The Nation July 12 2011

Nigeria’s truly national newspaper

L, A NT E IN T TO T N SE O C SS GE E R E CE ER AG T P 8 IN AC M

SSS grills ex-Governor Sheriff in Abuja over Boko Haram •Bombs rock Kaduna, Madala

NEWS – PAGE 2

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TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

VOL. 6, NO. 1818 TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

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10 dead in Lagos floods Fashola urges victims to take heart Lagos/ Abeokuta road cracks

Jonathan moves three ministers •29 get portfolios MINISTERS AND PORTFOLIOS •Idris Umar (Transport) •Haliru Bello Mohammed (Defence) •Olusegun Aganga (Finance) •Bolaji Abdullahi (Youth Development) •Abba Moro (Interior) •Zainab Ibrahim Kuchi (MoS) Niger Delta •Bukar Tijani Minister of State (Agric and Nat. Resources) •Emeka Wogu (Labour) •Zainab Maina, (Women Affairs) •Ita Okon Bassey Ewa (Science and Tech.)

•Stella Oduah-Ogiemwonyi (Aviation) •Bala Mohammed (FCT) •Diezani Alison-Madueke (Petroleum) •Godsday Orubebe (Niger Delta Affairs) •Onyebuchi Chukwu (Health) •Mike Onolememen (Works) •Bart Nnaji (Power) •Viola Onwuliri Minister of State, Foreign •Ruqayyatu Rufai (Education) •Shamsudeen Usman (National Planning) •Mohammed Musa Sada (Mines and Steel Development) •Mohammed B. Adoke (Justice) •Labaran Maku (Information and Communications) •Samuel Iorer Ortom, Minister of State (Trade and Investment) •Olugbenga Ashiru (Foreign) •Olusola Obada, Minister of State (Defence) •Olajumoke Akinjide Minister of State (FCT) •Yerima Ngama, Minister of State (Finance) •Bashir Yugudu, Minister of State (Works)

By Miriam Ndikanwu, Jude Isiguzo, Sunday Ogundugba and Titi Banjoko

L

AGOSIANS got a break from the rains yesterday to begin the grim task of counting their losses.

No fewer than 10 people, including a woman with a baby strapped onto her back, died in the floods that ravaged the city and its suburbs after Sunday’s downpour.

The floods destroyed public and private property worth billions of naira. The Lagos-Abeokuta express road caved in, causing great discomfort to motorists.

Governor Babatunde Fashola moved round to see the devastation of homes and streets.

A resident of Ojodu on the outskirts of Lagos, who identified himself as Opeyemi, described the flood as “unprecedented”.

His words: “A house very close to my flat was flooded to the extent that no occupant of the bungalow could step outside as the level of the water rose to the door.”

In Yaba, Lagos Mainland, a few metres from the University of Lagos (UNILAG), some residents woke up early with basins to drive out water from their living rooms.

The Hebert Macaulay expressway in Yaba, towards the West African Examination Council (WEAC) of-

•Some of the victims of the floods ... yesterday

‘

I condole with people who lost children or property; they should know I’m with them; I will be making an appeal to the President to help with fund to relocate and resettle flood victims.

’

fices end, was completely flooded. Motorists drove at snail’s speed, resulting in a massive traffic jam on the four-lane expressway.

The woman and her baby were on Monday found drowned at Aboru Canal in

From Yusuf Alli and Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

E “I heard some people shouting on Sunday evening but could not come out to ascertain the cause because of the heavy rains.

“When I came out this

VEN before it gets cracking, the cabinet has got some shake-up.

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday moved three of the 12 re-nominated ministers, who had last week retained their posts.

But, against the expectations of some stakeholders in the oil industry, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, retained her seat.

The cabinet outlook has generated tension, less than five hours after it was released due to the “sudden” redeployment of the Minister of Transport, Yusuf Suleiman, to the National Sports Commission. The popular thinking was that the redeployment was over a disagreement with Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Director-General Ziakede Patrick Akpobolokemi.

Moved are the former Minister of Finance, Mr. Olusegun

Continued on page 2

Continued on page 2

•Fashola addressing residents of Odejobi Street, Agege ... yesterday. Behind him is Mr Bello PHOTOS: MOSES OMOSEHIN

Alimoso Local Government Area.

A resident of the community, Mr Adewale Hassan, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the victims were swept into the canal by the floods.

•POLITICS P17 •SPORTS P24 •PROPERTY P25 •ENERGY P37 •AVIATION P43

L, A T TO

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THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

NEWS

Jonathan moves three ministers Continued from page 1

•Mrs Obioma lmoke rendering a song to celebrate her husband, Liyel who clocked 50 on Sunday.

With them are the children in Calabar ... on Sunday.

10 dead in Lagos floods Continued from page 1

morning, I saw people gathered, looking at dead bodies floating in the canal. I counted seven bodies, including that of a woman with a baby strapped to her back. It was indeed a terrible sight,” he said.

Hassan said some of the bodies had been swept to the Aboru end of the canal by the floods.

Another resident, who pleaded for anonymity, corroborated Hassan’s account, saying three of the seven bod-

ies had been removed by residents and had been handed over to the appropriate authorities.

“Yes, we removed three bodies this morning and they were so bad that we could not recognise them or tell where they lived. I guess they must have been swept into the canal from somewhere,” he said, adding: “We saw the other bodies being moved away to the other end of the canal, but it would be suicidal for anyone to attempt to remove them. It

was a bad experience for residents of this area.”

In Badagry, the floods also caused havoc in Itoga, Mosafejo, Aradagun, OkoAfo, Ilado and Iworo-Ajido communities.

NAN reports that the divisional police headquarters, public schools and institutions, such as the Nigeria French Language Village, Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON), Topo, as well as bank premises were not spared.

Continued on page 3

Aganga (now in charge of Ministry of Trade and Investment); Suleiman (National Sports Commission); and ex-Minister of State for FCT, Navy Capt Caleb Olubolade (Police Affairs).

A source said: “Security reports on the activities of some of the ministers and the screening by the Senate made the President to tinker with the portfolios for cabinet members.

It was gathered that evaluation reports on Olubolade claimed that he “might be more useful in a force-oriented ministry than the FCT where he could not effectively control the six Area Councils.”

“As for Aganga, the security reports showed that the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria was in the vanguard of his re-designation as Minister of Trade and Investment following waivers he gave members of the association when he was the Minister of Finance.

“On Allison-Madueke, security reports said some International Oil Companies (IOCs) were desperate to see her removed because of her tough focus and position on the Petroleum Industry Bill.

“But the President is of the belief that foreigners cannot come and dictate to Nigerians.”

It was a different ball game in the Ministry of Transport where the cold war between

the Minister and the DG of NIMASA led to the redeployment of the Minister.

“For instance, the President was disturbed by security reports that the Chief Detail of the ex-Minister of Transport (Suleiman) allegedly assaulted the DG of NIMASA at the ministry last Thursday.

“Security agencies had last Friday investigated the incident and indicted the Minister for ‘not being tidy.’

“Also, there has been a cold war between the Minister and the DG over restructuring and cost cutting measures being put in place in NIMASA. “Since NIMASA DG came on board, he has resisted attempts to use the agency to bear statutory recurrent expenditure of the Ministry like estacodes for foreign trips, demands for contingency funds with written records to prove these, request for suspicious contracts and armtwisting by officials of the Ministry.

“For instance, when the DG assumed duties, he discovered that NIMASA’s headquarters was not connected to public electricity supply, instead, the agency was hiring generator at N150, 000 per day outside the purchase of diesel.

“What the DG did was to connect NIMASA to PHCN supply. And the cartel making fortunes from generator hiring has not been happy.

“Another issue inherited

was hiring of boats to patrol waterways at $11,000 (N1.650m) per day but the DG succeeded in reducing the cost to N330, 000.”

“Although Suleiman was nominated into the cabinet by the Sultan of Sokoto, the President felt the assault on the DG was not in line with his transformation agenda.”

The portfolios of the Ministers were unveiled from the office of the Secretary to the government of the Federation (SGF). Only the sworn-in ministers were assigned offices. The ministers cleared by the senate and yet to be sworn in – like Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala - were not assigned responsibilities..

The government also created a Ministry of Communication Technology. SGF Anyim Pius Anyim said an expert in Information Technology will be posted t head the ministry.

Erstwhile Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) acting National Chairman Haliru Bello Mohammed is assigned the Defence Ministry portfolio.

Anyim said yesterday according to a statement by Salisu Nainna, a Deputy Director in his office that a Minister who is very versatile in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) would be in charge of the Ministry of Technology. He said the ministry was created so as to give fillip to the critical importance of ICT in a modern economy.

SSS grills ex-Governor Sheriff in Abuja over Boko Haram

F

OR about seven hours, the State Security Service (SSS) yesterday grilled ex-Governor Modu Ali Sheriff over his alleged relationship with members of the Boko Haram sect.

The ex-Borno State helmsman is alleged to have been part of the formation of the sect to consolidate his political grip on the state.

The sect is believed to have helped the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) to maintain an “incredible dominance” of politics since 2003.

For security agents, who have for one month been trying to interrogate Sheriff, the waiting game ended yesterday when he arrived at the SSS Abuja headquarters at 9.24a.m.

Clad in a white Babanriga with a brown cap to match, the ex-governor was taken to an office where he faced a barrage of questions from top intelligence chiefs on the Boko Haram menace.

Sheriff was realeased at about 4p.m.

A source, who pleaded not to be named because he is not officially permitted to speak, said: “The ex-governor came to the SSS on the prompting of the security agency. Perhaps it is just an invitation for him to explain what he knows about the Boko Haram group, his relationship with them and why Boko Haram members are targeting him, his relatives and closed associates.

“Remember, he was the Governor of Borno State, the theatre of this disturbance for eight years.”

Another source said: “For

Why we can’t arrest sect leaders yet, by Army chief

C

HIEF of Army Staff (COAS) Lt. General Azubike Ihejirika yesterday identified lack of information as the reason for the failure of security agencies to arrest leaders of Boko Haram.

The Army chief spoke in Ibadan at the opening of a three-day workshop on civil-military affairs held at the 2 Division, Nigerian Army, Adekunle Fajuyi Cantonment, Ibadan.

He described as unfortunate the situation in which the people have refused to give genuine information that could lead to the arrest of members of Boko Haram.

Gen Ihejirika said in spite of this drawback, the army was up to the task.

He assured Nigerians that Boko Haram would soon be crushed.

He said people have refused to give information about the sect because of From Alli Yusuf, Ibadan

many weeks, we looked for the former governor. At a stage, we got a report that Sheriff had travelled to China but, I think he got a message that we might move against him and he decided to honour our invitation.

“One of the critical issues he would help the security agencies to unravel is the circumstance behind the killing of the leader of Boko Haram, Mohammed Yusuf, and some key leaders of the sect after they had been arrested on July 29, 2009.”

Yusuf, who was found hiding in a goat pen at his parents-in-law’s home, was killed at Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri. There were allegations that top leaders of the sect were killed by the police at the prompting of a top gov-

From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

the fear of reprisal.

He recalled that some people in the past who volunteered information to security operatives which led to the arrest of some suspected criminals were later traced to their houses and killed.

He said information given would be treated with confidentiality.

Gen Ihejirika was represented by the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 2 Division, Nigerian Army, Major General Muhammad Abubakar.

He said it was pertinent for the military to build on professionalism with emphasis on creating an enabling environment to foster cordial relationship between the civil and military institutions.

He said the military needs a complete re-orientation to mitigate these chal-

ernment official.

“We suspect official complicity in the Boko Haram insurgency and no other person could explain the situation in Borno State to us than Sheriff,” the source said.

Kaduna residents were yet to recover yesterday from the hangover of a bomb blast at Fokado Street, off Maiduguri Road that left more than 20 people seriously injured.

A victim of the blast, Mr Solomon Aliyu, 34, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) shortly after the incident that the blast occurred around 11:20 p.m., destroying three buildings.

Aliyu, who was injured on his left leg, was treated at a nearby clinic.

He said other victims with serious injuries were on admission and were being treated at Alba and Logus

lenges, saying that the interface between the civil society and the military could not be severed as both depend on each other.

The Chief of Civil-Military Affairs, Major General Bitrus Kwaji, gave the objective of the programme is to enhance the credibility and integrity of the Nigerian Army as a strategic conflict mediator and resolution stakeholders and to promote cordial civil-military relations.

The University of Maiduguri has been closed down indefinitely as a result of the insecurity caused by the activities of Boko Haram.

Registrar Alhaji Babagana Aji, said the decision to close down the institution was taken yesterday by the Senate of the university.

He said the university will only reopen when the security situation in Maiduguri improves.

clinics on Constitution Road and Maiduguri Road.

Aliyu, who said he was escorted home by soldiers after receiving treatment at Alba clinic, added that security personnel were combing the area for suspects.

The co-ordinator of the Joint Security Task Force (Operation Yaki) in the state, Col. Gabriel Mamman, could not confirm the blast, but promised to do so after ascertaining the true position of things.

Another explosion occured last night in Madalla, near Suleja in Niger State, where bombs thrown into a church from a moving motorcycle killed four people on Sunday.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) last night confirmed the explosion in Madalla.

NEMA said nobody died or

was injured. It said security men had condoned off the area.

Many Nigerians have been suggesting how to stop the violence.

Former Head of State Gen. Abdusalam Abubakar yesterday called on Boko Haram members to seek dialogue with the government to avoid further loss of innocent lives and property.

In an interview with NAN in Addis Ababa, the former Head of State said: “Detonating bombs will not give them what they want; rather, it will give Nigeria and Nigerians a bad name.

“By detonating bombs, they are not doing justice to themselves, to the country and to the innocent Nigerians. Innocent people are being killed and terrorised. They should come out and talk so that the

concerned authorities can address the issues.”

To Gen. Abubakar, the bombings have no religious connotations.

“I do not see any religious connection about the bombings because none of our religions allows such,” he said.

Also yesterday, the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) suggested sanitisation of the nation’s borders as a way of tackling the continued bombing by Boko Haram.

The AYCF called for Sheriff’s investigation, over the sect’s activities.

AYCF President Yerimma Shettima told NAN in Lagos that Sheriff should tell Nigerians what he knew about the sect that started during his tenure.

“The former governor should be in a better position to advise security operatives on how best to resolve the Boko Haram issue,” he said.

Shettima also said that there was need for Nigeria to control the influx of foreigners through the borders with Chad and Niger Republics.

“Our borders are so porous and people from Chad and Niger keep coming in to commit atrocities in Nigeria in the name of religion, giving the entire North a bad name.

“What happens in Nigeria where foreigners come in as they want, commit all sorts of crimes and get away with it cannot happen even in the Republic of Benin,” he noted.

He said only total sanity in the nation’s borders could help security operatives would stop the Boko Haram scourge.

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

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THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

NEWS LAGOS FLOODS OF FURY

• A house in Ogba, Lagos

• Omitola Street in Agege.. yesterday

• A portion on the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway that caved in....yesterday

•Christ Annointed Kingdom Church on Oshodi-Apapa Expressway.. yesterday PHOTOS: JOHN EBHOTA, RAHMAN SANUSI AND EVELYN OSAGIE

Govt warns residents against unauthorised reclamation

L

AGOS State Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure Development Prince Adesegun Oniru, yesterday warned residents and organisations to desist from unauthorised reclamation on the waterways.

Oniru, who gave the warning in Alausa said this would mitigate against the impact of flooding in the state.

He reminded property owners,who engage in indiscriminate extension of structures without authorisation that they are flouting the rules. He advised them to follow the acceptable standard in the interest of the larger society.

Oniru said: “If these illegal activities are not properly monitored and regulated, they will lead to a major environmental problem, which may result in more devastating floods and flooding in ar-

Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway caves in

A

PORTION of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway yesterday caved in leading to protracted traffic snarl.

Commuters and drivers spent many hours on the road in the early morning rain.

The expressway is the only link between Sango, Ogun State to Lagos State capital Ikeja and other parts of the city.

The collapse led to its closure by the Chairman of the Ijaiye/Ojokoro Local Government Development Area, Mr. Benjamin Adeyemi Olabinjo. He said the action was taken to avert a major disaster.

The portion of the road that caved in is close to a canal near the Ijaiye/Ahmadiya bus stops where the underground canal that collects water from various channels flow under the express road. When our correspondent visited the scene yesterday, scores of vehicles were trying to find a way out.

At the Ijaiye bus stop, Olabinjo, along with senior officials of the council, officials of the Lagos State Traffic

By Miriam Ndikanwu

eas which were hitherto not prone to flooding.

“It could also have an adverse effect on the tourism

and transportation potential, which the water bodies such as oceans, lagoon, rivers and streams provide for the state.”

According to him, his ministry has been empowered to

By Olayinka Oyegbile

Management Authority (LASTMA) and men of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) were sited directing traffic.

Olabinjo told our correspondent that he had to close the failed portion of the road so as to avoid a total collapse and a major disaster. He said: “We have been calling on the Federal Government to see to the completion of this road to no avail. ‘’We had to divert the traffic because the receiving end of the canal is too narrow for the volume of water that it collects, and that’s what led to the crack. I have to create an alternative route to avoid a bigger disaster. The Federal Government must find a solution to this road.”

A driver who simply identified himself as John said: “See me here now, I left my house near Canaan Land at about six a.m hoping I’ll be in the office by eight. It’s now almost 11am I am yet to get to Ijaiye, what sort of life is this?’’ coordinate all reclamation in the state to facilitate environmental sustainability and guide against environmental degradation.

Oniru called on individu-

als and corporate bodies that had reclaimed or extended beyond their initial land holdings as contained in their titled document to come to the Estate Department of the min-

istry with the original copy of the survey plan showing the original land holding, the original copy of survey plan showing the proposed or concluded extension, a certified true copy of title document and any prior approval obtained for the extension.

The commissioner said: ‘’Any individual or corporate body who wishes to obtain permit for reclamation of any form can do so from the ministry. ‘’Anyone who did not obtain the necessary permit before engaging in any reclamation will be prosecuted under the Lagos State Government enabling law on Waterfront Infrastructure Development, which stipulates rules and regulations for dredging, sandfilling and land reclamation.’’

Lagosians count losses as floods of fury subsides Continued from page 2

Two residents of the town – Mr Segun Huntoyan and Mr Wale Kuponu — described the flood as the worst in recent times.

Mr Dele Odebiyi, former Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), who also lives in Badagry, said hundreds of people were rendered homeless while human and vehicular movements were hindered.

A high tension wire that snapped on Sunday night electrocuted a 45-year-old man.

Another was killed by a falling communications mast.

Identified simply as Alhaji Lanre, the 45-year old businessman was electrocuted at Okeafa, Isolo on Sunday night when a PHCN cable fell on his Adebiyi St. home.

A resident of the area, Mr Edwin Eboh, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the incident affected four other residents of No. 4, Adebiyi

Street and a commercial cyclist, who was riding past.

Eboh said that the other victims only sustained minor burn injuries and were receiving treatment in hospitals.

At Akinola Oki community Aboru, Agbado Oke-Odo Local Council Development Area (LCDA), one of the places that Fashola visited on the Lagos- Abeokuta Expressway, residents told reporters that three bodies were recovered from the canal. Others were afloat, they said.

The Vice Chairman of the LCDA, Austin Arogun said the victims got drowned because they could not distinguish between the roads and the drainage channels already covered by floods.

Although no death was recorded in Odejobi Street in the devastating impact of the flood has rendered scores homeless.

A resident and a student at the Air Force Institute, Kaduna who gave her name as Temitope, said her family had been

rendered homeless.

“We were in church when the rain started and when we returned home we discovered that the entire place had been flooded. Initially, we thought we could save the situation but the more we tried the more the flood kept coming,” she said.

“It was so terrible that after a while my parents suggested that we go back to the church and spend the night and when we returned home this morning we discovered that all our property had been damaged”.

Another resident, Mr Chijioke Ugochukwu, was so emotional about the situation. “I don’t know where to go from here; I have lost almost everything I have, I could only retrieve the clothes that I hanged before I left for church. If I had known that the rain would fall the whole day, I wouldn’t have gone out,” he said.

Fashola sympathised with those who lost their loved

ones and property to the floods.

He warned that the government would immediately begin the enforcement of environment laws.

Said the Governor: “Those who are in building that we have marked as structurally unstable or those who built on canals should leave the building immediately because we are coming to take possession. We are not going to risk human lives anymore.”

“My sympathy goes to the people affected in the flood. I condole with people who lost children or property; they should know I’m with them; I will be making an appeal to the President to help with fund to relocate and resettle flood victims.

“I will also write to the Federal Government on the failed portion of Abeokuta Expressway. We hope the Federal Government would respond because we have virtually lost that road and traffic will be

terrible.”

Armed robbers had a field day on the Oshodi/Apapa Expressway attacking drivers and commuters trapped in the flood.

Lagos police spokesman Sam Jinadu said policemen had been deployed in the area to check the hoodlums.

At Achakapo Street, Ajegunle building collapsed, but nobody died. It was many Ajegunle residents affected by the flood have relocated to a local authority primary school in the area. Many were moving out of the area to an unknown destination.

The city was unusually quiet yesterday, with public schools closing down.

The rains continued early yesterday.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) yesterday described the flood the most devastating this year.

Director General Muhammad Sani-Sidi spoke on the

first day of his on-the-spot assessment of some of the areas affected by the floods. He was part of a special delegation from Abuja.

Sani-Sidi said some deaths have been recorded. Properties were destroyed, he said.

He said areas of great concern include: Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, Ikorodu, Ojodu Berger/Isheri, Oworonsoki, Gbagada, Agege, Oniwaya, Iyana-Ipaja and Lekki-Aja. On the entourage of the Governor, who was conducted round the areas by the Permanent Secretary (Drainage) in the Ministry of Environment, Muyideen Akinsanya, were the Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, his Environment counterpart, Mr. Tunji Bello, Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Remi Ibirogba, Special Duties, Dr. Wale Ahmed, Special Adviser to the Governor on Environment, Dr. Adediran Folami among others.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

NEWS

•Participants at the 2011 National Environmental Standards Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) National Secondary School Quiz Competition in Abuja.... yesterday

Peace-missions for review

From Dele Anofi and Olugbenga Adanikin, Abuja

T

HE Ministry of Defence, in collaboration with the African Union (AU), is to restructure its peace-keeping operations, even as it aims to roll out the African Standby Force (ASF) in Africa.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Dr. Ezekiel Oyeyomi, broke the news at a press briefing in Abuja.

He said the restructuring was necessary to meet up with modern trends and deal with security challenges.

Oyeyomi added that despite excellent performance of Nigerian troops in peace-keeping missions, there is still need to enhance capacities of regional organisations, such as the African Union.

He said:“Because we know we cannot be static, we have to operate based on global trend, the current security trend in Africa and seek to fine tune better ways of operationalising the African Standby Force. We have to reposition ourselves.

“Due to the increasing need for the AU to engage in peace support operations and the urgency to operationalise the African Standby Force, it has therefore become imperative that the current AU strategic Headquarters be reviewed.

N1.6b in lieu of accommodation for seventh National Assembly M

INISTERS, senators and members of the House of Representatives will shed 40 per cent of their allowances, it was learnt at the weekend.

This follows a national outcry over the jumbo allowances of the sixth Assembly legislators and members of the immediate past Federal Executive Council.

The Federal Government has been under intense pressure to reverse the budgeting system, which favours a huge recurrent expenditure to the detriment of capital spending.

Incoming Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told Senators during her screening last week of the need to reverse the 2011 budget, which is 75 per cent in favour of recurrent expenditure.

Senators have been told of the “best tightening”.

Senate President David Mark announced the compulsory pay cut at an Executive Session with senators. The session is usually a closed-door affair for the legislators to discuss sensitive matters.

Mark, according to sources,

THE BUDGET Personnel Cost-N17,974,915,979 Overhead Cost—N90, 055,657,984.

Recurrent—N108,030,573,962 Capital—N3,213,842,551 Total — N111, 244,416,513 From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

explained that the National Assembly conceded to the cut, based on mutual understanding with the Executive arm that it will cut the allowances of its members also by 40 per cent.

He asked members to prepare for the austerity measures “in the interest of the nation”.

Besides the implications of managing the 2011 budget with 75 per cent for recurrent expenditure, Mark also claimed that public opinion does not favour “jumbo” allowances.

But some new members of the National Assembly were said to have queried the leadership for agreeing to a cut.

They said the sacrifice

F

From Bukola Amusan, Abuja

said.

“2010 Batch ‘B’ Corps members that just passed out from the scheme will therefore be paid in arrears,” he said.

Tsiga, appreciating the gesture, said Corps members should be appreciated for their contribution to national development.

He said the struggle for the increment has been on for a long time.

“They are serving their fatherland, we are posting them to states outside their state of origin, nobody gives them anything except the allowances and it has been stipulated in the law establishing the NYSC that the Federal, States, Local Government and other stakeholders should periodically review the allowances of

‘Members to prepare for the austerity measures “in the interest of the nation’

ought to have started from the sixth National Assembly.

By the 2011 budget estimate, the National Assembly is expected to spend N111, 244,416,513, although it had initially jacked up its estimate to N150 billion before resolving the grey areas with the Executive.

The National Assembly’s budget includes Personnel Cost (N17,974,915,979); Overhead Cost(N90,055,657,984); Recurrent(N108,030,573,962) and Capital(N3,213,842,551).

The allowances that might be affected are recurrent (N108, 030,573,962) and overhead cost (N90, 055,657,984).

These include travelling, entertainment, oversight to constituencies and projects, medical vacation etc.

The Senate President was

said to have reeled off new financial guidelines which will make every senator and House member to account for money allocated to him or her.

According to a source, the Senate President said the National Assembly has designed a form, which will be filled by every senator and House member to explain how overhead cost is spent.

The source said: “Any funds not spent by a senator or House member will be refunded and receipted accordingly, in line with the columns in the form.

“Also, auditors can raise queries where they are suspicious that allocated funds are not judiciously used.”

The form has been made

available to some senators, it was learnt.

The source, who pleaded not to be named, said: “It is true that the President of the Senate told us that the budget of the National Assembly has been slashed by 40 per cent.

The implication is that allowances meant for Senators and members of the House will be affected by the same percentage.

“Mark also explained that the 40 per cent cut will affect the two arms (the Executive and the Legislature). He pleaded with us to try to sacrifice.”

Another senator said: “We are likely to go through a belt-tightening system although what you call ‘jumbo allowances’ are not so in the real sense.

“The National Assembly is only going to spend over N111.2billion out of a N4.4trillion budget.”

A new senator, however, said: “Some of us who are new are not happy with our leadership because they had concluded talks before briefing us.”

Rep alerts govt to Lagos oil spillage

Corps members to earn N19,800 ROM the Federal Government came yesterday cheery news for Corps members.

Their monthly allowance has been jacked up from N9,775.00 to N19,800.

President Goodluck Jonathan approved the increment in a letter to the Office of the Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps, (NYSC). The letter has been sent to all state coordinators.

Brig. Gen Maharatzu Tsiga, who spoke to reporters in Abuja said: “I am delighted to inform you that the President and Commander-in- Chief, Goodluck Jonathan has graciously approved increment in the Corps members allowances from N9,775.00 to N19,800.00 with effect from March, 2011. “ The payment will take effect from March, 2011”, he

PHOTO: NAN

H

• Brig. Gen. Tsiga

the Corps members,” he said.

He called on states and local governments to emulate the gesture of the Federal Government and improve on the allowances, accommodation and other welfare of the Corps members as the future of the country, he said, is in their hands.

OUSE of Representatives member Olamilekan Adeola (Alimoso Constituency) has alerted the federal and Lagos State governments to the threat posed by oil spillage in Alimoso,on the outskirts of Lagos. He said it has polluted all the boreholes in the area.

Adeola urged the Federal Government to find a lasting solution to the menace, pointing out that residents have started abandoning their houses.

“My people drink petrol and bathe with petrol. The whole environment is polluted by the oil spillage. We fear that an outbreak of fire is imminent, but we believe that evil can be averted”, he said when he a visited the affected areas.

The areas are Baruwa, Gowon Estate, AyoboIpaja, Ijegun and Solus. ‘’Last year, there was an outbreak of fire at Ijegun when the state government began the building of the road. The heavy equipment hit the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) pipe, leading to the outbreak. Since then, it has been difficult for the contractor to

By Emmanuel Oladesu Deputy Political Editor

return to the site.

The state government demanded from the NNPC the map showing the flow of pipes, but there was no response.

The legislator, who visited Diamond Estate on Isheri-Igando road, was shocked when residents drew out petrol from their boreholes.

A resident, Tunji Olutajo complained that, since last year, the people at the estate have been battling with the spillage, which has rendered the environment unsafe for habitation.

“We cannot drink from our boreholes again.

We cannot bathe with the water. we cannot cook at home. We have generators, but we cannot use them. We suspect there is a leakage somewhere. They should identify the leakage and solve the problem”, he said.

Residents, who conducted Adeola and a member of the House of Assembly, Hon. Avoseh, round the area, pointed to another well dug by the NNPC, from which its men collected the pool of petrol that had settled there.

5

THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

NEWS

Why Nigerians should send PDP packing, by Tinubu

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ATIONAL leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu yesterday spoke of plans by the party to disclodge the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)in Kogi State during the governorship election.

He spoke while receiving former governor of Kogi State and All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) governorship candidate Prince Abubakar into the ACN fold.

Echoing Tinubu, Audu described his former party as ‘epileptic and capsizing’.

Describing the performance of the PDP in the Confluence State and the country as dismal, Tinubu said

•Ex-Kogi governor Audu joins ACN From Mohammed Bashir and John Ofikhenua, Lokoja

the country has been facing infrastructural decay in the education, power, health and agriculture sectors.

He said: “PDP government has shown Nigerians their failure for not providing basic infracture to the people. Electricity is the most important discovery, a propeller of every nation, yet, we cannot enjoy it. Isn’t this enough to send them packing? He asked the crowd.

The ACN leader said that the par-

ty will not only take over Kogi but will also take Benue, Kwara and state others.

“But we can not take over verbally. We have to use our strength and efforts to claim these states and to save the people and the states from total collapse,” he added.

Speaking at the Township stadium in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital and venue of his reception, Audu said: “I am a former member of the ANPP, I am one of the founding fathers, it has been having epileptic problems. Its electoral fortunes have been drowning from one elec-

tion to another. It started with nine states to seven and now it is about three. It has been one step forward, nine steps backward.”

This, according to the former governor, is not good for the future of the party. It is heading for calamity. He added that the future of the party is capsizing and urged his supporters to follow him into the party of the future.

His words: “The future of the former party is not good for my people because it will not bring the kind of children we want for our children. It is not good for our children, grand children and children yet unborn. You will be heading for

•From left: Chief of Civil Military Affairs, Nigerian Army, Maj.-Gen. Bitrus Kwaji; General Officer Commanding 2 Division Maj.-Gen. Mohammed Abubakar; resource person, AVM Mohammed Umerin (rtd) and Director, Office of Army Transformation, Army hqrts, Brig.-Gen Peter Bojie at a PHOTO: NAN workshop on civil military affairs in Ibadan…yesterday

Baraje takes over as PDP chair

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ATIONAL Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje yesterday formally took over as the acting National Chairman of the party pending the ratification of the position by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC).

His assumption of the PDP leadership followed the swearing-in of former acting National Chairman Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed as the Minister of Defence.

Former National Auditor of the party Dr Samuel Ortom, who is now the Minister for State for Trade and Investment, also vacated his office as a national officer.

•Crisis hits Enugu chapter of party From Sanni Ologun and From Kamarudeen Ogundele, Abuja

The Deputy National Secretary, Dr Musa Babayo will take Baraje’s place in an acting capacity pending the ratification by NEC. Baraje, who spoke after he received the handing over notes from Mohammed, vowed to continue with the on-going reforms aimed at repositioning the party.

He said: “I promise that on behalf of the remaining members of the NWC, we shall be putting on the uniform of transformation and at the end of the day, you will be proud

that party is formidable. We promise that the decisions at some levels in this party will be taken at the various hierarchies and decision making organs for ratification. We promise you that the due process which you are leaving behind will equally be built upon.”

Mohammed in his remark noted that it was the first time a chairman of the party is handing over in “cordiality” to his successor since the formation of PDP .

He described it as confirmation that the party has grown and its leadership stabilised.

But a fresh crisis is brewing in the Enugu State chapter of the party, where two of its chieftains, Onyinyechi Amalu and Nnaemeka Umeh, have asked a Federal High Court in Abuja, to nullify all actions carried out by Mohammed while in office.

These include all his actions relating to the last general elections.

Besides, the plaintiffs urged the court to compel Mohammed to give account of all the monies received, donated or accrued to the PDP while he was in office.

Joined as a defendant in the suit before Justice Adamu Bello is the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Sweeping reforms imminent in INEC, says Jega

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HE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is to be reformed soon for better performance in the 2015 general election, it was learnt yesterday.

Its Chairman Prof Attahiru Jega made the disclosure in Abuja while opening a one-day post-election electoral officers’ retreat organised by INEC, in collaboration with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), in Abuja.

The electoral officers were drawn from three geo-political zones of Southsouth, Southwest and Northwest.

Jega said notwithstanding the international acclaim that greeted the April general elections, that the polls were not perfect and that there left ample room and scope for improvement.

He said series of post-election retreats have been planned to define and draw out detailed plans for enhanced elections in future.

Jega thanked Nigerians and international partners for their support,

•Admits April polls not perfect From Sanni Ologun, Abuja

which led to the success of the general elections.

The INEC chair said: “This retreat is part of the programmes of activities in the Independent National Electoral Commission to assess and evaluate the 2011 voter registration as well as elections.

“First, many of you will recall before the April election, we organised a similar retreat with the support of IFES which gave us an opportunity to put heads together to identify the problems associated with elections in the past and to prepare adequately for the conduct of the April elections.

We thank God the elections are now behind us.

“We have done our best under very, very difficult circumstances. It wasn’t perfect but most Nigerians and our friends in the international community have reported that the elections were indeed in relative terms free, fair and credible.

“So we must start early and that is why the commission has designed a programme of activities post-election which commenced with the appointment of the independent committee to help us do a study and evaluation of both the voter registration and the elections and then we have also arranged series of retreats which will give us an opportunity in-house to put heads together assess what went wrong and what was done right and to begin to plan for the future.”

The IFES Country Director, Karl Dandas noted that it is a good electoral design for an electoral umpire to assess its performance in past polls so as to improve on future elections.

Dandas said: “Electoral officers do play a key role in election organisation and conduct and they are therefore in a position to contribute to any post-election assessment of election activities.

“It is good election practice for the electoral management body in this case INEC, to be able to identify those

•Jega

activities that worked during the polling and counting of votes and those that did not go according to plan.

“An election management body should make every effort to identify the lessons learnt during the general elections with a view to correcting the identified weaknesses. This and other retreats would undoubtedly throw up valuable insights into problems that occurred during the recent elections.

“IFES will seek to continue to give support to INEC towards undertaking a sound examination of the elections and the implementation of any recommendation that flow therefrom.”

disaster with ANPP. The ship of our former party is about capsising.

Let’s join the party of the future.”

He described the AC N as a party with unity of purpose that has demonstrated the essence of good governance in Lagos, Edo, Ekiti and Osun states, where it has held sway.

“Look at all the ACN states, there is progress and we feel we should be part of the success story. You can see what Fashola is doing in Lagos and what Oshiomhole is doing in Edo. Therefore, we are glad to be part and parcel of the party.”

Audu noted that ACN is the new bride to woo because of its unity of purpose, dynamism and pragmatism and political development.

While envying the Action Congress of Nigeria’s unity, he noted that “for instance, if you touch one ACN member, you touch all of them.” Audu added that the members are always fraternising with one another, a quality, which he said is lacking in other political parties in the country.

The former governor told the crowd that his membership of the ANPP ended at the gate of the venue of the ceremony.

“Before we entered the stadium, we had the ANPP. But for now, there is no ANPP. It has been dissolved into ACN”, said Audu.

