July 15, 2013

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

Big banks ‘earned N200b in 2012’

Lagos police kill five robbery suspects NEWS

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NEWSPage Page11??

Page 57

•Gunmen shoot dead officer, constable

•Tier-1 banks take 68% of assets www.thenationonlineng.net

VOL. 8, NO. 2547 MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

Tinubu: Rivers PDP crisis portends danger to democracy

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir safe in Nigeria From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

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UDANESE President Omar al-Bashir, who arrived in Abuja last night for a health summit, should have no fear of arrest, it was learnt yesterday.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued warrants for al-Bashir’s arrest. Nigeria has been urged to execute the warrant, but the Federal Government has said it will not - in line with a resolution of the African Union (AU).

The government’s stand is that since the AU has not rescinded its July 2009 Resolution in Libya, al-Bashir has imContinued on page 4

N150.00

A •Asiwaju Tinubu

CTION Congress of Nigeria (ACN) National Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu yesterday reflected on the protracted Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) crisis in Rivers State, warning that it portends grave danger to constitutional democracy and individual liberty.

By Emmanuel Oladesu, Group Political Editor

The former Lagos State governor urged men and women of goodwill to ponder over the fate of constitutional democracy and federalism, adding that Governor Rotimi Amaechi should not be abandoned in this period of trial.

Tinubu, who noted that gloomy and uncertain days lie ahead, pointed out that Amaechi was marked down for liquidation, following his resistance to the alleged injustice triggered by the fierce oil field battles between Rivers State to Bayelsa State.

Continued on page 4

JTF finds Boko Haram arms, graves, bunker and tunnels Ceasefire talks with sect ‘still on’ From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

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OME shocking discoveries have been made in Maiduguri, the beleaguered Borno State capital that is the engine room of the Boko Haram insurgency.

The Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Restore Order II, found mass graves, tunnels and bunkers in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

JTF spokesman Lt.-Col. Sagir Musa showed reporters shallow graves, tunnels and bunkers at Bulabulin Nganaram yesterday. He said Boko Haram men who died in gun battles with security troops were buried in the graves.

Around the shallow graves in the open field were decomposing bodies and human bones. There was a big bunker where the JTF said it discovered a cache of weapons. The bunker, according to the JTF, was dug behind a two-bedroom apartment, making residents to believe it was a sewage pit. There were also tuunels, which are believed to have served as passage for the insurgents from their hideouts.

Bulabulin Nganaram is believed to be the main stronghold of the insurgents.

The JTF, in a statement by Col Musa, said: “The Joint Task Force (JTF) between 3-8 July, 2013 dislodged Boko Haram terrorists from their main enclave in Bulabulin Nganaram, Aljajeri and Faluja areas of Maiduguri metropolis.

“During the encounter, some terrorists were killed in the fire fight, including the main Amir of Bulabulin Nganaram (who was on the wanted list of the JTF with a ten million naira bounty). He was responsible for the killing of a teacher and three students of Sanda Karami Secondary School, Ruwan Zafi Maiduguri. Many abducted women, girls and children were rescued and handed over to their families by the Task Force.

“During the search of the areas, many arms and ammunition of various calibres buried Continued on page 4

•A tunnel discovered by the JTF...at the weekend

•A shallow grave discovered by the JTF...at the weekend

•A shallow grave discovered by the JTF...at the weekend

•OSUN LAUNCHES N14B ROAD P8 •44 SCORE 300 IN OAU POST UTME P9

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

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Trying •Senior Vice President, China Railway No.3 Engineering Group, Sun Yangjun speaking at the contract signing ceremony between Ekiti State Government and Chinese Engineering firm in Ado-Ekiti. With him are Governor Kayode Fayemi (second left); his deputy Prof. Modupe Adelabu (left) and Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Ganiyu Owolabi

It looks like a matter of follow the rules or leave the business. From this week, a journey that promises to make airline operators, both local and foreign, see the passengers truly as kings begins, with the implementation of the Passengers Bill of Rights, which hitherto existed in limbo, writes OLUKOREDE YISHAU

T • From left: Managing Director, Nokia West and Central Africa Nick Imudia; Head of Marketing, Nokia West Africa Ms. Deborah Shepard and Facebook’s Growth Manager for Africa Nicola D'Elia, displaying the newly launched Asha 210 and Asha 501 at the launch party in Lagos...at the weekend.

•From left: Principal Consultant, Toki Mabogunje & Co, Mrs. Toki Mabogunje, Mr. Eniibukun Adebayo, Mrs. Tolulope Agiri, Human Resource Director, Unilever Nigeria Plc, Ms. Nneka Okekearu and Communications Director, General Electric (GE)Africa, Mrs. Patricia Obozuwa, at the second Women in Africa Conference in Lagos.

•Senator Gbenga Ashafa (second right), representing Governor Babatunde Fashola, Executive Chairman of Lagos Island Local Government Wasiu Eshinlokun (left) and the Obanikoro of Lagos, Chief Adesoji Ajayi (right), planting a tree to mark the fifth anniversary of tree planting campaign in Lagos Island ...yesterday.

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HEY pay the pipers, but do not call the tunes. They gnash their teeth, gaze at the ceiling of the sitting area, walk around or read to ease tension and, sometimes, shout at officials. Their eyes amplify their frustration. Time passes them by only for the announcement to come: bad news, which means loss of cash or manhour. At times even lifetime opportunities are frittered away, waiting and sweating, even when the airconditioning system works.

Welcome to Nigeria’s airports in Lagos, Abuja, Enugu, Port Harcourt, Kano and elsewhere, where air passengers are daily subjected to practices ‘alien’ to contemporary aviation standard.

At the airports, passengers dare not be sure of when they will arrive their destinations. Circumstances have forced them to make provisions for disappointments, which have practically become the rules rather than the exception.

Many passengers leave the airports dejected on a daily basis.

No thanks to airlines, which have formed the habits of regularly delaying or cancelling flights, thus wasting the time and money of their passengers without being made to pay restitutions. Some even regularly overbook flights and leave passengers who cannot get seats on the flight to have no choice but to wait for a later flight, which may be the next day, when the reasons for the trips may have been overtaken by events. As if to add salt to injury, some airline members of staff are discourteous to passengers.

Some airlines are guilty of publishing misleading advertisement, which fails to disclose the full fare to be paid by a passenger for a flight. This means a passenger is made to incur additional fees, tax, brokerage fees, administrative charges or commission outside the published fare.

Airports across the country offer services at exorbitant prices. So, stranded passengers, who are hungry or thirsty, have no choice than to incur extra expenses while waiting for their delayed flight.

These anomalies are not limited to local airlines. Foreign airlines, which rake in billions of dollars annually from the country, are also guilty. A Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) report showed that foreign airlines annually repatriate over N200 billion.

•Passengers at the General Aviation Terminal (GAT), Lagos.

Aviation Minister Ms. Stella Oduah took them on not long ago.

At a meeting with operators, such as British Airways, Lufthansa, Emirates, Egypt Air, United Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, Delta Airlines, Iberia Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Qatar Airways, Air France/ KLM, Kenya Airways and Turkish Airways, she accused them of “ripping off passengers through fake promotions” and some other sharp practices.

Ms. Oduah said: “The Nigerian market remains open for exploration but will be permanently closed to exploitation… in exchange for the continuing profitable business environment and hospitality it provides for the airlines, (Nigeria demands that), its citizens must be treated fairly and equitably, according to international best practices.”

British Airways’ Kola Adeyinka and his Emirates’ counterpart Paulos Legesse pledged to improve their services and denied discriminating against Nigerian passengers or cheating them.

NNUALLY, the Con sumer Protection Unit of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) receives no less than 50,000 complaints from passengers badly treated by local and international airlines. The complaints, The Nation’s check reveals, relate to lost baggage, poor in-flight service, flight delays and cancellations, amongst others.

But the time when passengers will become kings in the aviation sector may be here, with the launch this week of the Consumer Protection Regulations. A pamphlet on the Passengers Bill of Rights obtained by The Nation said the regulations are “directed at ensuring that Nigerian air travel passengers are decently treated by airlines, are not only in conformity with global standards but also, in keeping with government’s promise to provide efficient and effective service delivery to all Nigerians.

“It is the responsibility of every airline passenger whose rights are infringed upon to demand restitution first, from the airline at the point of infringement, and only report to NCAA Consumer Protection Officers (CPOs) at the airports or through contacts provided in this pamphlet.

“Your rights are not a privilege but your entitlement. They are

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THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

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times ahead for erring airlines ‘

The Nigerian market remains open for exploration but will be permanently closed to exploitation… in exchange for the continuing profitable business environment and hospitality it provides for the airlines, Nigeria demands that its citizens must be treated fairly and equitably, according to international best practices

•Ms Oduah

obligatory on the airlines. Demand for them.”

NCAA Director-General Captain Folayele Akinkuotu said the Bill of Rights would be enforced before the end of the month, adding that before now, passengers hardly got compensated in the country when airlines were unable to fulfill their part of the contracts with them.

“The passengers’ rights must be respected by all, especially the airlines. We need to make sure that we give them good deals and encourage them to see that safe operation is the way to go. We can’t continue as before, as things must change.

So, the passengers’ Bill of Rights will be enforced before the end of this month and we as the regulators will ensure total compliance with the scheme,” he said.

According to the Bill of Rights, henceforth any airline, which denies a passenger boarding as a result of overbooking of flight has to ensure that the “smallest practicable number of persons holding confirmed tickets on that flight are denied boarding involuntarily.” It added that any passenger denied boarding involuntarily shall be compensated. The compensation, said the Bill, is at least 25 percent of the fares or passenger ticket price for all flights within Nigeria and at least 30 percent of the passenger ticket price for all international routes.

As a result of the inconveniences to passengers as a result of flight delay, the new NCAA Bill of Rights provides that whenever an airline anticipates a delay of its flight beyond its scheduled time, passengers are entitled to some reliefs. For delay beyond one hour, the airline must provide refreshment, telephone call, SMS or e-mail to the passengers. In case of a delay for two hours and beyond, the carrier must reimburse passengers the full value of their tickets.

In instances where the delay occurs between 10pm and 4am, the airline henceforth must provide hotel accommodation, refreshment, meal, two free calls, sms, e-mail and transport to and from the airport.

International passengers with delayed flights for between two and four hours are entitled to refreshment and two telephone calls, sms or e-mail. Delay of four hours or more makes an airline liable to provide the passengers with a meal,

Some violations

Sanctions

• Failure to provide information upon request by the Authority.

N500,000 to N2,000,000

• Failure to process ticket refund beyond stipulated time.

Refund of full value of ticket and additional 5% of the ticket value.

• Unruly passengers imprisonment or both.

N500,000 to N5,000,000 or twomonth

• Staff of an airline being discourteous to passengers.

N500,000 to N2,000,000

• Negligence in handling passenger’s bags

N2,000,000 penalty and replacement of baggage

• Failure to respond to consumer letter of complaint

N50,000 for each day of the violation

• Failure to display passengers’ statement of rights

N500,000

two telephone calls, sms or e-mail.

For delays at least six hours after the time of original departure, each passenger is entitled to hotel accommodation and transportation between the airport and place of accommodation.

HE Bill of Rights gives air lines the right to cancel flights provided booked passengers are informed on time.

Passengers on domestic flights must be informed 24 hours before scheduled departure time; passengers on international flights must be informed of cancellation seven days before scheduled departure time. In case, a passenger is informed less than seven days before an international flight, he must be offered rerouting, allowing him to depart not more than one hour before scheduled time of departure and to arrive his final destination not more than two hours after scheduled arrival time.

The rule says: “Where this time frame is not observed, the following rights apply: 25 percent of passenger ticket price for all domestic flights within Nigeria; 30 percent of passenger ticket price for all international flights. Also, passengers whose flights are cancelled outside the stipulated time above are entitled in addition to any of the following choices: immediate reimbursement in cash for domestic flights and within 14 days for in-

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ternational flights either by cash, electronic bank transfer, bank orders or bank cheque or with the signed agreement if the passenger, in travel vouchers or other services.

Such vouchers shall be redeemable at all sales outlets of the air carrier issuing the voucher.

“All reimbursement shall be at the full cost of ticket at the price at which it was bought for the part or parts of the journey not made and, for the part or parts of the journey already made if the flight is no longer serving any purpose in relation to the passenger’s original travel plan, together with, when relevant, a return flight to the first point of departure, at the earliest opportunity.”

The rule also states that “if rerouting is offered where arrival time does not exceed: one hour on domestic flight; three hours on international flight from the original scheduled arrival of booked flight, the airline may reduce the compensation of 25 percent on domestic and 30 percent on international by 50 percent, i.e. to 12½ percent domestic; 15 percent international.

“All compensations and reimbursements shall be immediate and in cash for domestic flight at full cost of ticket price; within 14 days for international flights at full cost of ticket price paid either by cash, electronic bank transfer, bank orders/cheque or with signed agree-

•Akinkuotu

ment of the passenger, in travel vouchers or other services. When compensation is made in vouchers, the voucher shall be redeemable at all sales outlet of the air carrier providing the voucher.”

HEN a passenger is rerouted to an alternative airport other than the one booked, said the Bill of Rights, the airline must bear the cost of transferring the passenger from the alternative airport to the airport of booking or to another close-by destination agreed with the passenger.

To ensure that airline do not play pranks, the rule stipulates that they have an obligation to give an explanation to passengers on alternative transport when informing them of cancellation and must prove whether a passenger has been informed of flight cancellation.

It, however, added that in cases where a carrier is able to prove that cancellation was caused by extraordinary circumstances which it could not have avoided, it is not under obligation to pay compensation to the passengers.

There have also been instances of downgrading passengers from their original class of flights. From now on, if a passenger is placed in a class lower than that for which he/she purchased his/her ticket, the airline must immediately reimburse the passenger the difference in accordance with the mode of payment and in addition, pay 30 percent of the price of ticket for all the domestic flights and 50 percent of price of the ticket for all international flights within 14 days either by cash, electronic transfer and bank cheques.

Significantly, all airlines are mandated to display at their check-in desk a written statement of passenger’s rights in the event of any of overbooking, denied boarding, delay/cancelled flights. The statement must read: “If you are denied boarding or your flight is cancelled or delayed for at least 1 hour, ask the airline officials for a written statement of your rights particularly with regards to compensation or assistance.”

Also, airlines must provide passengers with a written notice of procedures for compensation and assistance. For the benefits of passengers with impaired vision and other disabilities, including illiteracy, “airlines are to provide the proce-

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dures for compensation and assistance in appropriate alternative means”.

Domestic airlines unwilling to pay fines for damaged bags will now have to be strict on their ground staff, as they are liable to pay $1,000 for damages on board the aircraft or during any period within which the checked baggage is in the custody of the carrier.

Misleading advertising will now attract a fine of between N5 million and N2 million. Aside this, the erring airline will lose “all inappropriate excess gains/profit from the advert or promotional scheme”. They may also face criminal prosecution.

A provision tagged exclusion of waiver in the Bill of Rights also forbids the airlines from wriggling out of the tight corner that it may put them. The provision states that “air carrier may not limit or waive its obligation to passengers under this regulation by a restrictive or derogatory clause in the contract of carriage. Where such clauses exist in a contract of carriage and a passenger is not informed of his rights before accepting compensation lower than that prescribed by this regulation, a passenger has a right to seek alternate remedy.” Breach of these provisions carry financial penalties up to N5 million and a minimum of N500,000.

The Bill is, however, not about airlines alone. Unruly passengers also stand the risk of being prosecuted and jailed for two months or pay N5 million or N500,000 as fines or both.

Aviation handling companies also have to be more diligent with their work now, as they risk paying between N5 million or N500,000 as penalties, among others.

In the next five days, the Bill of Rights, which will be presented this Friday, will generate reactions as the NCAA, starting from today, begins awareness programmes on it in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Kaduna, Port-Harcourt and Enugu. A road show is also planned for Thursday from the NCAA Headquarters to all the Lagos airports. A stakeholders’ forum/ launching of Consumer Digest will precede the public presentation of the Bill of Rights; there the airlines and others in the industry are expected to speak on the merit and demerits of the Bill, which the NCAA says has come to stay.

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THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

NEWS ACN urges PSC to widen probe of Rivers crisis

Why FG won’t arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir

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AN a bus conductor be punished for an accident while the driver is exonerated?

This is the question the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) is asking after examining the plan by the Police Service Commission (PSC) to probe the Rivers State House of Assembly fracas.

To the party, PSC should address the causes rather than the symptoms of the crisis in Rivers State in its ongoing investigation into the role of the police in the flare-up in the Assembly.

In a statement in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the statement credited to PSC Chairman Mike Okiro suggests that his commission is only interested in the role of the police in last week’s clashes, rather than how the police hierarchy in the state wantonly allowed the flare-up simply because it is acting to protect certain interests at the expense of public interest. ‘’Governor Amaechi of Rivers has documented, in a much-publicised letter to Mr. Okiro, how the Police Commissioner in Rivers, Mr. Mbu Joseph Mbu, has thrown professionalism to the winds in pursuing his narrow agenda at the expense of the security of the state. ‘’It is on record that this ‘political policeman’ has worsened the security situation in the state since he assumed office in February 2013 by undermining the authority of the Governor as the Chief Security Officer of his state; undermining the security structure put in place by the State Security Council and compromising the council to such an extent that members no longer speak their minds freely during meetings. ‘’These are the issues we expect a non-partisan PSC to address with a view to sanctioning whoever it is that paved the way for the disgraceful show that was put up under the klieg light last week. While the PSC will be right to Continued on page 59

Continued from page 1

munity from arrest in Nigeria.

•Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (right) planting a tree during the 2013 Tree Planting Campaign at the Total Filling Station, Onipetesi, Old Abeokuta Road, Agege, Lagos...yestertday.

With him are: Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello (second right), Chairman, Agege Local Government, Jubreel Ayodeji Abdulkareem (second left) and Lagos State House PHOTO: OMOSEHIN MOSES of Assembly member Funmilayo Tejuosho (left).

Tinubu: Rivers PDP crisis portends danger to democracy Continued from page 1

The ACN national leader condemned the biased involvement of the Presidency, the PDP leaders and the police in the lingering crises, stressing that the President’s posture contradicted his avowed commitment to the transformation agenda.

Tinubu said in a statement in Lagos that the five legislators who plotted the anarchy in the Rivers State House of Assembly last week have mocked their callings as lawmakers.

He said: “With the latest drama in the Rivers State

House of Assembly, the PDP is at it again. The ruling party has inflicted yet another mortal injury on Nigeria’s democracy.

As the House reconvened after a recent adjournment due to a police failure to provide adequate security to this legislative body, thugs hired by sinister forces allied to the powers in Abuja were unleashed on the unsuspecting majority in the State Assembly. “While the House was to consider a necessary budgetary matter, a cell of five legislators, making a mockery of their title as lawmakers, had plotted anarchy in their own chamber. They en-

gineered this coup against the very body in which they serve.

“This group of five and their sponsors attacked the other 27 members and the deputy governor who was making a presentation on a budgetary matter pending before the House.

All this occurred under the watchful eye, but idle hand of the police officers deployed to guard the chamber.

“We can say the police in Rivers became an accomplice to an illegal attack on the very government and constitution they pledged to uphold. This was a shameful moment but even worse, it is a likely fore-

taste of the partisan role the police will take in coming elections.”

In Tinubu’s view, the PDP has added that shameful public brawling to its list of accomplishments by acting as a “fight club” that employs the police as ushers for its matches.

He disagreed with the denial of involvement by the party and the Presidency, stressing that “there is no way the police and the small number of five lawmakers would act so brazenly unless they receive instructions from the high places”.

Continued on page 59

According to a top source in government, who spoke in confidence, although Nigeria has subscribed to Article 98 of the ICC, it will stick to the AU decision.

The source said: “It is true that Nigeria and more than 30 other African countries have subscribed to the Rome statutes and treaty obligation to arrest alBashir, but there is a subsisting appeal to the UN to reconsider the prosecution of the Sudanese leader.

“Up till now, the UN has not responded to the appeal of the AU on al-Bashir. So, the status quo remains.

“Based on the need to enforce status quo ante bellum, the AU in 2009 in Libya passed a resolution on its position on al-Bashir’s trial by the ICC. That resolution, which allows al-Bashir free access to any part of Africa, is still binding on all AU members. The resolution has not been vacated till today.

“This explains why some African countries have allowed Omar al-Bashir to visit their countries in the last few years.”

The source quoted the AU Resolution as follows: “[The AU] decides that in view of the fact that a request of the African Union [to defer al-Bashir’s indictment] has never been acted upon, the AU member states shall not co-operate pursuant to the provisions of Article 98 of the Rome Statute of the ICC relating to immunities for the arrest and surrender of Sudanese President Omar al-

Bashir to the ICC.” Responding to a question, the source said: “As a leader of a sovereign country, al-Bashir enjoys immunity; we cannot go out of our way to arrest him in Nigeria.”

But Human Rights Watch urged authorities in Abuja to arrest him for war crimes charges.

“Bashir left today for the Nigerian capital Abuja to participate in the African Union summit about HIV, TB and malaria to be held over two days,” the state SUNA news agency said.

Nigeria is a member of The Hague-based ICC, which in 2009 and 2010 issued two warrants against Bashir for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Sudan’s Darfur region.

His visit marks “a real test of Nigeria’s commitment to the ICC”, Elise Keppler, associate director of the International Justice Programme at Human Rights Watch, told AFP ahead of al-Bashir’s trip.

Some ICC members including Chad, Djibouti and Kenya, have allowed visits by Bashir, but others, such as Botswana, South Africa and Uganda, have ensured that he stays away.

Some states “have found a way out of this problem and Nigeria should do the same”, Keppler said, urging Nigeria to arrest alBashir if he sets foot in the country.

Nations that have signed on to the world’s only permanent court for war crimes and crimes against humanity have a legal obligation to arrest any indicted suspect found within their territory.

JTF finds Boko Haram arms, graves, bunker and tunnels Continued from page 1

in houses and cemeteries were recovered. Decomposing corpses of those killed by the terrorists were also found in soak-away and mass graves of terrorists killed. Troops also discovered vast network mouse-holes linking compounds and underground tunnels as well as bunkers under houses. Troops are still searching the area for more weapons, ammunition and mass graves. The JTF uses this

opportunity to appeal to members of the public for support and more information on terrorists’ activities.”

Despite Boko Haram leader Imam Shekau’s denial, the Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North insisted yesterday that the ceasefire negotiation with the sect is still on course.

The committee said Nigerians should expect “something positive” before the end of the week.

It, however, said it would not take up issues with Shekau in order not to lose focus.

A member of the committee, who spoke in confidence with our correspondent, insisted that the committee had made progress in its negotiation with Boko Haram.

The source said: “The ceasefire negotiation is still on course; there is no going back.

Before the end of the week, something positive will come up that will vindicate our claim that we are negotiating.

“We do not want to counter what Imam Shekau said, but before the end of the week, there will be something positive.”

Asked to clear the air on Shekau’s denial of ceasefire, the source said: “We doubt indeed if Shekau made that statement. And if he did, we are raising these issues: Do Continued on page 59

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Echocho-Wada suit: Four Supreme Court officials under probe over hearing date

RESH facts emerged yesterday that four more officials of the Supreme Court are being investigated over allegation of shifting hearing date of a petition of a governorship candidate, Jibrin Isa Echocho against Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State from June to November.

But an aide to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Alooma Mariam Mukhtar said November was fixed for the hearing of Echocho’s appeal in order not to allow disruption by judges’ vacation.

It was gathered that the four officials in the Litigation Unit juggled Echocho’s case file and rated it as insignificant to the CJN. The officials were said to have adopted a hide and seek game on Echocho’s file after allegedly collecting bribe said to be in millions from some vested interests.

It was gathered that the case was strategically listed and not prioritised in order to defer hearing till the middle of next year.

When the alleged fraud was noticed, a counsel from the chamber of one of the Senior Advocates in the matter drew the attention of the Registrar

•Why CJN fixed November for hearing, by aide From Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation, Abuja

of the Supreme Court, Mr. Sunday Olorundahunsi to it, it was learn’t.

Although the counsel alleged bribery scam, the Registrar made sure the laid down rules and regulations in listing matters were followed.

But the Supreme Court was said not to be glossing over the allegation from a counsel in the matter.

A source said: “This important case would have been heard either in June or this

July, but some forces penetrated the litigation unit to change the order of listing cases.

“Now, the matter will come up in November in spite of its constitutional importance to the fate of democracy in a state.

“We learnt that they collected princely sum to list the case as one of the least ones to be attended to by the Supreme Court.

