather than punish the masses.

Badrudeen also urged Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola to reverse the increased school fees of Lagos State University (LASU).

An over 700 per cent increment, he said, is not only ridiculous but inhuman.

"By his action, Fashola has effectively taken tertiary education beyond the poor in Lagos State. How will parents earning N18,000 minimum wage be able to send their wards to LASU? We agree that the government needs to improve the quality of education and infrastructure in the school but that should not be borne by the students.

• Badrudeen

LASU is an enduring legacy of the former Governor, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, which thousands of Lagosians and non-Lagosians alike have been enjoying. So, Fashola too should fear Allah on this issue! He will give account before Allah for every prospective student that could not attend LASU because of the exorbitant fees!"

He prayed Allah to give "our leaders the merciful heart to deal with us with mercy and the fear of Allah."

Strike ends, but schools not yet in full swing •Continued from page 25 Lagos, finds it more difficult getting money out of his parents, he, still supported the subsidy removal.

He said: “I feel what our president did was the right thing for a better tomorrow. We just have to suffer for a while, so that we can enjoy a better tomorrow.”

He added: “When you look at the protest, it is no longer about subsidy, it is now political. If you look at the leaders of the protests, they are people that lost elections, and also it is the west that is taking it very serious, thereby giving it a ethnic coloration.

“Also, the governors, who agreed to the removal of subsidy, before it was removed, are now keeping quiet, leaving Jonathan to suffer for it. I don’t see any reason for the protests. I feel the government is doing the right thing in removing the subsidy. But another mistake they made, is not explaining to the people well before removing the subsidy.

“Since I have been at home. I have been doing nothing, if I ask my mum for money she is always complaining that there is no money.

All I do is to watch news with my dad, because I cannot go out because of the riots.”

Despite the high turn out of pupils at school on Tuesday, not all have

resumed for various reasons ranging from finances to fear of insecurity.

A school owner, Mrs Fatoye Oluwakemi, Proprietress, Yemtok Private School, Mafoluku, Oshodi, Lagos, said she received calls from parents whose children could not make it to school.

She said: “I am not happy at all; the subsidy issue has made the economy hard for us. Even some schools have increased their fees; they texted it to parents. Well, as they called off the strike I am ok with it because schools have to resume.

However, some pupils who travelled for the holidays are having difficulties coming back. Some of our parents have called to tell us that the transport fare is too high and they cannot afford it. A parent called me and said she was still in the village because the fare has increased to N8,000 when she budgeted N4,000.

You can imagine such frustration.

Even the classes are empty, pupils have not resumed fully. We are hoping that by next week. We should have a greater population.

The reduction of the price to N97 is still not acceptable. I want it to revert to the previous price of N65.”

Though happy to be back at work, a teacher in the school, Jane Adenike, said the effect of the subsidy removal is too much to bear.

“Well, I’m happy as they suspended the strike because it was hectic on me. I just want the government to know that I am not in support of the new price. The effect on us the masses is just too much to bear,” she said.

Her colleague, Raymond Chinedu, has accepted the increase in good faith.

“I am very happy about the suspension of strike. I am tired of staying at home jobless and withou money. Though N97 is not preferable, what can we do?

Nigerians are used to suffering so we should just cope with it,” he said.

Some pupils are yet to resume because some parents hold the opinion that the streets are not yet safe for children. Some children were seen at home, because their parents did not allow them to go to school, citing the uneasy calm in the country, especially Lagos, where soldiers are on the streets.

Mr Silas Ifeanyi, a civil servant, said: “Why are there soldiers on the road if everything is well?

Also, there is the possibility of other groups apart from the NLC, organising their own protests, and who knows how violent it will be.

So, in order to avoid the children being caught up in such things, it is better for them to stay at home.

Let’s watch what happens today.”

This opinion is also shared by Mrs Opemipo Bamidele, who said: “There are still some things to be sorted out, before people will feel that the streets are safe.

Even though we are all happy

with the suspension of the strike, it is still important that government finds a way to check the excesses of some of people so that they don’t sponsor touts to cause violence.”

“So he went abroad to study but became a fraudster? ... no wonder he says he returned with the golden fleece!”

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

27

EDUCATION IBBUL FILE

Don speaks on development

• Chief Afe Babalola, Founder Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), fourth from right, with facilitators and participants, after a two-day workshop on Improved Teaching Methods in Nigerian Universities organised by ABUAD.

UNILAG postpones convocation indefinitely

T

HE University of Lagos (UNILAG) has postponed the 2010/2011 convocation till further notice.

A source from the Information Unit said a new date would be announced later. Though the source did not give reasons for the postponement, it may not be unconnected with the position of the UNILAG chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which dissociated itself from the ceremonies and directed deans not to take part because of the ongoing strike by the union.

Its Vice-Chancellor, Prof Adetokunbo Sofoluwe, addressed a briefing on Tuesday last week

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

at the Senate Chambers, saying the university was not in a position to change the convocation dates, despite the national ASUU strike and the one by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) over the fuel subsidy removal which was called off on Monday.

Last Thursday, when the NLC strike was at its height, the convocation lecture scheduled to be delivered by Prof Femi Bamiro, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, at the main auditorium, did not hold. It is not clear whether the lecture, which was to be chaired by the Oba of

Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu I, was cancelled because of the NLC strike or the threat by ASUU. Had the convocation progressed as planned, 8,159 graduates would have received their degrees, diplomas and certificates at the Multipurpose Hall of the university yesterday and today. Of the number, 4,375 would have received first degrees while 3,784 would receive postgraduate degrees.

In an advertorial entitled: Postponement of 2010/2011 convocation ceremonies, published on Tuesday in The Nation, the Registrar of the university, Mr Oluwarotimi Shodimu, Esq an-

nounced: "The university community, the general public, parents, guardian and in particular, the graduating students of the university are hereby informed that the 2010/2011 convocation ceremonies earlier scheduled for Wednesday, January 18 and Thursday, January 19, 2012 have been postponed. New dates will be announced in due course. The university regrets any inconveniences occasioned."

During last week's briefing, the Vice-Chancellor said Faculty of Engineering produced the highest number out of the 122 first class graduates this year.

'Students will continue to seek admissions into private varsities' HE Vice Chancellor of the Oduduwa University, Ipetumodu, Osun State, Prof Adeleke Ogunwale, has said the enrolment into private universities will continue to soar, irrespective of their tuition fees.

He said since it was impossible for public universities to admit all eligible candidates, the next option for many would be to seek admissions into private universities.

Ogunwale said most candidates, who score above the required 200 marks often find it difficult to get a place in government varsities.

"Students who have satisfied 180 marks can consider any private university of their choice. Those who score 200 above out of 400 cannot get into federal and state universities because of the high subscription that the federal and state universities enjoy, so the next op-

T

By Gbenga Aderanti

tion is private universities," he said.

Realising that with the situation, some indigent students could be denied opportunity of getting university education, the President of Oduduwa University, Chief Ramon Adedoyin, instituted various scholarship schemes for them.

Speaking on the efforts by the university to make its products selfreliant, Ogunwale explained that aside the students graduating with degrees, they also acquire vocational skills.

He said: "We have established a

centre of entrepreneurial studies.

The centre is equipped to take care of various vocations. Apart from theories, we also send them to artisans in town to learn from them."

While admitting that getting good lecturers into private universities have been difficult, he said the President decided to pay 10 per cent more than what is being paid in the government universities to attract best teachers to the school.

However, like many other institutions, he said the university grapples with the problem of inad-

• Prof. Ogunwale

equate power supply from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), which it addresses with the constant use of generators.

Oyo College resumes THE Oyo State College of Agriculture, Igboora has announced the resumption of newly admitted students for 2011/2012 academic session.

Successful candidates who have been screened for admission are to begin registration with the payment of a nonrefundable fee of N15,000 in Bank draft made payable to the Oyo State College of Agriculture, Igboora not later than January 27.

Academic activities will begin on January 30.

UNIVERSITIES all the over the world have been charged to brace up to their responsibility of charting viable courses for sustainable development of their societies.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba Ghana, Prof A. Asabere-Ameyaw, gave the charge while presenting a keynote address at an International Conference on Issues and challenges in university education in the age of globalisation, organised by the Faculty of Education and Arts, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai (IBBUL).

Ameyaw, who was represented

by Dr Anthony Affor, the Dean, Faculty of Educational Studies, University of Education, Winneba said since universities have the highest intellectual reserves in their countries, which supply the ever-growing knowledge and trained manpower, they should be at the fore-front of deciding the future of societies.

Speaking on the occasion, the Special Guest of Honour, Governor Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu, represented by the Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, Dr Mustapha Ibrahim Lemu, underscored the role of education sector as the critical cradle for the realisation of the development vision of Niger State.

Council partners varsity THE IBBUL Vice-Chancellor, Prof Ibrahim Adamu Kolo, has expressed the willingness to collaborate with Lapai Local Government Area in the development of the area.

He made this known while receiving the Chairman of the Council, Alhaji Isah Saidu, who visited him at the Senate/Council Chamber.

Kolo enjoined the council to take the lead in initiating a legacy project at the university so that the vision of becoming one of the best citadels of learning world over is realised in no distant time.

He also appealed to other stakeholders in Lapai community to help make the area conducive for both workers and students.

Earlier, Saidu, who was represented by the Council Secretary, Alhaji Abubakar Adamu Evuti, spoke of plans to collaborate with the university on the development of a strategic document that would guide the new executives towards discharging their statutory responsibilities effectively.

He added that the council plans to use the working document of the university on agro-allied sector development to boost rural agriculture in the local government.

Prelim school relocates

• Some PhD graduands filing for a handshake with the Vice-Chancellor Abia State University Uturu Prof Chibuzor Ogbuagu during their convocation

THE School of Preliminary Studies, Agaie, IBBUL, has relocated to its permanent site on Lapai-Agaie-Bida road.

Speaking on the move, the Acting Director, Mall Aliyu Bello Mohammed said all the necessary requirements to kick-start the session are being put in place for a smooth academic atmosphere.

He urged students who have been offered admission and completed their registration to report for lectures at the permanent site.

28

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

EDUCATION BRIEFS

EKSU library for expansion THE Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ado-Ekiti Central Library is to be expanded and equipped with the stateof-the-art facilities, says its Vice-Chancellor, Prof Oladipo Aina.

He made the pledge when he visited the Library where he was received by the University Librarian, Mr Olubunmi Ogunleye.

Ogunleye said the library has remained a force in helping the university secure accreditation for several programmes.

"The University Library has a 60-seater electronic Library donated by TETFUND (formerly ETF). It uses the SLAM Software for its OPAC System," Ogunleye said. The Vice-Chancellor commended the Librarian and told him to explore areas to improve the university's internally generated revenue through the Bindery section.

18 years after, Varsity seeks release of take-off grant T

HE Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike (MOUAU) has called on the Federal Government to release the take-off grant approved for the institution 18 years ago for its development.

The Vice-chancellor, Prof Hilary Edeoga, made the call when he led a delegation to the Chancellor, Ochivrigh Alfred Akawe Torkula, Tor Tiv IV, at his palace in Gboko, Benue State.

From Ugochukwu Eke, Umuahia

In a statement signed by the Public Relations Officer, Mrs Onyinye RalphNwachukwu, Edeoga appealed to the Chancellor to remind the Federal Government of the unpaid grant and the fact that MOUAU remains the least-funded specialised federal univer-

sity in the country.

He lamented that the dearth of funds has affected infrastructure development.

He assured the Chancellor that the management would continue to make workers and students' welfare the priority of his administration.

In his response, the

Don advocates specialised varsities

C

UNILORIN steers EU-Africa Project THE University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) has been appointed a member of the Steering Committee for the Tuning Pilot Project for Africa. It is one of three successful universities on the committee.

According to a letter addressed to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Is-haq Oloyede, by the Co-ordinator of Tuning Africa Project and Vice Rector of International Relations, University of Deusto, Bilbao, Dra. Julia Ma Gonzalez, the project will be a significant contribution towards the goals of the African Strategy for Harmonisation in Higher Education.

"You may wish to know that we had a large number of high quality applications.

The specialist reviewers and the steering committee spent two full days reviewing the applications with the advice from the Association of African Universities and Directors of Regional Associations. As you will understand, this was not an easy process and it is more noteworthy that your University has been successful. I am sure that you wish to share and communicate your success with your colleagues throughout the University and the wider community," the letter stated.

The representative of the University on the Project and Dean of Agriculture, Prof Olubunmi Abayomi, will be attending the meetings of the Committee. The first of the meeting holds between January 23 and 25 in Cameroun while the second one will hold between May 23 and 25 in Cape Town, South Africa.

Torkula commended Edeoga, who is the fourth Vice-Chancellor of the university, for making the institution very conducive for learning and research through his staff and students'friendly policies.

He described Edeoga's emergence as the chief executive of the university as

• Students being inducted into leading UK universities by Leadmode Resource Centre, Lagos

Rector tasks lecturers, students on hard work

T

HE Rector, Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Prof Godwin Onu, has tasked both the lecturers and students of the Institution on hard work, insisting that there is no short cut to success.

Onu, in his New Year’s message, advised the workers and students of the polytechnic to face their jobs and stop cutting corners.

According to him, "when you work hard, it pays.

People should work hard.

You may not be the best of the lot but you should be able to defend whatever you are certified with".

He called for the entrenchment "of those old days when people cherish hard work, scholarship and dedication to duty" and pointed out that without such virtues no nation can move forward.

The Rector also noted that without such virtues, students who graduate from such environment automatically become mediocre who inflict vices on the society.

Onu advised the students to shun giving bribes to workers and focus on their stud-

From Adimike George, Onitsha

ies. "Make excellence and hard work your bench mark,” he said.

Addressing members of staff, the Rector warned them to desist from corruption.

"We have zero tolerance for corruption. We have been very hard on people who get involved in extortion, harassment, sales of unauthorised materials, forcing students to buy books for profits. Some people were expelled because of it.

"My advice is that the staff should do their jobs and stop cutting corners. We are not here to sack anybody. We are here to provide enabling environment both for learning and teaching. The non-teaching staff should do their jobs

‘ We have zero tolerance for corruption. We have been very hard on people who get involved in extortion, harassment, sales of unauthorised materials, forcing students to buy books for profits.

Some people were expelled because of it’

well and on time and avoid situations where they extort money from students before attending to them. If we discover it, the full weight of law must take its course".

Assessing the past year, the Rector said though eventful, it was challenging, especially in terms of infrastructural development because of paucity of funds.

He recalled that some of the recipients of the polytechnic's Fellowship Awards made some promises of building infrastructure including Polytechnic Tower and ICT centres, adding that work would start by February in that regard.

The Rector projected more infrastructure developments for this year to accommodate increased student population. He said contracts have been awarded for the Science Laboratory Technology and Mass Communication storey buildings.

The Rector disclosed that efforts were in top gear by the Anambra State government to construct the road to the extension site of the institution.

Also, a new addition this year is the biometric identification scheme, which will make for easy identification of students and workers, just as he announced that there was no school fees increment this year.

On security, he noted that the internal security network of the institution has been re-organised to ensure maximal output, and is capable of addressing security challenges of the past.

ordained and pledged to present to the appropriate aut h o r i t i e s a l l t h e challenges facing the agriculture university.

The monarch called on the Federal Government to adequately fund the university to enable it to attain a s u s t a i n a b l e o p t i mal performance in academics, research and infrastructure development.

ONTRARY to the announcement by the Education Minister, Prof Ruqayyat Ahmed Rufa'i, that specialised institutions should begin offering mainstream courses, a renowned educationist and retired professor of education, Timothy Adedeji Awoniyi, on Monday advocated for the decentralisation of the big universities for effective running of the system.

Awoniyi said it has become necessary to do so and allow universities to have areas of specialisation.

Awoniyi said this while reacting to the strike by Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which entered its 47th day today, at an interactive session with reporters ahead of the presentation of his latest book, entitled "Were it not for God", slated for Saturday at the Trenchard Hall, University of Ibadan.

The first Nigerian Professor of Mother Tongue and Early Child Education said balkanising the big universities into smaller ones with each saddled with particular area of specialisation would allow for proper monitoring.

He faulted the current education system of 6-3-34, which he said he opposed at inception but could not

From Bisi Oladele and Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

stop. He said every child should be made to complete the secondary education and instead of 6-3-3-4, it would have been 6-6-4, saying, "No parent would want his or her child to drop after the first three years of secondary education and that is what we are experiencing now."

On the book being published to mark his 56 years in teaching, Awoniyi said he was inspired to write the book to thank God for His benevolence upon his life and to further make contribution to the life of the younger ones through his experience as a teacher.

"Many Nigerians are pretenders. They keep a lot of secrets. They live fake lives.

The moment they get to Abuja or any of the big cities, they tend to forget their roots and don't want people to know their background.

This is not so in advanced countries and that accounts for their development and advancement. I am not going to pretend. The book is an exposition of my journey through life to appreciate God and to let the people know everything about my background and pick a few things for their own use,” he said.

Lead City graduates 3,705 in four years

T

HE Lead City University, produced a total of 3,705 graduates in four years.

The Director of Public Communication of the institution, Dr Ayobami Owolabi, disclosed this in a chat with The Nation in Ibadan on Monday.

Owolabi said during its last convocation in December, 985 graduates joined the existing 2,720 earlier produced in the three previous years.

The spokesman of the university further disclosed that its products dubbed: Enterprise graduates, have been contributing to the country's economy in various sectors where they are engaged by employers including the government at the three levels.

Owolabi noted that integration of entrepreneurial studies in the curricula puts products of the institution in a better position to try

From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

self-employment.

The institution offers courses in four faculties: Social Science and Entrepreneurial Studies, Arts and Education, Information Technology and Applied Science and Law. It also runs post-graduate programmes in some departments.

Owolabi said the institution would continue to improve on the quality of service delivery of the institution in all areas of studies as well as bridge the gap between the town and gown continually.

He added that private universities have helped both government and citizens by offering admission places to more applicants, jobs to teaching and nonteaching staff as well as stimulating the economy of host towns and cities.

29

Day UNILORIN went on strike

Convocation with a difference

Page 34

Page 31

*CAMPUSES *NEWS *PEOPLE *KUDOS& KNOCKS *GRANTS

THE NATION

CAMPUS LIFE 0805-450-3104 email: ladycampus@yahoo.com THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

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

email:- campuslife@thenationonlineng.net

Students didn’t take the back seat in the strike championed by Labour and civil society groups over the petrol subsidy removal. WALE AJETUNMOBI and DAYO IBITOYE (recently graduated from Chemical Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria) highlight students’ role in the strike.

•Students under the banner of NANS during the protest at Ojota, Lagos.

Why we joined subsidy strike, by students

I

T was a week with a difference. The nation was paralysed by the fuel subsidy removal strike.

Everything was affected, and everybody felt the pinch of the strike. Students were not left out. They joined organised labour and the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the nationwide protests. The precursor of the strike was the January 1 removal of fuel susbsidy, which led to a jump in the pump price of petrol from N65 to N141 per litre.

In some stations, the price was as high as N200 and N250 per litre.

Before the now suspended strike began on January 9, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) had rejected the subsidy removal, describing it as antipeople.

A statement by its president, Dauda

Mohammed, said it was shocked by the announcement because the government “pledged to us that it will continue consultation till sometime around April, 2012. But, we were surprised to see the government announcing the subsidy removal on January 1, 2012 to the shock of Nigerians.”

Dauda also accused the Special Adviser on Political Affairs to the President, Mr Ahmed Gulak, of planting a mole in the union with the intention to divide it.

“Gulak has been mounting immense pressure on our association to endorse the subsidy removal. The climax of this was his invitation to the second runner-up in the last NANS election, Adakole Ochai, to impersonate the position of the NANS president in order to endorse the subsidy removal,” Dauda alleged.

The National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS) also condemned the increase in the price of petrol. The body, through its national president, Oluwole Fawale, a student of the Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Niger State, said: “The students of polytechnics, monotechnics and colleges of technology seek an end to this anti-people policy and advise the government to think outside the box in alleviating the pains of the masses rather than compounding it. We are against deregulation of the downstream sector.”

Students in Lagos State joined the mass rally that began from the Labour House at Yaba. They were chanting solidarity songs with the labour leaders and carrying banners that read:“Jonathan must go”, “Punish the cabal and not Nigerians”, “We want to

know the cabal”, “We will support deregulation when refineries work” and so on.

A Lagos State University (LASU) student, Ojo Ayoade, who was among the protesters, said: “We must reject this policy. I don’t think I will be okay with N141 per litre of petrol because my parents’ income is not more than N50,000. If they must continue to pay for my school fee, then it means they must step the income up to about N150,000 because even with N65 per litre of petrol, they strive to feed me and my siblings daily.”

However, Shekinna Emma-Adamah, 400Level Chemical Engineering student of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria Kaduna State, said: “The policy is a good one from Jonathan. At least it has been •Continued on page 31

•Students’ plan to protest foiled • Union gets new leadership-Pg 32

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

30

CAMPUS LIFE

I

Now, to the Pushing other strike Out

N SPITE of protestations and wails of betrayal by many of the civil society groups that supported the organised labour in the six-day strike that bled the nation in more ways than we can ever truly calculate, the shut down has ended. With a deft sleight of hand that has more shocked than terrified his critics, President Goodluck Jonathan deployed soldiers to the streets of Lagos to snuff out the last vestiges of opposition to his N32 increase in the pump price of petrol.

Yes, we should not be tricked into believing there was a reduction. On December 31, we paid N65; on January 17, we are paying N97. This was after sending us to what the Catholics call purgatory. Make no mistake about this: we are still there.

Today, however, I want to dwell on what I have called the “other strike”. I am talking about that embarked upon by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) since December 5, 2011. In two weeks if nothing is done, we’d be looking at two months on. This is very sad and utterly inexcusable. Our students in most public universities have been at home and they have no idea when they are going back; ditto for their parents.

I decided to bring to the attention of readers once more the main grouse of ASUU. What really are those issues that the Federal Government (FG) is loath to implement, even after it had committed (signed) to them?

The first major document the union can lay hold on is the one it signed with the FG in 2001. This was under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration. That agreement is aimed at resuscitating the university system in Nigeria. it even provided that there shall be a renegotiation of the Agreement every three years in order to assess the impact of the intervention

and eighteen billion, three hundred and thirty one million, five hundred and forty five thousand three hundred and four Naira) would be required within the next three years by all federal universities jointly for both recurrent and capital grants as distributed below. The first year, 2009, would with need (N472,031,575,919); for 2010, N497,531,778,701 was earmarked and for 2011, the sum was N548,768,190,681.

08054503104 This money would come from government and other means. Govern(SMS only) ment would send in its lion share by •campuslife@thenationonlineng.net implementing the UNESCO mini•ladycampus@yahoo.com mum allocation of 26 percent of the annual budget of developing nations on the sector, review the implementation strat- to education.

Though a comprehensive review of the egy, and to update the document to make it even more relevant towards achieving the agreement is due for this June, the following original goals. Sadly, most of those goals were are still outstanding: Funding requirements for revitalising the not achieved.

Even at that, the 2001 agreement was due for university system, transfer of FGN landed review by 2004. However the renegotiation did property (within the campuses) to universinot start until 2007 and was dragged up to 2009 ties, FG’s assistance to state governments for before another agreement was reached. This was university and higher education as allowed mainly due to what ASUU leadership calls by section 164 (1) of the 1999 Constitution, payment of earned allowances, amendment “government’s dilly-dallying and reticence”.

It finally took five years to get to the sign- of the retirement age for academics on the ing of the 2009 agreement. Two years on, the professorial cadre from 65 to 70 years and government is yet to work out the modali- review of NUC, JAMB and education national minimum standard laws. ties and commence implementation.

Meanwhile, last September, ASUU called a Objectives of the agreement include: to arrest the rot and reverse the decay in the university one-week “warning strike”. This prompted system in order to reposition it for greater government to meet with it where a Memoresponsibilities in national development; to randum of Understanding (MoU) was signed reverse the brain-drain, not only by enhanc- by both parties on September 22. The FG also ing the remuneration of academic staff, but asked for two months’ grace to do something. also by disengaging them from the encum- That time also frittered away until ASUU brances of a unified civil service wage struc- called the ongoing strike.

Answering questions when she was sumture; to restore universities through immediate, massive and sustained financial interven- moned by the National Assembly on the reation; and to ensure genuine university au- son for government’s inability to keep to its side of the bargain, Education Minister, Prof tonomy and academic freedom.

To meet the funding provisions, the parties Ruqquyat Ahmed Rufai, among other excuses, took serious cognizance of current realities for said government was hampered by the lack global competitiveness and agreed that of legislation to implement some of the terms N1,518,331.545,304 (One trillion, five hundred of agreement.

Ngozi Agbo

‘Don’t change who you are’ She is popularly known on the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife campus, as ‘Pistis’. Faith Tinehin-James, who recently graduated from the Department of Economics Education, has carved a niche for herself in gospel music. ADEBAYO CALEB (300-Level Law) met her.

W

HAT brought about the name Pistis?

After I began my music career, I started looking for a stage name. I wanted something unique.

I had many options. But one day, I saw the name Pistis, and someone told me that it is the Greek word for my first name, Faith. so, I adopted it.

When did you begin your music career?

It was some five years ago after I gained admission in Obafemi Awolowo University. I started as a chorister.

What is the genre of your music?

I prefer slow music. However, I believe that with more experience in the music industry, I will adjust to various styles.

Any plans for your music career?

Yes. I am working on a project. I also want to be able to record some songs in the studio early this year, so as to get my songs to the public.

Who are your role models?

Darlene Zsech, CeCe Winans, Yolanda Adams. I love their styles, especially their lyrics. Also, I have fallen in love with Lara George’s music and Asa because of their style.

How do you intend to pursue your music career?

I am still praying for direction.

Right now, I am searching for reality shows or talent hunt programmes that are supportive of gospel music. For the time being, I will keep serving in church.

How were you able to combine music and academics?

Considering that music is some-

When one thinks of the fact that the same government went ahead to announce a hike in pump price of petrol without proper legislation to back it, one comes out with the conclusion that this government applies selective implementation and that solely based on what it considers of immediate benefit to it. It is not just galling but sums up the root of the Nigerian malaise: government does not consider education of such “immediate benefit”.

On Tuesday morning, after the national strike had been called off, I received a text message from an unidentified undergraduate.

It went: “Aunty good morning. Sorry for the disturbance. Please I want to know if now that Labour has called off the strike, has our own (ASUU) been called off too? I ask because I am confused and tired of staying at home”.

This might seem a “normal” text in such situations but something in the simple truth it captures struck at something in me. Why should we remain callous in matters that affect those whose future depends on our decisions or lack of them today? How do we explain to them that we didn’t consider their education and future important enough to dare the heavens, as it were? As a father, how would Dr. Goodluck Jonathan feel should his own son come to him with such a question? But that may be too far-fetched to imagine as the President’s son is not just still a child but already attends one of the elite international schools in Abuja. Thus the idea of him being cut up in any ASUU strike is improbable today.

Now, all eyes and even ears are on the oil sector. Rightly so. In my thinking, one good thing the wicked January 1 announcement has done for us is that we are all interested now in what actually goes on in that sector. But that can only remain so if we keep the heat on on those manning that sector.

In addition, we must bring in the ASUU matter and prevail on Jonathan’s government to give bite to its own bark. Our youths in public universities must go back this January, not later.

Ciao

Obinna Agazie, 400-Level Law, is the Chief Judge of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) Students’ Union Government (SUG) court. He told UCHE ANICHEBE (classmate) his plans for the court.

‘I inherited an empty judiciary’

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HAT prompted you to contest?

I was prompted by service to the students, the university and the society. I always had the plan to change the face of the judicial arm of the Students’ Union Government before I ran for the post. I found out that there was nothing on ground. No plan, no foundation, no vision. Students were being abused and their rights trampled upon. So, I decided to contest to change things.

In your opinion, what gave you the edge?

I think it was my character and competence. Prior to my election as the Chief Judge, I had held several elective offices. So, I believe

that I have the capacity to perform better in the new post.

How many other elective positions have you held?

I served as the Chief Register for the Law Students Association. I also served as the Chief Press Secretary of the SUG, a period, which coincided with my election as the university student orator.

What plan do you have for the SUG judiciary?

I know the challenges of the SUG court. We shall try our best to fill the lacuna in our constitution. We are also going to set up committees, which will restructure the judiciary, and organise national moot court trial competition. We also like to start a magazine for the student court. I must add that I inherited an empty judiciary, which has no office and judge’s chamber.

We will endeavour to change the

•Obinna

situation as soon as we can, for the benefit of the students.

What is your opinion about the Nigerian judiciary?

The Nigerian judiciary still has a long way to go. But, there is hope, especially in the light of the reforms undertaken by the Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Dahiru Musdapher. I believe we will have a stronger judiciary at the end of the reforms.

•Faith

thing I love, I never found it hard combining it with my academics. I was also able to plan my time and make good use of it.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

I have been asked this question so often. In the next five years, I believe, by the grace of God, I would have made my name in the music world. I would also have become a professional hair stylist and make-up artist and I hope to be married with kids.

What is your philosophy of life?

Don’t try to change who you are.

It is important that you believe in yourself. You must work hard and, with God on your side, you will succeed.