Dignitaries at the occasion include, the national chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, former Ogun and Ekiti state governors, Chief Segun Osoba, Otunba Niyi Adebayo; Chief Rotimi Obadofin and Alhaji Zakari Jiya both governorship aspirants of the ACN in the state.

More rains coming

A

HEAVY rain shower is expected today in Lagos, according to the meteorolo-

gists.

Besides, there will be thunder showers all week as predicted.

Commute death sentences, Amnesty tells Nigeria

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HE Federal Government must commute all death sentences and impose an official moratorium on executions, Amnesty International said yesterday, following the confirmation of a death sentence by the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court had last Friday in Abuja, upheld rulings by two lower courts that actress Rabi Ismail drugged and drowned Auwalu Ibrahim in Kano in December 2002.

She was sentenced to death in December 2004. If carried out, the execution would be the first in Nigeria since 2006.

“President Goodluck Jonathan must show leadership and declare an official moratorium on executions,” said Erwin van der Borght, Amnesty International’s Director for Africa.

“By doing so, the Nigerian government would act in accordance with the global trend towards abolition of the death penalty.”

Executions are shrouded in secrecy, and official statistics are not easily available. Although a Nigerian representative to the United Nations (UN) claimed in 2007 that no executions had been carried out in recent years, Amnesty International was able to confirm that six death row prisoners were executed in 2006 without ever having had an opportunity to appeal their death sentence.

“Weaknesses in the Nigerian criminal justice system mean that hundreds of prisoners on death row have not had a fair trial and therefore may be innocent” Erwin van der Borght said.

6

THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

NEWS Benue okada riders protest members’ killing COMMERCIAL motorcycle riders, popular called okada riders, yesterday in Makurdi, the Bebue State capital, protested the killing of two on their members by a motorist.

The protest had started on Sunday.

As earlier as 8am yesterday, scores of the motorcyclists, carrying leaves, had taken the streets of the capital city over the protest.

No sooner had protest begun than some youths, suspected to be supporters of a party, seized the protesters’ motorcyclists and set them ablaze.

Some of the protesters sustained injuries.

Armed policemen dispersed the protesters with tear gas, causing pandemonium.

The ensuing confrontation between the protesters and the policemen caused fears among traders, who hurriedly closed their shops.

Parents also rushed to pick their children from schools for fear of an attack.

Makurdi streets, particularly Katsina-Ala, Vande Ikya, Konshisha and Iyorchia Ayu, were affected by the protest.

Residents of High Level and Wurukum streets stayed indoor for the rest of yesterday.

A combined team of policemen and soldiers patrolled the streets to keep the peace.

Bauchi emirate sued over title From Austine Tsenzughul, Bauchi

THE family of the late Galadiman Bauchi Umaru has filed a fresh suit before a Bauchi State High Court against the new Galadiman Bauchi, Alhaji Sai’du Ibrahim Jahun, and the Bauchi Emirate Council, for the turban of the new Galadima.

In a suit filed by Mr Bello Ibrahim on behalf of Mohammed Yahaya Jahun Galadanci and Ja’afar Suleiman Jahun for the family of the late Galadiman Bauchi Umaru, the descendants of the Fulanin Jahun linage said the title, office and stool of Galadima of Bauchi I was their exclusive right and that of members of the family of the late Galadima Faruk Dan Abdullahi of Fulanin Jahun.

The plaintiffs argued that Jahun was not a member of the ruling family and therefore unqualified to contest the seat or be appointed or turbaned for the seat because of the significance of the title in the history of Bauchi emirate.

They averred that the family of Jahun has its root in a place called Tabuli, now called Rugan Jira, where their parents were rulers.

The plaintiffs added that Jahun’s younger brother is the village head at Rugan Jira.

They argued that they had written the emirates against the appointment of Jahunm, adding but their efforts to stop the turbaning failed.

Jonathan urges graduating ex-militants to be self reliant From Gbade Ogunwale, Assistant Editor, Abuja

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• Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (second left) with the Director-General, Debt Management Office, Dr. Abraham Nwankwo (left); Managing Director, Lotus Capital, Mrs. Hajara Adeola; and DirectorGeneral, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, Mr. Mansur Ahmed, at the inaugural meeting of the NonInterest Banking Regulation Project Team in Abuja... yesterday.

Oyo refutes collecting N6.5b federal allocation in June T HE Oyo State Government yesterday denied collecting N6.5billion federal allocation in June as claimed by former Governor Adebayo AlaoAkala’s aide.

In a statement in Ibadan, the state capital, by the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Public Communications, Dr. Festus Adedayo, the government urged the defeated Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate to come to terms with the reality of his defeat in the April poll, instead of making “a public nuisance with his pot-pourri of bare-face falsehood”.

The government challenged Alao-Akala to tell Oyo residents why he clandestinely and illegally paid 300 per cent severance

allowance to himself and his horde of aides before the expiration of his term on May 29.

Judges in the state had taken the Alao-Akala government to court for failure to pay their gratuities. They also secured an injunction restraining him from paying either himself or his aides severance packages.

But the outgone government paid himself and his aides severance packages before its exit.

The government wondered if Alao-Akala loved the civil servants, whom he pretends to defend, “when he

flagrantly paid himself and his aides last-minute billions of naira severance allowances” but neglected the payment of the N18,000 minimum wage he claimed was a covenant between him and the workers.

The statement reads: ”If Alao-Akala truly loved the workers, he would have paid their May salary instead of emptying the treasury to pay himself and his aides 300 per cent of their salaries in severance packages.

“Also, why did Alao-Akala refuse to pay the workers’ salary, despite paying out billions of naira to contractors as advance payment for jobs that were not defined?”

The government asked why the former governor, despite regular collection of excess crude oil and N20billion in debt relief funds, failed to meet workers’ expectations all through his years in government.

It noted that the failure led to frequent strikes, includiong the seven-month strike by medical workers, which persisted till Ala0Akala’s defeat at the polls.

The government denied that neither Governor Abiola Ajimobi nor any of his aides collected any allowance since they assumed office.

It challenged Alao-Akala to publish the amounts and the recipients of the money for the world to see “or henceforth stop feeding the public barefaced lie”.

Alleged rape of Corps member: Osun monarch brought to court in ambulance T HE Alowa of Ilowa in Obokun Local Government of Osun State, Oba Adebukola Alli, who allegedly raped a corps member was yesterday brought to court in a prison ambulance.

When the case came up for mention last Friday, his counsel, Mr. Victor Opara, said the monarch was chained to his hospital bed and was not responding well to medical care.

Prosecuting counsel Mr. Olufemi Adedokun yesterday urged the court to enforce the order asking the doctor treating the accused at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital (OAUTH), Ile-Ife, to be present in court to brief the magistrate about the monarch’s health.

Adedokun said the court reg-

From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

istrar was unable to serve the doctor, who was said to have travelled.

Defence counsel, Mr. I.T. Tewogbade, said since the accused was discharged from the OAUTH and taken back to Ilesa Prison, no medical expert had attended to him.

He applied to the court to allow the accused’s personal physician to treat him.

The prosecutor argued that there was no medical report to back the claim that Ali was forcefully discharged from the OAUTH. When the Magistrate, Mr Adewunmi Makanjuola, returned from a 40-minute

break, he met the OAUTH doctor in charge of the accused’s treatment, Dr. Rasaq Adebayo.

With a medical report, the doctor showed that Ali’s state of health was stable and could be discharged for outpatient follow-up.

Reading the medical report, Dr Adebayo said: “Just before he was discharged for outpatient follow-up, he was noticed to have withdrawn, refusing food and medication and demonstrating abnormal psychomotor manifestation, including appearing lifeless and requiring urgent resuscitative measures.

“However, during these periods, the patient’s vital signs were stable and there

was no clinical cardiac evidence of acute decompensation. The psychiatric team was subsequently invited, the consultant psychiatrists assessed that the patient’s mental state was stable and could be discharged for outpatient followup.”

Ruling, Makanjuola, said based on the medical report, it was established that the accused was fit for outpatient treatment before he was discharged.

He said: “He is not as ill as he presented it. I do not see why the order of remand should be vacated. He is safe in prison and well taken care of.”

The case was adjourned till Friday.

RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has urged a batch of 26 graduating former militants to generate self-employment that could meet their basic needs instead of waiting for government jobs.

Speaking through his Special Adviser on Niger Delta Matters, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, at the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Effurun, Delta State, the President praised the former militants for keying into the amnesty programme.

A statement yesterday by the Presidency said Dr Jonathan praised the decision of the former insurgents to embrace peace in the creeks, noting that by so doing, they demonstrated a high sense of service to their fatherland.

The President emphasised the need for youths to be trained in areas of competencies to enhance employability in line with Federal Government’s policy of wealth creation and employment generation.

Court remands senator in prison From Jide Orintunsin, Minna

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MINNA Magisterate Court yesterday ordered that Senator Musa Kontagora, from Niger North Senatorial District, be remanded in prison for alledged forgery of tax clearance document.

The lawmaker, who is the only Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) senator from the state, was brought to court at 5.45pm. He is facing a fourcount charge of criminal conspiracy, forgery, using fake documents as genuine and misleading public officers.

The prosecutor, M. A Igwe, alleged that the lawmaker contravened Sections 97, 366, 364 and 322 of the Penal Code.

When the case was mentioned, the trial judge, Magistrate Zaynab Gani, ruled that the senator be remanded in prison because the matter was brought to her court outside the official working hours.

She said since she could not hear the case and could not return the First Information Report (FIR), she ordered that the senator be remanded in Minna prison and be brought to her court by 9am today.

EFCC probes Delta Speaker over N27b abandoned IPP’s project in Ibori’s town

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HE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday confirmed that it was investigating a petition against Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly Mr. Victor Ochei, over his alleged involvement in a N27 billion abandoned state Independent Power Project (IPP).

The ill-fated project is sited in Oghara, the country home of former governor, James

Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

Ibori.

Investigation revealed that the commission has been on the case since it received a petition against the Speaker on April 20, last year.

Ochei was alleged to have “used his position as chairman of the Delta House Committee on Education and member of the Appro-

priation Committee and Power/Energy to influence the award of contracts on power to his company, Davnotch, without due process”.

A source at EFCC said: “And on the basis of that, the company (Davnotch) was awarded a contract for Delta IPP in Oghara at the cost of N27 billion and more than 50 per cent of that amount has been paid without any work on site.

“It was also alleged that

the said payment (money) was diverted to acquire properties in Asaba, Lagos, Dubai, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (U.S.).

“On the basis of that, the commission went out, began investigation and made shocking discoveries.

“One of the findings is the fact that the contract was awarded on June 23, 2009, before the company was registered on July 8, 2009.

“The IPP project, which ought to have been completed within 24 months, has not reached appreciable level.”

Responding to a question, the source added: “We may soon invite the Speaker for interrogation on his alleged involvement.”

Contacted, the Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Femi Babafemi, said: “I am aware we have a petition on that, which we are investigating.”

7

THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

NEWS

Benue tribunal to hear Suswam’s motion July 18

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• Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi (right) greeting Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, at a thanksgiving to mark Cross River State Governor Liyel Imoke’s 50th birthday at Living Faith Church, Calabar... at the weekend.

With them is Mrs Ihedioha.

‘Pay new wage or incur workers’ wrath’

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HE former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Smart Adeyemi, yesterday urged governors to pay the N18,000 minimum wage or face workers’ wrath.

He said with the resources available to the governors, every state could pay the new minimum wage without stress.

The senator advised the governors to reduce their huge security votes and shun white elephant projects to enable them pay the wage.

Adeyemi, who addressed

From Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

reporters in Abuja, said the governors should not assume that the revolt in North African countries cannot happen in Nigeria.

He said: “I am urging governors not to, in any way, hesitate to pay the minimum wage to Nigerian workers.

More importantly, this is a bill that has been signed into law

by President Goodluck Jonathan, out of consideration for the poor standard of living of Ni-

gerians, after a thorough debate by the National Assembly.

“In passing the bill, we took into consideration resources available based on the Federation Account allocation to states and the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the states. We were to increase the minimum wage beyond N18,000 but we felt it was good enough for every state to afford it.

“While commending those governors that have accepted to pay, those reluctant can easily do so if they review their huge security

Flood displaces 50 in Ibadan

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ANY residents of Ibadan and environs yesterday disuplaced by torrential flood caused by heavy rainfall which lasted for several hours.

The number of people displaced could not be ascertained yesterday , but it was estimated to be in the region of about 50 people .

Several household items were swept away while many people searched for place of solace , having lost their homes to the flood .

The flood was well felt in Onipepeye, old Ife Road and Itamaya areas of Ibadan .

When The Nation visited the area yesterday , some residents were seen displaying some of their house hold items destroyed by the rain, just as they called on the state gov-

From Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

ernment to save them from the recurring flood in Ibadan .

The rain which lasted for about two hours , it was gathered destroyed property worth millions of naira while residents had to look for alternative accommodation.

Some residents, it was learnt had sought refuge with their relations in the state capital while other went to Churches and Mosques.

Though, the rain was not as much when compared to the previous ones during which houses collapsed and at least three people drown, the last Sunday rain also left its mark in the area.

The business activities at the local cassava factory in the area were at lowest ebb, while

the artisans were unable to operate at their various workshops as a result of the flood.

A middle aged woman who identified herself as Bola said “ We thought the world was coming to an end when we saw everywhere covered with water including our bedrooms . The only thing I can boast of now is this clothe am putting on because all that I have been swept away. “ There nothing left with me . Only some people who have been so good having been here bringing food and clothes for me and my children . Please help us beg the government to do something so that this flooding do not take our lives , it is only the government because no individual can be able to handle this . Please help us …”

FCT traders lament high cost of shops

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EDERAL Capital Territory (FCT) traders have decried the high cost of shops in the territory.

They urged the FCT administration to create affordable shops for small business owners.

The President National Market Leaders council of Nigeria, Mrs. Adenike Lawal, spoke in Abuja on the dearth of shops for small traders.

She noted that most of the shops available in the territory were unaffordable to the traders.

Mrs Lawal said: “Transportation and shop rents are the major problems traders

From Franca Ochigbo, Abuja

within the FCT face. This is the reason for the high cost of commodities. If the government can assist us in these areas, the prices of goods will drop.

“We are also appealing to the government to make the task force to cooperate with us and stop harassing traders. If they cooperate with us, we will equally cooperate with them. They had earlier said they did not want us to move around town as traders. We agreed. But they should give us low cost shops. That is all we are asking for.

“I want all traders to

come under one umbrella.

This way, there will be unity and one voice. We have approached the task force on several occasions; they said no one should sell around, which we appreciate. This can only be achieved if they create a mini-market for those who cannot afford the price of big shops.

“I am using this opportunity to tell traders to ensure that their environments are clean. It is important in the market because of our health and the health of our customers. I know that with this, environmental sanitation will go on very well.”

votes and white elephant projects that are not meaningful. The security vote is a conduit pipe of depriving Nigerian workers and the populace of improved standard of living. Those democratically elected must not have cause to fear those who elected them.

“If every governor will reduce unjustifiable foreign trips with huge estacodes being siphoned out of the country, the states will be able to pay the N18,000 minimum wage.”

HE Benue State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal has set aside July 18 for the hearing of the motion filed by Governor Gabriel Suswam, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), challenging the jurisdiction of the tribunal to entertain the petition filed by the governorship candidate of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Prof. Steve Ugbah.

At the resumed hearing yesterday, tribunal Chairman Justice Mummir Ladan ruled that the motion would be heard first, since it was at the root of the matter.

Justice Mummir also said the tribunal would probe the allegations of the slow pace of service of court processes by its registry, to resolve the contentious issues raised by counsel.

Counsel to Ugbah Mr Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) had moved a motion that Suswam could not challenge the jurisdiction of the tribunal, since he had filed his reply to the petition out of time.

Akeredolu noted that until Suswam regularised his reply before the court, it would be out of place for him to challenge the tribunal’s proceedings.

He urged the tribunal to

From Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi

first hear his motion before any other motion, since it was at the heart of the matter.

The ACN counsel told the tribunal that in the interest of justice and time constraint, it should adopt procedures that would speed up the proceedings, adding that he was willing to respond to Suswam’s petition on points of law, instead of wasting time on the matter.

The former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) president said if an adjournment was eventually granted to Suswam, his counsel should not return to court on the adjourned date to continue with extraneous arguments that would delay the tribunal.

But counsel to Suswam Mr Damian Dodo (SAN) said the jurisdictional motion filed by the respondents should be given priority because the matter would come to a close if the case favoured the respondents.

Dodo noted that to allow the ACN counsel to respond on the points of law, without his arguments being heard first, would amount to ambushing the respondents.

8

THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net

Govt rejects rise in aviation fuel price

By Kelvin Osa- Okunbor

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HE Minister of Avia tion, Mrs Stella Adaeze Oduah- Ogiemwonyi, yesterday described as unacceptable the rising price of aviation fuel, saying its nonavailability is giving government serious concern.

She said the product’s scarcity is threatening the survival of the airline industry as the prevailing high cost of air fares has made air travel out of the reach of the common man.

Mrs Ogiemwonyi,who spoke with operators and heads of aviation agencies after a tour of facilities at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, explained that no responsible government would fold its hands while airlines grapple to survive under the yoke of high operating costs.

She said in a country where the minimum wage is pegged at N18,000, it would be improper for air fares to be as high as N25,000, a figure, she said, that represents over 100 per cent rise over what it was in the first-half of the year.

Being the preferred mode of transportation,Mrs. Ogiemwonyi, said all stakeholders must strategise on the way forward to make it convenient for Nigerians to afford air travel.

The minister said: “This memorable concourse was arranged to collectively resolve the issue of scarcity and high cost of aviation fuel which have resulted in unacceptable increases in domestic air fares.

We are ready to reposition the market to provide the best return for both local and foreign investors. We also want to diversify the market by bringing in more products apart from the equities and bonds that will increase returns to investors –DG, NSE, Oscar Onyeama

Fed Govt targets N15tr private sector investments I N line with its promise to rejig the economy, the Federal Government yesterday created the Ministry of Trade and Investment.

The new ministry is expected to pool private sector investments worth N15trillion into the country within four years.

The ministry, headed by a former Minister of Finance, Olusegun Aganga, is strategic. It is aimed at breaking the country’s vicious cycle of poverty through aggressive and productive investment drive.

The government is also targeting sustained double-digit growth and the creation of at least three million jobs to plug the country’s huge unemployment hole.

Nigeria, according to the Vision 2020 document, needs to invest N34trillion in growth areas in the next four years. Of this, the Federal Government, according to the Ministry of Trade and Investment, should account for

By Ayodele Aminu, Group Business Editor

N10trillion, state governments, N9trillion, while the private sector (both local and international) is expected to inject N15trillion.

Based on the constraints in the budget, as passed, the Federal and State governments’investment targets may not be achieved.

For instance, only N1trillion is in the 2011 capital budget.

Aganga’s exceptional private sector background, result-oriented growth initiatives in his one year as Nigeria’s Finance minister and experience as a managing director of the World’s biggest investment bank, Goldman Sachs, are valuable qualities needed to lead the new drive for economic growth.

Going by the documents available to The Nation, under

the new ministry, the small and medium enterprises, which are the bedrock of growth in advanced economies, will enjoy the special attention that will enable them to perform their roles efficiently, thus providing the foundation for enhanced non-oil growth.

The new model according to sources, was conceived, based on the economic transformation achieved by the Department of Trade and Investment in the United Kingdom; the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Investment of Japan; and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Competitiveness of Cape Verde, among others.

Historically, the UK’s Trade and Investment Department, which is now known as the Department of Business Innovation and Skills, is only headed by senior ministers with first-rate experience in investment matters. The BIS’

mission is to drive economic growth by enhancing business productivity, deepening private sector investment/involvement and developing the relevant skills for sustained growth.

Also, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Investment of Japan is considered the most powerful government agency of Japan, which was at the centre of the financial struggle that propelled the country to the second economic seat in the world.

For Nigeria, the functions of the former Ministry of Commerce and Industry, according to information, will be accommodated under the Investment and Trade ministry, while the Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission and the Bank of Industry will be strengthened to keep pace

Naira firms on NNPC dollar sales

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DATA STREAM COMMODITY PRICES Oil -$114.2/barrel Cocoa - $2,856/metric ton Coffee - ¢132.70/pound Cotton - ¢78.07.pound Gold -$1,161/troy ounce Rubber - ¢146.37/pound MARKET CAPITALISATIONS NSE JSE NYSE LSE

-N7.82 trillion -Z5.112trillion -$10.84 trillion -£61.67 trillion

RATES Inflation -12.4% Treasury Bills -2.64% Normal lending -24% Prime lending -18% Savings rate -3% 91-day NTB -6.99% Time Deposit - 6% MPR -8% Foreign Reserve -$31.6bn FOREX CFA 0.281 • 218 £ 242.5 $ 150.9 ¥ 1.5652 SDR 241.5 RIYAL 39.3

with the new drive.

Aganga, during his term as finance minister, started the campaign for the creation of the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) and got the bill passed under five months. The SWF is not only a tool for strengthening Nigeria’s fiscal framework, but also a vehicle for infrastructure development and wealth creation for the nation.

Besides, he successfully launched the first Nigerian Eurobond in the international capital market, which attracted credible investors from over 14 countries across the continents. That the Eurobond was oversubscribed in an election year was also remarkable.

Also, the new Minister of Investment and Trade was the driver behind the job creation initiative of the Federal Government, including the provision of N50billionn for public works.

• From left: Group Managing Director, UAC Nigeria Plc, Mr Larry Ettah; Managing Director, Promasidor Nigeria Limited, Mr Keith Richards, President, Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce, Mr Thomas Awagu and Divisional Managing Director, MDS Logistics, Mr Solomon Aigbavboa, during a breakfast meeting on Logistic strategies, in Lagos.

Access, Intercontinental sign merger

A

CCESS Bank and Inter continental Bank have signed a merger agreement. The merger deal, which was announced by both banks yesterday, would eventually pave the way for Intercontinental Bank to recapitalise ahead of the apex bank’s deadline of September 30, this year.

Intercontinental Bank, one of nine lenders rescued in a $4 billion bailout by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2009, had reached an understanding with Access Bank in March to combine their operations, but gave no details.

By Simeon Ebulu,

Deputy Business Editor

“Both parties have now entered into legally binding terms for the proposed combination,” the banks said in a joint statement, which said the deal was subject to shareholder, regulatory and judicial approval. No further details relating to the merger plans were disclosed.

The regulator has given the rescued banks a September deadline to recapitalise or face effective nationalisation Three other rescued lenders — Union Bank, Afribank and Finbank — have also signed

• Access Bank GMD, Aig-Imoukhuede

• Intercontinental Bank GMD, Lai Alabi

memorandums of understanding with private equity firms

and local peers as part of efforts to recapitalise.

HE naira was yes terday, strength ened against the dollar due to the sale of $400 million by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to selected lenders on Friday, traders said.

The local currency closed at N151.80 to the dollar compared to N152.55 at Friday’s close.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sold $300 million at 150 to the dollar, slightly below the $319 million demanded and compared to $310.38 million sold at 150.50 a dollar at last Wednesday’s auction.

The state-owned energy company NNPC sold a first tranche of its monthly dollar floats to the Central Bank last week after the energy firm failed to reach agreement on pricing with the selected banks it had initially offered the dollars.

Traders said the energy firm sold the second tranche of its dollars to some lenders on Friday, helping to provide support for the naira at the interbank market.

The state energy company sells dollars to some banks on a monthly basis and transfers the naira proceeds to its account with the central bank.

“We see the naira trading around the same level for the rest of the week since the market is still very liquid and the central bank is willing to meet all demand at its auction,” dealer said.

9

THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

BUSINESS NEWS

Ministry seeks speedy preparation of budgets

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

LAGOS – KADUNA Aero 08.00 Chanchangi 10.00 Arik 10.00 Arik 15.10

08.30 09.10 11.50 12.45 13.40 15.20 16.30 16.40

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HE Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Lawan Ngama, has called for the speedy preparation of the national budget.

Ngama made this call yesterday in Abuja when he assumed office.

He said economic transformation is the key word in the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan and the Ministry of Finance, which will be the centre of the transformation agenda of the administration.

He said the nation now expects the Finance ministry to produce

From Nduka Chiejina, (Assistant Editor), Abuja

the blueprint on the touted economic transformation, to be implemented by other ministries.

“We have a great challenge. We have to align our budget. As a former banker, before we prepare our budget, the actual accounts have to be ready, whether audited or not. Actual has to come before the budget, and I believe this has been a challenge.

So, we have to really put our heads together to make sure that

whatever we are doing, information actually comes as frequently as we will like them to come.”

Asked about his view on the vision 20: 2020 economic agenda, he said: “Measurement is the key. We have to get that ready for the government to appraise other ministries. We are going to have a tough schedule ahead of us because whatever you are saying is grammar, computer cannot solve your problem, but human beings have to rise to the challenge, so we will work together.”

Experts praise CBN’s plan on distressed banks

S

OME financial experts have commended the plan by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to hand over some of the distressed banks to the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) in September.

They said that the move would protect depositors’interests in the banks.

The CBN, last week, said that it would hand over to AMCON any of the distressed banks that failed to recapitalise by September.

Mr Eddie Osarenkhoe, President of Finance Houses Association of Ni-

geria (FHAN), said that the CBN’s decision would reduce pressure on the management of the affected banks on recapitalisatiion.

Osarenkhoe said that the new gesture of the CBN would help to protect shareholders’ and depositors’ funds and bring the banks on track.

“It is a welcome idea because it will resolve the conflicts between the management of the rescued banks and their shareholders,” he said.

Dr Tunde Adeoye, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics, University of Lagos, said

that the CBN’s gesture would ensure sanity in the industry.

“The CBN decision portends good as long as the whole process of recapitalisation will be transparent and the crisis between management of the trouble banks and their shareholders will come to an end,” he said.

Adeoye advised the apex bank to carry shareholders along in the recapitalisation exercise.

Mr Kunle Fatokun, retired civil servant and a shareholder in one the banks, urged the CBN to extend the September deadline for the troubled banks to recapitalise.

08.50 12.40 14.10 17.20 12.15 12.45 09.10 11.00 11.10 16.20

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

08.40 08.40 14.55 15.10 17.40

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LAGOS – WARRI 08.15 11.50 11.55 14.55

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

08.50 09.45 09.40 14.00 15.45 19.55

LAGOS – OWERRI 07.20 14.00 16.30

08.30 15.10 17.40

LAGOS – UYO 10.35

11.35

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

LAGOS – MAIDUGURI 11.15 13.15 15.50 18.00

LAGOS – ILORIN 1. Overland 07.15 2. Arik (M/T/TH/F) 17.30

08.00 18.00

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

By Kelvin Osa- Okunbor

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MIRATES, one of the world’s fast est growing airlines, has signed an interline agreement with leading Nigerian carrier Arik Air, to provide passengers from across the country with greater access to the airline’s extensive global network.

Under the new agreement, customers will be able to purchase joint Emirates-Arik Air itineraries, enabling them to connect seamlessly from domestic cities including Abuja, Kano, Kaduna, Port Harcort and Enugu onto Emirates’ double daily services from Lagos. Customers will also benefit from special fares and an extra 10kg baggage allowance for Economy Class passengers connecting to and from Lagos to points across Nigeria and beyond on Arik Air. “Our new partnership with Arik Air will allow customers from within Nigeria and West Africa to connect quickly and easily onto Emirates’ network of over 110 worldwide destinations,” said Paulos Legesse, Country Manager Emirates Nigeria. “What’s more, customers will enjoy even better value for money when they purchase their Emirates and Arik Air flights together.”

“Emirates is one of the industry’s leading airlines with an extensive global network. This agreement will, undoubtedly, provide new travel opportunities for our customer base as well as further developing Arik Air into a truly global airline,” said Kevin Steele, Vice President Commercial at Arik Air. Customers can purchase joint Emirates-Arik Air itineraries by calling their local reservations office, travel agent or booking through www.emirates.com/ng.

Customers will be issued with a single combined ticket for Emirates and Arik Air-operated flights and enjoy one-stop check-in and baggage transfer between the airlines.

Coca-Cola Mystery Shoppers storm Abuja

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

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Emirates, Arik Air sign interline pact

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• From left: Chairman, 44th Anniversary/Project Committee of Young Men's Christian Association, Mr. Sam Ohuabunwa; Awardees, former Minister of Finance, Mr Olusegun Aganga; and Lord Bishop of the Lagos West Diocese, Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Rt. Rev. Peter Adebiyi, at the Fund Raising Luncheon of the YMCA, in Lagos... on Saturday.

Dangote fertiliser project to provide 7, 000 jobs

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HE employment generation drive of the Federal Govern ment has received a boost as indications emerged over the weekend that the Dangote Fertiliser project in Edo State would provide a minimum of 7,000 jobs when it commences operations.

The project, it was gathered, will provide jobs for both skill

and unskilled persons in addition to thousands of other complementary indirect jobs for artisans, traders and other allied businesses.

Dangote is the Chairman of the Federal Government Job Creation Committee.

Meanwhile, the signing of the contract for the take-off of the fertiliser plant has thrown the Edo

communities hosting the project into excitement as it also complements the job creation efforts of the state Governor, Adams Oshiomhole.

The communities’ leaders praised the efforts of Alhaji Aliko Dangote, President of the Dangote Group, in citing the project in their area.

O ensure that Nigerians outside Lagos benefit from its 125 years of doing business in the country, the Coca-Cola Company has extended its popular “Mystery Shoppers” activation to the federal capital city of Abuja.

Over 30 customers have so far been rewarded with N10,000 each by the company for patronising the brand. First held in 2010, the campaign drew accolades from members of the public and built equity for the brand.

The team of Mystery Shoppers vissited different relaxation spots in the city rewarding consumers as spot drinking any Coca-Cola product. First to be spotted on Ademola Adetokunbo Crescent, Wuse II was Gift Asah, a Youth Corps member serving in Abuja.

She was with a friend with a bottle of coke by her side when she was accosted by the mystery shopper who inquired why she was drinking Coke. Her answer fetched her a N10, 000 cheque.

OPS, ICRC back Islamic banking as MAN urges caution

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HE Organised Private Sector (OPS) has lent its support to the introduction of Islamic banking, saying that it would boost the economy.

In an interview with The Nation, the President, Nigeria Chamber of Commerve, Industry Mines and Agriculture, Dr Ademola Ajayi, said the iintroduction of Islamic banking is welcome by the OPS, if would enhance the development of the economy.

He said the issue of introduction of non-interest banking in Nigeria should be viewed devoid of sentiments, adding that the business com-

By Toba Agboola

munity is against discrimination.

“Everything is about business and anything that will promote business is welcome. We are talking about banking which is the tool for business. Islamic banking is more of a traditional banking and we don’t see anything wrong in it. It is high time we forgot about our religious differences and focus on what will bring development to the economy,” Ajayi said.

The President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Otunba Femi Deru, said Nigerians should

focus on the success rather than the religious differences. He said there is nothing wrong in the system, because going through the document, the risk will be spread between the borrowers and the lenders. He added that the fact that it is called Islamic banking or non-interest banking does not mean that interest will not be charged at all.

Also speaking, the Director-General, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Jide Mike, said the issue is a very sensitive one, urging that the Central Bank ((CBN) should be extra careful in addressing it. He however declined further comments on

the issue.

To actualise the Islamic Banking model, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has set a N10 billion capital base requirement for any promoter applying for a licence to operate nationwide, while those who wish to play at the regional level a N5 billion capital requirement to contend with.

Also, the Director-General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Mansur Ahmed, has called for a regulatory framework that could facilitate the inclusion of the banking system in Nigeria.

10

THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

NEWS Fayemi swears in four commissioners From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

KITI State Governor Kayode Fayemi yesterday swore in four commissioners.

Those sworn in include former Majority Leader of the House of Assembly, Funminiyi Afuye; Paul Omotoso; Dayo Fadipe and Mrs. Bunmi Adelugba.

Afuye is Commissioner in the Ministry of Information and Civic Orientation. He replaces Mrs. Fola RichieAdewusi, who was moved to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Social Development and Gender Empowerment.

Fadipe is Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs. Omotoso (Special Duties) and Mrs. Adelugba (Ministry of Employment, Labour and Human Capital Development).

Also sworn in were chairmen and members of six commissions and one board.

The commissions are: Civil Service Commission; State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC); Judicial Service Commission; House of Assembly Service Commission; Local Government Service Commission; Teaching Service Commission and State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB).

He also constituted the board of the State Universal Basic Education (SUBEB), to be chaired by Prof Modupe Adelabu.

Fayemi said: “What the people of Ekiti State and I demand from you are performance and results. So I want you to be determined from this very moment to break the fallow grounds and in so doing put your names in the sands of time.”

E

Lagos holds council polls in Oct •Fashola creates new ministry HE Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) will hold elections into the 20 local governments and 37 local council development areas (LCDAs) in October.

Chairman Justice Fatai Adeyinka (rtd) told the House of Assembly yesterday that the tenure of the incumbent chairmen would expire on October 28.

“LASIEC is prepared for election and we shall soon publish our notice of election.

We will give a 90-day notice.

The tenure expires 101 days from today.

“After the publication of notice, we will publish our guidelines. We will act within the LASIEC law passed by the House,” he said.

The Speaker, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, told lawmakers of

T

By Emmanuel Oladesu, Deputy Political Editor

request for an approval of two new advisers by Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN).

Fashola had, in a letter, intimated the lawmakers of the elevation of the Special Adviser on Mineral Resources, Taofeek Tijani, to commissioner in the newly created Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.

Last week, the governor appointed new Special Advisers of non-cabinet rank.

Sources said more are still likely to be appointed.

Ikuforiji said the number of commissioners would increase from 21 to 23, adding that two new special advisers would be named by the governor.

New guidelines for Ondo private schools

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HE Ondo State Government has rolled out new guidelines for the establishment of private schools.

The Commissioner for Information, Ranti Akerele, said the influx of all comers to the sector had encouraged proliferation of schools.

According to the commissioner, henceforth, the distance between two private schools should not exceed one kilometre.

“Any private nursery and primary school seeking approval must be on a permanent site of not less than four plots and secondary schools on seven plots of land.

“Nursery and primary schools should not be sited

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

in the same compound with secondary schools.

“Provisional approval of two years could be given to schools considered viable in a conducive environment, but that are yet to acquire or move to the permanent site provided there is an evidence of proposed permanent site,” he said.

The permanent secretary of the Ministry of Education, Mrs. Taiwo Kolawole, said the inclusion of international to the name of a school shall attract additional payment as approved.

She said all schools shall have a approval number, which shall be written on the sign post.

Ajimobi slashes school fees From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

O

YO State Governor Abiola Ajimobi yesterday ordered a 50 per cent reduction in the last increase in tuition fees in state-owned tertiary institutions.

A statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications, Dr Festus Adedayo, said Ajimobi gave the directive at a meeting with heads of tertiary institutions in his office yesterday in fulfillment of his campaign promises.

The reduction will take effect from next session.

The fees were increased by 100 percent by the Adebayo Alao-Akala administration last year.

The governor said the decision was borne out of his concern for the welfare of students.

The statement said that the reduction in the fees for students of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso would, however, take effect after consultation with the Osun State Government.

•Cross Section of members of the State Universal Basic Education Board at the inauguration...yesterday

Tokyo links NURTW crisis to Akala’s second term bid

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HE crisis rocking the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Oyo State has been linked to former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala and Commissioner of Police BabaAdisa Bolanta.

A former Chairman of the union, Lateef Akinsola (alias Tokyo) made the allegation yesterday.

Tokyo spoke through the NURTW State Secretary ,Lekan Aleshinloye, before the Justice Olagoke Ige-led Commission of Inquiry.

Aleshinloye said the crisis, which polarised the union, began on June 1, 2009 when Akala failed to get a favourable response to his request from NURTW leaders to support his second term agenda.

For over four hours, Aleshinloye said Akala, with Bolanta’s collaboration, allegedly framed Tokyo for murder, paving the way for the late Alhaji Lateef Salako (alias Eleweomo) to take over the union.