“The activities of the four are being investigated and those found guilty might be dealt with.”

An aide to the CJN, however, said: “I cannot say it (the

listing fraud) is not existing, I cannot say it existed. It is the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mariam Alooma Mukhtar, who fixes date for hearing of cases.

“The only way the litigation staff are involved is to compile the list of cases according to how the cases were filed or based on the order of dates the cases were filed.

“Regarding this case, I think the CJN fixed it for November because of judges’ vacation. The rule says the Supreme Court must determine any matter within 90 days. If

the apex court begins to hear the case now, it would affect the vacation of judges.

“These are the facts that I know on this matter.”

Echocho had in February headed for the Supreme Court seeking to be declared as the authentic candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2011 governorship poll in Kogi State instead of Governor Idris Wada.

He said he is also challenging the validity of the governorship election held by INEC in Kogi State on December 3, 2011 during the pendency of an appeal at the Supreme Court.

Bonga oil spill: Reps invite Shell, NIMASA, DPR

From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

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HE Federal Government has appointed Mr Olanrewaju Onadeko as the Director General of the Nigerian Law School (NLS).

Onadeko is to replace Dr Tahir Mamman, who will vacate office on December 10.

The school’s Head, Information and Protocol, Chinedu Ukekwe said in a statement, that Onadeko will resume on December 11. Onadeko is the longest serving academic official.

He once served as the Deputy Director General, Lagos campus, Secretary to Council of Legal Education, Director of Administration and Director of Public Prosecutions of the Republic of The Gambia.

Other appointments confirmed by the Council of Legal Education include that of Mrs Adetoun Adebiyi as Deputy Director General, Lagos Campus; Robert Osamor now Deputy Director General, Enugu Campus and Dr Yusuf Dadem as the Deputy Director General Kano Campus.

The council has also appointed Mrs Elizabeth Max-Uba as its new Secretary and Director of Administration.

The council has appointed a committee headed by Awa Kalu, SAN to review the LLB curriculum of universities’ faculties of law in an effort aimed at improving the quality of legal education.

Senate, governors to meet on PIB

From Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

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HE House of Represenative Committee on Environment at the weekend invited SNEPCO, its parent company, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and the Nigerian Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) over the 2011 Bonga Oil Spill.

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) are also to explain their roles in the spill alleged to have destroyed the means of livelihood of 83 communities on the Warri Southwest and Warri North Local Government Areas of Delta State.

The aggrieved communities, represented by F. Monday, Neburagho Vincent and Thomas Metseagharunat at a meeting with the committee, said fishing were destroyed by the spill and SNEPCO has refused to pay the N20 billion compensation they were asking for.

The Uche Ekwunife-led Committee, however, felt uncomfortable with some of the figures as presented in the breakdown of the compensation, like the N2.5 billion allocated to legal issues and logistics.

The Committee was also uncomfortable with claims that some people in the affected communities have gone insane as a result of pollutionrelated issues as no medical report accompanied their presentation to the committee.

She said: “We have to be very careful that what we are fighting for are justifiable and by extension what is being presented to us as lawmakers are true representation of your claims.

“This is because being a people’s parliament, we are always ready to push the issues of Nigerians to logical conclusions so that justice is served to whoever deserves it.”

Law School gets DG

•Valedictory for Ewherido Wednesday From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor •Lagos State Chief Judge, Justice Ayotunde Phillips (middle) planting a tree at the Lagos High Court, Ikeja, to mark this year’s tree planting campaign...yesterday. With her are Justice Taofikat Oyekan-Abdulahi (left); Head Judge, Lagos High Court, Justice Funmilayo Atilade; Dr Ayoola Akinwole (third right); Mrs Arinola Arowolo (second right) and Chief Registrar, High Court of Lagos State, Mrs Olamide Akinkugbe.

PHOTO: ADEJO DAVID

Lagos courts begin vacation today

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HE Federal High Court and the Lagos State High Court will today begin their two-month vacations.

The Federal High Court will resume on September 16. The Lagos judges will return on September 10.

Two vacation judges will take turns to hear urgent applications at the Federal Court during the break.

Chief Judge of Lagos Justice Ayotunde Phillips said the vacation is in accordance with the powers conferred on her pursuant to Order 45 Rule 4(D) of the High Court of Lagos (Civil Procedure) Rule 2012.

She said 10 vacation judges

By Adebisi Onanuga and Joseph Jibueze

for Ikeja and Lagos Judicial divisions would sit on court cases during the long vacation.

Justices Omobolanle OkikiIghile and Grace Onyeabor will sit between July 15 and 26 in Ikeja and Lagos High Courts.

Justices Beautrice Oke-Lawal and Hakeem Oshodi will preside between July 29 and August 9, in Ikeja and Lagos respectively.

Also Justices Josephine Oyefeso and Olajumoke Pedro will take charge between August 12 and August 23 in Ikeja and Lagos High Courts.

Justices Olushola Williams and Owolabi Dabiri will sit in

Ikeja and Lagos while Justices Ganiyu Safari and OyindamolaOgala will be substitute vacation judges in the two courts.

Justice Phillips said that urgent applications or cause may be assigned to any judges who may be available in either Lagos or Ikeja.

The long vacation, notwithstanding, the chief judge said that the criminal division of the high court may sit throughout the period of the vacation.

“Where a judge of a criminal division is on vacation, a vacation judge may be assigned to deal with all urgent and pending criminal cases.

“Notwithstanding the long

vacation, case or matter may be heard by a judge during the period of the vacation, except Sunday or public holiday, when such a matter is urgent or a judge, at the request of all parties concerned agreed to hear it”, she said.

Justice Phillips directed that any application for an urgent hearing during the vacation may be made by summons in chambers before the vacation judge or the judge before whom the substantive case is pending.

The Chief Judge said that the 2013/2014 session of the Lagos judiciary will begin on September 11. The new legal year has been scheduled for September 23.

Court insists on death sentence for ritualist

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HE Supreme Court yesterday upheld the death sentence handed a man, Akinola Olatunbosun for killing a threemonth old baby for ritual.

Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour, in a lead judgment, held that the lower court was right in sentencing Olatubosun to death by hanging.

On June 28, 2003, a night vigil was held at the All Christian Fellowship Church, Ode Ekiti, Ekiti State. Olatunbosun was among those in attendance. The event ended at about 3am. Some went home. Others slept in the church.

A member, who slept in the church with two of her children, woke up late to find one of them, a three-month old child, Joy Faith Olubodun missing. Olatunbosun, who equally slept in the church could not be found..

He was later arrested by the police. He confessed to stealing the child and that he had killed her.

He took the police to the shallow grave where he buried the corpse.

When the body was exhumed, it was found that the child’s eyes were removed and the throat slashed.

From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

He was tried before the Omuo Ekiti High Court, Ekiti State.

Justice Jegede, in a judgment of September 27, 2007 found Olatunbosun guilty of the one count charge of murder and sentenced him to death by hanging.

Dissatisfied, he appealed to the Ilorin (Kwara State) division of the Court of Appeal.

The appellate court upheld the decision of the trial court and dismissed his appeal. He consequently appealed to the apex court.

In yesterday’s judgment, Justice Rhodes-Vivour noted that his confession to the crime was voluntary and held that there was no basis for his appeal.

“The appellant killed because he is a ritualist. He dismembered the body of Faith Joy Olubodun, a three-month old baby.

He gouged out her eyes, slit the neck and disemboweled the child in the most harrowing way.”

Justices Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, Christopher Mitchell Chukwuma-Eneh, Clara Bata Ogunbiyi and Kumai Bayang Aka’ahs, who were on the panel that heard the appeal, agreed with Justice Rhodes-Vivours’ position.

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HE Senate is to meet with governors to articulate views on the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), it was learnt at the weekend.

This followed the mandate of the upper chamber to its four standing Committees – Petroleum Resources (Upstream and Downstream), Gas and Judiciary and Human Rights to work on the controversial bill by meeting with the public and other relevant stakeholders in the oil and gas industry.

The PIB was submitted to the National Assembly for consideration and passage by President Goodluck Jonathan in July last year.

The Joint Committee had initially fixed tomorrow and Wednesday to meet with the governors, Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Finance, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Bala Mohammed and the Attorney General of the Federation and Justice Minister, Mohammed Adoke.

It was gathered that the meeting became necessary in order to allow the governors and other stakeholders make input into the proposed law.

Chairman of the Joint Committee, Senator Emmanuel Paulker, said that the shift in date became imperative to allow the Senate ample time to conclude clause by clause voting on proposed amendment of the 1999 Constitution slated for Tuesday.

Paulker, explained that the Senate decided on the shift because we “will also dedicate Wednesday plenary as a valedictory session for one of our departed colleague, late Senator Pius Ewherido from Delta Central.

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15 2013

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NEWS

Anyaoku calls for true federalism

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ORMER Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, yesterday called for the return to true federalism to achieve development.

Anyanko spoke at a lecture organised by the Torchbearer Society at the Archbishop Vining Memorial Church Cathedral, Ikeja, stressed the need to return the country to regional government.

The topic of the lecture was: God In My Life.

He said: “Our leaders have largely been responsible for the problems facing the country, by not embracing the call to foster true federalism, which should become a federation of six units, with each unit developing at its pace.”

By Musa Odoshimokhe

Anyaoku said the present structure, which divides Nigeria into 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), is too expensive to maintain.

“Honestly, the resources at the disposal of the country will be overstretched in view of the fact that we have 36 states’ assemblies, 36 Judiciary, 36 police formations across the country, among others,” he said.

The former Commonwealth Secretary-General explained that when Nigeria practised true federalism in the 1960s, the country witnessed remarkable progress.

He said: “That was the period people like Chief Obafemi Awolowo gave us commerce and industry in the

West; Sadauna of Sokoto developed the North with the money realised from groundnuts. The competition really assisted Nigeria to grow.”

Reflecting on where the problems of the country started, Anyaoku noted that the first military coup in 1966, put a wedge in the progress the country was making.

The subsequent military leaders, who took over governance, plundered the wealth of the country with impunity, Anyaoku said.

He added: “The origin of corruption in Nigeria started with the first military coup, which began the age of impunity; corruption thrives under successive military leadership that held the country down. Since then, the situation has not changed, as corruption has permeated all our

national life with parents buying examination answers for their children.”

Explaining his role in fostering democracy in Africa, the former Commonwealth Secretary-General said he was instrumental to some multiparty democracies in several African countries.

Anyaoku said: “I approached many Heads of State and sold the idea of multi-party democracy. Some of them initially did not buy it, but having made them see the benefits of such exercise, they agreed.

“When I approached Kenneth Kauda of Zambia, he said the country would only embrace the idea, if the referendum supported it. This was done. In the election that later took place, the opposition, led

by Federick Chiluba, won.”

He explained that his ef-

NLC urges Fed Govt to reduce electricity tariff From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

T •Anyaoku

forts in the current democratic dispensation in Nigeria took him several diplomatic moves.

Anyaoku said when the late General Sani Abacha staged a coup and the late Moshood Abiola was kept in detention, he persuaded the Head of State to return the mandate to Abiola, but the man was unyielding.

Kwara to upgrade 120 schools

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HE Kwara State Government yesterday said it would upgrade 120 secondary schools to meet the global standards of teaching, infrastructure and pupil-teacher ratio.

In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media and Communications, Dr Muideen Akorede, in Ilorin, the state capital, the government said the move would enhance the quality of education and teaching in line with the state’s education reform programme, tagged: Every Child Counts.

The statement said: “Secondary education should be built on the strong foundation laid at the basic level.

So, we have to get it right by providing high standard

education in an atmosphere conducive for quality learning for our children before they begin tertiary education.

“That is why we are matching our teacher training with a curriculum overhaul and comprehensive upgrading of our secondary schools.”

The statement noted that in an attempt to ensure the geographical spread and equitable distribution of projects, 40 secondary schools were selected for overhaul from each of the three senatorial zones in the state.

The proposed upgrade will cover classrooms’ rehabilitation and construction, provision of science equipment, computer laboratories and sports

Five die in Abuja multiple accident

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HE Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) yesterday said five people died in a multiple auto crash on Saturday at Zuba in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The FRSC Public Education Officer, Mr Jonas Agwu, confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Agwu said six vehicles, including a tanker, a mass transit bus, three Golf cars and three motorcycles, were involved in the acci-

dent.

He said 14 injured persons were taken to the Gwagwalada Specialist Hospital, St. Mary’s Catholic Hospital, Gwagwalada, FCT and Lucas Hospital, Madalla, Niger State.

Agwu urged motorists to drive with caution and ensure proper maintenance of their vehicles, especially in this rainy season.

Nineteen persons, comprising 13 males and six females, were involved in the incident.

facilities in all schools selected for the first phase of the project.

The statement said another set of schools would be upgraded when the 120 schools are completed.

It added that the proposed overhaul of the schools would improve on the 400 blocks of classrooms rehabilitated by the government in the last two years.

HE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday urged the Federal Government to direct the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to reduce the multi-year tariff structure in the interest of the nation.

The congress also warned against aping of the power reform process elsewhere as well as the corruption the process has caused.

In a statement, titled: These Tariffs Cannot Stand, NLC President Abdulwaheed Omar said the congress was concerned about the incessant and exorbitant review of electricity tariff by the Federal Government.

Omar recalled that “previous year, the charge, which was N225, has been arbitrarily increased to over N700” this year.

The statement noted that the review, whether done suddenly or in advance, was without justification or rationale and should, therefore, be condemned.

The NLC president said the increase negates whatever gains that are expected to be recorded by the reform in the power sector.

Oil marketers to reduce fuel imports over subsidy payment

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FUEL scarcity may be imminent as members of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) have said they would reduce the level of fuel imports following the nonpayment of their subsidies by the government.

MOMAN, which accounts for 45 per cent share of fuel supply market, is being owed N60 billion, excluding accruals from interests on bank loans and exchange

By Emeka Ugwuanyi

rate differentials that also amounted to N5 billion.

MOMAN’s Executive Secretary Obafemi Olawore said the reduction of imports by members of the association has become imperative because of the inability of some members to import.

He said some members, whose names he did not mention, were considering to downsize their work force.

Kogi ACN criticises N20b state loan

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HE Kogi State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) yesterday condemned a Bill allegedly passed by the House of Assembly, authorising the government to take a N20 billion loan.

ACN Chairman, Alhaji Haddy Ametuo, in a state-

From Sanni Onogu, Abuja

ment in Abuja, gave the Assembly two weeks to reverse the decision or face a legal action.

Ametuo said the state was getting enough from the Federation Account to take care of its needs.

Sacked Taraba SSG, others sue govt

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HEsacked Secretary to the Taraba State Government (SSG), Emmanuel Njiwah, five commissioners and two special advisers have approached the state’s High Court to make the government reverse itself on the purported sack.

Acting Governor Garba Umar, last week, announced their sack following their alleged indictment by the House of Assembly, which adopted the report of its investigative committee on the utilisation of flood funds provided by the Federal Government.

The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Kefas Sule, in a statement last Tuesday, said the seven top officials were fired for al-

From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

legedly mismanaging N400 million flood relief funds.

The sacked commissioners are: Anthony Jellason (Agriculture), Rebo Usman (Water Resources and Rural Development), Yakubu Agbaizo (Education), Charity Green (Women Affairs) and Jonah Agyo (Works).

The Special Advisers are: Joshua Augustine (Revenue Matters) and Mannaseh D. Kaura (Boarder Development).

In their suit, the seven sacked officials are seeking a declaration that their purported sack is null and void, and an order setting aside the ad hoc committee’s report of the House of Assembly.

They also want the court

restrain Umar from appointing or forwarding any names to the Assembly for confirmation as public officers replacing them in the public service.

The plaintiffs are praying the court to issue an order compelling the acting governor to tender a written apology to them “for defamatory and/or libellous publication vide the press statement” announcing their sack.

Named with Umar in the suit are: House of Assembly Speaker; the Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee, which investigated the plaintiffs, Tanko Adamu Maikarfi. Others are members of the committee - Edward Baraya, Yahaya Abdulrahman, Ibrahim Adamu Imam and Yohana

Iratsi Adaki.

The plaintiffs are also praying the court to determine whether or not the failure of the ad hoc committee to invite them before it and respond to the allegations levelled against them did not breach their fundamental rights to fair hearing as guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution.

They urged the court to declare that both the Ad Hoc Committee’s report and the resolution passed by the Assembly, as contained in the votes and proceedings of Monday, July 8, were not an indictment.

The plaintiffs also sought a declaration that the report “is null and void for violation of the right to fair hearing” of the plaintiffs.

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

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NEWS Southwest PDP replaces Oyinlola From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

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HE Southwest zone of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has appointed Adewale Oladipo as the Acting National Secretary of the party to fill the position earlier occupied by the former Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

The appointment was announced during the weekend at the extra-ordinary zonal congress of the party held at La Chateau, Awolowo Avenue, Bodija, Ibadan.

At the event, the nomination of Oladipo, a Professor of Environment and Earth Sciences from Ile-Ife, Osun State, was affirmed.

Commenting on the appointment, the Zonal Caretaker Chairman, Ishola Filani, said the development was in obedience to the order of the court, which sacked Oyinlola from office.

In the Court Order through Suit No FHC/ABJ/CS/504/ 2012, the judge among others, directed that “an order is hereby granted directing the third defendant (Independent National Electoral Commission) to rectify the records of the second defendant (PDP) by deleting the name of the first defendant (Oyinlola) as the National Secretary of the second defendant; “And replacing same in accordance with the provision of the constitution of the first defendant with a candidate nominated at a valid congress of the Southwest zone chapter of the first defendant to be held within 21 days of the order of the court.”

Ajimobi, Aregbesola slam Alao-Akala for LAUTECH’s disintegration O YO State Governor Abiola Ajimobi and his Osun State counterpart, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, have described former Oyo State Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala’s resolve to break the joint ownership of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) as “barbaric and senseless”.

They spoke at the weekend in Ogbomoso during the inauguration of the university’s Governing Council.

First to speak was Governor Aregbesola, who said the institution began well in 1990 with the mission of its founding fathers, which was to provide a platform for excellence in academic knowledge that would impact positively on the society.

He went on: “That tempo was sustained as the institution was not only rated as the best state university and one of the best in the country, mutual trust, cooperation and relationship existed among the workers. But when they came to power, they embarked on retroactive and detrimental policies and decisions targeted at disrupting and frustrating the genuine

From Bode Durojaiye, Ogbomoso

desire of the founding fathers, with their planned disintegration.

“They did all within their power to divide us on the altar of greed, avarice, self-centredness and egoistic desires.

The like of them will never come back to desecrate this highly, reputed institution”.

While urging the new Governing Council members to brace themselves to the challenges confronting the institution and ensure sustenance of its enviable records, Governor Aregbesola, who is the Visitor to the university, warned that the country is sitting on a keg of gunpowder waiting to explode if education is not given a special treatment.

Said he: “Our graduates roam the streets without jobs.

Why should we be importing food when there are Faculties of Agriculture and Universities of Agriculture in the country? Why do we have undulating terrain of roads across

the country when there are Faculties of Engineering? For a university to be meaningful, it must have a linkage with the society and contribute meaningfully. The universities, through research and development, transform the society into world-class centres. What are the universities doing to change our decaying infrastructures? How do we reconcile that there are university graduates when towns and villages are eyesores?”

Governor Ajimobi said the decision of Alao-Akala to disintegrate and localise the institution was unthinkable, parochial and ill-motivated.

Said he: “An institution we believe should be a regional one and not a localised one as mooted by shallow-minded and feeble-minded past administration is to say the least disgusting and self-centred. It is intended that LAUTECH will belong to the people of Yoruba race and not for a sectional interest. Former Governor Alao-Akala should have made for musicians’ promoter, rather than involved

in the art of governance that is meant for those who are serious-minded, and whose lifestyles conform with decency”.

The governor added: “It has become imperative for LAUTECH to remain a university reputed for excellence.

“Hence, we have resolved to choose Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the Chancellor. He is a world-class network, whose contribution to national and international growth and development remains unequalled among his contemporaries”.

Hailing the administration of the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Sulaiman Gbadegesin, Governor Ajimobi described him as a “selfless administrator with conscience and one dedicated to taking the university to an enviable height”.

Prof. Gbadegesin said his appointment and those of other principal officers marked “the end of an era in the university when the terrible was becoming horrible and the horrible becoming horrific, as

the institution was bedevilled by what appeared to be an intractable or complex crisis”.

He said with the support of the owner-governors, the story has changed, adding that the university is back on the track of greatness, as evidenced by achievements.

“In view of the emergence of the university from the crisis period, which had caused fundamental upsets in the LAUTECH polity, our administration ripped unbridled politicking, sycophancy, distrust and suspicion that were the order of the day and enthroned due process and enlivened leadership trust, thereby enlisting the cooperation and confidence of the workers and students”.

Governor Ajimobi listed some of the achievements of his administration as completion of a 3,600-seater 100level Science Laboratories for the basic sciences, construction of Glass Blowing Laboratories for the Department of Science Laboratory Technology and the expansion of the ICT facilities to accommodate 2,000 students at a time.

Ekiti to hold free health mission From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

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KITI State Government is to hold a Special Free Health Mission for traditional rulers and their families as well as top traditional chiefs.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government Affairs, who is also the Chairman, Logistics Committee of the Special Free Health Mission, Mr. Ayodeji Ajayi, said this during a visit to the Chairman of the Ekiti State Council of Traditional Rulers, the Owa-Oye of Okemesi Ekiti, Oba Gbadebo Adedeji, in his palace.

He said the programme, tagged: Ilera Laafin, was part of efforts to provide a holistic and comprehensive health care services to the society.

He added that it was designed to improve the health status of traditional rulers and that of their families and chiefs.

Describing free qualitative health care delivery as a vital component of the Fayemi administration’s eight-point agenda, the Permanent Secretary stressed the resolve of the government to use it as an important tool towards achieving medium-term sustainable human development.

He said having recorded successes in providing free medical services for children, expectant mothers, the physically-challenged and the elderly in the last two and a half years, government was opening new frontiers with the Ilera Laafin Special Free Health mission.

•From left: Senators Barnabas Gemade, Babafemi Ojudu, Gbenga Ashafa, Chairman Committee on Works, Ayogu Eze, Mrs Oluremi Tinubu and ViceChairman, Committee on Works, Basheer Mohammed, when the Committee inspected the Third Mainland Bridge, Lagos... at the weekend

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Soyinka to youths: demand right to sound education from leaders

OBEL laureate, Prof.

Wole Soyinka, yesterday urged youths to demand from the leaders, right to sound education and safety if they must enjoy a better future.

He said although adults should bring up the issue of better education and other social services for the children before the government, the responsibility is on youths to “demand and insist on being educated” despite the stifling environment, such as the Boko Haram insurgency and restrictive cultural factors.

Prof. Soyinka spoke in Abeokuta when he received 79 students from across the country, who participated in an essay competition to mark his 79th birthday.

In the essay competition on the topic: ‘Memoirs for our future’, Miss Akinpelu Motolani from Oyo State emerged the winner, Cosmas Adedero from Makurdi came second and Adebisi Oluwatobi from Ibadan clinched the third position.

Hailing the participants, the Nobel laureate said youths should pay attention to the

From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

events around them and draw inspiration from what happened on the floor of the United Nations (UN) recently when a 16-year-old girl from Pakistan mounted the UN podium and addressed the world body, demanding that she and millions of others in her country deserved to be educated as a matter of right even if the system there is averse to it.

Soyinka, who fielded questions from the pupils, said Nigeria faces “a very critical period” and “a very difficult time” because of the growing insurgency of the Boko Haram, particularly the sect’s attack on pupils and schools in the North.

He said the activities of Boko Haram painted a bleak future for youths in that part of the country.

Soyinka went on: “We face a critical time as a nation. It is a very difficult time. How many of you came from Borno State? Is there any of

you, who knows somebody whose school was burnt or who lost friends? In other words, some of your colleagues have experienced the practical impact of the negative things going on there?

“So you see, it is part of what is called growing old very fast.

“I don’t want you to feel bad about it. I don’t want you to think it is too negative or too bleak. But I want you to look at the positive aspect of life, your intellectual development, your education and cultural development because something significant is going on at the world stage.

“Very remarkable, something very pertinent to you, which to me portends the face of the future and not what is happening around you here.

“The true positive face of the future of the world. That event took place at the United Nations and was witnessed by leaders, ministers, functionaries, non-government organisations (NGOs) and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki

Moon. The Assembly was addressed by a 16-year-old girl. I think what was her history?