•Against petrol subsidy removal: Hon Dauda Kako-Are (in fez cap) representing Mushin 1 in the House of Representatives, leading some students in his area to the Gani Fawehinmi Park, Ojota... last week.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

CAMPUS LIFE

F

OR the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Anyim Pius Anyim, it was a home-coming of sorts at the 21st Convocation of Abia State University (ABSU), where he graduated in law a few years ago. He, along with Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; former Deputy Governor of Imo State Sir Francis Oji, and the CEO/ MD of Bourdex Telecom, Sir David Ogba were confered with honourary degrees.

No fewer than 5,000 students were awarded first degrees and 383 others, postgraduate degrees.

Two days before the ceremony, the management hosted a press conference, where the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Chibuzo Ogbuagu, listed his challenges since assuming office on December 1, 2010.

While defending the recent fee increase, he said the institution’s challenges necessitated the hike.

These, he said, included a “dire need for infrastructural development”. However, he promised that students and staff of ABSU would experience a positive change in the next session, promising to improve power and water supply. He thanked the state government for its support to the institution while it sought for the accreditation of some courses and programmes.

The event which preceded the convocation was the lecture delivered by Dr Okonjo-Iweala. She used the platform to preach the deregulation message of the Federal Government.

While speaking on the global economy and its interrelatedness to Nigeria’s, she said: “We can change from being cynical about this country and about the many things that don’t work to how what we are doing will move us from one stage to another. When we talk of privatisation, there is nothing ideological about it. Some people said they have brought World Bank ideology and all of that. No. We have said that government is really not competent in handling certain sectors of the economy, that we should allow private investors to come in and take over.”

Continuing, she stated: “When we see that the government cannot run the system just as Malaysia or

•Senator Nwachukwu (left) and Prof Ogbuagu (right) decorating Dr. Okonjo-Iweala.

The Abia State University Uturu (ABSU) graduated 5,383 students at its 21st convocation. EMMANUEL SHEBBS (400-Level Political Science, University of Calabar) reports.

Convocation with a difference

ABSU, pledged the continued support of the state government to the institution to enable it achieve its multiple plans for the new academic session, in line with the economic base of the state. He urged the management to seek for full accreditation of the courses it offers; and the graduating students to be disciplined and “shun every act of rascality, cultism and gangsterism.”

The highlight of the day was the presentation of the VC’s reward to the best graduating student, Jeff Maduka, of the Faculty of Law. Maduka, who graduated with a CGPA of 4.86 on a 5.00 scale thanked his parents who sponsored his education. He promised to represent ABSU well, anywhere.

One of the graduating students, Ijeoma Orji expressed gratitude to God. “I would have graduated before now but due to the Academic Staff Union Of Universities (ASUU) strikes, an extra year was added to my school years. But, in all, I thank God who saw me through,” she said.

Chioma Njoku, who graduated from Medicine and Surgery, said the school period was a hectic one: “I thank God who made it a success. During the holiday periods, I assisted my mother in her trading so she can get the money to fund my education. It was not easy. I lost my father when I got admission. I am happy to be a graduate today.

God will reward my mother and my uncles who assisted me.”

Chinedu Dickson graduated from Pharmacy. He said the university would have a lasting influence in his life. He advised the management to enhance the security situation in the school.

“This is to avoid victimisation of students by fellow students. The management should equally look into the security of its students residing off campus because they are part of the university. They should seriously check cultism within the university and Uturu community.”

ABSU’s Public Relations Officer, Mr Acho Elendu, described the event as one with a difference. He said the management was dedicated to the service of ensuring that the university was lifted to an admirable height in national and international circles.

Brazil does, what do we do? We liberalise and deregulate, allow the private sector to come in and take over. That is exactly what we are doing in the power sector and in the downstream petroleum sector.

Please, support us. Don’t allow people to cloud your judgment. I am not saying that government should not do its duty but I think we have to utilise the enormous population of the country to keep the people at work.”

She said there were enormous economic and financial crises in the world every day. As such, it was uncertain which economic challenge would face each country at any point in time. Dr OkonjoIweala posited that it was incumbent on the government to understand the times and decide what best to do in the interest of the

people.

The main event was held at the Convocation Arena. Apart from the honourees, other dignitaries were the host governor, Chief Theodore Orji, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof Mkpa Agu Mkpa; his Imo counterpart, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, and Senator Uche Chukwumerije, among others.

The event started with the installation of Sir Francis Oji as the Chancellor. Thereafter, he declared open the convocation.

Senator Anyim and other honourees were decorated by the Pro-Chancellor, Senator Ike Nwachukwu. He was assisted by Prof Ogbuagu.

Okorocha, in a brief remark, thanked the ABSU management for what he called “a great ceremony”,

•Helen

•A student dressed in a white garment church garb, bearing a cross to depict the hardship.

strike the members of the cabal to death.

Speaking in a rather comical tone, Shola Jaiyeola, 300-Level Architecture student of Federal University of Technology (FUT MINNA), Niger State, said: “When I wasn’t born, my ancestors told

me fuel was 50 kobo, and then the subsidy was there. After I was born, there was still fuel subsidy.

During the era of Gen Sani Abacha, fuel was N20 per litre, Obasanjo came and increased it to N70.

Yar’Adua came and reverted it to N65.” Shola continued: “If the

noting that there is not much difference between Imo and Abia states. He said the school has served a “good purpose of educating indigenes from both states.”

In his address, the Pro-Chancellor told the new graduates: “Today, you have become an ambassador of this school. I am expecting that you would do your very best to reflect the core values of this university and those on which the university was established: Excellence and Service. You need to imbibe the culture of entrepreneurship because university education does not only prepare you to work in an organisation or government office. It also imbues you with the skill to set up your own business and be an employer of labour.”

Orji, through his representative, who is the immediate past VC of

‘Why we joined strike’ •Continued from page 29

implemented in many nations and we have seen that it cut down inflation and high cost. where I have a problem with the government is the time it is coming in Nigeria.

I was disappointed when I heard the Information Minister saying Ghana did the same. It should occur to him that Ghana has very stable and reliable power supply.”

Helen Obadara, who claimed to be a 300-Level student of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), said she does not understand why President Jonathan can not prosecute the cabal feeding fat on the subsidy funds. She said: “We need to know who is ruling us. Since the removal of subsidy, my daily expenditure has increased drastically which is not good for a student like me. So it is N65 or nothing.”

Tunde Ifabiyi, who claims to be a graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, rained curses on the cabal and the government, saying they were the cause of why university students are still at home because of lecturers’ strike. Ostensibly angry, Tunde, invoked the spirit of Ogun (Yoruba god of iron) to

President can equally increase the minimum wage to about N120,000, then I will support fuel subsidy removal wholeheartedly.”

Precious Owolabi, 400-Level Law, ABU, said: “I don’t think the

oil subsidy removal is a good idea. Even though it may be the right thing to do, it is too harsh on the masses who are still battling with corruption and poverty. How do they want us to survive?”

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

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CAMPUS LIFE Students’ plan to protest foiled

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N air of uncertainty hung over the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka in the early hours last week Monday, January 9. This was because the students and some staff of the university were not sure whether the university would join the nationwide strike declared by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

However, administrative and academic activities were not affected by the industrial action. Most lecturers held their classes. They were not part of the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Chiamaka Ezeonu, a Psychology student, told CAMPUSLIFE: “I came to school to confirm whether we will join the labour strike. This is because UNIZIK does not like going on strike, even ASUU strike.

I attended various lectures today.

From Uche Anichebe UNIZIK

One of the lecturers even said he will come tomorrow.” Another student who pleaded anonymity said: “It is a pity that at a time like this in our nation’s history, UNIZIK has refused to show solidarity to labour union.”

CAMPUSLIFE also observed that the cost of transportation, stationery and food items had increased within the university and its environs. A student, who simply identified herself as Calista, lamented: “Last year, I paid N100 to the faculty of Management Science. But now, it costs N200. The cost of typing and photocopying has also increased. The cost of living as a student has increased, and I’m wondering why we are not protesting”.

CAMPUSLIFE gathered that a

group of students had planned to embark on a protest against the removal of fuel subsidy.

The students under the umbrella of “Occupy Nigeria” were headed by a 400-Level Law student, Kenechukwu Uzoka. However, at the scheduled day and time, only a handful of persons were there.

A couple of hours later, they dispersed and went back to their hostels.

When contacted by CAMPUSLIFE, Kenechukwu said that prior to the day, he had been receiving threat phone calls. He said one of the callers identified himself as an official of the State Security Service (SSS) and warned him against embarking on, or inciting persons to embark on any form of protest. Kenechukwu, expressed worry over prevention of popular protest by the government.

•Jumoke (left) and Catherine, one of the beneficiaries.

Make-up artist to train street children

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PROFESSIONAL makeup artist, Banke Meshida, has taken it as a point of duty to support the Street 2 School campaign, a pet project of Feminine Care Development Foundation (FCDF), being supervised by exCAMPUSLIFE correspondent (OOU), Jumoke Awe. Meshida said she would provide full training for one girl at a time in her makeup outfit to support the project.

The make-up artiste, who has created a niche for herself in the fashion world, acknowledged that the Street 2 School initiative as a laudable project, which “I am proud to be part of.”

She promised to make the best out the street children as a way of giving back to the society.

Awe noted that women are the bedrock of a healthy and sustainable economy. “Hundreds of thousands of our young girls are on the streets. It is on this demeaning fact that we as a foundation took up the challenge yearly to take girls, full of potentials, away from the

From Adenike Ashogbon LAGOS

street to school where their potentials can be positively harnessed and realised,” Awe said.

She noted that the Street 2 School scholarship is one of the schemes FCDF offered to children from the street. She said: “We see to the possibility of reducing the number of our girls on the street, we believe very strongly in the education of the girl child and the street to school as a scheme is a proactive strategy to reduce the environmental catastrophe we foresee for the girl child on the street where her potentials cannot be fully realised.”

FCDF, however, called on principals, school proprietors, corporate bodies and organisations to support the scheme to advance the goals of taking girls off the street to school by September 2012.

FCDF was established in 2003 as a national vehicle for the provision of care and education services to the womenfolk.

•Members of the new executive, after they were sworn in. In the middle is John, the President.

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TUDENTS from no fewer than 35 higher institutions under the aegis of National Union of Ogbia Students (NUOS) converged at Ogbia town, the headquarters of Ogbia Local Government Area in Bayelsa State, for the union convention. The convention, which witnessed a massive turnout of students, was aimed at electing a new leadership for the union in this year.

The convention began with accreditation of delegates from the chapters of the union by the electoral committee headed by Talent Ibebi. After accreditation, the stage was set for the aspirants to unveil their programmes for the union if voted into power. Starting with the presidential position, each aspirant mounted the podium and presented his manifesto to the members of the union.

A civil society crusader and former student unionist at the University of Port-Harcourt, Clever Isu, cautioned the students to give peace a chance while the voting last. He also advocated for the

From Isaac Mensah YENEGOA

spirit of sportsmanship for students that may eventually lose out.

Men of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) were adequately deployed to maintain peace during the exercise.

Announcing the outcome of the election, Talent said John Pomari, a 300-Level student of Delta State University was returned as president.

He defeated two other candidates in a keenly contested election.

Others elected are Juliet Dangoosu, Vice President; Fabulous Uriah, Secretary-General; Beredugo Lamaye, Assistant Secretary-General; Justice Turnah, Public Relations Officer; Frank Benson, Financial Secretary; Mary Inengite, Treasurer; Suoye Ronami, Director of Social; Happiness Ogidi, Provost, and Silas Apiri, Director of Welfare.

Meanwhile, the new leadership of the union has been inaugurated dur-

ing a swearing in ceremony at Da Paul’s Bar, in Ogbia town last week.

Speaking, Mr Gilbert Laguo, a Doctorate student at Glamorgan University, Wales, United Kingdom, who doubled as the chairman of the occasion, enjoined the new leadership to work collectively as a team for the good of the union.

Also speaking, former Secretary of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Radio Bayelsa chapel, Famous Giobaro, urged the new executive to see their elevation as a call to service. He asked students to make reading their priority, noting that “reading maketh a man as exemplified by a son of the soil Goodluck Jonathan, the president of Nigeria.”

In his address, John Pomari, on behalf of his executive, promised to build a secretariat for the union, purchase welfare buses to facilitate students’ activities, and to hold enlightenment campaigns for the youths in the area.

College’s governing council holds inaugural meeting

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HE chairman, Governing Council of the Oyo State College of Agriculture, Igboora, Mr Babatunde Soares, has charged the stakeholders in the college to be more committed to the vision of the institution, which is training for food sufficiency and self employment. The chairman made this known during the inaugural meeting of the institution’s Governing Council held recently at the college’s 800-seater Lecture Theatre.

Task of leadership, citizenry

Union gets new leadership

From Dan Ailemen OYSCAI

Soares said the council would provide an enabling environment for the production of trained agricultural manpower, provision of technical knowledge and skills in agriculture, which are necessary for industrial, commerce and economic development of the state and train people who can apply scientific knowledge to solve problem for the convenience of man.

The Acting Provost of the college, Prof Jacob Adewale, pledged to work closely with the Council in order to take the college to agreater heights. Prof Adewale added that the college would not relent in providing excellent agricultural training through its National Diploma programmes and short term training programmes.

Other members of the Governing Council of the college include Joseph Ogunmola, Mrs Abosede Ogunwale and Mr James Ogunjobi.

I

T has been often said that Nigeria’s problem is tied around leadership.

Uninspired leadership, neo-colonial leadership, corrupt leadership and so on. However, people fail to notice another pressing problem hindering our march to the political and economical promised land. It is unfeeling and equally corrupt citizenry.

There is no way we can say that a government is bad without finding the culpability of the citizens, who aid the corrupt government. Truth is, bad leadership coupled with an equally uninspired citizenry, is a case of bad meeting evil.

The fact is, for every corrupt leader in office, there are three other citizens (or more) who are equally corrupt. The difference is no one is beaming his searchlight on The society is corrupt, those who don’t participate in looting our treasury wait for their time, and those who don’t agree with the act do nothing about it. It is such apathy that makes us uninspired citizens, passively conniving with corrupt politicians in ruining our fatherland.

By Immanuel Galadima immanuel_galadima@yahoo.com

Among the young people, there’s the issue of lost values coupled with the world getting more materialistic.

Thus, the principle of hard work and honesty give way to the ‘get-richquick-or-die-trying’ mentality. This results in the younger population indulging in examination malpractice, drug pushing, Internet fraud and lots of other evil engagements.

If true change is to come, we will need to change our behaviour first as citizens. We’ll need to redeem our bad image, the type that makes foreigners handle us with suspicion anywhere outside Nigeria. Afterwards, we can now demand that the government and people in position of leadership do likewise. True change may not start from the top, it can begin at the bottom. We must never lose hope in our nation.

Immanuel, 300-Level Urban and Regional Planning, FUT MINNA

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

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CAMPUS LIFE Some observers of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) have described the institution as “anti-strike”. For close to a decade, its staff unions consistently rebuffed calls by their national bodies for industrial actions. However, things took a different turn last week, as reported by MICHAEL ADEBAYO (200-Level Computer Science).

•UNILORIN grounds; behind is the Senate Building.

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OR close to eight years, the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) has maintained a steady academic calendar. It was such that some students in other institutions, mainly out of envy, claimed that UNILORIN students did not spend the minimum four years for a programme. The institution’s zero-approach to industrial actions aided it in achieving the feat.

On December 5, 2011, the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) embarked on an indefinite strike to press home the demands of its 2009 agreement with the Federal Government. While many varsities complied, the UNILORIN chapter was among the few that still attended to students.

But it was a different ball game when some students who managed to come back to school (in the wake of the uncertainty occasioned by the increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly called petrol) resumed on Monday, January 9, 2011. It was the day the organised labour, led by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and

•Few students at the Science Lecture theatre.

Day UNILORIN went on ‘strike’ civil society groups started an indefinite strike over the hike in fuel price.

According to the government, it was part of its deregulation of the oil sector and removal of subsidy on petrol.

Some days earlier, on January 5, UNILORIN had held the matriculation for its freshmen. At the event, the ViceChancellor, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, had promised to provide buses that will convey students in and out of the institution during the industrial action.

However, on January 9, students, especially new intakes who had GNS lectures, rushed to their respective car parks but waited in vain for the promised school bus. Lecturers on their way to work had to go back to their homes on getting to the school gate. Even, the popular Continuous Assessment Test for the day did not hold.

For instance, 200-Level Computer Science students were to have CSC 213 test but it failed to hold. The ever-busy

Tanke Road became a spot where students played football, and some even brought out their mattresses to sleep.

Faculties and departments were under lock and key while the Motion Ground was a ghost of itself.

Since the removal of the subsidy, prices of commodities and services have gone up. Sachet water, popularly called pure water, now sells for N10 per sachet and N150 per pack up from N5 and N80.

Fares to Tanke from the campus rose from N40 for taxis and N30 for minibuses to N80 and N60 while those going as far as Challenge had to part with N100 for buses and N120 for cars. Haircut on campus rose from N80 to as high as N150. Browsing per hour became N150 as against N100.

Students sacked popular cafeterias because of the cost while N10 was added to the price of various recharge cards.

A 200-Level student of Agriculture, who did not want his name in print,

complained that a textbook he priced at the University Bookshop at N2, 000 two weeks ago now goes for N2,500.

All these were happening when the University had issued a provisional time-table for her first semester examination slated for January 23.

In its Senate meeting of December 28, the management made adjustment to the academic calendar by changing the date of the West African University Games (WAUG) to be hosted by the institution from January 11 to March 24. The reasons given were the present ASUU strike and the Ghanaian University Games to be hosted by the University of Ghana in January. Revelations emerged that the change in date may be unconnected with ASUU strike but of an impending industrial action by NLC as the game was non-academic. In its amended calendar, UNILORIN will observe an academic break between March 24 and April 7, to allow for a

successful hosting of the games. The ASUU strike would also afford student-participants from other institutions in Nigeria the opportunity of not missing out in lectures in their various varsities. This is assuming the strike does last till then.

Some students and their leaders who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE condemned the removal of fuel subsidy. The Union of Campus Journalists (UCJ), UNILORIN chapter, in a release, said the action of President Goodluck Jonathan in the removal was “an embarrassing surprise and not in the best interest of Nigerian students”.

It added: “This action, which caught us as a surprise … portrayed the President in obvious light as being insensitive, inconsiderate and subtle as he stole our mandates with sweet words.

We hereby add our voice to those of well-meaning Nigerians to resonate say NO to fuel subsidy removal”.

Members of the Baptist Students’ Fellowship (BSF), Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, spent the last Christmas sharing the essence of the season with two groups of rural dwellers. OPEOLUWA SONUGA (200-Level Law) was there.

A selfless mission W

HILE many celebrated Christmas in the comfort of their homes, over 80 members of the Baptist Students Fellowship (BSF), Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) chapter, Ile-Ife, spent theirs in two remote villages in Osun State Akinlalu and Asipa. It was part of the missionary work of BSF. The students left their campus on December 12, for Akinlalu. They were received by Pastor Olaniyi Sango, the pastor-in-charge of First Baptist Church in the village.

The missionary activities began with the selection of coordinators for various programmes. Femi Okunade was chosen to be the camp commandant, while Olamide Oladiran was charged to man water supply and Seun Adewoye headed the committee for welfare of the students.

The missions moved to Asipa a week later; but not without holding an emotion-laden and solemn goodbye with the Akinlalu villagers. It was a kind of unexpected surprise to the rustic dwellers when they were told that the students, who shook their settlement to its foundation with rugged evangelism, were taking their leave. Some elders came around pleading with the student leaders to extend their

•Some of the student ‘missionaries’.

stay by another one week, but the students explained they couldn’t.

Eventually, the elders prayed for them.

Many were grateful to the family of Pastor Sango Olaniyi, the mission field pastor who, with some members of the church, rallied round to ensure a hitch-free outreach.

As they filed into their bus for the trip to Asipa, many of the students wished they had a second bus as one bus was not comfortable for them. This prompted the students to hold a special prayer to seek God’s favour concerning their bus project. Special prayers were also rendered that night for the success of the mission in Asipa. New camp

•Asipa village children receive some of the donated clothes.

rules were made while the new camp officials were elected. By this time, the number in camp had reduced for some of students left for home. By the next day, the number swelled again as more members joined the camp either from school or home.

The host parish here was the Zion Baptist church, Asipa. The Elder acting in the absence of the pastor, the BSF president of the Church and other church members received the students heartily.

The students were there from December 19 till Sunday, the 25th.

The days always started at 3am, with morning prayers where, on their knees, the students offered prayers for the villagers, the church and their mission. At exactly 4am,

the camp commandant would ring the bell for morning devotion.

Thereafter, the camp would be divided into four groups. These groups were distributed North, South, East and West side of the village on the bearing of the church premises for Morning Cry. In the cold temperature, some group will set out walking long distances, but stopping at junction intervals to tell all that Jesus is Lord. Everyone would converge back at the church by 6:30am.

Between 7am and 9am, the brothers in the camp were shared into groups, some to fetch water, some to fetch firewood, and even some helped the sisters in doing the dishes, while others attended to

their personal morning prayers.

The sisters were equally grouped, some to wash the dishes, some to see to the cleaning of the church premises and others to see to the cooking of meals.

By the time it is 9am, the bell would go off again for the morning session part two which lasted till 12noon. Food would be served, followed by rest and spiritual building up till 4pm.

The evening session kicked off at 4pm with Praise and worship, followed by prayer sessions, message, announcement, grouping of the camp into four, then everyone would be off for one-on-one evan•Continued on page 35

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THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

CAMPUS LIFE

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N the book, Fela: This Bitch of a Life, which seems to be his endorsed memoir, Fela AnikulapoKuti noted, with a tinge of vehemence, that he never wanted to be remembered for anything after he expired to the realm of the spirit, despite his struggle to free the oppressed from the shackles of tyranny of successive governments.

The late Afrobeat progenitor was unequivocal in his answer to the question by Carlos Moore, the writer of the book. He said his struggle and philosophy were not based on the notion that he should be remembered for “this or that”. But that he wanted history to record his name as someone who spoke the truth to the oppressors tormenting his ‘coward’ generation. Evidently, Fela not only fought local potentates that employed religion to divide and rule the people, the Abami Eda (weird one) burned equal energy to condemn the hypocrisy of the West and its imperialist institutions being deployed to cause strife in the black continent.

However, 14 years after his demise, the spirit of Fela’s struggle is yet to rest. The phantom still hovers around the beleaguered country being bled to a state of anaemia by political and economic piranhas and has now become the rallying force to which the struggle of a people for freedom is tied. If not, what other factor could have tickled the interest of Nigerians to gather at Gani Fawehinmi Park, Ojota, to protest the removal of the

The road to Tahrir Square subsidy on fuel by Federal Government. Fela’s songs, most of which were composed in 70s, resonated like a voice from heaven and worked up the growing crowd of people at the Park to a state of discontent that made them, unprecedentedly, to ask questions on why the nation’s treasury is being plundered by a cabal.

Fela is now seen as a prophet with a clear message and he is being remembered against his wish. Of course, he could not have been forgotten because his struggle was to eradicate the inhuman treatment of Nigerians by their highly selfish leaders, a condition which is still prevalent in today’s Nigeria. Fela’s ageless rhythms are now being seen as opium that titillates people into action against the conscienceless establishment into which the government snowballed.

After a week of colourful demonstration and exceptional camaraderie display by the Nigerian poor and middle class, who were bonded by a common agenda to salvage the nation from its move to the brink of bankruptcy and precipice, the nation woke up this week to learn that the Federal Government, under the leadership of President Jonathan, had forcefully declared a ceasefire by deployment of troops with a clear mandate to overrun any protester found

at the Freedom Park, Nigeria’s equivalence of Egyptian Tahrir Square. It seems I heard somebody saying the Pharaoh’s trait is him is now fully developed.

But can such use of brute force suppress the will of the people? History is about to repeat itself at this juncture in our national life. General Sani Abacha came to the power through the backdoor and tried to suppress popular mandate people freely gave Chief Moshood Abiola. To be sure, the dark-goggled one had his ways by ensuring the well-heeled publisher of now rested Concord newspaper never enjoyed the honey of his mandate, but the dogged Nigerian masses fought Abacha’s regime with their last drop of blood and oversaw its cremation on the funeral pyre.

Ditto Ibrahim Babangida and Olusegun Obasanjo’s third term agenda.

Now, a certain Goodluck Jonathan, supposedly elected via a free and fair ballot mechanism is afraid of the people whose 28million votes ensured he wears the presidential diadem. How far can he go to tyrannise the sovereignty bearers? The people’s sin: they demonstrated against the economic sorcery being supervised by the chubby-cheek Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala et al at the behest of the western imperialists and

their institutions.

How much does the country make from the sale of Nigeria’s crude oil daily? This is a million-dollar question many Nigerians do not know as this writer pens this discourse. We hear of billions of dollar everyday and only God knows how much are remitted into the treasury. Large chunk of the money the country receives from oil exploration is daily embezzled by top government officials and their collaborators in the corruption-riddled Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Does anybody still don’t know the reason why it is difficult for successive governments in Nigeria to audit the account of the oil corporation?

For a country wobbled and hobbled by poverty of idea and materials, the profligacy on the part of government officials cannot be tolerated. A country blessed with limitless human resources that can catapult it to a state of economic nirvana, Nigeria’s oil, which should have been an additional advantage, remains the source of its woes. Even with billion of petro-dollars, Nigeria’s education is one of the poorest in sub-Sahara Africa. Power is epileptic despite billion of dollars the sector has gulped. Roads are laden with ditches and gullies my

An unpopular policy of a president

By Juliana Edet juliucomm@gmail.com

N

OT many a people expected President Goodluck Jonathan’s New Year gift to students and Nigerians. It came to many as a surprise. The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress and Civil Society groups have been protesting across the country, advocating for the

S

IR, you may have wondered why the renowned novelist Chinua Achebe refused the National Award given to him last year by your administration. Well, I wondered too and I finally have an answer. He refused it because 51 years after independence, 12 years into democratic rule, things are still falling apart in Nigeria. My pun here is, of course, fully intended.

I remember very well when you came into power. The country had just limped through eight years of ‘Baba-arthritis’, two years of ‘Yar’adua-ria’ and was in dire need of fresh air. A green horn in politics, you came to us unassuming and shy. Armed with your boyish charm, black wide-brimmed hat and your bare feet, you won our hearts. You promised us transformation. You were our man. We were happy until the bombings started.

What started off as post-election violence before our eyes, morphed into full-scale terrorism, a type we hitherto only saw on CNN and Aljazeera. This happened under your watch, sir. And while it happens, our roads did not get better, power was not supplied as expected, healthcare got worse and crime soared along with its Siamese twin, corruption. We waited to see what magic you have to tackle the problem bedeviling the nation, sir. But your only solution is the fuel subsidy removal!

immediate reversal of government’s removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).

Even though the president has said he meant good for the nation by removing the fuel subsidy, the position of Nigerians is that the policy came at a wrong time. Besides, the people have not been properly orientated on the palliative measure taken by the government. The machinery of National Orientation Agency (NOA) failed to sell the government programmes to the citizens. In a move to show its paymaster of its existence, Neighbour to Neighbour Initiative dominated the covers of many national dailies and resorted to propaganda to force the satanic policy down the throat of Nigerians. But the gimmick was dead on the arrival.

The series of protests that attended the announcement of subsidy removal showed that the policy was not popular with the people. If it was, one ex-

pected the president to have discussed the issue, at least, on his Facebook page as he had done in the past. The government only reached out to Nigerians during the televised town hall meeting with the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) held late December. Even at that, the defence from the government was not tenable.

The well-organised strike was an indication that the people are not happy with the way the country is being governed. The fight against corruption is fading out. The government claimed the cabal benefitting from subsidy is powerful. How? Is it that different laws are applied to different people? The government has failed to impress or convince the long-suffering Nigerians especially the students on the reason why they should sacrifice ‘so much’ while the rich sacrifice ‘few’.

It appears the president listens more to his advisers than testing the pulse of the country through avenues citizens

express their views. If President Jonathan can claim that he was elected

by Nigerians, why has he not listen to us on the contentious subsidy removal.

Perhaps, one of the informed commentaries I have read on the subsidy is that of Lawal Ogienagbon published in The Nation newspaper of December 15, 2011, titled: “If fuel subsidy must go”. The columnist had tasked the president to pause and weigh the cost of inflicting pain on Nigerians. Ogienagbon asked: At what cost does he (Jonathan) want to take this action?’ He added: ‘leaders who fail to listen to their people end up on the wrong side of history and of such leaders fall badly’.

As a student, my position has been made known through the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS). The decision to remove the only thing we benefit from the government they supposedly elected into office is anti-people.

By Wale Ajetunmobi ridwane_4@yahoo.com

little nephew described as fish ponds.

Our leaders are afraid of revolt yet they don’t do what we want. Like Abacha, a democratically elected President Jonathan sends the state organs of coercion against us because we say no to his anti-people policy of fuel subsidy removal; protesters mowed down in broad daylight on streets in Lagos and Kwara; a host of others were herded to jail in Enugu.

If one may ask: which is the surest way to Tahrir (liberty) Square other than this?

Wale is a corps member, NYSC Lagos Advising the government on how it could remove the subsidy without inflicting pain on Nigerians, Comrade Isa Aremu, last November, told Jonathan that alternatives must be put in place before the money was withdrawn. But this plea fell on deaf ear.

The government only started announcing palliative measures after it had removed the money.