•’How Eleweomo impeached Ladoja’ From Oseheye Okwuofu and Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

“Bolanta, fully backed by Akala, caused the whole crisis rocking Oyo NURTW,” Aleshinloye stated.

He told the five-man panel how Eleweomo took over the House of Assembly with his colleagues on January 12, 2006.

“He took up the role of the Speaker and pronounced Ladoja impeached by hitting the gavel on the table,” he said.

The union was under the control of the late Ibadan politician, Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, who had a strained relationship with Ladoja.

Tokyo recalled how Bolanta ordered the arrest of some officers of the union “right inside High Court 10 at Ring Road, Ibadan, presided over by Justice Oyelaran.”

“Bolanta instantly directed that we be slammed with

any available murder charge, and we were subsequently taken to Agodi Prison, where we were kept for three and a half months without committing any offence.”

But Bolanta, in a cross examination by his counsel, Emmanuel Ijalana, debunked the allegation of police bias against the Tokyo group.

He tendered a statement by a Tokyo supporter, which was admitted and marked as Evidence 3 .

In the statement, the suspect gave details of how Tokyo allegedly mobilised them from a location outside the state to shield him from imminent attack by Eleweomo’s supporters at the toll gate end of the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway.

He said the police nabbed some Tokyo supporters with guns, ammunition, cutlasses and assorted charms.

The police presented some of these items as exhibits.

Another witness, Mrs. Sade Ayoola, who was a victim of the June 4 attack at the Iwo Road Motor Park, narrated how she was shot in the buttocks by the invaders, allegedly led by Mukaila Lamidi (alias Auxiliary).

She said she recognised some of the perpetrators.

Mrs. Ayoola mentioned Alhaji Wasiu Abubakar (alias Tawa), whom she said dressed in an army uniform that night.

She said: “I was shot and I bled profusely. I saw Tawa from where I hid myself. He is tall with tribal marks and he is bearded. He wore military uniform. I was hit as I was running. But I was later rushed to Alafiatayo Hospital.”

Justice Ige advised all parties to guard against molesting any witness, who appears before the Commission.

Oyo sets up panel on LAUTECH teaching hospital

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HE Oyo State Government has set up a technical committee for the accreditation of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso.

It stated that available documents and evidence show that the University is solely and legally owned by Oyo State.

A Government House source said contrary to the impression that the two owner-states, Oyo and Osun, have resolved the crisis, Oyo State government insisted that the joint ownership was no longer feasible.

This declaration was made known to Osun State Deputy Governor Mrs. Titi LaoyeTomori, when she led a delegation to visit Governor Abiola Ajimobi.

On the team were Secretary to the State Government; Head of Service; Chief

•Claims sole ownership From Bode Durojaiye, Oyo

of Staff to the Governor; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education; former ViceChancellor of LAUTECH Prof Benjamin Adeleke; Prof Fadiora and former acting Registrar of LAUTECH, Rev Ezekiel Ojo. The managements of LAUTECH and the Teaching Hospital also met in the office of the Secretary to the Oyo State Government Waheed Olajide to fast track the accreditation of the hospital.

The source said the purpose of the Osun delegation was to persuade the governor to make a declaration that the joint ownership of LAUTECH between the two states subsists.

He said: “Immediately, the governor called the SSG to inform him that a delegation

from Osun was in his office over LAUTECH matter.

“The SSG also informed the governor of the presence of the LAUTECH team in his office.

“The governor summoned them to his office and other top government officials, including Head of Service Tijani Taju Aremu, Permanent Secretaries in the Ministries of Education, Health, Finance, as well as the Director of Budget in the Finance Ministry.”

During the meeting, the Osun delegation was said to have been adamant on the joint ownership, saying it was non-negotiable.

But Aremu was said to have countered the delegation’s view, pointing out that all available evidence(s) and documents point to the fact that the university is solely and legally owned by Oyo State.

At the end of the meeting, Ajimobi said the two states should pursue accreditation of their teaching hospitals “accordingly”.

The source said: “The Medical Students re-sit exams and nursing students exams allowed to take place in Osogbo was due to waiver granted by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN).

“The reason was that the Ogbomoso teaching hospital was yet to be accredited.

“The Oyo State Government is not interested in the joint ownership based on the available records.

“What is more, LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso would, in a couple of months be fully accredited, after which Medical Students would begin to re-sit their examinations there.

“We have state of the art equipment already installed in the teaching hospital.”

THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

11

NEWS Ebonyi Speaker cautions workers

Generator fume kills five in Lagos

From Ogbonnaya Obinna, Abakiliki

SPEAKER of Ebonyi State House of Assembly Ikechukwu Nwankwo has urged workers of the Assembly to desist from absenteeism and lateness to their duties.

He warned the workers against acts capable of bringing the Assembly into disrepute and enjoined them to be dedicated to duty.

Nwankwo gave the warning yesterday during his first meeting with the workers.

He advised them to adhere to work ethics and respect the lawmakers.

The Speaker solicited for their support and cooperation to move the House to greater height.

By Jude Isiguzo

F

IVE persons were feared dead yesterday from suspected generator fume.

Police said it recovered the bodies of four girls and a threemonth-old in a restaurant room on Allen Avenue,Ikeja Lagos.

The girls were said to have died from suffocation, which may have been caused by fume from a generator inside the room, where they were forced to sleep due to the heavy downpour of Sunday.

It was gathered that two other girls, who slept in the same room with the deceased persons, were still being treated at Bodet Hospital, Alausa, and Ikeja.

According to a police source, the bodies of five persons were taken to the Area F Police command, Ikeja, in the early hours of yesterday in a commuter bus, before being moved to a public mortuary for autopsy.

Sources said the victims were brought from the neighbouring Benin Republic to work in the restaurant.

•Chairman, National Population Commission (NPC), Chief Samu’ila Makama (left), with the representative of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Dr Agathe Lawson at a news conference on 2011 World Population Day in Abuja…yesterday PHOTO: NAN

Tension persists over monarch’s sack in Imo T HE crisis over the reinstatement of the sacked Chairman of Imo State Council of Traditional Rulers Eze Cletus Ilomuanya took a new twist yesterday as 12 local governments threatened to pull out unless the monarch is recalled.

The 12 local governments, which make up Orlu zone where Ilomuanya hails from, said they would move to Enugu State until a state is created for them.

The Orlu Political Consultative Assembly (OPOCA) also threatened

•Councils threaten to relocate to Enugu

From Emma Mgbeahurike, Owerri

that the traditional rulers from the zone would relocate to Abuja until Ilomuanya is returned to office.

In a news conference in Orlu, OPOCA’s National President Dr Samfo Nwankwo said Ilomuanya’s sack was a slap on the people.

He said the Orlus have taken “a firm decision to fight

Intervene in minimum wage crisis, Orji tells Jonathan

G

OVERNOR Theodore Orji of Abia State has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene in the crisis over the N18,000 minimum wage.

According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Public Communication Ben Onyechere, Orji said the President shouldintervene to avert the looming strike over the unresolved minimum wage.

He said: “There are no two ways about it other than the intervention of

President Jonathan. He is the only one who has the capacity to give a sense of direction to the socio-economic life of this nation, since he controls the nation’s resources. The minimum wage is a sensitive issue because it has to do with the welfare of the people we are representing. But I am confident that with the type of President we have, the issue would be resolved in favor of the workers.

“The restructuring of the revenue mobilisation an

allocation such that more money should come to states is long overdue because the states are closer to the grassroots.

The question of an inflammatory inflation triggering off as a result of the implementation of the minimum wage should not arise because the measurement of inflation in any economy cannot be separated from fiscal saturation of the operatives of the microeconomy as juxtaposed on the standard of living of a given population.”

Ebonyi accuses contractors of sabotage

T

HE Ebonyi State government has accused some contractors in the state of sabotaging efforts by Governor Martin Elechi to complete projects.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Lands, Survey and Housing Chief William Alor made the allegation during a meeting with the contractors.

He said despite the huge amount released by the state government to contractors, the jobs were not being executed according to specification.

Alor warned that the government would revoke their contracts.

The projects are Ebonyi International Hotel, N11.6 billion State Secretariat, Eb-

•Threatens to blacklist erring ones From Ogbonnaya Obinna, Abakiliki

onyi International Trade Centre, International Conference Centre, Ebonyi International Market and blocks of classroom at the different Technical Schools in the state.

He said: “This meeting is not a usual meeting, it is meant to warn erring contractors of the dangers ahead. We awarded these contracts based on what the contractors described as the reputation of their companies. Governor Martin Elechi is desirous to transform the state and most of these jobs were

meant to be completed in the first tenure of his administration.

“There is no way the state would develop where jobs are given to contractors and they would not deliver on time. We have decided that jobs not done according to specification, the contractors executing those jobs would face the risk of having the jobs terminated.

“The government would not only terminate the jobs, we will award them to more competent firms, blacklist the erring contractors and take a step further to recover the money paid to the contractors.”

this injustice.”

“Investigations have revealed that Ilomuanya was removed to humiliate the Orlu people, most of whom even voted for Governor Rochas Okorocha.

“During the campaigns in April, almost all traditional rulers in Nigeria supported

the government in power.

But it is only in Imo State that there was a backlash.”

He said Okorocha has desecrated the traditional institution by removing Ilomuanya before the expiration of his tenure.

Nwankwo appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly to resolve the crisis.

He said Ilomuanya didn’t commit any crime to warrant his removal and urged Okorocha to reinstate him.

Abia tribunal fixes Thursday for pre-trial From Ugochukwu Eke, Umuahia

THE Abia State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has fixedThursday for the pretrial of the petition brought before it by the Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate Stanley Ohajuruka.

Ohajuruka is asking the tribunal for an order for the commencement of the petition.

Ruling on the motion, Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Mobolaji Ojo ordered that counsels involved in the case be served pre-trial notices .

He fixed the pre-trial for Thursday.

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THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

MARITIME

Ships under surveilance over dangerous goods, security T

HE Federal Government has ordered security agencies to mount strict surveilance at the sea ports to check the entry of dangerous goods into the country.

The directive from the Presidency, is intended to frustrate attempts by those with criminal tentencies from importing and trading in arms and ammunation within and around the nation’s seaports and the waterways.

The President has also empowered security operatives to engage the installed high power radars and Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras to monitor activities of ships and smaller vessels coming and going out of the country against security breaches and movement of dangerous goods.

The approval, The Nation learnt, was given by the President as a panacea to the uncontrolled importation of dangerous goods, serial illegal oil bunkering and economic sabotage which the country has been subjected to by unpatriotic importers and fraudulent foreigners.

Investigation conducted by The Nation revealed that security agencies now have the capacity to moni-

By Oluwakemi Dauda, Maritime Correspondent

tor the nation’s water ways round the clock.

President Goodluck Jonathan, a source in the presidency said, is determined to stem the cycle of criminality within and around the seaports and the waterways.

Investigation by The Nation revealed that the security equipment, has the capacity to reduce incidence of sea robbery and banditry on the nation’s waters, because operatives in charge have the expertise to manipulate it to achieve the goal.

President Jonathan, The Nation was told, approved the purchase of the high power security equipment and construction of the facilities in four locations across the country to secure the lives of Nigerians and foreign investors working in the maritime industry and beyond.

The Nation’s findings revealed that the equipment can capture activities going on in the territorial waters up to 100 nautical miles, while the CCTV cameras can capture activities up to 10 nautical miles during the day and three

• Cargo ship

nautical miles at night.

The radars and the cameras in Victoria Island, Lagos, are capable of working 24 hours during the day with or without power supply, and can capture activities going on simultaneously in Port Harcourt and some other areas of the country.

The surveilance equipment, investigation revealed, are also installed in Escravos, Bonny, Brass and James Town in Calabar.

Apart from security issues, the equipment records all vessels on the nation’s territorial waters, the type of goods they are carrying, where they are, what they are doing, the time they arrive the port and the time they are leaving the

port.

The equipment, The Nation was told, will boost the nation’s revenue as every ship coming into the country is expected to notify the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), before arrival.

A source in the NPA, said most ship owners violate the law before the installation of the equipment.

But now that the facility is now available in the country, it would be easy for NPA to track down any vessel that violates its rules and impose fine to generate more revenue for the country.

The source said the huge investment became necessary after a secret meeting held between the security agencies in the ports.

• Managing Director, NPA Omar Suleiman

Fed Govt urged to lift ban on rice importation

T

HE Federal Government has been urged to lift the ban on the importation of rice through the land borders in the interest of the masses.

Speaking with The Nation at Badagry last Friday, the importers alleged that majority of those importing rice through the sea ports are shylock traders working against the interest of the country and the people.

The importers refuted the claim that they were short changing the government through duty evasion, saying they were ready to pay Customs duty at every border before bringing in the commodity.

The spokesman of the group, Mrs Modupe Kawonise, said rice is one of the nation’s staples. She urged the government to reconsider the position by allowing them import the commodity through the land borders.

Mrs Kawonise said the landing cost of rice through the nation’s sea ports is expensive when compared to that of neighbouring ports.

Another member of the group, Seye Adetula, said they were aware that rice importers were required by the law to pay 20 per cent Customs duty in addition to a 20 per cent levy, a condition she said they always complied with.

“It is bad for those in government to tag us that are doing our legitimate business and paying the necessary duty to Customs as smugglers. We are not smugglers, but importers and rice merchants.

“We prefer to import through the neighbouring ports because we cannot compete with the local importers that use billions of naira to import the commodity.

“With as little as N3 million and N4 million, you can import rice from Cotonou or other neighbouring countries. But that is not the case in Nigeria. That is why the government needs to assist us

to feed our families and pay the school fees of our children.

“Those that engage in smuggling are still in business. They have their routes and know how they convey their rice to the market.

“We are not smugglers since we don’t go to the bush to bring our rice to the country. We import our rice through another ports, load it on trucks and bring it through the Customs approved road and pay the stipulated duty,” he said.

“It is the smugglers that are evading duty, so as to sell at the true market price and make excessive profits; or sell slightly below the actual market price and thereby

By Oluwakemi Dauda, Maritime Correspondent

spoil the market for honest importers who imported their commodity and paid correct duty to the government before going to the market to sell.”

A consumer, Mrs Iyabo Oladipupo, said since the government banned the importation of rice through the land borders, the price has been sky rocketing and urged the Federal Government to revisit the policy.

She urged the government to review the duty payable to Customs with a view to bringing down its landing cost, to make the commod-

ity more affordable to Nigerians and reduce poverty.

The market price of rice, the consumer said, has increased since the Federal Government banned rice importation through Seme, Idiroko and other land borders.

Some of the consumers who spoke with The Nation attributed the high cost of rice to the new tariff regime introduced by the Federal Government.

A rice merchant at Alaba Rago Market in Lagos, Alhaji Sheu Yahya, told The Nation that when the ban on rice importation through the land borders was lifted earlier last year, the landing cost

of 600 bags was put at N2,700,000 and was later increased to N2,800,000.

He said the same 600 bags of rice now cost N3,650,000. Sheu said he has been in the business for over 20 years and expressed fear that the price of the commodity may not fall except the Federal Government reduces the tariff payable on the commodity.

Investigation conducted by The Nation revealed that rice importation through the land borders has stopped, while rice smuggling has reduced due to the high landing cost of the commodity because of the surveillance put in place by the Customs.

Tin Can Port to discipline truck drivers

T

HE management of Tin Can Island Port said it is set to discipline truck drivers who violate the rules in and out of the port.

It said the major challenge the port has been facing in managing the chaotic traffic situation in and around the port was lack of discipline of the drivers.

Speaking with The Nation in his office last Friday, the Port Manager, Efioita Ephraim, accused

By Oluwakemi Dauda, Maritime Correspondent

some of the drivers of using the port access road garages as parking lot for their vehicles.

Ephraim said significant success has been recorded by the port in controlling traffic snarl on the port access road. He identified lack of discipline by the truck drivers as the major obstacle to the free flow of traffic in and around the port.

“This port was constructed in 1977

and despite the fact that cargo throughput has grown over 10 times, what we had 30 years ago, the type of chaos we experience sometimes can be totally eliminated if every stakeholder complies with his responsibility,” the Port Manager stated.

Ephraim identified three major reasons why trucks clog the port access road, saying one of the main reasons is the inordinate tendencies of truck drivers to shunt the

Stakeholders worried over maritime bank

S

TAKEHOLDERS have said they are worried over the delay in the taking off of the maritime bank.

Speaking with The Nation in his office last week, the Managing Director, Femsul Venture, Mr Kolapo Ayinla, said before the dissolution of the last Federal Executive Council, the Minister of Transport, Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman, promised that the arrangement for the take off of the maritime bank had been com-

By Uyoatta Eshiet

pleted, Ayinla is now wondering why the bank is yet to come on stream after it had suffered delays and postponements in the past.

But The Nation learnt that the minister has directed the concerned departments in his ministry to liaise with the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to begin work on the documentation and essential requirements for the take off of the bank.

The directive, The Nation was told, was to enable officials of the ministry and NIMASA to start liaising with the appropriate regulatory agencies for issuance of operations licences.

A top Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) official, who pleaded anonymity, also told The Nation that discussions have begun between the CBN, Ministry of Transport, NIMASA and finance ministry on the issue.

process of returning empty containers to the various terminals.

Investigation revealed that rather than return empty containers to the holding bays provided by shipping companies, many truck owners would rather go through a shortcut by bringing such empty containers to the port.

He said the truck drivers often take the ‘shortcut’ because they do not want to travel the distance to the holding bays provided by the shipping companies to save cost even when they have been paid to do so.

“Many a times, the shipping companies also encourage this untoward tendency by the truck drivers because that way, they save themselves the cost of having to transport the empty containers to the port by themselves.

“You now find out that when the truck drivers arrive with the empties and they are not allowed into the port because such empty containers have not been scheduled to be received by the terminal operator, the truck drivers stay on the road thereby causing congestion,” he said.

THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

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TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

POLITICS THE NATION

E-mail:- politics@thenationonlineng.net

The violence that trailed the April presidential election was the kernel of a one-day parley by stakeholders who met in Kaduna State. What, according to them, is the way out? Correspondent TONY AKOWE, reports.

‘How to end post-election violence’ O

NE question that has continued agitating the minds of Nigerians since the post-election violence in Kaduna and other parts of the North since the April presidential election is whether the violence could have been stopped or not.

Various speakers spoke about the issue at the First Kaduna NUJ Roundtable Discussion. Its theme was: “Post-Election Violence: The way forward.” It was organised by the Kaduna Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists as part of its contribution to finding lasting solution to the orgy of violence that rocked the state after the April 16 presidential election.

The Haman Bachamma, Hamon Asaph Zadok set the stage for the two-hour discussion at the main auditorium of the Arewa House, hitting hard at the nation’s political, religious and traditional leaders for what he called a declining decay in the nation’s moral values. Chairman of the council, Yusuf Idris, decried violence, adding: “It seems most unfortunate that in the 21st century when animals are no longer killing each other, man is being faced with cruelty on a daily basis from a fellow human being while the rate of distrust and insecurity is increasing by the day.

“What can lead a human being to take up arms against another human being? Why should a man, when there are so many avenues of expressing grievances, kill or maim another? Is there a breakage of contract between leaders and the led? Is there lack of confidence on the leaders or on our social institutions by the followership? Do we as people, have common desire to see the success of the Nigerian nation beyond our own desires? These were some of the questions begging for answers.”

But Zadok, a first-class traditional ruler in Adamawa State, would not rule out the possibility of a revolution in Nigeria in the near future unless those in the position of leadership learn to instil trust in the people. He was particularly concerned that the traditional institution is beginning to lose respect among their subjects He wondered why religion would always be a launch pad for all violence crises in the land, when in the past, Africans lived peacefully even with their traditional belief before the advent of the two major religion of Islam and Christianity. He expressing regrets that the culture of tolerance had vanished in the country.

Former governor of the state, Senator Ahmed Makarfi who also spoke, held that both the leaders and the led were culpable, adding that the decision of the 6th National Assembly not to pass the Electoral Offences Bill contributed to the crisis. Makarfi also said that the violence was triggered off by the conduct and utterances of politicians before, during and after the election, saying that many went into the election with a do-or-die spirit. “Majority of politicians bragged even before the elections because they are in power that the outcome of the elections must take a particular form. That was

• Asaph Zadok and Kaduna NUJ Chairman, Yusuf Idris at the roundtable discussion organised by the union.

highly irresponsible on our parts,” he said.

Makarfi, whose tenure witnessed two major violent outbursts which he nipped in the bud, held that security agents should work with Chief Executives of states to prevent violence before they happen and when they do, they must curtail them.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal agreed with Makarfi that the post election violence could have been prevented by the National Assembly. He however did not see it from the angle of the Electoral Offences Commission Bill. The Speaker who was represented at the occasion by Godfrey Ali Gaiya argued that if the National Assembly had not thrown out the bill to create internal democracy within the parties, candidates acceptable to the people would have been produced by the parties and therefore, the violence could have been prevented. He promised that the 7th National Assembly would reintroduce the bill and ensure that there is internal democracy within the parties before the next general election. According to him, the House will also propose an amendment to the 1999 Constitution to remove those things that tend to divide, rather than unite Nigeria as a country.

He said that the House was determined to ensure that the nation conducts a free and fair election by giving the parties and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the needed autonomy to handle electoral matters with utmost dispatch, adding that the multitude of election petitions will be reduced when there is internal democracy in the parties.

“In the last assembly, we started a bill that talks about internal democracy and this time around, we are revisiting that bill that will introduce internal democracy within the set up. There are certain things for which you could not have blamed Jega because some of those bills were signed few weeks to the election and it was not possible for INEC to take total control of all that happened. So, we going to look at it and give Nigerians a correct version of the electoral act that will ensure free and fair elections.”

But former INEC scribe and retired Federal Permanent Secretary, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, accused both the government and the security agents of ignoring early warning signals that a crisis was imminent during and after the elections. He argued that as early as February 2011, there were already clear signs that a crisis was brewing in the country over the elections.

“People were told not to vote for certain candidates because of their religion and this went on unchallenged and I believe that this, coupled with other visible factors were clear signs that all was not well. But we did nothing to prevent what was coming and the media has a share of the blame.

“What is going on now is not in our interest. The Lemu panel is going about making the people believe that the government is going to pay them compensation. Because of that, people are being asked to go and cost churches, mosques and houses, and bring to the panel. I am afraid that is laying the ground for another round of crisis because the people are expecting to be compensated and I do not see how the government is going to pay compensa-

tion to anybody. You pay compensation for what you are responsible for. The panels cannot solve the problem of post election violence in the state. Our leaders in the north have failed us and the time has come when the old generation of northern leaders should give way and let their sons take the lead,” he said.

Baba-Ahmed believed however that the media contributed largely to the violence, adding that “the most pronounced problem in finding the way through the post-election violence is the apparent failure or absence of a will to ask the most basic question: what just happened in April, 2011?

“There were riots, burnings, mass killings and now, in Kaduna State and possibly in one or two other areas of the north, there is total breakdown of community relations, trust and confidence. What is beyond doubt is that panels will not provide the framework for lasting and sustained peace, and they can never meet the demands of all parties for establishing acceptable thresholds of justice and security.”

He noted: “It is vital that the background is understood, if any sensible step will be taken towards dealing with the huge problems which the 2011 elections have thrown up.

It is also very important that the leadership and the nation do not behave as if the problems which created the environment for the violence and the consequences of the violence will just go away if the nation attempts to move away from them.”

However, participants at the parley were quick to observe that that lack of family value and the declining moral value in the country, rather than poverty and lack of education is a largely responsible for the

‘Politicians, according to the communiqué, should learn to accept defeat in good faith and not try to take their pound of flesh when they feel they are losing, while Nigerian leaders, especially the political leaders, must accept responsibility and the blame for the activities that led to the April violence and take steps to address the issues that led to the violence’

post-election violence and others in the country, while also indicting the government and security agents for ignoring early warning signals of likely electoral violence in the country.

They also observed that there is the failure of leadership in the north, especially at the traditional level, as the traditional rulers tend to have lost respect of their subjects and recommend that intelligence gathering by security agents should be enhanced. In addition, the security agents must properly analyse situations and make available to Chief Executives, such security reports, to enable them take appropriate proactive measures to prevent violence from occurring and curtailing them before they spread when they happen.

In a communiqué at the end of the one-day discussion, the participants said that there is the need to improve the electoral system in the country and create a better electoral system which should discourage the announcement of election results at night. There is the need to have in place a law to establish an electoral offences tribunal which will address issues of electoral offences such as electoral violence.

The win-at-all-cost syndrome by Nigerian politicians which sometimes leads to violence should be discouraged and seen as a call to serve and not an investment, while the government should make efforts to create jobs for the teeming youths in other to give them a sense of patriotism.

Politicians, according to the communiqué, should learn to accept defeat in good faith and not try to take their pound of flesh when they feel they are losing, while Nigerian leaders, especially the political leaders, must accept responsibility and the blame for the activities that led to the April violence and take steps to address the issues that led to the violence.

The communiqué which was signed by the Secretary of the Kaduna NUJ, Dominic Uzu, also emphasised “the need to build confidence in the people and rebuild the security situation in the north while the government must address the disconnect between it and the people and take steps to eradicate cases of corruption and poverty in the country, while a conducive environment should be provided by the government for the people to develop their potentials for the overall development of the Nigerian people.

Screening of political office seekers should be returned to INEC and the security agents to ensure that the highest bidder syndrome in the parties is eliminated to give room for the emergence of credible candidates for election.

It said further: “There is the need for politicians to be more sincere with the populace, while the media should take into cognizance, their constitutional role of monitoring governance in the country and so be up and doing in the discharge of their responsibilities. There is also the need for the media to always be abreast with happenings in the country, especially those that could ignite crisis.”

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EDITORIAL/OPINION COMMENT

EDITORIAL FROM OTHER LAND

The New State of South Sudan

Bad way to spend •N630bn on food imports annually is not ideal for our nation

O

NE pressing issue that should engage the attention of President Goodluck Jonathan and his notentirely-new team as they set out their priorities, is what to do with the rising food import bill – currently put at N630 billion annually. That the nation spends billions of naira on food items that can be produced locally should worry the administration, not just because it is a bad way to spend our scarce foreign exchange, it seems the surest killer pill to get the nation’s farmers out of business in the long run.

The breakdown of the amount expended annually should alarm enough; wheat is said to top the imports, gulping N165 billion annually; fish is said to account for N105 billion while the nation’s undisputed staple, rice, consumes an equivalent of N75 billion.

Sugar is said to also consume some N60

‘ That the nation spends billions of naira on food items that can be produced locally should worry the administration, not just because it is a bad way to spend our scarce foreign exchange, it seems the surest killer pill to get the nation’s farmers out of business in the long run‘

billion in outlay of foreign exchange annually.

If we juxtapose the worrisome trend with the reality of de-industrialisation of the last three decades, with its unique feature in factory closures, courtesy of the terrible state of infrastructure and the inclement policies of government, the picture of a nation which consumes without producing emerges. It seems ludicrous that a nation which aspires to be among the top 20 in less than a decade from now has not begun to think of how to feed herself.

The matter is certainly so grave as to constitute a strategic national security issue. It’s time for the Federal Government to redress the unwholesome trend.

We agree that Nigeria, so blessed with good soils and clement weather has no business importing food. Much has been said about the potential of our agriculture not being in doubt; indeed, it is arguable that any country on the continent compares with Nigeria when it comes to vast endowments in arable lands. What then is the problem with our agriculture?

The answer – the same problems that have plagued our national development: mismanagement, poor and ill-conceived policies, and endemic corruption. These vices account for why the nation is stuck at the level of un-modernised, subsistence level practices in which agricultural output has failed to keep pace with population growth. It explains, for instance, why the multi-billion naira

Fadama Rice Project on which the nation has spent fortunes is nowhere near delivering on the advertised goal of selfsufficiency in the popular staple.

The issue of funding agro-business obviously needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency. Today, whereas agriculture contributes 26.8 percent to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, lending to the sector has remained at an abysmal level of 1.4 percent. And this is despite the existence of the National Agricultural Credit and Rural Development Bank and other incentive schemes such as the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme.

The Federal Government and the Bankers Committee would obviously need to work out a better strategy to remove the strictures in the path of agricultural financing, and to ease access to cheap credit.

Aside funding, the nation would need to invest in training a new generation of farmers to replace the ageing population.

The matter is hardly about producing agricultural graduates but practising farmers well equipped to take advantage of modern techniques to boost farm outputs. With considerable support from state governments in particular by way of machineries and other inputs, the nation should begin to embrace the idea of courting the younger generation as part of future farming policy.

We have no doubt that the multiplier effect of lending a fraction of what is currently used for food imports to farmers would be beyond imagination.

Good riddance •This is what the attempt to oust judicial powers in electoral cases represents

I

T is hardly any news that a federal high court has voided Section 140 (2) of the Electoral Act 2010. If there was any example of the law as product of legislative rascality and partisan banditry, the voided section was it.

It purported to take from the courts the right to sieve through evidence and arrive at a fair decision based on the preponderance of facts before them. That was an odious piece of legislation aimed straight at the jugular of justice and peaceful resolution of electoral disputes.

That such abhorrent legislative piece ever found its way into our statute book is an indelible stain on the integrity of the last National Assembly; and its sponsors ought to bury their heads in shame. Still, that legislative rascality was an assault on common sense which, sooner than later, was doomed.

But what if the outrage had stood; and the courts had endorsed it as normal?

That would have made odious news and would have terribly, if not fatally, weakened our democratic institutions.

Still, that it did not do so is tribute to the clear-cut separation of powers in the 1999 Constitution, which followed the classic presidential system, in strict allotment of role, so much so that each of the three branches of government serves as a check on the other and balances out any excesses.

Nevertheless, that the National Assembly, supposedly schooled in the basics of the presidential system, could still go ahead and pass such obnoxious legislation points to the obvious fact that careful laws are not enough to deepen

and nurture democratic institutions. A critical part is the human factor – legislators and other public-spirited players in the polity, who would, no matter the situation and how it might affect their personal and partisan interest, pass laws for the good of the people. It was on this noble point that the last National Assembly failed so ignobly.

The genesis of that law was politics of the crudest hue. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the federal ruling party, had suffered a chain of electoral reverses, losing the governorships of Edo (to the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN), Ondo (to Labour Party, LP), Ekiti (to ACN) and Osun (to ACN), all by judicial declarations, after proven cases of electoral robbery. Efforts to discredit those verdicts and fair reverses are still on – witness the media storm and thunder over the match-up between Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu and President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami.

But the most noxious attempt to tar and undermine the judiciary over those verdicts was the legislative conspiracy to unhorse the courts, on account of insane partisan rage. Since the PDP was the dominant party in the last National Assembly and it suffered most in the judicially ordered forfeiture of stolen mandates, it stands logically and legitimately accused of being behind that conspiracy.

Yes, the party could disown that charge, arguing with sophistry that nobody could trace to it any official directive to that effect – and that could be technically right.

But the gusto with which its top and

ranking legislators in the old order announced the ill-fated amendment suggested high-voltage conspiracy which, nevertheless, their body language suggested was real politik. It was a most condemnable behaviour!

But thanks to the same judiciary and the ACN that challenged the amendment in court, another conspiracy against democracy had been judicially put down.

Nevertheless, the lesson is simple: elected representatives of the people have a sacred duty to be public-spirited in their duties. The voided amendment would have been inconceivable, had that been the mindset of those behind it.

Still, the final moral is this: let the electoral process be clean and transparent.

That way, winners would be declared fair and square; and the Judiciary would need to intervene in the rarest of cases.

‘But the most noxious attempt to tar and undermine the judiciary over those verdicts was the legislative conspiracy to unhorse the courts, on account of insane partisan rage. Since the PDP was the dominant party in the last National Assembly and it suffered most in the judicially ordered forfeiture of stolen mandates, it stands logically and legitimately accused of being behind that conspiracy’

O

N Saturday, South Sudan becomes a free and independent country. It is a well-deserved victory for its people.

Under a 2005 American-backed political accord that ended two decades of civil war, the people of the mainly Christian territory voted overwhelmingly in January to secede from the Arab Muslim north.

Still, celebrations in the capital, Juba, cannot obscure a sobering truth: building a functional new country will take decades of hard work.

Responsibility falls primarily on South Sudan, but also on the United States and the international community that shepherded it.

Africa’s 54th state is at the bottom of the developing world. Most people live on less than $1 a day. More than 10 percent of children do not reach the age of 5. Some 75 percent of adults cannot read.

Meanwhile, festering disputes between north and south are stoking chaos in a land already bloodied by two million deaths in civil war.

Sudan on Friday became the first state to recognize South Sudan. Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, author of the murderous war in Darfur, said he would attend the festivities in Juba. But he also said he would continue the fight that erupted last month against forces loyal to the south in South Kordofan, an oil-rich region still under Khartoum’s control. Mr. Bashir’s decision to order the United Nations to withdraw peacekeepers from South Kordofan is deeply worrisome.

Major elements of the 2005 peace agreement are unresolved — such as which side will control the oil-rich region of Abyei, where fighting has also broken out; citizenship protections for minorities; where final borders will be set; how oil earnings will be shared (the south has 70 percent of the reserves).

The two sides are dependent on each other.

South Sudan needs the north’s pipeline to get its oil to market. Sudan needs oil money to help pay its bills. Both need foreign investment and the north needs debt relief. They have a better chance of winning international support if they are at peace.

As an incentive, the United States and its partners have offered to convene an international conference in September for South Sudan. That will allow South Sudan’s leaders to present their plans for encouraging desperately needed private investment.

Washington gave Juba $300 million for education and housing and is promising more.

International assistance should go forward only if South Sudan works constructively with Khartoum to bring stability to both countries.

The Obama administration, correctly, is not taking Sudan off its terrorism list and normalizing relations until Khartoum fulfills the peace deal and ends the conflict in Darfur.

China, Sudan’s main oil investor and arms supplier, should deliver a similar message to Mr. Bashir, who is under war crimes indictment, instead of receiving him with fanfare in Beijing and promising him new oil deals. The international community must persuade the two sides to avoid war and work to build a future for both Sudans.

– New York Times

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THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

20

EDITORIAL/OPINION

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IR: I posit that if, because Islamic banking exists in the United Kingdom, America, Germany, France, and so on, it should, therefore, be allowed to exist in Nigeria, then, why don’t we model our democracy after those countries as well? We should not take issues in isolation.

Obviously, the countries listed above are much older democracies; in what ways is Nigeria modeling herself after them; or what other ideals have we borrowed from them, beyond our current mention of Islamic banking within a religiously pluralistic society?

I know we honour holy days of obligation for Christians and Muslims. Yet, we are intolerant of African traditional religious (ATR) festivals. They have no option when we block the roads for our own liturgies, but they dare not block any road – I imagine!

We rend the air at times to keep non-believers awake whether they like it or not, but that can hardly be tolerated from the ATR adherents?

Do the rulers in the above-listed countries spend public funds to build places of worship for their own religious organizations as obtains here? Do they spend public funds to celebrate religious festivals? Do religious people ask irreligious people not to drink alcohol, visit brothels, display Miss World or the Big Brother contest, if they so choose?

In Nigeria, we consult the Sacred Scriptures of the rulers to determine, how to treat lesbians and homosexuals. In those other countries mentioned above, they consult their anthropologists, sociologists, physical scientists, psychologists,

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Beyond the matter of Islamic banking and open-minded theologians who could help them explain the reality of human life. In Nigeria if we consult scientists, it is the religiously inclined ones. Conservatism seems to be the sole virtue, even though we are living in a dynamic world; a world that keeps unfolding even as we hold-on to our Sacred Scriptures, hypocritically hook, line, and sinker.

In essence, Christianity and Islam

are over-politicized in Nigeria. Bitter rivalry, envy, and even hatred exist in greater quantity than one would have expected. If that were the case in the Christian-dominated America, someone of Islamic connection, such as Barack Obama, would never have become the U. S. President. Is Nigeria ready to rise and shine, not just with Islamic banking, but holistically?

Human nature is said to be cor-

rupt, innately. Hence cautions and precautions are always indispensable. One of the precautions in our national constitution is the policy of state secularity, and everybody seems to be explaining it away; trivializing it.