“She was shot in the face by those people we are talking about, the Afghanistan version of Boko Haram.

Those who don’t want children and youths to be educated. People who believe that a woman’s place is in the kitchen. They go to schools, set them ablaze, kill pupils as well as teachers.

“When you see an individual standing before a world body and demanding what is being denied, saying no matter what happens, we need education, you should know there is a ray of hope because you are not a complete human being if you are not educated.

“It is symbolic and historic because she was making a practical demand and those demands are being listened to. Some were moved to tears. She knows she has got satisfaction, certainly the leaders would act and the

world body would act.

“This is what I want you to take away. No matter what, when we adults say you attend schools with full security, you the children, as young as you are, must also stand up, demand and insist on your right to education from the governors and the President”.

He said he never came out of the university with a thirdclass as was believed by many, adding that even if he had graduated with just a mere pass, which he referred to as “let my people go,” he would still have attained the height he has reached today.

He urged youths to define themselves and not allow others do so for them so as to realise their potential.

Governor Ibikunle Amosun described Prof. Soyinka as a “citizen of the world,” who attained that feat by dint of hard work, focus and commitment to his chosen path.

He enjoined youths to emulate him, saying if they remained studious, focused and dedicated, they would reach a greater height.

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

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NEWS Osun launches N14.5b Oba Adesoji Aderemi Way

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SUN State Government at the weekend launched the N14.5 billion East Byepass road named after the former governor of the defunct Western Region and Ooni of Ife, the late Oba Adesoji Aderemi, in Osogbo.

The road, awarded to a Nigerian-Turkish construction company, Messrs Slava Yeditepe, is expected to be completed in 12 months.

The launch of the 18kilometre road was attended by top government functionaries, including Governor Rauf Aregbesola, his deputy, Mrs. Grace Titi LaoyeTomori, Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti and the governor’s Chief of Staff, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola.

Others are the Deputy Speaker, House of Assembly, Mr. Akintunde Adegboye, the Head of Service, Mr. Sunday Owoeye, the Chairman, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Osun State, Elder Adebiyi Adelowo, members of the state Executive Council and traditional rulers.

The Gbongan-Akoda dual carriage road, where work has started, was launched on June 10.

Aregbesola said the preoccupation of his administration was the improvement of the socio-economic, infrastructural development and the well-being of the people.

He said: “This is why in the last two and a half years our government has attended to the modernisation of roads.”

Aregbesola said road infrastructure is a crucial element of the development efforts of his administration to take the state to an enviable height.

He said the road could be referred to as a circumferen-

From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

tial highway starting from the roundabout on Iwo Road, passing through Ofatedo to Ataoja Grammar School, through Ilesa Road and ending at Osogbo Stadium Roundabout.

“The project will feature building of new culverts, three bridges, concrete side drainage and retaining walls, pavement surface and marking, construction of railway underpass, building of interchange and provision of street light,” the governor added.

According to him, bad roads have been the bane of development efforts, which explains why roads in the state have suffered neglect under previous administrations.

Aregbesola said when considering what is lost as a result of bad roads in terms of human lives and material resources, it is better to imagine what the people will stand to gain if and when roads are put in a good shape.

He said the cost-benefit analysis had been a major driving force behind the government’s commitment to modernising roads.

His words: “The depth of our commitment to road transformation is evident in the fact that our state is now a massive road construction site. We are constructing, reconstructing and rehabilitating roads.

“Our aim is to make Osun a state that will have one of the best and most modern road infrastructure in the country.

“The East Bypass is a dual carriageway that will be built to meet high standard in

•From left: Deputy Governor Mrs. Laoye-Tomori; Governor Aregbesola; Secretary to the State Government Alhaji Adeoti; Special Adviser to the Governor on Works and Transport, Mr. Amuda; Director, Slava-Yeditepe Construction Group, Ersin Oktem; and representative of the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mrs Omolori, at the launch...at the weekend

modern road construction. It will be constructed with two asphaltic surface layers and 40mm binder with 30mm wearing.”

The governor urged the construction company to meet the completion date and adhere to the specified standard.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Works and Transport, Sabitu Amuda, an engineer, said besides being a standard two-lane dual carriageway of 7.30m width, the road also has features, such as a walkway, lay-byes and bus stops, street light, road verges landscapes and traffic signs.

Prince Aderohunmu Adesoji, on behalf of the fam-

ily, thanked Aregbesola for immortalising his father. He described the project as unique, special and an historical landmark.

Prince Adesoji hailed the governor for recognising the achievements of the late Sir Adesoji Aderemi in the then Western Region and Nigeria.

Said he: “We thank the governor for taking this bold step. No government in the

past 22 years has taken such step. That we still have leaders like Aregbesola, who remember heroes in this country, is amazing. His gesture will encourage more people to serve their state and country. We are appreciative of what he has done.”

Mrs. Grace Omolori, who represented the Managing Director of Yeditepe, said the company was proud to be

part of Aregbesola’s achievements.

She promised speedy completion of the project, adding that the road would be built to world standard.

According to her, by December the first phase of the road would be opened to users, adding that the August 2014 completion date would be met.

Akeredolu urges Supreme Court to nullify Ondo poll

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HE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and its governorship candidate

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

in Ondo State, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), have filed an appeal at the Supreme Court against the judgment of the Court of Appeal sitting in Akure, which upheld the election of Governor Olusegun Mimiko.

ACN counsel Titiloye Charles, confirmed the filing of the appeal at the weekend.

The Appeal Court dismissed the ACN’s petition on the grounds that the appellants had not proved how the illegal injection of 100,725 names by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) into the voter register affected the October 20, 2012 election.

It ruled that the finding of the lower tribunal that the appellants were aware of the illegal injection was perverse and that the voter register was not a pre-election matter and the tribunal wrongly declined jurisdiction.

In the notice of appeal before the Supreme Court, which is based on 13 grounds, the appellants (ACN and Akeredolu) complained that the learned appellate justices erred in law when they held that the appellants failed to prove how non-compliance of the voter register used for the election with the Electoral Act affected the result of the election.

They said the lower court’s findings that the voter register used for the election did not comply with the statutory requirement rendered unnecessary any proof of how the

•Akeredolu

non-compliance affected the result of the election; and the effect of the said ruling before the Court of Appeal is that there is no valid voter register for the election.

The appellants said there was sufficient witness evidence before the court to prove that the non-compliance affected the result of the election.

ACN and Akeredolu said the learned appellate justices erred in law when they ruled that the appellants did not show how the judgment appealed had occasioned substantial or miscarriage of justice when the appellate court in its judgment found many miscarriages of justice and injustice suffered by the appellants, which made the tribunal dismiss their petition.

They prayed the Supreme Court to nullify the governorship election held in Ondo State and order a fresh poll based on a valid voter register.

The appeal was filed by 52 lawyers led by Chief Akin Olujimi, SAN, Oladipo Okpeseyi, SAN, Lasun Sanusi, SAN and Oluwole Aina Esq.

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THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

NEWS

PDP chief urges court to set aside judgment

OAU Post-UMTE: 44 candidates of 12,200 score above 300

•Interpol: Businessman not indicted

P

EOPLES Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain in Ogun State Prince Buruji Kashamu has urged the Court of Appeal, Lagos, to set aside its judgment delivered on July 2 regarding an attempt to extradite him to the United States by the Federal Government.

He said the judgment was “delivered without jurisdiction” because the panel’s integrity was questioned.

The Notice of Motion, filed on July 10, was brought pursuant to sections 6 (6) and 36 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended); Order 7, Rule 1 of the Court of Appeal Rules 2011, and the court’s inherent jurisdiction.

Kashamu said while the appeal was pending, a petition was written accusing the panel of justices of alleged compromise in another appeal. He (Kashamu) was accused of being behind the petition.

Following the development, Kashamu said he wrote a separate petition urging the court to constitute an independent panel to hear pending appeals involving him.

“In spite of the aforestated petition of the respondent /applicant alleging likelihood of bias against the Lagos Division of this court, and without awaiting the outcome of the said petition written to the President of the Court of Ap-

‘There must be equity in Rivers’ A GROUP, Affirmative Bloc for Credible Democracy, (ABCD) has urged the political elite in Rivers State to ensure equity, fairness and justice ahead of the 2015 governorship election.

In a statement by its spokespersons, Alatubu Charles Harry and Ikay Thomas Amadi, the group pleaded with the people to ensure that the rotational formular for the office of the governor was retained.

The group said: “ This is the only way to foster peaceful co-existence and engender unity, equity, fairness and effectively manage the vexed issue of Upland/Riverine dichotomy in the allocation and distribution of political offices in the state.

“Anything short of this public expectation would have given an unfair advantage to the Upland Areas judging from the current political realities in the state. For them, the implication is that the Riverine Areas will be kept out of the governor’s office for an unbroken 24 years if the Riverine people are unable to produce the next governor. “

School celebrates prize-giving day ALL is set for the eighth edition of Havillah Private Schools prize-giving day and end-of-the-year party. It is billed to hold at The Next Car Wash, Arepo Ogun State on Friday.

In a statement by the proprietress, Mrs. Fakeyede Y.O.,”this year’s celebration will be gracious”.

By Joseph Jibueze

peal, a hearing notice was sent out fixing hearing for April 18.”

Interpol documents have shown that Kashamu was not indicted in a fraud enquiry initiated by a Republic of Benin bank.

The Interpol, in a March 4, 2008 letter made available by Kashamu, said Banque Internationale du Benin accused the businessman of serving as chief guarantor for loans running into over N600 million but diverted the fund.

Interpol, in its findings, said it established that Kashamu took the loans and had cause

to default payment, which made the interest shoot up thus leading to a litigation, which Kashamu's company won.

Interpol said: " Contrary to the allegation, the suspect was not found to have engaged in fraudulent/clandestine activities as all records were checked both local and internationally and all our probes were returned negative. The suspect was never declared wanted or convicted either in Nigeria or anywhere in the world.

"No single evidence of criminality was submitted by the bank and none was established by the police during our investigation. "

•Prof. Omole

T

HE hope of many aspiring undergraduates of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife was dashed

yesterday, as the institution announced that only 44 candidates of the 12,200, who sat for the Post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) on Saturday, scored above 300.

5,691 others scored 200 and above. 6,465 candidates scored less than 200.

A statement by the school’s spokesman Mr Abiodun Olarewaju in Osogbo yesterday said Durotoluwa Olanrewaju, who applied to study Chemical Engineering, had the highest score of 332. Soile

Adetola, an intending Medical student, scored 327.

Two candidates, Odimayo Moses and Nafiu Oluwadamilare, who applied to study Electrical and Electronics Engineering, scored 323 each.

The statement quoted the university’s Vice-Chancellor Prof. Bamitale Omole as commending the candidates who scored 300 and above.

It advised candidates who took part in the screening to check their results on the university’s website or where each candidate registered.

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

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CITYBEATS

CITYBEATS LINE: 07059022999

Bank auditor murdered at dawn

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AST Thursday, 40-year-old Ayokunle Oluwagbemiga Ojo, an auditor with the Bank of Industry (BOI), Marina, Lagos, dressed himself in blue suit and shirt to match. He was ready for his usual daily trip to his office.

After the day's work, he had on his schedule, an official trip to Badagry and a training in Ghana at the week end.

At 5.50 am, he stepped out of his Galilee Avenue, Eliot, Iju Ishaga home, leaving his wife, Omolara to prepare their three sons for school.

He had promised to call and furnish his wife with information regarding the Badagry trip. Sadly, all that never happened.

"That was the last I heard of him. I was still taking care of the children when I heard gunshots, at exactly 6.02 am. I didn't imagine my husband would be affected because he left just ten minutes earlier. Later, I heard knocks on our door," Omolara recounted yesterday, sobbing.

The visitors came with terrifying news that sent her off-balance: Her husband had been shot by some unknown assailants - about 30 meters from their home!

Eyewitnesses, it was learnt, later recounted what led to Ayokunle's shooting to his elder sister, Deacon-

after he was shot, some sympathisers summoned the courage to ascertain what was happening. A community leader saw him in a pool of blood and raised the alarm. The police were called. A police team led by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) Ajimuda Olatunji, hit the scene. Already unconscious, Ayokunle was taken to Ancillary Hospital, Iju, where he was pronounced dead.

Deaconess Olajusi, who said she was alerted with a phone call by a relative, explained: "When I got to his

By Seun Akioye house, where I was told they needed ess Nike Olajusi. me at the hospital. I was shocked.

According to them, when he At the hospital, I discovered he was stepped out of his house, some uni- shot in the head; there was so much dentified men in black coat accosted blood on him." him. The men reportedly demanded Yesterday, his neighbours at the his laptop and he replied that he left Galilee Avenue were still in shock. it in his office the previous night. For the fact that the area had been Then, they asked for his bag, and the crime-free in recent times, many beIkere-Ekiti-born Ayokunle won- lieved it was an assassination. "This dered why they needed his bag. is not an ordinary robbery; this hired "Then, the men, I was told, threat- killing," a resident said. ened to kill him. They encircled him.

His widow said her husband They were said to have shouted a handled a debt recovery for his bank name - 'Mopol' - and a man came out that week, leading to the arrest and of hiding and shot into the air to scare detention of certain persons. The late away passersby. Then, Ayokunle Ayokunle was said to have expressed was shot in the head and the men worries about the case. escaped with his bag and mobile "My husband did not fight with phone set," Deaconess Olajusi said. anyone. Before he left, he promised The Nation learnt that immediately to notify me if he would be going to Badagry that day. He was always very helpful; no one could ever say anything bad about him," she said.

However, a source at the Iju Police Station (Red House) said the police were working on several theories with a view to unraveling his killers.

"This is unusual, but we won’t leave any stone unturned. We cannot conclude about the motive yet, but we are working on several theories. I can confirm to you that the crime rate here has greatly reduced due to our zero tolerance stance on crimes.

And when we have isolated cases like this, we will get to their bottom," the source told The Nation.

The deceased was said to have moved into his

‘The men threatened to kill him ... he was shot in the head and the men escaped with his bag and mobile phone set’

• The late Ayokunle

own house last December, while he became an Assistant Manager at the BOI earlier this year. "We don't understand what could have caused this; his colleagues have been coming here. We are not certain if it has to do with his work," a relative said.

Meanwhile, residents and associates are mourning the murder of the “peaceful and generous man.” Yesterday, prayer warriors from the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) held fervent prayers against his killers. His widow sat in sobriety, her eyes half-closed. Their three

children - aged 10, 6 and 4 years seemed unaware of what had befallen them.

A resident, Rasheed Moshood, a commercial motorcycle rider, told The Nation: "The man (Ayokunle) was good. He would always give me money anytime I had an opportunity to carry him. His killers must be found. They won’t rest until they are caught and brought to justice."

"His killers went away with his phone. We called it that day; nobody responded. Later that night, it went dead," Omolara said.

Four ‘pipeline vandals’ held

F

OUR suspected pipeline vandals have been arrested by operatives of the Inspector General of Police Special Task Force on AntiPipeline Vandalism, Force Headquarters Annex, Lagos.

The suspects - Ismailia Adetoro, 40; Raufu Odoniyi, 39; Oyedeji Salim, 22, and Tobi Olalekan, 25, were arrested at Sagamu, Ogun State.

It was learnt that a truck marked XP453SMK, containing 33,000 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), was also impounded.

Assistant Commissioner (ACP) Friday Ibadin, who is in charge of the Task Force, said that on June 27, that there were reports that the suspects were siphoning petroleum products

•The suspected vandals ... yesterday

By Jude Isiguzo, Police Affairs Correspondent

from the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) pipelines.

Policemen, led by Sector Commander Onaghise Osayande, he said, hit the scene and arrested the suspects, while they were about to leave the spot after loading their

truck.

"Ismailia, popularly known as "commissioner," had been on our "wanted list." Investigations revealed that while he was assisting the police to track down vandals, he was also actively involved in pipeline vandalism," Ibadin said.

Ismailia said he went back into the crime when police failed to review his compensa-

tion as their informant, adding: "The truth is that I am a family man with so many responsibilities. My vulcanizing business was no longer booming; this was why I decided to reconsider going back to the same business."

Olalekan, who pleaded for mercy, said he was lured into the business because of the easy money accruing from it.

'Lagos has planted over 4.6m trees'

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AGOS State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola, yesterday said that over 4.6 million trees had been planted across the state in the last six years to tackle the problem of climate change.

He spoke at this year's Tree Planting Campaign held at the Total Filling Station, Mangoro in the Agege Local Government Area of the state.

Fashola said his administration had in 2008, when it launched the campaign, proposed to plant at least one

By Miriam Ekene-Okoro and Adebisi Onanuga

million trees in 10 years. He said the target was exceeded in the first two years, adding: "This was made possible because the people embraced the initiative … we will continue till our environment, our heritage and collective property are restored."

He said the heavy flood that affected many states last year did not affect Lagos, adding: "It was not by coincidence; it was a result of our collective efforts at preserving nature to

prevent her wrath".

"Through my brother governor in Borno State, we also brought in about 1000 seedling from India, which we are planting today," Fashola added.

He said this year's theme, "Green Is Peace," was in recognition of the fact that the absence of trees, "is a threat to the survival of all creatures that depend on oxygen."

Commissioner for the Environment, Mr Tunji Bello, said tree planting was one of the remedies deployed by the state government to combat

the menace of erosion and other ecological problems.

He added that the Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency (LASPARK) was established to advance the cause of sustainable environment in the state.

The event also featured presentations by students as well as award presentations to winners of "Me and My Tree" competition.

Also, the state Chief Judge, Justice Ayotunde Phillips, led other judges of the High Court to mark the occasion at its premises in Ikeja.

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

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CITYBEATS

CITYBEATS LINE: 07059022999

Detained ‘gay pastor’ regains freedom

Police kill five robbery suspects ... after they murdered two policemen

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•My brother is innocent, says suspect's sister

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OR five days, an Imo State-based pastor was in police cell before he regained his freedom last week. He was said to have had sex with a 13-year-old boy.

The pastor, simply identified as Chinagoro, was detained at the Oyigbo Police Station, Rivers State, before his release, following a controversial truce.

He allegedly committed the offence in the Mbesie Local Government Area of Imo State. The suspect, it was learnt, oversees a Healing Prayer Ministry, where victim was serving him.

The boy, Destiny, a talented drummer, has long lost his father. He was living in Omuahia with his mother before they relocated to Port Harcourt, where the pastor visited one of his sisters and offered to assist Destiny because of his family's poor condition.

In his statement at the police station, Destiny said: "The pastor was making love to me and other children in the anus after stripping us naked."

He said he left the suspect's home and reported the matter to his mother because he was always recording their affairs with one of his phone sets. He also said he usually heard strange noise at night after the act.

At the police station, the second day after the pastor's arrest, a pregnant lady, who identified him as her brother, told this reporter: "The police arrested my brother af-

From Precious Dikewoha, Port Harcourt

ter Destiny accused him of committing homosexual affair with him. But I don't think my brother could do such thing.

"It was in my house that my brother (the suspect) met Destiny and decided to help him out of their family's misery and took him to Imo State where his ministry is located. He has been running his ministry for years and nobody has accused him of any wrong doing."

The station's Divisional Police Officer (DPO), simply identified as Mr Joseph, confirmed that the matter was reported there, saying that it was still under investigation. He asked this reporter to come back last Friday for details.

Following the DPO's directive, his Divisional Crime Officer (DCO), Mr Harrison, briefed the reporter, saying that lawyers of the suspect and the victim, including his mother, had agreed to make peace."

However, the victim’s mother said: "It is the police that forced me to accept. The suspect has already made confession about his atrocities and that was why I hired a lawyer.

"To my greatest surprise, my lawyer changed overnight as soon as she met with the police that was how the issue of peace started. I was not in support of that initially, but as a poor woman, I have no option than to let go."

Senator empowers 823 traders PETTY traders in about 20 communities in Lagos smiled on Saturday when the lawmaker representing Lagos East Senatorial District in the Senate, Gbenga Ashafa, gave them 823 bags of rice.

The traders who engage in small-scale businesses in five Local Government areas benefitted from the largesse. Food vendors also got aprons.

The Head of Research and Development, Ashafa's Constituency Office, Mr Sulaiman Elegbede, said the gesture was for those who lacked wherewithal to sustain their businesses in the communities, adding that the beneficiaries were cho-

By Wale Ajetunmobi

sen based on a survey.

Speaking Ashafa said the gesture was based on his discovery that many petty traders and food vendors, who had challenges with capital to improve their businesses, were increasing, saying the donation was another way of empowering the needy and touching the lives of the downtrodden in his district.

He assured that very soon, more communities would be considered."

Mrs Abigael Ogunsanya, Mrs Iyabo Ayuba and other beneficiaries expressed gratitude to the lawmaker, saying the gesture would improve their living standard.

Companies warned against pollution AN ultimatum has been issued to iron and steel companies operating in Lagos State to reduce pollution in their premises or face stiffer sanctions.

The General Manager, Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), Mr Rasheed Shabi, gave the warning when he met with over 20 representatives of such companies in his office.

He said government would no longer compromise on enforcing emission reduction laws in line with its commitment to protecting the lives of residents.

Shabi, an engineer, said the mission of his agency for the

By Yinka Aderibigbe

year, is to reduce pollution emission emanating from the steel sector by 25 per cent, adding that he would stop at nothing to achieve the aim.

He said besides smoke, some companies were in the habit of releasing heavily polluted waste water into their areas, which ultimately pollutes the environment.

Shabi, who wondered why the companies made a habit of not complying with the state's policies, advised them to sort out their scraps before putting them in the furnace to prevent smoke that could pollute the environment.

‘The pastor was making love to me and other children in the anus after stripping us naked’ She added: "The police have paid the bill for the treatment of my son's anus, but my annoyance is that the doctor who had been cooperating with me have suddenly changed.

"My lawyer told me that I would be compensated with

•Chinagoro

N100, 000 on Sunday, but the meeting scheduled between the suspect, my lawyer and the police could not hold because the suspect was indisposed."

However, The Nation learnt that the suspect may have another problem awaiting him as parents of another "victim" were poised to fight him.

HE operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), led by Superintendent of Police (SP) Abba Kyari, yesterday killed five armed robbery suspects after they allegedly murdered two police officers on Lagos Island and Ajao Estate.

The suspects, police sources said, first operated on Lagos Island at about 3.30pm, killing a police officer, after which they stormed Ajao Estate where they killed another policeman and ransacked some buildings and a warehouse.

Promptly, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, Umar Manko, ordered that the suspects be arrested.

This prompted men of the Kyari-led team to lay ambush at various spots.

An exchange of gunfire was said to have ensued between the bandits and the policemen.

By Ebele Boniface

"The robbers operated with a Honda Odyssey vehicle marked DL249 FST in which four of them were shot dead.

Their leader, Godogodo and two others, escaped. When his second-in-command, Gasiu Mental, attempted to escape, Kyari shot him and he was arrested.

He later died on the way to the hospital after he had confessed that his gang leader sustained fatal bullet injuries," said a police source.

The SARS operatives recovered their vehicle in which they discovered two automatic pump-action rifles, four pistols and one revolver. Goods, including cartons of blackberry phones, Iphone and Samsung phones, among others, were also found in the vehicle.

Police spokesperson, Deputy Superintendent (DSP) Ngozi Braide confirmed the incident.

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

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NEWS RAMADAN KAREEM

SOLAT TIME (Abuja) Fajr Zuhr Asr Magrib Ishai

– 4:55 – 12:36 – 4:01 – 6:54 – 8:08

am pm pm pm pm

(Sokoto) Fajr Zuhr Asr Magrib Ishai

– 5:04 – 12:50 – 4:14 – 7:12 – 8:26

(Enugu) am pm pm pm pm

Fajr Zuhr Asr Magrib Ishai

– 5:01 – 12:37 – 4:02 – 6:50 – 8:03

Ramadan 6th, 1434AH am pm pm pm pm (Source: Islamicfinder.org)

Fashola: Gawat is not dead AGOS State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN), has assured millions of Muslims that the popular ace broadcaster and presenter of Eji Sari programme on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA 10), Alhaji Rasak Aremu Gawat, is not dead.

Fashola, who spoke in Yoruba language yesterday during Alhaji Kafaru Oluwole Tinubu Memorial Ramadan Lecture at the LTV Blue Roof, Ikeja, debunked the rumour that Lagos Police Command has closed Gawat’s case. He said government and police authority are still working on the missing presenter’s case.

Gawat was declared missing by the police on July 11 last year after his Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) was found on the Apongbon Bridge a night earlier.