Nigerians are fast losing confidence in the government particularly at the centre. Some have noted that stable power supply is not possible under the present government. The discontent is growing by the day. Education sector is still on strike, the security situation in the nation nothing to write home about. The president should that the land is boiling. The reason is not just about the subsidy, but also the extravagant and wasteful lifestyle of the government officials. Let there be change in the way our leaders govern the nation. We are tired of corruption.

Juliana, 200-Level Mass Comm., UNILAG

GEJ, don’t stop now!

You say there is no money to deliver the dividends of democracy you have promised us. You posited that the subsidy on fuel, if withdrawn, would provide basic needs of the citizens. But as you know, majority of Nigerians do not agree with you. But some others, a significant minority, do. I belong to this latter group. I believe that the removal of fuel subsidy is a necessary ‘evil’ which must be endured in the short term for a better long term.

My conviction is not based on my trust in the Goodluck-Samboled administration; neither is it based on my understanding of the implications of the deregulation of the downstream sector. My support for your stance on this issue is based on my knowledge of the basest of man’s natural inclinations – love of self. Man is a self-oriented animal, born to self, living for self and dying for self. Even the greatest acts of human kindness have varying degrees of the “me” factor attached. There is always something in it for ‘me’, monetary gain, fame, recognition, respect or self satisfaction.

A local Igbo saying goes thus: if a child is crying and pointing at a particular place and his mother is not in that place, then his father

must be. If a man, who enjoyed the sort of popularity and public support you enjoyed in Nigeria, is willing to risk such support on a policy as radical as this fuel subsidy removal, then I know there must be a convinced plan in play. And I support that plan.

My days of ‘borrowing’ dad’s car for a few hours of fun, knowing I can always refuel and park without any reprimand, have seemingly ended. Public transport has become luxury with fares tripling over one another. I, like so many other Nigerians, have been forced on a fitness routine whose only formula is walk, walk and walk. I cringe at the thought of the sick and aged like my grandmother back home who cannot afford to fuel her ‘ladies’ motorcycle walking all those dusty miles supported by sore knees and arthritic ankles. Don’t even talk of food; right now, leftovers are a taboo at home.

Yet I realise that with the moribund state which aptly describes our country, a bold and radical move, nothing less than a shocking one like this is needed if we are to see even this year through with our wits intact. I hope this is the move and I commend you for so fearlessly taking the subsidy out. But I cannot understand, much less support the

manner you went about cushioning the effect of the subsidy removal.

1600 buses? For how many people?

You have asked Nigerians to sacrifice comfort for a permanent good of motherland. But you have not given us good reason to do so. A serving senator’s pay exceeds the entire annual earnings of a medical doctor in Nigeria; it exceeds twice the pay of a certain Barrack Obama.

And oh, did I add that Barrack Obama is the president of the United States?

‘Miscellaneous’ allowances of most Nigerian public officials alone could put me through school and set me up for a comfortable life after. With taxpayers’ money, the ‘big men’ buy flashy cars, send their kids abroad for better education and take their families on occasional holidays in Dubai and France. Where, sir, is the sacrifice in that?

The removal of fuel subsidy, I remind you, is a ‘progressive’ move that can be made by any leader of democratic Nigeria. Obasanjo came close with his attempt at a third term but you know too well how that went. The removal of this subsidy has affected lives so profoundly all over the nation that only similarly radical and fearless moves will suffice to cushion its effects. Show us how to sacrifice for this greater good you preach. Accept cuts in your pay

By Chisom Ojukwu chimart_27@yahoo.com

and allowances; and since your governors and ministers are all falling over themselves to rally behind you on the issue, demand of them to also accept cuts in their exaggerated pays and stupendous allowances.

“When I’m challenged, I think more. I don’t rush to take decisions.

That is why it looks as if I’m slow”.

Your words, sir. With all due respect, Nigerians have seen enough thinking for one tenure. This is one time you cannot afford to be or even look slow. Forget promises, trash guarantees, act! Lead, Mr. President, that we might follow.

Chisom, 500-Level Chemical Engineering, FUTO

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

35

CAMPUS LIFE

Oyo students protest subsidy removal T HOUSANDS of students and youths of Oyo State origin joined last week’s strike, which was called by Nigeria Labour Congress(NLC) and the Trade Union Congress(TUC). The Nigerian Medical Association, Joint Action Front (JTF), Voters Assembly and other civil organisations also sympathised with the workers to protest the removal of subsidy on the Premium Motor Spirit(PMS) popularly known as petrol by the Federal Government.

The mass protests, which many observed as mother of all protests, in recent times, kicked off at Agodi Gate office of the NLC and quickly spread to other parts of the state. Oyo State students from University of Ibadan (UI), the Polytechnic, Ibadan (IBADAN POLY), School of Hygiene, National Open University (NOUN), Ibadan study centre and Federal Cooperative College, Ibadan, joined the workers’ strike.

Others included National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), members of Federation of Ibadan Students’ Union (FIBSU), Federation of Oyo State Students’ Union (FOSSU), Coalition of Youths Against Fuel Subsidy, and Socialists Workers League.

Those that led the one-week protests included the NANS JCC chair, Oyo State axis, Ibrahim Banjoko, Students’ Union President of UI, Tokunbo Salako, Barr Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), Com Femi Aborisade, a lecturer at the Polytechnic, Ibadan, Hon. Olusegun Olaleye and Hon Ibrahim Bolomope members of Oyo State House of Assembly, Dr Abiodun Aremu, former ASUU chairman in UI, Tokunbo Ajasin, son of the late Adekunle Ajasin, Com Mosood Erubami, coordinator of Voters Assembly.

The protesters chanted various solidarity songs and carried placards with inscriptions such as “Jonathan is a thief”, “Okonjo resign now” and “Nigerians are suffering”, among others. Hundreds of youths also turned major streets to football pitches. There were bonfires, road blocks in all areas visited by our correspondent.

On and Off Campus

•An unidentified student-leader addressing the students during the protest.

From Musliudeen Adebayo IBADAN

Some youths who did not join the protests instead barricaded major streets and extorted money from passers-by, a situation that was controlled by men of the joint security force code-named “Operation Burst”.

A group of students and youths under the banner of ‘Coalition of Youths Against Fuel Subsidy Removal’ chided the president for removing the subsidy on petrol. The group protested through a letter addressed to Governor Ajimobi. It reads: “We youths in Oyo State, in consonance with the yearning of the masses, hereby reject the removal of the fuel subsidy. We see this as an attempt to aggravate level of poverty in the country. We believe the policy will cripple small and medium scale businesses and thrown the masses into perpetual economic chaos.

However, we are aware of the position of governors’ forum, which you are part of. We see this as a cruel betrayal of the mandate of the masses, who laboured to vote the governors during the April 2011 elections.”

It continued: “We have taken a stand to reject removal of fuel subsidy and we shall mobilise all youths, traders, artisans and citizens of the state to demonstrate until the governor pro-

nounce publicly that people of Oyo State reject fuel subsidy removal and relate this position to the presidency. If at all subsidy is to be remove, it should go simultaneously with reduction of government expenditure. The masses cannot be suffering to keep the public office holders in luxury.”

Ibrahim Banjoko said NANS had shown their grievances and rejection of the removal.

“We believe that interest of Nigerians must always be protected but it is a pity that the president is failing Nigerians despite his campaigns promises. We are saying it in totality that the federal government should, as a matter of urgency, reverse the petrol price to N65,” Ibrahim said.

The strike was called off on Monday and normalcy returned.

A selfless mission

By Solomon Izekor 08061522600

•A villager being attended to during the medical mission day.

•Continued from page 33

gelism. By 6:30pm the groups converged at the camp and by 7pm, the evening session picked up. It usually included prayer session, testimonies from the evangelism, report of every pair in a group. Other events held till 10:30pm when the lights go off.

These were the normal timetable until Friday evening, when revival services were held concurrently at three parts of the town including the church. Another exception was the Christmas Eve; it was slated for medical missions. The camp was awake at the usual time, but there was no morning cry. The whole church inside and outside was turned into a health centre arrangement for the medical missions which kicked off by 9am after the doctors had arrived from OAU. In the church were sections for waiting, another for registration, another for blood pressure checking, then height and weight measurement, followed by the counseling/ evangelism section, down to the waiting but this time for an audience with the student doctors. Finally the pharmacy shop section where drugs are given out free in line with the doctors’ prescriptions. While these were going on in the church, another was going on outside the church but this time it was for welfare relating to clothe, shoes and bags.

At the end of the medical outreach which

lasted till 5pm, one-on-one evangelism was embarked upon till 6:30pm when the camp came together again. By this time, the Christmas fever was round the camp, thus the evening session was a Carol night observed by both the villagers and the students.

On Christmas morning, food was served as early as 8am, while the service kicked off at 9am. Three leaders of the fellowship were part of the officiating ministers for the day.

The service was a special service being the first time in the history of the church that it will have such a number of Sunday worshippers, and a centre of a mission outreach. That Sunday evening was best tagged Testimony night. Being the last evening and day to spend on the field, the floor was open to everyone that had one or two things to share in form of praise, presentations or testimonies concerning the missions.

On Boxing Day, after morning devotion, the fellowship bus conveyed students to the park to take buses to their respective homes.

Emmanuel Taiwo is the BSF President. He told our correspondent: “We give glory to God and we thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled us for the past two weeks. We appreciate our board of trustees, and all the churches that extended an arm of love to us.

We also appreciate the Nigerian Baptist Convention for their care and concern. We thank all fellowship members who sent financial and prayer contributions.”

36

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

DISCOURSE

High technology and the transformation of Nigeria: A blueprint for a greater and better Nigeria PART A: Introduction

T

HE modern and global accepted mission of Nationhood and Independence is lib eration and transformation –The pursuit of freedom and the emancipated man: the pursuit of development and change. The ideology of transformation as it is for the National systems, so it is for the global systems and indeed the universal systems. The ideology of transformation is also the ideology of motion and speed, the ideology of progress from lower level to higher levels of organizations, structure and system in the world.

Nigeria right from the 1950s and 1960s inherited the ideology and plan of national liberation and transformation from the founding fathers of the nation. Successive military rulers after them, in their own military fashions conceive their own plans of change and development.

By the year 2000, the beginning of another millennium in the history of the human race, Nigeria reached an ascertainable stage of development and modernisation. It has moved from the traditional and rural agro economic stage of development through the colonial, mercantile, semi-urbanised economy seeking rapid take-off across rostrum’s stages of development. By the year 2000, Nigeria succeeded only in reaching the stage of a post-colonial under-developed economy still seeking a take-off from a smallscale technology and low-level industrialisation and a low-level infrastructure development to higher levels of technological industrial and economic transformation.

By the year 2000, Nigeria despite all odds against the tides of transformation to higher levels, has made numerous and spectacular achievements in the infrastructural sector, the educational and health sector, the business sector encompassing the national and multinational companies, the building industries, the food and drinks industries, the pharmaceutical industry, the movie, music and entertainment industry. With all the remarkable inspiration and transformation received from Azikiwe, Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello, Gowon, Obasanjo and developmental schools of Ronaldo and Rosto – and Arthur Lewis, Aboyade, Aluko and Okigbo, Nigeria is at least a hundred years away from higher levels of technological transformation.

PART B: Nigeria at the level of the perennial pursuit of the primary needs of life Within the first hundred years of its existence ‘nascent Nigeria’ has remained at the low level of the perennial pursuit of the primary needs of life – namely water, food, shelter and health, whether in the traditional pre-mordial sense or in a more glorified and more modernised sense, the Nigeria people are still in the perennial pursuit of water, food, shelter and health. True, it is that successive governments and regimes, traditional, colonial, nationalist, military and postmilitary have made their own remarkable contributions to the provisions of the basic needs of man in the Nigeria of the last 100 years. The perennial pursuit of the primary needs continues with daisy drama, with half satisfaction and hopelessness. Abundant facts are there to prove that Nigeria remains a land of insufficient water, insufficient food, insufficient shelter and healthcare.

Given the predicaments stated in the above paragraph, Nigeria has now reached a stage when the governments of the present generation must prepare master blue print for the conquest of nature, master blue print for conquest of thirst and hunger, master blue print for the conquest of homelessness, master blue print for the conquest of disease and death, how be it, preventable diseases and preventable death.

In our renewed and modernised pursuit of the search of water, we in Nigeria need high technology for the rebuilding of the several old water dams in Nigeria. We need high technology for the building of new water dams. We certainly need a new blue print of integrated federal and state water dams system in Nigeria.

The function of water dams in Nigeria With the acute shortcomings of the natural and traditional sources of water provisions in Nigeria, with the acute shortages of local small water dams as source of pipe-borne water, the importance and functions of large inter-state water dams in Nigeria are obvious and acceptable to everybody.

It is for this reason that Nigeria should have a new master plan for a Nigeria water dam system that will meet the water needs of the nation.

Nigeria should build its own multiple interstate water systems. These water dam systems should be evenly located at appropriate zones of

By Opeyemi Ola

the country. Existing water dams of Nigeria; Kanji, Shiroro, Ogun, Owena, Benin etc are at present insufficient. Nigeria needs at least additional six big federal water dams.

The rebuilding of the old water dams in Nigeria and the building of new ones should be done with appropriate and latest high technology – high technology in the hands of international construction engineers with international experience and reputation.

Adequate multi-water dam systems with appropriate high technology will provide regular sources of water supply to every home and school in Nigeria, every hospital and office, every factory and workshop in the nation.

Water dams and the agro-allied economy of Nigeria The newly built and the re-built inter-state water dams of Nigeria will certainly facilitate increased food production in Nigeria. In addition, the entire agro-economic sector would be stimulated for increased development.

In the first place, the multiple water dams of Nigeria would encourage the building of many lake-fishes resulting in increased fish production and fish supply to the Nigerian markets. Nigeria will thereby become self sufficient in fish production and will reduce its dependence on external supply of fish to the nation. Nigeria continued dependence on external sources for its fish need is not profitable for the Nigeria agroeconomy as it reduces significantly Nigeria foreign exchange earnings and power.

The renewal and the re-integration of the water dam systems of Nigeria would certainly be powerful booster for the development of the agro-economic sector. In the first place, the water dams would provide hundreds of irrigation channels for hundreds of large-scale farms in Nigeria. In return, the irrigated large-scale farms would undertake increased production of food – food crops and cash crops for the nation. Increased production of cash crops would find ready markets in Nigeria, Black Africa and other parts of the world, thereby improving Nigeria’s finances and fortunes.

The positive linkage effects of dams to the Nigeria economy would be enormous. These positive effects would encourage the emergence of agro-allied industries with locally sourced raw materials like oranges, pineapple, mango, apple and cocoa would provide sound basis for the emergence of several drink industry in Nigeria.

Other locally sourced raw materials like cassava, cocoa, soya beans and rice would also encourage the emergence of several food industries in the nation.

One of the primary messages of this section is – after centuries of traditional agriculture with traditional technology, it is now imperative for Nigeria to move to higher levels of modernised agriculture with modern high technology. It is equally imperative that Nigeria must now move from low levels of small-scale traditional farms to higher level of mechanised large scale farming. At this higher level Nigeria would provide sufficient food for the nation and Black Africa. It would with a glorious addition become massive exporters of food to the outside world.

Nigeria’s perennial search for greater and better health care One of the greatest areas in which nascent Nigeria of the last hundred years had made remarkable and sustained progress is in the medical and health sector. Nascent Nigeria of this century has developed the medical and health profession as noble and man-liberating, as noble and mansaving professions at the service of mankind.

Over the decades, distinguished doctors and nurses, distinguished professionals and distinguished Para-medical staffs have been enrolled in the Nigeria halls of fame.

Over the decades, successive governments, Christians, Colonial, nationalist, military and post military have made immense contributions to the building of hospitals and clinics in Nigeria.

These hospitals and clinics of the last three generations have produced extensive health care delivery systems for the nation. However, the

demand and pressures of rising population, increasing urbanisation, insufficient funds, inappropriate and inadequate planning have left the present Nigeria’s health delivery system inadequate, insufficient and sometimes old fashioned.

Whatever our differences about our evaluation of the past health care delivery systems in Nigeria may be, available records and data indicate that Nigeria must now reform and re-organise the past so that Nigeria of the present may have greater and better health care delivery systems.

Our reforms and reorganisation must start with the identification and classification of the leading 20 killer diseases in Nigeria – an assignment left in the hands of the medical professionals, Nigeria Institute of Medical Research, University Teaching Hospitals and the Governments. Killer diseases abound in Nigeria in their multiples, and they include malaria, maternal mortality, hepatitis, HIV, AIDS, Hypertension and paralysis, epileptic, pneumonia, convulsive colds and coughs, diabetes and obesity, mental and cardiac disorder, cancers and ulcers, blindness and epidemic infections.

In our search for the conquest of diseases and death, Nigeria must now move to write its own blue print for the restructuring and renewal of its health care delivery systems. A sure cornerstone of this blue print is the building of more hospitals and clinics in Nigeria. In order to improve its present health care delivery systems, the Nigeria nation build hundreds of new hospitals and clinics. We must build many new colleges of nursing and colleges of health technology.

In this new blue print, general hospitals and specialist hospitals must compete for priority attention. In any event, specialist hospitals because of their present shortage should be given increased attention than before. There is the urgent need to build more specialist hospitals in Nigeria – University Teaching hospitals, Federal Specialist Hospitals, State Specialist Hospitals and Private Specialist hospitals.

Restructured hospitals of Nigeria must be supported with first class medical and Para-medical staffs who are encouraged with first class professional training and retraining and first class professional salary structure and allowances.

Our hospitals in Nigeria must be supported with the provision of adequate drugs produced with the latest technology and science. In this regard, the Nigerian people and government must now realert themselves to the menace of fake drugs and fake doctors parading themselves in thousands across the nation.

Another cornerstone of a main medical blue print for Nigeria should be built around institutes and colleges of medical research, laboratories and libraries for the increasing general and specialist hospitals in Nigeria. The new hospitals of Nigeria must in addition be supported with available latest high technology that would supply the latest medical equipments.

As we build new blue prints for the medical and health sectors in Nigeria, lets remember the rural areas which of necessity needs reconsideration in our plans of rural development and rural health care delivery system. Under this rural blue print lets remember hundreds and hundreds of Nigeria villages and rural areas where there are no doctors and hospitals.

The demands and components of our rural health care delivery system for Nigeria must be anchored on the building of hundreds and hundreds of new clinics and health centers. These hundreds of new rural clinics and health centers must be supported with thousands and thousands of new Para-medical staffs and drugs.

Under this blue print of new rural health care delivery systems for Nigeria, we must also remember the traditional man and his traditional medicine and as we remember this sector, let also accept the urgent task of the reclassification and revaluation of existing traditional medicine – in order to ascertain its level of development and efficacy. In sum, Nigeria must undertake the modernisation and scientification of its own traditional medicine. If we do these, modern and traditional medical systems will compete with themselves in Nigeria to lead the conquest of diseases and death among the human race of the world.

In sum, Nigeria needs a reconstructed and reliable health care delivery system whose main goals are the building of a strong healthy nation.

One of the primary messages of this section is – after centuries of traditional agriculture with traditional technology, it is now imperative for Nigeria to move to higher levels of modernised agriculture with modern high technology. It is equally imperative that Nigeria must now move from low levels of small-scale traditional farms to higher level of mechanised large scale farming.

• Prof Ola

This new master plan of health care delivery systems would produce strong and sane individuals in the society. These plans would produce the new restored and recreated peoples of Nigeria. There must be a new national realisation that the reduced man, the ruined individual of reduced and ruined health inherent in sick societies, can never lead the building of new nations and civilizations. Faced with the perennial presence of diseases everywhere around us, Nigeria like the endangered human species must avoid the threats of the installmental extinction of its peoples.

PART C: New infrastructure and ecosystem for Nigeria In building nations and empires, man ancient and modern have over centuries and millennium rebuilt and restructure the surface of the earth.

Successful nations and empires had struggled to build infrastructure and ecosystem that would promote the power, protection and prosperity of their imperial and national territory.

The nascent nation of Nigeria of the latest 100 years has made on its own monumental efforts to build its own infrastructure and ecosystem.

Many of these systems enduring and useful, are still in existence all over the nation. Many of them on the other hand, have disappeared or collapsed over the decades. Whatever be the present infrastructural situation in Nigeria, the main fact is that the present infrastructural and ecosystems of the nation are at present, inadequate, inappropriate, inefficient and insufficient. It is in recognition of this facts that we are now putting this proposal of new infrastructural and ecosystem for Nigeria.

Urban renewal The new infrastructure and ecosystem of Nigeria should begin with plans and programmes of urban and rural renewal – The restructuring and the replanning of where and when the states should build their own infrastructure, the rural areas must not be forgotten. They must also undergo rural renewal and reconstruction, they must enjoy new rural road network which brings inter-rural and rural-urban connection.

New ecosystems for the nation It is on record that Nigeria of past centuries faced problems of ecological control and ecological disaster. Faced with perennial rainstorms, rain and river floods, tidal waves and surges of the oceans and seas, multiple and deep gulleys, erosion channels; misunderstood and uncontrollable ecosystem were parts and parcels of the lives of the Nigerian man and the Nigeria nation. Lost environmental controls have brought devastating disasters to Nigeria of past and recent times. Given the above ecological trends of the past and present, Nigeria now of necessity needs a new master ecosystem. With the help of satellites and high technology, Nigeria must now produce new air and ground survey maps of Nigeria dams, rivers, gulleys and erosion channels – in order to produce a new master plan of ecosystems. Nigeria must undertake the construction of comprehensive erosion channels in the cities.

Our new ecosystem for Nigeria must be supported with the latest metrological sciences and signals which will give us advance notice about oncoming unfavourable weather and climatic changes. Our new ecosystem must also be vigorously supported with environmental sanitation and controls in the urban and rural areas of Nigeria.

• To be continued Opeyemi Ola is a retired professor of Political Science and former member of the House of Representatives in the Second Republic

37

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

EDUCATION UNILORIN FILE

UNILAG introduces degree programme in terrorism

T

HE University of Lagos (UNILAG), has joined the global campaign of finding solution to the problem of terrorism.

It is to introduce a degree programme in Terrorism Studies to complement efforts to curb terrorism.

UNILAG Vice-Chancellor Prof.

Adetokunbo Sofoluwe said the “university will blaze the trial by introducing a bachelor’s degree programme in Terrorism Studies, which will meet counter-terrorism challenges and risk of evolving anti-terrorism techniques and counter - terror of threats.”

The programme, Sofoluwe, who spoke at a pre-convocation news conference, said, will incorporate: Key issues in international terrorism; Terrorist ideologies aims, belief and motivation; Terrorist modus operandi; International policing policy; Cyber Terrorism; Critical in fracture protection; Aviation Terrorism and security; Martime Terrorism and Security, among others.

Though silent on when the programme will take off, Sofoluwe said by introducing the programme, UNILAG would be

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

setting the pace for other institutions.

He spoke of six other programmes that will make their debut next year. They are Nursing, Medical Laboratory Technology, Geology, Fisheries, Geo-Physics, and Early Childhood.

Sofoluwe said the institution has enjoyed increased partnerships with individuals and corporate organisations that have supported in terms of provision of scholarships, endowments, and donations of facilities.

He said: "The university secured scholarships, aids and facilities for students. On March 25, 2011, the university presented endowment

scholars awards to 495 students.

LG Electronics awarded scholarships worth $15,000 ($1,500 each) to 10 undergraduates in 400 and 500 Level with Cumulative Grade Point Averages of between 4.0 and 4.9.

“The recipients also enjoyed placement for industrial training.

We persuaded the MD to consider giving the best student an opportunity to visit the company's headquarters in South Korea. We also urged them to extend the largesse to members of staff.

"Chellarams Industry Plc has entered into a partnership agreement with the University of Lagos to establish Entrepreneurship Skills Acquisition Centre. The partnership will also include the institution of

‘The university will blaze the trial by introducing a bachelor’s degree programme in Terrorism Studies which will meet counter-terrorism challenges and risk of evolving anti-terrorism techniques and counter - terror of threats’

Freshers urged to be focused

• Sofoluwe

a professorial chair in the management sciences and annual scholarship awards to cover tuition, accommodation, books and some amount of money for two undergraduate students. The Lagos State chapter of the UNILAG Alumni Association facilitated the partnership.

"We are trying to establish digital libraries. The former ProChancellor and Chairman of Governing Council of the university, Chief Anthony Mbanefo, as well as a former student, Oluwaseyi Esho, have donated funds to assist us in this regard."

11 ‘outstanding’ IBB Varsity workers honoured

E

LEVEN members of staff of Niger State-owned Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University (IBBU), Lapai have received awards for outstanding performance last year.

The recipients include an Indian, Dr. Niranjan Kumar, who got an award for being the best long serving staff of the institution.

Presenting the awards to the beneficiaries, the Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof Ibrahim Kolo, said the honour is to encourage hard work.

Kolo said the award, the second in the series, is to enhance excellence and commitment. He added that the award has encouraged com-

From Jide Orintunsin, Minna

petition among the staff.

Praising the workers for the institution's achievements last year, Kolo said the school was able to surmount most of its challenges through satff commitments.

Identifying the development of a five-year academic strategic plan

‘We are seriously looking forward for partnership with first generation universities in Nigerian and abroad for areas of interest that will enable us to actualise the developmental goals of IBBU, Lapai’

Adamawa violence: AUN reassures students, parents

T

for 2011-2015 as one of the major achievement last year, Kolo said the document has since been praised by the National Universities Commission (NUC).

He also said during the period under review, the institution submitted 15 new academic programmes to the NUC for accreditation.

"We are seriously looking forward for partnership with first generation universities in Nigerian and abroad for areas of interest that will enable us actualise the developmental goals of IBBU, Lapai," he said.

Responding on behalf of the recipients, Prof Nuhu Obaje, who received award of ''Most ResearchOriented Academic Staff of the Year", commended the school for the honour. He pledged that they would strive to sustain the tempo of hard work.

Other recipients of the award and monetary incentives included Mr Terhemba Wuam, who crowned the 'Most Published Academic Staff of the Year' award.

HE American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola, has reassured the university community including parents that the institution will always act in their best interest, despite the recent security challenges its host community.

The President of AUN, Dr. Margee Ensign, said in a recent blog on Nigeria that the university is prepared to arrange the airlifting of returning students, faculty and staff to Yola to start the spring 2012 semester beginning this month.

"If there is a need to charter planes to bring back our students (both our secondary students as well as university students) faculty, and staff, we will do that and will inform you of your options," she said in the blog entry sent to The Huffington Post, an online medium.

She reiterated the AUN mission as a development university contributing to improving lives of people in the community and country, and ensuring that students understand and learn solutions to their country's problems.

"Our students teach literacy in prisons, work with orphans and HIV/ It is only with AIDS patients and teach education, local teachers how to use employment computers. It is only with and better education, employment access to health and better access to care that the health care that the problems facing Nigeria problems facing and many poor countries • President of Fresh Streams Youth Organisation, Ayodeji Abimbola, a youth corps member, Nigeria will be a certificate to one of the participants of a week-long training programme for will be solved," she said. presenting solved undergraduates in Lagos.

NEW students of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) have been told to treasure their admission given that for each of 6,926 admitted, more than two others could not be admitted, though qualified.

Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof Is-haq Oloyede said during their matriculation that 22,969 out of the 30,040 applicants met the 50 per cent benchmark for admission in the post-UTME screening but could not all be absorbed because of the carrying capacity limit.

He, therefore, counselled the lucky few to make the best of the opportunity by being focused and giving their academics their best.

"Having come this far, it is, therefore, important that you sit up and guard your admission jealously. All what this requires is for you to work hard and look before you leap. When you work hard, you will not have any academic problem that will threaten your status or good standing. When you look before you leap, you will not violate the university rules and regulations and your character will be unblemished," he said.

N442m facilities for WAUG THE authorities of the UNILORIN have invested N442 million in sporting infrastructure and facilities to host the 13th West Africa University Games (WAUG) now scheduled for March 27 to April 7.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, made this known while addressing a press conference at the Kwara State Government House to announce the new date of the games.

He gave the details of the cost to include: Tartan tracks and field (N166million), renovation of old pavilion (N24million), renovation of indoor sports hall (N33million), construction of a new pavilion (N71million), and procurement of 59-seater Marcopolo bus (N52million).

Others are: synthetic floor and aesthetics equipment (N45million), renovation of courts and construction of new handball, tennis, basketball, volley ball courts (N35million), and the provision of plastic chairs for the old pavilion (N16million) bring the total to N442 million.

Oloyede noted that the WAUG could not go ahead as planned this month because it clashed with the games of the Ghanaian universities.

PTA elects officers THE Parent-Teacher Association of the University School, UNILORIN, has elected officers to run its affairs.

In the election, the following emerged as members of the Executive Committee: Dr A. O. Oniye (Chairman), Mr A. E. Afolabi (Vice-Chairman), Mr S. A. Olomo (Secretary), Mr. S. Alfa (Assistant Secretary), Dr K.A. Yahaya (PRO), Mrs T. M. Olujide (Financial Secretary), Mrs M. E. Bojuwoye (Treasurer), Mr M. J. Akanbi (Auditor), Mr Festus Ogunyinka (Ex-Officio) In his acceptance speech after the election, the new chairman, Dr. Oniye, solicited the co-operation of parents to continue to make the school a dream school for all. He promised to run an open door administration that would ensure participatory development of the school, smooth teaching and learning by teachers and pupils.