In Senegal, I heard that the Muslim brotherhoods championed the agitation for good governance.

What seems prevalent in Nigeria is agitation for political offices and

Tayo Aderinokun: an appreciation

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IR: The sad news of the passing of Olutayo (“Tayo”) Aderinokun, immediate past MD/CEO of GT Bank, was not unheralded. There were rumours of his failing health and even of his demise well before he passed on.

So, in a sense, his transition was not as shocking as it would otherwise have been. Yet, further reflection on the sobering event in the light of my encounters with him in 2004 and 2005, and persistent promptings from a visiting Ms Titi Ogunnaike, necessitated this tribute.

Sometime in August 2004, just as I commenced my sabbatical, a phone call from Mrs Sola Fagbure, Company Secretary of Guaranty Trust Bank (then known as GTB), led to a meeting in my office at the

University of Lagos. The bank was looking for a Professor of History to write its history and, ultimately, the lot fell on me. I had been recommended by a colleague in the Faculty of Law (Ayo Atsenuwa, now Professor in the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies), who had served as a member of the inaugural Ford Foundation International Fellowships Selection Committee for Nigeria in 2001, which I chaired. After preliminary discussions, I was invited to the bank’s headquarters on Oyin Jolayemi Street, Victoria Island, where I met Tayo Aderinokun in his capacity as MD/CEO and the initiator of the project.

On that first encounter and in scheduled interviews on 26 Sep-

tember and 21 December 2004, I was impressed by Aderinokun’s taciturn, phlegmatic, almost aloof, but courteous demeanour, and particularly by his rather spartan, though spacious, office. He came across as a calm, dignified, self-effacing and disciplined person, highly organized, industrious and dutiful. After interviewing 22 stakeholders, including past and current directors and staff, and wading through hundreds of pages of reports, minutes of meetings, newspaper cuttings, and other published material over a seven-month period, I submitted an eight-chapter, 333-page manuscript entitled “A History of Guaranty Trust Bank PLC, 1990-2004” in early 2005.

I specially thank Tayo

Nigeria: hope alive

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IR: Nigerians dream of a riot free society. A nation where equity and tranquility, law and order is upheld. A nation where there is no travesty of justice. A society where the opinion and will of an average Nigerian is venerated. A nation with the practice of true democracy where the promises of elected political leaders are delivered even to the grass roots. A nation where culprits are brought to book without immunity by due process. Nigerians seek a healthy society with an improved health sector, steady electricity and good infrastructures in every state in Nigeria.

privileges by Christians and Muslims, competitively. Why is it that the less than 10 percent Christians in Senegal experience neither persecution nor marginalization by the overwhelming Muslim population, unlike what obtains in several parts of the Muslim north of Nigeria?

In sum, Christian and Muslim leaders in Nigeria must depoliticize their religions by telling their followers to respect and be just to the adherents of other religions. But that is impossible unless they themselves accept Nigeria’s secularity which implies that the nation has no official religion, while God, love of neighbour, and justice remain the common denominators, for national unity and progress.

• Pius Oyeniran Abioje, Ph. D, University of Ilorin.

A nation where education, security of lives and property, food supply and good employment opportunities are top priorities of the elected government. The Coat of Arm of Nigeria depicts the strength of the nation by using the power of vision, her richness in resources, peace and progress expected of her. Nigeria is as beautiful and good as the people are or desire it to be. The slogan of the present elected government says “POSITIVE TRANSFORMATION” which speaks of a positive change in the system. But except we change ourselves we cannot change the things around us. It is GOOD

PEOPLE, GREAT NATION. If we all can think of the good of our nation then our dream of a great nation will become a reality.

Nigeria indeed is the “GIANT OF AFRICA” in population, resources and international influence, but we must follow the blue prints of our founding fathers that pursued her independence without violence.

This is to maintain our position and recognition in the outside world.

There is no place like our beloved country no matter how comfortable we think it is. Let us join hands to build the place we call our own and our home. The interest of foreign

investors will be enhanced the more, if the required change of the Nigerians’ dream is actualized.

Although, we are on a journey of transformation, reformation and reconstruction in this present administration. The greatest disaster that can happen to anyone is to live without a dream. Martin Luther King Jr. once said he had a dream for America which became a reality today. I believe that one day; Nigerians’ dream will come to pass. Therefore, let’s keep hope alive, do our best and leave the rest to God. GOD BLESS NIGERIA. Uchendu. I. Kingsley Kingsleyike92@yahoo.com

Aderinokun for initiating the project and creating the opportunity for me to gain invaluable experience in analyzing a flagship, truly Nigerian, institution.

I subsequently completed my sabbatical in the United States and Germany. In the meantime, I had lost contact with Tayo Aderinokun after it became clear that the plan to publish the GT Bank manuscript had been abandoned for unstated reasons. He, however, invited me to the opening of his Day Waterman College, near Abeokuta in 2010.

Sadly, I was unable to attend the event, which would have been my last chance of seeing him alive.

My limited task here is to present this bird’s eye view of my encounters over a seven-month period with a remarkable, if somewhat enigmatic, man of many parts. His passing has created a vacuum in the banking sector and the wider Nigerian society, but his memory lingers. A fitting tribute from the perspective of GTBank might be the publication of a version of the project that he initiated. His exertions and those of his compatriots at GTBank would have been properly documented for posterity. The book would certainly fill a gap in Nigeria’s business history and highlight a success story in institutionbuilding, the sparsity of which is a recurring Nigerian nightmare.

• Ayodeji Olukoju Vice-Chancellor, Caleb University, Imota, Lagos State.

21

THE NATION TUESDAY,JULY 12, 2011

EDITORIAL/OPINION What next, Iroko (July 5)

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epublican ipples

HE young Dr. Rahman Segun Mimiko was special assistant to Chief Segun Adegoke, one of Governor Michael Ajasin’s commissioners and diehard loyalists. Contrary to your claim, he was NEVER in the Omoboriowo camp in the heady Olakunle days of 1982-83! He always issued Abimbola lordbeek@yahoo.com, 08054504169 (Sms only, please) press releases in support of the Ajasin cause, which his principal championed. I should know: my 86-year old father too was a notable pro-Ajasin old guard of the AG [Action Group] fame – Prof. Ayodeji Olukoju, Vice Chancellor, Caleb University, Ikorodu, Lagos State, +2348055030259.

Your article about Iroko made an informative and educative read, especially that part that deals with his supposed treachTwo weeks, two wars and a blitzkrieg of erous political track record. If this is true, how he survived it exchanges – it has never been more exciting to this day in a setting that does not reward such remains a case in the volatile South West political front. study, as this may be why the ‘actor’ in question is pushing his luck beyond its elastic limit. Iroko can decide to be a whale in Again this week, the readers, in full combat the small Labour Party pond and risk running out of water and gear, have annexed the page. Enjoy the literultimately, life; or be a catfish in Action Congress of Nigeria ary bombardment, and please, dive for cover!

(ACN) lake and be sure of a political future for himself and his core followership; or be a tilapia in a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) sea of predators and life-threatening currents, and risk again. – Olukayode Sule, Akure, Ondo State, +2347033453866 total annihilation of whatever he has managed to put together You have said it all about Mimiko – a window dresser who by piranha-like bedfellows. As a Nigerian, he should comignorantly insulted Awo’s decision to build Cocoa House in pare notes with the Okuku prince of Osun, the geology lecIbadan, yet whose government mismanages Ilaje’s OSOPADEC turer of Ondo, the Ekiti engineer, Daani Elebo of Ogun and the money. He is a man with so many crafty parts. – Igbekele professor in Edo; and wake up to his political strengths and Ayelaje, PRO Crusaders, Igbokoda, Ondo State, weaknesses.

– Kayode A, Abeokuta, Ogun State, +2347089218818 +2348073821313 Who told you that Ondo is ACN territory? Ondo is better Naa wa o! You have forgotten that Omode [minor] ti obu Iroko inside the so-called LP small pond than in your ACN big pond. [that abused the Iroko]. Expect the consequences! If it is the people’s vote that will count, we will vote our Iroko +2348033787192 As a student of Nigerian politics, I feel bad about Iroko’s alleged intransigence on teaming up with the progressives in ACN. Having served as a corps member in Ondo, I can adjudge him as a progressive in body and soul; his policies and style of governance, unique. Yet, if indeed he has reneged on the agreement to join the ACN, he should be left to his conscience. We should focus on 2013. If Iroko likes, he can join Chop and Quench Party. It is his right. – Arinze Igboeli, +2348058054767 You unveil the obvious in Ondo State. Can such a person be trusted? No! – Olu, +2348058287230 It is a pity Iroko might defect to PDP. He may betray ACN that helped him to retrieve his mandate. - +2348054142328 Thank you very much for your exciting piece today. I hope it gets the deserved attention. – Tunde Okoli, +2348038928599 You always seethe with rage any time somebody refuses to

dance to ACN’s konkomba [music]. Why is it so? Now, it is Iroko. But next, it would be somebody else who is not sheepishly towing the line. – Lanre, +2348053634699 This guy should not continue to straddle the fence. The South West zone should be unified for rapid development. Yet another masterpiece – Femi Odere, +2347036600991.

I have always liked your style of writing.

But you know what? You should avoid writing on Mimiko the way you would avoid doing a critical piece on Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. In the write-up, you failed to harp on Iroko’s performance as his weapon. My brother, you are extremely biased. – Charles Iyoha, Chairman Academy Ltd, +2348189448144 Kiriji War II (June 28) The new order is already born. No one can stop an idea whose time has come! - +2348023600373 I have read your brilliant write-up, entitled “Kiriji War II”. It is unfortunate that members of the YUF [Yoruba Unity Forum] issued a threat against Sam Omatseye. My advice to Mr. Omatseye and his family, both immediate and extended, is that if anything happens to Sam between now and the next 50 years, they should hold members of the YUF responsible. – +2348028267158 Your Kiriji War II is a masterpiece. – Engineer Adeyemi, +2348029497830 I love your write-up on Kiriji War II. Jobless, tired and irrelevant politicians, whose glory has long been lost, are looking for loopholes to capitalise upon, and try and run people down, in order to be relevant. God will not let them and they will be disgraced at the end. - +2348025723011 There is no stopping an idea whose time has come ... sure, an old order is dying and some ignoble men are dying with it.

They are fighting a lost battle to maintain the status quo. But we are not the least distracted in the campaign against the emerging new era. – Ige Bola Abimbola, Osogbo, Osun State, +2348058596968 Of Kiriji War II and fatwa: even if Sam Omatseye insulted anyone, it should be between him, his conscience and Almighty God. All the dust is just eye service – or what did they do when Awo’s statue was pulled down? Alao-Akala [Adebayo, former governor of Oyo State] was deputy governor then. What fatwa have they dished out to Baba Iyabo, who takes pleasure in undermining Awo and his legacy? YUF and others should leave Sam Omatseye alone. Ditto for those who claim to love Awo but only love their bellies! - Arinze Igbueli, +2348058054767 Kiriji War II is really on and its goal is to determine who is the greatest among the children of Oduduwa. As for Sam, the arrow fired by a child was parried by an adult. This war will bring out the ‘beast’ in all those involved. There is no neutral ground. Too bad, at this stage, nobody can stop the war! – Harris, +2348052317142.

Kiriji II, Iroko and other wars Feedback

“The young Dr. Rahman Segun Mimiko was special assistant to Chief Segun Adegoke, one of Governor Michael Ajasin’s commissioners and die-hard loyalists.

Contrary to your claim, he was NEVER in the Omoboriowo camp in the heady days of 1982-83!

A

FTER laying out an agenda that aspires to a transformational one, we can now proceed to interrogate President Goodluck Jonathan’s promises of change against the backdrop of the character of the men and women assembled to drive the vision. With virtually all the ministers at their desks by now, it is fairly possible to talk about the direction and tempo of government in the coming months.

Apprehensions about the President’s appointees are only natural. With socio-economic, political and lately security challenges besetting the nation on all fronts, the urgency of the task at hand – set in the context of the emergency which it has since spawned – can no longer be denied. And to the extent that the character and disposition of these men may make or mar the realisation of the tasks set out, it is given that citizens would take more than a passing interest in the activities of these individual on whose shoulders the burden of governance now rest.

But that seems like jumping the proverbial gun. The starting block, appropriately, ought to be the content of the vision of the visioner – this time, the President’s promise of continuity and change – which looks like a serving from the factory of contradictions where our lives are made and unmade.

My colleague Segun Ayobolu in his typically illuminating column of last Saturday aptly alluded to the inexplicable dilemma of citizens investing their faith in someone of the PDP stock, in spite of the unconcealed anger at the ineptitude of the party in the last 12 years, while at the same time expecting a difference!

But then, aren’t Nigerians known to thrive in contradictions? In any case, didn’t we vote with our hearts as against our heads?

And what were the promises? Those who claim that the president didn’t commit to any discernable programme of action during the heady electioneering days are damn right –he didn’t – at least not in terms of specifics. The closest to what can approximate his pact with the people was his inaugural speech, which, typically was laced with a broad – if not entirely vague – ambition to grow the economy, create jobs, and generate enduring happiness for the citizens.

Again, quite typically, the speech exuded “great confidence in the ability of Nigerians to transform this country” while spelling out what it considers as the urgent task of the administration as provision of a suitable environment, for productive activities to flourish. More tellingly however was his message to Nigerians to brace up for more sacrifices, delivered days after.

As always, the issue is hardly about the calibre of the appointees as virtually all of them can hold their own among the best anywhere in the world at least on paper. The issue is what the appointees are bringing to the table to help the President deliver on his mission of transformation so

Policy Sanya Oni sanyaoni@yahoo.co.uk 08051101841

The President’s men extravagantly laid out.

The natural point to begin is with the admnistration’s socalled economic Czar – Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala – whose office has been touted as the engine room of the Jonathan administration. Knowing how steeped the powerful lady is in the orthodoxies of the Breton woods institutions, the question is what kind of reforms would she be bringing about this time around? Are we to expect more of the same while expecting different results?

The issue is certainly important. Yes, she introduced structural reforms into the management of the nation’s finances during her first outing as minister. Also, under her direction, a lot of transparency was brought into the conduct of government business; one particular novelty was the periodic publication of revenue accruals to the three tiers of government. And there has been much talk about the nation enjoying some semblance of discipline and macro-economic stability under her direction.

Most celebrated of her achievement however, was the nation’s exit from the debtor cartel of the Paris and London clubs. While the debate on the wisdom in the hefty payout of $12 billion to the loan sharks rages still, those in hurry to judge had better note that we have amassed $60 billion in foreign reserves and another $22 billion of excess crude funds long after with nothing to show for them!

But then, nearly a decade down the line, the question of the benefits of the reforms isn’t just legitimate, the results have been at best a mixed grill. Thanks to the fortunes being raked daily from oil, Nigeria ranks second only to Angola on the continent in economic performance at the moment.

The past decade has been one outlandish growth year after year – reputed to be above the global average –growths that have neither translated into new jobs nor percolated to the main street. It seems to me the fundamental question at this time ought to be whether the nation can afford another decade of illusory growth.

But the contradiction is even more pointed in the area of

the choices of policies: we are said to be in hurry to develop; yet so locked is the nation in the wild embrace of the orthodoxies that are sure recipes for developmental inertia!

So, where is the promise that things will be any different with the new team? As they say – the omens are not too good at all. Going by the indications, we may be embarking on the same dreary road of abdication that brought us to this point. Now the tale in town is one of old wines of reforms; this is what Jonathan’s team of ministers are expected to market in new sheepskins as the answer to the nation’s economic woes. It is welcome to the familiar puritan economics of market forces – the political economy of convenience where subsidies are sweet poison – and abdication equals management. As yet, no one has thought fit to explain what active ingredients have been added to next dose of reforms that was missing in the previous ones other than the patient being asked to gobble more of the punishing pills.

Nigeria’s challenges of course do not pretend to lend to easy diagnosis. However, enduring solutions can hardly be located in the puerile orthodoxies being recycled at every turn by some overpaid but underachieving stewards.

The other day, President Jonathan was said to have prayed that his advisers would never have to need his advice. To that we can add that the prayer that God grant us ministers and advisers – true thinkers who will see the nation’s problems not from the blinkered view of cheap orthodoxies but in a rather fresh and unique way – that takes our circumstances and aspirations into consideration.

We need to say Amen to that!

The other day, President Jonathan was said to have prayed that his advisers would never have to need his advice. To that we can add that the prayer that God grant us ministers and advisers – true thinkers who will see the nation’s problems not from the blinkered view of cheap orthodoxies but in a rather fresh and unique way – that takes our circumstances and aspirations into consideration.

We need to say Amen to that!

THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

22

EDITORIAL/OPINION

HE nationwide strike action being planned by Labour to protest government’s reluctance to pay N18, 000 National Minimum wage as agreed and as prescribed by law, looks very much unlikely to take place as most of the states are now willing to pay. The cost of this willingness to pay would soon be clear to all of us when the governors begin to balance their books and take consequential actions as most of them were reportedly arm twisted to give in to Labour’s demand even when it make little or no economic sense.

The other state governments still dragging their feet and the local governments whose position on this issue has been muted so far, are also expected to fall in line soon so that members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) can begin to earn a ‘living’ wage. The other Nigerians outside this bracket can as well go to hell as long as these less than one million Nigerians are ‘well’ paid.

I made my views known last week on this matter and I still hold on strongly to them without prejudice to the position of Labour as expressed below by the Deputy President of the Nigeria Labour Congress.

But beyond the issue of wages, there are other equally important areas that I think Labour should look into urgently, especially in the civil/public service. Labour should also balance its interest against that of the general public lest it loses the crucial support of the majority/non-unionised Nigerians.

It should be noted that Labour is only popular when the cause it is pursuing either solely or together with others cuts across the entire society, not when its actions hurt the rest of the society. A word is enough for the wise. …And NLC speaks Dear Waheed, I have enjoyed reading your column since I chanced into it recently. The topic of your column this morning is as interesting as they come. I am not, usually, in the habit of writing rejoinders but because you are one of my favourite columnists, I wish to offer you a few fundamentals about the Nigeria Labour Congress so that you can better appreciate its workings.

The Congress is made up of 49 affiliates.

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A word for Labour These affiliates are individual industrial unions duly registered under the Trade Unions Act 1978 as amended and recognized as corporate legal entities. They are run individually in accordance with extant labour laws and their individual constitutions with the Congress offering support and advice when needed or acting when issues involved cut across unions and are of common interest to all.

The NLC state councils are not affiliates of the Congress but administrative conveniences created by the Congress for effective administration. They do not really have a life of their own as there is only one NLC registered and recognized by law. The states’ councils act on delegated powers and are therefore not permitted to act outside the dictates of the delegated powers.

Therefore, NLC having negotiated for a national minimum wage of N18,000, states’ councils are stopped from negotiating anything less as this will be antithetic to their delegated powers. At any rate it is a cardinal principle of law that you cannot use an administrative instrument to override the provisions of an Act. The minimum wage act is already a law and can only be amended by another law not negotiation! Therefore, the NLC is not ‘holding on to all powers and refusing to devolve power to the federating units’.

It is instructive that your medium, The Nation, on the front page of its today’s edition (5-7-11) published how the minimum wage of N18,000 was arrived at from the initial demand of N52,200. You will notice

that the new wage was arrived at democratically under the spirit of collective bargaining where the FGN, State governments, Local governments, OPS, SMEs etc participated fully and effectively to arrive at that consensus. So wherein lies “the FGN lording over the states” in this instance? Among other indices like ppp, inflationary rate, cost of living index, the ability to pay was key in the negotiations and that was why the average of N21, 000 arrived at after collating what the various employers offered to pay was jettisoned for a lower figure of N18, 000.

Of course as you noted, the NLC trenchantly believes in true federalism including fiscal federalism. But even in those ‘true federations’ issues of national minimum wage being of common interest are decided centrally, making it a bench mark below which no federating unit can go. In such federations, you find out that units take their bearing from there, either paying that minimum or going higher but never lower.

With the crop of ‘political leaders’ we have in Nigeria who think only of self, you can be sure that some states will insist on paying only N3,000 as minimum wage no matter their improved financial circumstance if left unguided. Even at that, in all federations, there is the doctrine of ‘covering the field’ where the national laws prevail on issues on the concurrent legislative list where there is a conflict. So a national minimum wage, particularly where all the federating units are party to its negotiation, does not offend any known tenet of federalism.

You also alluded subtly to the ‘negligible’ size of the working class which you are not sure includes you. Well if you are a practicing journalist and or a member of NUJ, which is an affiliate of NLC, then the Congress represents you. Even if you are not, you will at least be kind enough to acknowledge the role of the Congress in slowing down the ill-thought de-regulation with all its multiplier effect; stopping the increase in VAT and minimizing double taxation; struggling and marching against bad governance and corruption etc. These were not solely for the benefit of NLC membership. At any rate, is it not this few that turns the wheel of production and development? You should also appreciate that by the Nigerian system of extended family, there are more than ten people attached to every working person in these days of pervasive unemployment. It is also through the patronage of this few that the informal sector thrives. We may just inform also that the Congress is not just about the public sector but affiliates private sector unions including the informal sector.

I think what we should be talking about is how state governments should get more creative in developing mechanized agriculture, tourism etc to improve on their IGR and create jobs rather than just wait for the sharing spree at Abuja. Some countries like Cuba etc live substantially on tourism for instance.

We appreciate constructive criticism.

Promise Adewusi, mni Deputy President NLC/ National President, SSANU.

‘They do not really have a life of their own as there is only one NLC registered and recognized by law.

The states’ councils act on delegated powers and are therefore not permitted to act outside the dictates of the delegated powers’

Open Letter to Jeffrey D. Sachs

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OUR piece titled “Nigeria’s Historic Opportunity” in the Friday, June 3 edition of The Nation should be an uplifting write-up for a people who has been psycho-emotionally beaten down and treated with disdain by their governments for decades. It should have made them to be more hopeful that the optimism for their country came from an outsider who has been scrupulously trained to always consider all data and available facts before making public pronouncements. But the reasons you advanced for Nigeria becoming an economic powerhouse by the end of this decade were not borne out of the facts on the country’s economic and political landscape, hence this piece.

Sir, what you called your “five solid reasons” that are bound to secure Nigeria’s place among the BRICS countries are simply too outrageous and they’re at variance with the realities on ground.

Your “first solid reason” that warrants your optimism for our country is “the reform that Nigeria has been undertaking over the past dozen years…opening the way for a restoration of civilian rule and the strengthening of critical institutions, including the National Assembly and state and district governments.”

Ordinarily, this reason should be in order towards the transformation of any society but Nigeria is not just any society. Her leaders seem not to be terribly concerned or eager to be among societies that are striving towards greatness. They have their own set of democratic rules and norms that are diametrically opposed to international democratic rules and norms and too bad if anybody cannot understand their rules. The reform is for the most part cosmetic and your belief that this reform has triggered the strengthening of such institutions like the National Assembly and state governments is an exaggeration at best.

It may interest you to know that our National Assembly has become an embarrassment to Nigerians since 1999 as a parliament where fisticuffs are traded freely among its members. It is a place where more bloods, literally, have been drawn than the number of legislations passed because members

By Femi Odere would not agree on how money should be shared among themselves. Please note that this money is aside from their monthly salaries and allowances which are outrageously too high in the first place. You may want to know that the salary of a member of Nigeria’s lower parliament is more than what a United States’ Congressman makes in a whole year.

Nigeria operates the same presidential system of government as the United States but the Nigerian government can issue an order to the states to pay their employees the same minimum wage it intends to pay its workers that it did not hire for the states.

It’s like say, the union of American Federation of State and Municipal Employees (AFSME) negotiating a minimum wage for the federal union workers and Uncle Sam now issues an order to all the states in the union to pay this minimum wage to all state employees when the states were never part of the negotiation.

Your postulation that “the advent of democratic elections” and President Jonathan’s winning “a resounding mandate of his own in elections that were praised by observers as by far the freest and fairest in Nigeria’s history” as your second reason why the country is on its way to becoming a major global economic powerhouse is flimsy to say the least. While it’s true that democratic elections are now the preferred way to a forceful change of government in Nigeria, democratic elections in and of themselves hardly guarantees socio-economic prosperity and China, one of the BRICS countries, is a case in point. China never pretended to be a democracy and its leaders over the century have told the rest of the world that they have no use for this time-honored political system. Yet, China is now the second largest economy in the world that when this country sneezes, the rest of the world, including the United States and a bastion of democracy, can very well catch a cold. I am in no way advocating anything other than a democracy for Nigeria, it’s to draw your attention to the asininity of this “second solid reason.” This reason is even more pedestrian

when it is juxtaposed on the country’s weak institutions as democracy can never thrive in a socio-political environment with weak institutions.

Your “third solid reason” that “the rise of China and India is reshaping the world economy, and providing solid support for Nigeria’s growth...as Nigeria can expect to sell not only its vast hydrocarbon deposits at good prices, but also a wide range of agricultural products and manufactured goods” seems to me, to be a statement meant for an emerging economy other than Nigeria.

While the rise of China and India as a major component of the world economy, ideally, should have tremendous multiplier effect on the economies of developing countries such as Nigeria, especially considering the voracious appetite of these two Asian tigers for oil and natural gas, the evidence of the beneficial effects of these resources has been southbound for decades. Nigeria has very little or no agricultural and manufactured products in commercial quantity to sell to these BRICS countries. It’s been more than 50 years that the country gained its independence and its agricultural sector is still at the subsistence level. The country’s manufactured goods are very few and far between and of relatively low quality that the country would be hard pressed to find a receiver even if it wanted to give away its finished products.

It may interest you to know that this sector is a dying sector not only because of the seemingly intractable and chronic epileptic power supply, which may not change anytime soon, but also because of the inefficient bureaucracy and constant policy somersaults of the government which can never augur well for development of this sector. The Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (MAN) announced recently that more than 3,000 companies have closed shops or relocated to places like Ghana and other smaller African countries since 1999 due to the aforementioned. The second leg of your argument that “China is developing Nigeria’s industrial capacity in its determination to be a major partner by financing core infrastructure such as highways, rail and power grid is really fluid in that the country’s labour

pool is not a core participant. And where they are, this indigenous labour pool is almost always heavily concentrated in the lower strata of these core infrastructural developments.

Your “age of convergence” argument as your “fourth solid reason” where there is “the tendency of developing countries like Nigeria to make unprecedented economic advances through the deployment of best practices and advanced technologies” is to me, just a mere wishful thinking. The reality is that the country is neither in a position to deploy internationally accepted “best practices” anytime soon, again, due to its chronically weak institutions and its subsisting moribund and archaic laws that are far away from modernity, among others. While information technology may be spreading, your assertion that this spread is being experienced “from the heart of sprawling Lagos to the most remote villages” is stretching the truth. Even in the cities of Nigeria where information technology outlets are concentrated, the percentage of the country’s citizens who can afford this technology is still on the very low side relative to the population. It’s therefore very difficult for me to see how this exposure to information technology by a few in the population translates into “higher productivity and economic specialization” when unemployment among the productive workforce hovers around 40 percent.

Your admission that Nigeria still faces very real risks because of the sharp regional and religious divisions, increasing violence and a population that could spin out of control by the end of the century, should make for cautious optimism. While I should naturally feel good that an outsider of your calibre made such complimentary remarks and optimistic observations about my country, we’re better served if you tell the bitter truth about our country. The acknowledgement of our reality is a better way to begin to put our country on the right and solid path of development than some outrageous claims that are unsupported by the facts on ground.

Odere, media practitioner lives in the United States.

THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

23

TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

24

41

NATION SPORT

NATION SPORT

AFTERMATH OF NIGERIA/GHANA TIE

Fans heap blames on Eguavoen

N

IGERIA fans are livid at the tactics implored by coach Augustine Eguavoen in their 2-0 defeat to Ghana on Sunday.

The Black Meteors thus pip their archrivals to the ticket of qualification for the All African Games on the away goals rule as both side were pegged at 3-3 at the end of the day.

The vociferous Nigeria supporters who were in significant numbers at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium have pinned their loss to ‘the tactical bankruptcy’ of their head coach.

“The coach cost us this game, ” a fan told GHANAsoccernet.com after watching their beloved Dream Team V crush under the feet of the Ghanaians.

“How can you play 90+5 minutes without even attempting a goal on target, Eguavon doesn’t have the mental strength to play away games.”

Eguavoen, a former Nigeria international dodged the lenses of the media even from his won country upon arrival at the team’s hotel where he was said to have locked himself in his room all night.

Already there are calls for him to either resign or be sacked after failing

‘Siasia, Osaze rift dead, buried’ T

• Eguavon to hold on to a significant 3-1 advantage carried from the first leg but a firm decision would be taken when the team returns to Nigeria

PANAMA INVITATIONAL

HE Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has announced that the muchpublicised mis-understanding between Super Eagles’ head coach, Samson Siasia and one of his star players, Osaze Odemwingie has been laid to rest.

The frosty relationship between former World Cup star Siasia and ace winger Odemwingie was brought to the front pages of the international press in May, when the former announced that one of his key actors had walked out on cast and crew without stating his destination.

Osaze missed the top grade international friendly against Argentina in Abuja June 1, and was

also overlooked for the 2012 African Nations Cup qualifier away to Ethiopia on June 5.

But the NFF said on Monday that the mis-understanding is now history and the fleet-footed forward can look forward to a recall ahead of another top grade international friendly, against the Black Stars of Ghana in London next month.

“It’s now history; Siasia and Osaze have settled their little tiff and we are happy about that.

Nigeria can now call on her very best legs in subsequent games without any exception”, stated chairman of NFF Technical Committee, Barrister Chris Green.

A meeting initiated by NFF President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari took place in London some weeks ago and on Friday, Siasia, who scored a wonder goal for Nigeria against Argentina at the 1994 FIFA World Cup and then became the first Coach to lead Nigeria to beat Argentina at senior level, in a 4-1 friendly thrashing in Abuja last month, scored another important ‘goal’. He announced that he has forgiven the effervescent striker and that he should come back to the fold and sin no more.

“No problems again, we are now on the same page and things can move ahead in the best interest of Nigerian football. I like to say here that Osaze

is one player I like very much due to his enthusiasm and total commitment to the cause on-field. But, to reach higher heights as a great player and person, it is also important to observe rules and regulations and respect team-mates and other persons off-field.

“Everything is now under control and Osaze is back in the squad”, said Siasia.

The Super Eagles’ supremo, who has been on vacation in the United States of America, is expected back in Nigeria on Sunday to kick-start his programmes for the high-profile friendly against Ghana in London on August 9 and the crucial 2012 Nations Cup qualifier away to Madagascar on September 3.

Flying Eagles wallop Aberdeen 7-0 in friendly

N

IGERIA’S Flying Eagles stepped up their preparation for the Under-20 World Cup with a 7-0 bashing of Aberdeen U-19 Monday morning.

MVP of the 2009 Under-17 World Cup Sani Emmanuel banged a second half hat-trick.

“Aberdeen gave us a good match.

The first half was more tactical and technical, but late in the second half they tired out and this allowed us to score more goals,” remarked assistant coach, Samuel Abimbola.

The Aberdeen youngsters put a great resistance in the first 25 minutes thanks to some resolute defending and the heroics of their goalkeeper before Edafe Egbedi opened scoring.

Uche Nwofor made it 2-0 before the break.

In the second half, coach John Obuh made six changes and it seemed to pay off as a hungrier Flying Eagles blasted five more goals.

Besides Emmanuel’s treble after the break, Omo Ojabu, one of the stars from the Golden Eaglets Class of 2009, netted a brace.

The Nigeria youth team will slug it out with Portugal on Wednesday in Lisbon in continuation of their

Portugal replaces Argentina for F/ Eagles T

HE Flying Eagles will clash with Portugal twice within a week after the Portuguese replaced Argentina in a four-nation tournament in Panama starting Monday.

The Flying Eagles, who are the reigning African champions, will first clash with their Portuguese counterparts on Wednesday in Lisbon and a week later they will again trade tackles in a preWorld Cup tournament that also includes hosts Panama and Mexico.

Nigeria will open the round-robin tournament on Monday, July 18 against Panama and two days later

take on Portugal before they round off their campaign with a final game on Friday against Mexico.

The Flying Eagles’ opening game will kick-off 9pm local time, which will be 3am Nigeria time Tuesday as Panama are six hours behind Nigeria.

Panama, Portugal and Mexico will, like Nigeria, feature at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Colombia from July 29. They are therefore using this tournament to finalise their preparation for the competition.

Give us another chance — Suswan begs Nigerians

F

LYING Eagles defender Terna Suswan has pleaded for forgiveness from Nigeria following the Dream Team V failure to qualify for the All Africa Game slated for Maputo in September.

The Victoria Setubal of Portugal defender in a chat with NationSport admitted that him and his colleagues have let the country down with their woeful performance in 2-0 loss to Black Stars of Ghana on Sunday.

• Suswan

From Taofeek Babalola, who was in Kumasi, Ghana But the former Wikki Tourists of Bauchi ace said that the team did not have any excuse for the defeat rather than to accept it.

The 19-year old star, who is expected to join up with his Flying Eagles team-mates in Faro, Portugal where they are camping in preparation for the U-20 World Cup in Colombia: "I am not happy right now likewise my colleges too. I know that we have disappointed every body at home and I know that they are not happy with us now. right now we don't have any excuse to give to any Nigerians because we loss and we really disappointed our fans and supporters back home but we ask for forgiveness from them. It is like we offended them deeply. This game, we really needed it and we just gave it away. I can't tell what happened. So we just want Nigerians to forgive us and give us a second chance which we are not going to let them down," The former Lobi Stars of Markurdi ace, however, promised to put smile on the faces of Nigerians by pick the ticket for the 2012 London Olympics in the 8-nation tourney slated for December.

"Now we are out of the All African Game and all we have to do now is to concentrate and work hard for the Olympic qualifies. I heard that the the 8 nation tournament will come up in December which we are going to try our best to qualify. This defeat is very hard for me to accept. I wish we had won the match."

• Osaze Odemwingie, Insect Super Eagles’ coach Samson Siasia

build-up to the World Cup in Colombia.

They are drawn against Croatia, Saudi Arabia and Guatemala in the first round of Colombia 2011.

Starting XI vs Aberdeen – Kazeem Yekeen – Felix Odoh, Chimezie Mbah (Onazi Ogenyi), Kenneth Omeruo (Skipper), Gbenga Arokoyo – Philemon Daniel, Abduljaleel Ajagun, Egbedi Edafe, Terry Envoh – Uche Nwofor, Bright Ejike Second half selection – Kazeem Yekeen – Seyi Adeleke, Onazi Ogenyi (skipper), Jamiu Alimi, Gani Ogunbe – Philemon Daniel, Abduljaleel Ajagun, Egbedi Edafe, Sani Tahir – Sani Emmanuel, Omo Ojabu.

Nigerian footballers to compete for N5m in five-a-side tournament

N

IGERIAN footballers still have time to register and participate in the Gulder five a side tournament which is entering its final phase.

Matches in the popular event are being played in multiple locations across Nigeria. The best 14 teams will come to Lagos for the last round of matches which has prize money of N5m up for grabs for the overall winner.

Registration is free and all a team needs to participate is eight players and two managers. Cash prizes are also available for the second and third placed teams of N2m and N1m respectively.

Games in the tournament will be played in enclosed venues on AstroTurf approved by FIFA. Tournament sponsor, Nigerian Breweries PLC, will be kitting out the 14 teams who come to Lagos for the Gulder five a side finale.

We don't have a team yet—Green T

HE Chairman Technical Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Barrister Chris Green has attributed the Dream Team V failure to qualify for the 10 All Africa Game slated for Maputo, Mozambique to the coaching crew inability to assemble a regular squad during their campaign.

Ghana qualified for the September tournament at the expense of Nigeria after a 2-0 win over the Dream Team V in a second leg match played at the Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi on Sunday.

The two came from Emmanuel Adjegyang Badu in the 10th minute and Richard Mpong in the 70th minute to enable the Meteors to qualify on the away-goal-rule, having lost 1-3 in the first match played in Benin in a fortnight ago.