“On our missing brother,

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•From feft: Mrs Fashola; widow of the late Alhaji Kafaru Tinubu, Alhaja Bintu-Fatimah Tinubu; Governors Ajimobi and Fashola and son of the late Kafaru Tinubu, Mr Jubril Wale Tinubu at the event ... yesterday.

By Tajudeen Adebanjo

Alhaji Rasak Aremu Gawat, I pray God let us see him. We do not believe he is dead until we see his body. We remain positive that until they find him, we are hopeful that he is still alive and investigations are continuing. We are still working on his case. His case file has not been closed. I pray God continues to

RAMADAN GUIDE WITH FEMI ABBAS e-mail: femabbas@yahoo.com Tel: 08122697498

Problem of Tafsir

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T is understandable that most of the Tafsir books available in the world today are in Arabic language. The language of the revelation of the Qur’an is Arabic. Most of the disciples of Prophet Muhammad (PBOH) who interacted closely with him and were privileged to deeply understand, through him, the interpretation of the Qur’an were Arabs.

Arabic itself is exceptionally rich linguistically and literarily.

And for centuries after the revelation of the Qur’an it was mostly the Arabs who assumed authority on its interpretation. Others, like the Persians (Iranians), the Indians and the Turks who tried to compete with the Arabs in that field, could only do so in Arabic language which they first had to learn as a second language.

Thus, from the very beginning, Arabic had been the authoritative language of Tafsir. Whoever wanted to attain scholarship in the field of Tafsir ought to master Arabic. But the anomaly in that becomes very conspicuous when one remembers that over four fifth of the world’s Muslims today are non-Arabic speakers.

This anomaly seems to be creating some hurdles for humanity in understanding the practical meaning of the Qur’an and in appreciating its real essence.

There is nothing like being literate in one’s mother tongue.

The Arabs have demonstrated this abundantly through Tafsir.

But since Tafsir of the Qur’an is not meant for the Arabs alone, shouldn’t there be a means of making it available to majority of Muslims in the languages understandable to them?

That is one major question which the global Muslim leadership was not able to answer for centuries but which technology has come to answer succinctly in the name of internet. Any Muslim scholar who is not computer literate today is therefore and illiterate who is not qualified to be called a scholar.

In this computer age, the world needs the Qur’an more than ever before. And it is only Tafsir that can justify that need. Muslims and non-Muslims alike should be able to read the interpretations of the Qur’an in languages other than Arabic. More on Tafsir tomorrow.

be with his wife and family,” he said.

The Lagos State Governor emphasised good parenting and an upright family units as the most viable means to achieve an orderly and peaceful society devoid of violence and other social ills.

He said good parenting and family management would always produce good citizens who constitute nations, states and governments.

His words: “The family unit is the most important unit in any community, in any state, in any country. I think that is where the first government really starts; from the father, mother, husband, wife, through management of limited resources and population to value development, all these have their rudimentary stages at the family unit.

“Moral training, restraint, contentment and what other knowledge we can impact on the children will go a long way in shaping their lives. Those are children who become great or difficult men and women, as the case may be,” the governor said.

“As we agonise about the challenges of insecurity and other societal ills,” Fashola said, “we must understand that those who make us insecure were born like every child many years ago. So it is for us, parents to go back and discharge our own part of the responsibility to manage our family through good parenting as a lifelong responsibility”.

“It is good parenting that breeds great citizens and when you have great citizens, you have great countries, great states and great local govern-

ments. I believe we should talk to ourselves as parents and guardians so as to know where it all started and where it has left us”.

Referring to an earlier lecture on security given on the occasion, Governor Fashola said, “the guest lecturers spoke about kidnappers, robbers and bombers, I don’t think any of them was born to be robbers, kidnappers or bombers. I know that when these children were born, everyone was rejoicing with their parents”.

He noted that the way and manner families that constitute any community or society is would depict the type of government that community or society would have, adding: “If the government of the family is good, it will make things better for the local government, the state and the Federal Gov-

ernment”.

“Conversely, if a child starts to throw bombs here and there, it shows that the family from which that child comes is completely bad. There is a lot to do both in the family, the local; governments, the states and the Federal Government so as to ensure that we secure the state and the nation”, he said.

Among those present were Governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, who chaired the occasion, Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji his Oyo State counterpart Monsurat Sunmonu; Fashola’s wife, Dame Emmanuella Abimbola Fashola, members of the Tinubu Family including its Matriarch, Alhaji Bintu- Fatima Tinubu, Muslim clerics and scholars as well as faithful and top government functionaries.

Sultan urges Muslim scholars on publications

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HE Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar, has urged Muslim scholars to publish books that would be beneficial to Muslims in understanding their religion.

He gave the advice in Zaria at the launching of a book “Fasting, according to Islamic Law.” The book is 200 pages with

25 chapters and five sections. It is written in Hausa and English languages.

“The book focuses on fasting in Islam and is a good attempt at propagating the injunctions of Islam. I am urging our brothers and sisters to write similar books,” Sultan said.

Executive Secretary, Jamaatul Nasrul Islam (JNI), Sheikh Khalid Aliyu, said Ramadan is a special period for all Muslims, add-

ing: “It is a period where every Muslim strives to get closer to Allah through acts of devotions including recitation of Qur’an, observing supererogatory prayers, giving out alms and selfrenewal among others.”

Another guest, Sheikh Sheriff Ibrahim Saleh, said Muslims must ensure that they keep the month of fasting pure.

Director-General of the National Teachers Institute (NTI),

Dr Aminu Ladan Sharehu said, the event was like an introduction of the book to major stakeholders in Islam, saying the Sultan would decide when the book would be publicly launched.

The book among others, dealt with Islamic laws guiding the month of Ramadan and fasting, rules and injunctions guiding fasting and things to do after fasting.

Pray for peace, lawmakers urge Muslims

M

USLIMS have been advised to use the period of fasting to pray for peace in the country.

House of Representatives for Ikeja Federal Constituency, James Faleke; his counterpart from Oshodi-Isolo Federal Constituency II, Hakeem Muniru; and member, Lagos State House of Assembly for Lagos Island

State Constituency II, Wahab Alawiye-King; said this in their messages to the people.

"This is a special period for our Muslim brothers and sisters and while congratulating them for witnessing another Ramadan, I urge them to use the opportunity to pray for peace to reign in our country," Faleke said.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Anti-Corruption, Ethics and National Values said Muslims should move closer to God and pray for the country to surmount its security and other challenges.

Muniru enjoined Muslims to use the period to share love and extend hands of fellowship to others.

"It is a season of love sharing, hence we should extend the hand of fellowship to others especially the less-privileged in the society," he said.

Alawiye-King said the lessprivileged should be given sense of belonging by drawing them closer through empowerment programmes that would alleviate their suffering and poverty.

RAMADAN DIET Abu Huraira related that the Prophet Muhammad said: Allah the Majestic and Exalted said: "Every deed of man will receive ten to 700 times reward, except Siyam (fasting), for it is for Me and I shall reward it (as I like). There are two occasions of joy for one who fasts: one when he breaks the fast and the other when he will meet his Lord" (Muslim).

Sponsored by HON. ABDULRASHEED ABIODUN & ALHAJA OYEDOYIN MAFE, Chairman, Mosan-Okunola LCDA, Lagos

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COMMENTARY FROM OTHER LANDS

EDITORIALS

Egypt’s uncertain future

Time to make it happen • It is time for govt to find the will to end the flaring of associated gas

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HE chilling story is one that Nigerians are by now familiar with: the country loses $1.7 billion (N272 billion) yearly to the underdevelopment, underutilisation and flaring of its gas resources. The statistics goes like this: out of the 8.0 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) production, only 6.5 bcfd is utilised, leaving the balance of 1.4 bcfd flared. The tally of the daily loss of revenue at the ruling price of $3.50/1000scf comes to a princely $4.8 million, or N789 million.

In a nation where an estimated 70 percent of the population live below $2 a day, the quantum of loss to the practice is, to put it mildly, scandalous.

But that is not the only reason why the flaring of associated gas is unacceptable.

It is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions with their deleterious effects on the environment. The practice explains why Nigeria ranks second only to Russia in global notoriety among the countries emitting greenhouse gases.

We acknowledge that some progress has been made as far as the efforts to contain the environmental menace go. Two years ago, the amount of gas flared was 2.5 bcf. Thanks to the aggressive gas development activities aimed at boosting domestic gas utilisation, the amount has since come down to 1.4 bcfd. Of course, the Federal Government continues to maintain the existing “harsh” penalty regime of $3.5/1000 to discourage oil com-

panies from flaring associated gas.

The point remains that gas flaring has persisted despite government’s avowal to end the practice. Merely from the lessons of the past, the penalty regime has clearly failed to end the practice. So have the flare-out dates imposed by government, against strident objections by oil companies. The administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo actually fixed 2008 as the flare-out target date, with threats to shut down any offending oil wells after that date. Even the National Assembly later came up with its own date of 2010.

The two floundered because the government couldn’t find the will to drive them through; the result is that the oil companies are left in their comfort zone of paying penalties as against investing in gas development.

At this time, the issue of gas flaring should not be open for further debate.

Clearly, the option of penalties for flaring associated gas is a false choice imposed only in the context of an assumed exigency of a time. That exigency, if it existed at all, has since been overtaken by the fact of significant developments in the sector.

We are aware, for instance, that substantial progress has been made to address some of the concerns raised by the oil companies. The issue of gas pricing has been substantially addressed; even the development of ancillary infrastruc-

ture to take in the captured gas is well on course. The same goes for the framework for gas development and utilisation; they are being systematically overhauled.

These and other developments ought to have afforded the oil companies enough time to think up their options to end the flares.

Given what we have seen of the obduracy of the oil companies on the subject in recent years, we are under no illusion that they would, on their own, put out the flares; in other words, they must be forced to. Fortunately, the trend in the last few years during which the emissions have gone down by half shows that it is doable. It is time for government to finally make it happen.

‘Given what we have seen of the obduracy of the oil companies on the subject in recent years, we are under no illusion that they would, on their own, put out the flares; in other words, they must be forced to. Fortunately, the trend in the last few years during which the emissions have gone down by half shows that it is doable. It is time for government to finally make it happen’

Fake imports •SON should do more to stop the illicit business

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HE Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) definitely needs to do more in its drive to ensure that only quality merchandises are available in the country. The organisation recently destroyed seized contraband reportedly worth not less than N2billion. This was the first of its kind this year under the organisation’s zero tolerance policy.

The burnt imports included several packs of cigarettes, consumable products, cables, electronics, other household equipment and assorted tyres. The substandard goods were reportedly intercepted and impounded by the agency at border posts, markets and warehouses within and outside Lagos State. In addition, the agency has also reportedly sealed over 50 firms involved in inimical

‘But why did it take SON over half of year 2013 before coming up with this action? This is something that should be a routine exercise and not a one-off thing because the quantity of fake products in the nation’s markets is by far more than what SON is gleefully showcasing. If the organisation is adept at its job ... such an act should be a quarterly action to serve a note of admonition to unscrupulous elements who still engage in the illicit business’

businesses, and discovered that 80 per cent of the substandard products are illegally imported from China SON’s Bede Obayi, Head of Enforcement and Compliance at the Sagamu, Ogun State dumpsite where the 15- truck loaded goods were destroyed said: “We are not taking the issue of contraband very lightly. We must fight against this scourge and will never tolerate importation of substandard products…Our zero tolerance to substandard products is still in force….”

But why did it take SON over half of year 2013 before coming up with this action? This is something that should be a routine exercise and not a one-off thing because the quantity of fake products in the nation’s markets is by far more than what SON is gleefully showcasing. If the organisation is adept at its job, without its staff’s undue collusion with smugglers, such an act should be a quarterly action to serve a note of admonition to unscrupulous elements who still engage in the illicit business.

The situation where the country, for decades now runs an import-dependent economy with the shameful record of being the highest consumer of substandard products in Africa is pathetically sad. Most of the importers, due to the craze for imported items by Nigerians that hardly bother about the composition of, and expiry dates on such goods, and the loose regulations and enforcement strategy in place, have derived an insatiable proclivity for importing and dump-

ing substandard products in the country. Most importers even have the effrontery of telling foreign manufacturers to lower standard in order to cut costs to maximise their gains - and usually with telling effects on local industries.

The time has come for Nigerians to start having confidence in products manufactured in the land in order to boost the economy, employment and improve productivity. SON has a leading role to play in this regard by ensuring that high quality goods are manufactured in, and where necessary, imported into the country. Despite the deleterious effects of fake products on human health, we know that it will be difficult to dissuade the people from purchasing them for two reasons: If inferior goods are predominantly the most accessible and cheapest in the markets and: If no punishment is inflicted on perpetrators of the heinous act that rob consumers of value for money.

More disgusting is that the agency has not been able to prosecute any of the offenders ingrained in the perpetuation of these criminal acts. The excuse of not having an enabling law by SON is unacceptable since the Criminal Code should come handy, pending when the National Assembly passes its Enforcement Bill before it into law. Also, we call for further tightening of the nation’s borders to prevent the influx of fake products into the country.

– The killing of dozens of Morsi supporters deepens the crisis. But democracy should remain the goal.

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FTER more than 50 supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi were gunned down by security forces in Cairo on Monday, an official of the Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing warned that “to this chaos there is no exit unless Mohamed Morsi returns to office.”

That outcome isn’t any likelier now than it was last week when the military unjustifiably ousted the democratically elected Morsi, supposedly in deference to popular protests.

But the outrage over Monday’s violence makes it even more imperative that the military and its civilian allies move toward a restoration of democracy in a way that doesn’t create a permanent insurgency.

Adly Mahmoud Mansour, the interim president installed by the military, has ordered an investigation of the shootings of the pro-Morsi protesters near the Republican Guard compound where Morsi was thought to be under house arrest. The protesters say they were attacked as they prayed; military officials claim that the conflict began with an armed assault on their personnel. The investigation needs to be searching and credible.

Whatever the truth, the bloodshed has complicated the attempt to form a broadbased transitional civilian government that would win the acceptance, however grudging, of at least some of Morsi’s supporters. The ultraconservative Nour Party protested what it called a massacre by withdrawing from negotiations over the choice of a new prime minister. That was an ominous defection because Nour, whose brand of Islamism puts it to the right of the Brotherhood, had supported the coup, making it easier for the military to rebut charges that its actions were directed at Islam.

It might seem unlikely that the military, having overthrown Morsi, would now reach out to or even tolerate political expression from his supporters. But the stated premise of the coup was that the armed forces were removing an ineffective leader who had lost touch with the people, not excluding his followers forever more from the political conversation — or targeting them for violence. We hope that will be the case.

Now, as for much of modern Egyptian history, the armed forces have the upper hand.

Nor is there any sign that their decision to overthrow an elected president will threaten their financial support from the United States, which sees that aid as an insurance policy on peace between Egypt and Israel. But along with that aid, the United States has offered Egypt a suggestion. After the coup, President Obama said, “I urge all sides to avoid violence and come together to ensure the lasting restoration of Egypt’s democracy.” If it is serious about calming the convulsions in Egypt, the military will heed that advice.

– Los Angeles Times

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THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

CARTOON & LETTERS

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IR: In Christian belief, resurrection is the event in which Jesus Christ came back to life after he had been killed. When an old story came to life, resurrection has taken place. However, in the political arena, and to be specific in Rivers State House of Assembly, the menace we thought had gone with the wind had found its ugly way back to our political terrain.

Between 1999 and 2007, Nigeria’s democracy experienced series of political gangsterism. The case of Ngige in Anambara State was pathetic. When Governor Ngige fell into the black book of the then President Obasanjo, he was kidnapped, taken to the forest and forced to sign his resignation letter under duress. He was treated

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Rivers’ House of commotion like a criminal! Joshua Dariye of Plateau State was impeached by eight House of Assembly members who could not form two-third majority in the House; in Ekiti State, Fayose escaped to a neighbouring country to avoid arrest; Ladoja of Oyo State followed the same path where his colleagues were buried. This was an occasion that preluded the six INEC Direct

Data Capture machine being diverted to rig election for the ex governor of Oyo State, Otunba Alao Akala. An incident of order from above as usual was played in the scene. Shameful era indeed!

This politics of do or die affair disappeared during the era of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

Governors during his administration settled down with rest of

minds without intimidation or harassment from “oga at top”.

What has suddenly gone wrong with our mentality? Instead of consolidating on the nascent democracy and build solid foundation for the younger generation, we now scuttle it simply because somebody, somewhere want to achieve a personal ambition.

The event that took place in the

Abia’s regime of multiple taxes

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IR: The President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan should hearken to this clarion call and come to the rescue of Abians, especially Aba residents from their quagmire. Since the beginning of the present civilian rule in 1999, Aba residents have been overburdened with catalogue of taxes and levies, probably with a view to restoring the city to its past glory but there is virtually no sign of improvement up to this moment. I remember vividly when Aba was the pride and envy of the neighbourhood states in the area of infrastructure, industrialization, landscaping, cooperation and what have you. During this period under review, even up to the regime of the old Imo State civilian governor, Dr Sam Onunaka Mbakwe, there was absolute sanity in the city as people were doing their businesses with confidence and aplomb without being molested by touts. In short Enyimba city was an epitome of comfortability.

My heart bleeds whenever I visit some major roads in Aba that were sound in all ramification in the past but have degenerated to their present state now.

Every year, Aba residents are

laden with payments of multiplicity of taxes and levies like infrastructural levy, sanitation levy, property rate, Loading and unloading levy (this is for transporters and importers) and numerous others, not to talk of their ordeal with health Inspectors that compel them to pay for abatement fees that are not receipted. My utmost concern is that Aba residents need liberation from their present untold hardship. This plea is in-

formed by the fact that in spite of these payments, their roads still remain deplorable, especially roads and streets in the suburbs.

A visit to roads like Ohanku, Obohia, Cemetery, Omoba, Ngwa, Eziukwu, Hospital, jubilee, St Michaels will confirm this.

The present governor, Dr T A Orji has been doing everything to arrest the situation in Aba but I feel he cannot go further with the dearth resources he receives from

the federal allocation, and no revenue is being received from industries as they are no longer viable. More over, Aba is not the only town he is committed to.

Against this backdrop, I plead with President Jonathan in the name of God to relieve Aba residents from the pangs of perennial taxes and levies.

•Nkemakolam Gabriel, Port Harcourt.

Rivers State House of Assembly few days ago can best be described as theatre of war. We may also call it a state of anarchy, where there are no rules to individuals conduct.

Nigerians watch on live telecast Tuesday how members of the Rivers State House of Assembly demonstrated their real persons. It was like two rival cults members showing their stuff. Human Heads were smashed, blood stains every where. Are these ones honourable?

Can any good law come out of these law breakers?

What could have led to this national embarrassment? It is clear that President Goodluck Jonathan’s quest to remove Amaechi at all means from the governors forum resurfaced at the Rivers House.

Hence the speaker has to go to pave way for the smooth impeachment of Governor Amaechi. Amaechi on the other hand is like the son and the father fighting. The son is winning while the father loosing out, but the father wouldn’t give up because he believes he is the father.

There are more honourable ways of doing things. Why should our leaders operate with such impunity? Our image is at stake! Nigeria no longer set a good example to other African nations, but rather bad example. Let us learn from history to avoid this fire on the mountain.

• Sunday Alifia, Ibadan.

My driver’s licence woes at Ogun Joint Tax Board

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IR: I applied for the renewal of my National Driver’s Licence on Tuesday, June 4, at the Okemosan office of the Joint Tax Board, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Upon the payment of the required sum of N6350, I was instantly issued with a computer generated acknowledgement slip which stands as substitute for a receipt for the transaction. It’s however annoying as it is baffling that up till now I have not been able to have my image captured and without which it would be impossible to have the actual license.

I must acknowledge though that earlier on, I had applied for the reissue of my car number plate which was promptly processed and got within 24 hours. But in the case of the driver’s license, it is a different ball game altogether.

I have been visiting the board every week hoping that luck would smile on me one of these days. But at every turn, I have always met with a brick wall. What I later discovered is that I’m not alone in the lurch; there are hundreds, if not thousands of other applicants who have found themselves in this quagmire.

From the discreet enquiry I made, I understand that there is just one camera in use and this device works erratically. It got to a point that it broke down completely and out of use for a period of time. As it is now, it would seem like the camera can no longer cope with the loads of work at it’s disposal and has again been working in fits and starts even after its repair.

Some questions applicants have been asking and which are begging for answers are :Why is that only one camera is in use in spite of the

huge revenue generated? Why will innocent people be subjected to untold abuse and hardship simply because one is acquiring a driver’s license? Is it a sin on the part of applicants to have complied with this obligation to own a license?

My appeal therefore is that the authorities concerned both the state government and the Federal Road Safety Commission should do something urgently to reverse this ugly and avoidable situation.

•Olu Ajayi, Abeokuta.

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THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

COMMENTS

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R. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy has a knack for cutting superfluous controversies. Though highly self-opinionated, her coruscating brilliance is not in doubt. She speaks candidly on any aspect of economics that catches her fancy. One may have deep reservations about her soaring prognosis on the Nigerian dodgy economy and even dislike the somersaulting policies of the government she is a part of; certainly one can’t deny that the former World Bank technocrat often ardently means whatever she gives voice to.

It is in this context that I view her recent remarkable appraisal of governance in Osun State. This should remind us of the useful lesson evident in the idiomatic expression that it can be counterproductive to throw out the baby together with the bath water. The minister’s considered utterances sometimes embody unassailable facts.

I commend Okonjo-Iweala for adding her notable voice to those of many others who have conscientiously spoken about the unprecedented improvement evident in the socio-economic condition of the State of Osun since the advent of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola’s administration.

Media reports quoted the Finance Minister as saying that Aregbesola is a model for good governance, having demonstrated clearly that good governance in Nigeria is feasible. She made the remarks in the address she read at a two-day workshop organised by the World Bank in June at Iloko-Ijesa for volunteers in the Federal Government’s Youth Empowerment and Social Support Operation (YESSO). It must be remembered that the unimaginable success of the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES) necessitated the existence of YESSO. About a year after the introduction of the scheme in Osun, the World Bank reportedly began to study the programme and later submitted that OYES provided a practical platform for mass employment. It recommended the idea to both the Federal Government and states in Nigeria.

In the said address read by her representative, the National Coordinator of YESSO, Peter Papka, Okonjo-Iweala rightly observed that the initiatives of the ACN government in Osun gave comforting assurance that it is very possible to level the perilously imposing mountains of youth unemployment across the country.

Hear her: “You [Aregbesola] have demonstrated that good governance is possible with your programmes. You have demonstrated that youth development is possible.

Your programmes so far have demonstrated that you are

T

HE 2015 general election promises to be another defining moment for Nigeria as a country. The situation is no different in Akwa Ibom State where the search for the successor of Governor Godswill Akpabio has begun in earnest, even though the elections are still two years away.

Already there has arisen a lot of argument in many quarters regarding where the next governor should hail from.

Ethnic warlords and political jobbers believe the next occupant of the Hilltop Mansion, as the Akwa Ibom State government house is known, must come from the Eket Senatorial District. They argue that the district has never produced a governor in Akwa Ibom since the creation of the state about 25 years ago and that it is the turn of the district to produce the governor of the state in 2015. It is rather regrettable that our brand of politics is based more on ethnic and other primordial considerations rather than the capacity and the ability of the candidate to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people. To my mind, we seem to have lost it as a people.

Akwa Ibom State was created on September 23, 1987 by the military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida, Nigeria’s former military president. The state was carved out of the old Cross River State with Uyo as its capital city.

The then Col. Tunde Ogbeha was the first Military Administrator for the state.

Just like every other state in today’s Nigeria, Akwa Ibom State has three Senatorial Districts namely the Uyo Senatorial District comprising the Ibibio speaking people, the Ikot Ekpene Senatorial district populated largely by the Annangs and the Ibibios and the Eket Senatorial District made up of the Oron, Eket and the Ibibio speaking people.

Governor Godswill Obot Akpabio, the incumbent governor is an Annang man from the Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District while his predecessor, Obong Victor Attah is an Ibibio man from Uyo Senatorial District.

For the avoidance of doubt, at no time has zoning ever been a factor in the governorship election of Akwa Ibom State. The eventual emergence of Obong Victor Attah and

‘Governorship election has always been an open contest for all Akwa Ibomites irrespective of the ethnic origin or the senatorial districts they hail from... the so-called zoning argument has only served to expose the insidious role of ethnicity and tribal sentiments inherent in the politics of the state’

Okonjo-Iweala and governance in Osun

By Sunday Awopegba a good example of government and governance”.