He also committed himself to the well-being of the community.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

38

EDUCATION SCHOLARSHIP

AUN FILE Varsity promises exciting time THE 2012 fall semester of the American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola, Adamawa State, which began on January 3, will be productive and exciting, its president, Dr Margee Ensign, has said.

"Several new initiatives will be noticed on resumption this semester, including an upgrade in the operation of the campus security," she said in a welcome message.

She said work is ongoing on the construction of all new buildings on campus. The new projects include the University Library, hotel and conference center and a massive hall for this year's and future commencement ceremonies.

Dr. Ensign also said some new faculty members have joined the university. They include Sooriyakumar Krishnapillai, who has just completed his PhD and will teach at the Economics department; Dave Matthews, who will resume duties as Instructor and Co-ordinator of Developmental Mathematics in the summer at the Maths department; Prof Pat Lambert, a former American Peace Corps member in Nigeria, and Dr. Oyebanjo Lajubutu, who will fully assume duty in February as Assistant Vice-President, Institutional Effectiveness.

Ag Dean for Arts, Sciences DEAN of the AUN School of Business and Entrepreneurship, Dr Craig Pearce, has assumed duty as the Interim Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. He took over from Dr Cortland Smith, a professor emeritus, who concluded his semester-long term as Interim Dean.

President Margee Ensign, who announced the additional responsibility had also mentioned that John Leonard, a professor of Economics, will now perform the role of Associate Dean of Arts & Sciences. She commended both faculty members for their commitment and dedication to AUN, and used the opportunity to update members of faculty on the outcome of efforts to recruit a new Dean of SAS.

NUJ visits campus NINETY national executive members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) have visited the AUN to inspect its campus and facilities.

The journalists were in the university town for a national meeting of the NUJ. The delegation inspected AUN facilities, including the Library, classrooms, cafeteria and hostels.

AUN's spokesman and Assistant Vice-President for Public Relations and Communications, Mr Abba Abubakar Tahir, who guided the journalists during a tour of the campus said the visitors were highly inspired by AUN's wireless internet connectivity, stable electricity and unique community diversity.

In his remarks, the NUJ President, Mr Mohammed Garba, said the team was indeed, impressed with all AUN, had achieved since inception.

He extended the union's appreciation to the University's President, Dr. Margee Ensign, for the good works on campus and promised that NUJ would support worthy projects like those at AUN. "We will continue to support and encourage such projects like these so that eventually we will be able to have a better Nigeria."

APPROACHING DEADLINES Contact: Dr. Anna Hofmann

PhD in Migration Studies Call for applications The Bucerius Ph.D. Scholarship Program in Migration Studies The ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius requests applications for 6-8 Ph.D. Scholarships in migration studies.

The Bucerius Ph.D. scholarship program in migration studies "Settling Into Motion" offers up to eight scholarships for Ph.D. theses addressing migration in changing societies. For 2012, research applications on "Migration in and to the Global South" are especially welcome. Qualified Ph.D. students of - in a broad sense - social sciences can apply until 23 February 2012.

Please find further information as well as the online application on the program's website: www.settling-into-motion.de Focus 2012 For 2012, research applications on "Migration in and to the Global South" are especially welcome.

Both the United Nations Population Division and the World Bank estimate that globally the Southsouth migration accounts for about 50per cent of all migration from the South. If irregular migration was included, these estimates would be even higher.

The population movements between developing countries and emerging economies usually take place within regions, often between countries with contiguous borders. The differences in income between sending and receiving countries are much smaller than those in case of South-North migration. In addition, the South-South movements are very dynamic - their directions and patterns frequently change and some countries are at the same time both sending and receiving migrants. However, despite its scale and complexity, the South-South migration still remains poorly understood and understudied, largely because of the incomplete and unreliable data.

Ph.D. students dealing with migration processes in and to the Global South are invited to apply for a scholarship. We encourage the following topics, but will also consider other approaches: - Changing migration patterns in and to the Global South - Challenges of incoming migration in developing countries - Reception of immigration in destination countries: policies and discourses - Migration and citizenship legislation - Remittances, their costs and effects - Migration and social development - Internal migration, urbanization and social change

Program Director Research and Scholarship ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius Feldbrunnenstrasse 56 20148 Hamburg Germany Tel.: 0049-40-41336-785 Fax: 0049-40-41336-700 E-Mail: hofmann@zeit-stiftung.de http://www.zeit-stiftung.de END Masters Scholarship in Transport Studies at the Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds in UK 2012/2013 Study Subject(s):Transport Studies Course Level:Masters Scholarship Provider: Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds Scholarship can be taken at: UK Eligibility: a) Applicants must first hold an offer (conditional or unconditional) of an academic place for an ITS Masters degree for the academic year commencing September 2012. b) Applicants must be designated as 'international fee status' by the University of Leeds, and not be domiciled in the UK/EU. Scholarship Open for International Students: Yes Scholarship Description: ITS reserves the right not to make a scholarship award or to offer one or more partial fee waivers; the scholarship recipient will be expected support the future development and promotion of the scholarship and ITS, by participating in ITS marketing activities; the academic progress of scholarship recipient will be subject to on-going review - ITS reserves the right to withdraw funding at the end of either semester should academic performance be unsatisfactory; the scholarship cannot be deferred and will lapse if not taken up in September 2012.

How to Apply: Email, Post Scholarship Application Deadline: June 8, 2012

Varsity pro-chancellor urges staff, students to be diligent

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RO-CHANCELLOR and Chairman, Governing Council of Achievers University, Owo, Ondo State, Dr Bode Ayorinde, has urged staff and students to be diligent.

He spoke at the university's "Fifth Starting with God", a yearly prayer service organised to start academic activities in the new year.

He said the university would do everything to ensure staff and students’ well-being. He added that by April 2, 2013, when the university turns five, all units and departments would have moved to the permanent site.

Ayorinde enjoined students to be disciplined, as the institution will do everything to protect its name and motto: "Knowledge, Integrity and Leadership".

"We want our products to acquire knowledge with integrity, and provide quality leadership for the country," he said.

Earlier, Venerable Samuel Ojowuro of St. Michael's Anglican Church, Imeri, Ondo State, guest preacher at the event, told Nigerians that the hard times they were facing was a necessary sacrifice they have to make to take the nation to new heights. Ojowuro, who was making reference to the recent removal of oil subsidy by the Federal Government, implored Nigerians to endure the testing times, as this would be the price they would have to pay for the country's socio-economic development.

He said: "Trouble is an essential part of a man's journey, from con-

• Prof Samuel Oyewole, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Prof Odebiyi; Dr Ayorinde, his wife, Adejoke, and Dr Ojo, at the service

ception to birth. Those who must bring about new things must be troubled. No freedom comes cheap."

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof Adebayo Odebiyi, while welcoming workers and students back after the yuletide holidays, urged them to imbibe Ojowuro's message.

He said he was convinced that 2012 was a positive turning point in the annals of the university as it would graduate its first set of students on January 28.

While urging all staff to face the challenge of building a first-class university, the Vice-Chancellor asked them to examine their past actions and judge if they had contributed positively or negatively to the realisation of the vision and mission of the university.

"All hands must be on deck; watch what you do as we have to build the university together," he said.

Venerable R. A. Agboola led a special prayer for the university and the nation, while Venerable J. O.

Okupe read the only Bible passage at the service.

The service, organised by the university's Chapel of Grace and Glory led by Rev. Samuel Oladimeji, Director of Students Affairs, was also attended by Prof Samuel Oyewole, Deputy Vice-Chancellor; Dr Tinuade Ojo, Registrar; Mr. Dokun Farinre, Ag. Bursar; and Prof Sesan Ayodele, Dean, College of Social and Management Sciences, and his Natural and Applied Sciences counterpart, Prof Stephen Shoyinka.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

39

EDUCATION

Canadian education fair for Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna

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HE Ninth edition of the Canadian Education Fair will hold in three states in Nigeria next week.

According to a statement, the Lagos fair to be declared open by the State Education Commissioner, Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye, will hold between January 23 and 25 at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island.

The statement issued by the Deputy High Commission in Lagos, said Abuja fair, will hold between January 27 and 28 at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers, Abuja. The Kaduna fair which is holding in the state for the first time, will be on January 29 at the Royal Tropicana Hotel.

Over 40 Canadian institutions and agencies, including universities, colleges as well as secondary schools, will present their expertise, capabilities and programmes to foreign and Nigerian students at the fair, which is open to all, especially parents, Parents-Teachers Associations of secondary schools, staff and students. They will also help Nigerian parents to make decisions on schools and courses for their wards.

Representatives of the Canadian High Commission will be present to provide information on study permits and visas. Some Nigerian banks will showcase banking products available to international students.

Schools hold prayer summit

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TANDARD Mandate International (SMI), an educational support service consult, has organised a prayer summit for private schools from Lagos and environs at the Chapel of Christ the Light, Alausa.

Pastor Ayodele Nelson, Managing Consultant of SMI, said the aim was to pray for stakeholders in the education sector and Nigeria.

"The primary objective is to pray for schools, children, staff, parents and the country," he said.

Nelson, who led the prayer session, committed the year into God's hands, prayed for God's protection upon school children, and for wisdom, understanding, moral and academic excellence.

He urged teachers and school owners who govern learning environments to pray for God's wisdom upon their lives to enable them to create strategies which will be effective in their various schools targeted at enhancing knowledge.

As the previous year was full of violence of different forms, the Pastor prayed for a better new year as the year is already perceived to be full of hardship.

Mrs Bisi Martins, Proprietress, Diamond Private School, lauded the

By Jane Chijioke

event.

"This programme is annually done to ask for God's intervention and also to achieve success in return," she said.

In the new year, she urged the government to support private school operators more as partners in education service delivery.

She said: "The initiative of going into education is for the benefit of our children. Left in the hands of the government alone, we might not attain that height that we are really pursuing. In view of this, we can not deprive our own children of getting world-class education. As the year begins, we are optimistic that government will give us the support, encourage school owners in terms of minimising the stress and levies and also to achieve excellence on the students 'performance.

"Poor teachers are also fallout of the falling standard of education.

The school owner cannot teach every student, so we look for training programmes to improve the teachers. Some people even go into teaching job because they do not have something else to do and they deliver so poorly in class."

Arts, crafts conference to empower pupils

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T is skills building time for public school pupils in Lagos State. Educraft, a non-profit organisation that teaches craft, commences its arts and crafts conference from January 27 to February 15 in the six education districts of the state.

The conference being organised in collaboration with the Lagos State Ministry of Education for SS1SS3 pupils has as theme, Youth empowerment, catalyst for Lagos development.

Addressing reporters at a briefing at the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board, Maryland, Educraft Chief Executive Officer, Mrs Mojisola Olabinmi, said the conference would provide pupils with a platform to identify their talents, improve the quality of craft, create awareness on career opportunities, develop entrepreneurial skills, and network.

Mrs Olabinmi, who is an instructor, fashion designer, events decorator and also specialises in handcraft, said the skills gained from the conference would boost pupils' professional career in future.

"When these students are empowered, they can eke out a living for themselves rather than depend solely on regular employment," she

• The vandalised Education District V Resource Centre

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

said.

While emphasising that vocational education is not for dropouts or dullards, she said beneficiaries of these skills would be busy earning income rather than roaming the streets as jobless miscreants. To this end, she urged private institutions to assist government by investing in vocational skills training for young ones.

"We have a lot of organisations sponsoring shows for young Nigerians in the area of dance and music but it would be a lot more beneficial if they can also extend these talent hunts to areas such as fashion designing, catering, cosmetology, interior decoration, dress making, shoe making and others. These are activities that can engage children with their hands," she said.

She appealed to public-spirited individuals and organisations to assist with sponsorship.

"We need sponsorship from reputable organisations and individuals to enable us reach out to more students. Our goal is to raise a generation of people who can think for themselves and inspire students with desire for achievement and self-improvement," she said.

• The ransacked LGEA office

PHOTOS: ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMILA

Thugs loot Lagos education, district offices

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IKE bees, they swarmed on the building, looting. The security-man fled when he saw them coming.

It all happend last Monday at the Local Government Education Authority (LGEA) and Inspectorate Unit of Education District V, in Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos State.

They came under the guise of being part of those protesting the fuel subsidy removal.

The day had opened with the nationwide strike declared by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the civil society organisations over the policy under the price of petrol, which jumped from N65 per litre to N141. However, things appeared calm until about 10am when a horde of hoodlums suddenly swarmed the streets in the guise of protesting the hike.

But they had a different mission to loot, and the LGEA was one of the first places visited. The LGEA shares premises with the Ojo chapter of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) as well as the Lagos State Ministry of Transportation licensing Unit.

"It was about 10am. The boys numbering about 200 came from Alaba Rago (an Hausa commercial neighbouhood, a stone throw to the

By Adegunle Olugbamila

building). Immediately, I saw them I ran away because I was the only person here and I knew my strength couldn't match theirs. The thugs then forced the gate opened, smashed some of the windscreens of the vehicles within the premises and then stormed the building destroying everything in sight. They started removing air-conditioners, laptops and desktop computers, flat screen television sets and some commercial motocylces seized by the FRSC.

‘The thugs then forced the gate opened and stormed the building destroying everything in sight.

They started removing airconditioners, laptops and desktop computers’

"Meanwhile, I stayed at a safe distance helpless as the hoodlums looted the building. In the midst of the operation, which lasted for over two hours, I called one of our ogas (boss) on phone to intimate him of what was happening. He immediately alerted the DPO of PPL police station who deployed some of his men. But when they arrived and saw the number of the hoodlums looting the building, they were afraid to move close to them.

"About two hours after, the police arrived with more officers but by this time, the entire building had been looted and the few hoodlums left ran off at the sight of the police."

Deputy Director of the District V Inspectorate Unit, Mr Rufus Adebayo, said the cost of stolen items runs into millions of naira.

Speaking through the District Public Relations Officer, Mrs Yinka Okunade, Adebayo told The Nation on phone that the Education Commissioner, Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye, was immediately informed of the development, adding that plans are in the top gear to work with the police to fish out the hoodlums.

"The police are aware of this and investigation is still on course," Adebayo said.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

40

EDUCATION EDUTALK

Community honours VC

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ICE-CHANCELLOR, of Ekiti State University (EKSU), Prof Patrick Aina, has been told to use his experience to develop the institution.

The Oluloro of Iloro Ekiti, Oba Michael Arowole, gave the charge at a reception to honour Aina, who hails from the town.

The monarch advised Aina to be diligent in his assignments, adding that the people of the town were proud of his achievements and would continue to pray for his success.

Later, at a well-attended reception organised by the Iloro Ekiti Progressive Union Aina at the Wuraola Hotel, the National President, Chief Daralegbe

Ogunmola, said the appointment was worth celebrating.

He, however, appealed to the university community to support the Vice Chancellor in implementing the programmes contained in his vision for the institution.

On the occasion where a large number of EKSU workers and Principal officers, aside dignitaries from the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife and other institutions.

The Vice-Chancellor and his wife were presented with gifts by the community in appreciation of his contributions to the development of the town.

Responding, Aina said the honour and reception accorded

The Value of time

P • Aina

him would give him more impetus to work hard to lift EKSU to the highest level.

He expressed gratitude to the monarch and the Iloro Union as well as National Association of Iloro Students for the honour.

• Soares (in white attire) flanked by other members of the council during the meeting.

Agric College council holds inaugural meeting

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HE Chairman, Governing Council of the Oyo State College of Agriculture, Igboora, Mr Babatunde Soares, has charged its stakeholders to be more committed to its vision.

He spoke at the inaugural meeting of the Governing Council.

Soares, a lawyer, said the council will provide enabling an environment for the production of trained agricultural manpower,

provision of technical knowledge and skills in agriculture, necessary for industrial, commerce and economic development.

The Acting Provost, Prof Jacob Gbemiga Adewale, while responding on behalf of the management, workers and students pledged to work with the Governing Council to take the college to

greater heights.

Adewale added that the institution would not relent in providing excellent agricultural training through its National Diploma and short-term training programmes for all.

Other members of newly constituted Council include: Hon. Joseph Ogunmola, Mrs Abosede Ogunwale and Mr James Ogunjobi.

Students differ on health scheme

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TUDENTS' leaders at the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Kwara State have disagreed on the usefulness of the proposed National Health Insurance Scheme programme for students of federal tertiary institutions.

Under the scheme, students can access health care anywhere in the country by paying a stipend.

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

When the authorities of the university consulted with the leaders, comprising the executive, legislative and judiciary arms of the Students Union as well as various Faculty and Departmental presidents, some lauded the idea because of the benefits, but others were sceptical.

After collating opinions, the

‘Under the scheme, students can access health care anywhere in the country by paying a stipend... The University is sourcing their opinions using the university radio station, UNILORIN 89.3 FM, and text messages’

with

Vice-Chancellor, Prof Is-haq Oloyede, who chaired the meeting attended by principal officers, provost, deans and directors, agreed that the issue be taken to the students before coming up with a position.

The University is sourcing their opinions using the university UNILORIN 89.3 FM radio station, and text messages.

The Vice-Chancellor also used the occasion to warn students to desist from acts capable of putting their lives in danger in view of the state of the nation. He assured them that the university would continue to provide transportation at the old rate in order to cushion the effect of the hike in fuel prices.

Speaking further, he said the University is committed to ensuring that all students complete their degree as scheduled.

ROFESSOR Is-haq Oloyede’s speech during the 2011/2012 matriculation of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) on January 5 tagged “Look before you Leap” is one that I hope the 6,926 freshmen that swore the matriculaKofoworola tion oath took to heart.

When I read the speech, the Belo-Osagie part that struck me the most was what an unnamed author he Kofosagie@yahoo.com quoted said about the value of 08054503077 (SMS only) time. The lessons in the piece is apt not only for the undergraduates but for those in secondary yet to gain admission into the higher institution. It goes thus: “To realise the value of a life-time, ask a person in the last throes of death. To realise the value of four years, ask the captain/coach whose team does not qualify for the World Cup or a politician that has just lost an election. To realise the value of a year, ask a student who has a spill-over or the one that fails WAEC/UTME. To realise the value of one month, ask a woman who has given birth to a premature baby. To realise the value of one week, ask the editor of a weekly paper. To realise the value of one day, ask a daily wage earner who has ten mouths to feed. To realise the value of one hour, ask the person that was late for a job interview. To realise the value of one minute, ask a person who has missed a flight to an important destination. To realise the value of one second, ask a person who has luckily avoided a head-on collision with an articulated vehicle or trailer. To realise the value of one millisecond, ask a person who is placed second in an Olympic race”.

Nigeria will not be participating in the African Cup of Nations that kicks off on January 20 in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. It will take another two years before we get another opportunity to feature. It cost former Super Eagles coach, Samson Siasia his job.

He best understands the value of the chance he missed to prove his mettle. Unfortunately, he does not have that chance anymore.

The value of one year is indeed clear to candidates that fail to make the required grades in the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) or the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). To try again, means to wait for another 365 days when the examinations would be conducted again. Unfortunately, many times when trying to counsel teenagers, especially secondary school pupils preparing for external examinations, to be focused on their studies and forget about having fun for a while, the advice usually falls on deaf ears. They get carried away with peer pressure – the need to dress according to the fashion trends of the time, know the chic places, watch the top movies, know how to sing the rank-topping song, and be in tune with social networking.

Going by the statistics of performance in the SSCE released by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO), almost 70 per cent of candidates that sit for the examination are disappointed by their results every year.

Majority of them fail to make the required credits at one sitting and have to combine results. In the process of re-writing the examinations over and over again to make the relevant papers, they lose precious time. It is then they realise that one year is indeed a long time to waste.

For some undergraduates, after being fortunate to be counted among the few that are admitted, they get carried away. Most only realise the value of time when they are almost done with their programme and by their actions or inactions the damage is already done, as far as their results are concerned. More than half finish with mediocre grades, while some do not finish well at all. As is usually the case, it is when they try to get back on track, it is already too late.

The best advice for students, like Prof Oloyede rightly counseled his freshmen, is for them to be focused on the purpose of their being in the university from the time they are admitted till the time they graduate.

Any student that meditates on what the author quoted above wrote on the value of time, can hardly go wrong.

‘To realise the value of a life-time, ask a person in the last throes of death. To realise the value of four years, ask the captain/ coach whose team does not qualify for the World Cup or a politician that has just lost an election. To realise the value of a year, ask a student who has a spill-over or the one that fails WAEC/UTME. To realise the value of one month, ask a woman who has given birth to a premature baby. To realise the value of one day, ask a daily wage earner who has ten mouths to feed. To realise the value of one hour, ask the person that was late for a job interview’

SLIDING TACKLE

“Take Torres and his [goalscoring] crisis. If you decide to invest so heavily in him you have to sell Drogba"

Thursday, January 19, 2012

42

R A F A E L N A D A L Wednesday without much advanced to the third round trouble from his opponent of the Australian Open on or his injured right knee.

Rival Roger Federer got through without picking up a racket.

Nadal beat German veteran Tommy Haas 6-4, 63, 6-4 in a 2 1/2-hour match, declaring that the twisted tendon in the heavily taped knee was not a concern.

Just before Federer was due on Hisense Arena, the Swiss player found out that his scheduled opponent, Germany's Andreas Beck, had a back injury and had to withdraw.

"Now, I'll just take it easy this afternoon and come out tomorrow and hit intensely, and then I'll be ready for the next match," said Federer, a four-time Australian Open •Nadal winner.

•Drogba

Henry doubtful for Man Utd’s visit to Arsenal

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HIERRY HENRY’s return to The Emirates last week lit up the stadium in a way fans have seldom seen since its 2006 opening.

The electric atmosphere stirred up among Arsenal fans, merely in reception of the Frenchman’s presence, was a key factor in the home side’s 1-0 triumph over Leeds, as Henry raced off the bench to score the winner. He looks unlikely to repeat that feat this weekend, however, with the iconic striker very doubtful to take part against Manchester United after picking up a calf injury in training.

C

ARLO Ancelotti has advised his successor at Chelsea manager, Andre Villas-Boas, to sell saying the Ivorian is cramping the style of striker Fernando Torres.

Ancelotti, who was sacked by Chelsea in May said: "Didier is like Filippo Inzaghi, he tends to devour whoever is in his way. It is not malice, they are just

made like that."

"Take Torres and his [goalscoring] crisis. If you decide to invest so heavily in him you have to sell Drogba."Drogba has failed to agree to a new one-year contract at Stamford Bridge and looks likely to be leaving the club on a freetransfer when his deal expires at the end of the season.

Chelsea spent a British

transfer record sum of £50 million to sign Torres from Liverpool a year ago, but the Spaniard has repaid the investment with only five goals.

Torres, who has not scored since mid-October, has failed to gel with Drogba and, in recent weeks, Ancelotti's successor Villas-Boas has been playing just one striker up front.

ANDY RODDICK of the USA, shown last week with his new hairstyle, will play mixed doubles with Serena Williams.

The American stars, longtime friends, have signed up to play mixed doubles in Melbourne, and they've drawn the top seeds in the tournament, Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic and Mike Bryan of the USA. Williams and Roddick have hinted that they would perhaps like to team up at the 2012 Olympics in London. It's the first time mixed doubles will be part of the program at the Olympics.

In a Twitter post last week, Williams said she had a dream about playing with

Roddick — who shaved his head into a sort-of mohawk recently — in mixed doubles: "In my dream I was playing mixed with @andyroddick and we were playing against Mr. T and Andy kept missing and could not beat Mr. T”

•Serena

Kaká denies PSG agreement

R

EAL MADRID midfielder Kaká insists reports claiming he was on the verge of joining Paris SaintGermain are not true.

Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello sport today reported that PSG had agreed

a €25 million deal with Real Madrid for Kaká and that the transfer could be finalised if the Brazilian international could agree personal terms with the French club. ''It's not true that I made any agreement with another club,’’ Kaka said on his twitter

account.

Adding: ''I am totally focused on following my personal and collective goals at Real Madrid.'’

Chelsea signs three Luton Town brothers in £1m deal

Toon signs £10m Demba Cisse

•Henry

Former Chelsea manager, Carlo Ancelotti, urging Andre Villa-Boas to send Didier Drogba away, so Fernando Torres can perform.

PAPISS DEMBA Cisse became Newcastle's new No 9 on Tuesday night when he completed a £10million deal.

The Senegal striker flew to Tyneside to have a medical and finalise personal terms after the club agreed the fee with SC Freiburg, as exclusively revealed by Sportsmail. Now Cisse will join a legendary list of names who have worn the

famous shirt, including Jackie Milburn, Alan Shearer, Andy Cole and Malcolm Macdonald.

He told the Magpies' website: 'I am aware of the importance of the No 9 shirt, and when I spoke with the manager he made it very clear how important this shirt is. I will treat it with the respect and I hope to do my very best in this shirt.

C

•Kaká

HELSEA have c o m p l e t e d a remarkable deal which will see them sign three brothers from Luton Town for a fee which could rise up to £1 million.

Jay Dasilva, 13, and twins Rio and Cole, who are a year younger, have joined the Premier League side from the Blue Square Premier outfit after spending five years with

the Hatters’ academy.

Speaking about the deal, Luton head of youth Gregg Broughton is quoted by the BBC as saying: "This is a historic deal to see three brothers transferred together.

"Following our loss in the play-offs last season we were told that the boys wished to look at other options, as was their prerogative to do so.

43

THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

POLITICS THE NATION

E-mail:- politics@thenationonlineng.net

Last month’s Supreme Court judgment that handed the Masari faction control of the Katsina State Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) has altered the political equation in the state. ISAH IDRIS spoke with major players on the political field and reports ripples in the party.

Supreme Court and fresh ripples in Katsina CPC W HAT started like a minor disagree ment among the two factions in Katsina chapter of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) led by Hon. Aminu Bello Masari and Senator Yakubu Lado Damarke over the party’s state Congress, swept through the party’s Governorship and National Assembly primaries and ended in long court battles until it was decided last December 16 last year by the Supreme Court.

After the failure of party’s selection committee and controversial state congress held midDecember at the Katsina polo ground, where Lado was declared winner of the election with 20 officials and 98,053 votes over Masari alleged to have won 13,020 votes, the battle of wits intensified at the primaries that came up two weeks later.

Eventually, primaries got cancelled and fresh primaries were ordered for January 13.

A letter to that effect dated January 12, 2011 and signed by the Chairman of the Congress Committee, Col. Bala Mohammed Hassan was addressed to the Resident Electoral Commissioner Alhaji Abubakar Umar Wara, requesting INEC‘s cooperation in the rescheduled primaries. But, the decision was unacceptable to Lado group, as it accused Masari of hijacking the electoral materials.

Lado’s men consequently boycotted the election and factional election was organised on January 15 by group under the chairmanship of the National Vice-Chairman of the party in the North-West. The war of the factions lingered until the Supreme Court Judgment.

The party has not recovered from the split.

Some will argue that the disunity cost CPC that won handsome votes in the presidential poll to lose the governorship seat to the PDP. It has split the party down the line. While the National party headquarters supported the primaries organized by Masari Group that includes Senator Sadiq Yar’adua and Sen. Hadi Sirika among others, the state chapter has adamantly supported Lado. The group includes Alhaji Ahmed Sani Stores and Abdu Umar Yandoma throughout the crisis refused shifting ground.

The state party chairman, Dr. Yusha’u Armaya’u also compiled names of candidates sponsored by the Lado group recognised by the state secretariat, forwarded it to the party headquarters for submission to INEC, but was rejected. This precipitated the court action by Senator Lado’s group. At the Federal High Court Abuja, Lado filed a case against officers of the National Headquarters and the Masari

N

• Buhari

• Masari

‘The greater challenges that stare CPC in the face today, after the judgment, is the fast approaching local government election whose drum keeps beating louder. For CPC to make any meaningful impact, the “No Victim, No Vanquished” slogan must be strengthened quickly by bringing together the two factional groups as a united family’ group for refusing to submit its group names as winners and candidates.

The presiding Judge, Justice Abdul Kafarati, on February 25 declared Lado as governorship candidate and 15 out of 44 others as candidates of CPC in the April General Elections based on evidence before him. Kafarati held that, consequent upon the amendment of the 1999 constitution and the 2010 Electoral Act

O fewer than 42 indigenes of Ondo State are jostling for governorship across the three main parties; the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Labour Party (LP). The election may hold later this year in the ‘Sunshine State’.

Many of the aspirants have declared their ambition at the ward, local government and state levels as well as on the pages of newspapers. Besides, many are still consulting with their constituencies and friends.

Across the 18 local governments, politics is in the air. There are 203 wards and aspirants are raising personal structures down to family units. In the last general elections, there were 3,009 polling units. Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) sources said the figure may be sustained.

The population of the state is 3.4 million. However, not up to two million would vote at the polls. They include indigenes and sojourners; Igbo, Ebira, Hausa and Yoruba from neighbouring states.

Top on the list of aspirants is LP Governor Olusegun Mimiko, who is the sole aspirant in the ruling party. He is expected to fly the flag of the party along with Deputy Governor Ali Olanusi, if the septuagenarian does not step down on account of old age. Dr Mimiko, a medical doctor, hails from Ondo, in the Central District. Alhaji Olanusi, an Akoko, is from the North District.

Supporters of the governor have said that he deserves a second term. Their argument is that it is not necessary to change a winning team. Continuity in office, they argue, would foster development through the completion of ongoing projects. But ACN chieftain Chief Jamiu Ekungba thinks differently.