The national U-23 team coach Austin Eguavoen had used different players to prosecute matches on during their qualifiers, the development which Green believes scuttle the Nigeria chances.

"We've lost and we've lost and that is it. We are out and we are out. Today, despite the hostility we had chances but we didn't make use of it. what happened was that we didn't have a consistent team," Green told reporters after the game on Sunday "It is Ahmed Musa in the game

• Green

DREAM TEAM OUSTER

Agyeman-Badu dedicates goal to HANA Under-23 midfielder crocked Essien Emmanuel Agyemang-

G

Badu dedicated his classy opener in the 2-0 victory over Nigeria in the All Africa Games qualifiers to injured Chelsea star Michael Essien.

The Udinese midfielder rattled in the opener in the 11 minute from a

Samsunspor chases Ehiosun to Ghana I T appears Samsunspor, Turkey are attempting to snatch the Nigeria Olympic international Ekigho Ehiosun from Karabükspor,who were believed to be ahead of other suitors for the signature of the 22year-old talent.

Turkish sources say Samsunspor Assistant Coach Joe Demirhan travelled to Ghana to watch the Nigeria international in action. If the reports by Demirhan are favorable,

From Taofeek Babalola, who was in Kumasi, Ghana today, It will be Haruna Lukman tomorrow and another players in the next game. so we don't have a regular squad yet. I think this is really affected the team.

He said that the Federation will work hard to ensure that the team qualify for the 2012 London Olympic.

"We are out of this one and our focus now will be the 2012 Olympic qualifiers. We will try whatever we can to ensure that we qualify."

then, Samsunspor hope to accelerate the deal to bring Ehiosun to the Red and White.

According to indiscretions gathered by allnigeriasoccer.com, Karabükspor are favorites to land Ehiosun. There were initial problems trying to bring Ehiosun to the club, but that has been sorted out.

30 yard free kick for the Black Meteors as the team went ahead to eliminate arch-rivals Nigeria.

The 21-year-old says his trademark ferocious drive is a ‘get well’ message to Essien who damaged his anterior cruciate ligament on Thursday.

“I dedicate this goal to Michael Essien. It’s a get well message to Michael. When I heard the news, I was completely down but this is my token to tell him to remain strong at this difficult time,” Badu told GHANAsoccernet.com.

Early last month, AgyemangBadu scored another world class against Congo in a 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier and dedicated it to Essien who was then returning to the Ghana set-up after taking a year break.

Match-fixing scandal may halt Yobo's Fenerbache move

J

OSEPH Yobo's proposed move to Fenerbache has hit a major snag with the Turkish Champions becoming involved in a match fixing scandal.

The Blues and Fenerbache were in discussions over the price of the fee for Yobo, with the Blues wanting a pre agreed £6m, and Fenerbache only offering around £3m for Yobo.

All that has been put on the back burner now as Fenerbache along with Trabzonspor have been caught up in the match fixing scandal with club officials and some players being hauled in for interviews by the local fuzz.

If found guilty Fenerbache could be docked points, stripped of their title, kicked out of European competition and even relegated, which as you could see would be a major stumbling block in Joey's proposed move.

The fans were obviously slightly miffed by all of this and riots took place across Turkey last night.

For the Blues though, they will have to wait and see.

• Ehiosun

25

PROPERTY

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

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

* The Environment * Mortgage * Apartments * Security * Homes *Real Estate

email:- property@thenationonlineng.net

HALF-YEAR REPORT

Construction was virtually at a standstill in the last six months as electioneering took the centre stage, subsuming every other activity. Consequently, the sector failed to make any impact on the economy in the first-half of the year. Stakeholders are urging the authorities to redirect attention to the sector by reversing the trend, reports OKWY IROEGBU.

An industry in limbo

•Construction site •STORY ON PAGE 26

•LAWMA cautions roadside traders - PAGE 26

•Cross River to provide 7,500 housing units - PAGE 27

•Lekki residents protest abandoned shipwrecks - PAGE 28

26

THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

PROPERTY/ENVIRONMENT

LAWMA cautions roadside traders T

HE Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) has ad vised traders on Ketu, Alaba Rago and Ijora 7up roads on the need to maintain a filth-free environment.

In a statement from the authority and made available to The Nation, the traders were warned to revise the trend or face the wrath of the Law. The agency said this became necessary to discourage the indiscriminate practice of dumping refuse on the road median by traders. The statement revealed that its advocacy team regularly visits streets and markets daily to sensitise the public on proper waste disposal and management.

It charged the people to support the state government’s programme by patronising their waste managers to ensure that the desired clean and healthy environment is achieved.

While urging the traders to comply with the directive, it maintained that it would not hesitate to apply the State Environmental Laws on any recalcitrant market.

It also used the opportunity to implore residents in the State to desist from dumping refuse into the canals to avoid flooding, particularly during this period of the rains.

In a related development, LAWMA handed over another recycling centre to Gbagada Phase II Estate Residents Association.

Speaking at the handing over ceremony, the Managing Director, Ola Oresanya, said the essence of the centre is to encourage communities to be involved in cleaning of waste.

He said the handing over of the centre was informed by the fact that

•Delivers recycling plant to Gbagada Estate Phase 2

•From right: Oresanya and executives of Gbagada Phase 2 Estate.

By Okwy Iroegbu, Asst Editor

the residents of the estate have shown commitment towards a clean environment by engaging their

own street sweepers.

Oresanya disclosed that recycling is a key element in modern day waste management, adding that it is the transformation of used materials into new products. He ob-

served that the Private Sector Operator (PSP) assigned to the estate has been consistent in waste collection, stressing that recycling is the next stage LAWMA is focusing on.

The LAWMA boss explained that

‘The Managing Director, Ola Oresanya, said the essence of the centre is to encourage communities to be involved in cleaning of waste.

He said the handing over of the centre was informed by the fact that the residents of the estate have shown commitment towards a clean environment by engaging their own street sweepers’ the recycling centre has four compartments, with four different colours for easy identification. He said the blue colour is for paper, orange stands for can, while yellow and red are for glass plastics.

The resource centres are available at Muson Centre, Onikan, Tajudeen Olarewaju Estate, Sobo Arobiodu Street, Ikeja, Onipanu Bus Stop as well as Alaka Bus Stop, while plans are in top gear to create more, noting that the state plans to have 1,000 of such centres.

In his response, the President of the Estate, Justice S.O. Ilori (rtd), thanked the state government and LAWMA for the provision of the centre and promised the residents; support towards the maintenance of the resource centre, adding that the centre would become a reference point in the state for other centres.

An industry in limbo •Continued from page 25

A

RGUABLY, the construction sector is the largest em ployer of labour. However, because of the recent past electioneering, campaigns away from governance, the sector, since the beginning of the year, has suffered severe setback, resulting in the loss of over 100,000 employees.

Sadly enough, more are likely to suffer the same fate, as construction firms allege non-payment by governments on completed projects.

In the real estate sector, the government toyed with the idea of Public-Private Partnership and alternative housing models in housing construction, but none of these have brought in the cheery news, as the nation still groans under the yoke of over 16 million housing deficit.

The building materials market has also not fared any better. It is largely flooded with fake and substandard iron rods, roofing materials, toilet closets, keys and electrical fittings.

In addition, the astronomical increase in price of cement, until the President’s recent order for manufacturers to slash prices, had been a sore point in the construction sector.

The period also witnessed incessant building failures in major cities of Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt, which some analysts attributed to poor quality of workmanship and materials.

In a chat with The Nation, past chairman of the Nigeria Institute of Building (NIOB), Lagos chapter, Kunle Awobodu, described the period as a full of hype as the demand for cement increased, resulting in extreme high price unprecedented in the history of the construction industry.

He said: “The period in review was a transition one where lots of jobs were rushed to meet up with the deadline of transition from one

government to the other to meet payment schedule at all cost. It was also filled with uncertainty with investors fearing possible upset in the polity which affected their investment decisions.”

He said with the polity gradually settling down, players in the sector are hoping that there will be a flurry of activities that would bounce the sector back on the upward movement side.

Awobodu also said reorganisation and multiple policy in the banking sector in the review period, impacted negatively on construction projects, because as many projects as were stated, were abandoned due to lack of funding.

He said: “The few projects funded by the banks were discontinued.

This is exemplified by the stoppage a five-star hotel at the domestic airport, Ikeja and other housing projects in Opebi, Lagos and other parts of the country. ‘’Another characteristic of the period, is that banks were demanding solid collateral in the form of existing properties or buildings as they disregarded share certificates as collaterals due to the bearish nature of the capital market.”

In his contribution, Lagos Chairman, Nigeria Society of Engineers, Olatunde Jaiyesimi, regretted that there has been no improvement on the economy in the last six months, especially in the construction sector, adding that a lot of resources went into the electioneering campaign to the detriment of the sector. “ Before now activities in the sector were skewed in favour of foreign firms to the detriment of indigenous engineering firms. We are only hoping that now that the elections are over, the government will sit down and take a second look at the construction sector as it holds much hope for the nation.”

Jaiyesimi stressed that there

•Luxury flats at Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos.

would be no reason to entertain failure again as most of the ministers are going back to their former turf and hoped that the sector will kickstart the job creation agenda of government.

Commenting on the half-year performance of the sector, a surveyor, Osita Okoli, said it may be incorrect to allege the housing sector didn’t perform optimally, as in his opinion, the sector has a long

gestation period.

He said the ex-Housing & Urban Development Minister, Nduese Essien, had planned to achieve a robust housing sector for the nation.

“The ex-minister had a vision. He worked hard for his dreams to materialise, but the time was short.

Housing is not a cash and carry business as policies in the sector take time to materialise.” Government should work on the total abroga-

‘The ex-minister had a vision. He worked hard for his dreams to materialise, but the time was short.

Housing is not a cash and carry business as policies in the sector take time to materialise’

tion of the Land Use Act and revert to the land tenure system where land owners and communities have a stake in what their land is used for. Until this is done and consistency in policy is achieved, the sector may not experience much growth, he said.

Secretary-General, Association of Town Planning Consultants of Nigeria (ATOPCON), Ayo Adejumo, also confirmed that nothing substantial has happened in the sector due to the high cement price experienced between March and June this year.

He said he is, however, expecting that some abandoned projects, such as personal houses, estates and shopping malls would be jumpstarted in this second half.

THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

27

PROPERTY/ENVIRONMENT

NEMA to fashion new evacuation plan T

O review its evacuation op eration frame work, the Na tional Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has begun the formulation of a standard contingency plan.

The Director-General, NEMA, Alhaji Mohammed Sani Sidi, who was represented by the Director, Training and Simulation, Mrs Clementine Aisuene, disclosed this in Abuja during while reviewing the recent evacuation operation.

He said: “It will be recalled that between February and April 2011, stakeholders in Emergency Management were involved in

From Franca Ochigbo, Abuja

the evacuation of Nigerians from crisis-torn countries.

“As you are all aware, the recent socio-political crisis in the Middle East and some African countries, particularly Egypt, Tunisia, Cote ‘D’ Ivoire and Libya, which posed tremendous challenges to our citizens, informed the need for their immediate evacuation from the crisis areas.

“As it is, the agency has begun the process of formulating a standard contingency plan or framework for all evacuation

operations.

“NEMA in its mandate is very much committed to building capacities of stakeholders in disaster management through sensitisation, training, simulation exercise and provision to improve and check the level of readiness and provision of equipment to improve and check the level of readiness of agencies.

“The aforementioned would ensure that emergencies are handled in line with International best practices with a view to placing the country on an enviable height in Emergency

Management and Disaster Risk Reduction.

“It is pertinent to note that the Presidential Directives for the immediate evacuation of Nigerians from these countries would go a long way to reaffirming the Federal Government’s commitment to the welfare of its citizens.

“NEMA in collaboration with stakeholders in Emergency Management carried out the evacuation exercises.

“To this end, I wish to put on record the formidable support received from the Defence Headquarters, Office of the National

Security Adviser, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the National Intelligence Agency.

“The State Security Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Prisons Service, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and several volunteers whose cooperation and commitment throughout the evacuation ensured its overall success,” he said.

He urged stakeholders to extend the same spirit of co-operation (espirit d’ corps) towards NEMA in similar future national assignments.

Govt urged to create industrial parks

T

HE government has been advised to create new indus trial parks to relieve city centres of homeless people.

A surveyor, Mr Emmanuel Efuntayo, told The Nation that the Lagos State government should as a matter of urgency invest in infrastructure development of border towns where excess population from the city centre would be absorbed to free the centre and achieve its planned megacity status.

Efuntayo said that the government is planning to concentrate recreational facilities in a particular part of the city while depriving others of such amenities to make people to flock daily to the centre.

He said this causes problems such as traffic and transportation issues including waste management.

He said: “In the United Kingdom and other developed economies, housing is used as an indice to measure growth in the economy as every arm of government is involved.

“The local government, for

Stories by Okwy Iroegbu, Asst Editor

instance, builds, rents or sells houses to the poor at discounted price. In that light even the very poor are given opportunity to own houses of their own.

Unfortunately, our local governments don’t have the capacity to embark on such noble ventures that add up to the economy.”

He criticised what he called odious planning approval requirement in the state which has inhibited mass housing production by developers and advised the government to liberalise the requirements.

He regretted that the government is not doing enough in terms of mass housing that will accommodate the urban poor, but is more interested in building for the rich.

The surveyor urged the government to work at getting the rail system on tract. According to him, when rail transportation is revitalised, people can live and commute from the satellite towns with ease and would not miss anything by not living in the city centre

Nigerite holds training

T

O promote professionalism in roofing installation in the construction industry, Nigerite Limited has organised an in-depth training for building professionals.

The training, which was anchored by Nigerite’s Technical Sales Manager (North), Mr Danladi Mwantok, and held at the company’s head office in Lagos, was attended by architects, engineers, builders, developers and quantity surveyors.

Mwantok said that it is pertinent to train and retrain people, stressing the need to update knowledge.

He observed that frequent trainings will reawaken professionals on what they have ignored in their profession, especially when it comes to roofing installation in building construction.

Such trainings will help them to provide serviceable and functionary roofing that will satisfy clients, assuage their conscience and justify the money paid for the roofing project, he said.

Commenting on the gesture by Nigerite Limited, Mr Anthony Ogundiran of CIV-Datum Limited, said Nigerite Limited has done well by organising the training.

He said there are some common norms in the profession that were neglected in the past, adding that training such as this would afford builders the opportunity of practising according to the regulations

of the industry.

“This kind of training has definitely exposed us to some general practice of the profession, which we do not really pay attention to over time and which might have some defects on our profession, but Nigerite has made it possible for us to see that those defects can be corrected with the help of training.”

Also speaking, Mr Adebowale Ayegbusi of Dervent Ventures Limited, said the training is a welcome development in the construction industry as it has helped participants the opportunity to get to know some aspects of roofing that were being neglected.

He said: “As far as I am concerned, this training is an eyeopener for me. It is a welcome development. There are some aspects in the practice of the profession that we do neglect, but today, I have learnt a lot from this training.”

Similarly, Mr Tobi Balogun, Head Business Development, Hectors Projects Limited, commended Nigerite for updating professionals in the construction industry by organising series of training.

“Training like this will put professionals in a right perspective of mind and it will also increase their productivity. It will make them to do the right thing at the right time.

It will allow them to achieve the best result at all times,” he said.

•2nd left: Mr Bello and other top officials during his resumption.

Commissioner promises continuity

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HE Commissioner for the Environment, Tunji Bello, has pledged speedy completion of all projects commenced by his predecessor, saying the state has zero tolerance for abandoned projects.

He spoke after his resumption in his office in Lagos.

He stressed that all on-going projects in the area of beautification, drainage, waste management and others under the purview of the ministry will be completed before new ones are embarked upon.

Bello commended the Governor,.

Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) and the immediate past commissioner, Dr. Muiz Banire, for the height they

have taken the environment in the last four years.

He said the Governor invested heavily in the environment culminating in construction of world class drainage channels, which have helped tremendously in flood management.

The beautification of Lagos, he noted, has added aesthetics and socio – economic value to the Centre of Excellence, adding that a lot has been achieved in waste management.

Bello recalled that the journey to environmental regeneration started about 12 years ago with the Administration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, which battled cleared of

refuse that dotted the landscape of the city.

The foundation that was laid during his tenure as commissioner for the Environment, he noted, was built upon by Dr. Muiz Banire, but added that what has happened so far is just a tip of the iceberg as the vision of the administration for Lagos is far from where it is.

He promised to invest in monitoring and inspection of the environment, to ensure that all the agencies of the ministry work together as a team, improve on the capacity of the work force and invest in their work environment because it affects ones psyche and delivery ability.

Cross River to provide 7,500 housing units

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N its commitment to provid ing an affordable housing for citizens under the Public-Private Partnership, the Cross River State Government says it intends to provide 7,500 units of houses to her citizens before the end of 2011 Mrs. Roseline Achonwa, Special Adviser to the Governor on Mortgage Finance and Estate Development, who stated this at a briefing in Calabar, said: “What we have set as target for ourselves is to promote and facilitate at least 7,500 housing units before the end 2011.”

Mrs. Achonwa said this is in fulfillment of the governor’s campaign promises of providing affordable housing for the people of the state and added that the gov-

From Kunle Johnson, Calabar

ernment will also provide access to mortgage financing to enable the people qualified to own the houses when completed.

She said: “Construction has already begun in the Akpabuyo Housing Estate and that the work is in phases with the first phase ready to be completed before soon.

She disclosed that the state entered into partnership agreement with the Aso Saving and Loans Ltd toward the end of 2010.

“They are the financiers of the project through their subsidiary ‘the Aso Investment and Development Ltd. The housing estate has 610 housing units with 136 1-bedroom

units, 67 2-bedroom units, 96 semidetached three-bedroom units and 65 three-bedroom detached units.”

“There is also provision for recreational and essential facilities such as fire service, shopping complex, roads and water among others in the estate, ‘’ she said.

She further disclosed that a N600 million contract has been signed for the provision of roads and drainages in the estate.

“Also, N85.5 million has been for setaside for electrification; N25.4 million for water; and compensation to the communities is N151 million,” she added.

She, however, appealed to the communities to allow the contractor carryout their jobs in the interest of the development of the state.

FIABCI-Nigeria to hold seminar on property tax

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HE International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI), Nigerian chapter, will hold a one-day seminar on “Property Taxation in Nigeria”

at the Golden Gate Restaurant, Ikoyi, Lagos tomorrow.

The event will be chaired by the President of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, Mr John Jegede while

speakers will include Chairmen of Federal Inland Revenue and Lagos State Internal Revenue in addition to an Estate Surveyor & Valuer, Mr Chudi Ubosi.

THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

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PROPERTY/ENVIRONMENT

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LAGOS-based firm of prop erty developers, Messrs.

Propertymart Real Estate Investment Limited, has adopted an innovative strategy in marketing “City Park Estate 1,” one of the organisation’s latest housing schemes.

Located at Ofada in Mowe within the Papalanto axis in Ogun State, the estate entails a dual approach involving the allocation of plots to subscribers prior to payment on one hand, and followed by an outright purchase (payment) of the product on the other.

A plot of 500 square metre (sqm)size land is going for a promo price of N689,999 and, according to Propertymart officials, the allocation of plots is effected 24 hours after confirmation of the payment.

The price-tag will, however, revert to N999,999 upon the expiration of the offer.

Marketing Manager at Propertymart, Arosanyin Olaolu, shed some light on what informed the policy. He said: “It has been a norm recently where people pay for landed property, but have to wait for a long period of time before getting allocation. Some even go as far as involving the law to settle disputes for delays or being defrauded. As a result of this incident, a lot of individuals are sceptical when it comes to investing in landed property.

“It can be so worrisome when one pays for a landed property and have to wait endlessly to take physical possession. At Propertymart, our word is our bond. We are sensitive to the needs of our clients and that is why we are offering you your plot before payment.”

Manager, Sales & Customer Service, Banke Ogunkoya, said that work had already commenced on infrastructure works in the estate, adding that the scheme would be “100 per cent ready in 24 months.”

According to her, subscribers are expected to fully mobilise to site and commence the development of their site “within six months or lose out.” She countered rumours making the rounds that the authorities

Developer offers pre-payment option at City Park Estate

•Executives of PW and Propertymar at the signing of the construction agreement on the project.

Stories by Okwy Iroegbu, Asst Editor

might take over the fast-developing area.

She said: “The state government is not acquiring the Mowe-Ofada axis. Even then, those that have duly perfected their title document have no cause to worry. MoweOfada will develop as other places have. People should remain focused and positive. We (Propertymart) are credible, and we have kept every promise we have made in the past.”

Olaolu emphasised that facilities such as perimeter fencing, road network, drainage, green belt, street lighting, electricity and recreation

centres would be made available in the estate, and that group allotment is permissible in the case of registered co-operative societies or companies.

He added, however, that recent developments have informed the commencement of the second phase of the estate, christened “City Park Estate 2” where, quite to the contrary, payments can be made by subscribers by instalments.

“At a disposal price of N720,000, a monthly payment of N20,000 can be made within 36 months,” Olaolu disclosed, adding that a beneficiary can commence work on his/her property even while paying, “as long as we have an evidence of abil-

ity and capacity to complete the construction.”

He added that subscribers in both estates are enjoined to pay the development fee, which can also be made in instalment.

Subscribers are encouraged to commence development on their plots before conclusion of payment of the development fee, Olaolu stated, adding that other payable fees include those for survey and legal documentation.

He said: “Subscribers are expected to commence appreciable development of their properties within six months of receiving their Letters of Allocation, failing which they stand the risk of having their plots real-

‘Subscribers are expected to commence appreciable development of their properties within six months of receiving their Letters of Allocation, failing which they stand the risk of having their plots reallocated to other subscribers who are ready to develop while the delaying subscriber will be allocated another plot within the estate’ located to other subscribers who are ready to develop while the delaying subscriber will be allocated another plot within the estate.”

The City Park Estates 1 and 2 are coming as the fifth and sixth projects undertaken by Propertymart, which had previously commissioned estates such as Palms Gardens, Mowe-Ofada; Mainland Gardens, Mowe-Ofada; Palms Gardens, Abuja; and CitiView, Arepo. While City Park 1 is just opposite Mainland Gardens, City Park 2 is located close to Palms Gardens, all at Mowe-Ofada in Ogun State.

All the estates have made remarkable progress in terms of infrastructure development, such as roads, drainage channels as well as powerline cabling. Prototype houses have also been built to showcase the house types earmarked for the schemes.

Lekki residents protest abandoned shipwrecks

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ESIDENTS of upscale Alfa and Lekki Beaches in La gos have renewed calls on the Federal and Lagos State governments to come to their rescue by removing the abandoned shipwrecks which have been threatening their community for some time .

The resident at a protest rally held around the beaches blamed the shipwrecks for the erosion of about 100 metres of the beach area within the last one year.

The residents carried placards with inscriptions such as “Mr President save our children” Lekki, going, going, gone”; “NIMASA, do your job, “Disasters loom in Lekki”, among others.

The traditional ruler (Baale) of Alfa Beach, Yusuf Atewolara, appealed to the governments to expedite action on the removal of the shipwrecks, as they obstruct the receding of ocean surge.

According to him, the beaches started to experience erosion and

degradation since these shipwrecks were dumped on the coast. “Their presence is directing ocean surge towards us and our properties. We are, therefore, appealing to the governments and its relevant agencies especially NIMASA to save us from impending disaster even as our communities where we have been living for more than 100 years are going on extinction.”

Chairman of the Alfa Beach Residents Association, Sylvester Obuta, noted that property worth millions of naira had already been lost to the fast encroaching sea, and urged the Lagos State Government to deploy better resources for the removal of the wrecks, instead of the current piecemeal removal.

He said further that the government and its agencies needed to act fast to forestall emergencies likely to be associated with the surge.

An environmental activist, Desmond Majekodunmi, de-

‘The way things are going, coupled with the expected heavy rain this year, if urgent steps are not taken, so many lives and property would be lost in the event of serious surge, as the encroachment is becoming too much’

•Lekki/Alpha Beach residents demonstrating last week.

scribed the situation as an impending calamity, which, if not urgently checked would wipe out the entire beaches and the whole coastal communities of Lekki and Alfa Beaches.

The way things are going, coupled with the expected heavy rain this year, if urgent steps are not taken, so many lives and property would be lost in the event of serious surge, as the encroachment is becoming too much.

“We at the Nigerian Conservation Foundation raised the alarm

on the implication of these shipwrecks. The issue is that, erosion occurs as a result of the wrecks, the erosion will go to the housing estates and it will destroy properties.

“If the wrecks are left for long time, it will sink, get corroded and add more metal to the ocean.

And more importantly, if the sea break into the ocean as this is gradually coming, it will be a monumental disaster because it will involve lives,” he added.

Majekodunmi added that with the rapid rate of the erosion

PHOTO: OKWY IROEGBU

caused by shipwrecks in Lekki coastline, what is still just a serious hazard, could easily transform into a major disaster, with an attendant huge economic and social loss.

“We, therefore, call on the relevant authorities to remove the Lekki shipwrecks and other shipwrecks littering our coast without any further delay, as they take the issue of coastal management more seriously in the face of rising global temperatures and the attendant sea level rise in future,”he said.

THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

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PROPERTY/ENVIRONMENT FIDIC chief highlights engineers ‘roles in projects

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•Onigbanjo and Shoemaker at the site ... last week.

PHOTO: OKWY IROEGBU

IHL Properties develops estate

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NEW moderately priced housing estate is being de veloped at Iyana Oba, a fast developing community in Lagos by IHL Properties, a real estate development subsidiary firm of Ibile Holdings Limited, an agency of the Lagos State Government.

The Managing Director of the company, Mr Adeyinka Onigbanjo, said the Iyana Oba Estate would have 416 flats of two and three bedrooms.

There are eight blocks rising to four floors; ground plus three up.

Homes in the estate would be sold for about N15 million. “For everything that we do, we want to put a stamp of quality.

“We want to change people’s psyche about accommodation. Right now, the psyche about accommodation to have a roof over my head, but now not only a roof, but a roof that you will always be happy to come back to.

“We have done a lot of investigations. We have gone to FESTAC and have seen how the place became a rundown. We have gone to Iyana Oba and have seen how it has evolved. We have gone to other areas like Satellite Town and we have resolved to create a kind of estate that its residents would be proud of.”

Onigbanjo said to make the estate decent, about 40 per cent of the area has been devoted to greenery.

“Some of us who have even lived in government quarters knew how we used to ride bicycles round the estate without fear of being run over by motorists.

Our parents knew that as long as we are within the estate, we are safe.

By Okwy Iroegbu, Asst Editor

We knew all the streets and that is the kind of estate that we are creating now. It is such that the issue of generators on the balcony (people have generators on all floors in some estates) we will allow individual generators because of the size except if we have Independent Power Project (IPP). That is when we can say no personal generators.”

Their people are looking at the laws relating to power generation and distribution, because they have a Chinese company ready to embark on the project that the estate could use and then the surplus would be sold to neighbours to recoup part of their investment.

The estate, he said, would have designated points for shops unlike in some estates where kiosks are built as attachment to some flats.

“All of those things will be regulated and restricted to commercial areas.

“We want to create a situation where people can take short walks of 10 to 15 minutes to the next convenience shop to buy whatever they want. We have become so captive in this country that people drive their cars to the point of their destinations otherwise they are nobody.

“We want to encourage people to take walks. We don’t have to register in gyms to make us healthy.

There will be ample recreation facilities for children and adults.

“There would be a mini-football pitch and basket ball court, but no swimming pool. The theme, he said is bonding of families and this is incorporated in the design and even

in the colour code. “Let people start to relate among themselves as brothers and sisters,” he added.

IHL Properties, he said, has a long, term objective of being a leader in mass housing and that if this technology is suited for repetitive work, then it means that it would give us better advantage in mass housing. “Our main focus is mass housing. We want to make a big statement on decent and affordable housing.

“The technology is suitable for the Lekki terrain because the issue of differential settlement will not come into play,” he said.

IHL Properties would use the tested wall ties and form technology of the United States it employed in rendering its Platinum Rows Housing Project at the Lekki axis.

Wall-Ties & Forms (WTF) Inc., is the world's largest aluminum forms manufacturer and supplier as well as the premier designer of aluminum concrete forming systems and concrete formwork accessories. Over 34 years ago, as a new business, WTF manufactured wall ties-thousands of them.

The company produces and ships over 30 million ties a year and over 200,000 aluminum concrete forms to 45 countries..

The technology is based on engineering excellence, custom design, quality, service, labour saving formwork products and leading edge technology innovations, which the company’s official said tie together to form the foundation of WTF's solid relationship with their customers that saves them money, time, and reduces wasted effort.

NGINEERING contractors, who undertake international jobs, have been taught how to execute the globally acceptable contract document known as the FIDIC Contract, designed by the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC).

The FIDIC Contract defines the authority of engineers and states clearly what their responsibilities are on a project. It shows how to manage a contract so that there would not be disputes.

There are contract clauses that are revised, modified to fit special conditions specified by the owner of the contract, but that the conditions of FIDIC Contract remain.

The President of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC), Mr Gregs Thomopulos, an American engineer, stated this during a visit to Nigeria, last week.

Thomopulos, who declared open a workshop on FIDIC Condition of Contracts and Workshop on Professional Indemnity/ACEN Emergency General Meeting/new members’ day, organised by the Association of Consulting Engineers of Nigeria (ACEN), said the workshop was designed to give participants the clue to solving challenges that come up in the life of a project.

“It resolves issues such as; if this problem comes up, how will it be resolved? What is the true meaning of this clause in the contract? Over the years, these issues have been given complete interpretation and that is why it is beneficial to have training.”

FIDIC Contract, he said, is important in projects to ensure that disputes are properly resolved. “If a contractor asks for more money because he claims he was delayed by the client and needs variation, they will have to revert to the engineer who is equipped to take a decision on that. It is very beneficial for dispute resolution, payment clauses, acceptance of the project, insurance provisions, liability provisions and everything else is covered in FIDIC Contract,” he said.

FIDIC organises and supports various programmes that target specific aspects of capacity development. Accredited trainers enabling programme trains FIDIC national member association experts in delivering and co-ordinating FIDIC International Training Programme (ITP) events in their own countries and in being available to train for the ITP elsewhere. Several FIDIC member associations like ACEN provide continuing de-

By Okwy Iroegbu, Asst Editor

velopment and training for staff of their member firms. In some cases, FIDIC provides a part of the programme as part of its International Training Programme in the form of one- and two-day courses, workshops or seminars covering a ‘FIDIC Contracts Training Manual or FIDIC Guide to Practice Training Manual module’.

President of ACEN, Mr Ibikunle S. Ogunbayo, who was accompanied by the Vice President, Mr N. Rafindadi and a past president, Mrs. Mayen Adetiba, all reputable consulting engineers, said the FIDIC Contract has been accepted globally by United Nations agencies and by many governments, explaining that the workshop was important for FIDIC Contract users to have a better understanding of the document.

“It is a pride to have standardised document to be used in the construction industry so that people will understand their obligation and know what they are contracted to do and they know the rules that govern what they are doing,” he added.

He said many ongoing civil works are managed through FIDIC Contract, adding that it is important for those who design, build, own and manage contracts because they needed to know what they are doing. “The people who came are giving glowing remarks about what they gained and the facilitator was accredited

by FIDIC as an expert,” he added.

Mrs. Adetiba said when she first encountered the FIDIC Contract “it was not quiet clear event though I have practised for about 40 years. Nigeria is moving more towards the use of FIDIC Contract and ACEN will run this workshop always to get our members to adapt and it is not just for our members, but also for all professionals in the built environment, including the client because if we all understand the FIDIC Contract then there will be less friction.”

The International Federation of Consulting Engineers promotes the business interest of firms supplying technology-based intellectual services for the built and natural environment. FIDIC activities are carried out by committees and task forces appointed by the executive committee and mainly composed of volunteers.

‘It is a pride to have standardised document to be used in the construction industry so that people will understand their obligation and know what they are contracted to do and they know the rules that govern what they are doing’

NGOs take Climate Change advocacy to the grassroots

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GROUP of Non-Govern mental Organisations has taken the climate change advocacy to the grassroots to ensure its demystification.

Under the banner of Policy Advocacy Partnership Project on Climate Change in Lagos, they organised a one-day training for trainers on Climate Change in Ajeromi/Ifelodun Local Government last week .

This, the organisers said, is to let them know how their actions could impact negatively on the

environment, thus heightening the negative effects of Climate Change.

In his comment, the Community Development Chairman (CDC) of Oriade LCDA, Chief Adisa Olaewe, said as a leader, he would go back and advise his people on how the dumping of refuse in drainages and channels, can aggravate the challenge of climate change.

He said: “ Our eyes have been opened to what the issues are really, before when they talk about

climate change, it sounded too far-fetched, but now we have realised that in one way or the other, we contribute to its occurrence and it behoves on us to change our attitudes to mitigate its effect.”

For Mrs Sherifat Obe, a community leader in Satellite Town, her group would serve as change agents to persuade people to live responsibly on issues concerning the environment to mitigate the effects of climate change.

She said: “People build on

drainage channels and road setbacks, but the government seems helpless in prosecuting them to serve as deterrent to others because they cause havoc to the environment. ‘’In Satellite Town, we are forced to patronise cart pushers because we are not serviced by LAWMA or her contractors. In that case it is difficult to ask people to dispose of their waste or even relate their attitudes to issues relating to consequences of climate change.”

The Executive Director, 21st Century Issues, Titilope Akosa, said the training is a step towards demystifying climate change to the man on the street and to train them on adaptation and mitigation actions to check it effects on their lives.

She said the people would be organised in groups to come up with the evidence that can be used by the government and policy makers to form climate change policy.

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TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

E-mail:- law@thenationonlineng.net

Will Agbakoba’s Bill sail through?

•Lawyers back ex-NBA leader on Constitution review, power devolution

•Mr Agbakoba

The call for the restructuring of the country to achieve true federalism where constituent units of the federation will be autonomous is unabating. Former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) has sent to the National Assembly a Bill for, among others, devolution of powers from the federal to state governments. Some lawyers have endorsed his move. JOHN AUSTIN UNACHUKWU and ERIC IKHILAE examine the Bill and its benefits.

•STORY ON PAGE 31

‘ABRITRATION WILL AID BUSINESS GROWTH’ - P.33

THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

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LAW COVER CONT’D

Will Agbakoba’s bill sail through?

S INCE independence, some Nigerians have disagreed on the system of government that best suit the country and accommodate its inherent peculiarities and contradictions.

For example, in 1960, the country experimented with a federal system, which allowed a certain level of autonomy for the regions. Between 1960 and 1966, before the military’s intervention in power, constitutions gave a larger percentage of the nation’s revenue to the federating units.

This system, which provided a foundation for the economic and social development recorded in the early post-independence years, was subjected to incessant alteration by succeeding military administrations. The result: A warped system that many have ingeniously described as quasi-federalism or better still, a contraption.

The general dissatisfaction generated by this phony federal system of government occasioned the call for a wholesale modification of the nation’s structure and system of government, with many suggesting different approaches.

While some suggested the renegotiation of what they called the terms of engagement by all stakeholders through a Sovereign National Conference (SAN), others have proposed other options. One of these proposals is that by former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President, Mr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN).

Agbakoba is sponsoring a Bill at the National Assembly seeking the devolution of powers and functions from the Federal Government to the states. He has suggested 25 modifications, which he said would to an extent, allow balance in responsibilities and powers among the Federal and state governments.

The Bill seeks, among others, a reduction in federal powers in respect of items in the exclusive legislative list that seem more relevant to the states than the Federal Government and items necessary to achieve technical efficiency at the state level.

It is entitled: “An act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 by creation of the State Court of Appeal, introduction of state legislative list and adjustments/modifications of legislative powers of government between the Federal and State Governments.”

It also seeks constitutional recognition of the six geo-political zones of the country. It recommended that powers relating to natural and mineral resources, excluding petroleum and gas, agriculture, Micro Finance Banks, municipal police, state appeal courts and solemnisation of marriages, be devolved to states.