These are no patronising sound bites, for when the minister says “programmes” she guilelessly speaks of the numerous sustainable O’initiatives of the state government, which continue to undeniably redefine the social and economic conditions of the people of Osun.

That the State of Osun comes first as the state with the least unemployment woes in Nigeria is a reality that can no longer be ignored by those who incessantly carpet its government. Before Aregbesola became governor, those of us who live and make our living in Osun know that the state was a haven of youth unemployment, infrastructural decay and economic stasis. Poverty stalked and menaced the people. But that is no longer the case. The transition that has been witnessed in the state for the past two years now has soothing evidence of concrete transformation. Youths whose lives were steadily wasting away have been rescued, given training in useful skills and empowered to start small businesses.

Farmers have their own happy stories to tell. Under the aegis of the Osun Rural Enterprise and Agricultural Programme, agro-allied businesses have received a massive boost. With the computer tablet, free school uniforms, free daily feeding for pupils in Elementary Class 1-4, building of ultra-modern schools across the state, and increase in funding, the education system of Osun as we used to know it has changed significantly. Infrastructural development enjoys adequate attention now. Old roads are being rehabilitated and newer ones are springing up.

A few weeks ago I read in the papers that all the nine state hospitals are already being renovated. That is in addition to the marked changes in healthcare services.

Indeed, great things are taking place in Osun. Those who can’t hear see them; those who can’t see hear them; and hardly is there a single household in the Land of the Virtuous that doesn’t benefit from the policies of the present government.

One other way to test for the genuineness and effectiveness of the policies of the Aregbesola administration is to invoke the methodology prescribed by the seasoned

British economist, Dudley Seers. According to him, to understand whether a state or country is developing or not, three main questions need to be asked: First, “what has been happening to poverty?” Second, “what has been happening to unemployment?” Third, “what has been happening to inequality?” He contends that if we notice tangible declines in all of these key areas, doubtlessly the entity – state or country – can be said to be in an era of development. However, he cautions that if one or two of those core issues have an organic tale of misfortune, or if the three are becoming more unbearable, it would amount to sheer lunacy to describe that misery of biblical proportion as development.

Surely, Okonjo-Iweala had issues of unemployment, poverty, and inequality in mind when she lauded Governor Aregbesola as an exemplar of good governance.

The capacity of the Osun people to live dignified and meaningful life has been (and is still being) made possible through a consistent and focused implementation of programmes that squarely address poverty, unemployment, and social injustice. This is a fact that a high-ranking PDP apologist has affirmed dispassionately. And I see this as another clinical deconstruction of the two-forone-penny fable of secession and islamisation that some calcified minds who could not stand the vision of Aregbesola wickedly spawned against him but to no avail.

•Awopegba writes from Iloko-Ijesa, Osun State.

‘The capacity of the Osun people to live dignified and meaningful life has been (and is still being) made possible through a consistent and focused implementation of programmes that squarely address poverty, unemployment, and social injustice’

Zoning, Akwa Ibom and 2015

By Nsikak-Abasi Akpanobio even his successor, the incumbent Akpabio as governors at different times were purely an electoral computation and not based on any zoning arrangement, as the race was thrown open to every senatorial district in the state. A closer look at the profile of the various contestants for the governorship seat at different phases of the gubernatorial election may suffice here. The facts are there for anyone to glean from.

In 1991, during the subtle democratic experiment of former military president, General Babangida, culminating in the creation of two political parties, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Republican Convention (NRC), the ethnic origin of the aspirants in Akwa Ibom State was never an issue for debate. Prominent aspirants for the governorship race of that era included the late Obong Akpan Isemin from the Uyo Senatorial District under the platform of the National Republican Convention, Etukudo Ekporo, also from the Uyo Senatorial District, under the National Republican Convention political party, Mfon Amana from the Eket Senatorial District under NRC and Ekong Etuk of the SDP from Uyo Senatorial district. However, the political drama of the early 1990s ended with the dissolution of the two political parties of the Babangida era by the late General Sani Abacha.

Similarly, at the commencement of political activities in 1999, notable gubernatorial aspirants emerged from every section of the state and included Obong Akpan Isemin under the All Peoples Party (APP), Obong Victor Attah, PDP, Uyo Senatorial District, Dr. Mfon Amana (APP) Eket and Benjamin Okoko (PDP) also from Eket Senatorial District.

Then, again, in 2003, the profile of contestants was equally representative of the different senatorial districts in the state. Notable aspirants who indicated interest in the governorship position included Obong Victor Attah (Uyo ) under the PDP platform, Ambassador Etim Okpoyo and Dr. Udonsak both from the Eket Senatorial Zone, declared their intentions under the platform of the PDP and the ANPP, respectively. Dr. Ime Umanah from the Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District joined the race also under the ANPP platform.

In the same vein, the number, calibre and representativeness of aspirants were to increase in 2007 when democracy appeared to have taken a firmer root in the country. Of the six prominent governorship aspirants, three under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were from the Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District, namely, Don Etiebet, Dr. Ime Umana and Godswill Akpabio. Uyo Senatorial District produced two aspirants, namely, Group Captain Sam Ewang of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and James Iniama of the Action Congress of Nigeria. Larry Esin was

the lone contestant from the Eket Senatorial District.

Akpabio won the election and is currently serving his second term in office.

Furthermore, not even the power of incumbency could deter other aspirants from contesting the 2011 governorship election in the state. Three notable aspirants under the PDP vied for the governorship ticket. Of the three, Akpabio was the lone contestant from the Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District, Imoh Udo from Uyo Senatorial District and Frank Okon from the Eket Senatorial District. Senator Akpan Udoedehe from the Uyo Senatorial District contested under the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria while Group Captain Ewang, a former Military Administrator of Ogun State, also from Uyo, vied for the governorship position under the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). Esin from Eket Senatorial District contested under the banner of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).

My layman’s understanding of zoning presupposes that when a particular position is zoned to a certain senatorial district, only aspirants from that region are eligible to contest for that position. But that has never been the case in Akwa Ibom State.

From the foregoing therefore, it is glaring that the governorship election has always been an open contest for all Akwa Ibomites irrespective of the ethnic origin or the senatorial districts they hail from. This therefore makes nonsense of the agitation for a zoning formula in the state even as the so-called zoning argument has only served to expose the insidious role of ethnicity and tribal sentiments inherent in the politics of the state. This type of thinking can only retard the development of a people.

The present scenario where zoning appears to be a front burner issue equally throws up some pertinent and soulsearching questions: where is Akwa Ibom heading in 2015?

What has suddenly gone wrong with our politics? Why should we be seen to be trivialising a serious issue of electing the chief executive of our dear state?

It should be noted that our hope and progress as a people lies not in our ethnic origin or other divisive considerations, rather, we should be clamouring for those intrinsic values that tend to strengthen the bond of unity among us.

This becomes more imperative in the 2015 governorship election when all people of Akwa Ibom should join forces together to elect a man of honour and integrity as governor. We need a governor that will make meaningful impact in the lives of the people. We should choose meritocracy over and above zonacracy. Akwa Ibom needs a youthful leader who is honest, sincere, pragmatic and reasonable in managing the vast resources of the state and not an ethnic bigot foisted on the state to execute the agenda of his godfathers.

•Akpanobio writes from Uyo, Akwa Ibom State

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15 , 2013

22

COMMENTS

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IVERS State House of Assembly played host to a theatre of the absurd last week. Five errant lawmakers in a 32-member assembly, apparently emboldened by support from ‘above’, hatched a devious plan to impeach the speaker and elect one of theirs as the new speaker. The planned resumption of sittings which the assembly had communicated the Police commissioner and the Army commander to provide adequate security turned out the undoing of the speaker and majority of the law makers.

Unknown to them, the five dissenting legislators who take orders from Abuja had perfected plans for a showdown by importing ex-militants and thugs into the assembly complex preparatory to acting out a script crafted for them. In arriving at this suicide mission, it never occurred to them that both in terms of numbers and extant constitutional requirements, they were heading for an impossible task. But they trudged on apparently buoyed by recent events at the Nigerian Governors’ Forum election where a minority has since laid claim to its leadership with the full support of the presidency. If the five legislators had come to the conclusion that they could as well pull a surprise despite the heavy encumbrances on their way, it should not surprise any one. Basking on the backing or anticipated indifference of the law enforcement agencies, they made good their plan to stir trouble on the floor of the assembly. Curiously, five of them succeeded in instilling fear into 23 legislators loyal to the Rivers State governor to the extent that they had to scamper for safety. This further spurred them to the point of purportedly electing a new speaker. It took the intervention of Governor Amaechi for order to be restored after

‘So if Jonathan is now seen to be taking the footsteps of his mentor in a very cruel manner, we can understand him. In a previous article in this column titled ‘Jonathan going Obasanjo’s way’ we had drawn attention to the observed inclination of Jonathan to the undemocratic pranks of Obasanjo’

M

Emeka OMEIHE 08121971199 email: EmekaOmeihe@yahoo.com

Danger signals from Rivers the ensuing confrontation. The assembly subsequently sat and approved an amendment to the 2013 budget presented to it by the deputy governor. That amendment was the main purpose for which the speaker summoned the assembly.

Events in the assembly have generated condemnations from a broad spectrum of the Nigerian people. Not only are they irked by the seeming indifference of the police, accusing fingers, for good reason, have been pointed at the presidency for simulating the crisis in that state. The confrontation is generally viewed as a continuation of the crisis in the NGF since the dramatis personae has not changed. As was the case in the NGF crisis, the presidency has washed its hands off that show of shame. In a tepid statement hurriedly put together following its fingering for tacitly supporting the dissenting lawmakers, its spokesmen put up futile efforts to deny complicity from Abuja. Not many believed them anyway. It was a rehearsal of the same stale denials that hallmarked the crisis in the NGF until Jonathan openly roped himself into the matter by publicly recognizing the losers as winners. So if the same presidency is again denying vicarious culpability in the latest crisis, no body will take it serious. Not with the purported recognition of the so-called new ‘speaker’ by the Peoples Democratic Party PDP. Since it is the same enemy that is involved, the warring five may have come to the conclusion that any thing is possible in this country including an insignificant minority impeaching and having its way over the majority? After all, this will not be the first of it in our recent political past. We saw such a charade in its worst form during the regime

OUNT Rushmore is the home of a frozen history of the United States of America. It parades giant busts of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, four men whose administrations straddled the first 150 years of US history.

Nestling in Rapid City, South Dakota, Mount Rushmore is a testimony to achievement, history and statesmanship. It tells the story of the giant strides of US democracy trapped in the statues of the figures who drove noble and patriotic visions of nation building in difficult times.

It is said to have attracted thousands of people from within and without the US with visitors describing Mount Rushmore as the Shrine of Democracy. The project was begun by Gutzon Borglum on August 10, 1927 and completed 14 years later in October 1941, at the cost of $900,000, a princely sum then. It is a stately structure carved out of a solid granite cliff reaching high to 5,725 feet that is visible miles away. Each head of the four presidents is 60 feet high, suggesting that during their tenures they posted larger-than-life performance!

Those who troop to the site return remarking that they are challenged to offer selfless service to society so that history would also note their contribution and record it to inspire upcoming generations. The Rushmore Four have exerted such sweeping influence that it is claimed that in moments of national distress, US presidents often head there for inspiration.

Now, if sculpted history of men of acclaim can move people to aspire to do better for mankind and society, it follows that more of such persons should both be celebrated and held up for mention in every generation. If Nigeria is today buffeted by failed values and falling (fallen?) standards guiding our national and private lives, does it indicate that we have no great masters to lead us or to teach us? Or is it a case of refusal to heed them?

Either way, the point appears to be that a Mount Rushmore can be beneficial to aid the process of reshaping or reforming society, its people and the organs enabling their existence.

Nigeria needs its own Mount Rushmore as much as my own professional constituency, journalism, does to galvanise us to higher levels of probity, accountability and selflessness in service to man and God. We have all missed the mark on this score. We need some pep talk from past and living history figures.

Marking the birthday of Aremo Segun Osoba today has drawn me to this discussion on the need to identify heroes of the nation and of its institutions. Today we mourn the absence (or is it loss?) of men and women who constitute examples of the staying power of principle, of those who in the face of personal peril, can stand up for what is right.

I declare with solemnity that Osoba is one such person. He

of Obasanjo. We are all witnesses to the abduction of former Governor Chris Ngige of Anambra state by a band of marauding buccaneers bent in sucking the state dry.

Yet, nobody was punished for that odious conduct except perhaps, the AIG of police in charge of Zone 9, late Raphael Ige. The same impunity played out in Bayelsa and Plateau states where officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC used a few lawmakers to impeach the governors in the most kangaroo manner. It was the impeachment of the governor of Bayelsa State where Jonathan was the then deputy that opened the door for his meteoric ascendancy to power.

So if Jonathan is now seen to be taking the footsteps of his mentor in a very cruel manner, we can understand him. In a previous article in this column titled ‘Jonathan going Obasanjo’s way’ we had drawn attention to the observed inclination of Jonathan to the undemocratic pranks of Obasanjo. We had predicted also that the logic of self preservation will drive him into such frenzy that he may soon become an ardent apostle of those anti-democratic tendencies that marred Obasanjo’s regime.

Successive events have borne out these predictions. Today, Obasanjo has been effectively sidelined in the PDP in the same manner he did to those who were instrumental to his release from prison and subsequent drafting into that party. Nemesis one may wish to call it!

More fundamentally, all these anti-democratic tendencies are neither being spurred by public good nor in the interest of our floundering democracy. At the centre of

Osoba: How to celebrate a beacon

By Banji Ojewale has evinced this both in his days as a practising journalist and as a politician. Let me cite a couple of events that support this position. In 1984, when we all stood in awe of Decree Four that sent Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor to jail, Osoba was the Managing Director of Daily Times, owned by the military government under Muhammadu Buhari. Osoba took a mortal risk to enter the dock as a defence witness during the trial of the two journalists who were said to have breached the decree. Of course he was aware of what could befall him: dismissal and possible arrest by the ruthless military rulers.

But he put principled professionalism first before personal considerations, even if it hurt! In the event, no harm came his way.

Another occasion was when he was in charge at The Sketch in Ibadan. After the 1983 ballot, the government owned paper fell into the hands of the NPN administration of Governor Omololu Olunloyo. There was a tight-rope walk here: the two other owner-states Ogun and Ondo were UPN-controlled.

Again Osoba sought refuge in the unfailing time-honored rock: the principle of balance. He broke the paper into parts, giving to NPN its due (propaganda) and to UPN its share of stories. He didn’t accede to NPN’s demands for exclusive coverage of party stories. Nor did he blackout UPN. He says of this leveler policy: “We became very innovative in the designing of the pages and in balancing the stories that came our way. That is the only way you could be sure of survival. You must be professional, innovative and think ahead. It was not necessarily under the military alone. Even civilian governments are intolerant of criticisms. One must also be objective. When we carried stories that were offensive to the government, we balanced it with their reaction.”

Respecting the ethic principle was constantly at work even when Osoba was Ogun State Governor on sabbatical from journalism during his second coming.

Between 1999 and 2001, he championed a non-party-based campaign over the payment of Excess Crude Oil revenue due to the states. A hefty N198b windfall had accrued following the sharp rise in petroleum products in the world market from the second quarter of 1999. The price exceeded the $18 per barrel projected in the budget. Then the Federal Government, acting on the advice of the Central Bank of

them all, is the lure of primitive accumulation of power, influence and capital. We saw Obasanjo manifest this in his obnoxious third term ambition even as our constitution has no room for such a self-serving contraption.

Jonathan’s is manifesting in the desire for another term despite the dire straits the nation is currently passing through. He may be within his rights to desire another term. But his current posturing that seeks to cut down anybody or processes seen to be standing against his ambition is potentially dangerous and may spiral a chain of events with dire repercussions for this country.

It is very hard to exculpate Jonathan from the chain of embarrassing events that have been the lot of Rivers these past days. It is a big shame that the deputy governor was ambushed and cars in his convoy damaged by hired thugs. Equally inexcusable is the report that teargas canisters were hurled into government house even as soldiers there have been withdrawn together with the armoured personnel carrier. Why these are happening in very quick succession can only find explanation in a subtle attempt to simulate anarchy so as to declare a state of emergency.

Or how else can we rationalize the effrontery of the five legislators despite their incapacitation on account of numbers? Obviously, they were responding to drum beats from those who control the instruments of coercion?

If it took Amaechi to personally intervene before order was restored in the assembly, then we can better understand all that has been said about the bias of the commissioner of police, Joseph Mbu. If not for connivance, how on earth can five people intimidate and overpower 23 others to the extent that they had to scamper for safety? These are some of the issues to ponder. Even then, why was the initial screening at the assembly’s gate relaxed such that thugs had to enter with dangerous weapons? This question is pertinent for us to locate what must have spurred the recalcitrant five to take on their colleagues despite the futility in so doing. In all, both the five law makers and Mr. Mbu should take responsibility for the sordid outing of the assembly that day. They prepared for trouble and were the purveyors of the fight that ensued. They stand condemned in very unequivocal manner.

Mbu has lost the confidence of the Rivers people and must not be allowed a day longer.

His continued stay has become a big liability and clear evidence that some body somewhere kept him there for some odd job.

Nigeria, ‘sat’ on the money and refused to share it out to the states as was the practice. The state governments kicked against this sudden change in the rules of the game and threatened that unless their share was paid, they would as well reject their monthly allocations and trigger unprecedented social, political and economic paralysis nationwide.

Osoba, an Alliance for Democracy governor, waded in on the side of the PDP governors notably those in the Niger Delta who were vociferous in the agitation for the release of the excess funds. While his party was berating the ruling PDP for alleged maladministration, Osoba refused to join the blame game. He was reported to have finally broken the logjam by marshalling a strategy of lobby that required deft negotiations rather than open confrontation or politicking.

I do believe that these are enduring virtues and values the nation needs to see reflect in its citizens for the regeneration of society. We want to see them in politics, in our homes, in schools, in interpersonal relationships, in workplaces and in a word, in our spirit, soul and body.

If journalists do finally have their own Mount Rushmore (which we need) Segun Osoba should have his effigy there.

Yet he told a reporter that the honour is due rather to others.

He said: “I am not the best reporter. There are greater journalists alive. Sam Amuka is a man who has founded two major national newspapers and both are still alive today- The Punch and The Vanguard. Alhaji Lateef Jakande is the oldest living journalist for now. Alhaji Alade Odunewu is over 80.

At the age of 77, Sam Amuka is still practising. He is the oldest practising journalist in Nigeria. There are greater journalists than I who still need to be celebrated… That would spur me to insist on us celebrating greater journalists who are still alive and greater than I.” What modesty! What self-effacement!

Happy Birthday Aremo Segun Osoba!

• Ojewale writes from Ota, Ogun State.

‘Between 1999 and 2001, he championed a non-party-based campaign over the payment of Excess Crude Oil revenue due to the states. A hefty N198b windfall had accrued following the sharp rise in petroleum products in the world market from the second quarter of 1999’

PAGE 23

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THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net

THE CEO

JOBS

‘Emergency knows no class’ -P. 27 News Briefing BoI grants power sector, SMEs N437b loan THE Bank of Industry (BoI) disbursed N437.39 billion out of the N535 billion it got from the Federal Government for financing projects in the power and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) sectors of the economy.

- Page 26

Shell to rehabilitate 45,000 bpd flow-station SHELL Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) operated Joint Venture, said it would begin work on the Ogbotobo flowstation to put it into operation.

- Page 26

‘Slow uptake, culture hinder premium ’ DECADES of poor insurance uptake exacerbated by widespread cultural aversion and the inefficiency of the micro economic parameters in Nigeria has slowed down the desired growth in the insurance sector.

- Page 29 DATA STREAM COMMODITY PRICES Oil -$107/barrel Cocoa -$2,686.35/metric ton Coffee - ¢132.70/pound Cotton - ¢95.17pound Gold -$1,800/troy ounce Rubber -¢159.21pound MARKET CAPITALISATIONS NSE JSE NYSE LSE

-N7.560 trillion -Z5.112trillion -$10.84 trillion -£61.67 trillion

RATES Inflation 11.9% Treasury Bills 7.08% Maximum lending-22.42% Prime lending - 15.87% Savings rate 2% 91-day NTB 15% Time Deposit 5.49% MPR 12% Foreign Reserve $35.8b FOREX CFA 0.2958 EUR 206.9 £ 242.1 $ 156 ¥ 1.9179 SDR 238 RIYAL 40.472

At the moment there is an average of about 18 hours per day of constant power supply to different parts of the country. This feat was brought about by the implementation of the integrated power sector reform programme anchored on the power roadmap.

- Minister of Information, Labaran Maku

How to localise skills for job creation- Pg 37

Presidency mulls new DG for PENCOM

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HE Presidency is weighing the option of appointing a new Director-General for the National Pension Commission (PENCOM), The Nation has learnt A source disclosed that the Presidency will soon announce a replacement for the acting Director-General, Mrs. ChineloAnohu-Amazu, saying the government was unconfortable wih the furore that greeted her appointment.

Mrs. Anohu-Amazu still has some years to notch-up before she could assume the headship of PENCOM, which is worth N3.4 trillion in pension contributions.

The source said the announcement of the substantive helmsman of PENCOM, would be made soon by the Presidency.

It was gathered that some former commissioners of the commission are interested in returning, or becoming its Director-General.

According to the Pension Reform Act 2004, the DirectorGeneral/CEO, must possess professional skills with not less than 20 years cognate experience in pension matters, and or nsurance, actuarial science, or other related fields.

The source explained that although Mrs. Anohu-Amazu

• ‘N3.4 tr pension fund threatened’ From NdukaChiejina (Asst.

Editor)

is fit, she does not have the legal experience.

When The Nation contacted other pension fund administrators, they claimed that MrsAnohu-Amazu is yet to garner 20 years. They also raised the alarm that the management of the N3.4 trillion pension fund should be looked into.

The threat to the pension fund, they said, is coming from what they call “the inadequacy of the investment windows”.

One of the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), who asked not to be identified, told The Nation, that “with the N3.4 trillion fund of PENCOM, the inadequacy of the investment windows is obvious and require urgent review”.

He added: “The fears of threat to pension funds stems from the dumping of much of the accummulated funds in banks and federal/state government bonds.”

PFAs invest in some financial instruments approved by PENCOM, such as money/ capital markets, bonds and mutual funds.

Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holders expect good re-

Life policy leads motor, others in insurance

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IFE business accounted for 25.05 per cent of the industry’s total gross premium of N217.7 billion in 2011, a report has said.

But the premium leadership dominance of the motor insurance class of business in the past 10 years fell from 22.63 per cent in 2010 to 20.51 per cent in 2011.

According the Nigeria Insurers Association (NIA), the improvement is a good development for the market.

A breakdown of the report showed that total contribution of other classes like Fire, general accident, marine and aviation, workmen’s compensation, oil and gas and miscellaneous to the gross premium income of the market, fell from 55.96 per cent in 2010, to 54.44 per cent, in 2011.

The industry witnessed a growth in the volume of business written 2011 with a recorded premium of N217.7billion compared to N185.7billion in 2010, representing a growth rate of 17.24 per cent.

In the last 10 years, the industry had an average growth rate of 21.01 per cent with life insurance premium income growing at the rate of 25.61 per cent and non-life insur-

By OmobolaTolu-Kusimo

ance premium income at 20.69 per cent.

A further analysis of the report revealed that a total of N54.5billion was recorded as gross premium income on life business in 2011 as against the N39.7billion in 2010 while N44.6billon was recorded as gross premium income on Motor business in 2011 against the NN42billion in 2010.

It, however, noted that the challenging operational environment in 2011 which include high cost of doing business due to inadequate infrastructural facilities, rapidly changing technology, the increasing demand to meet regulatory requirements and other policy issues weighed heavily on the ability of insurance sector in Nigeria to fully explore its potential for expected growth.

NIA was formed in 1971 as an umbrella organisation for all insurance companies in Nigeria. It has, since then, offered its members a forum to speak to one another and for all of them to speak with one voice to the government, its agencies and other parties, on matters affecting their business.

turns on investments from their accumulated contributions because their future retirement depends on it.

An operator, who asked that his identity be veiled, decried the inability of thegovernment to appoint Board members to PENCOM, a situation, which has left the commission handicapped in applying the funds to other uses.

According to the Pension Reform Act 2004, only the Board of PENCOM can take decisions on the management and investment of funds. F or months, the commission has been without a Board.