He said: “There is a policy in Ondo State that governors will only do one term in office. Ajasin, Adefarati and Agagu

(as amended), the election or nomination of the party’s candidate ceased to be solely the internal affairs of a party because, aggrieved party members can sue if the party guidelines and the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) is breached.

With the judgment and the National Assembly elections victory for CPC that followed on April 19, it translated into victory for Stores

(Katsina Central), Yandoma (Katsina North) and Senator Abu Ibrahim (Katsina South) respectively and twelve others as members of House of Representatives.

Consequent upon the feelings of disappointment and discouragement on the verdict, Hon. Aminu Masari proceeded to Appeal Court in Abuja to reclaim the group mandate which he did.

The judgment which was delivered by Justice Jimi Bada the lead Judge on 20th April, just three days to the governorship election, reversed the judgment of the Federal High Court thereby granting the party governorship mandate to Masari and National Assembly mandates to his factional group.

However, the vibrations and shock from the Appeal Court judgment was monumental as it the CPC intra party crisis and consequently resulted in eventual loss of the governorship ticket. In the same way, Lado and his group, who felt dissatisfied that their mandate, had been submerged, ran to the Supreme Court to reclaim it.

Prior to the Supreme Court Judgment however, the Masari group in their effort to reclaim their mandate approached the High Court at home praying the court to stop the issuance of Certificate of Return (CR) to the Lado group but failed. The High Court Judge held that the case brought to it, was similar and same with the Appeal pending at the Apex Court and so he lacked jurisdiction to entertain it and so dismissed the case, thus paving the way for issuance of Certificate of Return to Yandoma, Sani Stores and eight others.

Similar judgments were delivered to sustain the mandates for Sen. Lado group by the Appeal Court in Kaduna which quashed another verdict by the National Assembly Tribunal that held in Katsina which in line with the earlier judgment delivered by Appeal Court in Abuja in favour of Masari, gave the controversial mandates to PDP candidates on the ground of improper sponsorship of the lawmakers by the CPC. The lawmakers in the Lado camp flew to an Appeal Court in Kaduna to retain the mandate, Appeal Court accordingly vacated the Tribunal verdict in favour of the group.

In the landmark Supreme Court verdict the bubble burst for the Lado group of lawmakers as their mandates were withdrawn and returned to the original set recognised by the • Continued on page 44

42 jostle for Ondo governorship

By Emmanuel Oladesu, Deputy Political Editor

spent only one term. The current governor is an advocate of “one governor, one term”. Why should his be different?”.

Prominent PDP aspirants include Senator Remi Okunrinboye, a lawyer, Olusola Oke, Rotimi Bassey, Jimoh Ibrahim, Hon. Oke Oluwole, Hon. Beatron Ogunleye, Navy Capt. Sunday Adewusi, Alaba Isijola, Moyosola NiranOladunni, and Victor Olabimtan.

Party sources said that community leaders and top party stalwarts are mounting pressure on the former Presidential Adviser on Oil, Mr. Funso Kupolokun, and former Police Inspector General Sunday Ehindero, a lawyer, to join the race.

In ACN, contenders include Prof. Ajayi Boroffice, who defected from LP to the party last December, former Finance Commissioners Wale Akinterinwa and Segun Ojo, former Defence Minister Dr. Olu Agunloye, former House of Representatives member Dr Jayeola Ajatta, state chairman of the party Mrs. Jumoke Anifowose, an industrialist, Mr. Akintola Awodeyi-Akinsehinwa Apata, former Trade Bank Chief Executive Alhaji Jamiu Ekungba, Alhaji Lateef Raji, and former Alliance for Democracy (AD) chairman Sola Iji. Others are Hon. Tayo Alasoadura, Senator Olorunnimbe Farunkanmi, rights activist Dr Tunji Abayomi, frontline lawyer Rotimi Akeredolu and Saka Lawal.

Sources said former LP chairman Chief Olaiya Oni, who defected to ACN last year, is interested in the race. The source added that the race, however, is not a do-or-die affair for him.

Other indigenes said to be nursing governorship ambition across the parties include Senator Omololu Meroyi, Mr. Femi Adekanmbi, Festus Oluwole, Segun Abraham, Hon. Akintade, Kunle Oniya from Ido-Ani, Segun Oke, Adelegbe Timehin, Felix Rawa, Dr. Olu Jolade, Olaiya Aribo, Shola Akinfenwa, Tolu Babalaje, Abdulazeez Bakare, Hon. Odeyemi, Ayodele Adedipe, and Felix Ogunjunilebo.

But to ACN contender Ekungba, there are only eight serious aspirants. “How can somebody who has not administered 10 people aspire to administer a whole state?” he queried, dismissing the ambition of some aspirants as window dressing.

LP has two senators, ACN has one, who defected from LP and PDP has none. All the members of the Houses of Assembly and Representatives as well as elected council functionaries belong to LP. However, scores of LP chieftains have been defecting to ACN ahead of the general election.

“LP is a sinking party, without spread and reach, unlike LP in the UK. The chairman resigned and accused the governor of running the party alone. That is not a progressive party“, intoned Ekungba.

Governor Mimiko has intensified pre-election exhibition of his achievements in all the sectors, especially the novel Child and Mother Hospital (Ile Abiye), road construction, beautification, construction of classrooms and rural development projects. He is perceived by many as a charismatic leader with impeccable records of performance. But, the ACN has insisted that Mimiko parades cosmetic feats, urging the people to consider the imperative of power shift.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

44

POLITICS

New equation in Katsina CPC •Continued from page 43

National headquarters whose duty it is to nominate candidates for all elections on its platform.

Delivering the judgment by a fiveman panel of Justices under the chairmanship of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Dahiru Musdapher, Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen relied on the provisions of sections 221, 222 and 223 of the constitution and sections 85, 86, 87 (ii), 4 and 6, sections 33 and 87 (4) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).

He clarified that section 87 subsection 4 (b) (ii) and c (ii) of the Electoral Act 2006 provided for declaration of winner of the party’s primaries and submission of names to INEC but does not interfere in the power of political parties nominating their candidates. Also cited was the provision of Electoral Act 2010 sections 87 (4) b (ii) c (ii) and 9 (as amended) that is meant to ensure declaration of a winner with the highest votes in the primaries and submission to INEC with stringent conditions for substitution. It, however, the court held, accords political parties the power to nominate a candidate being a pre election matter.

Justice Onnoghen held that, as far as issue in dispute bordered on which of the two primaries confered a right on candidate(s) to represent a political party, the matter rests squarely outside the purview of the provisions in sections 87 (4) b (ii) c (ii) and 9 of 2010 Electoral Act (as amended) and similar provisions in 2006 Electoral Act. While responding to the judgment, CPC publicity secretary, Mr Rotimi Fashaki nexpressed satisfaction stating that the judgment was “merely confirming the party’s prior position”. He added “the judgment has re-affirmed the widely held dictum of the supremacy of in party nomination” assuring that the judgment rather than aggravating the party crises, it will fortify the CPC as indivisible and united family.

New political equation The Supreme Court judgment has cleared the coast as the original winners of the April 2011 General Election have already been issued Certificates of Return and sworn in. So far, Sen. Sadiq Yar’adua has taken over from Sen. Ahmed Sani Stores (Katsina Central), Sen. Hadi Sirka took over from Sen. Yandoma (Katsina north). Similarly, Hon. Ahmed Baba Kaita (Kankia/ Kusada/Ingawa); Hon.Shaibu Umar

Abubakar (Katsina Central); Hon. Salisu Ado Daura (Daura/Mai’adua/ Sandamu); Hon.Salisu Salisco (Kaita/Jibia); Hon.Dr. Muktar Funtua (Funtua/Sandamu;) Hon. Isa Lawal Doro (Mani/Bindawa); Hon. Sani Mashi (Mashi/Dutsi); Hon. Abbas Mashika (Kankara/Faskari) Federal Constituencies, have taken over from the former occupiers of their seats respectively.

Nevertheless, the Supreme Court judgment has not only vested the new party leadership in the Masari in principle, it has changed the political equation in the state.

First, there is now an indication of a renewed power struggle between the ruling party and CPC ahead of the next general election following Masari’s final loss to Governor Ibrahim Shema in the last governorship race to Katsina Government House. He, according to sources, may be warning up for a repeat in 2015.

Secondly, the much anticipated CPC presidential ambition of General Muhammadu Buhari has being brightened and boosted as his sympathy for Masari’s mandate is not in doubt. Buhari has found their partnership more assuring.

However, the fact remains that, Lado whose group has a phenomenal followership spread far and wide in the state has to decide now what to do as all attempts at reconciliation have failed.

The greater challenges that stare CPC in the face today, after the judgment, is the fast approaching local government election whose drum keeps beating louder. For CPC to make any meaningful impact, the “No Victim, No Vanquished” slogan must be strengthened quickly by bringing together the two factional groups as a united family. This done, hope exists for CPC to have some share of some local government seats now fully and firmly controlled by the PDP. Otherwise, PDP may consolidate at the local level.

Senator Abu Ibrahim has been working on harmonizing the two factions. These are interesting times in Katsina State. After the demise of the late President Umaru Yar’ Adua, a new vista opened in the state with General Buhari pushing his political enterprise strongly. Governor Shema was helped by the disunity in the CPC ranks to retain his seat and build a strong PDP structure.

However, with the final apex court verdict, how CPC resolves the Masari versus Lado bickering with decide the party’s future in the state.

Dakuku Peterside is the chairman, House of Representatives’ Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream). In this interview with Assistant Editor OLUKOREDE YISHAU, he speaks on the contentious removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government.

Subsidy: ‘Nigeria needs fresh beginning’ W HAT is your view on removal of fuel subsidy?

My position is the same as other enlightened Nigerians who do not believe we should borrow money to fund our infrastructural programmes, who do not believe that the poor should fund the luxurious lifestyle of the rich, who do not believe that the state should, by its policies, encourage corruption and waste. I am like most informed Nigerians who believe that we urgently need to transit to a deregulation regime where competition should drive businesses in the petroleum sector. I am for the poor; if you like, call me pro-poor legislator. The interest of the poor is what drives my legislative activities. The present arrangement of fuel subsidy is skewed in favour of the rich and middle class against the poor, though the poor seem not to understand the issues at stake.

In other words, you support the removal of fuel subsidy?

Absolutely, I support the removal of fuel subsidy because when all issues are considered in proper perspective, the way it is currently managed, it is against the poor. Deregulation of the downstream sector is the way to go. Fuel subsidy in its present format clearly favours the rich. I also know most Nigerians support the removal of fuel subsidy. Many know the present system is not sustainable. Senator Saraki drew the attention of the nation to the corruption-infested system currently in place on the floor of the Senate and called for its investigation.

What the vocal minority quarrel with is the timing and the fact that Government did not put in place the right building blocks. A few others have questioned and rightly too, if we can

• From left: Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi, assisted by his Deputy Chief Moses Adeyemo (right), decorates the Escort Commander to the Governor, Mr Odusina Julius with his new rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP).

• Peterside

trust our government to apply the proceeds from fuel subsidy savings rightly in addressing pressing infrastructural needs.

So, three issues seem to be militating against removal of subsidy, one is the alleged wrong timing by the Federal Government, the second is broken trust over time and third is the acute lack of consultation and communication. There is no person saying subsidy should not go or that the poor should subsidize the rich. Subsidy is meant to benefit the poor and not the rich, but in Nigeria, the reverse is the case.

Do you think all those who said removal of subsidy is illtimed and that there have been cases of broken trust in the past and that we have not had enough consultations are wrong?

We can never have all things in place at any point in time before we deal with a fundamentally parasitic fiscal issue in the life of our nation. We have been running around this issue for years. I believe the more we delay the more we further expose this nation. Since there is a consensus that subsidy should go or we should deregulate, let us all agree to deal with the other ancillary issues. On the issue of broken trust in the past, I admit it. But it is not President Goodluck Jonathan who dealt a blow to the issue of trust between the people of Nigeria and government as an institution. Let us have a new beginning and give the President and his team a chance. Trust can be rebuilt.

Governor Amaechi in Rivers State is a model case that has shown that trust can be rebuilt and that Government can work for the interest of the people.

Rivers State is a classical case of a situation where government is inspiring the people to greatness.

What is your justification for removal of fuel subsidy?

If you look at all the oil-producing countries, we are the most populous and one of the least developed. It means per capita income is low when compared to other OPEC countries.

The implication is that if we want to catch up with other developed countries, especially in infrastructure, our spending priorities must change. We must make hard decisions, sacrifices, we must get the rich to truly fund their life style; we must deal with the issue of high recurrent spending profile of Government. We must deal squarely with the high cost of running government. All of these provide adequate justification why subsidy should go so we can free the funds to deal with projects that will benefit the poor. The secondary consideration is that we need to attract investments which will lead to job creation which will address poverty. Finally, we must deal with corruption and wasteful spending which has characterized government and fuel subsidy regime in the recent past. I appreciate the fact that the people would have to go through pains momentarily.

However, these pains are part of the necessary sacrifice we have to make for a greater future we all crave for. This is the right time and there is no better time than now.

Are you mindful of the ripple effect the removal of subsidy will have on prices of goods and services?

I am not unmindful of the hardship in the interim removal of fuel subsidy will inflict on Nigerians especially the poor who function in a country where the transportation system and power are dysfunctional. However, the bigger picture is that competition crashes prices, enhances efficiency and effectiveness. You can see what liberalised telecommunication sector did to NITEL; you can see what a liberalised television and radio sub-sector did to NTA and FRCN. We are living witnesses to the fact that changing the name and structure of NEPA or PHCN has not delivered power. The solution is to open up the space, liberalise or deregulate critical sectors of the economy and make them competitive.

Some persons have canvassed for phased removal of subsidy or alternatively that States should pay for the subsidy as some States, mostly in the south consume more products than others?

Fundamentally, the suggestion supports the idea that subsidy should go. It also supports the thesis that it benefits the rich who own all the luxurious cars against the poor.

Neither phased removal of subsidy nor the states paying the subsidy is the ultimate solution. However, those ideas can be examined especially the concept of States giving vouchers to the poor.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

45

THE NATION

NATURAL HEALTH E-mail:- health@thenationonlineng.net

Heart disease though degenerative, can be prevented. The Chief Consultant, Nature Healing Alternatives, Mr Leye Popoola, tells WALE ADEPOJU some of the herbal plants that can be applied to mitigate the disease.

Remedy for heart diseases H

EART disease has been described as the major cause of death in Nigeria.

Chief Consultant, Nature Healing Alternatives, Mr Leye Popoola, who stated this said, cases of heart disease iare on the rise in the country.

This, he said, is due to modernisation, particularly unhealthy diet or sedentary lifestyle and obesity, adding that lack of exercise was a contributory factor. “Inactivity in people may result in heart condition. The way the human body is structured, lack of activity may stop it from functioning efficiently,” he said.

He further said heart disease could be prevented despite being a degenerative disease which had plunged many families into problem. Popoola said: “The disease is not limited to Nigeria alone. It is a worldwide problem affecting the old and young.”

Quoting the America Heart Association, he said: “One in two deaths in the United States (US) is related to heart diseases. An estimated 12 million people in the US who suffer from angina (chest pain), heart attack and other coronary heart diseases are alive.

“The death rate from heart disease or heartrelated diseases has been reduced by about 30 per cent.”

Popoola said coronary heart disease or cardiovascular disease was the damage or malfunction of the heart caused by the narrowing or blockage of the coronary arteries resulting in decreased blood supply to the heart. The disease, like many others, is directly linked to the way we live and eat, he said.

On the causes of heart problem, Popoola said people who take iron tablets or other tablets containing iron without due examination or laboratory confirmation might be susceptible. He further said, the traditional healer, said: “Iron is not easily eliminated from the body. It usually keeps storing up.

Excess iron is of no benefit to the body. If you must take iron, get your ferritin level checked with a simple blood test. If ferritin level is high choose food lacking in iron.

Ugwu vegetable is rich in iron and most people are fond of taken it daily because they think medication doesn’t kill.”

On the symptoms of heart disease, he said, at the early stages of the disease there might be no perceivable symptoms, adding that the first sign of the disease, in most cases, might be a potentially fatal condition. “However, chest pain, heart attacks, pain in the left arm, shortness of breath while climbing the stairs or walking briskly. Irregular heartbeats can also be a symptom depending on the stage of advancement of the disease,” he said.

Congestive heart failure, he noted, usually

• Popoola

•Hawthorn-berries

•Mistletoe

•Ginger

•Garlic

•Bulbs of onion

•Berries

resulted when the heart became fatigued due to artery constriction.

He identified those at risk of heart disease

as people with family history, smokers and drug addicts. Others are diabetics and those with high blood pressure (HBP).

On treatment, Popoola said, a concoction made from hawthorn leaves, berry and mistletoe could provide the succour.

“Hawthorn is the most recognised herb that has positive effect on the heart. As demonstrated by scientific studies, Hawthorn supports metabolic procession heart, dilated coronary vessels, reduces peripherial resistance, lower blood pressure, reduces the tendering of chest pain attacks and strengthens damaged or weak muscles.

“Essential fatty acids known as omega 3 oil have been found to lower cholesterol and triglycerides (fat stored in the body) decrease blood pressure, prevent blood clotting and raise HDL (the cholesterol remover).

“Onion and garlic contain organic sulphur compounds. The substance in garlic appears to work as blood thinner in the same way aspirin does. The allicin in garlic helps to prevent cells destruction, taking up cholesterol and reduces its production in the liver. Onion and garlic are good for the treatment of hypertension and high cholesterol.

“Grape seed extracts is also good for the treatment of heart disease. The French use this a lot in their wine and research shows that they only suffered about 30 per cent of what the Americans suffered in terms of heart diseases.

“Vitamin C and E are good in the prevention of heart diseases. Scientists at Cambridge University and Pap worth Hospital found that taking daily dose of vitamin E reduces having a heart attack by 75 per cent. Vitamin C increases collagen and elasten for stronger arteries. It helps vitamin E in the body to become more effective,” Popoola added.

‘Tips on brain decay prevention’

•Awolade

T

HE Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Foods Force West Africa Limited, Rev. Lawrence Awolade has urged Nigerians to pay attention to some symptoms that

signal brain decay.

He spoke during an interview with The Nation.

He said: “Some of the key symptoms to look for are slow recall; withdrawal from activities; fuzzy memory; difficulty completing tasks; losing things; problems recalling words; poor judgment; confusion with time or place; low mental energy or changes in mood and personality.

“Once you have started to experience any of these symptoms, the time to take action is critical if you want to keep your mind sharp and your memories intact as you age.

“As soon as you start experiencing any or some of these, you need to switch to preventive measures. Experts are alarmed by the sharp rise in the rates of cognitive decline in this country. For example, Alzheimer’s deaths have increased a shocking 46 per cent, and new statistics show that someone develops Alzheimer’s every 72 seconds. The fact is, if you plan on living into your 80’s (which most of us do), then your chances of suffering

By Oyeyemi Gbenga-Mustapha

from significant cognitive decline are as high as 50 per cent. So, with all of our advances in medical science, why are we losing the fight against brain decay?” he pointed out.

He cautioned: “Some people think that being ‘forgetful’ is just a part of getting older.

However, it could, in fact, be an early warning sign of cognitive decline – maybe even your only warning sign. Do not let these signs go unheeded. Since early detection tests have not yet been perfected, you could be experiencing the earliest signs of brain decay and not even know it.

“Our health care system focused on treatment of most diseases, rather than prevention.

However, this approach is incredibly ineffective when it comes to brain decay because by the time it has been officially diagnosed, it is often too late. “According to National Institute on Aging, current drugs can only treat the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, not cure it.

So, with the lack of success with pharma-

ceutical drugs, why is it that doctors are not focusing their attention on alternative options, especially since many have been clinically proven to be extremely effective?

“The biggest mistake you can make is thinking that cognitive decline is something that happens in your 70s or 80s. This is far from the truth. The process of brain decay actually takes decades, and what people typically think of as the “first symptoms,” are actually the final phases. The fact is brain decay often starts in your 40s and 50s, and research out of the University of Virginia shows that the very initial stages can actually be detected as early as age 37.”

Rev Awolade added: “Exciting new research is proving that dietary supplements can provide extremely effective and undeniable results if taken in the correct form.

Foods Force offers help. I recommend a very important and powerful product to feed and protect your brain - Viva.

Resveratrol is good for brain.”

46

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

NATURAL HEALTH

Working during pregnancy: Do’s and don’ts W ORKING during pregnancy isn’t always easy.

Know how to battle symptoms and stay healthy while getting the job done.

Most women can continue working during pregnancy.

Being pregnant, however, might present challenges at the workplace. To stay healthy and productive on the job, understand how to alleviate common pregnancy discomforts — and know when work tasks might jeopardise your pregnancy.

Easing nausea and vomiting It might be called “morning” sickness, but pregnancy queasiness can hit at any time. To ease nausea at work: • Avoid nausea triggers.

That double latte you craved every morning before pregnancy or the smell of foods reheated in the break room microwave might now make your stomach flipflop. Steer clear of anything that triggers nausea.

• Snack often. Crackers and other bland foods can be lifesavers when you feel nauseated. Keep a stash at work for easy snacking. Ginger ale or ginger tea might help, too.

• Drink plenty of fluids.

If you don’t drink enough fluids, your nausea might get worse. Keep a water bottle at your desk or in your work area and sip throughout the day.

Handling fatigue You might feel tired as your body works overtime to support your pregnancy — and resting during the workday can be tough. It might help to: • Eat foods rich in iron and protein. Fatigue can be a symptom of iron deficiency anemia, but adjusting your

diet can help. Choose foods such as red meat, poultry, seafood, leafy green vegetables, iron-fortified wholegrain cereal and beans.

• Take short, frequent breaks. Getting up and moving around for a few minutes can reinvigorate you.

Spending a few minutes with the lights off, your eyes closed and your feet up also can help you recharge.

• Cut back on activities.

Scaling back can help you get more rest when your workday ends. Consider doing your shopping online or hiring someone to clean the house or take care of the yard.

• Keep up your fitness routine. Although exercise might be the last thing on your mind at the end of a long day, physical activity can help boost your energy level — especially if you sit at a desk all day. Take a walk after work or join a prenatal fitness class, as long as your health care provider says it’s OK. • Go to bed early. Aim for seven to nine hours of sleep every night. Resting on your side will improve blood flow to your baby and help prevent swelling. For added comfort, place pillows between your legs and under your belly.

Staying comfortable As your pregnancy progresses, everyday activities such as sitting and standing can become uncomfortable. Remember those short, frequent breaks to combat fatigue? Moving around every few hours can also ease muscle tension and help prevent fluid buildup in your legs and feet. Try these other strategies, too: • Sitting. Adjustable armrests, a firm seat and back cushions, and good lower back support can make long

hours of sitting much easier — especially as your weight and posture change. If your chair isn’t adjustable, improvise. Use a small pillow or cushion to provide extra support for your back.

• Standing. Prolonged standing can cause blood to pool in your legs, which might lead to pain or dizziness. It also puts pressure on your back. If you must stand for long periods of time, put one of your feet up on a footrest, low stool or box. Switch feet every so often, and take frequent breaks. Wear comfortable shoes with good arch support. Consider wearing support hose, too.

• Bending and lifting.

Proper form can spare your back, even if you’re lifting something light. Bend at your knees, not your waist.

Keep the load close to your body, lifting with your legs — not your back. Avoid twisting your body while lifting.

Keeping stress under control Stress on the job can sap the energy you need to care for yourself and your baby.

To minimize workplace stress: • Take control. Make daily to-do lists and prioritize your tasks. Consider what you can delegate to someone else — or eliminate.

• Talk it out. Share frustrations with a supportive co-worker, friend or loved one.

• Relax. Practice relaxation techniques, such as breathing slowly or imagining yourself in a calm place. Or try a prenatal yoga class, as long as your health care provider says it’s OK. Taking proper job precautions Certain working conditions

• To lift correctly, bend at your knees - not at your waist. Keep your back as straight as possible.

Use your leg muscles to stand, keeping the object close to your body.

might increase your risk of complications during pregnancy — especially if you’re at high risk of preterm labor — including: • Exposure to harmful substances • Excessive working hours • Prolonged standing • Heavy lifting • Excessive noise • Heavy vibrations, such as from large machines • High stress • Cold work environment In addition, activities that require agility and good balance might become more difficult later in pregnancy.

If you’re concerned about any of these issues, mention it to your health care provider.

Together you can decide if you need to take special precautions or modify your work duties during your pregnancy.

C u l l e www.mayoclinic.com.

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:

Do you know different forms of sugar

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O you know different forms of sugar?

Sugar is the common term for sucrose, a sweet substance with a crystalline structure, obtained from plants. In the earliest recorded history of sugar, it was extracted from the sugar cane plant. Later, sugar beets became a less expensive source. Another common form of sugar from plants is fructose, which is extracted from fruits.

Sugar is most commonly purchased in granular form and it is mostly thought of as a food and used to enhance the flavor of food. It is commonly used in cakes, cookies, candies and dissolved by the spoonful in coffee and tea. Some experts estimate that westerners consume over one hundred pounds of sugar annually.

As early as the first century, liquid sugar, extracted from plants was known in Europe as an import from the east, but it was regarded as a medicine for the bladder and kidneys rather than a food substance. The process of extracting sugar from sugar cane and crystallising it can be traced to the middle of

• Different forms of sugar

the fourth century in India.

White Sugar White Sugar WHITE sugar, also known as table sugar, is the mostproduced form of sugar in the world. It is a form of refined sugar made from either sugar cane or sugar beet, and is bleached, filtered and spun in a centrifuge to remove any uncrystallized sugar remaining. It is often referred to as sucrose, distinguishing it from fructose, a rival sweetener. Confectioner’s sugar, or powdered sugar, is a ground-up form of

white sugar.

Brown Sugar • Brown sugar is made by mixing refined white sugar with refined or raw molasses, a by-product of sugar production. It ranges in color from light (sometimes referred to as golden) to dark, and consistencies vary from free-flowing to viscose and syrupy. Because brown sugar is refined, it is commonly used in North America and Western Europe, usually in tea and coffee, but also in cooking and baking. It has slightly fewer calories than refined white

sugar.

Demerara Sugar • Demerara Sugar is a natural brown sugar, in the same family of sugars as Turbinado or Asian palm sugar. Instead of being white sugar mixed with molasses, it is made from only partially-refined sugar cane syrup. Muscovado sugar is another variety of natural brown sugar, and is noticeably thicker than other forms.

It is made without being spun in a centrifuge. Demerara is usually used as a flavoring in drinks, but the raw quality of the sugar means it is popular in baking.

Molasses • Molasses is a by-product of the sugar production process and has a syrupy consistency similar to treacle or honey. While it does have a sweet flavor, it also has slightly bitter undertones, which means it can help add depth to both sweet and savory dishes. The darker the molasses, the less sweet it is.

It is mixed with refined white sugar to make brown sugar, but is also a common ingredient in Caribbean and Central American cuisine.

• S o u r c e : www.ehow.com.differentforms-sugar

47

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

NATURAL HEALTH

A 2012 New Year resolution: Healthier digestive system (3)

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causing permanent health damage. Germs and inflammation T is Afghanistic to play the ostrich at this time. In are at work in a sore throat poisons from a sore throat caused journalism, Afghanistanism is editorial escape from by tonsillitis (inflammation of the tonsils) or laryngitis burning issues of the day. And the ostrich? To escape from the environment, it buries its head in the sand, believing (swelling of the larynx) may cause middle ear infections, that, since it cannot see anything or anyone, nothing can see arthritis and arthritic fever, or even partial paralysis of it. We live in heated political times in Nigeria. Five days of values in the heart, such as neutral valve prolapsed known unprecedented general strike balooning into an Arab-type by many people with weak hearts. Nigerian parents of the social revolution must have wracked many nerves and shot 1950s and 1960s didn't treat tonsillitis with kid gloves. up blood pressure as well. Maybe overwraught nerves will Somehow, they knew its poisons could kill. They got calm a little now that the strike is over, and blood pressure, the Mallams to remove it with knives while the child was in tow, will climb down. Maybe not. For war is not always physically immobilised by adults. The process was over in the mind long after the tanks have vacated the streets. dangerous and unhygienic with the native surgeons For anyone who has had or who developed cardiovascular employing unsterilised knives. They offset possible post(heart and blood vessel) problems in the heat of the strike, I'd surgical infections by giving their patients peppered soups like to add to the ever growing list of helpful food the day after! For me, many things are now beginning to supplements a long promised series from the stable of fall in place. I narrowly escaped having my tonsils WAKUNAGA of America Co. Ltd. Ladies and gentlemen, removed by Mallams. They removed what I now know to KYOLIC GARLIC is here! I will not talk much about it today, be enlarged lymph nodes from the neck of my cousin and to keep track of the proposed New Year Resolution, working sister. for a HEALTHIER DIGESTIVE SYSTEM, since, according to Dr H. C. Vogel, in the NATURE DOCTOR, puts these the British Royal Society of Surgeons, death begins slowly swellings down to "calcium deficiency and weak lympathic but surely in the intestines. system," he warns, also, that "pericarditis and nephritis often Kyolic garlic, for today, is the aged extract of garlic in which follow in the wake of a bad sore throat or tonsiletis. the medicinal and healing potential of this famous natural Cheap first aid treatment of sore throat may include the digestive, antioxidant and antibiotic are concentrated about following: 50 times more than in natural garlic but without the colour.