Also suggested are issues relating to incorporation of business enterprises with state objects, taxes on income and profits within the state other than income and profits of companies, regulation of labour and industrial relations at state level including prescription of minimum wage for the state and evidence.

The Bill suggested the insertion of Sub-sections 7 and 8 to Section 3 of the Constitution, insertion of new sub-headings and Sections 270 (1) to (15) and Section 270A, insertion of Part 1B to the First Schedule to the Constitution, the substitution of item 8 on Part II of the Second Schedule to the Constitution and the modification of the arrangement of the Second Schedule to the Constitution.

It also suggested the alteration of Sections 4(2), 147, 233, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 248 and the sub headings of section 275(1) and 280(1) of the Constitution. It further suggested the alteration of Part I and item 7 on Part II of the Second Schedule to the Constitution.

Agbakoba said the Bill was informed by his belief that most of the 36 states are financially unviable and that a way out is to devolve and allocate more duties to states rather than just more federally distributed funds that make states corrupt and unaccountable.

He contended that if governors are empowered by more responsibility under the Constitution, they would be more accountable. He observed that the current 36 states and 774 local governments structure is too weak to support any claim for true federalism and impoverished to undertake any meaningful development.

Agbakoba argued that the high cost of governance in Nigeria is attributable to a poor federal structure. He said the recognition of the six geo-political zones in the proposed Constitution amendments will bring down cost of governance.

The former NBA chair observed that in 1961, the Western Region had about 12 ministers. He added that today, the same region now has eight states (Oyo, Ondo, Osun, Ogun, Ekiti, Lagos,

Edo, Delta), with about 30 commissioners and special advisers in each state; totaling 240.

Agbakoba observed that despite the increase in the number of personnel and splitting of the region, the quality of life in the old Western Region was far better than today. Agbakoba said the “power pyramid at the centre” should be devolved downward “to the base (i.e. the states).”

He urged the Seventh National Assembly ‘to hit the ground running’ by amending the Constitution to reflect the principles of true federalism, arguing that a streamlined Federal Government, with limited functions, is the best option for ensuring the nation’s development.

For instance, he suggested that Section 3 should now include two additional sub-sections to read: •There shall be 6 Geo-Political Zones in Nigeria, namely: North-East, North-West, North-Central, South-East, South-West and South-South.

•Each Geo-Political Zone of Nigeria named in the First Column of Part 1B of the first schedule to this Constitution shall consist of the area within the states or Federal Capital Territory Abuja shown opposite thereto in the second column of the schedule.

Agbakoba wants Part 1 of the Second Schedule altered by substitution of Exclusive Legislative List with Federal Legislative List and removal of items 5, 23, 33, 45, 59 and 61 from it.

These include bankruptcy and insolvency, evidence, insurance, Police and other government security services established by law; taxation of incomes, profits and capital gains, except as otherwise prescribed by this Constitution and the formation, annulment and dissolution of marriages other than marriages under Islamic law and Customary law including matrimonial causes relating thereto.

He suggested the modification of items 6, 34, 39 and 48 to read: Banks, banking, bills of exchange and promissory notes, excluding banks at state level and micro-finance banks; meteorology, passports and visas and public holidays.

Agbakoba also suggested alteration of item 7 on Part II of the Second Schedule to the Constitution to read: In the exercise of its powers to impose any tax or duty on -(a) capital gains, incomes or profits or persons other than companies; and(b) documents or transactions by way of stamp duties; the House of Assembly of a State may, subject to such conditions as it may prescribe, provide that the collection of any such tax or duty or the administration of the law imposing it shall be carried out by any other authority of the State.

Agbakoba’s option aimed at correcting the existing imbalance in the sharing of powers and responsibilities among the tiers of government has attracted varied views.

The Chairman, Governing Council, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Nigeria, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), commended him for his effort.

Chief Babalola said Agbakoba’s Bill reflects his (Babalola’s) position on the need to restructure the country. He suggested a return to the parliamentary system of government with a unicameral Legislature and a reduction in the number of people in government.

“We are ad idem,we are of the same mind. I do not believe that that we have what is called a federation. What we have now is quasi unitary system where the federating units or state are nothing but puppets or merely organs for the payment of salaries witout enough money for further development.

“The 1960 and 1963 constitutions gave only 15 per cent of our revenue to the Federal Government, but the military has now turned around and gave 55 per cent to the Federal Government, making the 36 states and 774 local Governments Areas to share the remaining 45 per cent.

“That is why they are so poor. That is why most of them can not afford to pay the ordinary N18.000 minimum wage which is too small as far as I am concerned, as minimum wage in this country.

‘The 1960 and 1963 constitutions gave only 15 per cent of our revenue to the Federal Government, but the military has now turned around and gave 55 per cent to the Federal Government, making the 36 states and 774 local Governments Areas to share the remaining 45 per cent’ •Senate President David Mark

“So, the earlier we sit down and constitute a Soveriegn National Conference (SNC), where we can now again, decide our future, including the expensive presidential government, which we have, whereby we will now have a smaller legislature and do away with a bicameral legislature.

“Why do we need the House of Representatives, the Senate and all those large number?

We do not need that. Many things need to be done so that those who go to the House, will do what they did from 1953 to 1960 where members of the Legislature were only taking sitting allowance.

“Then, government became less expensive and we had mony for development. Now, politics is the most lucrative business in Nigeria and it is the Constitution that made it so,” he said.

Another lawyer, Dr Andrew Ogbonnaya, welcomed the Bill but faulted its exclusion of oil and gas from the devolution process. He observed that the wealth of the Niger Delta has been confiscated by the centre for sharing as national cake in flagrant violation of treaty obligations and international protocols.

He urged the National Assembly to go beyond what Agbakoba suggested and be courageous to propose a phased devolution process that includes oil and gas, which expropriation is driving this nation mad with greed, with unimaginable consequences.

Ogbonnaya said the proposed amendment will help to correct the lopsidedness in the constitution, thus making it more functional.

“If you want to change the way the system works the best route is through the legislature, that is the civilized way, not through bloodletting,” he said and urged other lawyers and influential Nigerians support the idea.

However, while thinking of creative ways to devolve power to make states more viable we should also reflect on what states have done with the powers already devolved to them.

While I agree with Mr Agbakoba that Nigeria needs restructuring, I disagree with the suggested scope which will not solve the current obvious problems especially of reducing the cost of running the government Apart from giving more autonomy to the states

‘We are ad idem,we are of the same mind. I do not believe that that we have what is called a federation.

What we have now is quasi unitary system where the federating units or state are nothing but puppets or merely organs for the payment of salaries witout enough money for further development’

as it was before the northern army boys changed the structure from what it was during Ahmadu Awo and Zik,there is need to change to Parliamentary form of government which is less costly.Too much of the generated revenue of the country goes into funding a bloated government Also Mr. Steve Ogunyemi praised the Bill, insisting that despite its perceived inadequacies, it is a step towards ensuring functional federalism in the country.

“Functional federalism promotes accelerated economic development; it unifies and binds people together. It triggers intellectual dialogue and provokes a healthy rivalry in revenue generation.

“These are only achieved where the federating units are allowed certain freedom in decision making and inputs into governance.

“What is practiced in Nigeria today, could be likened to a pollution of an existing idea. The federal structure of Nigeria today is a gross anomaly. This present structure has positioned itself as an octopus firmly gripping the federating units with its poisonous clutch and constantly dictating its destiny.

“At independence, Nigeria embraced regional federalism. The country was grouped into regions, with each region operated independently without undue interference and hindrance from the top. This system provided dynamism in economic development because they were able to mobilise their human and material resources in revenue generation.

“Under that system, each region identified its area of strength and developed a marshal plan of human capacity building which resulted in a high pool of intellectual resource contributors and a highly skilled national strength.

“This system gave everybody a sense of duty and belonging. There was willingness in contributing to their regional economies. Nigeria witnessed growth in every facet - this period marked true federalism in display.

“Unfortunately, what is playing out today is a great departure from the past. Why must we claim to be a federation when virtually all rules and decisions are being dictated from the top?

The regional governance and unfettered federalism of the past was abandoned largely at the discovery of crude oil and the military incursion into civil governance.

“Once the military tasted the oil wealth, they quickly devised ways of consolidating their grip on power. The productive and result-oriented regional structure of government was replaced with unitarism. Control of crude oil resources and its attendant benefits were hijacked to the centre.

“The true concept of resource control and true federalism was jettisoned by the military and a few individuals who strategically positioned and aligned themselves to continually benefit from the oil wealth.”

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THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

LEGAL OPINION

Abritration will aid business growth, says Afe Babalola

LAW AND PUBLIC POWER

with gabriel AMALU email:gabrielamalu1@yahoo.com

Senate, Boko Haram and national well-being

O •From left: Ajogwu, Obasanjo and Babalola

F

ORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo, Justice Walter Onoghen, Justice of Supreme Court (JSC) and former General Secretary, NBA, Dele Adesina (SAN), among others, have been conferred with the fellowship of the Chartered Institute of Arbitration Nigeria (CIArb).

The event took place during the institute’s Annual Presidents dinner held in Lagos.

In his welcome address, CIArb President, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), said businesses will thrive if there is effective arbitration system.

“If Nigeria is to do well and continue on the path of development, the process of arbitration must be accorded its proper place in our judicial system.

“No serious investor wants to be bogged down with long and tortuous litigation in courts. Such a development is simply not good for business.

“Since disputes must inevitably arise in the complex world of today’s business, no government interested in attracting investors to its country can afford to ignore the need to put in place an efficient process for parties for commercial and other transactions to resolve their disputes,” Babalola said.

The Senior Advocate backed the appointment of judges from the rank of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN). He said: “In other regions of the world, people have so much confidence in the judicial system due to the calibre and quality of people appointed to the Bench of Judges.

“In England, only seasoned Legal practitioners already appointed Queen’s Counsel become Judges.

By John Austin Unachukwu

This is because such persons are better placed due to their wealth of experience to become Judges than those who emerged either from the Magistracy or from the academic community.

“It is time for Nigeria to adopt the system of appointing judges only from among SANs. To achieve this, the salaries and emoluments of Judges should be increased tremendously so that SANs would not see appointment to the Bench as a reversal in fortunes.”

Babalola said the number of persons on whom the rank of SANs is conferred yearly should be increased.

“I fail to see any reason for the current peg in the number of appointees. Why should the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee refuse to confer the rank on someone who is qualified for the simple reason that there is a yearly limit on the number of persons that can be so conferred?

“The current practice only ensures that there will always be a backlog of qualified applicants,” Babalola said.

Obasanjo noted that not many people would like to go to court to resolve business disputes when their outcomes cannot be predicted. He said: “The Alternative Disputes Resolution (ADR) mechanisms of which arbitration is one of them dated from time immemorial because that is the way disputes were settled in traditional African societies.

“I was born in the village. I was brought up in the village. I had seen ADR practised. I have heard how it is practised and as I grew up, I expe-

rienced it.”

Obasanjo noted that “when you go the arbitration, both sides are winners and there is no loser,” adding that even if there is an exchange of blows between the disputants, the mediator is expected to take some of the blows if he is a good mediator.

He noted that no two friends go to court and come back to remain friends, but with arbitration, because the matter is professionally handled in a transparent way in which there is no winner or loser, both parties are winners.

“When you go to court, lawyers like Babalola will put it to you, but in arbitration, nobody puts it to you, but the arbitrator puts it to himself and both parties are happy with the award.”

The former president amused the audience when, after he was conferred with the honour, given the plaque and the certificate, he looked at his medal, at the Secretary of the Institute Mr Fabian Ajogwu (SAN), at Judge Bola Ajibola to his left his left and at Babalola to his right and said: “So I can go to the motor park tomorrow and if I see two people fighting, I can separate and do arbitration for them.”

Others conferred with the fellowship are: Justice Water Omoghen of the Supreme Court; Justice Mahmud Mohammed of the Supreme Court; Justice Ikeche Ogbuagu of the Supreme Court; Justice Okechukwu Okeke of the Federal High Court; Dr Chike Osanakpo (SAN), Lagos State Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Lawal Pedro (SAN), Arthur Obi Okafor (SAN), Kemi Pinhero (SAN), Roland Otaru (SAN) and Mr Ekene Odum.

Lagos judiciary workers elect executives

T

HE Lagos Branch of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) has elected Mr Adekanye Olusegun as chairman to run its affairs for three years.

Olusegun scored 595 votes.

Ajetunmobi Olumide, who also ran for chairman, scored 191.

Mr Abioye Emmanuel was elected Vice-Chairman, while Agboola Olusegun is the Assistant Secretary.

Other officers are Gbadebo Taofeek (Financial Secretary), Babatunde Rashidat (Organising Secretary), Bakare Lukman (Welfare Officer), Williams Akintola (Treasurer), Bayo Gbose (Public Relations Officer) and Oseye Julius (Auditor).

Mr T. O. Shodiya is the Legal Ad-

By Joseph Jibueze

viser, while M. O. Bakare is Ex-Officio member.

The election, which took place at the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja on June 30, witnessed a large turnout of judiciary workers and lasted till about midnight.

Olusegun said the new executive would negotiate for improved remuneration for Lagos judiciary workers, as well as demand for more allowances such as leave grants and check-up stipends.

He said did not foresee a strike, which crippled court activities two years ago, saying the Chief Judge, Justice Inumidun Akande has made their welfare her priority, even

when there was no elected officers to speak for the workers.

“We’re going to look into welfare, although the Chief Judge is already taking care of that. We’ll see how we can get more from her.

We don’t intend to be confrontational at all. Even without a union, she has been doing a lot for us, especially in staff training and retreats,” he said.

Justice Akande said she was pleased with the workers’ enthusiasm in the electoral process.

“It demonstrates that you are happy in your own affairs and you want true people to represent you.

But be careful and watchful and ensure that transparency exists,” she admonished.

UR distinguished Senators last week devoted a full plenary to discuss with the national security team, threats from the emerging terrorist organisation, the Boko Haram. Since it was a closed session, one can only guess what ordinarily should be the issues at such an important meeting. Of course, the Senate had informed the public that the security chiefs came to brief them on measures being put in place to address that fundamental threat to the corporate existence of Nigeria.

Fearfully, the Boko Haram has in answer to a possible amnesty program asked the distinguished Senators and, indeed, the national leadership to surrender their mandate over the Muslim states in the country, for them to lay down their arms. That is the logical deduction from their request that some parts of Nigeria be governed strictly in accordance with the Sharia law. Their other request that the former Governor of Bornu State, Ali Modu Sheriff and the erstwhile Commissioner of Police in the state, when the leader of sect was killed in police custody should be brought to justice, is the lesser of their many fearful demands.

I had imagined what will be the reaction of some senators to the demand that parts of the country be governed strictly in accordance with lslamic law. One distinguished senator who l am inclined to believe will initially find that request a fair deal is the former Governor of Zamfara State, Senator Ahmed Yerima, now a distinguished senator of the Federal Republic, who introduced sharia law to Zamfara State. Now l can imagine General Obasanjo dismissing such assertion, as he had then argued that Senator Yerima’s introduction of Sharia law was for political reasons.

But let’s assume for a moment that such introduction was possible, even if for a temporal period, and the distinguished Senators were to be judged strictly on the Islamic legal jurisprudence that a hand should be cut off when it takes what does not belong to it. I am afraid that where that to happen, even Senator Yerima may likely reject that introduction considering the controversy over what the Senators earn, as their total emolument. Now if you remember that the Senate and the House of Representatives unilaterally, against the provisions of the constitution, jacked up their take home pay, then you can understand my fears. Here l am talking about somebody taking for his use, what doses not legitimately belong to him, without approval.

While that illegitimate step was taken in the twilight of the last administration, l am not aware that the current Senate or our Representatives have repudiated that illegitimate earnings. Now l have been privately hoping that the distinguished Senators and Representatives from the progressive camp would shock their conservative colleagues by holding a press conference wherein they would reject any allowance not approved by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission; since to continue to take home such an unlawful income could be likened to taking what does not belong to them.

I take it for granted that the distinguished Senators and Representatives are aware of the provisions of section 32(d) of the third schedule to our constitution, which unequivocally gave the commission the prerogative to determine the remuneration appropriate for political office holders including the legislators. So if the distinguished Senators and Honourable Representatives continue to accept any remuneration in excess of what has been approved for them by the commission, then they are taking what belongs to the rest of us. Such a conduct is what makes me doubt if Senator Yerima and his colleagues would acquiesce to such a law, which would ask that a hand that takes what does not belong to it, should be cut off.

Now, l do not subscribe to pushing our distinguished Senators and Honourable Representatives towards that long lonely road, since we are all human, and changes can be made; but their is a less physical but yet troubling problem with their conduct. Here l mean their moral authority to call other law breakers to question. I concede that it may be rather harsh to compare their conduct to that of the Boko Haram, considering that the legislators are constitutionally empowered as law makers, while in law the Boko Haram members fall within the law breakers. But an application of dialectical materialism, however, would be to compare the effect of their different conducts on the people. While the Boko Haram deprives the people of their lives, and properties in a most reprehensible and brutal manner; the Senators and, indeed, the political class by taking far more that they are entitled to from the common resources, expose the people to poor medical facilities, bad roads, unemployment, etc, which systemically also end their lives.

The security concerns for our distinguished Senators would also include how to checkmate the threats from the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), to go on strike later this week. Listening to the Minister for Labour, Emeka Wogu, I got the impression of a devoted federal authority determined to avert the impending strike, since as he argued, the national conditions – security, political and economic - are too fragile for the effects of a national dislocation. No doubt, a strike now could spine out of control, and it should be avoided, if possible.

But like many too, l believe the time to confront the unrealistic distribution of the national resources as provided in the constitution has come; if the nation is ready to empower the states to develop and pay living wages.

Otherwise any comparison between the earnings of public office holders and the so called minimum wage will continue to rankle even the most ardent fan of the big earners.

THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

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THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

34

LAW & SOCIETY ONE-DAY ROUNDTABLE ON PRESS FREEDOM AND NATIONAL SECURITY HELD AT NIGERIAN INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED LEGAL STUDIES (NIALS), UNILAG, AKOKA, LAGOS CAMPUS

•From left: Ray Ekpu; Mallam Garba Shehu and Director-General, NIALS, Prof Ephiphany Azinge (SAN)

•Richard Akinola and Institute Secretary, James Bathnna

•Azeez Akinwunmi and Chidi Odinkalu

•Abikan Shuaib of OKLNG and Director of Studies, NIALS, Prof Deji Adekunle

•Prof Ayo Astenuwa and Bamidele Aturu

•Mrs Ufoma Lamikanra; Director of Research, NIALS, Prof Bolaji Owasanoye and Dr Franca Nherum

•Tina Onyebashi; Serah Nwadioke and Emeka Nwadioke

•Grace Brown and Prof Clement Dakas

•Fidelis Ibhagbosoria and Mrs Agu Sussan

•Dennis Akhagba and Mrs Sena Jerry-Imahiagbe

PHOTOS: ADEJO DAVID

THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

35

LAW & SOCIETY RE-UNION DINNER AND GALA NIGHT ORGANISED BY THE CLASS OF 88 NIGERIAN LAW SCHOOL, HELD AT TRANSCORP HILTON HOTEL, ABUJA

•Gov Babatunde Fashola (SAN) of Lagos State at the event

36

•From left: Secretary to the Government Anyim Pius Anyim, Chairman designate, NHRC and •Gov Liyel Imoke of Cross River State at the event former Deputy Speaker of House of Representatives Chibudom Nwuche

•Chief Joy Emordi (left) and President, Commonwealth Lawyers Association Mrs Boma Ozobia

•Chairman, NBA, Chijioke Okoli and Chairman, National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) Dr Sam Amadi

•National Vice Chairman, PDP Southeast, Chief Olisa Metuli

•Dimeji Sofowora (left), Ronke Sokefun and Bankole Animashaun

•Awwal Tukur at the event

•From left: Dr Wale Olawoyin, Emmanuel Achukwu and Ade Adedeji

•Former Information Minister John Nnia Nwodo (left) and other members of the class

•Senator Solomon Ewuga and wife, Josephine

PHOTOS: JOHN AUSTIN UNACHUKWU

THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

36

NATIONAL BAR

•J. B. Daudu (SAN) and Charles Mafua at a press briefing in Abuja

•Abdul-Rasheed Muritala (left), Mirabel Edozie and Mahmoud (SAN) at the briefing

Rejuvenating Nigeria’s criminal justice system Former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Publicity Secretary, and Secretary of its Criminal Justice Reform Conference, Abdul-Rasheed Muritala, says Nigeria’s criminal justice system needs urgent reform.

T

HE President of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Joseph Daudu (SAN), captured the failure of the criminal justice system in Nigeria in his inaugural speech in Kaduna.

In a voice laden with passion, Daudu said: “As regards reforms in the Criminal Justice System, it is apparent that the system has failed. The process from apprehension of suspected criminals, to their trial in court, the procedure for the conduct of their trial, the quality of the adjudicator, the concluding aspect of the trial i.e sentencing should the trial result in a conviction and the process of punishment must be reviewed and be subjected to serious reform. These call for constant review because the absence of a sound criminal justice system erodes the confidence the comity of nations will have in the nation.

On a related note, I am proposing a national summit on criminal justice reforms.

This summit is not convened for the sake of it, but essentially to create a platform for action that will clearly state who does what and when and within what time frame. The NBA will monitor outcomes”.

There is hardly any doubt that the administration of justice in Nigeria craves for serious reform to cope with the challenges dictated by 21st century changes and development. The justice machinery, reputed to be last hope of the common man, is reeking under the deadweight of myriads of problems.

These include a prolonged delay in the administration of justice, congestion of courts with cases, inadequate infrastructure, lack of access to justice by the poor majority of whom cannot afford the services of lawyers, the granting of questionable orders by judges and magistrates, the congestion of all the prisons with the daily influx of accused persons or suspects awaiting trials, the persistent issues of the holding charge (where the police charge suspects to courts that are not statutorily empowered to handle their cases), arrest of suspects of relatives in place of accused, the use of torture by the police to extort extra judicial confessions and allegations of corruption against judicial officers.

In addition, the five major law which collectively regulate our criminal justice dispensation, the Criminal Code, the Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Act, the Criminal Produce Code and the Evidence Act are all outdated and out of synch with modern challenges, they are relics of colonial legislations that ought to have been reformed long time ago, somehow they manage to escape cogent amendments that would have rendered them more amenable to modern application. The fact that aforementioned laws still regulate our criminal justice system till date is sad commentary on our system. In addition to this extant legislation, the Police Act 1943, which we re-enacted as a military decree in 1967, still dwelt in the past as it brims with anachronistic provisions that take no cognisance of the changes and development that have occurred over the years.

All these problems plaguing our criminal justice systems have not gone unnoticed and numerous stakeholders at different times

have deployed efforts at solution. The Federal Government has, for instance, since 2005, inaugurated and received the reports of various eminent committees, panels and commissions on the criminal justice systems.

These include a ministerial committee on prisons audit in 2005; two presidential commissions on police reform in 2006 and 2008; a ministerial committee on reform of the evidence act in 2006-07; and presidential commission on administration of justice reform in 2007.

In addition to this, the Nigerian Bar Association has also developed an advocacy initiative with a two-pronged responsibility, viz, Policy and Public advocacy. The former is designed to engage the policy markers on the urgent nature of justice reform and urging them to make the issue of utmost priorities while the latter seeks to stimulate the interest of Nigerians conditioning them to support the reform initiatives and see themselves as stakeholders in the process.

It is in consonance with the above policy that the NBA is now set convene a memorable four-day conference in Abuja on the reform of criminal justice administration in Nigeria. The conference which is scheduled to hold at the International conference centre, Abuja between July 17 and 20, 2011 will, among other things, set agenda for the employment of legislative procedure for the reforms of the criminal justice sector.

The theme of the conference, which is “Transforming the Criminal Justice System in Nigeria – A Reform Agenda” is a succinct statement on the readiness of the stakeholders to address myriads of problems bedeviling our administration of justice.

The conference is scheduled to bring together persons and institutions at the highest levels who are engaged in virtually all aspects of the criminal justice system. The conference is also conceived to have four principal sub-themes. These are: (a) Reform of Criminal Justice Administration in Federal State; (b) Transforming Substantive Criminal Law; (c) Reforming Procedure, Investigations and Criminal Evidence; (d) Resourcing Criminal Justice Reform.

Resource persons will be drawn from within and outside Nigeria. Those from Nigeria include, Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanisu, former Presidents of NBA, Mr Olisa Agbakoba, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), the chairperson of the Economic and Financial crimes Commission, Mrs Farida Waziri; a professor of criminology, Prof Femi Odekunle, a Justice of the Court of Appeal, Justice C. C. Nweze, the former Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof Supo Shasore (SAN), Senator Umaru Dahiru, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dr Kayisola Ajayi and Prof Awwalu Yadudu. The occasion is scheduled to be declared open by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The Keynote Speaker is Bryan Stevenson, Executive Director of Equal Justice Initiative.

He has won national acclaim for his work challenging bias against the poor and people

of colour in the criminal justice system. Since graduating from Harvard Law School and the Harvard School of Government, he has assisted in securing relief for dozens of condemned prisoners, advocated for poor people and developed community-based reform litigation aimed at improving the administration of criminal justice. He is also on the law faculty at New York University School of Law. Stevenson’s work has won him national acclaim. In 1995, he was awarded the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship Award Prize.

He is also a 1989 recipient of the Reebok Human Rights Award; the 1991 ACLU National Medal of Liberty, and in 1996, he was named the Public Interest Lawyer of the Year by the National Association of Public Interest Lawyers. In 2000, Stevenson received the Olaf Palme Prize in Stockholm; Sweden for international human rights and in 2004, he received the Award for Courageous Advocacy from the American college of Trial Lawyers and the Lawyer for the People Award from the National Lawyers Guild. In 2006, New York University presented Mr Stevenson, with its Distinguished Teaching Award. He has also received honorary degree from several universities, including Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania and Georgetown University School of Law. Stevenson has served as a visiting professor, disseminated manuals on capital litigation and written extensively on criminal justice, capital punishment and civil rights issues Some of the topics these resource persons and others will treat at the conference include Reformation of the Criminal CodeStrategies and Content, Structuring Criminal Justice Administration in a Federal State – Priorities for Nigeria; Strategies for the attainment of total Prison Decongestion in the context of justice proposed criminal Reform; Review of the Criminal Jurisdiction of the Federal High Court; Federal Government of Nigeria and Fiscal Responbility to achieving an efficient Criminal Justice System: A case study of Pre-trial trial and Post Trial institutions; - Criminal Justice Reform – The Lagos State Experience, Sellable Points to the Larger Nigerian Constituency; Criminal Justice Reforms and Economic DevelopmentAn Employment Bonanza; The case for State and Community police and other Legal Machinery for the attainment of Criminal Justice Balance within the Nigerian Federal and Transforming Nigeria’s Substantive Criminal Law. Conclusion Giving the depth and scope of issues and themes lined up for discussion, the quality of speakers and discussants with the passion of the stakeholders to contribute their quota to salvage the justice sector, there is no doubt that this four-day agenda will engender ideas that will enrich and transform the criminal justice system in Nigeria. I can assure you that all efforts have been made by the A. B. Mahmuod (SAN), led Planning Committee to ensure a hitch-free and successful conference. See you there.

LEGAL DIARY Institute holds a Lecture tomorrow THE Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) will hold Public Lecture tomorrow.

Venue: Rickview Hotel Gurara Hall (Old Wing) FCT Abuja Time: 10.00 a.m.

Chairman: NBA President, Joseph Bodurin Daudu (SAN).

Special Guest of Honour: Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal Theme: State of the Legal Profession Lecture in Nigeria.

Guest Lecture: Former Attorney-General and Minister for Justice of the Federation, Chief Akinlolu Olujinmi (SAN)

Institute holds roundtable THE Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) will hold a One-Day Roundtable on Health Law and Policy.

Date: July 14, 2011 Venue: Ayo Ajomo Hall, UNILAG Campus.

Time: 10.00 a.m.

Chairman: Former Provost, College of Medicine, Lagos - Prof E. A. Elebute Kaynote Speaker, Director-General NAFDAC: Dr Paul Orhi

NBA holds Criminal Justice Reform Conference THE Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) will hold its maiden Criminal Justice Reform conference.

Theme: Transforming the Criminal Justice System in Nigeria – A reform agenda.

Date: July 17 to 20 Venue: NICON Luxury Hotel, Abuja Time: 9 a.m. daily Keynote address by Bryan Stevenson, Director, Equal Justice Initiative, Montgomery, Alabama, Georgia, US. Special guest of honour: President Goodluck Jonathan Chief host: Joseph Bodurin Daudu (SAN), President, NBA.

NBA holds NEC meeting THE National Executive Committee meeting of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) holds in Katsina, Katsina State.

Date: July 28 – 29 2011 Venue: Katsina Motel, GRA Katsina Time: 9.00 a.m.

Note: Members are advised to meet the National Welfare Secretary (Usman Sule) for accommodation and other details on arrival at Katsina Motel.

Institute holds inaugural Lecture THE Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) holds Inaugural Lecture.

Titled: Proceeds of Crime in Nigeria: Getting our “Act” Together.

Guest Lecturer: Director of Studies of the Institute, Prof. Daji Adekunle.

Date: July 21, 2011 Time: 4 p.m. prompt Venue: Ayo ajomo auditorium, NIALS, UNILAG Campus, Akoka, Lagos Chairman: Former Director-General (NIALS), Prof Ayo Ajomo.

Special Guest of Honour: Judge Bola Ajibola, former Judge of International Court of Justice.

TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

37

ENERGY THE NATION

E-mail:- energy@thenationonlineng.net

Firm plans N40b investment in five years JAPAUL Oil and Maritime Services Plc said it is eyeing N40 billion investment in various segments of its operations in the next five years.

With assets base in excess of N23 billion, Japaul is the only indigenous oil and maritime firm that is listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the company, Jegede Abiodun Paul, spoke to The Nation during the inauguration of Japaul House in Ikeja Lagos.

He said: “Japaul has been making profit consistently from inception.

For 15 years this company has been operating, there is no year it has declared loss. We have been growing from one level to another.

“Last year, we made a turnover of N7.1 billion and a profit of about N 1.2 billion and in 2009, we made N5.5 billion in turnover and N1.1 billion profit. So, the company has started making profit in billions and we have asset base in excess of N23 billion.

“The company has a great vision of investing in maritime services and mining because we have a subsidiary in mining. When we talk of mining, we mean mining of Nigerian minerals including stones and other natural minerals that we have in Nigeria.

“We are also investing in dredging. We want to be a household name in dredging business and offshore operation in oil and gas, where more than $10 billion is being spent by the government and less than five percent is accedded by Nigeria and Nigerians.

We are planning an investment in excess of N40 billion for the next five years.”

The CEO identified funding as

•Lists operational challenges Stories by Emeka Ugwuanyi

one of the operational challenges facing operators in the oil and maritime business in Nigeria. He also noted the menace of Nigerian crew who operate the vessels and ships. He said the crew engages in sharp practices that erode the dignity and reputation of the companies portraying the companies in bad light before their clients.

He was of the view that the management of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), should look into the uncomplimentary acts of Nigerian crew members and sanction them when tried and found guilty to serve as deterrent to others who have intention of doing the same

sharp practices.

His words: “The first challenge before any business man in Nigeria is the ability to get fund to do the business. The line of business in which we are is dominated by foreign companies and Japaul has to be the only indigenous company that is about to break the jinx as the chairman indigenous ship owners association said.

“The security issue in the Niger Delta is another challenge but throughout the time because we know the terrain we have been able to scale through the hurdle.

“Another challenge is that Nigerians don’t know the potentials in the industry including our financial industry the banks. There is no finance to do the job and because maritime

is a very capital intensive business, you cannot thrive in it except with adequate capital.

“That is why we commend government’s efforts in supporting maritime practitioners. They (government) have this programme, which is not being implemented yet but if the Cabotage Law and Local Content Law are fully implemented, for sure they will support maritime practitioners and some of the challenges will be taken care of.

“Currently, we don’t have skilled people in the maritime we need to train them to be able to handle maritime business vessels and ships in Nigeria. Sadly, you still see foreign crew running ships in Nigeria because our people don’t have the required skill. The ones we have are very few and the few we have, we have challenges with them.

“They have this mentality of enriching themselves on your vessels through sharp practices selling your fuel. When you send the ship out for business, you see typical Nigerian crew, that is very unfortunate and it is a major challenge in our industry, which we want NIMASA to really attend to.

“Anybody that is found doing such thing if reported to NIMASA, they should fine them or anybody that is found guilty should be fined or they withdraw his license. You can’t not be a captain or an engineer to a ship and steal fuel from the vessel, which gives you dis-reputation and that’s what they do and it is a big challenge in our industry.

“We need government’s intervention in this area because once the offenders know they (government) can discipline them, they will stop it.”

INSIDE •Group accuses govt, NNPC of neglecting LPG sector •••Page

38

•NCDMB, Petrobras collaborate on content devt, employment •••Page 39

•kerosene: DPR to sanctions marketers •••Page 40

• From left: Prince Adeleke Lateef (distributor); Mr. George K. George, Head Lubricant Business, Conoil Plc and Mr. Oluyinka Babatunde (distributor), during the Conoil Plc Lubricants Merit Award Night,... at the weekend in Lagos.

SAPETRO acquires 75% of ROC’s asset offshore in Mozambique

S

OUTH Atlantic Petroleum Limited (SAPETRO), a Nige rian exploration and production company, has reached agreement with ROC Oil Company Limited (ROC) to purchase ROC’s 75 percent participating interest in Juan de Nova Maritime Profond exclusive

exploration permit, deep offshore Mozambique Channel.

SAPETRO in a statement signed by the General Manager, Commercial, Uzoma Echegiri, said the transaction, which is subject to partner waiver or approvals and French government approvals, will be com-

OIL PRICES JUNE 30 - JULY 8

Light Crude

Source: Rigzone.com

Brent Crude

pleted through France based South Atlantic Petroleum JDN SAS, a wholly owned subsidiary of SAPETRO. SAPETRO has interest in the deep water block, oil mining licence (OML) 130 and operatorship of offshore Block 1 in the Republic of Benin. The Juan de Nova permit area is 53,000 km2 and is located in the Mozambique Channel. This large block contains a substantial portion of a new deep water exploration province adjacent to Anadarko’s recent discoveries in East Africa.

“Modern seismic data indicate that the block contains substantial thicknesses of favourably structured Tertiary and Mesozoic sedimentary packages throughout the acreage and remote sensing studies have indicated areas of potential hydrocarbon seepage.

“SAPETRO intends to aggressively explore Juan de Nova with new seismic and geochemical acquisition programmes beginning later this

year. Commenting on the transaction, SAPETRO’s Chief Executive Officer, Martin Trachsel stated: “This is an important step for SAPETRO as we implement our strategy of expanding our exploration portfolio in Africa. We have identified some extremely interesting geology in Juan de Nova which provides an excellent opportunity for exploration.

“This pure exploration play effectively balances our established production and development activities in Nigeria and Benin,” the statement noted.

OML 130 covers an area of approximately 500 square miles in the Niger Delta and is a deep water block with water depths ranging between 1,100 metres and 1,800 metres. OML 130 contains the Akpo field, which was discovered in 2000. Besides Akpo, OML 130 contains three other significant discoveries Egina, Egina South and Preowei. The block also • Continued on page 38

THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

38

ENERGY

Group accuses govt, NNPC of neglecting LPG sector

T

HE Nigeria Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association (NLPGA) has accused the Federal Government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) of undermining efforts of operators to deepen consumption of liquefied petroleum gas, LPG (cooking gas) in the country.

The cost of cooking gas hit the roofs at the beginning of this year reaching over N4,000 for a 12.5kg cylinder and only dropped recently to between N2,500 and N3,000 for the same quantity.