The source said some regulatory challenges facing Pencom, have been ”agitating the minds of stakeholders and other watchers of the indus-

try.”

He listed some of them to include “the capability of Pencom as presently constituted to supervise the management of this large pool of funds; the calibre of people that government should appoint into the Board of PENCOM at this critical stage to achieve desired ends; and whether the PFAs have adequate expertise to handle investment decisions and fund management”.

The government and the National Assembly, he said, need to take urgent remedial steps to respond to these challenges, so as “to address the fears being expressed by stakeholders over the health and safety of pension funds.”

However, the source said it was gratifying, that the 2004 Act is being reviewed by the National Assembly.

The pension experts have recommended that

government should urgently reconstitute the board of pencom with finance and investment inclined individuals.

Also, they are demanding that “due to the importance of this scheme and job to be don, political considerations should be down-played in the selection of these individuals, and the crop of staff at management levels in pencom with respect to qualification and experience should be appraised.

Those not suitable should be replaced.”

They said PFAs should be encouraged to seek experienced pension fund managers (local and foreign) for corroboration and partnerships while investment regulations should be loosed a little by admitting other investment options to help economic growth and development in Nigeria.

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

26

BUSINESS NEWS 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 7. Arik 07.15 08.15 7. Chanchangi 07.15 9. Air Nigeria 08.15 09.35 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. Aero 12.20 13.30 15. Air Nigeria 13.25 14.45 16. Chanchangi 13.30 14.30 17. Arik 13.45 14.45 18. IRS 14.00 15.20 19. Aero 14.10 15.30 20. Air Nigeria 14.50 16.10 21. Chanchangi 15.30 16.30 22. Arik 15.50 16.50 23. Aero 16.00 17.20 24. IRS 16.30 17.50 25. Arik 16.50 17.50 26. Chanchangi 17.30 18.30 27. Air Nigeria 17.35 18.55 29. Air Nigeria (T/TH) 18.30 19.50 20. Arik 18.45 19.45 31. Aero 19.20 20.40

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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 – 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

By Collins Nweze

companies have benefited from the scheme.

Babatunde disclosed that cumulative turnover of the obligors increased from N2.972 billion per annum before intervention to N5.55 billion after intervention adding that direct employment by beneficiaries increased from 86,513 before intervention to 130,143 after intervention representing an increase of 50.4 per cent.

For the PAIF, over N208.21 billion was disbursed with the loans approved at seven per cent interest rate per annum with tenor up to 15 years. He said the fund has assisted in providing about 747.7 mega watts (MW) of electricity representing about 18.7 per cent of the current power generation of about 4,000 MW. He said the scheme has been able to leverage private investment into the Nigeria power sector adding that beneficiaries have been able to increase their investment in other assets or expanded their revenue base as a result of the lower debt obligations.

According to him the fund is

meant for refinancing of commercial banks’ exposures to companies in the Power and Aviation sectors of the economy as well as assisting in the development of the sectors by improving terms of credit to operators. The fund, he said, has assisted in the establishment of new power plants especially in clusters and provided leverage for additional private sector investments in the power and aviation sectors He said through increased advocacy by institutions, such as BoI, commercial banks and members of the Organised Private Sector (OPS) both federal and state governments are improving the investment climate and putting measures in place to address identified constraints business.

He recalled that BoI was established in October 2001 following the reconstruction of the first Nigerian Development Finance Institution (DFI), the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank Limited (NIDB). NIDB was established in 1964 under the guidance of the World Bank with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) holding 75 per cent equity and producing the first Managing Director. The equity structure was diluted in 1976 as part of the Indigenisation Decree.

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 – KANO Air Nigeria 07.10 IRS 08.00 Arik 12.20 IRS 14.00 IRS 18.15

08.50 09.45 14.00 15.45 19.55

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08.30 15.10 17.40

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

Mortgage bank raises share capital to N10b

By OkwyIroegbu-Chikezie

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• From left: President Goodluck Jonathan flanked by Group Managing Director, Western Metal Products Company (WEMPCO), Mr Lewis Tung; and Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Olusegun Aganga, at the Nigeria-China Business Forum in Beijing, China ... on Thursday.

Shell to rehabilitate 45,000 bpd flow-station

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HELL Petroleum Develop ment Company of Nigeria (SPDC) operated Joint Venture said it would begin work on the Ogbotobo flowstation in order to put it into operation.

Shell’s Corporate Media Relations Manager, Tony Okonedo, in a statement, said SPDC has taken a key step towards rehabilitating the Ogbotobo Flowstation in Western Niger Delta through the award of a contract for reviving the power system of the facility.

He explained that operations at the flowstation were suspended in the security crisis in 2006, and SPDC plans to restart the facility to support resumption of oil production from the entire Ogbotobo field.

Ogbotobo Flowstation, with a

By Emeka Ugwuanyi

capacity of 45,000 barrels of oil per day was producing about 10,000 barrels when it was shut down, he added.

According to him, the contract was awarded to an indigenous firm, LEE Engineering and Construction Nigeria Limited, and covers replacement of the station’s power generation and distribution system. It is planned to resume operations at Ogbotogbo Flowstation once the power system is up and running.

“This is a major step toward fulfilling our aspiration to reenter fields that we left in the West in 2006 due to insecurity,” said General Manager, Operated

Onshore and Shallow Offshore Projects, Toyin Olagunju, at the contract signing ceremony on July 5.

“A significant aspect of the contract is that it is being executed by an indigenous contractor thus promoting SPDC efforts to grow Nigerian capacity in the oil and gas sector. We will support the contractor to deliver the project on schedule in a safe and secure manner,” Olagunju added.

Chairman of LEE Engineering, Dr. Leemon Ikpea, said: “I thank SPDC for the opportunity to be a part of their production delivery goal. As our practice, LEE Engineering will strive to work safely in the delivery of the project.”

NCAA probes airlines on safety compliance

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O ensure compliance with safety regulations, the Ni geria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has started investigations into the technical operations of domestic airlines.

The target of the investigation, according to industry sources, is to ensure that aircraft engineers, flight dispatchers, pilots and other critical safety personnel in the airline chain, adhere to industry rules.

A part of the new strategy is the scaling of airline operations to available technical capacity, in terms of the quality of personnel to match the scale of its operations.

The Director, Airworthiness,

By Kelvin OsaOkunbor

Benedict Adeyileka, who attested to this, said the NCAA is pursuing a safety compliance regime.

He said the regulator is probing airlines to ensure that they have licensed personnel adequate enough for the scope of their operations, in critical areas such as airworthiness, engineering, flight dispatch and aircraft loading.

He said the rationale for the investigation is to ensure that noticeable deficiencies are fixed in critical areas to make airline operations safe.

He spoke of plans by the NCAA to ensure that an adequate safety

management system designed by individual operator is strictly complied with.

He said areas where airlines would need adequate training of critical personnel to fill obvious gaps would be examined, even as he said the regulator would be keen to know the peculiar challenges of individual carrier to ensure threats to safety are minimised.

He said the NCAA would continue to frown at issues of violation of safety regulations, noting that when and where possible, the certificate of airworthiness of any defaulting carrier would be held until all technical shortcomings are addressed.

(Asst. Editor)

FIRM, TrustBond Mortgage Bank, has increased its au thorised share capital to N10 billion from N4.7billion, its Chairman, Etigwe Uwa, has said.

Uwa, who spoke at the unveiling of the bank’s new name in Lagos, said regulatory and other approvals have been obtained on the transaction.

The bank acquired the assets of Intercontinental Homes Savings & Loan (IHSL).

He said a fundamental provision of the Share Sale and Purchase Agreement (SSPA) is that IHSL would change its name not later than six months after the completion of the SSPA, which they have done, adding that the name has been approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) with appropriate changes done at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

Uwa stressed that the change of ownership has not significantly changed the management team.

“This is the same management team which has creditably run the affairs of the bank from its inception and grown its shareholders funds, he said.

Glo disconnects unregistered SIM cards

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HE Bank of Industry (BoI) dis bursed N437.39 billion out of the N535 billion it got from the Federal Government for financing projects in the power and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) sectors of the economy.

Its General Manager, Operations, Joseph Babatunde said in a report that the funds comprised Central Bank of Nigeri’s (CBN’s) N235 billion Refinancing/Restructuring Fund (RRF) of commercial banks’ loans to the SMEs sector and N300 billion Power and Aviation Fund (PAIF). Both were okayed by the Federal Government in 2011.

He said of the RRF’s, N229.18 billion was disbursed in March, adding that it was targeted at refinancing commercial banks’loans to SMEs in the manufacturing sector. The fund, he explained, is expected to enhance the liquidity of commercial banks and facilitate more credits to the real sector.

According to him, the loans were given at seven per cent interest rate per annum with up to 15 years tenor and allows for additional working capital and supplementary plant and machinery.

He said so far, 23 commercial banks and one DFI participated in the scheme while over 525

08.50 12.40 14.10 17.20

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

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BoI grants power sector, SMEs N437b loan T

By Lucas Ajanaku

IGERIA’s national operator, Globacom, said it has dis connected from its network, the subscriber identification module (SIM) that failed to meet the June 30 deadline set by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

Globacom’s Coordinator, Marketing, Mr. Adeniyi Olukoya, who disclosed this to The Nation in Lagos, said as a law abiding corporate citizen, the telco has complied with the directive of the NCC on deactivating unregistered SIMs hitherto active on its neteork.

He said though the move may have inevitably led to revenue loss to the telco, it was vital that the laws of the land be obeyed by the brand.

He said the need to know the customers on the telco’s network underscored the exercise.

“It is important for us to know who is holding a SIM card because of so many things happening hese days that are associated with the use of mobile phones. So, it is a right step taken by the government.

Confab on infrastructure coming

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CONFERENCE on the Af rican-Australia Infrastruc ture Conference will hold between September 2-3, this year in Melbourne, Australia.

It is an initiative of Octoberfirst Consulting, Australia and its Nigeria Partners-Sodel Associates.

In a statement, Sodel Associates, said the event will be divided into four sections namely; Energy and Mining Infrastructure, Transport and Logistics, ICT and Telecoms, and Water and Transportation. ”The conference has been of immense benefit to infrastructural developments of most Africa’s business concerns as well as providing a successful platform for global source of marketing expansion and customer relationship development for Africa particularly Nigeria.

“For instance, most firms with Africa client base attract foreign customers easily to their African network from the conference, as well as reach out to wider areas of global connection and respectability,” it added.

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

27

THE CEO

• Oke-Osanyintolu

PHOTO: SEYI ODEWALE

Dr Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, the General Manager of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), has grown on the job. He started LASEMA from scratch five years ago; yet with each emergency that the agency is confronted with, he has been equal to the task. In this interview with SEYI ODEWALE, he speaks on efforts to curb incessant building collapse and why it is important to conduct soil test before building a house.

‘Emergency knows no class’

I

N the recent plane crash in America almost all the passengers on board were rescued. If it had happened in Nigeria, no one may have survived. What is wrong with emergency response and rescue in Nigeria?

I disagree with you. It depends on the location. If it happened here in Lagos I’m sure we would have managed it the way it was done in America, if not better than that. Look at the one that occurred in June last year, we were able to manage it very well. This is because here in Lagos State, Governor Fashola’s administration has put machinery in place that will respond immediately to any form of emergency in the state. And the beauty of it is that we normally learn from any previous emergency that happened. For example, the plane crash that occurred last year taught us a lesson. It has made us to initiate reforms so that all our shortcomings would later give us an edge in managing such emergency when and if it happens.

Talking about reforms, which one have you put in place?

Yes, we have put in place steps to improve

Profile Institutions attended

University of Ilorin, Kwara State; Accident & Emergency, Sourasky Medical Centre, Tel. Aviv, Israel; Disaster Management Coventry University, UK.

Qualification

MBBS; M.Sc

Previous positions

House Officer, General Hospital Ikeja, Lagos; Medical Officer, General Hospital, Gbagada, Lagos; Senior Medical Officer, LASEMS; Ikeja Head of Operation, LASAMBUS.

Present position

General Manager/CEO, LASEMA.

Professional associations

Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria; Executive Secretaries of State Emergency Management Agency Forum; International Disaster Managers; Emergency Planner, UK.

Experience

Over 10 years.

on our local emergency management committee, not only that, we have put machinery in place to make it effective and efficient. And we are training all our local emergency responders in all our local government areas. We are now building directly

from the grassroots. Cases of crowd control would now be a thing of the past. This is because a lot of advocacy is going on in that direction.

Apart from sensitising the people on what they need to do in cases of emergency, we are

training people, as I said earlier, on what should be done in situations of emergency.

Today, we have a radio designated for information on emergency. We equally have a command control centre where we have everyone important in managing emergency.

And we are carrying out a lot of stakeholders’ meetings. We are well informed; we are well equipped and one way or the other, we are improving on our packaging.

About 300 passengers and crew members were on board the Asiana plane that crashed in San Frascisco, United States and only two died. Don’t you think that this is a feat by the emergency managers of that country?

What I see as key to that feat is information dissemination. When the accident was about to happen, people were alerted from the control tower. When you alert people, of course, they will be well aware and be prepared to face whatever is coming their way. If we improve on our communication we will have little or no record of disasters and emergencies. For example, there was a time we •Continued on page 28

28

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

THE CEO

‘Emergency knows no class’ •Continued from page 27

were informed that a plane wanted to land at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, we moved into the place with all the stakeholders and our equipment to forestall what might happen. If that disaster happened, you would have discovered that the mortality and the morbidity that would have accompanied that incident would have been greatly reduced. This is because we were already on ground waiting to swing into action. This, like I said, was aided by communication. Look at the people around the crash in San Francisco; you would see that they were well informed on what to do when there are emergencies. If we have something like that our emergency response and rescue would be efficient and effective.

How do you define the relationship between your agency and the one at the federal level?

Our relationship is cordial. We also have good relationship with World Health Organisation (WHO) and every other stakeholder in emergency business. Where we are having challenges is with the local emergency management committee and we have begun to carry out a lot of sensitisation. Even the top echelon of the Ministry of Special duties led by the commissioner has moved to the entire local councils and local council development areas to wake them up and ask them to live up to their responsibilities in disaster management. In Lagos State today I can confidently say that we are prepared despite the fact that the state is located in the coastal region with its cosmopolitan status, you can see that we have not joked with all the predictions of the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) and that has helped us in having no incidence

of flood disaster in the state.

This is because we have put a lot of infrastructure in place. Look at the way we are building infrastructure in the state now. Every nook and cranny of the state is accessible; the width of our gutters is better in containing flood waters, so also is the drive in channelising drain. We equally have assembly points strategically located to gather people in cases of emergency.

What has your agency done in ensuring that incidences of building collapse are curbed?

We have called a stakeholders’ meeting and warmed up to engineers at the local government level and building controlling agency in trying to mark out houses that need to go and those that need to be tested on integrity. Not only that, we have embarked on a lot of advocacy and sensitisation of our people to know what they need to do and that we are not established to harass the citizenry, but to save lives and properties;, and they need to key into what we are doing.

Is that why there seems to be a reduction in emergency rate in Lagos?

Definitely. You will discover that the mortality and morbidity associated with collapsed buildings in the state have greatly reduced. And there is a tribunal now, which is looking at the causes of building collapse. This tribunal will like to look into the quality of materials used in building and other related issues that make buildings to collapse.

Is it true that there is a body of professionals in the building and construction industry raising awareness on building collapse and buildings that need to be pulled down to mitigate their

‘If that disaster happened, you would have discovered that the mortality and the morbidity that would have accompanied that incident would have been greatly reduced.

This is because we were already on ground waiting to swing into action’

• Oke-Osanyintolu

PHOTOS: SEYI ODEWALE

eventual collapse?

We are working with them and we are developing a dependable alarm system to warn people. Immediately this body alerts us we always inform the people concerned to vacate such building and subject it to integrity tests. There is an agency called Solid Materials Agency that conducts such tests at minimal cost.

A family that has not got enough to renovate a building that is described as distressed is being asked to go and pay for integrity test, will that not amount to a burden of sorts?

What is a burden there? But you know that life has no spare part. If you have a billion naira you cannot buy life. So, when you look at what you may likely lose in terms of lives and properties you will see that the peanuts you may spend on the test are nothing.

Is it not better in your own view, to do tests on the site before or after the building must have been erected?

You have to do what is called soil test because Lagos is a coastal region. Every necessary test must be conducted to ensure that the house being built stands. And you must build your house in such a way that you don’t obstruct the free flow of water.

You have been the general manager of the agency for about five years now, how do you assess your performance?

As I grow older on the job I get more relaxed and as I stay on I’m gathering more knowledge and experience on how to respond to emergency; the strategy is getting better and broader than before. Initially, when I started as the pioneer General Manager and Chief Executive, we started from the top.

How do mean?

We built an agency that moves all its personnel to emergency sites without any back up. We later discovered that our response method was not that effective. So we started building a structure that will last. That is why we have strategically rebuilt a burns unit at Gbagada that can handle any fire case. We have relief/operational camps located strategically all over the state. We have moved emergency response to the people by building local emergency cells among the people. We are equally building their capacity in terms of training and equipping them with basic tools to work with. This means that sooner than we expect all these people will become emergency responder where even our mothers will become incident commanders. This is what is done in civilised countries of the world; building a structure that will last for generations. Everyone must know what it means to lay more emphasis on preventive aspect of emergency than preventing.

This is because they will know what it worths in paying their taxes; they will know what their taxes are being used for; they know the basic life support; they know the basis of emergency response and this is because it has been built over a long period of time. That is what we are doing in Lagos State and it is working for us.

How has your training as a medical doctor impacted on your job and what was your pedigree before you started the agency?

Before I took over as the pioneer general manager of LASEMA, I was the head of ambulance operation, the Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS). What needs to be appreciated about me is that I have got mentors who I look up to and inspire me on the job. For example, this out-of-the hospital care is a new concept to me.

How do you mean?

I was trained as an hospital based

• Oke-Osanyintolu

‘You will agree with me that it is a lot of challenges as a family man staying 24 hours on the road managing emergency unlike the traditional working hours of 8am to 4pm. Emergency management is a 24-hour job and seven days a week. You can be called upon at anytime of the day and you must respond’ doctor. Doctors are meant to be in the consulting rooms and attend to patients. Doctors are not meant to be manning ambulances all about and neither are they supposed to be responding to outside emergency, but with the administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the appointment of Dr Leke Pitan as the Commissioner for Health then, a lot of things changed. These personalities, including Governor Fashola, Ajomale and Tola Kasali, were some of the mentors that identified us. They pulled us out of the system and started tutoring us with a lot of quality ideas. They taught me a great deal about life, how to maintain integrity; how to be focused; how to be visionary, so when you look at it holistically, you will say that my training and my mentors assisted me in being what I am today. When we talk about pre-hospital care these were the personalities that ensured its smooth take off. When we started there were no syllabuses, no booklet or manual. We started pre-hospital care in Nigeria.

For instance, I was the pioneer head of LASAMBUS, I had nobody to watch and no record on the ground to break. So we created our own direction and achieved a lot.

The turning point in pre-hospital care initiative was the 2002 bomb blast at Ejigbo/Isolo on January 27 of that year. That was when we realised that there was no agency to coordinate all the stakeholders in emergency management. That was why I was sent on so many courses outside Nigeria to be able to start LASEMA. You will agree with me that it is a lot of challenges as a family man staying 24 hours on the road managing emergency unlike the traditional working hours of 8am to 4pm. Emergency management is a 24-hour job and seven days a week.

You can be called upon at anytime of the day and you must respond.

What is your relationship with the hospitals?

We have good relationship with all of them. This is shown in the way they attend to victims we take to them on emergencies. You know that there is this law that all emergencies in government hospitals are to be treated free in the first 24 hours. We have a good pre-hospital care in LASAMBUS and they realised that any emergency takes priority. Emergency does not know class, status of position. It’s a leveller. So it takes precedence over any other issue.

What do we look for in LASEMA in the next two years?

In the next two to three years Lagos State will not be the same again. This is because everybody will be emergency conscious. With the establishment of local emergency committees at the grassroots, so at every level they would have that knowledge on how to identify and handle emergencies.

How have gone about that?

We are seriously working on that and that is why we are embarking on series of trainings to enhance capacity of people. We are hoping to go to schools to catch them young.

So, what is your agency doing in terms of capacity building and generation of employment?

The Agbowa relief camp built at Agbowa on the outskirts of Ikorodu in Lagos State has produced a lot of employment. It has helped the community in improving their economy in the sense that people employed by LASEMA spend their earnings in that locality. Don’t forget, the facility was built by LASEMA. People who relocated to that community have already been integrated into the community and they are now building their houses there.

29

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

I NSURANCE

‘Slow uptake, culture hinder premium expansion’

D

ECADES of slow insurance uptake exacerbated by widespread cultural aversion and the inefficiency of the micro economic parameters, have slowed down the desired growth in the sector.

A report by Nigeria Insurers Association (NIA) obtained by The Nation, indicated that this was happening despite significant headway for premium expansion the grassroots base provides NIA said if the various initiatives in the sector are strengthened, the sector’s revenue will assume a positive dimension in the coming years.

It said: “The long term call on the sector is ably supported by its obvious demographic advantages and Nigeria’s economic growth prospects relative to other emerging markets.

“Based on statistical data made available by Swiss Re Economic Research & Consulting, insurance premium on the global scene resumed growth in 2011 as insurers gradually restore underwriting capacity to pre-crisis level, while building larger capital buffers af-

T

ary were not detailed, it was a lot more successful and the industry is better for it.

He said: “A lot of us felt preparations were not detailed in such a way that it would be less painful by operators coming together to anticipate the challenges we had with it before it will start.

“Across the industry, we all believed it was a good direction

to move. The only difference we had was the modalities and timing, but we all realised later that it was the way to go for the industry to make progress.

“For us brokers, we encountered challenges with the enforcement of the policy and it cost us a lot doing compliance issues.’’

Tinubu added that it brought additional cost of manpower,

Broker is FEMA DG

HE Federal Government has appointed Mallam Abbas G. Idris, an insurance broker, as the pioneer Director-General (DG) of the Federal Capital Territory Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Idris has over two decades experience.

The President of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB), Laide Osijo, described the appointment as well-deserved, noting Idris’ pedigree as an economist, insurance professional, and risk manager.

She said the appointment would propel the new agency to a position of relevance in the nation’s disaster management system.

Until his appointment, the Idris was the Executive Vice Chairman, Valid Insurance Brokers Ltd and Vice Chairman,

T

ter two years of sluggish growth following global economic crisis.

“Robust economic recovery and reforms especially in the developing economies continue to fuel strong rebound in premium across a broad spectrum of the insurance industry value chain.

“Globally, the near term outlook suggests that risk aversion will continue to wane, supporting modest premium growth across regions, as the world assumes full speed economic recovery.”

The report continued “Meanwhile, global life insurance premium shrank by 2.7 per cent. Similar trend permeates both the advance and emerging markets while the non-life segment proved robust in most cases. The emerging market of the non-life sector recorded 9.1 per cent in premium growth and 1.9 per cent over all. The fluctuations in life market resulted in 0.8 per cent record decline in world total.”

On global losses of 2011, NIA said

the promising start to the year was shortlived by disruptive disasters of monumental proportions.

“By July 2011, the sector was reeling from the impact of one enormous disaster after another, and was looking at the highest payout year on record, eclipsing the previous record payout year 2005.

“A series of natural disaster, including the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in March, combined with flooding in Australia and Asia-Pacific, the New Zealand earthquake, tornados in the eastern United States, and political unrest in the Middle East and Africa racked up claims costs enormously.”

It added “It was reported that on August 1, 2011, insurer Lloyd’s of London was reporting pre-tax losses for the first half of the year $139.5million - and other insurers were also reporting steep losses.

“In all, the sector is facing losses of more than US$50billion. In response, US catastrophes reinsurance rates went up by 10 per cent while premium in the areas most affected by catastrophes

• Commissioner for Insurance, Fola Daniel

• Chairman, NIA, Remi Olowude

have risen in some instance by 50 per cent.

“We expected fast growing economies in Africa, such as South Africa, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and Angola to witness appreciable increase in nominal premium in the near term.

However, the greatest downside risk to premium growth in Africa remains economics and political instability, insufficient awareness

of the operation and structure of insurance policies, as well as their significance.

“Population growth has, historically, outpaced growth in insurance premium in most African countries in the past, accounting for the low density across the continent. Nonetheless, we expect a deeper insurance market in Africa premised on expected rapid economic growth.”