1.

Gargling with warm, sea salt solution Since Wakunaga developed Kyolic in 1955, about 650 2.

Sucking one or two limes or lemons every day once the political idol of Lagos, after he went to work with scientific publications in Europe, America, and Japan have 3.

Grating the peal of citrus peel (orange, lemon etc) Sanni Abacha. examined its usefulness or efficacy in practically all situations Gently bringing to the boil, gaggling with the warm extract Where, today is Oladipo Diya or Ebenezer Babatope?

I of disease. I do not as yet know how many variants of Kyolic and allowing it to trickle worked wonders for many people. understand Fashola and Rotimi Amaechi, governor of Rivers there are in the Wakunaga stable. Each variant is assigned a If it doesn't, the use of oregano oil or Oregano oil nose and State, had a lot brush of words. Rotimi was wrong to think, health function, based on its formulation, and given an throat spray may be helpful. So should golden seal, a since the Southsouth produces the bulk of Nigeria's oil, a identification number. Thus there are: berberine containing herbal plant. Berberine coals surface president from the Southsouth can do anything he likes with • KYOLIC 100 ... the original formula for cardiovascular of tissue to make germs unable to adhere to them. Being this resource with the rest of Nigeria. problems unable to adhere, they cannot easily get food from the body Yes, Rotimi, it’s your oil. But you are part of a whole. By • KYOLIC 101 ... for stress and fatigue relief (formulated to grow their population and cause havoc. the Law of Nature, a part works for the whole and the whole with Vitamin C, Vitamins B1, B6 and B12) Homeopathic biochemic cell salts can also help. These 12 for a part. Resources are entrusted to parts for the benefit of • KYOLIC 102 ... for candida cleanse and digestion salts are believed to be the primary constituents of the cells. the whole.

I am a firm believer in the Principle of Derivation • KYOLIC 103 ... for Immune Boosting (Astragalus and When a cell is weak and unable to help itself against germs, that gives to the resource custodian the bulk of the cake.

Vitamin C it is possible it doesn't have enough of some of these One part shares with other parts what it has but they lack • KYOLIC 104 ... for Cholesterol (Lecithm) important constituent for sore throat, cell salt practitioners and need for their sustenance.

• KYOLIC 105 ... Detoxification and Anti-aging (ACE, herbs suggest ferrum phos. (ferrum phosphate) and Kali mur.

The lungs bring oxygen into the body. If it denies other and antioxidants) (potassium chloride as the main remedies other cell salts parts of the body, the whole dies.

Similarly, death occurs if • KYOLIC 106 ... Healthy Heart (Vitamin E, Cayenne and are called for on the basis of the colour of discharge from the the blood cuts off its resources. Jonathan is better off with Hawthorn) throat. For example: advisers who bottle him up as President of the Southsouth.

• KYOLIC 107 ... for Heart Disease (Phytosterols) • Silica breaks swellnap If I found myself in his position last week, my speech would • KYOLIC 108 ... Total Heart Health (Vitamis B6, B12, Folic • Cal. Flour. Calcium fluoride), like ferr.phos. is for bloody be something like this: acid and L-Arginine) discharge "Fellow Nigerians, I am touched by the events of last week.

• KYOLIC 109 ... Blood Pressure Health ... (Nattokinese • Kali mur. (potassium chloride) goes well for grayish I have not forgotten that you elected me to the office of and Suntheanine) discharge, which makes it good for people afflicted with President as your servant. I meant well. Maybe you don't • KYOLIC 110 ... CoQ10 fortified gray tongues (thrush), a sign of candida in the system trust me enough because you may have been disappointed • KYOLIC 111 ... Healthy Inflamation Response (Curcumin).

• Kali phos. (potassium phosphate) will sooth the nerves by unfulfilled promises of some past leaders.

I have listened New entrants to the Kyolic family include while to you, and will do your bidding.

The tongue and the teeth • KYO-CHROME, in which chromium, a leading anti• Cal.sulp. (calcium sulphate) purifies the blood. do quarrel. They settle it because they have to live together. diabetes supplement, is added to aged garlic extract, for blood If the sore throat produces spasmodic cough, cal.phos.

From tomorrow petrol will sell for N65 a litre. I have listened sugar control (calcium phosphate) and mag. Phos. (magnesium phosphate) to all your suggestions about alternative options for raising • KYOLIC EPA, fortified with EPA and DHA for brain, eye, may be deployed. So may Amazon Lymph support, if the money to finance capital projects and will pursue them. heart and nerve health. lymphatic system needs assistance.

Meanwhile, I have appointed some commissions of enquiry • KYOLIC RESERVE, for the heart and blood vessels, and From the Amazon forest comes a proprierany blend of to investigate some of the questions you raised. I am really • KYOLIC GINKGO BILOBA PLUS, for memory and blood herbs, AMAZON THROAT-EZ I'd like to wrap up this sorry about what happened and pray that, in due course, as flow to the brain. section. Designed for the respiratory tract, it is antitussive the fortunes of Nigeria improve, so will be those of This truly social or odourless garlic (many odourless brands and expectorant for coughs, addressing sore throat, tonsillitis everyone who lost whatever in the past week.

Thank you." have lost their healing potential), arguably the best selling and bronchitis. It comprises seven herbs…

The Presidents image would soar.

There would be no talk proprietary garlic brand worldwide promises a lot of help Embauba, Guaco, culen, Amor seco, Bellaco, Matico, and of someone who lost the Presidential election, in this case for anyone who came down with whatever ailment this heated Canchalagua. The package is a blood thinner and, so, should Pastor Tunde Bakare, trying to steal the President's mandate. political season. not be taken with blood-thinning medians.

The Yoruba say lizards live in the crevices of a house simply President Goodluck Jonathan, in particular, must still be Embauba is widely used in the Amazon for respiratory because there are cracks in the wall. uptight, as his mid-night national broadcast on Sunday. Truly, disorders such as asthma, bronchits, coughs and pneumonia.

President Jonathan disconnected from the people and he must have miscalculated, on the shortsighted advice of Animal studies present it as anti-inflamatory, and created crevices in the walls. In any case, isn't opposition a the President's Men, that all he needed was the collaboration antispasmodic. As long ago as 1870, Brazilians had made hallmark of democracy? Wasn't Chief Obafemi Awolowo, of governors, senators and representatives, that the populace, from Guaco a herbal drug named OPODELDO de GUACO, Leader of Opposition in the First Republic and paid by the most of them sustained on daily income, could hold out for which was considered a "Saint's Remedy for bronchistis, government?

Why are the President's Men afraid of more than three days. He probably forgot he gave the nation cough and rheumatism." Modern research confirms it as Opposition? Today, Bakare is the people's man, Jonathan is a Freedom of Information law. Through this law, I can ask expectorant, anti-histamine, and anti-inflammatory." not. The tables may very well turn tomorrow if the President him for how much he spends on food or diesel every month.

Cuken crimes from Chile where it is used as a delivers on all fronts.

And if he is on oath, I can get him imprisoned. The President bronchodialator. Brazilians use it for asthma. About 10 E must quickly leave the political terrain for the in my view also underestimated the power of Nigeria's studies Review show that Amor Seco blocks "many chemicals politicians. Our major concern is a healthier history. Some parts of the country, like my own, the produced during an asthma attack" to narrow the pipes and digestive system this year. The strike gave me a Southwest, do not worship power and authority. They love stimulate mucus production. Belloco has many uses, break from indoor meals. Last Monday, I had coconut rice and respect power and authority if they respect themselves. including therapy for, "Tumours and cancers (uterine, all day. As the last remnants of water evaporated from the Oyo Empire thrived on a mature political democracy based cerncal. & ovarian), endometriosis, uterine fibroid, pot on the gas burner, one tablespoonful of ground cayenne on the separation of powers in the polity, a cardinal menstrual irregularities and pain, and for ovarian cysts and pepper was added.

One tablespoonful of coconut oil and requirement in a modern democracy. The polical structure ovarian inflammation." In Amazon throat-EZ, Bellaco offers another of palm oil joined. Chips of coconut were added. So comprised the Alaafin as Oba or President, and the Oyomesi, analgesic antibacterial and smooth muscle relaxant support. were onion and four tomatoes which, parboiled, served as the Council of Ministers. If the Oba misbehaved or turned LET us all give jubilant thanks to the most High that the beef. It was the first time in a long while that I didn't eat out, against the people, the Oyomesi would visit him with a strike is over and we can all pursue our life's goals in peace, bombarded with monosodium glutamate (MSG) of all sorts calabash. The calabash was a political message that he should even if we have to struggle a little more to make ends meet. which have been found to damage brain cells and induce commit suicide.

But let us see clearly some of the lessons it teaches us. (1) A blood sugar imbalances… hypoglycaemia, hyperglycaemia Thus, the Oyomesi was a check on the Alaafin. In today's nation gets the rulers it deserves (2) The labour minister and, ultimately, diabetes.

Nigerian political setting, the ministers cannot do. They said the ruled must take instruction from the ruler. That is Today, our beacons are again the autopsy reports of JETRO hold office at his pleasure. The Constitutional checkmates true if the ruler is a leader. A leader is connected to God to KLOSS, the famous American natural physician, which showed are the National Assembly (legislature) and the Court use His Resources to better the welfare of His Creatures. that many people who lived on denatured foods and often (judiciary). In the panic of last week, Nigeria threw the Where so-called leaders steal the Resources of God and do got treated for stomach, abdominal or colonic problems principle of the Separation of Powers out of the window. not fulfill this mandate, they disconnect from creation, are suffered not only severe inflammation in these organs but, The President rushed to the court at Zero Hour to stop the not Leaders but rulers. Everyone of us should ask himelf or cancerous growths as well. Reader responses to the first two strike. The court obliged. But labour and civil society went herself at the end of the day's hurly burly: Did I steal columns in this series, namely care of the mouth, teeth and ahead. With that, they told him only power worshippers something from someone today? Think of the Danfo driver, gums focussed more on mouth odour which, as I suggested, and simpletons don't square up for a fight. Routed on that the motor mechanic, the houseboy and housegirl and you has to do partly with digestive problems in the digestive front, the President rallied the National Assembly and the may remember Gbolabo Ogunsanwo's article, THE tract. governors. David Mark, Senate President, who should check BABANGIDA IN ALL OF US, when Nigerians called for the Undigested and decaying food produces smelly gasses a President's excesses, would like to be President after head of Ibrahim Babangida. Our leaders, sorry rulers, which find their way through exits in the mouth (belching Jonathan and agreed. The governors, who have nothing to whether in the presidency, Senate, House, Judiciary or Labour etc) and anus (farting).

From the throat, this problem may show for the Abacha loot shared among the states and Abuja, Movement are merely the strongest in our vices or virtues. also arise. joined the parley, in expectation of oil subsidy windfall. I If they are bad, we all are rotten. For they didn't come from expected Lagos Governor Babatunde Fashola to realise this Mars. We produced them. was a PDP crisis and not board the boat. His reputation The throat Doesn't the Koran say its our likes who will be our rulers? dipped. It doesn't take long for that to happen. Lateef Jakande, Let's search ourselves.

Sore throat treated with kid gloves can be dangerous, e-mail: femi.kusa@yahoo.com or olufemikusa@yahoo.com Tel: 08034004247, 07025077303

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48

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

49

e-Business

CDMA subscriptions slide by 17% MTN sponsors festival

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HE number of active subscribers on the networks of the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operators declined by 1,069,485 lines or 17.3 per cent last year, investigations have revealed. The loss was recorded by the operators between January and October.

At the opening of business in January last year, the CDMA networks, comprising Starcomms, Visafone, Multi-Links and Zoom Mobile, had combined telecoms subscriber base of 6,186,442. However, the figure experienced consistent decline, sliding to 5,116,957 active lines at the end of October, 2011.

The fall in subscriber base represents a loss of an estimated N10 billion in revenues to the operators during the period; the calculation is based on the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) in Nigeria currently put at N1000 by industry experts.

ARPU is the financial benchmark used globally by telecom companies

Stories by Adline Atili

to measure the average monthly or yearly revenue generated from a subscriber.

Findings reveal that N1000 spent by a CDMA subscriber on telecoms services monthly if multiplied by the number that have quit the networks, shows that the operators lose N1 billion monthly, translating to N10 billion loss for the 10 months analysed.

As CDMA operators lose subscribers, Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) operators’ subscriber base has continued to grow steadily.

As at January 2011, the subscriber base on the GSM networks, comprising MTN, Globacom, Airtel and Etisalat, stood at 82.6 million, rising to 93.9 million at the end of October. This represents an increase of 6.1 per cent.

Over the years, the CDMA networks have been facing a number

of challenges resulting in loss of customers on their networks, following their supposed inability to compete with bigger players in the GSM segment.

An industry analyst, who does not want his name in print, said: “CDMAs are facing a number of challenges top of which is limited coverage unlike the GSM companie who have coverage across the country. This constitutes a great threat to their bottom line.”

He said the limitation in network coverage could discourage mobile telecoms subscribers to stick to a CDMA line for a long time, arguing that the wider coverage offered by GSMs could be a point of attraction to customers.

He added that the players in the CDMA segment, apart from narrow coverage, are limited by technology type, inadequate financial muscle and low innovations in terms of value-added services.

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N line with its tradition of supporting local customs and traditions in Nigeria, MTN has sponsored the Ovala Aguleri festival which held last week.

The festival, a celebration of the Aguleri people in Anambra State, is the 112th in the series. It is celebrated by the ‘Eze Ndigbo’ to commemorate his kingship and the dawn of a new year.

Explaining why MTN sponsored the event, the company’s General Manager, Consumer Marketing, Kola Oyeyemi, said: “The Ovala

Aguleri is symbolic of how seriously we take our culture in Nigeria. It represents our fathers’ values and what they held as dear.

“We have made a resolve to help bring these edifying practices to the fore so the younger generations can learn who they are and understand what the Ovala Aguleri has come to represent.”

The four-day event featured lectures, induction of royal cabinet members, presentation of awards and cultural displays.

Zinox to train students

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INOX Technologies Limited is set to organise Information Technology (IT) training programmes for the executive and members of the National Association of Computer Science Students (NACOSS).

During a courtesy visit to Zinox headquarters in Lagos, President of NACOSS, Mr Segun Adanomi, said the student body had been involved in the training and retraining of its members through organising workshops and seminars to students in order to equip them with IT skills.

He, however, said the frequency of the sessions had steadily decreased due to paucity of funds, tools and lack of experienced

professionals to handle the affair.

He suggested a partnership with Zinox under the Computerise Nigeria Project for the benefit of the thousands of IT students across the country.

Responding, Chairman of Zinox, Mr Leo-Stan Ekeh, noted that equipping Nigerians with IT skills had been a key factor in the Zinox success story.

He said the Zinox training has helped first time users of the computer and enabled educational institutions train and re-train teachers, in addition to building a young crop of computer engineers who have made Nigeria earn global IT recognition.

Recharge option for customers, SMS tariff

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O help its customers across the country stay connected to friends and loved ones , Airtel has announced the expansion of its alternative airtime recharge channels beyond the regular local retailers and customer service shops.

According to the Telco, customers can use any of the company’s electronic recharge service channels including Automated Teller Machines (ATM); Airtel website, www.ng.airtel.com; Quickteller.com, and electronic PINs or ERC (Electronic Recharge).

The company also introduced a

special SMS offer that enables customers send Short Messaging Service (SMS) on-net for N1.

Chief Operating Officer of the company, Mr Deepak Srivastava explained that current SMS rates are N5 on-net; N9 off-net and N15 to international networks, adding that SMS rates to other networks and international numbers will remain the same during period of the offer.

He said the offer will apply to customers on its 2Good Xtra, Airtel Big Family Xtra, Club 10 and Value Max service classes.

Ericsson acquires Telcordia •From left: Retail Manager, Nokia West Africa, Ranti Oguntoye; winner in the Nokia dual SIM promo, Paul Ngwuta and Solutions Marketing Manager, Kesiena Ogbemi at a prize presentation ceremony in Lagos.

Firms sign MoU on payment channels

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NTER-BANK transaction switching and electronic payment processing firm, Global Switch (Gswitch), has partnered Cardinal Commerce Corporation to integrate Cardinal’s technologies on the switch.

This is geared towards empowering merchants in Africa to accept 3-D secure authentication services and alternative payments quickly and easily., With this partnership, G-switch, powered by Clydestone, will deploy G-Secure by leveraging Cardinal’s IDENTIFI Authentication Platform, which enables financial institutions to authenticate customers for electronic commerce transactions using Verified-by-Visa, MasterCard SecureCode or Secure Access, for online banking applications.

In a statement by Clydestone, its Chief Executive Officer, Paul Jacquaye, explianed that G-Secure will enable authentication for proprietary cards of G-Switch member banks.

He said: “G-Secure will offer merchants the ability to accept payments on their websites by leveraging Cardinal’s Centinel technology, a unique patented platform that allows thousands of e-commerce merchants worldwide to accept a variety of authenticated payments, secure transactions, and alternative payment brands on G-Switch.”

He said Clydestone will also offer services via Centinel to international airlines operating in Africa, as well as enable bank, retailers, hospitality outlet, government entity and mo-

bile service provider access to use the platform.

“Online merchants of all types can quickly capitalise on the convenience, security, and consumer growth associated with the alternative payment options through this partnership,” he said.

Jacquaye said the company is signing banks and merchants onto the platform. He added that services available on the Internet merchant platform include a hosted checkout page, payment authorisation and settlement, recurring payments, 3-D secure payment authentication and tokenisation.

He noted that additional features of the service include consolidated reporting and merchant administration user interface.

Nigeria Facebook users hit 4.3 million

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HE number of Nigerians that have signed up for the social networking site, Facebook, has increased from 400,000 in the last four years to 4.3million at the end of December, 2011.

According to World Internet Stats, provider of global Internet statistics, in its global 2011 Facebook usage report, Nigeria has maintained its third position in terms of number of

Facebook users in Africa, coming behind Egypt and South Africa with 9.4million and 4.8million users respectively.

Moroco comes fourth with 4.1million users; Algeria with 2.8million users, maintains its fifth position while Tunisia recorded 2.7million Facebook users, clinching the sixth position in the continent at the end of the period under review.

Ghana beat some African countries with 1.1million Facebook user mark recorded as at end of 2011.

The latest report says social media continue to grow and in the leading position is Facebook with 799 million subscribers at the end of 2011, arguing that the networking sites allow people across the world to share photographs and videos and post regular updates of their movements and thoughts.

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ELECOM technology and services provider, Ericsson, has completed the acquisition of mobile, broadband and enterprise communications software and services provider, Telcordia.

Telcordia is now a part of the Ericsson Group and its 2,600 workers have been absorbed by Ericsson.

Under the acquisition, Telcordia will be managed by Ericsson’s business unit, Multimedia but sales and margins will be shared between Multimedia and Services depending on the portfolio mix.

The combined company will address the needs of communications service providers to deliver mobile broadband and operational transformation to their subscribers and create the leader in service fulfilment, service assurance and network optimisation.

In addition, Ericsson will gain an edge by becoming the leader in real-time charging with significant capabilities to support operators end to end.

Head of Ericsson’s Business Unit Multimedia, Per Borgklint, said the addition of Telcordia’s skilled people and knowledge, a good multi vendor product portfolio and an important customer base, complement Ericsson’s already-established position in the Operations Support Systems/Business Support Systems (OSS/BSS) space.

“OSS and BSS are key to drive the customer experience and serve as the engine to monetising traffic, offerings and products that operators sell. All in all, these systems are crucial to creating the experience users expect in a cost efficient manner,” Borgklint said.

Internet forum holds in March

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HE 2012 edition of the Nigerian DigitalSENSE Africa (DSA) forum on Internet Governance for Development (IG4D) has been slated for March 8 and 9 in Lagos.

In a statement by DigitalSENSE Africa, organisers of the forum, the event with the theme, Internet Governance and Mobile Economy in Nigeria, is expected to prepare industry stakeholders to participate in the global Internet Governance Forum (IGF).

Executive Director, Operations at DigitalSENSE Africa, Mrs Nkemdilim Nweke, said with the

licensing of electronic payments companies by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to operate mobile money service, it had become crucial to examine issues relating to implementation of the service in line with relevant laws of the land, in comparison with global best practices.

According to her, it became imperative to create more awareness on the subject and how it would affect Nigerians and the Internet community in Nigeria because the services are expected to ride on already existing mobile networks in the country.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

50

e-Business

Has traditional media in Nigeria lost steam to social media?

Matters e-Rising Segun Oruame segun@segunoruame.com

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HE Nation newspaper couldn’t have been more reflective in its Hardball column of Friday January 13, 2012. The column called for soul-searching among the traditional media. In a week where Nigerians marched out in their millions to vent their anger against the removal of oil subsidy and their frustrations on a system they regarded as parasitic, the traditional media was found wanting.

It was largely silent where the social media was loud and aggressive on the call for change.

The traditional media lost the momentum to the social media, and if you prefer to call it, the participatory media. All the frenzy of the moment, the defining points, the live image of a mammoth gathering in several cities within Nigeria and the rest of the world where protest marches occurred where captured and streamed live not by the traditional media but the social media.

The world outside largely followed the news; still pictures and video images on Occupy Nigeria not from the pages of newspapers or the broadcast channels of terrestrial television services but from the windows of mobile devices and PCs all carrying updates of what was happening in Nigeria as transmitted by diverse news reporting and sharing tools riding on the back of the Internet. Whenever the traditional media reported the news, it

always appeared to be several annoying hours behind the social media that practically appeared to be more on ground and had literally ‘occupied’ not only the minds of millions of people who have access to the Internet but also the critical space for news dissemination.

It has not always been so with the traditional media in Nigeria, the media has historically seized the moment and has always been on the side of history. The traditional media, as it were, has helped to define Nigeria’s contemporary history and has always seen the country through momentous time in perspective. But that appears to be gone forever. It was the social media that championed news reportage and gave the world, pictures, and moment by moment news flashes on the happenings in Nigeria.

For many reasons, some political, some technical and some for purely business; the electronic media could not capture and give live transmission of the huge crowd across the country that was speaking to power for change to come. As for the print media, it was a mix of reactions; some made tired efforts and some made very aggressive efforts to equal the social media in steam and content. But in all, as Hardball rightly observed, it was the social media that told the world our stories while the traditional media yawned and fluttered on the limit of law and the coerciveness of power.

Times have truly changed. And times are always bound to change.

Those who are clamouring for a redefinition of news and the profession of news delivery appear to be winning the argument that everyone can be a journalist and journalism is in everybody. Today, the world is getting to access the happenings in Syria through the lens and the news reporting of social media activists. The traditional media in the league of CNN and BBC completely depend on their news reportage on Syria from the pictures and stories downloaded not from the mass media within Syria but from the participatory media at the heart of the conflict inside Syria.

We have seen all these before.

The power of the social media to report events is not in doubt. Neither is in doubt, its ability to mobilise citizens and international support for a cause and against despotic regimes. We have seen the social media at work in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. How technology could aid news reporting and sharing by citizens and how they could be effectively mobilised to rally against regimes regarded as evil.

Today, some social media enthusiast like to talk of the ‘Tunisia Twitter Revolution’ somewhat to give huge credit of the success in regime change in that country to social media tools. But this is not entirely true.

What is true is that social media played a critical role in telling the

world what was really happening inside those countries where revolution was occurring. And what is also true is that social media played a critical role in mobilising people to gather against the autocratic governments in power. But change itself came from the deep-seated desire and efforts by the people to carry through and die or live for change. They were merely spurred on by the social media.

In the Nigeria case also, social media took the lead in spurring the people to gather and vent their anger on the system. Unlike in those countries where the Arab Spring has happened, the Nigeria media is not known to be docile.

It has always been loud in the defence of the people and popular wish. It has never truly submitted itself to the tyranny of military rule and has had a tradition of being largely anti-establishment.

It wasn’t so loud in this six days national strike. Sometimes when it speaks on TV, it paraded more of government apologists in a manner that tended to portray it as being already bought over. The result was that more and more people became critical of following the news through the traditional media and depended more on the participatory media.

One cynical social media commentator posted thus: “If you are for the removal of oil subsidy, stay glued to NTA; if you are against, watch Channels; and if you are confused, watch AIT.”

And another wrote, “If you want to read what has already been reported and analysed by everybody, please read the newspapers!” The times have truly changed.

Since the Internet became part of our existence, virtually everything has changed including the news media and news no longer come to us or the general public the way it used to be. Virtually, all traditional media houses have gone online to enable them break the news before they hit the news stand the following day in their print versions. Others have even become more dynamic, employing every conceivable electronic platform to deliver news as they break either via SMS window or the more sophisticated audio-video mobile devices.

But as the traditional media engage these tools, so too do other citizens whose core area is not news gathering or delivery. Technology for news no longer come in bulky crates or tiny suitcases, they come as small, cute mobile devices that can record and stream live images to the rest of the world just from the user’s palm. The implication is that traditional news reporters and media owners are constantly being challenged to up their capacity to measure up to these game changers.

Any laxity is easily detected and could be costly. In this age of ‘click and read,’ readers’ loyalty is fickle and takes only a click to move away and move on to other news sources.

It happened in Nigeria last week.

Why fixed wireless operations are weak, by NCC

T

HE Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has attributed the challenges facing fixed wireless access operators to technology.

Fixed wireless refers to the operation of wireless devices or systems in fixed locations such as homes and offices.

Last year, NCC issued fixed wireless access licences to some telecoms operators, but till date, majority of the licensees have not been able to roll out services in the country while those that managed to roll out are having difficulty selling their services to consumers.

It was gathered that the services provided by the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operators are more preferred by telecoms subscribers than the ones provided by

Stories by Adline Atili

the fixed wired and wireless service providers.

This, according to findings, is as a result of the high level of flexibility and mobility in service delivery provided by GSM and CDMA technologies, which fixed wireless access technology, does not have.

Over the years, the subscriber base on the network of fixed line operators has been declining. Latest official figures on telecom subscribers shows that as at October, 2011, there were only 801,297 lines as combined subscriber base on fixed wireless access networks while GSM and CDMA networks had over 90million active lines combined.

Director Public Affairs NCC, Mr Tony

Ojobo, said the telecoms sector is dynamic with technology changing from time to time with emphasis on mobility and flexibility of service delivery to consumers.

He said: “Telecoms business is dynamic in that, between the time that we licensed the fixed wireless access operators, a lot has happened in the telecoms world in terms of technology. The issue is that even if they had rolled out, how many of them would have been profitable today offering fixed services in these days of mobile services?”

Parastatals to migrate to .ng domain platform

T

•Senior Manager, Business Planning, MTN Nigeria, Odunayo Sanya (right) with MTN High Value Customers, Mr and Mrs Manger Christian, at a customer forum in Lagos

He said the fixed wireless business offers limited mobility. “Where somebody has a GSM device that he can take to any part of the country, the fixed wireless device restricts you to a particular geographical location where the operator only offers services.”

He said the problems of mobility and limited service coverage, which characterise fixed line operations, were among factors that have had negative impact on the bottom-line of some of the fixed wireless operators that currently manage to provide services to subscribers.

HE Federal Government is set to ensure that all its Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) migrate from their existing disparate domain names to Nigeria’s country code Top-level domain name, .ng both for their websites and official email addresses.

Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson, who disclosed this in Lagos, said the decision is part of measures by the government to bring all Information Technology-based activities of the MDAs to a single platform thereby engendering a connected government that allows for sharing of facilities and information amongst parastatals.

She said this initiative, to be co-ordinated by her ministry, is aimed at achieving true egovernment.

E-Government (short for electronic government), is the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to improve the activities of public sector organisations.

The minister said: “We are looking at Information and Communications Technology in government. I can’t stand here and preach to you about the importance of IT development in the industry without telling you about what we are doing in government, using ICT as a means of transparently administering governance and engaging the citizenry.”

To achieve this, the minister said her minis-

try was already working with Galaxy Backbone Limited, an agency under the ministry “to ensure that we have a connected government, a government that shares information.”

Explaining the need for the connected government initiative, Mrs Johnson said: “Today, we have many different databases scattered around the MDAs across the country and we hope we can have shared databases in order to share information across different government agencies and have one connected government.

“We are putting in place a message and collaboration system to facilitate a connected government. All MDAs will be on .gov.ng. I have already started using mine.”

The minister also explained that e-government is a major area that the ministry was currently focusing on in its quest to make sure that government engages its citizens in a meaningful way.

“We have a very ambitious e-government programme and I can’t reveal the details because it’s a work in progress. But we hope that before the end of 2012, we would have launched one of the biggest call centres in Nigeria basically using that as a basis of engaging government and its citizens.

“We have set ambitious targets for ourselves. Those targets are tangible. We will be engaging the industry regularly to ensure that the targets are achieved,” she said.

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EQUITIES NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 18-1-12

Boards meet on 2011 earnings, dividends D IRECTORS of quoted companies have started preliminary meetings that would herald release of corporate earnings reports and dividend recommendations for the previous year.

The release of earnings reports and dividend recommendations, usually known as earnings seasons, is expected to significantly influence overall market situation at the Nigerian stock market as investors respond to earnings and returns.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday indicated that it has started receiving notifications of board meetings for consideration of 2011 earnings and possible dividends.

The Nation had reported that corporate earnings reports and dividend recommendations would start to trickle into the market in February, giving the first quarter the momentum needed to maintain a positive overall market position.