The association’s Deputy President, Mr. Dayo Adesina told our correspondent that the Nigeria LPG Association and the global body had several engagements as well as proposals and offers to the government and NNPC on ways to deepen the LPG market and make the commodity a choice household energy in Nigeria.

However, all the efforts were futile as the government stuck to importation of kerosene, a product that is not only subsidised by the government with billions of naira annually but also environmentally unfriendly. For instance, the government spent over N37 billion last month to import kerosene The President of the association, Alhaji Auwalu Alu also lamented the situation saying despite the fact that Nigeria is the second largest producer of LPG in Africa and the sixth largest producer in the world and currently produces over four metric tonnes per annum, it has a per capita consumption of less than 0.45kg per annum, the lowest in the sub-Saharan Africa including West African countries that don’t produce LPG. He noted that the price of LPG in Nigeria is the highest in the world and that the government spends multi-billion naira yearly to import kerosene despite the attendant havoc of kerosene explosions and pollution.

The association noted that kerosene should have no place as household cooking fuel in view of the abundant gas resource in the country.

Adesina said the association had met with former Ministers of Petroleum Resources, Finance and Commerce and they promised to take action toward addressing some bottlenecks to open up the sector but shortly after the meeting there was a cabinet shake-up and when the current ministers came on board, they dumped the agreement the association reached with their predecessors.

Even in a recent letter sent to the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Austen Oniwon, and signed

By Emeka Ugwuanyi

by the President of World LPG Association, James Rockall, the association offered to assist the NNPC technically and financially to enhance the use of LPG in Nigeria as against kerosene.

The letter reads in part: “The World Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association (WLPGA) should assist NNPC in seeking funding from multilateral and technical aid organisations for the implementation of a pilot scheme to building an appropriate model; Inject 500,000 cylinders and cookers into the market annually over the next five years; establish an assured product supply logistics plan; implement a targeted education and enlightenment campaign on the benefits and safe usage of LPG; and the establishment of a cylinder management programme.

“Increasing the domestic consumption of LPG in Nigeria will have the benefits of reducing deforestation, decreasing carbon dioxide (CO2) emission, improving health, providing significant business opportunities and market growth and related economic multipliers.” The NNPC, it was learnt, has not responded to the letter.

The association said that government and NNPC officials have been among the delegates that have gone to some countries including Indonesia to study the models they used to develop their LPG industry, yet none of the models has been applied in the country.

The World Bank also proposed a strategic roadmap in 2003 to develop the sector and the outcome was the constitution of a presidential LPG steering committee to implement, which was meant to implement the roadmap. Despite all the efforts, no tangible growth has been recorded.

Currently, the refineries are not producing LPG, In view of this, the government compelled the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited to supply the commodity for domestic consumption. However, the NLNG terminal was designed for export only, which makes domestic supply cumbersome as a result of draft and logistics issues.

Besides, the association said NLNG sells its LPG at Mount Bellview in the United States and the condition it gave to local operators was that they should buy at international market price, which adds to the high cost of the product.

Nigeria’s LPG consumption level was about 100,000 tonnes per annum as at the end of last year, while the association wants to push it up to a million tonnes by 2015.

• From left: Executive Director Operation, Japaul, Akin Oladapo; Group Executive Director, Japaul, Ambassador Benson Anomewe and Managing Director/CEO, Japaul, Jegede Abiodun Paul, during the opening ceremony of PHOTO: ABIODUN WILLIAM. Japaul Oil and Maritime Services Plc new office at Ikeja... at the weekend.

Govt urged to build more power plants • Olorunsogo to generate 750mw by December

By Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

• Prof. Barth Nnaji, Minister of Power

T

HE President of International Federation of Consulting En gineers (FIDIC), Mr. Gregs Thomopulos, has advised the Federal Government to build more generating plants and enhance gas supply, if it really desires to achieve steady power supply in the

Demand for OPEC oil to rise in second half

O

PEC Member countries are likely to find themselves having to satisfy higher demand for global crude in the second half of this year.

According to the OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report for June, the expected supply and demand balance for crude oil in the second half indicates a tightening market.

As a result, global inventories could continue to decline as the market enters a period of high seasonal demand, the report said.

In quarterly terms, global consumption is projected to increase

SAPETRO acquires 75% of ROC’s asset offshore in the Juan de Nova Mari• Continued from page 37 in Mozambique interest time Profond Block and its withcontains a range of further exploration prospects. Akpo’s P50 liquid recoverable volumes have been estimated by Total, the operator of OML 130, to be approximately 600 million barrels, with potential for additional P50 recoverable oil in excess of 500 million barrels for the whole OML130 area.

China National Offshore Oil Company also has a stake in OML 130.

According to Rigzone.com report, the ROC and Sapetro Juan de Nova Maritime Profond Block deal costs between US$8.0 million and US$8.5 million (depending on date of completion) subject to working capital adjustments. The effective date of the sale is July 1, 2011.

The agreement is subject to normal industry terms and conditions, including the receipt of relevant joint

venture waivers or approvals and all necessary government approvals. Due to the approval process completion of the sale may not take place in 2011.

Rigzone.com also noted that Roc Oil (Madagascar) Pty Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of ROC, has withdrawn from its 75 percent interest in the Belo Profond Block, offshore Madagascar (Mozambique Channel) effective June 23, 2011.

Marex MC Inc., ROC’s current joint venture partner, has elected to take assignment of ROC’s entire interest in Belo Profond.

ROC does not carry any value for the Mozambique Channel exploration blocks on the balance sheet.

Commenting on the sale, ROC’s Chief Executive Officer, Alan Linn, stated: “The divestment of ROC’s

nearest future.

Thomopulos said aside domestic purposes, steady energy supply is needed before Nigeria could ever meet its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) being pursued by the government.

He criticised the level of power being generated and transmitted, describing it as grossly inadequate for the country.

“For a nation to enjoy steady energy supply, it needs a lot of power plants. What is generated in the country is below the amount required. If everything was going well, you won’t see majority of the people using generating sets as an alternative source of power generation,” he said.

Nigeria generates between 3,000 and 3,500 megawatts of electricity per day, he added.

The FIDIC President spoke at the weekend after inspecting the level of work being done at the Olorunsogo Power Plant in Ogun State.

The plant, a Federal Government project, is expected to generate 750 megawatts of electricity to the national grid, to boost the nation’s energy need. The consulting engineering firm for the project is OskaJo & Partners, Nigeria, in conjunction with Scott Wilson, U.K. Thomopulos, who was taken on tour of the facility by the Managing Director of Oska-Jo & Partners, Dr Ehi Joseph Uujamhan, also emphasized the importance of prompt and adequate maintenance of power plants to ensure they perform efficiently.

However, Mr. Amusat Adebayo, one of the site engineers, assured that the expected 750 megawatts of electricity which the Olorunsogo Power Plant (OPP) is designed to supply into the national grid would be realised before December 2011.

Adebayo said an input of 750 megawatts from OPP into the national grid would boost the country’s electricity supply by 25 per cent, adding that efforts are being made to achieve the target.

drawal from the Belo Profond Block follows the sale of its onshore Angola acreage announced in May. ROC’s strategy is to generate future growth through exploration, appraisal and pre-development opportunities located in the focus region of China, South East Asia and Australasia. The deepwater and frontier exploration characteristics of the Mozambique Channel blocks are not consistent with this strategy. ROC’s exit from the Mozambique Channel will allow the redeployment of capital and resources to pursue opportunities more consistent with the Company’s strategy. ROC will continue to pursue the divestment of its remaining African assets, which are located offshore Equatorial Guinea and offshore Mauritania.”

by 2.3 million barrels per day in the third quarter and to add a further 200,000 bpd in the last three months of the year.

It also noted that non-OPEC oil supply and output of OPEC natural gas liquids (NGLs) are only expected to add around 200,000 bpd and 600,000 bpd in the third and fourth quarters, respectively.

“This would result in much higher demand for OPEC crude, reaching a level higher than current OPEC production and implying a draw in inventories,” the report said.

“Despite the inherent uncertainties in the demand for OPEC crude, stemming from both the supply and demand for OPEC oil likely to rise in second half of 2011 - market report demand side, this would leave a sizeable gap between current production and demand for OPEC crude,” the report said.

It said in recent weeks, the oil market has been experiencing excessive volatility.

Recent economic data and releases point to a widening slowdown in global manufacturing activity and persistently high levels of unemployment.

“Concerns about the debt burden in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) region have also become more pronounced, at a time when major economies are preparing for the inevitable transition to fiscal consolidation with the end of quantitative easing,” it added.

In the emerging economies, continued rapid growth has raised the

risk of overheating and inflationary pressures. Despite these challenges, its forecast for world growth in 2011 remains at 3.9 per cent, driven by strong momentum in the emerging economies and steady growth in the OECD region.

The report said that in the OECD region, the tragic events in Japan continue to impact consumption and it is yet unclear when recovery efforts will result in a rebound.

Additionally, the latest monthly data from the United States shows much weaker-than-expected oil demand, affected by the impact of higher retail prices.

“In contrast, developing countries are expected to show continued strong growth, accounting for more than 90 per cent of the increment. Moreover, anticipated shortages in power generation this summer in China are likely to boost the use of diesel generators, which could strengthen demand growth over the coming months,” the report added.

On the supply side, the report said the current forecast for nonOPEC production is much higher than was expected at the beginning of this year.

The upward adjustment has been supported by North America, Latin America, the Former Soviet Union and China.

The Report pointed out that, since January this year, US oil production has experienced a considerable upward revision, due to the increasing output of shale oil.

39

THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

ENERGY

NCDMB, Petrobras collaborate on content devt, employment

• Nwapa

T

HE Nigerian Content Devel opment and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and the Brazilian National Oil Company, Petrobras, have begun a collaboration and exchange programme towards boosting local content development and generation of employment in the oil and gas industry.

The two agencies concluded the signing of the co-operation during a recent benchmarking visit by senior officials of the industry led by the Executive Secretary of NCDMB,

Mr. Ernest Nwapa, an engineer, to Petrobras office in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The partnership follows the success of the Petrobras-led PROMINP programme initiated in 2003 in response to the Brazilian Government’s desire to increase the participation of Brazilians in the oil and gas value chain.

PROMINP recorded significant progress in all facets of the country’s oil and gas industry, such that local content in Brazil grew from 57 per cent in 2003 to 74 per cent in 2010.

Speaking at opening session of the visit, the Executive Secretary explained that the Board will benchmark its procedures and programmes with the Brazilian Local Content Development Model.

The relationship with Petrobras is expected to include knowledge exchanges, understudy visits to build in-house capabilities in NCDMB and referrals of critical in-

vestors and suppliers to the Nigerian market.

The visit was also a prelude to the embedment of Petrobras personnel in NCDMB and also served to expose staff of Nigerian Content in international oil companies to how operators in Brazil support local content activities.

The visiting team included the General Manager, Nigerian Content, Shell, Simbi Wabote; Head Planning, Research and Statistics, NCDMB, Mr. Oluwole Akinyosoye; Manager Onshore Assets, Chevron, Mr. Adekunle Adeyemo among others.

The team carried out detailed benchmark studies across the Local Content Governance Structure, Local Content Development Programmes and Initiatives and Local Content Implementation Processes and Tools.

Commenting on some of the lessons learnt from the benchmarking visit, the Executive Secretary promised that the Board will pay special attention to developing a robust local supply chain to promote local manufacturing of parts and components and after sales support.

He remarked that the Board is working in line with President Goodluck Jonathan’s job creation promise to Nigerians and hopes to ensure that Nigerian Content activities create 300,000 direct and indirect jobs within a few years.

Nwapa added that the Board will also address shipbuilding, which is a high employment generating activity, to mimic the Brazilian experience where several jobs depend on the shipbuilding industry.

Another idea that has worked for Brazil, which the Board intends to midwife is an Inter-Ministerial

Council, which will involve the leadership of different ministries, departments and agencies whose activities impact the Nigerian Content implementation.

The Council, when established will hold consultations on regular, basis and bring up policies which would ensure that all agencies of government collaborate on Nigerian content development.

The Executive Manager, Local Content, PROMINP, Mr Jose Renato, assured that Petrobras would work with NCDMB to build its capacity to position it to implement the provisions of the Act and achieve the aspirations of government and people of Nigeria.

Programa de Mobilização da Indústria de Petróleo e Gás Natural (PROMINP) was initiated by the Brazilian government to increase the domestic content of equipment and service suppliers and to provide more trained personnel for the Brazilian oil and gas industry.

Oil hovers below $99 ahead of key US jobs data

O

IL prices hovered below $99 a barrel on Friday in Asia ahead of key jobs data from June that could shed light on the strength of the United States economy.

Associated Press reported that benchmark oil for August delivery was down four cents to $98.63, a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Crude rose $2.02 to settle at $98.67 on Thursday.

In London, Brent crude fell 72 cents to $117.87 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Traders would be closely eyeing the Labour Department’s monthly employment report scheduled for release before the U.S. market opened later Friday. Economists estimate the unemployment rate would remain at 9.1 percent and that employers added 90,000 jobs last month.

On Thursday, the department said the number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in seven weeks. Payroll processor ADP said the private sector added 157,000 jobs last month, which was more than double what economists had forecast.

“The employment figures were encouraging,” Cameron Hanover said in a report. “This market now has such powerful upward momentum behind it that everything is coming up bullish.”

“Low interest rates are enough of a reason to buy commodities.

Oil is the market darling now.”

Oil dropped to $90 last week after the US and other nations in the International Energy Agency said a week earlier that they would release 60 million barrels of crude from emergency stocks. But crude has rebounded on expectations global supplies will tighten and demand will improve during the next 18 months.

“It took just five days for the market to shrug off the 60 million barrel stock release,” J.P. Morgan said in a report. “There is no supply cushion to fall back on. The upside price risks to 2012 have materially increased.”

J.P. Morgan said it raised its forecast for the average crude price in the fourth quarter of next year to $120 from $110.

• Power facility

PHCN Ikotun plans to install over 7,000 prepaid meters

T

HE Ikotun Business Unit of the Power Holding Com pany of Nigeria (PHCN) said it is installing over 7,000 prepaid meters for its various customers before end of December.

The Business Manager of Ikotun Business Unit, Mr Oluwadare Oseni, said that the business unit has commenced the installation of prepaid since May 2011.

Oseni said that about 769 prepaid meters was installed in May and June, adding that 192 were installed in May while 577 was installed in June.

He said the unit did not commence installation early due to hitches associated with logistics and availability. He, however, assured customers within the network of Ikotun Business Unit that installation of prepaid meters will be done monthly provided customers paid for it.

The PHCN boss said that the business unit has made it mandatory to install about 2,000 meters monthly to meet the demands of customers.

He said: “We plan to install over 7,000 prepaid meters before the end of the fourth quarter of this year, because we have been allocated

• Customers owe N1.5b meters from the zonal office.

“We urge customers who have paid for prepaid meters to bring their receipt for installation, because some officials have been mandated to install meters based on first come, first served.”

Oseni said the Business Unit has overcome the challenges of installation of meters, adding that starting from this July the unit would boost its prepaid installation from 1,500 to 2,000 monthly.

“We have installed about 769 prepaid meters to various categories of customers, which we plan to boost before the end of the year.

“We promised to ensure that every house and business premise are metered to avoid the issue of over billing and estimated bills. We assure customers that the business unit will not hesitate to install meter in their premises two weeks after payment,” adding that more hands have been engaged to facilitate effectiveness and efficiency.

Oseni frowned at the attitude of customers who by-pass meters, which he said negates the ethics of PHCN, adding that the unit would

not hesitate to arrest and prosecute anybody found in such criminal acts.

“We will not hesitate to arrest and prosecute anybody found bypassing meters or engaging in any criminal act. A penalty of N100,000 will be given to anybody found bypassing meters,” he said.

He appealed to customers within the network for more co-operation in the monitoring of PHCN equipment, tampering with meters, illegal connections and prompt payment of electricity bills.

The Business Unit is also owed N1.5 billion by its customers. Oseni pleaded with the defaulters to pay their bills to avoid having their supply disconnected.

He said that the biggest debtor was the Federal Government agencies and network service providers while residents and business entities also constitute part of the debtors. He said the unit is doing all it could to ensure that electricity supply remains stable and efficient but customers are not reciprocating by paying their bill, which he said, affects the unit’s revenue

generation.

He said that the management has made it mandatory in the business unit to attend to any reported faults and replacement of transformers.

“We implore all customers in Ikotun Business Unit to ensure their bills are paid on time and promptly as the unit recorded over N 1.5 billion debt as at June 2011, which is a huge sum.

“The bulk of the debt was owed

by Federal Government agencies, network service providers while residential, commercial and industrial consumers also owe, which affect operations of the unit grossly,” he said.

Oseni appealed to customers to pay their outstanding bills and ensure prompt payment of their bills, adding that the Business Unit is not interested in disconnecting customers due to debt.

He said the huge debt constitutes part of the constraints to delivering the expected service to its esteemed customers. “We have set up surveillance team that is in charge of continuous checking of premises to ensure that every household and business premise conform to the laid down guidelines.

THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

40

ENERGY

kerosine: DPR to sanction marketers

T

HE Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) says it will sanction oil marketers that divert or hoard kerosine to hike the price of the product.

The Department said that some of the marketers who are found engaging in diversion and hoarding have been barred from lifting products.

An Assistant Director in DPR, Alphonsus Mudei, who disclosed this, said the oil regulator has been in collaboration with the press to monitor the distribution of products and urged for more collaboration in monitoring of products distribution.

He said the DPR has barred offenders (marketers and depot owners who engage in sharp practices with the product) from lifting and selling the product. He, however, didn’t mention the companies that were barred.

The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, reiterated that there was enough supply as the corporation has 51 days sufficiency. He maintained that the

By Emeka Ugwuanyi

scarcity was due to distribution challenge as well as the conflict between marketers and transporters.

He noted that the inability of the product to reach end-users was as a result of diversion and adulteration of kerosine with diesel referred to as ‘rice and beans’ by marketers.

He said some of the marketers hoard the product and sell to hawkers at night at a higher price. Marketers, according to him, sell kerosine to hawkers who come in the night with many jerry cans only to make more profit despite the fact that the product was sold to them (marketers) at N40.90 per litre to enable them to sell at regulated price of N50 per litre and at the same time make profit.

Ajuonuma said: “However, NNPC is not relenting in putting the problem behind us. We will continue to give the product to the stakeholders,” he added.

He said: “NNPC in conjunction with Capital Oil will distribute kerosine through a mobile plat-

form and bring the product to the doorstep of the consumers.”

Ajuonuma also confirmed that the NNPC has allocated the members of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) kerosene adding that the major and independent marketers took delivery of the second batch of the allocation last week.

On the major marketers misunderstanding with transporters, Ajuonuma said NNPC has negotiated with the marketers to pay the 45 percent increase in freight demanded by transporters.

To further find a lasting solution to kerosene scarcity, a subsidiary

of the NNPC Retail and Capital Oil and Gas, has begun a partnership to vend kerosine directly to consumers through mobile fuel tankers with in-built meters that record quantity of litres dispensed and the costs as well as nozzles obtained at fuel stations The direct retail sale of kerosine is a new concept in its pilot scheme being experimented in Lagos. If the initiative turns out successful in the pilot scheme, it would be extended to other states of the country.

Currently, 200 numbers of 33,000-litre trucks of kerosine has been earmarked for the pilot

scheme.

On how the initiative would work, the Managing Director of Capital Oil and Gas, Ifeanyi Ubah said: “A sub-dealer has to make payment to the bank and be cleared before being given the product. We are doing the first phase in Lagos. We have been able to test run in Ikoyi, Ikeja and Apapa and they are still going round in other localities.

“There would be no surge in crowd. The buyers would be properly controlled because the sub dealers know their clients and the people who live within their localities. Therefore the issue of crowd would not arise.”

Conoil honours distributors, launches new lube oil

C

ONOIL Plc has honoured 11 of its lubricant distributors selected from across the country for their outstanding performances.

The ceremony held in Lagos at the weekend was the company’s maiden distributors’ award night, established to celebrate outstanding distributors.

At the event, the firm also to launch the company’s two new lubricants - Quatro Heavy Duty Genset oil and Golden Super Generator oil.

According to the company, the Quatro heavy duty genset oil is a premium quality multi- grade engine oil for heavy duty generator applications. It is made from high viscosity index based oils fortified with tested additive technology and is recommended by leading global industrial engine manufacturers.

The Golden super generator oil on the other hand, is for light duty gasoline generators. The oils are specially formulated to protect and prolong the lifespan of heavy duty industrial and domestic generator sets.

Speaking at the event, Conoil’s Head, Lubricant Business, Mr George K. George, said the award night was packaged to recognise, appreciate and celebrate excellence.

George said: “We appreciate the support of our loyal distributors and customers over the years. We also recognise the tremendous progress we have been able to achieve as a

frontline oil marketing company in the country with their support. We are glad to be associated with them as our trade partners.”

Conoil, he said, is not resting on its oars and has embarked on plans to explore the West African market through the exportation of its quality lubricants.

The award recipients commended the management for recognising their efforts and loyalty to the company. Mr. Oluyinka Babatunde, an awardee, said the initiative would spur the company’s numerous distributors to support the company in meeting its business objectives.

“Conoil has been coming up with innovative strategies to grow its business and we distributors are ready to support the company in meeting its business targets,” Babatunde said.

The company’s lubricant production hit a record high of 15 million litres as at end of June this year. According to industry sources, Conoil controls about 30 per cent of the nation’s lubricant market.

The Chairman of Conoil Plc, Dr. Mike Adenuga (Jnr.), while reassuring shareholders of the company’s bright future at its 41st Annual General Meeting, had said: “We are positive that the company is in good shape and continues to make progress towards delivering superior shareholder value.”

• Managing Director/CEO, Capital Oil and Gas Limited, Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah (right) with one of the mobile fuel tanker personnel, demonstrating how the direct sale of kerosine to consumers from fuel tankers work, while other stakeholders watch on.

Goldman doubts Saudi capacity to pump extra crude next year

G

OLDMAN Sachs has warned that oil supplies will become critically tight in 2012, largely because the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC’s) leader Saudi Arabia would not be able to pump as much extra oil as many people believe.

According to Dow Jones Newswire, the report amplified previous warnings of a supply-constrained oil market by the US banking giant, which in recent months has repeatedly questioned the ability of Saudi “spare capacity” to meet growing demand. If the market becomes convinced of the Goldman view, prices could rise sharply.

However, Goldman’s conclusion

about Saudi capacity is at odds not only with statements from officials at the Organisation of OPEC, but some influential market analysts, who say the exporters’ group still has enough headroom in its oil production to restrain prices.

The burgeoning debate between these two camps could be an additional source of volatility in the oil markets in the coming period.

The Goldman report helped send oil prices up Thursday as August Brent crude was up $2.68 at $116.30 a barrel, buoyed also by positive economic data.

Recent history shows a close correlation between spare production capacity and oil prices. When spare capacity is low, the risk of a

Energy prices

Domestic prices of petroleum products

Energy & Oil Prices OIL ($/bbl)

Companies

PMS

AGO

DPK

Conoil

65.00

160.00

140.00

AP

65.00

160.00

140.00

Total

65.00

160.00

140.00

Oando

65.00

160.00

140.00

Mobil

65.00

160.00

140.00

Texaco

65.00

160.00

140.00

PRICE*

CHANGE

% CHANGE

TIME

Nymex Crude Future Dated Brent Spot WTI Cushing Spot OIL (¢/gal)

91.16 106.15 90.83

0.14 -2.94 0.18

0.15% -2.69% 0.20%

06/24 06/24 06/24

PRICE*

CHANGE

% CHANGE

TIME

Nymex Heating Oil Future Nymex RBOB Gasoline Future NATURAL GAS ($/MMBtu)

275.03

-3.14

-1.13%

06/24

277.66

-6.10

-2.15%

06/24

PRICE*

CHANGE

% CHANGE

TIME

0.04 -0.12 -0.18

0.86% -2.78% -3.93%

06/24 06/24 06/24

CHANGE

% CHANGE

TIME

Nymex Henry Hub Future 4.23 Henry Hub Spot 4.19 New York City Gate Spot 4.40 ELECTRICITY ($/megawatt hour) PRICE*

INDIGENOUS Energy

65.00

160.00

140.00

Fagbems

65.00

160.00

140.00

Nipco

65.00

160.00

140.00

Mid-Columbia, firm onpeak, spot 28.97 Palo Verde, firm on-peak, spot 41.43 Bloomberg, Firm -peak, Day Ahead Spot/Ercot Houston 51.93

Source: Bloomberg.com

11.56

66.40%

06/24

4.78

13.04%

06/24

5.18

11.08%

06/24

supply disruption grows and prices rise. Two of the strongest periods of oil price inflation-2003 to 2005 and 2007 to 2008-coincided with OPEC spare capacity falling to historic lows.

The International Energy Agency (IEA), which represents major energy consuming countries, estimates that Saudi Arabia, which holds most of OPEC’s spare capacity, is capable of producing up to 12 million barrels per day (bpd), compared with actual production in May of nine million bpd. IEA officials have largely dismissed the skepticism about Saudi output capacity.

The IEA estimate is a little below the official Saudi figure of 12.5 million bpd because it has stricter criteria for spare capacity, only counting fields that could be started up within 30 days and sustained for at least 90 days, said David Fyfe, head of the agency’s Oil Industry and Markets Division.

Even so, this estimate leaves the Saudis with plenty of headroom, even if they follow through on plans to raise output to 10 million bpd.

Rather than working from official Saudi figures, Goldman extrapolates from the previous peak in Saudi oil production of 9.5 million bpd back in 2008. It is reasonable to assume this was the maximum possible because, “the oil price went above $100 a barrel and provided the incentive to produce as much as possible,” Goldman said. Adjusting this for new projects and the natural decline of mature fields, Goldman arrived at its current estimate for Saudi spare capacity of between 10.5 million bpd and 11 million bpd.

42

THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

43

AVIATION HALF YEAR REVIEW

For troubled aviation sector, problems persist Opinions remain divided among stakeholders on the aviation sector. KELVIN OSA-OKUNBOR appraises the achievements and challenges of the sector in the first half of the year.

T

HESE are not the best of times for operators and players in the aviation industry as they take stock of activities in the highly technical industry in the first half of the year.

The industry, in the review period has its fair share of troubles as players and stakeholders continue to differ over how it fared, taken into cgnisance the many failed promises by the former Minister of Aviation, Mrs Fidelia Njeze.

Among the failed promises, is the inability to fix the air field lighting system at the domestic runway of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja.

The runway which rehabilitation was carried out over three years ago, has been utilised for only day light operations, no thanks to the failure of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to award the contract for the air field lighting system.

Airlines continue to waste hundred of litres of aviation fuel, otherwise known as jet A-one, in taxing to the runway at the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, during takeoff and landing.

Within the period, the aviation sector has piled up huge debts.

Many aviation agencies are owed huge sums by domestic and foriegn airlines for services rendered, ranging from air traffic services to non remittance of the five per cent of ticket sales charge.

To address the issue, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), a few months ago, struck a deal with a commercial bank to collect upfront, the five per cent passenger service charge.

With this arrangement, the old practice whereby airlines collect money from passengers without remitting same to the NCAA, has been nipped in the bud.

This lays to rest the old scenario where airlines were holding on to billions of naira meant for NCAA, FAAN, Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), and the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET).

Within the last six months, the NCAA has achieved strides for the industry with the global collaborative efforts aimed at tackling the menace of bird strike and wild life, hazards. The menace resulted in a loss of over $1.2 billion globally, about $10 million to the nation.

At an international conference with 16 African countries in attendance in Lagos, a position was taken on how to handle the menace. The conference profered ways on how to deal with the menace and save the industry the loss associated with the challenges of bird strikes and wild life hazards.

In the period under review, the NCAA has also recorded another

• Former Minister of Aviation, Mrs Fidelia Njeze

• Director-General Harold Demuren

giant stride with its improved regulatory regime, as it now issues fresh air operators certificate to airlines, under the new Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations ( NCARs).

Also within the period, one of Nigeria’s leading carriers: Arik Air, secured the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), part 129 certification, which qualifies it at the moment as the only Nigerian carrier that can fly a Nigerian registered aircraft to anywhere in the United States.

This, industry players contend, is an extension of the category one that was achieved last year for Nigerian civil aviation in line international standards.

In the area of air navigation, NAMA in the period under review has achieved some strides with the completion of the total radio coverage of the Nigerian airspace, which has now eliminated the phenomenon dark spots that hitherto dotted the airspace.

Also in the period under review, NAMA has embarked on the recruitment and training of air traffic controllers to fill the void in the airspace agency, where there has been a yawning gap for professionals in that segment of the industry.

Only a few months ago, thousands of young graduates applied for the existing vacancies for the recruitment of air traffic controllers, aeronautical engineers and other cadre of professionals. Of

the applicants, over 300 were recruited. They are now undergoing training at the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), in Zaria.

In the area of airports and infrastructure, FAAN has embarked upon massive upgrade of operational infrastructure at airports across the country.

In the period under review, FAAN has embarked on massive repairs of the runway at the Calabar and Maiduguri Airports as part of the critical safety reform agenda of the Federal Government.

FAAN, it was learnt, has got approval for the installation of a brand new set of conveyor belt for the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, even as the Lagos Airport Power Project in the period under review has received a boost with a new power house being constructed near the FAAN Training School.

Also within the last six months, FAAN in response to the global threat to security has invested in the training of aviation security personnel at airports across the country.

Also, FAAN has acquired more fire tenders for all airports across the country courtesy of the World Bank assistance programme, which is part of efforts to improve air safety at airports across the country.

At the level of manpower devel-

NCAA,

Dr

• NCAT Rector Adebayo Araba

• FAAN MD, Richard Aisuebeogun

opment, the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria in the period under review has acquired more trainer aircraft, for both the aircraft and helicopter training of pilots.

In the period under review, NCAT has acquired a second simulator for the training of pilots, even as the college in the last six months has carried out massive construction of its hostels for students, a laboratory and other facilities that will improve the training mandate the college is empowered to carry out.

An area where players in the aviation industry expect improvement is in the handling of the oscillating price of aviation price.

Between January 2011 till June 2011, the price of aviation price has been oscillating between N100 per litre to about N170 per litre, a development that continues to constitute a major headache for airline operators because aviation fuel costs accounts for 60 per cent of airline costs.

It is for this reason that some industry players regard it as the most trying moments for airline operators in the period under review.

In the period under review, many domestic airlines have been struggling to keep their head high surviving the litany of operational challenges that litter the aviation industry, part of which is multiple charge regime, oscillat-

ing price of aviation fuel, lower passenger traffic as well as the high cost of aircraft maintenance.

Air Nigeria in the period under review, has announced plans to relaunch operations into routes such as Lagos - London and other international routes, which it stopped last year when the airline hitherto referred to as Virgin Nigeria Airways was carrying out its restructuring plans.

In the area of air safety and airline operations, the period under review has been very trying for domestic carriers as DANA Air, Chanchangi Airlines, Aero Airline and Air Nigeria have had their fair share of returns no thanks to the scrupulous and improved regulatory oversight of the NCAA. The industry was also embroiled in the controversy over allegations of non-remittance of collections by one of the concessionaires, which is pioneered the deployment of the automated operations management system, which the company insists has increased the revenue streams and collection of FAAN, even as it has put in place a seamless mechanism to block leakages in revenue.

Other activities in the year under review is the response of government to the clarion call by domestic airline operators over the issues of financial bail out for airlines, which has been in the front burner for scores of months, even as stakeholders are stil anxious over how the operators will access the N500 billion worked out for both the manufacturing, textile and allied industries, which aviation will benefit.

There have been lingering arguments over the modalities on how the operators will benefit from the funds, amid agitations for debt buy back through the banks, funding for aircraft acquisition, as well other areas where the funds will be beneficial to their operations.

‘NCAA has achieved strides for the industry with the global collaborative efforts aimed at tackling the menace of bird strike and wild life, hazards. The menace resulted in a loss of over $1.2 billion globally, about $10 million to the nation’

FAAN promises improved service delivery in 2012

T

HE Regional Manager of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, Mr Edward Olalerin, has promised improved service to meet customers need.

He said next year would be brighter for the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

Olarerin said that the expected improvement in service delivery for FAAN is predicated on the resolve by the airport authority to raise the bar in service delivery.

The MMIA boss revealed that with stability in government, more international airlines have signi-

fied interest in doing business in the country adding that Nigerians have started appreciating the need to travel by air as the fastest and safest means.

Regional Manager, Murtala Mohammed Airport and South West, Mr. Edward Olarerin, said there has been an increase in both passenger and cargo movements at the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Ikeja in the last two years.

The Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos is the premier gateway into Nigeria with over 30 foriegn airlines and cargo operating flights into it

daily.

Olarerin, who spoke in Lagos, disclosed that over five million arriving and departing passengers were processed in 2009 and over six million in 2010, representing 11.41 per cent increase in passenger movement.

According to him, aircraft movement rose from 86,552 in 2009 to 96,599 in 2010 representing 11.60 per cent increase.

Explaining further, Olarerin declared that cargo volume in 2009 was over 176 million kilogrammes while it drastically increased to over 200 million

kilogrammes in 2010 representing an increase of over 16 per cent.

The Regional Manager who said in all, the airport recorded 70 per cent increase in passenger, aircraft and cargo movement, attributed the sustained growth in traffic over the years to a creative and focused management team.

He announced that the four conveyor belts will be installed to commence operations before the end of the year while a new contractor has been engaged to address the issue of the chillers of the cooling systems at the airport.

Meanwhile, the President of Avia-

tion Round Table (ART), Capt. Dele Ore, has expressed concern over the porous state of security at the airports.

Speaking with journalist in Lagos yesterday, he urged the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to secure the access gates to all the airports.

In view of the happenings in the country, Capt. Ore said FAAN should go beyond the security requirements prescribed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

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HEALTH THE NATION

E-mail:- health@thenationonlineng.net

Experts canvass support for psychiatry E

XPERTS in Psychiatry have called for more attention to child and adolescent mental health by governments.

They decried the neglect of child and adolescents’ mental health worldwide.

The Acting Medical Director of Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Dr. Oluyemi Ogun, said the neglect made her hospital to start the Child and Adolescent unit in 1999, with the assistance of the West African College of Nursing.

She spoke at the opening of a certificate course on child and adolescent psychiatry organised by the hospital and the West African College of Nursing.

“With the assistance of the college, and many partners, the hospital has been able to send out professionals to preach the gospel of non-neglect of the mental health of our children, and bring succour to many children and adolescents and families,” said Dr Ogun.

Also, the Executive Secretary, WACN, Mr Solomon A. Adeleye, said the essence of the training in the West African Sub-region is to enable participants to update their knowledge and skills in specialised practice area.

He said it is a common knowledge by experts that adolescents are shifting focus from abusing regular drugs such as cocaine and marijuanna, “But now exploit the smell of petrol, glue, and pit latrine. The challenge lies in providing adequate and professional solutions to the development. This third set of the course, which commenced three years, is on-going and is a testimony of its relevance in meeting the needs of our clients and the health professionals.

WACN placed more emphasis on the acquisition and utilisation of relevant knowledge and skills by the participants at its various training programmes for the benefit of our clients and the community.”

In his keynote address, a Con-

From left: Chairman, Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, Dame Rebecca Aikhomu; Dr. Ogun; Chairman, Q-Triangle Foundation, Mr Abiodun Dabiri; and Consultant Psychiatrist, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Dr. Bola Ola, at the event.

By Oyeyemi Gbenga-Mustapha

sultant Psychiatrist/Lecturer, Lagos State University College of Medicine (LASUCOM), Ikeja, Dr Bola Ola, said: “This two-week course is a great chance to hear directly from experts working in the field of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) and learn the state of the science in children’s mental health. You will have ample opportunity to ask top scientists about topics ranging from normal brain development to anxiety, bipolar disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).”

He said the course was part of the commitment to rally the CAP field together to reveal the mysteries of childhood mental disorders based on new and novel paradigms and effective scientific approaches. “Mental ill-health in young people is now beyond the “chemical imbalance” of depres-

sion or the ‘blame and shame approaches’, of the past.” He said.