‘No premium, no cover policy boosts industry’

HE enforcement of ‘No premium, no cover’ policy by the National Insurance Commission has improved the finances of the insurance industry, the Managing Director of SCIB Insurance Brokers, Mr Sola Tinubu, has said.

Tinubu told The Nation that although it seemed to operators as if preparations by the regulatory body to enforce in Janu-

T

Stories by Omobola Tolu-Kusimo

Northern Area Committee of the NCRIB, whose roles have aided the entrenchment of the insurance broking in the North.

A graduate of Economics, Idris also holds Masters of Business Administration (MBA) of the University of Maiduguri and another Master’s in Disaster Risk Management and Development Studies from the Ahmadu Bello University, (ABU), Zaria.

His experience span Withesands Insurance Brokers Limited and NICON Insurance Corporation where he held top management positions, such as Zonal Manager of Maiduguri and Kaduna Zones, as well as Chief Operating Officer (Marketing & Strategy) before he resigned to found Valid Insurance Brokers.

Idris has delivered several professional and intellectual papers, especially in risk management, insurance and other

from the Tafsir lectures to be delivered by notable Islamic clerics.

The lecture will hold on July 18, at Alausa, Ikeja in Lagos. The theme is: Tolerance and Inter – relationship.

He added that the choice could not be better, stating that it is time, more than ever, to preach religious tolerance and co – existence in the light of the sad experiences at the stage of our Nationhood.

same kind of economy collapse on ourselves here and so we need to ensure that we have rules and regulations and guidelines,” he said.

On his firm, he said the company’s expertise in broking has continued to grow, noting that the pursuit of excellence of risks solution of a global standard using innovation remains their mission.

Can you hide smoking from life insurance companies?

•Mallam Idris

sectors both in and outside the country. He is on the Board of many companies, including Kirfi Microfinance Bank Limited.

CIIN holds maiden Ramadan Tafsir

HE Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) has initiated a yearly Ramadan Tafsir to capture the Ramadan mood for Islamic faithful in the insurance industry.

Managing Director, Staco Insurance Plc and CIIN’s Committee Chairman, Mr Shakiru Oyefeso, said the Tafsir was long overdue.

He said the members of the institute, even the non-Muslims will have a lot to gain

but they realised that as an industry and country, they cannot be in isolation.

“Everywhere in the world, corporate governance and compliance are the challenges of the day. What happened to the global economy was essentially an example of the collapse of corporate governance and compliance.

“We do not want to invite the

CIIN’S Deputy DirectorGeneral, Kola Ahmed, assured that the Tasfsir will be a huge success.

Ahmed also said dignitaries, who have been invited to the Tafsir, will be hosted by the CIIN President Mr Fatai Kayode Lawal.

The lectures will be delivered by clerics, which include Dr. Saheed Timehin of the Lagos State University (LASU) and Dr. Junaid Sirajudeen of the University of Lagos (UNILAG).

HOW much smoking does it take to be considered a “smoker,” and what if you fudged your answer about smoking on your life insurance application?

Life insurance companies want an accurate picture of activities that could affect your longevity.

Questions about whether you’ve used nicotine in the past few years go along with questions about whether you pilot a private plane or plan to travel to dangerous countries.

Who is considered a nicotine user?

Life insurance companies generally use three broad rate classifications for pricing policies: standard, preferred or preferred plus. Then there are the rates for nicotine users, who pay significantly higher premiums within their classes.

The definition of a “nicotine user” is someone who uses any form of nicotine delivery, including cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, a nicotine patch and nicotine gum. The look back period will vary by insurer. Some will judge you to be a nicotine user if you’ve used a nicotine product in the past five years.

Many life insurance companies will allow the “celebratory” or “occasional” cigar smoker to still qualify for non-smoking rates.

Insurers generally define “occasional” as smoking 12

cigars or less per year. Of course, the urine sample you provide for your life insurance medical exam must be nicotine-free, too.

If you’re a regular smoker, it’s not a good idea to lie on your application in order to escape detection to get a lower rate.

If you’ve lied on your application about nicotine use and then nicotine turns up in your medical exam tests, you’ll be issued your policy at the smoking rate.

Look at the worst case scenario. Say you die of a heart attack and it comes to light that you’ve been a smoker all your life. The insurance company could justifiably deny the claim.

That’s not a position in which you want to put your beneficiaries. It’s better to pay the extra premium and know your beneficiaries will eventually collect the benefit.

Perhaps you’ve made an application and don’t like the nicotine rate you’ve been given.

Don’t try to apply with a different company and lie to get nonsmoker rates; your previous medical exam results will sit in a database operated by MIB Group for seven years. When the insurer checks your new application against the MIB database, which is used to detect fraud, your history will be revealed.

•Tips by insure.com

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

30

EQUITIES NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 12-07-13

Investors dump GSK over acquisition offer

G

LAXOSMITHKLINE Consumer Nigeria (GSK Nigeria) Plc recorded the highest unadjusted loss last week at the stock market as investors scurried for exit ahead of next week’s voting on lessthan-market price offer by its foreign majority shareholder to acquire Nigerianheld shares.

Amidst the sustained bullish rally at the stock market last week, GSK Nigeria’s share price slumped by 19 per cent to close at N54.27. It had opened the week at N67, indicating a loss per share of N12.73. Market analysts attributed the decline to sell pressure.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) UK (GSK) Plc, the foreign majority shareholder in GSK Nigeria, is pushing to acquire 273.46 million ordinary shares out of the Nigerian shareholders’ holdings to add 28.58 per cent to push its post-acquisition holding at 75 per cent. GSK UK has offered N48 per share, about 40 per cent less than the opening stock market price for last week and still 13.1 per cent less than the opening price today.

GSK currently holds majority equity stake of 46.4 per cent GSK Consumer Nigeria through two wholly- owned

By Taofik Salako

subsidiaries. With total current outstanding shares of 956.70 million ordinary shares of 50 kobo each, GSK UK holds 443.91 million shares while Nigerian institutional and individual investors hold the balance of 512.79 million shares.

According to the proposal, GSK UK seeks to acquire the additional shares of GSK Nigeria on a pro rata basis from existing shareholders through a Scheme of Arrangement. The scheme is slated for consideration at a court-ordered meeting next week.

With 75 per cent equity stake, GSK will be able to push through any future major changes including mergers and acquisition, delisting, shares buy back, changing of public limited liability status, new capital issues and restructuring among others. Extant Nigerian laws require 75 per cent shareholdings to approve such major changes.

Several Nigerian minority shareholders have kicked against the acquisition but directors of the company have been rooting for the bid. However, only three of the nine directors of GSK Nigeria have shareholdings

in the company.

GSK Nigeria’s share pricing trend was contrary to the overall market trend last week as equities generally sustained consecutive uptrend all through the trading sessions. Average return at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) last week was 1.24 per cent, pushing yearto-date return to 33.13 per cent.

Aggregate market capitalisation of all equities on the NSE increased from its week’s opening value of N11.694 trillion to close at N11.839 trillion. The All Share Index (ASI), the main common value-based index that tracks all equities, increased to 37,382.49 points as against its index-on-board of 36,926.29 points.

Investors showed keen interests in equities. Total turnover stood at 1.67 billion shares worth of N18.27 billion in 25,367 deals. The financial services sector accounted for 1.31 billion shares valued at N11.63 billion in 13,565 deals. Substantial transactions in the shares of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Access Bank Plc, which altogether pooled 735.184 million shares, were the main drivers of market’s turnover. The three stocks accounted for 43.91 per cent total turnover for the week.

Mobil Oil Nigeria recorded a gain of N10.71 to close at N117.81. Julius Berger Nigeria rose by N5.02 to close at N70.02 while UAC of Nigeria added N4 to close at N58.50.

NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 12-07-13

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

31

MONEY LINK

‘Single digit inflation to persist till year-end’

A

NALYSTS expect inflation to remain in single digits until the end of 2013 as such would also allow interest rate to remain unchanged at 12 per cent this year.

Regional Head of Research, Africa at Standard Chartered Bank, Razia Khan said although many had predicted a greater risk of easing following the achievement of single-digit inflation, recent pressure on the naira, given market expectations of a tapering of quantitative easing will likely keep the monetary policy committee on hold. She also expressed concerns

about Nigeria’s political cycle and spending pressures.

“There is a risk that elections, due in 2015, are brought forward, allowing for any legal disputes to election results to be settled ahead of a May 2015 transition. If this is the case, spending may rise meaningfully ahead of party primaries which would be held in early half year 2014,” she said.

Khan explained that given anticipated pressure on future inflation, forecast of a 100 basis points (bps) rate hike in first

quarter of 2014, followed by hikes of 50bps each in third quarter and fourth quarter 2014, with the interest rate raised to 14 per cent by end of 2014 is a possibility.

However, she said pressure on the naira will determine the extent of tightening that is required. “Inflation is likely to remain in single digits this year, but success was hard-won; risks to the naira will keep the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on hold until the end of 2013; we forecast more tightening in 2014,” she said.

She said weaker oil output relative

to ambitious budget targets risks fiscal deterioration, with Nigeria dipping into its oil savings. With only modest spending increases envisaged in 2013, a budget deficit of 2.17 per cent was initially forecast.

However, oil production, reportedly averaging 2.1 to 2.2 million barrels per day (mmbd), has fallen short of the 2.53 mmbd assumed in the 2013 budget. In June, output may have hit a low of 1.9mmbd. This, she insisted, has necessitated more frequent augmentation of revenue from Excess Crude Account (ECA).

Mainstreet Bank commits N10b to agric devt

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AINSTREET Bank Limited has invested over N10 billion into the Federal Government backed Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) designed to provide affordable agricultural inputs like fertilizers and hybrid seeds to farmers. This will assist them to increase their yields per hectare and make it comparable to world standard.

The Executive Director, Corporate and Investment Banking, Mainstreet Bank Limited, Mr Roger Woodbridge said the bank’s investment in the GES scheme has given it

H

Stories by Collins Nweze

an opportunity to contribute towards the reduction of hunger amongst Nigerians. He said the lender offers a learning experience to other banks that are still skeptical about agricultural funding. He commended the Federal Government for coming up with the GES scheme.

Speaking to newsmen after a stakeholders meeting held in Abuja recently, Mr Woodbridge acknowledged that the GES scheme has enabled the private sector to play an integral role in growing the nation’s food production. Citing Mainstreet’s

experience in funding fertilizer distribution to agro-dealers and smallholder farmers, he stressed that the Public Private Partnership (PPP) provides effective framework for private sector engagement in overall agricultural development.

‘Nigerian banks must lend support to human centred development activities such as agriculture which has the ability to increase the production capacity of local farmers as well as aid to gainful employment for the youth population,” he said.

Also commenting on the recent Mil-

lennium Development Goals (MDG) report, where The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) honoured Nigeria and 37 other nations for reducing the number of people living in absolute hunger in their countries by half well ahead of the year 2015, he expressed excitement that concerted efforts in the implementation of the Federal Government’s agricultural transformation initiative would in the shortest possible time stimulate wealth creation along the agricultural value chain especially amongst the rural populace.

Heritage Bank verifies defunct SGBN customers’ accounts

ERITAGE Bank Nigeria Limited has continued the verification exercise to revalidate account holders of the former Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria (SGBN), more than six months after the commencement of the exercise.

Managing Director/Chief Executive, HeritageBank,MrIfieSekibosaidthebank which commenced operations in March, acquired the banking license of the defunct SGBN, as well as its deposit liabilities.

Among other things, the bank promised

to settle depositors of the former bank and for this purpose conducted an exercise to revalidate its account holders. The exercise was initially designed for three months and to be completed before the bank commenced operations.

Sekibo said, “The exercise is on-going.

The aim is to possibly pay all customers of SGBN who came to participate in exercise through issuance of cheques to them at the validation centres immediately their accounts were successfully validated”.

The bank CEO further explained that the exercise is in two parts, namely verification ofaccountsandinstantissuanceofpayment cheques for those who prefer to collect the balances in their accounts. He said that owners of successfully validated accounts also have the option of retaining such with the new Heritage Bank.

“So far we have recorded significant success in the exercise, with most of the SGBN account holders verified, choosing to retain their accounts and bank with us rather than collecting their money.

Prior to its commencement, Heritage Bank appointed four banks, using some of their branches as centers for the verification exercise. But now, the exercise is done in the branches of Heritage Bank,” he disclosed.

On modality for account validation, he said savings account holders are expected to come with means of identification such asdriver’slicence,passportorNationalIdentity card, as well as their cash withdrawal forms and deposit slips.

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

NIDF NESF

OBB Rate Call Rate

Amount Amount Offered ($) Demanded ($) 350m 150m 350m 138m 350m 113m

Price Loss 2754.67 447.80

INTERBANK RATES 7.9-10% 10-11%

PRIMARY MARKET AUCTION (T-BILLS) Tenor 91-Day 182-Day 1-Year

Amount 30m 46.7m 50m

Rate % 10.96 9.62 12.34

Date 28-04-2012 “ 14-04-2012

GAINERS AS AT 12-07-13

SYMBOL EVANSMED MAYBAKER IHS IKEJAHOTEL IPWA IFARNAFRCA COURTVILLE PORTPAINT UACN RTBRISCOE

O/PRICE 3.50 2.44 2.36 0.85 0.75 1.62 6.10 54.55 1.54 0.72

C/PRICE 3.85 2.68 2.59 0.93 0.82 1.76 0.67 6.58 58.50 58.50

CHANGE 0.35 0.24 0.23 0.08 0.07 0.14 0.05 0.48 3.95 0.09

EXHANGE RATE 6-03-12 Currency

Year Start Offer

Current Before

C u r r e n t CUV Start After %

NGN USD NGN GBP NGN EUR

147.6000 239.4810 212.4997

149.7100 244.0123 207.9023

150.7100 245.6422 209.2910

-2.11 -2.57 -1.51

154.0000

154.3000

-3.04

153.0000

155.5000

-2.30

154.0000

156.0000

-1.96

NIGERIA INTER BANK (S/N) 149.7450 (S/N) Bureau de Change 152.0000 (S/N) Parallel Market 153.0000

GLAXOSMITH VONO NPFMCRFBK AGLEVENT COSTAIN CAP MANSARD CADBURY NASCON ACADEMY

O/PRICE 60.30 1.71 1.06 1.60 1.53 51.40 2.10 54.53 13.49 2.04

C/PRICE 54.27 1.54 0.96 1.45 1.43 48.50 2.01 52.60 13.20 2.00

DISCOUNT WINDOW Feb. ’11

July ’11

July ’12

MPR

6.50%

6.50%

12%

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% 11.8%

CHANGE 6.03 0.17 0.10 0.15 0.10 2.90 0.09 1.93 0.29 0.04

NIBOR Tenor 7 Days 30 Days 60 Days 150 Days

Rate (Previous) 4 Mar, 2012 9.0417 9.6667 11.2917 12.1250

Amount Sold ($) 150m 138m 113m

Rate (Currency) 6, Mar, 2012 10.17% 11.46% 11.96% 12.54%

Movement

Exchange Rate (N) 155.2 155.8 155.7

Date 2-7-12 27-6-12 22-6-12

CAPITAL MARKET INDEX

NSE CAP Index

27-10-11 N6.5236tr 20,607.37

28-10-11 N6.617tr 20,903.16

% Change -1.44% -1.44%

MEMORANDUM QUOTATIONS Name

LOSERS AS AT 12-07-13

SYMBOL

F

OLLOWING the deployment of the exclusive World Mastercard recently, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has introduced a personalised debit card called the UBA “All About U” Card. In a statement, the bank said the product allows customers to carry around their fond memories while using their debit cards.

The product it said, is a customized debit MasterCard which gives customers the opportunity to create a oneof-a-kind card with their favorite photograph or image – allowing them the privilege of branding their payment card. Alternatively, cardholders can choose from a gallery of contemporary pre-selected images available at the specialised product portal and these designs can be adjusted to their satisfaction.

Divisional Head, e-Banking, UBA Plc Dr. Yinka Adedeji said, “With the “All About U” Card, UBA aims to introduce a bespoke look and feel to card issuance.” According to him, UBA is at the forefront of driving the Cashless initiative in Nigeria, and is set to raise the bar once again with the UBA.

WHOLESALE DUTCH AUCTION SYSTEM

MANAGED FUNDS Initial Current Quotation Price Market N8250.00 5495.33 N1000.00 N552.20

UBA launches ‘All About U’ Debit Card

DATA BANK

FGN BONDS Tenor

•Khan

ARM AGGRESSIVE GROWTH KAKAWA GUARANTEED STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE INVE AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND LOTUS CAPITAL HALAL BGL SAPPHIRE FUND BGL NUBIAN FUND FBN MONEY MARKET FUND FBN FIXED INCOME FUND NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL DEB. PARAMOUNT EQUITY FUND CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST CENTRE-POINT UNIT TRUST STANBIC IBTC NIG EQUITY • ARM AGGRESSIVE

Offer Price

Bid Price

9.17 1.00 140.00 157.90 0.80 1.17 1.12 100.00 1,000.00 1,832.46 13.66 1.39 1.87 11.299.87

9.08 1.00 139.52 157.86 0.78 1.17 1.11 100.00 1,000.00 1,832.16 12.99 1.33 1.80 10,963.71

• KAKAWA GUARANTEED • STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE • AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUNDARM AGGRESSIVE • OPEN BUY BACK

Bank P/Court

Previous 04 July, 2012

Current 07, Aug, 2012

8.5000 8.0833

8.5000 8.0833

Movement

32

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

ISSUES

•NLNG Vessel

The court has been busy trying to resolve the dispute between Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) over payment of levies. But beyond this litigation is the need to find a lasting solution to the agencies rift in the national interest EMEKA UGWUANYI, Assistant Editor and OLUWAKEMI DAUDA report.

I

When two elephants fight...

N the last two weeks, the court seemed to have stepped up efforts to resolve the disagreement between the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

During this period, a Federal High Court in Lagos has heard the case more than three times, which underscoring the importance of the feuding government agancies to the economy.

The Nation gathered that besides the court’s efforts to determine the contentious provisions in the Acts establishing the NLNG and NIMASA and the disagreement over payment of levies or exemption, those in authority are trying to persuade the organisations to reach an understanding and perhaps, settle out of court.

Last week, the court sat more than two times on the case and would still sit on September 19 on it, while other concerned groups also met with the organisation’s officials to broker peace.

At the weekend, both the plaintiff and defendants reached an agreement, which their solicitors confirmed in the court. By this agreement, NLNG has accepted to pay the $158 million to NIMASA. It has earlier paid $20 million. NLNG, however, insisted that despite agreeing to paying the said money, it would continue with the legal battle to determine the legality or otherwise of payment of the levies and charges demanded by NIMASA. The Managing Director of NLNG, Mr Babs Omotowa said: “We feel we have no option than to now make these payments under protest. In doing this, we have taken into account the overriding national interest; in particular to stem the huge financial and reputational loss the country has suffered as a reliable LNG supplier.”

Background

On May 3, 2013, NIMASA used the operatives of Global West Vessels Specialist Platforms to mount a blockade against all NLNG’s vessels, denying them access to the

Bonny Channel from the fairway buoy, at the beginning of the Channel to buoys 17 and 18.

Its action was based on what it described as NLNG’s unwillingness to abide by the country’s maritime laws, especially sections of the NIMASA Act that mandates payment of levies based on gross freight on exports and imports and the Cabotage Act. NIMASA’s Acting Director, Shipping Development, Captain Warredi Enisuoh, said the blockade was to prevent NLNG from continuing in business and would not be lifted until NIMASA was satisfied that NLNG had complied with its Act and Cabotage law.

Enisuoh said there were no gas imports and exports during the period. Ships laden with gas were prevented from exiting the terminal while two vessels that were for loading could not enter the terminal.

The Federal Government asked the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation, among other top government officials, to look into the case. Afterwards, NLNG was asked to pay some of the arrears of the levies demanded by NIMASA. The organisations were asked to meet to agree on modality of payment.

But NLNG felt mistreated, claiming that the Act that established it exempted it from paying such levies. It went to court to seek proper interpretation and determination of the provisions of the Act and NIMASA’s demand.

NLNG’s General Manager, External Relations, Kudo Eresia-Eke, in a statement titled “NLNG complies with government’s directive to pay, seeks judicial interpretation on NIMASA issue, said: “NLNG has today (June

’

18, 2013), filed a case in the Federal High Court, Lagos against the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (“NIMASA”) seeking judicial clarity and interpretation on the legality or otherwise of the various levies imposed on NLNG by NIMASA, while complying, under protest, with the government’s directive to pay the said levies.

“The protracted dispute between both parties arose as a result of perceived conflict in the enabling Acts of both organisations, namely the Nigeria LNG (Fiscal Incentives, Guarantees and Assurances) Act on one hand and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency Act, Merchant Shipping Act and Coastal and Inland Shipping Act on the other hand.

“NIMASA contended that its levies were applicable to NLNG, while the latter argued that they were exempted from such levies and charges by virtue of the NLNG Act. “NIMASA had filed a suit against NLNG in 2010 claiming entitlement to these levies. After preliminary proceedings were taken and concluded, and the matter was ready for hearing, NIMASA filed an application to withdraw the suit, and on 3rd May 2013 resorted to selfhelp by blocking the Bonny Channel for two days, thereby preventing ingress and egress of NLNG chartered vessels with attendant financial losses and reputational damage to NLNG and Nigeria in general.

“Following this blockade incident, a series of meetings were subsequently directed by the Federal Government in the past few weeks resulting in the instruction to NLNG to pay

We feel we have no option than to now make these payments under protest. In doing this, we have taken into account the overriding national interest; in particular to stem the huge financial and reputational loss the country has suffered as a reliable LNG supplier

’

the NIMASA levies. NLNG has thus commenced installment payment, under protest, to NIMASA in compliance to the government’s directive, but without prejudice to its right to seek judicial interpretation in the court of law.

“It is instructive to note that Nigeria LNG Limited and its Shareholders still firmly believe in the rectitude of their earlier position that NLNG is duly protected by the provisions of the NLNG Act against the payment to NIMASA of the Sea Protection Levy, the three per cent freight levies on cargo exports shipped by NLNG, and that the two per cent Cabotage Levy on LNG carriers is inapplicable because NLNG’s LNG vessels are not involved in coastal trade or cabotage.

“NLNG is a Nigerian company involved in, almost exclusively, international export business and is thus subject to all relevant national and international laws, standards and ethos with which it must comply. This, amongst others, requires that all its dealings are governed and premised on the universal principles of the rule of law to which the Nigeria Government also affirms its commitment.

“The company has often clarified that the issues it has with payment of any levy, charge or impost has little to do with the amounts involved, but more with the principle of the rule of law, so that it can safeguard its international business which rests squarely on its reputation as a law abiding company, as well as Nigeria’s reputation in the global community.”

NLNG got an injunction restraining NIMASA from demanding levies from it or disrupting its operation through blockades. NIMASA, allegedly disrupted NLNG’s operation by blockading the channel, with NLNG crying out over what it calls violation of court order.”

Eresia-Eke condemned NIMASA’s action in a statement titled, “NIMASA blockades NLNG again, violates court order, saying: “On Friday 21st June 2013, two NIMASA •Continued on page 33

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

33

ISSUES

When two elephants fight...

gal or contrary to Nigerian public policy for the sole reason that the requisite government actions referred to in clause 6 hereof have not been effected.

“2. The venture shall be subject to the fiscal regime contained in the provisions of this Act. Such fiscal regime shall not be amended in any way, except with the prior written agreement of the Government, the Company an d each of the Company’s shareholders.

“3. Without prejudice to any other provision contained herein, neither the Company nor its shareholders in their capacity as shareholders in the Company, shall in any way be subject to new laws, regulations, taxes, duties, imposts or charges of whatever nature which are not applicable generally to companies incorporated in Nigeria or to shareholders in companies incorporated in Nigeria, respectively.”

•Continued from page 32 boats, with 15 naval officers on board, ordered that one NLNG vessel, LNG Imo, and one chartered vessel, Torm Thames, remain at NLNG’s loading bay, whilst another NLNG Vessel, LNG Oyo, remains outside the Bonny Channel until further notice.

“NIMASA subsequently issued Ship Detention Orders on 22nd June 2013, specifically detaining three NLNG ships (LNG Enugu, LNG Oyo, LNG Imo) and barring them from accessing or leaving the Company’s loading bay.

“These developments are in flagrant disregard of the court injunction issued by the Federal High Court in Lagos in Suit No FHC/L/ CS/847/2013 by Honorable Justice M.B. Idris, presiding, on Tuesday 18th June 2013, against the Attorney General of the Federation, Global West, and any other parties including Nigerian Maritime and Safety Agency, NIMASA, from imposing any charges or taking any steps to block, detain or prevent access by the company’s owned or chartered vessels, whether inbound or outbound from Bonny channel or elsewhere in Nigeria.