According to the notices sent to NSE, directors of two highly capitalised banks have scheduled meetings for next week to consider earnings and dividends.

However, the stock market slipped into negative yesterday, as investors took profits on a handful of highly capitalised stocks while treading cautiously on small and medium stocks.

Aggregate market capitalisation of all quoted

By Taofik Salako and Tonia Osundolire

companies dropped by 0.36 per cent from N6.640 trillion to N6.617 trillion, representing a loss of N23 billion. The All Share Index (ASI) further reflected the depreciation in investors’ value slipping from 21,072.27 points to 20,997.88 points.

Meanwhile, the overall year-to-date gain-loss position of the market remained positive with a year-to-date return of 1.29 per cent.

Although the preponderance of losers to gainers also compounded the contraction, the decline yesterday was orchestrated by losses suffered by Guinness Nigeria Plc and Nigerian Breweries Plc, which altogether control about N1.1 trillion of the total market capitalisation of the stock market. Guinness Nigeria, which ranked within the five most capitalised stocks, led the decliners with a loss of N7.50 to close at N227.50.

Nigerian Breweries, the second most capitalised stock, followed with a loss of N3.31 to close at N95.45.

UAC of Nigeria dropped by 83 kobo to close at N29.17.

Portland Paint and Products Nigeria lost 25 kobo to close at N4.86. Custodian and Allied Insurance dropped 12 kobo to close at N2.32 while First City Monument Bank lost 10 kobo to close at N4

per share.

On the positive side, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria led the advancers with a gain of 26 kobo to close at N5.51. Dangote Sugar Refinery followed with a gain of 23 kobo to close at N4.89. Nigerian Aviation Handling Company added 20 kobo to close at N5.60. Ashaka Cement gathered 16 kobo to close at N11.50. First Bank of Nigeria rose by 15 kobo to close at N9.30. Honeywell Flour Mills added 14 kobo to close at N2.97. May and Baker Nigeria improved by 11 kobo to N2.50 while United Bank for Africa chalked up 10 kobo to close at N2.50 per share.

Turnover stood at 106.5 million shares valued at N873.73 million in 3,297 deals. Banking subsector remained the most active subgroup with a turnover of 51.10 million shares worth N374.31 million in 1,554 deals. Insurance subgroup ranked second on the activity chart with a turnover of 28.36 million shares worth N21.30 million in 141 deals.

On stock by stock basis, Continental Reinsurance was the most active stock with a turnover of 18.97 million shares worth N14.67 million in 27 deals. Guaranty Trust Bank followed with a turnover of 12.67 million shares valued at N179.30 million in 365 deals. Skye Bank placed third with a turnover of 10.43 million shares totaling N39.64 million in 110 deals.

NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 18-1-12

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55

MONEY LINK

Single digit inflation elusive, say analysts

T

HE possibility of having single digit inflation early this year will not be realistic, FBN Capital, an investment and research firm, has said. The firm, working in partnership with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said its position is based on thinking that the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) has already peaked at 12 per cent for this year.

It predicted that the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) single-digit inflation target is likely to remain elusive for the most part of 2012, until year-end, when it could drop below 10 per cent. The current inflation rate is 10.5 per cent and has remained at that rate since October, 2011.

By Collins Nweze

The CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, said it may be counterproductive to raise interest rates in response to inflationary pressures which may result from removal of fuel subsidy.

The Federal Government, on January 1, scrapped its petrol subsidy, raising the petrol price by about 120 per cent from N65 per litre to about N140 per litre. However, the price was readjusted downwards to N97 per litre after a six-day strike organised by Labour Unions and Civil Society Groups. It explained that fuel subsidies are an expedient tool used by some big oil exporters to appease citizens frustrated with

impact of the subsidy reduction are the impact of the MPC’s tightening of 2011 and a potential softening as far as growth expectations (globally) are concerned,” it said in statement released yesterday.

It said the country is trying to remove subsidies, which divert funds from other productive expenditure (particularly infrastructure), and put downward pressure on budget deficits, implying higher borrowing costs. For instance, Nigeria’s petrol subsidy cost the government about N1.1 trillion in 2011, representing a three per cent Gross Domestic Product (GDP), an equiva-

delayed development, but they are expensive and prone to corruption.

Through 2011, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) adopted pre-emptive tightening measures aimed at containing existing relatively high inflation and that expected once the subsidy on fuel was removed or reduced in 2012. The apex bank raised the policy rate six times last year alone as evident in the 275 basis-point hike in October.

However, FBN Capital predicted a one-off increase in price levels and return of partial stability thereafter. “Our core assumption for 2012 is that the partial removal of PMS subsidy will lead to a one-off increase in price levels but a levelling-off thereafter. Offsetting the

Firms partner on transparency, corporate governance

Ecobank acquires 100% stake in Trust Bank

E

COBANK Transnational In corporated (ETI) has acquired The Trust Bank Ghana Limited (TTB).

Under the terms of the transaction, which was approved on December 9, 2011, ETI is expected to execute a share swap agreement with existing shareholders of The Trust Bank for 100 per cent stake in TTB. Subsequently, ETI will execute a share swap with Ecobank Ghana Limited under which ETI will transfer its 100 per cent stake in TTB to Ecobank Ghana in exchange for

By Tonia Osundolire

shares in Ecobank Ghana.

A statement from the bank said an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) is scheduled for Friday, January 20 2011 to pass the necessary resolutions to effect the above transaction.

According to the bank, a new Board of Directors of The Trust Bank Ghana Limited has been constituted with Sam Ashitey Adjei, Managing Director of Ecobank Ghana Limited as Chairman, whilst Emelia Atta Fynn, will assume the role of Act-

T

HE level of performance of corporate establishments de pends much on the quality of transparency and corporate governance put in place by such entities.

To achieve this, the Executive Trainers Limited will be partnering with the University of Wolerhampton to bring out the best opportunities in organisations by ensuring effective use of their resources to build a desirable growth in the organisation.

The event will hold at the University of Wolverhampton, West Midland, United Kingdom between January 25 and 29, 2012.

The Chairman of Executive Trainers Limited, Ayodele Ogunsan, said the fact that within the issues of discourse are fundamental concepts and principles in corporate governance among which are transparency, accountability, equity, probity, corporate structure, performance, sustainability and business ethics.

Ogunsan, said the programme will “usher in a new horizon and understanding of corporate governance in Nigeria, which will foster accelerating growth in maximum utilization

ing Managing Director.

Prior to her appointment Emelia served as Head of Compliance on the executive management committee of Ecobank Ghana Limited and previously as Country and regional Treasury. The combined Ecobank Ghana and TTB will be the largest bank in Ghana in terms of assets with the largest ATM network and over 70 branches The Ecobank Group is delighted to welcome employees, customers and shareholders of The Trust Bank aboard to the Ecobank family.

World Bank seeks $500b to boost lending

T

HE International Monetary Fund (IMF), an arm of the World Bank, is proposing to raise its lending capacity by $500 billion to protect the global economy against any worsening of Europe’s debt crisis.

The Washington-based lender is aiming to increase its resources after identifying a potential need for

$1 trillion in financing in coming years, an IMF spokesman said in a statement. The IMF is studying options and will not comment further until it has consulted its members, the fund said. To incorporate a cash buffer, the lender is seeking a total $600 billion.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Tuesday, her staff

are looking at ways to expand the fund’s war-chest, which currently has about $385 billion available.

While euro-region nations have already pledged to contribute 150 billion euros ($192 billion), the United States has said it has no plans to make new bilateral loans and leaders of Group of 20 nations ended last year at odds over the issue.

FGN BONDS Amount N

Rate %

M/Date

3-Year 5-Year 5-Year

35m 35m 35m

11.039 12.23 13.19

19-05-2014 18-05-2016 19-05-2016

WHOLESALE DUTCH AUCTION SYSTEM Amount

Initial Current Quotation Price Market N8250.00 5495.33 N1000.00 N552.20

Price Loss 2754.67 447.80

INTERBANK RATES 7.9-10% 10-11%

PRIMARY MARKET AUCTION (T-BILLS) Tenor 91-Day 182-Day 1-Year

Amount 30m 46.7m 50m

Rate % 10.96 9.62 12.34

Date 28-04-2011 “ 14-04-2011

GAINERS AS AT 18-1-12 SYMBOL

CCNN HONYFLOUR DANGSUGAR CUTIX MAYBAKER STERLNBANK BAGCO FIDSON DIAMONDBNK UBA NAHCO

O/PRICE

5.25 2.83 4.66 1.48 2.39 0.91 1.64 0.94 2.13 2.40 5.40

C/PRICE

5.51 2.97 4.89 1.55 2.50 0.95 1.71 0.98 2.22 2.50 5.60

CHANGE

0.26 0.14 0.23 0.07 0.11 0.04 0.07 0.04 0.09 0.10 0.20

LOSER AS AT 18-1-12 SYMBOL

LIVESTOCK CUSTODYINS PORTPAINT CILEASING PRESTIGE NEM REDSTAREX WEMABANK UNITYBNK NB GUINNESS

O/PRICE

0.80 2.44 5.11 0.63 0.90 0.52 2.46 0.55 0.56 98.76 235.00

C/PRICE

0.76 2.32 4.86 0.60 0.86 0.50 2.37 0.53 0.54 95.45 227.50

Amount

Offered ($) Demanded ($)

MANAGED FUNDS

OBB Rate Call Rate

of limited resources and uniting the spectrum of stakeholders of an organization for actualization for desirable results. He further noted that all the concepts and principles of corporate governance will be fully harnessed at the programme.

“Also, considering the weight and responsibilities that rest on business leaders and political functionaries globally to imbibe ethical practices, it is important to continue to align understanding among the different tentacles of the organisation, which include the stakeholders, shareholders, management and staff,” it said.

He said the Executive Trainers Limited said it is committed to promoting business ethics, adding that every organisation needs to know the machinery for proper operation, regulation and control of their businesses, for it to be successful.

It said it was only when business activities are ethically and legally executed at all levels of management that a corporation can make progress.

DATA BANK

Tenor

NIDF NESF

lent of the 2011 federal budget deficit. The subsidy accounted for a very significant 25 per cent of federal government expenditure in 2011 exceeding the 2012 federal budget allocations to education, healthcare, power and agriculture combined.

Analysts have predicted that a phased subsidy removal implies a more moderate increase in inflation and that cutting subsidies on fuel and utilities reflects a growing realisation that market prices are required for the power and petroleum sectors to attract much-needed investment.

Amount

Exchange

Sold ($)

Rate (N)

Date

450m

452.7m

450m

150.8

08-8-11

250m

313.5m

250m

150.8

03-8-11

400m

443m

400m

150.7

01-8-11

EXHANGE RATE 26-08-11 CAPITAL MARKET INDEX Currency

Year Start Offer

Current Before

C u r r e n t CUV Start After %

NGN USD

147.6000

149.7100

150.7100

-2.11

NGN GBP

239.4810

244.0123

245.6422

-2.57

NGN EUR

212.4997

207.9023

209.2910

-1.51

149.7450

154.0000

154.3000

-3.04

Bureau de Change 152.0000 (S/N)

153.0000

155.5000

-2.30

Parallel Market

154.0000

156.0000

-1.96

NSE CAP Index

NIGERIA INTER BANK (S/N)

27-10-11 N6.5236tr 20,607.37

28-10-11 N6.617tr 20,903.16

% Change -1.44% -1.44%

MEMORANDUM QUOTATIONS Name

(S/N)

153.0000

DISCOUNT WINDOW Feb. ’11

July ’11

Aug ’11

MPR

6.50%

6.50%

8.75%

Standing Lending Rate ,, Deposit Rate ,, Liquidity Ratio Cash Return Rate Inflation Rate

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 1.00% 12.10%

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 2.00% 12.10%

9.50% 5.50% 30.00% 2.00% 9.4%

Offer Price

Bid Price

9.17 1.00 118.85 98.43 0.76 1.04 0.87 1,642.73 8.24 1.39 1.87 7,351.90 193.00

9.08 1.00 118.69 97.65 0.73 1.04 0.80 1,635.25 7.84 1.33 1.80 7,149.37 191.08

ARM AGGRESSIVE KAKAWA GUARANTEED STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND THE LOTUS CAPITAL HALAL BGL SAPPHIRE FUND BGL NUBIAN FUND NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL DEB. PARAMOUNT EQUITY FUND CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST CENTRE-POINT UNIT TRUST STANBIC IBTC NIG EQUITY THE DISCOVERY FUND • ARM AGGRESSIVE • KAKAWA GUARANTEED

CHANGE

0.04 0.12 0.25 0.03 0.04 0.02 0.09 0.02 0.02 3.31 7.50

• STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE • AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND

NIBOR Tenor 7 Days 30 Days 60 Days 150 Days

Rate (Previous) 24 Aug, 2011 9.0417 9.6667 11.2917 12.1250

Rate (Currency) 26, Aug, 2011 10.17% 11.46% 11.96% 12.54%

Movement

OPEN BUY BACK Previous

Current

04 July, 2011

07, Aug, 2011

Bank

8.5000

8.5000

P/Court

8.0833

8.0833

Movement

56

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

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NEWS Funds stall Reps’ constitution Review Panel From Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

A

CTIVITIES of the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on Constitution Review have been stalled by lack of funds, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and Chairman of the committee, Emeka Ihedioha, has said.

Briefing reporters at the National Assembly yesterday, Ihedioha said the committee which was inaugurated in the last quarter of 2011, has met three times since inauguration because “its activities in 2011 were delayed by budgetary constraints.”

According to him, despite the cash constraint, members at the end of the session in 2011 met just before the Christmas break “and took away the assignment and task of visiting their constituencies in order to interact with them and come back with feedback from their people on issues that they would like the National Assembly to follow up during this round of constitutional amendment.”

Speaking on the committe’s proposed mode of operation, Ihedioha said the committee would need to organise a reflection/ retreat session “to fully articulate and identify issues likely to be the focus for amendments.

“It will also be important for us to provide the Nigerian public the opportunity of making input into the issues requiring our focus. Therefore, the committee will issue a call for memoranda from the public.

“We will also need to hold a public hearing on the issues identified for amendment. This would enable the public and those that send in memoranda to participate in public forum that will deliberate on the issues.”

‘Corruption, incompetence bane of Police’

T

HE International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety) said yesterday that corruption and gross incompetence are responsible for the failure of the Police to cope with Nigeria’s security challenges.

In a statement, the group’s Board of Trustees Chairman, Comrade Emeka Umeagbalasi, urged President Goodluck Jonathan to “take steps to tackle corruption in the force, particularly roadblock extortion.”

The group called for “the abolition of indiscriminate roadblocks all over the country, adding that they should be replaced by fewer strategic security checkpoints to be compiled by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and approved by the Federal Executive Coun-

From Adimike George, Onitsha

cil.”

According to the statement, “in view of the fact that the present command structure of the Nigeria Police is grossly lopsided geo-politically, we demand that Your Excellency should take steps to remedy the anomaly in accordance with Section 14(3) of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 as amended. ”Also, in order to refocus the Nigeria Police and make it responsive to the “scientific policing”, all serving Commissioners of Police, Assistant Inspectors General, Deputy Inspectors General and the IGP, who are 50 years and above should be retired with statutory benefits; and among the remaining CPs, DCPs and

ACPs, a new IGP with expertise in modern policing should be appointed in accordance with Section 215(1) (a) of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 as amended.

“As a matter of fact, Your Excellency, some incompetent service chiefs should also be replaced. To effectively combat the menace of Boko-Haram Islamic sect and other security challenges, effective intelligence gathering and usage, inter-security services coordination and collaboration are required.

“Solution to these security challenges does not lie on the bloated security budget of N921 billion or procurement of Armoured Personnel Carriers, helicopter gun-ships and machine guns. Any enemyarmed group that is elusive

M

By Adebisi Onanuga

Mrs Eriyo’s statement to the EFCC was tendered before the court by the defence counsel, Idigbe and was admitted as Exhibit P135.

Atuche, his wife, Elizabeth and Ugo Anyanwu, a former director of the bank, were arraigned by the anti-graft agency for allegedly stealing N27.7 billion belonging to the bank.

At the resumed hearing of the suit, the witness told the court presided over by Justice Okunnu that the transactions for which the trio were standing trial took place before she assumed duty at the bank on December 3, 2007.

The witness who was led in evidence by the counsel to the prosecution, Mr. Kemi Pinhero, told the court that the customer, Peter Ololo, had prior business connections with the bank and was already a big customer of the bank before she opened another account for him in the name of Peterson Oil and Gas on December 27, 2007.

LASU extends registration deadline

By Adegunle Olugbamila

Witness contradicts self ISS Helen Eriyo, one of the key witnesses in the theft charge brought against a former Managing Director of the defunct Bank PHB, now Keystone Bank, Mr. Francis Atuche, yesterday contradicted herself during cross examination by counsel to the defence, Chief Anthony Idigbe (SAN).

Miss Eriyo, who was the fifth prosecution witness, admitted during cross examination that she was employed as a Senior Executive Associate at the head office, as her appointment letter indicated.

Whereas in her statement to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the witness said she was employed as a Relationship Manager in charge of marketing and credit at the head office of the bank and had always retained that position.

The witness also wrote in her statement that she assumed duty in November 2007 instead of December 3, 2007 that she told the court.

and scientific requires likewise methods to tame it, otherwise any contrary security approach will end up causing more civilian causalities. ”We demand that Your Excellency should urgently call a special meeting involving all the 36 states’ governors, leadership of the National Assembly, service chiefs and key members of Your Excellency’s federal cabinet so as to find an effective solution to the unprovoked and unwarranted killing of Nigerians, particularly the Igbo Christians, just as Your Excellency did a few days ago, which resulted in end of the week-long national strike and protest over fuel subsidy removal.”

•Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State (left) receiving his Ekiti State counterpart, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, during the latter’s visit to him at the Government House, Agodi, Ibadan. Behind them is the Chief of Staff to the Oyo State Governor, Dr. Adeolu Akande.

THE Vice-Chancellor, Lagos State University (LASU), Prof John Obafunwa, has approved the extension of payment of school fees and registration deadline for freshmen and returning students of the university for the 2011/2012 academic session by one week.

Visitor to the university, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), had given the management an approval to extend registration by a week.

Fashola also approved the instalmental payment of the new tuition fees in the following order: Two-third of the total fees to be paid before registration; while the outstanding one-third to be paid not later than one month afterwards.

Withdraw soldiers from Lagos, cleric urges Jonathan

T

HE Dean, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), the Most Rev. E. Adebola Ademowo, yesterday called on the Federal Government to withdraw soldiers from Lagos streets.

He said Lagos is relative-

By Yusuf Sanusi

ly peaceful and calm; consequently there is no reason to deploy soldiers in the Lagos metropolis.

According to him, “it is high time these soldiers were withdrawn to avoid intimi-

dation, exploitation and embarrassment.

“I am very close to the people at the grass roots and I know where and when the shoe pinches them. Lagosians are very angry at the situation.

“I therefore call on the Fed-

eral Government to make efforts to remedy the situation.”

Ademowo said economic saboteurs and subsidy cabals, who are corruptly milking the nation, should be prosecuted, adding that this would serve as a deterrent to others.

A strike that could have been averted •Continued from Back page In the circumstances, it is a matter for deep regret that there was some irritating noise from the socalled leaders of the Southsouth, led

by Chief Edwin Clark and Chief Mathew Mbu, who sought to misrepresent the strike as directed against ‘our son’, President Jonathan, a man who was voted into office on a much wider platform, transcending tribal or ethnic considerations. Next time, when he seeks re-election, as he will, President Jonathan will be reminded of this by his political opponents. By resorting to these base ethnic sentiments, Chief Edwin Clark and Chief Mathew Mbu have gravely impaired the President’s broad electoral appeal. Such a divisive statement, coming as it did, from socalled elder statesmen, who have held high offices in this country in the past, is the height of irresponsibility. It confirms them as tribal leaders. One may ask whether, in the twilight of their long political career, they have any political convictions or principles left.As Labour made clear repeatedly, it was not out to seek the removal of President Jonathan from office by calling out the workers on strike. That is a matter for the National Assembly. The strike was, by any stand-

ard, very peaceful, and the security forces also behaved with commendable restraint. The removal of President Jonathan from office was never on Labour’s agenda.

Rather, the strike was called legitimately to defend the interests of the workers. That was the mandate given to it unanimously. A government that is popular cannot be overthrown by the labour unions.

Only an unpopular government can be overthrown by mass rallies cutting across all divides in the country. That is not yet the case. The Jonathan government was never in any serious danger of being removed by a strike, such as the recent one, whose objective was limited to curbing the corruption in the oil sector.

The day after he made what appeared to be a conciliatory statement on the strike, the President ordered some troops into Lagos, without even the courtesy of informing Governor Fashola of Lagos in advance, after the strike had been called off. This decision is misguided. Yesterday, the Minister of Defence issued a statement alleging that the troops were deployed into the streets of Lagos to prevent an “Arab Spring”, following security reports that some unnamed persons in Lagos planned to cause anarchy and security breach. Such security

reports, if they exist at all, have no basis. They are mere fabrications or excuses to justify the use of force to intimidate the peace loving people of Lagos. This deployment of troops by the Federal Government has been widely condemned by all right thinking people as unconstitutional, illegal and provocative.

There is no justification for it. It is intended to curtail the rights of the citizens to hold peaceful protests as was the case in Lagos during the Labour strike. The security interests of the nation are not served by such capricious use of the Armed Forces, as it will increase tension in the country and make the return of normalcy in the country more difficult.

In fact, it is designed to cause mayhem in the country and goad the Armed Forces to intervene. Military coups in the country are always preceded by the use of troops to intimidate the citizenry. Once the military get the measure of the government, they are encouraged to intervene in the affairs of the country without much hesitation. The President will be well advised to withdraw his troops from the streets of Lagos to avoid a bloody confrontation with the civilians.

In the prevailing circumstances, Labour was right to call out its members and workers on strike.

Negotiations and consultations

were still going on when the government, in an arrogant display of power, decided to end the so-called oil subsidy without any further consultations or negotiations with the labour unions and other interested parties in the dispute. If the government had not ended the consultations so abruptly, a consensus and an agreement could easily have been reached between the government and Labour.

There are some important lessons that the Jonathan government should learn from this regrettable strike. The government’s right to govern is not in dispute. But such a right is not unfettered and depends on what is acceptable to the public.

Where the strength of public opposition is of such magnitude as shown by the strike, then the government is obliged to give way. Economic decisions may be the prerogative of the government, but they require very careful planning and the involvement of the public where such decisions could have a severe impact on the people, such as the case here. Because of the strike, revenue has been lost, prices have, as predicted, risen sharply across the board, and inflationary pressures in the economy are building up, thus undermining growth. International confidence in the Nigerian economy and its management has declined.

Certainly, these were not intended by either side, but the government had a greater responsibility to avoid these unpleasant consequences for the economy.

Finally, the government must appreciate the fact that whenever Labour’s cause is just and supported by the people, it has never lost a war in Nigeria. It may lose a battle, but it has always prevailed against both military and civilian governments in Nigeria. It was Labour that in 1946 called the workers on strike in protest against the racial policies of the colonial government, when a visiting West Indian black was refused admission at the Bristol Hotel in Lagos. The strike, which was led by the veteran labour leader, Pa Imoudu, paralysed the country and led the colonial government to remove any semblance of racial discrimination in the country. It was this strike action of Labour in 1946 that led to the formation of the NCNC and the rise of the independence movement in Nigeria. Those in authority in Nigeria today are direct beneficiaries and heirs of Labour’s courageous stand against the colonial government. This is a lesson that those in authority must learn and keep in mind at all times to avoid future needless confrontation with the workers.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

NEWS Suleja bombing: Six Boko Haram suspects get bail

Police arrest Niger ACN chieftains over protest

From Kamarudeen Ogundele, Abuja

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N Abuja Federal High Court yesterday granted bail to six Boko Haram suspects on trial over the Suleja bombing where no fewer than 16 persons, including serving National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members, died on the eve of the rescheduled National Assembly elections, last year.

The suspects are: Shuaibu Abubakar, Salisu Ahmed, Umar Babagana, Mohammed Ali, Umar Ibrahim and a “spiritualist”, Musa Adam.

They are facing a five-count charge of criminal conspiracy and voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous means.

The alleged offences are contrary to and punishable under Sections 97 and 248(1) of the Penal Code Law, and Section 15 (2) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Establishment Act 2004.

Justice Bilikisu Aliyu granted each of them N2million bail and one surety in like sum. The surety must be a Grade Level 12 officer in the Federal Civil Service or the Federal Capital Territory Authority (FCTA).

•The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) The surety, the Judge said, must be a resident of Leader and Ohaneze Ndigbo Executive, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike (left) and the FCT with status confirmed and verified by Chief Peter Orji addressing reporters on the Boko Haram threats to southerners the prosecution. after their emergency meeting in Enugu.

PHOTO:OBI CLETUS

Activists call for IG Ringim’s trial over Boko Haram suspect’s escape

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GROUP, the Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), yesterday called for the sack and prosecution of the Inspector-General of Police Hafiz Ringim and a police commissioner at the Force Headquarters, Abuja, Mr Zakari Biu, over the escape of a Boko Haram suspect, Kabir Sokoto, from detention.

Sokoto is allegedly linked with the Christmas Day bombing of St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State.

Scores of worshippers died in the attack while several others were injured.

In a statement by its National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Director, Miss Zainab Yusuf, the group urged President Goodluck Jonathan to sack and prosecute Ringim and Biu for alleged criminal negligence and lack of professionalism in handling the suspect.

It noted that “the sack and prompt prosecution of these officers by the Office of the Federal Attorney-General will send the right signal that President Jonathan is committed to ending the spate of organised violence by the armed reli-

•‘This is a national disgrace’ It’s joke of the year, says Makinde

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ETHODIST Church in Nigeria Prelate Dr Ola Makinde yesterday described the escape of Boko Haram suspect Kabir Sokoto from police custody as the joke of the year.

In a statement by the church’s Media and Public Relations Officer, Rev. Oladapo Daramola, the Prelate said: “The falsehood that goes on in our country never ceases to amuse all right-thinking people. It makes one to believe that this nation is built on falsehood and something critical and deliberate must be done to address the situation so that people watching us will begin to take us seriously.

“In the first place, why would a prime suspect like that, who is being linked with acts of terrorism, be taken to-andfro without the presence of heavy security, knowing the importance of having this suspect in their custody? No doubt, there exists a possible conspiracy in all of this, and those involved must be brought to book after serious investigations must have taken place.

By Olamilekan Andu

gious extremists”, who have killed thousands of innocent and unarmed civilians.

Sokoto was reportedly arrested at the Borno State Governor’s lodge in Abuja and escaped when he was allegedly led to his home in Abaji, in the outskirts of the Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The group noted that the police high command has reportedly suspended Biu, who was directly in charge of the investigation of Sokoto.

HURIWA said: “We are disappointed that at a time that dozens of innocent Nigerians are viciously killed by armed insurgents, who anchored their violence on the killing in police custody of their founder,

the top hierarchy of the Nigeria Police Force is still actively collaborating and colluding with the armed groups to unleash further violence.

“As a human rights platform, we smell a rat in this latest case of escape of this very strategic kingpin allegedly involved in the spate of bloody bomb explosions. We hereby demand that President Jonathan should order transparent staff audit, including forensic search of the criminal records of all serving police operatives, to be done by security experts drawn from the United Nations. This should be with the objective of fishing out and prosecuting all the bad eggs that have severely compromised our national security.”

A group, the Nigeria Christian Graduate Fellowship, yesterday expressed shock over the escape of Sokoto from the police.

In a statement by its National President, Prof Vincent Iyawe and General Secretary, Pastor Onyenachi Nwaegeruo, the group described the escape as a national disgrace and unacceptable to the Christian community in Nigeria and lovers of justice.

Southeast senators urge North’s governors to call subjects to order HE Southeast Caucus of Senators yesterday urged northern governors and traditional leaders to call their subjects to order following the killing of Igbo in the North by the Boko Haram sect.

The caucus asked the governors and other northern leaders to openly condemn the renewed killing of Igbo in the North in the interest of peaceful co-existence.

The Southeast senators’ group said it was obvious that the recent killings in the North were targeted at Igbo.

In a statement in Abuja, the caucus urged the Federal Government to protect the life and property of Nigerians wherever they live.

It appealed to northern governors and traditional rulers to urge their subjects to respect the sanctity of the human life.

The group bemoaned the

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‘Boko Haram has no link with Islam’ From Damisi Ojo, Akure

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N Islamic group, IKWAN, has said the activities of the Boko Haram sect are against the tenets of Islam.

A statement in Akure, the Ondo State capital, by its Missioner, Alhaji Moshud Hasbunallah, and General Secretary, Mallam Musa Olamoju, said the sect has nothing to do with Islam.

IKWAN said: “The Boko Haram sect is not fighting the cause of Islam and, as such, it should not be referred to as an Islamic militant group. The group is on its own.”

The Islamic group urged Nigerians, particularly Christians, who have been the worst hit by the activities of Boko Haram, not to allow the attacks on its members to truncate the peaceful co-existence between Muslims and Christians across the country.

The statement reads: “…Muslim leaders across the country, particularly the Sultan of Sokoto and President Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), has not only made it clear that Boko Haram is not for a fight between Muslims and Christians.

It strongly condemned the activities of the sect, describing it as devilish.