He decried the state of unpreparedness for mental health of Nigerian kids and youths, and identified other factors that are bedevilling adolescents to include lack of commitment. “At the policy level, extent of the mental health problem is disproportionate to the limited mental health budget; there is an inadequate mental health policy and legislation; there is no health insurance for people with mental health problems. At the health system level, care is provided only in large tertiary institutions where level of stigma is high, conditions are poor, human rights are violated, and treatment is inadequate and costly,” he said.

The don addedt: “Adult psychiatric beds per 10, 000 population is 0.4 but worse or none for children and adolescent. The Primary health Centre (PHC) has lack of

awareness, skills, training and supervision for mental health and poorly developed infrastructure.

There are lack of community mental health services and also insufficient resources. Human resources are poor with lack of specialists, and general health workers with the knowledge and skills to manage disorders across all levels of care.

Psychotropic drugs for children and adolescents are inadequate or almost non-existent in supply and distribution across all levels of care.

And there is poor coordination between services including non-health sectors. It is amidst these daunting challenges that we are trying to improve ourselves.”

Proffering solutions, Dr Ola suggested 10 recommendations: “However, in the World Health Report’s call for action, there is hope. The World Health Report 2001dealt in detail with service provision and planning; and it concluded with a set of far-reaching recommenda-

tions that can be adapted by every country according to its needs and its resources.

“The 10 recommendations with some modifications are provision of treatment in Primary Care; making Psychotropic drugs available; giving care in the community; educating the public; involving the communities, families and consumers; establishing national policies, programmes and legislation.

“Developing human resources and linking other sectors other than health, such as education, labour, welfare, and law, and nongovernmental organisations should be involved in improving the mental health of communities; monitor community mental health and support more research. Research into biological and psychosocial aspects of mental health is needed in order to increase the understanding of mental disorders and to develop more effective interventions.”

Benefits of blood transfusion for PLWH, by don

B

LOOD has been described as the most donated tissue in medicine which can play an important role in life-saving situations if well used.

The Director-General, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Prof Innocent Ujah, made this known at the Media Roundtable organised by Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS). The topic was HIV and Blood Donation: risks, implication and safety in Nigeria.

According to him, many lives are saved yearly through blood transfusion, “in many countries, including Nigeria, many people still die due to inadequate supply of blood and blood products.”

Prof Ujah said: “Advances in medicine and technology have increased the need for blood in cases of road traffic accidents, complications of pregnancy and childbirth, various anemia and surgical emergencies. As much as blood can be life saving, its misuse could be dangerous and life threatening.”

Ujah empahasised the need for blood donation, saying: “We must encourage Nigerians to donate blood. It is the responsibility of health workers and policy makers

By Wale Adepoju

to make blood safe, not only for HIV infection but from other blood borne infections like Hepatitis B and C virus and Syphilis. Blood transfusions are essential treatment as it is life saving. If a person is transfused with HIV-infected blood, there is a 95 per cent risk he will become infected with the virus.”

He said the chances of becoming infected with HIV through blood transfusion vary between countries depending on the level of safety precautions in place, adding that there is a notable difference between developed and developing countries.

“In developed countries of North America and Europe the risk is as low as one HIV infection in five million transfusions. More than 75 per cent of HIV infections in adults are estimated to have been transmitted through heterosexual intercourse worldwide. For Nigeria, a large percentage of sexual transmission is through heterosexual contact.

“Globally, HIV/AIDS is primarily a sexually transmitted disease (STD). It is transmitted through unprotected sexual intercourse. HIV

infection is also spread through blood, blood products, donated organs, or semen, and through mother to child during pregnancy, labour and breastfeeding,” said Prof Ujah.

He added: “This not so in developing countries where the risk is still alarmingly high as a result of lack of blood transfusion policy, enforcement of existing policies, non-availability of ultra-sensitive test kits and transfusion of unscreened blood by quacks and charlatans. An estimated 250,000 new infections per year as a result of the reuse of needles and syringes and in Africa 250 to 500 people are newly infected with HIV each day as a result of unsafe blood transfusions. A recent review of the data base of over 16,000 HIV persons accessing comprehensive care, treatment and support from our HIV treatment centre showed that the mode of acquisition of HIV among four to five per cent of patients were through blood transfusion.”

Other issues addressed by him are blood requirement level in Nigeria and the adoption of national blood transfusion policy by the Federal and State governments.

He said, according to National Blood transfusion service, it is estimated that about 1.5million units of blood would be required yearly.

“However, a National Baseline Data Survey (NBDS) on blood transfusion in August 2005 indicated that only about half a million units of blood were collected from private and public sources in the previous year with paid donours accounting for more than 90 per cent of the blood donated.

“When we weigh the information above and the fact that the safest blood donors are voluntary, unpaid donors, it is not surprising that the risk of blood transmission in Nigeria is enormous.”

On the role of Federal and State Government, he said, the establishment of the National blood transfusion services and adoption of national blood transfusion policy are steps in right direction.

However, “the policy need to be fully implemented and enforced so that Nigerians can benefit maximally from the policy and services spread across the various geopolitical zones.”

He identified one of the strategies for ensuring the safety, qual-

• Ujah

ity and availability of adequate blood supplies as collection of blood from voluntary non-remunerated donors only.

Ujah said evidence from around the world showed that patients who receive blood from voluntary non-remunerated donours who donate blood regularly, are at the lowest risk of acquiring bloodborne infections through transfusion, because these donor’s are motivated by altruism and have no reason to conceal any reason why their blood may be unsafe.

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FOREIGN

Syrian President Assad’s supporters attack US, French embassies

S

UPPORTERS of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have attacked the United States and French embassies in Damascus.

The US state department accused Syria of failing to protect the embassy and demanded compensation for the damage. No one was hurt in the incident.

At the French Embassy, guards fired into the air after workers were injured in a similar attack, officials say.

The incidents come after the US and French ambassa-

dors visited the restive central city of Hama last week.

The separate visits - which both governments said were meant to express solidarity with the anti-government protesters - drew sharp criticism from Damascus.

Pro-government demonstrators have been taking part in protests outside both embassies for the past two days.

The French Foreign Ministry said three of its employees were hurt when protesters assaulted the French embassy yesterday.

Obama warns against failure AILURE to raise the in debt talks United States debt ceil-

F

ing could trigger another recession and throw millions out of work, President Barack Obama has said.

Mr Obama is struggling to marshall support for a budget package that would include some $4trillion (£2.5trillion) of cuts.

But ahead of renewed budget talks with Republicans on Monday, Mr Obama said the stalemate would be resolved within a “reasonable period of time”.

The US risks defaulting on its debts on August 2, when the budget runs out.

Speaking before meeting with Republicans over the nation’s budget, Mr Obama said it would “not be acceptable” for lawmakers to fail to raise the US debt ceiling.

“We don’t risk US default on our obligations because we can’t put politics aside,” the president said.

But Mr Obama said there would be no deal on raising the government’s debt limit if Republicans would not compromise.

“I don’t see a path to a deal if they don’t budge. Period,” the president said, adding that a stop-gap resolution to the budget stalemate would not be considered.

“I will not sign a 30-day, or 60-day or 90-day extension,” the president said.

Republicans are opposing the Obama proposals because they include plans for some tax rises. And his Democratic allies are no more enthusias-

Egypt court bans 14 Libyan TV channels

E

GYPT’s state news agency says a court has ordered the stateowned satellite operator, Nilesat, to take 14 Libyan television stations off the air.

The court’s decision yesterday follows a lawsuit by Libyan citizens and Egyptian lawyers who said the stations owned by the regime of Mummar Gaddafi incite against the rebels fighting to topple the leader, in power for 42 years.

The stations are off the air until they can find another satellite to beam them.

Libyan rebels have launched their homegrown satellite television station in May to counter the regime’s powerful media machine, which depicts the opposition as terrorists and drums up patriotic fervour by beaming images of burning buildings hit by NATO air strikes.

tic about proposals to cut social welfare and Medicaid.

After talks on Sunday ended with no resolution, Mr Obama said he would call for daily meetings until the stalemate over the budget is broken.

“We are going to get this done by August 2,” he told reporters.

The US currently runs an estimated $1.5 trillion (£932billion) annual budget deficit, and has already exceeded the national debt limit of $14.3trillion.

PUBLIC NOTICE I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Princess Precious Patience Esuji now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Princess Precious Patience Banjoko. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Security officers fired warning shots “to prevent multiple intrusions into the compound”, ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said.

The attack, he added, was a breach of international law.

“It is not with such illegal methods that the authorities in Damascus will turn the attention away from the fundamental problem, which is to stop the repression of the Syrian population,” Mr Vale-

ro said.

Meanwhile, a US Embassy official in Damascus told the BBC that the embassy had come under attack by a “mob”.

The official said that the Syrian government had given assurances that they would provide adequate protection for the embassy.

But on this occasion, the authorities were slow to respond, he added.

The attack on the Ameri-

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PUBLIC NOTICE

OLD PEOPLES WELFARE FOUNDATION, LAGOS STATE This is to inform the general public that the above named Initiative has applied for registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission under Part ‘C’ of Companies and Allied Matters Acts 1, 1990.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES Alhaji (Chief) Dr. Lateef Kayode Jakande Chief (Mrs) Felicia Aderemi Ilaka Amb. Olusegun Olusola Hon. Chief Akintunde Rotimi Barr. Luqman Oyebisi Ilaka Dr. Segun Ogundimu Chief F. A. Silva-Rotimi

-

Chairman President Member Member Member Member Member

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. To promote and encourage people to cater for the welfare of old people in the society.

2. To bring together all Nigerian citizens and promote mutual interest and understanding for peace, unity and progress of Nigeria through meetings, conferences etc.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General,Corporate Affairs Commission plot 420,Tigirs Cresent,Garki,Abuja within 28 days of the publication.

Signed: ‘Wole Pereira General Secretary

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MONEY LINK

‘CBN may opt for exchange rate unification’ •Sept deadline raises banking sector volatility

T

HE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) may opt for exchange rate unification to bridge the increasing gaps between official and parallel rates. The difference between the rates, now pegged at 6.2 per cent, the widest divergence in two years, had in many cases sent the naira into a free fall.

Managing Director, Financial Derivatives Company, Bismarck Rewane, said the CBN policy changing the forex allocation to the Bureau De Change (BDCs) to $250,000 per week, from its previous $500,000 per week, has also paralysed the parallel market, sending the naira into a free fall.

Speaking during the July Lagos Business School Breakfast session, Rewane said there is now greater segmentation in the forex market, making it, round trippers’ paradise.

“Following these indexes, the apex bank will have no choice but to go for exchange rate unification. The

By Collins Nweze Senior Correspondent

objective of appreciating the naira at this time will be a tall order. Our view is that the naira will depreciate from its current high of N155 to dollar in the fourth quarter in the interbank market,” he said. .

He said increase in interest rate and Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) will continue to tighten liquidity in the market. The CBN, in May, raised the CRR from 10 to 11 per cent in its fresh bid to check the excess liquidity in the financial system.

The move, which is an apparent reaction to the development in the monetary condition particularly in the area of renewed pressures on domestic prices and the naira exchange rate, was taken to forestall further worsening of the problem of the liquidity overhang in the

IFC invests $20m in Food Concepts

T

Food Concepts’ expansion plan is expected to create hundreds of jobs, benefitting a number of smaller businesses in its supply chain.

Deji Akinyanju, founder and CEO of Food Concepts, said: “IFC’s long-term capital and loan will allow Food Concepts to implement its long-term growth strategy.

IFC’s global expertise will also enable us to become a leading regional quick service restaurant and bakery operator, using best practices in corporate governance, insurance, financial management, and environmental and social matters.”

Solomon Adegbie-Quaynor, IFC Country Manager for Nigeria,

HE International Finance Corporation (IFC), a mem ber of the World Bank Group, is investing $20 million in Food Concepts Plc to help the Nigerian quick-service restaurant and bakery operator improve its social, safety and corporate governance standards, and expand operations in Ghana and Nigeria.

IFC according to a statement, will provide a financing package consisting of a $13 million equity investment and a $7 million loan to the company, which will use the long-term funding to help develop about 40 new quick-service restaurants, double bakery production, and establish a poultry production farm in Nigeria.

cued banks will make headway in their recapitalisation plans by the September 30. CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido, said there are huge possibilities that the shareholders will reach agreement with management of the affected banks to beat the deadline.

“I remain optimistic that the shareholders will come to the table and that there would be deals by 30th September. I am realistic enough to make sure that there is option B and C. But it is only fair enough to make sure that first option succeed before thinking of the next option,” he had said during a media briefing in Lagos.

The CBN had at the onset of banking reforms, commenced a special

system. The CRR is expressed as a percentage of total deposit liabilities (demand, savings and time), Certificates of Deposits (CDs), promissory notes held by the nonbank public, and other deposit items. It applies to only commercial banks.

Rewane also said the negative impact on stock market decline is creating liquidity challenges in the system, adding that the September 30 deadline set by the apex bank for the rescued banks to recapitalise or face liquidation has increased volatility in the banking sector in the short run, adding that post-merger integration issues will be a drag on revenue momentum.

Meanwhile, the apex bank has expressed optimism that shareholders and other stakeholders of res-

‘N11trn laundered in West Africa’

M

ORE than N11 trillion in il licit funds flow through seven West African countries annually, the region’s anti-money laundering agency has said.

Director-General of the Inter-Governmental Action Group Against Money laundering in West Africa, (GIABA), Dr. Abdulahi Shehu, said annual inflow of illicit funds amounted to about $73 billion in seven West African countries, which threatens the peace and security of the region and the international community.

He urged banks to join the fight against terror by making prompt and compulsory disclosure of suspicious deposits as a way of denying in-flow of funds to terrorists.

Delivering a paper titled, ‘New Approaches in the Regional Fight against Money Laundering and Terrorism financing in West Africa’ at a conference on Combating Terrorism in Nigeria, Shehu disclosed that the integrity of the international financial system depends

said: “IFC’s investment in Food Concepts underscores our commitment to supporting Nigeria’s private sector, especially its SME sector. Our partnership with Food Concepts will also help develop reliable food supply chains and strengthen the competitiveness of West Africa’s agribusiness and food-processing sectors, which are vital to the region's development.”

Supporting small and medium enterprises and agribusiness are key priorities for IFC in Africa, since these sectors account for the bulk of employment on the continent. Across Africa, IFC is supporting projects across the food supply chain, including processing, logistics, and distribution.

IFC is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in developing countries.

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

Amount Amount Offered ($) Demanded ($) 400m 467.7m 400m 452.3m 500m 499,8m

Price Loss 2754.67 447.80

PRIMARY MARKET AUCTION (T-BILLS) Rate % 10.96 9.62 12.34

Date 28-04-2011 “ 14-04-2011

GAINERS AS AT 11-7-11 SYMBOL

INTERCONT CAPHOTEL COSTAIN VITAFOAM GTASSURE WEMABANK LAWUNION FIRSTINLND ETI BAGCO

O/PRICE

1.01 4.45 2.56 6.00 1.30 0.87 0.50 0.59 14.89 2.53

C/PRICE

1.06 4.67 2.68 6.28 1.36 0.91 0.52 0.61 15.20 2.56

CHANGE

0.05 0.22 0.12 0.28 0.06 0.04 0.02 0.02 0.31 0.03

LOSER AS AT 11-7-11 SYMBOL

NNFM CAP AFRIBANK IHS FLOURMILL CILEASING UBN PLATINUM NEM MAYBAKER

O/PRICE

26.00 34.22 1.05 2.95 84.18 1.17 2.39 0.79 0.54 3.80

Exchange Rate (N) 153.59 153.4 153.45

Date 25-5-11 23-5-11 16-5-11

CAPITAL MARKET INDEX Currency

7.9-10% 10-11%

Amount 30m 46.7m 50m

Amount Sold ($) 400m 400m 499.8m

EXHANGE RATE 30-05-11

INTERBANK RATES

Tenor 91-Day 182-Day 1-Year

on fighting money laundering and terrorism financing.

He said since terrorism thrives on illicit funds, cutting off money flow will reduce the scourge of terrorism as terror groups are financed with proceeds of crimes like kidnapping, hostage taking, bunkering, smuggling, firearms trade, illicit drug trade, corruption and levy. He pointed out that the mandate of the Financial Action task Force (FATF) of the United Nations against money laundering has been expanded to include combating terrorism financing.

At the conference organized by the Association of Industrial Security Operators of Nigeria (AISSON), Shehu challenged banks in the West African subregion and the entire world, to comply with various conventions and laws on money laundering as well as provide financial intelligence to make the war on terror a success.

WHOLESALE DUTCH AUCTION SYSTEM

MANAGED FUNDS Initial Current Quotation Price Market N8250.00 5495.33 N1000.00 N552.20

OBB Rate Call Rate

By Taofik Salako

DATA BANK

Tenor

NIDF NESF

•Lamido Sanusi, CBN Governor

joint examination in conjunction with the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) to ascertain the true state of the banking industry.

C/PRICE

CHANGE

24.70 32.51 1.00 2.81 80.19 1.12 2.29 0.76 0.52 3.66

1.70 1.71 0.05 0.14 3.99 0.05 0.10 0.03 0.02 0.14

NGN USD NGN GBP NGN EUR NIGERIA INTER BANK (S/N) (S/N) Bureau de Change (S/N) Parallel Market

Year Start Offer

Current Before

C u r r e n t CUV Start After %

147.6000 239.4810 212.4997

149.7100 244.0123 207.9023

150.7100 245.6422 209.2910

-2.11 -2.57 -1.51

149.7450

154.0000

154.3000

-3.04

152.0000

153.0000

155.5000

-2.30

153.0000

154.0000

156.0000

-1.96

06-07-11 N7.756tr 24,256.97

Name

January ’11

February ’11

May ’11

MPR

6.50%

6.50%

8.00%

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% 11.3%

NIBOR

7 Days 30 Days 60 Days 150 Days

05-07-11 N7.823tr 24,465.52

% Change 0.86% 0.85%

MEMORANDUM QUOTATIONS

DISCOUNT WINDOW

Tenor

NSE CAP Index

Rate (Previous) 04 MAR, 2011 9.0417 9.6667 11.2917 12.1250

Rate (Currency) 24, MAY, 2011 10.17% 11.46% 11.96% 12.54%

Offer Price

Bid Price

9.17 1.00 117.62 1,586.00 0.83 0.99 1,586.00 9.97 1.39 1.87 8,827.74 193.00

9.08 1.00 117.16 1,576.75 0.80 0.99 1,576.75 9.48 1.33 1.80 8,557.25 191.08

ARM AGGRESSIVE KAKAWA GUARANTEED STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND THE LOTUS CAPITAL HALAL BGL NUBIAN FUND NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL DEB. PARAMOUNT EQUITY FUND CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST CENTRE-POINT UNIT TRUST STANBIC IBTC NIG EQUITY THE DISCOVERY FUND • ARM AGGRESSIVE • KAKAWA GUARANTEED • STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE • AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND

Movement

OPEN BUY BACK

Bank P/Court

Previous 04 MAR, 2011

Current 07, MAR, 2011

8.5000 8.0833

8.5000 8.0833

Movement

62

THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

NEWS Posthumous award for Essien-Igbokwe

T

HE late Lady of Songs, Christy Essien Igbokwe, has been honoured by the National Association of Akwa Ibom Students (NAKIS), University of Lagos Chapter.

Also honoured were exstudents’ union leader, Afam Mbuotidem and others.

The award, which was held at the University of Lagos, was attended by some Akwa Ibom State indigenes.

The president of NAKIS, Essien Ekanem, said the award was in recognition of the contributions of the recipients to the development of the state.

He said the award for the late Mrs Essien-Igbokwe was to be conferred on her before she died.

Affia, Ekanem said, was honoured for his consistency in supporting the progressive youth of the state.

Mark praises Cross River From Kunle Johnson, Calabar

S

ENATE President David Mark has praised Cross River State for being the cleanest state in the country.

He spoke at the Margaret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar, after a one-day working visit to the state.

Mark said his impression of the state is a positive one, adding that what he admires most is the ability of the state to keep its environment clean and green.

He hailed the state’s tourism programme and said the state has a lot to offer.

Ex-militants storm NDDC hqtrs •Deny alleged plot to assassinate Ugwoha O

NE hundred former “Generals” of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) yesterday stormed the corporate headquarters of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

The ex-militants denied alleged plot to assassinate the Managing Director of the NDDC, Mr. Chibuzor Ugwoha, as being insinuated in some quarters.

They said they had embraced peace and are fully committed to the development of the region.

Soldiers and riot policemen were immediately de-

From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

ployed in the commission’s office.

The security personnel at the commission’s gate had a hectic time controlling the visitors, who insisted on meeting with Ugwoha.

Some senior officials of the NDDC came to address the ex-militant leaders at the main gate, but the warlords maintained that they were not there to disrupt the activities of the commission.

There was calm when Ugwoha’s Special Assistant on Youth Affairs, Felix Tuodo-

lo, came to address the “Generals”, who were allowed into the premises.

The spokesman of the former militant leaders, Gen Soboma Jackrich, aka Egberipapa, said: “The allegation that ex-generals want to assassinate the managing director of NDDC is not true.

“We are here to encourage the management and board of the NDDC to ensure peace in the Niger Delta.

“We need to have a heartto-heart discussion with the managing director on the way forward and to know what they have for us.

“We are peace-loving and want development of the Niger Delta.”

Tuodolo said the ex-militant leaders would always be recognised by the NDDC, assuring them that Ugwoha was committed to the transformation of the Niger Delta.

The aide added that his boss would continue to do his best, to ensure that progress was made in the Niger Delta.

Tuodolo later led the “Generals” to the conference room of the commission on the seventh floor, where they met with the managing director behind closed doors.

Rainstorm victims get N5m

R

AINSTORM victims in Luleha in Owan West Local G overnment of Edo State have been given a cheque of N5million by the state.

The money, according to the Commissioner for Women’s Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Inumidun Idehen, was to enable them re-build their lives.

Hundreds of persons were rendered homeless after a heavy downpour pulled off their roofs and destroyed their houses.

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

Presenting the cheque on behalf of Governor Adams Oshiomhole, Mrs. Idehen said the state was concerned about the welfare of its citizenry.

The Okumagbe of Luleha, Timothy Ayo Omobare, received the cheque on behalf of the people,.

He thanked the governor and the commissioner for the gesture and promised to use the money judiciously.

Rivers praised on sports festival From Clarice Azuatalam, Port Harcourt

T

HE Rivers State Government has been praised for the successful hosting of the 17th National Sports Festival, which ended in Port Harcourt last weekend.

In a statement in Port Harcourt yesterday, the Coordinator of I Believe Organisation ,Onyema Ihejiakor, said the efforts of the Rotimi Ameachi-led administration to position the state as a strong force in sports is worth commending.

He called on corporate organisations to partner the government in developing sports, especially at the grassroots.

Whereabouts of kidnapped NNPC official unknown

T

HE police in Rivers State are intensifying efforts to rescue a kidnapped official of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Benin City, Edo State, Monday Uebari.

Police spokesman Ben Ugwuegbulam said the command was leaving no stone unturned.

From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

The NNPC’s official was kidnapped on Sunday at his Baen, Ogoni hometown in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State.

Uebari, 50, was abducted by three armed men, who put him in his black 2009/2010 model Passat Volkswagen car.

•Oshiomhole and Ademokun...yesterday. With them is a government official

Oshiomhole to pay N18,000 minimum wage

E

DO State Governor Adams Oshiomhole has signed the new minimum wage agreement with labour leaders in the state.

He urged workers to increase their productivity to complement the government’s gesture.

Labour unions present at the signing are leaders of Trade Union Congress (TUC); Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Joint Negotiating Council (JNC).

Oshiomhole said work-

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

ers would have no reason not to give their best to the government and the people to get value for their money.

He said: “Edo State will remain worker-friendly. I am happy that we have wrapped up an agreement and we recognised that the minimum wage is not open to negotiation.

“It may be convenient, it may not be convenient but it is the law of the land and

it must be obeyed. We have not only agreed on how to implement, we have also agreed on consequential adjustment to the salaries of all those who are already above N18,000 because we realise that without those consequential adjustment, there would be disparity.

“This is not a reflection of the size of our pocket. We are lean in resources. This is merely a reflection of our will to do what is right for workers and to remind them that the state belongs

to all of us.”

NLC Chairman Emmanuel Ademokun thanked the governor for prompt payment of the minimum wage and urged that the payment be made across board.

Also, a committee on Small and Medium Scale Industries was inaugurated yesterday by the governor. It is headed by a popular transporter, Chief Osamede Adun.

Oshiomhole urged the committee to advise his administration on areas where jobs could be created.

Peace has increased crude oil production, says Abbe

I

MPROVED security in the Niger Delta has led to a boost in crude oil production to 2.3 million barrels per day from 700,000 barrels per day during the crises in the region.

Former Chairman of the Amnesty Planning Committee, Maj-Gen Godwin Abbe (rtd) made this known yesterday.

He said amnesty has in-

By Kelvin Osa- Okunbor

creased development in the region, especially human capital.

According to Abbey, besides oil production dropping to 700, 000 barrels per day, the country lost about N8.7billion (US$58million) daily as a result of the conflict in the region.

He said with the conflict, the Nigeria Liquefied Nat-

ural Gas(NLNG), which has entered into contractual agreements with several countries to supply natural gas, was defaulting and declaring losses by early 2009.

Abbe decried the stoppage of construction work in the region as well as the abandoning of the East West road and the closing of several companies and factories.

Corroborating the figures, Senior Special Adviser to the President on Amnesty Kingsley Kuku said there was need to facilitate development in the region.

Kuku said with the success of the Post-Amnmesty programme, crude oil exploration has increased from 700,000 barrels per day in 2009, to 2.3 million barrels per day.

Delta lawmaker’s hotel sealed off over tax evasion

T

HE Delta State Board of Internal Revenue yesterday sealed off Havilah Hotels, and two others in Oshimili North Local Government over tax evasion.

Havilah Hotels belongs to a principal officer in the Assembly.

Havilah Hotels is in Asaba, the capital.

From Okungbowa Aiwerie, Asaba

The other hotels are Calvary Guest House, a Division of Ofeipaco Nigeria Limited, and CKC Hotels Limited (Apple Club) The board’s Legal Adviser, Clark Ekpebe, accused them of non-compliance with the Assessment Bill served

on them.

The Board put the debt of the Calvary Hotels at N2.198 million. The sum of N2.178 million accrued for CKC Hotels.

The owner of the CKC Hotels, Chief Chris Oligbo, said his hotel was running at a loss, adding that paying salaries was a problem, and wondered why the

state was bent on enforcing tax on a hotel that is in comatose.

But the Manager of the Calvary Hotels, Emmanuel Mordi, claimed to have paid revenues to the Local Government Revenue Committee, Federal Inland Revenue, Delta State Ministry of Commerce and Industry and Environmental Agency.

THE NATION TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011

63

http://www.thenationonlineng.net

TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2011 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

VOL. 6

NO.1,818

TOMORROW IN THE NATION

‘Titilayo’s case must be a test case for the police and our justice administrators. It must not be bungled in any way. The law must certainly take its course no matter what and speedily too!’

DELE AGEKAMEH

COMMENT & DEB ATE EBA

T

HE Freedom of Information Law to which President Goodluck Jonathan assented some seven weeks ago is remarkable for its tortuous history It was the first privately-sponsored bill to be presented to the National Assembly after its inauguration in 1999. It wended its way through the legislature and landed on former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s desk two years later Obasanjo, morphing into copy editor and legal draftsman rolled into one, objected to the phrasing of the title as well as some specific provisions, saying that if the bill became law, it would compel officials to divulge state secrets. The bill died on his desk.

The bill’s sponsors, bless their pertinacious commitment to seeing it through, started all over again , only to be stymied this time by the Senate, or more accurately, Senate President David Mark, who has always regarded the news media as a meddlesome institution that should be kept on a leash. A freedom of information law, as he saw it, would hand the media a licence to destroy the reputations of public officials.

So, Mark offered the sponsors a choice evocative of Tudor England: You can have your freedom of information in exchange for a law that would make publication of libel a penal crime rather than a tort. You can have all the access you want so long as you are pepared to do jail time for publishing material injurious to an official’s reputation.

The sponsors rejected the offer on the threshold and pressed on until he Senate passed a diluted version of the bill that had already cleared the House of Representatives. The Senate’s version bore the imprint of its petulant president but stopped short of making defamation a penal crime. It was this version that emerged from the legislature and now stands as the Freedom of Information law.

So much for the history of the law.

The hope must be that the law will prove much more remarkable in application.

Its likely impact will depend on how aggressively the news media are willing to invoke it, and how far they are willing to go to ensure its enforcement. It will not automatically unlock the door to secrets, real or contrived, the protection of which is a primary obsession of governments and bureaucracies everywhere.

To cite an example of this obsession: For a long time, the menu at the mess that catered to the British Staff was classified. To publish it was to risk being jailed under the Official Secrets Act. The Daily Mail, published it all the same, acknowledging that although it was technically breaking the law, its real goal was to show the utter idiocy of classifying a menu as a state secret, even if was one dedicated to meeting the culinary pleasures of the top brass.

Recognising a dare it would be foolish to

RIPPLES

FLOOD TAKES OVER LAGOS–News

OLATUNJI DARE

AT HOME ABROAD olatunji.dare@thenationonlineng.net

Putting the sunshine law to work

•Goodluck accept, the authorities declined to prosecute.

In its application, the law is limited to the public sector. It does not cover the private sector which, in the age of de-regulation and privatisation, is in certain respects as powerful as the government, if not more so.

In the United States, the Freedom of Information Act was of no avail in exposing, much less curbing, the rapacious operations on Wall Street that contributed to the recession from which the country is yet to recover. The energy company formerly known as Enron furnishes perhaps the most dramatic illustration of the rapacity of the market.

The company’s executives were secretly unloading their stocks just as they were encouraging employees to seize the opportunity to load up on Enron stock to guarantee themselves comfortable retirements. The employees gladly shelled out $56 per share. Months later when

Enron’s house of fraud collapsed, it turned out that the stock was worth only two cents each.

Thousands of employees lost their jobs.

The nest eggs they thought they had built turned up to be phantoms. Most of the executives went off with their loot and have been living happily thereafter.

This was at bottom a failure of regulation, for which the Securities and Exchange Commission, itself riddled with insider trading, bears primary responsibility. But if the Freedom of Information law had been operative in the private sector, there is at least the possibility that the fraud would have been exposed.

Much the same kind of racketeering was going on in the Nigerian Stock Exchange where stock prices appreciated by leaps and bounds well before the ink had dried on the share certificate. The whole thing was a gigantic swindle. The bankers who were doing the manipulation cashed in their billions and left their hapless patrons holding sacks of worthless shares.

This could happen all over again, and the Freedom of Information law would be of no avail.

Still, it is a remarkable piece of legislation. Its very enactment challenges the propensity of bureaucracies to conceal, stonewall, and dissemble. It is not for nothing that in the United States from which it was copied, it is known as the sunshine law. Despite its many constraints, it can be used to open up all those musty corridors of power and their archives to some sunshine.

It has proved useful in the United States in exposing the overarching reach of the surveillance state. Citizens on whom the FBI had kept secret files have used the enactment to obtain the files. One such person, Penn Kimball, a 1960s radical journalist and leftwing activist, turned the tables on the FBI by drawing heavily on the file it had kept on

HARDBALL

F

ORMER Minister of Finance, Mr Olusegun Aganga, disclosed at the weekend that the Federal Government was able to trim off about 43,000 names from its payroll using the biometric-base Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS). This exercise, which began in seven out of the 36 ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), had to be embarked on, he said, because personnel cost had grown into an unwieldy N1.3 trillion in 2010 from N850 billion in 2009. The savings the government would make, he further announced, should be higher than the N12bn currently shaved off the salary bill by the time the IPPIS is extended to the remaining 29 MDAs in the second and third phases of the exercise.

The amount saved is of course not too remarkable, going by the statistics of government’s spending on personnel cost. What is indeed astounding is the number of ghosts on the government’s payroll. For a Federal Government workforce of about 112, 000 whose biometrics were captured in the first phase, it is incredulous that a whopping onethird of that are ghosts. The disclosure must “In fact, the World ‘ENDED’briefely, in Lagos” shock us so profoundly that we wonder whether Aganga was reported correctly. A

him to write a best-selling book that he simply titled The File.

Our own Dan Agbese will no doubt recognise Kimball as his fastidious instructor in Reporting and Writing, the bedrock course at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

More recently, the U.S. news media have used it to obtain from the military authorities graphic pictures of the torture perpetrated by U.S. occupation forces on detainees in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison, as well as official e-mail sent out by Sarah Palin when she was governor of Alaska.

Of the many issues literally crying out for some sunshine, I would pursue four immediately.

The first is the earnings of members of the National Assembly. What is their official compensation package, and what does it consist in? How much have they been paying themselves under the table? What projects have they executed with their “constituency allowance”?

The second centres on the latest in a long line of threats stretching back to 1985 to eliminate an alleged subsidy on petroleum products. Those peddling this threat have never been able to establish that a subsidy exists. They have never been able to furnish the actual cost of extracting, refining and conveying a unit of the cost of petroleum to the pump, as against the retail price of the same unit.

I would invoke the Freedom of Information law to demand from the authorities the facts and figures on which they have been relying to claim the existence of a subsidy that must be eliminated.

The third concerns the midnight ruling of Justice Bassey Ikpeme that paved the way for the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election. The text of that ruling, a study in judicial infamy, has never been produced. In vain did Humphrey’s National Electoral Commission seek to obtain a copy so as to prepare an appeal. I would seek out that document to help fill a gap in that dark chapter of Nigeria’s history.

There is, finally, the matter of the N6 billion Hajiya Turai Yar’Adua raised in her official capacity as First Lady for a world-class cancer diagnosis and treatment facility in Abuja.. That was an astounding feat with few parallels. But since her husband’s death effectively ended her stint in Aso Rock, nothing has been heard of the project.

If Hajiya Turai will not volunteer an explanation, someone should invoke the Freedom of Information law to obtain a status report on the project before Her Excellency Dame (Dr) Patience Jonathan sets forth on her own fundraising blitz.

I hear she is raring to go.

•For comments, send SMS to 08057634061

•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above

Ghost workers, ghost stories few states in the Southwest which had embarked on some form of personnel audit have also detected thousands of ghosts on their payrolls.

Perhaps it is time we compelled all states to take the biometrics of their workforce so that we would have an approximate idea of how many ghosts we have kept on the public payrolls at the federal, states and local government levels. By simple calculation, that is if Aganga has supplied us the right figures, we may end up discovering about 180,000 ghost workers by the time the exercise is concluded. Add that to state ghosts of hundreds of thousands, LG ghosts of another hundreds of thousands, and then the unscrupulous, expensive and highly corporate ghosts swarming the private sector, and we would have a veritable sleeping army we should never hope would wake up to take over the nation’s economy.

We should be grateful to Aganga for alerting us to the dangers we face from the hordes of apparitions of our sci-fi nightmare, whom we had always joked were not

a very serious threat to our existence. We may not have the statistics from states much worse than we are on the failed states index, but it is beginning already to look like we have the most lethal, perhaps also ingenious, ghosts per capita of any nation on earth. If by some strange metaphysics we could unleash these ghosts against our enemies, oh, what bliss it would be. Imagine for a moment what the outcome would have been had we hurled a few of our ghosts at Ghana when they trounced our spindly-legged players in Kumasi at the weekend. For if they could contrive, as only they could do, to get paid for years without working, surely our ghosts are not so shorn of skills that we cannot find a few wizards and maestros among them to unhorse our opponents in every walk of life.

It is looking like we now need to pray for the day never to come when one of these increasingly aggressive and ambitious ghosts would aspire to rule a state, or rise by sheer unalterable stealth to even rule the country.

Published and printed by Vintage Press Limited. Corporate Office: 27B Fatai Atere Way, Matori, Lagos. P.M.B. 1025,Oshodi, Lagos.

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