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor and Sanni Onogu, Abuja

alleged “deafening silence of members of the human rights community”, urging them to speak up on the killings.

The statement reads: “The governors and leaders of the affected northern states should openly condemn these killings and take ap-

propriate steps to prevent their escalation.

“We urge the traditional rulers to call their subjects to order and emphasise the need to respect the sanctity of the human life.

“We urge security agencies to give priority to threatened groups, especially the Igbo in the North, since they appear to be a targeted group in the recent spate of killings.”

The caucus praised the leadership of the Senate and other federal lawmakers for condemning the killings.

It said: “We thank, especially the Senate, for unanimously urging the Federal Government to work out appropriate compensation for victims of these killings, especially victims of the bombing of the Catholic Church in Madalla, Niger State; killings in Mubi in Adamawa State; as well as those of Gombe, Yobe and other locations.”

From Jide Orintunsin, Minna

HE Police in Niger State yesterday arrested some Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) chieftains for allegedly masterminding last week’s violent protest against petrol subsidy removal by the Federal Government.

A former Senior Special Assistant to Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu and a member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was also arrested in connection with the incident.

Those arrested include: Alhaji Abubakar Magaji, a member of ACN national ex-officio; the former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Comrade Adams Erena; and former Commissioner for Health and ACN House of Representatives candidate for Chanchaga Federal Constituency, Dattijo Aliyu.

Others in the detention at the Police Headquarters in Dutsen Kura, Minna, are: former Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Idris Azozo, and a former Chairman, Forum of Senior Special Assistants and Special Assistants to the Governor, Mr. Mike Barde.

The suspects were invited by the police on Tuesday evening and have since been in detention at the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

Dattijo Aliyu noted that their arrest was politically motivated. He said all the ACN chieftains are perceived enemies of the Babangida Aliyu administration. He added that the list of those arrested was forwarded to the police from the Office of the Governor.

Dattijo Aliyu said: “The police have not found anything incriminating against us. They are only acting on the orders of the state government.”

But the governor, while hosting the executive members of the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in his office yesterday, exonerated the state and his office for the ordeal of the ACN chieftains.

He said: “I have no hand in the arrest of these people. Police must just be doing their work. The fact is if my blood brother was found involved and police investigated and found him culpable, he will have to face the consequences.”

ACN state Chairman Captain Isah Mokwa said he was at a loss over the detention of his party members.

“As at 2.30pm (yesterday), the police were yet to prepare a First Information Report (FIR). They had not been able to tell us their offences. I wonder why the police would hold our leaders in detention without any formal offence levied against them.

“I have since Tuesday notified the national secretariat of our party about this development and the unlawful detention of our party members and I know they are working on it,” he said.

Police spokesman Richard Oguche, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), said those arrested were being investigated in connection with the anti-fuel subsidy removal protest in which public and private property were destroyed or vandalised.

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Curfew in three Kogi local govts

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HE Kogi State Government yesterday imposed a dawn-todusk curfew on Okene, Okehi and Adavi Local Governments Areas.

The House of Assembly had adopted a motion calling for the imposition of curfew to forestall incessant killings, especially in the Central Senatorial District.

Secretary to the State Government Alhaji Musa Amodu made the pronouncement in Lokoja, the state capital.

From Mohammed Bashir, Lokoja

He said: “The state government has banned the operations of commercial motorcycles (Okada) between 7pm and 6am in Okene, Okehi and Adavi local government areas with immediate effect. The aim is to tighten security in the identified parts of the state.

“The government will no longer tolerate the use of motorcycles without registration and number plates in any part of the state.”

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NEWS Activists to MESSAGES march in Lagos Lagos lashes Akpabio over NEW YEAR ROMINENT Nigerians and activists have decided to

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openly demonstrate their displeasure and opposition to the deployment of military troops in Lagos and other parts of the country as well as the unilateral imposition of a pump price regime of N97 on petrol.

According to a statement signed on behalf of National Action Coalition of Democratic Forces (NACDF) by Dr Wale Balogun of Citizen Forum, the leaders have decided to march to the Lagos State House of Assembly Complex, Alausa, enroute Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park, Ojota, today to protest against what they called the current highhanded actions of the Federal Government.

The protest march, which is expected to begin at 10am will attract mass movement from both the Christian and Muslims communities, youth organisations, artisans, traders, students, workers, as prayers will also be said at the rally for the repose of the soul of those who lost their lives in the course of the mass action, which greeted the hike in price of fuel by the Federal Government.

The protest tagged: “Enough is Enough” will serve as a prelude to a series of mass action which is expected to culminate into major national rallies in Lagos, Kano, Kaduna Abuja, Enugu, Portharcourt, Jos. Tomorrow’s protest rally is expected to be led and addressed by Prof Ben Nwabueze, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, Dr Tunji Braithwaite, Prof Pat Utomi, Dr Kalu Idika Kalu, Dr Frederick Fasehun, Mrs Ayo Obe, Ms Nike Ransome Kuti, Alhaji Shettimah Yerimah, Toyosi Akerele, Festus Keyamo, Femi Falana, Dr Dipo Fashina, Dr Arthur Nwankwo, Olisa Agbakoba, Rev Moses Iloh, Dr Lakin Akintola, Prof Akin Oyebode, Nasseer Kurah, Mr Collins Eselemo, Ms Funmi Iyanda, Veteran Olawale Okunniyi, Kola Oyeneyin, Ozowa Giwa Amu, Mr Bamidele Aturu, Yemi Adamolekun among other leaders of civil society groups and mass movement in the country.

Senate confirms two for NHRC

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HE Senate yesterday approved the nominations of ace broadcaster, Mrs. Eugenia Abu of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and Mr. Olawale Fapohunda as members of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

Their confirmation followed the consideration of the report on their screening presented by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Senator Umaru Dahiru.

President Goodluck Jonathan sent their names to the Senate last year.

Mrs. Abu will represent the official media in the Commission. Mr. Fapohunda is for the

From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor and Sanni Onogu, Abuja

non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

The Senate had earlier approved the nominations of Dr. Chidi Anslem Odinkalu as Chairman of the Commission and six others including Prof.

Ben Angwe (Executive Secretary); Mr. Kayode Komolafe; Mr. Dave Obidi; C. Ezeigwe; Ranti Bosede Dauda; Saaadatu Mahdi and Olufunmilayo Falana as members.

The Senate President David Mark, urged them to ensure that the country adheres to the standards of the international human rights provisions.

‘EFCC’s probe of subsidy vindicates Oshiomhole’

comment on protests

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HE Lagos State Government yesterday criticised a comment credited to Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio, that its response to the sanitation of the Gani Fawehinmi Park after last week’s protests proved its support for the action.

The Park hosted the sixday protests staged by the Save Nigeria Group (SNG) and a coalition of other civil society organisations over the withdrawal of petrol subsidy.

The state’s Ministry of the Environment had deployed men to rid the park of the filth left behind by the protesters for the eight days the strike lasted.

Akpabio allegedly described the response as rather too prompt and accused the state of having colluded with the protesters.

The governor allegedly made the comment in a television interview.

A statement by Mr. Fola Adeyemi, a director in the Ministry of the Environment, described the purported comment as unfortunate.

It reads: “The attention of the Lagos State Government has been drawn to a statement credited to Governor Akpabio during a television interview about the waste generated by protesters during the recently suspended rallies held by fuel subsidy protesters in Lagos, and the

prompt clean up and evacuation by the state ministry of the environment.

“It is indeed unfortunate to state that, rather than commend the Lagos State government for being alive to its responsibilities through the prompt clearance of waste generated during the fuel subsidy nationwide strike, before an outbreak of an epidemic; the governor was condemning the proactive action of a responsive administration noted for its excellent acts in governance.

“We at the Ministry of the Environment have the statutory responsibility to foster a clean, healthy and sustainable environment for the well-being of the entire citizenry through the application of best practices in environmental management, irrespective of how it is generated.

“As such, the Ministry of the Environment owes no persons, or groups any apology whatsoever for performing its statutory responsibility which is to attain a cleaner and sustainable environment in the state.

“We have a structure that works irrespective of political situation. We run a system that knows no sentiment or idiosyncrasies of whoever is in power.

“The Ministry of the Environment is however dismayed that while developed

•Akpabio

nations of the world respond immediately to environmental challenges without bias, some people in Nigeria are still beclouded with primodial sentiments and subjective politics, where proactive actions are not commended.

“We wish to draw His Excellency’s attention to the last Wall Street protest in New York where the city’s sanitation workers were readily on hand to ensure regular cleaning of the environment despite the protesters occupation.

“Irrespective of this however, the Lagos State government will not shirk in its statutory responsibility of delivering quality service to the people of the state in the overall interest of the general public, but at all times will ensure that our actions are not guided by any political sentiments.”

THE position canvassed by Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole has been vindicated with the probe of the downstream sector of the oil industry by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

According to a statement by the leader of a group, Concerned Edo Citizens, Comrade Donald Inwalomhe, “the position canvassed by the Edo State Governor before the removal of the subsidy at the Lagos Town Hall Meeting recently was that the people want to hear that those responsible for the corruption in the downstream sector be tried means that Nigerians want to see the President dealing with the cabal decisively”.

Inwalomhe, who reiterated Oshiomhole’s position on the issue said: “NNPC and PPPRA (Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency) officials who collaborate with the importers to calculate demurrage on imported fuel cargoes should be brought to book.

It is only when government has brought such people to justice that it will earn the trust of the people. The issue is not about sermonising, but action, and the time for it is now”, this according to the activist, is Oshiomhole’s position on the issue of fuel subsidy.

Man arrested over alleged stabbing his girl friend to death

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HE Lagos State Police command yesterday announced the arrest of one Kabiru Ogunlana, who allegedly stabbed his girl friend to death.

Mr Samuel Jinadu, the spokesman of the command, who made this

known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, said the suspect also attempted to commit suicide immediately after the death of the lady.

Jinadu said that the “lover boy suspect” who also stabbed himself in the stom-

ach was now on admission at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja after the arrest.

According to him, the suspect allegedly stabbed to death his girl-friend, one Isima Ajayi, on January 16, at about 5.20 a.m. at No. 13,

Popoola St., Mafoluku, Oshodi, over undisclosed issues.

Jinadu explained that following the death of the lady, the suspect attempted to commit suicide by stabbing himself in stomach but was rescued by neighbours.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

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FOREIGN NEWS Rwanda arrests military officers

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WANDA’s military has suspended and put under house arrest four top military officers over allegations of business dealings with civilians in Congo.

A statement from the army and defense spokesman yesterday says three generals and one colonel have been suspended for what the government termed “indisci-

pline.”

One of the suspects, Brig. Gen. Richard Rutatina, is the head of military intelligence. He has also been President Paul Kagame’s adviser on security issues. Also among the four is Lt. Gen. Fred Ibingira, chief of staff of the reserves force.

Rwanda has in the past been accused of illegally plundering the mineral wealth of Congo.

Jonathan to lead AU Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

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S part of its new foreign policy drive, President Goodluck Jonathan may emerge the next Chairperson of the African Union.

Nigeria is said to be bidding for the seat which has been zoned to West Africa .

Also, Jonathan has been invited for the World Economic Forum holding in Davos between January 27 and 28, 2012.

A source, who spoke in confidence, with our correspondent said the AU meeting will hold between January 29 to 30.

The source said: “The President has been invited to the World Economic Forum in Davos on his transformation agenda and the global connection. He will also use the opportunity to rub minds with leaders from other nations on the economic challenges facing the world.

“There is no doubt that he will present economic problems confronting Africa and what the leaders are doing to address them.”

•Jonathan

On the coming AU summit in Addis Ababa , the source said: “ Nigeria is already trying to build consensus among African leaders on why the leadership slot should be conceded to her.

“He added: “According to the Permanent Representatives Committee’s agenda for the 18th African Union Summit, the Heads of States and Government might look into the recommendations of the Executive Council on the report of the Commission on the implementation of previous Decisions of the Executive Council and the Assembly; the report of the Peace and Security Council on its activities and the state of peace and security in Africa.”

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World Bank warns countries to prepare for global slump

HE World Bank warned yesterday of a possible slump in global economic growth and urged developing countries to prepare for shocks that could be more severe than the 2008 crisis.

The bank cut its growth forecast for developing countries this year to 5.4% from 6.2% and for developed countries to 1.4% from 2.7%. For the 17 countries that use the euro currency, it forecast a contraction, cutting their growth outlook to -0.3% from 1.8%.

Global growth could be hurt by a recession in Europe and a slowdown in India, Brazil and other developing countries, the Washington-based bank said. It said conditions might worsen if more European coun-

The risks of a global freezing up of capital markets as well as a global crisis similar to what happened in September 2008 are real tries are unable to raise money in financial markets.

“The global economy is entering into a new phase of uncertainty and danger,” said the bank’s chief economist, Justin Yifu Lin. “The risks of a global freezing up

of capital markets as well as a global crisis similar to what happened in September 2008 are real.”

Developing countries that have enjoyed relatively strong growth while the United States and Europe struggled might be hit hard, Lin said. He said they should line up financing in advance to cover budget deficits, review the health of their banks and emphasize spending on social safety nets.

Many governments are in a weaker position than they were to respond to the 2008 global crisis because their debts and budget deficits are bigger, Lin said at a news conference.

In the event of a major crisis, “no country will be spared,” Lin said. “The downturn is likely to be longer and deeper than the last one.”

The bank’s outlook in its “Global Economic Prospects” report issued twice a year adds to mounting gloom amid Europe’s debt crisis and high U.S. unemployment.

“It is very likely that most European countries, including Germany, entered recession in the fourth quarter of last year,” said Hans Timmer, the World Bank’s director of development projects.

Investors cut investments in developing countries 45% in the second half last year, vs. the same period in 2010, Timmer said.

Libya militia leader ‘tortured, killed in detention’

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HE BBC has seen evidence that a man was tortured and killed in detention, after clashes between rival militia groups in Libya at the weekend.

Members of Izzedine alGhool’s family say he was accused of siding with the regime of the late Muammar Gaddafi.

Former rebel commanders say they have opened a new front to disarm Gaddafi loyalists holding out around Gharyan, 80km (50 miles) south of Tripoli.

At least nine people were killed in last week’s fight-

ing, officials say.

Interim Prime Minister Abdurrahim al-Keib and Defence Minister Osama al-Juweili visited the area in an effort to halt the violence.

The fighting is said to have erupted when members of the Gharyan militia went to arrest people suspected of having ties to the former Gaddafi regime in the town of Assabia, about 16km (10 miles) to the south-west.

Assabia’s militia reportedly refused to hand the suspects over, triggering clashes in which rockets

and heavy machine-guns were fired.

The BBC’s Gabriel Gatehouse, in Tripoli, reports that Mr Ghool’s family say he was the commander of an armed brigade in his hometown of Assabia, and that he was detained on Friday after the fighting began.

But they deny that he remained loyal to the former regime.

His body is currently in cold storage at a mortuary in the capital.

The BBC has seen marks on his legs and buttocks that suggest he was sub-

jected to brutal treatment.

Our correspondent says this is an acutely sensitive subject for the interim authorities. A military officer at the mortuary denied the BBC permission to interview the doctor who conducted the autopsy.

But a nurse who was present when the body was examined said Mr Ghool had been subjected to electric shocks and savagely beaten.

On Sunday, a Gharyan military commander said his men had taken a number of prisoners, who have since been released.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

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SPORT EXTRA

Rabiu Ibrahim close to signing Celtic deal C

ELTIC are close to agreeing a deal to sign Nigerian winger Rabiu Ibrahim.

The former PSV Eindhoven

player has been on trial at the club’s Lennoxtown training complex and has played in a bounce game.

Ibrahim has impressed

Neil Lennon and his coaching staff and STV has learned that Celtic have applied for a work permit endorsement.

Morenikeji Akanbi to test with Xamax

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ORMER Golden Eaglets' striker, Morenikeji Taofeek Akanbi, has been invited by Swiss side, Neuchatel Xamax for test games.

The player's agent, Hasan Egilmez, revealed to SuperSport.com that Neuchatel Xamax's invitation was finalised on Monday.

Akanbi, 17, is expected to feature in the 2012 Match World Cup in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates that will run from January 18 to 23.

"Keji got his invitation to a top team from Switzerland, Neuchatel Xamax, on Monday.

We are securing his visa and in the next days he will leave Nigeria to take part in the tournament (2012 Match World Cup) with his new team, Neuchatel Xamax.

The tournament will be held in Dubai," Egilmez said to SuperSport.com.

Egilmez also confirmed that Akanbi will be registered as an academy player and given special permission to play for Neuchatel Xamax seniors occasionally as he is still 17.

"Morenikeji is only 17 years and played last year in the Nigeria Premier League for Crown FC. He has also played for Nigeria's Under-17 national team. He is one of the biggest talents in Nigerian football right now.

"He is going into the first team (of Neuchatel Xamax). He will be registered as an academy player due to FIFA regulations and with special permission he can play first team," the player's

manager said.

Akanbi scored seven times for Crown FC, which was relegated last season from the top flight in Nigeria.

The teenager and the Neuchatel Xamax squad will face Zenit St. Petersburg of Russia, FC Bunyodkor of Uzbekistan and the Iraqi U-23s in Group A of the 2012 Match World Cup. Shakthar Donetsk, Etoile

Ibrahim has represented Nigeria at Under-17, 20 and 23 levels but requires a work permit to play in the UK. The 20-year-old is a free agent after leaving Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven last month.

Icelandic youngster Ingulfor Sigurdsson has also been on trial at Celtic but STV understands no decision has yet been taken on a contract offer.

The attacking midfielder started his career at Sporting Lisbon before joining PSV in March last year.

However, a lack of first team football meant the club agreed to terminate the player’s contract.

LAGOS JUNIOR LEAGUE

Apapa Golden Stars eye title

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LAYERS and officials of Apapa Golden Stars have reiterated their determination in lifting the Lagos Junior League title as the second stanza resumes this weekend.

According to Apapa Golden Stars Secretary/Media Officer, Emmanuel Tobi, the coach Nathaniel Olagunju-tutored side currently tops the 14-teams table after seven games garnering 16 points from 5 wins, 1 draw and

recording a loss in their opening match of the season.

General Manager of the team, Honourable Owolabi Adele believes the team is battle ready to tackle all other team while praising the Chairman of Apapa Local Government, Honourable Ayodeji Joseph for his financial and moral support which has propelled the team to its present position.

“Our target is to maintain our

position till the end of season as we have fortified the team with additional players. The team is well motivated courtesy of our sports loving chairman who has been the driving force of the team,” he expressed.

Hon Owolabi while commending the standard of officiating in the league, however, expressed disappointment on the non-availability of cash prize for the winner.

2012 AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS

Zambia lack of goals worries Lota

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X-ZAMBIA and Orlando Pirates striker Dennis Lota has said the goals’ return by Chipolopolo should be a cause for concern going into the Africa Nations Cup this weekend.

Zambia have managed only a goal in two high-level friendlies this month in Johannesburg, South Africa, in a final build-up to the AFCON. Lota told MTNFootball.com that after watching Zambia draw with South Africa and Namibia last week, it was a serious concern that the sides

only goal was scored by a defender.

"I cannot say it is the strikers. It is just a case of making use of the chances," said Lota, who will work as a TV pundit during the Nations Cup. "In both games, we failed to convert our chances and it was not good enough."

Defender Stophilla Sunzu from DR Congo club TP Mazembe scored Zambia's only goal in a friendly against South Africa on January 11 played at the Rand Stadium in Johannesburg.

Gervinho: ‘Now or never’ for RSENAL star Gervinho Cote d'Ivoire has said Cote d’Ivoire

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must make the most of the absence of several of Africa’s top guns to win a second Africa Cup of Nations after so many dashed hopes.

The 2012 AFCON will be without seven-time champions Egypt, Cameroon, Nigeria and Algeria and Gervinho has said the whole Ivorian team have vowed to go all the way in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

“We have always been rated tournament favourites but failed to deliver. But now is the time to go all the way,” said the former Lille star.

“We have all told ourselves that it is now or never for us.

“We have everything going

for us, quality and the motivation. We only need to be fully concentrated for this competition because Ivorians need nothing but the trophy.”

This may well be the last big chance for the likes of Didier Drogba, Kolo Toure and Didier Zakora to be crowned African champions after promising so much over the years.

Coach Francois Zahoui has blamed his team’s lack of success on the continent to the players underrating their opponents.

The Elephants again finished the qualifying campaign in style, chalking up a perfect record in six games.

Tomorrow in THE NATION

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

‘He has sought for fortune at the crossroads where history shames the comforting essence of wealth.

Thus his alteration into everlasting emptiness or something like it; like mutant fart.’

VOL. 7, NO.2009

C OMMENT & D EB ATE EBA

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N Monday, the leaders of organised Labour called off their five-day-old strike that had paralysed and brought economic activities in the country to a complete halt. The strike was called off in response to President Jonathan’s announcement that PMS is to sell for N97 per litre, down from the average price of N140 per litre for which it was selling last week, following the withdrawal of the so-called oil subsidy, over which the government and Labour had been having a dog fight. But it remains to be seen what the response of the oil marketers to this directive will be. Will it not lead to the hoarding of petrol by the retailers, so as to cash in on the uncertainties in the price of petrol? Can the government enforce the new price? Already there are reports of petrol scarcity in the country.

In calling off the hugely effective nationwide strike, the Labour leaders said they still stood by their demand for the price of oil to return to the old price of N65 per litre, but were suspending the strike in response to security concerns about the strike conveyed to them by President Jonathan. During the strike, some dozen or so fatal casualties were reported in the media and confirmed by the Police. This was despite the commendable restraint shown by the protesters and the security forces during the strike. Except in a few scattered cases, the protesters were orderly and avoided direct confrontation with the security forces. Neither side in the dispute was wholly satisfied with its outcome. The government was forced to back down from its hasty removal of the socalled oil subsidy, hotly disputed by Labour, while the Labour leaders had to accept, if only as an interim measure, the price increase as announced by the President. While calling off the strike, Labour has vowed to continue with its opposition to the reviewed oil price.

But for the intransigence of the Federal Government over the matter, this was a strike that should and could have been averted. Regardless of the economic imperatives of the removal of the oil subsidy, the manner of its removal should have been the subject of negotiations and agreement between the Federal Government and Labour. The strike could have been avoided, if only the government had listened to the concerns expressed by well meaning people that the planned oil subsidy withdrawal, for which a case had not been effectively made by the Federal Government, should have been carried out in phases. I had, in my last two columns in this paper, urged a strategy of phased withdrawal of the subsidy on the government without any success. In the end, this is precisely what the government has done to extricate itself from the embarrassing situation it inflicted on itself.

Despite its well known and publicly declared reservations on the oil subsidy issue, Labour

DAPO FAFOWORA

FROM THE SUMMIT dapo.fafowora@thenationonlineng.net

A strike that could have been averted

•Protesters

has always made it clear that it is not, in principle, opposed to the deregulation of the oil sector, but that this should be preceded by a thorough analysis of the extent of the subsidy involved, if any, and further consultations with all interested parties to work out an acceptable price. The figures on oil subsidy just do not add up. Only yesterday, a senior official of the Department of Customs told an Ad-Hoc Committee of the House of Representatives that the Customs had no documen-

RIPPLES

HARDBALL

timated the public anger felt over the dramatic increase, by over 120 per cent, in the price of oil. The pains were felt even more by the dwindling middle class that has seen its income fall steadily over the years. This was why the middle class joined the strike.

The timing of the removal of the so-called oil subsidy, coming as it did barely a week after the Christmas Day bombing of a church in the North, in which nearly 50 people were killed, was particularly provocative and insensitive, as it left the people with the feeling that the government cared little about their welfare. Besides, it was assumed that the change in policy on oil imports would not take effect until well into the first quarter of the financial year. That was the import of the extension by the National Assembly of the 2011 budget until April. In other words, the subsidy, if any, had already been captured in the budget for 2011 that was still running. The sudden change of policy took the public by surprise. It was the last straw and the government was grossly mistaken in not heeding warnings that the abrupt deregulation of the oil sector would lead to Labour strikes and economic paralysis in the country. Labour gave sufficient notice of this.

If the government had listened to the voice of reason, rather than pandering to the hawks in its ranks, the strike would have been avoided. It is estimated that close to a trillion naira was lost to the economy during the week old strike. The government itself would have lost billions of naira in revenue caused by the strike. This will further widen the deficit in the 2012 budget.

But the strike over the removal of the socalled oil subsidy is only a symptom of a much deeper malaise in the country. This malaise, that the nation wants the government to address, includes the huge cost of governance at all levels, with recurrent expenditure accounting for nearly 80 per cent of public expenditure, the massive corruption in the public sector, the lack of transparency in governance, the wide income disparity and the consequent deepening of mass poverty in the country, the woeful state of infrastructure and the rising unemployment at all levels in the country.

These are some of the failures of governance in Nigeria that brought millions of people out in the streets in an unprecedented demonstration against the well illustrated ineptitude of the government. That the strike cut across all known religious, tribal and economic divide in the country was a clear indication that the whole country was united in demanding a change in the quality of governance, long over due.

•Continued on page 58 • For comments, send SMS to 08054503031

•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above

ACN won’t get presidential apology

Fashola to Jonathan: RECALL TROOPS DEPLOYED IN LAGOS

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...and face BOKO HARAM!

tation on oil imports in Nigeria and that it had been ordered by the Ministry of Finance to waive such documentation. This confirms the widespread suspicion that, with the active collusion and collaboration of public functionaries in the oil sector, the nation is being ripped off by the oil cabal. In 2010, the number of oil importers suddenly increased from 8 to 28. The subsidy paid out jumped from barely N500 billion to over N1.4 trillion.

This was despite the fact that total oil consumption in Nigeria had not significantly increased. Exchange rate adjustment was also moderate. The business of oil imports had become a huge racket with vast sums of money being paid out to dubious oil importers. The Federal Government itself admitted that this was the case. It had the list of importers and knew who were behind this huge fraud, but did nothing about it. Instead, it decided to punish the public cruelly for the government’s inefficiencies and large scale graft in the oil sector. Of all oil producing countries, the price of refined oil in Nigeria is the highest. It also has the worst infrastructure, particularly in the area of public transportation.

The Federal Government was fully aware that the public, including well informed analysts in the oil sector, had serious and well founded doubts about the extent of the subsidy on oil imports. Independent investigations by the House of Representatives had confirmed the suspicion that oil imports had become a massively corrupt business in which most of the oil importers and marketers were actively involved. Instead of taking practical steps to deal effectively with this oil cabal, the government decided to punish the public by inflicting on it additional economic and financial burdens. The government underes-

OLATUNJI OLOLADE

HE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, was yesterday quoted by newspapers as asking President Goodluck Jonathan to apologise for his deprecatory remarks on Lagos. The president made the said remarks while speaking at the 2011 President’s NYSC Honours Award in Abuja on Monday, the same day he deployed troops in Lagos to abort street protests over fuel subsidy removal.

Angered by what he considered to be Lagos’ conspicuous consumption, the president had railed against the penchant of the state for overindulgence in spite of enjoying what he believed was the hugest chunk of the subsidy programme. Whether ACN likes it or not, the president has expressed his simple thoughts, even if they find his views loathsome.

All the president said was that the government was tired of borrowing money to subsidise fuel for people who had 10 or 15 cars, and whose underage children were driving cars all over Lagos. What is upsetting the ACN? Do they dispute the suggestion that wealthy parents in Lagos allow their underage children to cruise choice cars around? But if indeed the president is right, are there no PDP underage children involved in the menacing act? Or is the ACN angered by the presumption in the

president’s statement that it is only in Lagos that people own 10 or 15 cars which underage children drive all over the city?

The ACN suspects that the president harbours an incandescent dislike for Lagos. More, it feels that if the president understands the nature of megacities, particularly cities that are commercial nerve centres of their countries, he should have expected that energy use in such cities should be very high. The party apparently fears that the president’s statement and the animus it betrayed indicated why he took the draconian and unconstitutional step to deploy troops in the city in the name of securing the city and country against Arab Spring-like revolt. The ACN has probably not forgotten that during the last presidential campaign, the president ran himself ragged to instigate non-Yoruba speaking people against the indigenes in order to secure votes for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the governorship poll.

What is not in doubt is that the president unfortunately detests many things about Lagos. Why that is so may not be limited to fuel consumption, for surely, even if he does not appreciate deep economics, the president must understand that energy use is an indication of the scope of economic activi-

ties, particularly industrialisation. If fuel consumption is subsidised, it would be truly numbing if anyone were to construe it as Federal Government doing the state a favour.

Whatever the president has against Lagos must be sought elsewhere. As for underage driving, would it not be comical to sociologists for anyone to suggest that that habit is found only in Lagos?

The president has made this sad statement about Lagos, as he has made many other unfortunate statements on so many issues in the recent and distant past. We must be inured to his interminable gaffes by now, though many more will still come, perhaps on a weekly basis. If the ACN really wants an apology, it should direct it to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, not Jonathan. The former president should congratulate himself that as kingmaker, he has foisted on the country at least three gentlemen, who have imbued fresh meaning to the poor or stage-managed leadership succession, which constitutes to the decline of empires. Lagos can’t help being its dashing and irreverent self any more than New York, Tokyo or Paris, whose vivaciousness and élan have been the subjects of many literary masterpieces. It is not Lagos’ fault that philistines in power mistook gaiety for rudeness.

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