“It will be recalled that on 3rd May 2013, NIMASA blocked the Bonny Channel preventing entry and exit of NLNG vessels. This led to a series of meetings at the instance of the Federal Government which eventually ordered that the company should pay NIMASA its purported levies.

“In deference to the government, NLNG made a payment, under protest, in the sum of $20 million (approximately N3.2 billion) into NIMASA’s designated account and subsequently approached the court to seek proper judicial clarity and a lasting resolution to the conflict between the NLNG Act and NIMASA Act. “The potential implications of this current action by NIMASA on NLNG operations are enormous and would impact negatively on its international LNG Buyers, the international financial market, Nigeria to which NLNG contributes four per cent of the country’s GDP, its Shareholders and the investment climate in Nigeria, let alone the reputational impact this may have on Nigeria’s image within the international investment community.”

Some industry stakeholders condemned the action of NIMASA. They were of the view that NIMASA could have exercised self-restraint as a responsible corporate citizen by allowing the court to determine legality or otherwise of NLNG’s demand for exemption from payment of the three per cent freight levies on cargo exports shipped by NLNG, and that the two per cent Cabotage levy.

Why blockade

NIMASA said it mounted a blockade against the NLNG following a collapse of the negotiated settlement between the two parties.

NIMASA had also dragged NLNG before the Federal High Court, but when the case dragged on for four years without progress, it withdrew the matter from court in March, this year.

NLNG was said to have opposed the withdrawal but the court allowed the withdrawal and struck out the suit. Following the ruling, NIMASA began enforcement of the provisions of its 2007 Act. NIMASA, said the Act, which exempts NLNG’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Bonny Gas Transport Limited and other chartered third party vessels had been repealed by section 63 (1)(a) of the NIMASA Act of 2007, while the new Act provides in Section 15 (a) that NIMASA shall be funded by money accruing to it through the three per cent of gross freight from all international inbound and outbound cargo from ships or shipping companies operating in Nigeria to be collected and paid over to the agency to meet its operational costs.”

NIMASA’s Deputy Director and Head, Public Relations, Isichei Osamgbi, in a statement titled “NIMASA serves detention order on NLNG vessels,” explained reasons for the blockade. He said: “The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), has today in its enforcement of Nigerian laws, served detention notices/orders on vessels belonging to/chartered by the NLNG. “This course of action was forced on NIMASA

•Director-General, NIMASA, Ziakede Patrick Akpobolokemi.

•Omotowa

by the NLNG’s subsequent refusal or/and failure to abide by the outcome of the negotiated settlement arrived at through the mediation process it willingly instigated and subscribed to, after reaching agreement with NIMASA on its outstanding debt and paying $20 million out of it and its continued flagrant disregard for Nigerian laws.

“Contrary to NLNG’s position, NIMASA is not aware of any court order against it or any suit brought by NLNG against NIMASA. “By its action, the NLNG has trivialized the mediation process and the position of the Federal Government of Nigeria whose Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation owns and holds 49 per cent of the shares in NLNG and which endorsed the agreement reached that NLNG should pay its taxes/levies and observe all its obligations under the laws of Nigeria in which it is operating.”

tion day falls to the period which ends with the anniversary date by the number of such periods.

“2. For the purposes of this Schedule (a) anniversary date means the anniversary of the Production Day and each anniversary thereof until the ninth anniversary; (b) the US Dollar/ SDR Index shall be the figure published by the International Monetary Fund in the publication titled “International Financial Statistics” for the end of the month in which the anniversary date falls for the United States dollar/Special Drawings Right Index (series “su United States”) or if that publication ceases then in its successor or a comparable United States publication of good standing; and (c) the CPI shall be the figure published by the International Monetary Fund in the “International Financial Statistics” for the end of the month in which the anniversary date falls for the Industrialised Countries Consumer Price Index (series 110) or if the publication ceases then in its successor or a comparable United States publication of good standing; (d) period means 365 calendar days (366 in a leap year) preceding an anniversary date. Others include section 15(a) of the NIMASA Act 2007 and section 43(a) of the Cabotage Act 2003.

The NLNG stands on the provision of the second schedule. Second Schedule Guarantees and Assurances to Nigeria LNG Limited and its Shareholders (Section 9.) 1993 No. 113.

“The Federal Government of Nigeria (in this Act referred to as “the Government”) in recognition of the magnitude of, and in consideration of the investments which shall have to be made in order to prosecute the venture described in the shareholders’ contract dated 19th May, 1989 between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Shell Gas B.V., CLEAG Limited and Agip International B.V., as amended, from time to time (such shareholders’ contract, as so amended in this Act referred to as “the contract”) hereby grants to the Company, its successors and to each of the shareholders, from time to time (in their capacity as such), the guarantees, assurances and undertakings following hereunder. These guarantees, assurances and undertakings shall have effect from the date hereof, and so long as the Company, or any successor thereto, is in existence and carrying on the business of liquefying and selling liquefied natural gas and natural gas liquids within and/or outside the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“The guarantees and assurances are as follows: 1. The Government shall do nothing to render invalid unenforceable rights and obligations arising under the contract and the other contracts and arrangements contemplated in the contract, to the extent that such rights and obligations are not illegal in Nigeria and do not offend against Nigerian public policy and provided that such contracts have been kept validly subsisting by the parties thereto, it being understood that such other contracts or arrangement s will not be deemed to be ille-

Issues

The provision on which NIMASA stands is the first schedule of the Fiscal Incentives, Guarantees and Assurances of NLNG Act, which says: “Tax relief period Notwithstanding the provisions of section 10 of the Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) Act, the tax relief period of the Company shall commence on the production day of the Company and shall continue for a period of ten years, so however that the tax relief period shall terminate at the first anniversary date after the first five years when the cumulative average sales price of liquefied natural gas reaches US 3 dollars/mmbtu as calculated in the First Schedule to this Act in accordance with which such calculation shall only be made annually at each anniversary date.

First Schedule. Early Termination of Tax Relief Period (Section 2.)

“1. The cumulative average sales price is calculated at each anniversary date as follows (a) for each period ended on an anniversary date, calculate the annual average sales price of liquefied natural gas by dividing the total invoiced sales of liquefied natural gas in the twelve months ending on the anniversary date in US$, by the total invoiced deliveries of liquefied natural gas in Millions of British Thermal Units, in the same period; (b) calculate the Nigeria LNG Index for each of the periods between the production day and the anniversary date, by multiplying the US Dollar/SDR index at the end of each period with the CPI at the same date, dividing the result by 1.9924344, or such other denominator as gives an answer of 100 for 31 December 1987, in the event that the CPI is rebased; (c) divide the annual average sales price for each period (i) by the Nigeria LNG Index for the same period; (ii) to calculate the adjusted price for the period; (d) calculate the cumulative average sales price for the period from the production day to the anniversary date by dividing the sum of the adjusted prices (c) for each period from the period in which the produc-

‘

Owing to the NIMASA blockade which persisted in spite of court orders, the company has lost revenues of over N76 billion ($475 million), 65 per cent of which belongs to the Federal Government, which has thus lost about N50 billion in dividend and taxes, among others

’

Legal battles The Federal High Court, Lagos, has heard the preliminary objection brought by the defendants in a suit by the NLNG Limited against the Attorney-General of the Federation and others. Justice Mohammed Idris refused to reaffirm an order he made restraining NIMASA from detaining NLNG’s vessels.

Justice Idris made the order on June 18 against the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke (SAN), Global West Vessel Specialists Nigeria Limited and its Managing Director Mr Romeo Itima.

The order, restrained the defendants, either acting for or deriving authority from the Federal Government, including NIMASA, from charging three per cent of gross freight earnings, tax, charges or dues on all of NLNG’s in-bound and out-bound cargo owned by it or its contractors or subsidiaries, pending the hearing and determination of the motion for interlocutory injunction.

The government and Global West had asked the court to discharge the ex-parte order because it was made against NIMASA, who is not joined as a party to the suit, adding that full facts were not disclosed to the court in seeking the order.

But Justice Idris struck out the AttorneyGeneral’s application on the ground that it was filed outside the time permitted by the court rules.

The court also dismissed Global West’s application because there was no suppression of any material fact, noting that the company could be sued on behalf of its principal (NIMASA).

Shortly after the ruling, NIMASA’s lawyer Wole Akoni (SAN) urged the court to reaffirm the ex-parte order. But Global West’s lawyer Abiodun Owonikoko (SAN) opposed the application, urging the court not to be tempted to fall into such trap.

Justice Idris ruled that since the defendants were challenging his jurisdiction to entertain the suit, he would deal with the issue first. He said: “The only jurisdiction I have now is to hear the objections of the defendants.”

When the case came up again, Akoni told the court that settlement talks had failed, while the defendants proceeded with their pending applications.

“It appears to us that NIMASA is bent on stifling our business. NLNG has paid dividends to the Federal Government in billions.

We even offered to continue to pay but they rejected our offer,” Akoni said. After Akoni’s submission, the government’s counsel, Fabian Ajogwu (SAN) moved his application seeking to discharge the ex-parte order on the grounds that the order was essentially made against NIMASA, which was not joined as party.

NIMASA has also filed an application seeking to be joined as a party to the suit. According to Ajogwu’s application, the government is contending that NIMASA is a body corporate with statutory powers to sue and be sued in its own name and that its non-inclusion as a party was a violation of the principles of fair hearing.

Consequences

Owing to the NIMASA blockade, the company said it lost over N76 billion ($475 million) in revenue, 65 per cent of which belongs to the Federal Government, which has thus lost about N50 billion in dividend and taxes, among others.

The blockade had also led to scarcity of cooking gas with attendant spiraling cost and worsening hardship on the populace, reduction of domestic gas to power, shutdown of offshore and onshore production facilities, among others. In addition it has caused huge reputational damages to NLNG and Nigeria.

The price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) also called cooking gas, has risen from between N2,800 and N3,000 to N3,500 and more for 12.5kg cylinder.

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

34

EQUITIES WATCH

Email: taofad2000@yahoo.co.uk

What future returns for Sterling Bank?

With a full year return of 71.29 per cent in 2012, twice the rate of average return in the Nigerian capital market during the period, Sterling Bank opens today with a year-todate return of 52 per cent. This is some 19 percentage points above average market return of 333.13 per cent. One of the 30 best-performing stocks in the market for the first half, Sterling Bank ranks within the best-performing stocks in recent years. But intrinsic fundamentals still suggest the bank has stronger upside potential, TAOFIK SALAKO reports.

I

N the past 18 months, equity investors have all smiles. Nigerian equities recorded average return of 35.4 per cent in 2012. The fullyear return in 2012 implied accretion of some N2.44 trillion in capital gains to investors during the 12-month period. The market opens today with a year-to-date average return of 32.94 per cent. Average market return is denoted by the All Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), a value-based index that tracks all equities on the Exchange. Besides its primary importance as benchmark for the NSE, ASI doubles as the country index and relates average value at the stock market.

All through, Sterling Bank has remained substantially above market average. Its share price appreciated by 71.29 per cent in 2012, pushing through opening price of N1.01 and a low of 80 kobo to close at N1.73. At the opening price of N2.63 per share, the current market consideration implies a year-to-date return of 52 per cent.

This represents one of the highest returns in the banking sector. The performance of Sterling Bank is further highlighted by the fact that lenders generally are running behind the market with the NSE Banking Index opening today with a year-to-date return of 23.77 per cent.

For long-term investors and speculative traders, Sterling Bank presents substantial returns.

For traders who had anticipated the pricing trend and the opportunity that might come with additional allotment through the ongoing rights issue, they have a lump-sum three-in-one return.

Besides the capital gains of 52 per cent in the past 28 weeks and the dividend yield of 11.6 per cent, the pre-allotted shares now offer additional return of 24.1 per cent, given the rights issue price of N2.12 per share, the market price and opportunity for trading of rights on the NSE. With inflation rate at 9.0 per cent and Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which sets the benchmark for lending rate at 12 per cent; investment in the bank’s shares still presents substantial net return, even when adjusted for inflation and cost of capital. Such returns, such as Sterling Bank’s, are what have kept foreign portfolio investments scrambling into the Nigerian capital market, in spite of obvious macroeconomic and political challenges.

For shareholders and long-term investors, Sterling Bank appears more like the proverbial golden hen that lays to meet the current needs and still subsists for future needs. While continuous improvements in fundamental performance and returns have seen quantum leap in shareholders’ value, such as the capital gains in the past 18 months and 100 per cent increase in last dividend payout, steady implementation of the bank’s medium-tolong-term growth strategy reinforces the sustainability of such growth and return.

Symmetrical values Sterling Bank’s technical performance at the stock market appears to be rooted in similar performance in the fundamentals of its business operations. This is the norm for share pricing. While the arguments subsist on the time-lag and immediacy of stock market pricing efficiency, there is conclusive unanimity on the fact that share price trend will tend to reflect the fundamentals of the stock overtime. The differing nature of efficiency response time- depending on the nature of the market, investors, technologies etc, is what makes for overvaluation, undervaluation and fair value of each stock and the entire market sometimes.

These are the underlying variables for continuous stock market corrections and cycles. It is within these cycles and corrections-within stocks and markets; that speculative investors make money from. For long-term investors and shareholders, the intrinsic value lies in the ability of the stock to create and sustain substantial values over

the cycles and corrections. This appears to be attraction of Sterling Bank.

Audited and interim earnings reports have shown appreciable growths over the years, underlining the consistency of the bank’s fundamentals in its transition from a small-size lowtier bank to an expansive mid-tier bank. Audited report and accounts of Sterling Bank Plc for the year ended December 31, 2012 showed that gross earnings rose by 44 per cent from N47.7 billion to N68.86 billion. Profit before tax, on the face of it, rose by 33 per cent from N5.46 billion to N7.5 billion. When adjusted for the sale of subsidiaries in previous year, pre-tax profit from core operations actually doubled from N3.6 billion to N7.5 billion. Also, while tax write-backs of N1.3 billion had boosted net profit to N6.91 billion, the bank paid taxes of N546.11 million for 2012 and still increased net profit after tax to N6.95 billion. With earnings per share at 44.3 kobo, the bank doubled cash dividend from 10 kobo paid for 2011 business year to 20 kobo for 2012. The sustainable dividend outlook was still appreciable with dividend cover of 2.22 times in 2012. At the opening price for this year, the dividend per share implied a dividend yield of 11.6 per cent, one of the highest in the market.

Besides, the audited report had shown continuing disciplined growth in business expansion and credit risks management. Both the structure and quality of risk assets improved considerably during the year. While gross loans and advances grew by 38 per cent from N171.47 billion to N236.13 billion, classified loans dropped by about 29 per cent from N9.4 billion to N6.7 billion. The proportion of non-performing loans to total loans and advances thus halved from 5.5 per cent in 2011 to 2.8 per cent in 2012, significantly surpassing industry’s benchmark target of 5.0 per cent.

The current earnings report shows increasingly positive outlook. Interim report and accounts for the three-month period ended March 31, 2013 showed that profit after tax rose by 96 per cent while profit before tax increased by 85 per cent. In three months, gross earnings stood at N19.84 billion as against N16.21 billion recorded in comparable period of 2012. Profit before tax jumped from N1.63 billion to N3.02 billion while profit after tax leapt to N2.72 billion as against N1.39 billion.

The report underlined continuous improvement in the bank’s cost efficiency and growing market share. Pre-tax profit margin was 15.2 per cent in first quarter 2013 as against 10.1 per cent in comparable period of 2012. Deposits increased by 13.1 per cent within the three months from N466.85 billion recorded in December 2012 to N528.10 billion in March 2013. Total assets grew by 11 per cent to N645.07 billion as against N580.23 billion recorded in December 2012.

Better than average Sterling Bank’s first quarter net profit growth signaled robust returns outlook for investors as earnings per share rose by 89 per cent from 9.0 kobo recorded in first quarter 2012 to 17 kobo in first quarter 2013. This places the bank within the top three banks with the probable earnings yield. While actual dividend payout and related dividend yield depends on the board of directors’ recommendation and approval of the shareholders at the general meeting, earnings yield is the fundamental basis for dividend payout and intrinsic value-creating potential of a stock. Earnings and dividend yields relate a company’s fundamental earnings to its share price within a specified period. Both however, depend on the entry cost of the investor. At current market consideration, Sterling Bank’s earnings-potential return outlook outweighs most stocks in the banking subsector. The lender opens today with earnings yield of 6.5 per cent. Against the discounted rights issue’s price of N2.12, the bank’s earnings

yield trended upward to 8.0 per cent. Average earnings yield in the banking subsector is about 5.0 per cent. Only six banks rank above average with Unity Bank and Sterling Bank posting the highest yields. Unity Bank opens with a yield of 8.6 per cent. Zenith Bank carries a yield of 3.6 per cent. Ecobank transnational Incorporated (ETI) opens with a yield of 3.3 per cent while Stanbic IBTC Holdings opens with the lowest yield of 2.1 per cent, based on available earnings reports.

Strengthening growth base In spite of the above-average upside potential, Sterling Bank is looking to strengthen its competitiveness and fundamental performance through additional capital. Riding on the back of successful integration of the acquired Equitorial Trust Bank (ETB) Limited, the emergent Sterling Bank seeks to consolidate its nationwide spread and operations with injection of new equity and debt capital. According to the new capital issue agenda, the bank plans to raise $80 million through rights issue and $120 million through private placement.

Sterling Bank is currently raising N12.5 billion through a rights issue of about 5.889 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N2.12 per share, 30.5 per cent discount to this year’s high of N3.05 at the stock market. The shares have been pre-allotted on the basis of three new ordinary shares of 50 kobo each for every eight ordinary shares of 50 kobo each held as at May 20, 2013.

Application list, which opened on June 24, 2013, will run till July 31, 2013.

The rights circular indicated that the net proceeds of the rights issue, estimated at N12.13 billion, would be used mainly to finance branch expansion and increase working capital. Part of the net proceeds would also be used for infrastructure upgrade in support of automated and cashless payment as well as to enhance information technology.

According to the breakdown of utilization of net proceeds, 35 per cent of the net proceeds, estimated at N4.24 billion, would be used for branch expansion; 15 per cent of the funds estimated at N1.82 billion would be used for infrastructure upgrade, 10 per cent of the funds equivalent to N1.21 billion for information technology and the largest chunk of 40 per cent, estimated at N4.85 billion, is billed to be set aside as additional working capital.

Shareholders’ support Early filings from receiving agents and expressions of interests by several key stakeholders showed enthusiastic start for the rights issue. The success of the rights issue is primarily assured by the commitments of major shareholders.

While four core investors hold about 35 per cent equity stake, 193 shareholders altogether hold the decisive 83.1 per cent equity stake. The supports from non-core shareholders have further strengthened the prospects for the rights issue, which had earlier received firm commitments from major Nigerian and foreign shareholders including the State Bank of India, Dr. Mike Adenuga, Suleiman Adegunwa’s Ess-ay Investments Limited and others. Sterling Bank’s noncore shareholders, with less than five per cent equity stake, include a large number of minority retail shareholders of more than 88,000. Most of the shareholders’ groups that represent smallholding retail investors have publicly expressed supports for the rights issue. These included Sir Sunny Nwosu’s National Coordinator, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN); Dr Faruk Umar’s Advancement of Rights of Nigerian Shareholders (AARNS); Boniface Okezie’s Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria (PSAN); Gbenga Idowu’s Shareholders United Front (SUF); and Mrs. Bisi Bakare’s Prag-

•Yemi Adeola matic Shareholders Association.

A window to the future Managing director, Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Yemi Adeola, said the ongoing rights issue and other capital raising exercises were meant to support the bank’s next growth agenda, which is aimed at consolidating its stable performance over the years and enhance its competitiveness in terms of size and resilience to macroeconomic changes.

According to him, additional capitalisation has become necessary because size has become increasingly important and relevant in the banking industry and the extent of capital base could be a limit to expansion in terms of physical presence and operations.

He pointed out that additional working capital would enable the bank to expand the scope of its corporate banking business, noting that the bank is currently limited by the single obligor limit, which is a function of available capital base.

“If with the modest capital that we have, we were able to stabilise the bank, deliver consistently better returns to shareholders and build up to become the a top tier bank. Imagine what we would do with more capital. Our shareholders have no reason whatsoever not to be excited in participating in the rights issue. You can’t regret it,” Adeola had assured.

Four-year forecasts for the bank showed continuous growths in the top-line and bottom-line over the next four years. Profit forecasts reviewed by capital market regulators and professional parties showed that gross earnings will rise steadily from N87.22 billion in 2013 to N115.23 billion, N147.2 billion and N188.82 billion in 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively. Profit after tax is expected to grow by about 71 per cent to N12 billion in 2013 and thereafter to N15.1 billion, N22.28 billion and N35.19 billion in 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively. While it will plough back the larger chunk of retained earnings into reserves, cash dividend is expected to increase from N2.4 billion in 2013 to N3 billion in 2014 and thereafter to N4.46 billion and N7.04 billion in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

Farsightedness, stable management, long-term strategic corporate plan and corporate goodwill are mitigating factors against country and industry risks of policy summersaults, corporate governance issues and heterogeneous external and domestic changes that tend to reshape the Nigerian financial services industry. In all these, Sterling Bank appears to be in better stead.

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

35

MONEY MARKET REPORT

Cash-less: CBN, banks move to increase T financial access points HE cash-less banking policy entered its second phase on July 1, with the inclusion of the Federal Capital Territory, Abia, Anambra, Kano, Ogun and Rivers states. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and some commercial banks are taking steps to deepen financial penetration in the country.

The objectives of the policy, which is in operational in Lagos, includes reduction in the level of physical cash in circulation, reduction in the huge cost associated with cash handling, thereby saving at least 30 per cent of banks’ operating costs.

This regulation is expected to encourage the use of electronic and cheque payments for goods and services as the alternative to cash payments. Individual account holders will have a daily cash withdrawal and deposit limit of N500,000. Also, corporate account holders will have a daily cash withdrawal and deposit limit of N3million, while cash evacuation and cash-in-transit services will no longer be available to customers.

Banks have also commenced product development to ensure that the policy succeeds. FirstBank Nigeria, First City Monument Bank, United Bank for Africa, Access Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, Wema Bank and Diamond Bank, among others, have developed tested and viable products/ services tailored towards effective management of cashless banking.

FirstBank has rolled out e-payment platforms to provide alternative to its customers. The bank’s FirstPayLink is a consolidated Internet payment gateway that integrates various payment platforms to merchants’ websites. It allows internet payments using InterSwitch, eTranzact, Visa and MasterCard cards, thereby giving them the flexibility to operate online sales.

“FirstPayLink is integrated into a merchant’s existing website after successful sign-up. Payments are made using InterSwitch, eTranzact, Visa and MasterCard, even as merchants are settled promptly for all payments made through the platform,” the bank’s Head, Marketing and Corporate Communications, Mrs. Folake Ani-Mumuney, said in a statement.

She explained that the bank accepts payments for goods and services via merchants website adding that every successful payment receives an electronic receipt with a unique reference number. Also, buyers can choose from a wide range of payment processors including Verve, Visa, MasterCard and eTranzact. The target markets are SMEs, insurance companies, religious Institutions, educational Institutions, professional bodies, customers with online stores among others.

The bank also has introduced FirstCollect which is a collection platform that gives customers the ability to monitor collections at the comfort of their offices online real time.

FirstCollect is FirstBank’s e-Collection platform that is customizable and enables corporates receive payments for goods and services through FirstBank branches nationwide as well as other alternative channels like web and Point of Sale (PoS).

She explained that corporate organisations can monitor payments from the comforts of their office and homes, and it can be integrated to their internal business application. “The product is an online-real time monitoring of payments by corporate organizations. It has comprehensive and customizable reports, customisable input data fields, uniform capture of payment details by all bank tellers to aid account reconciliation, instant email/SMS notification on payments received and integration with organizations’ core business application,” she said.

She said that customers can pay through the bank branches, ATMs PoS, web and mobile devices. The product, she said, helps to increase organisations sales collection channels, improve service delivery to their

•Sanusi

•PoS machine •FirstBank CEO, Bisi Onasanya

By Collins Nweze

clients, distributors and dealers even as the bank’s branches serve as payment points for the client.

“The target markets are manufacturers with large distributor chain, government institutions for revenue collection, companies that do lots of sales, Fast Moving Consumer Principals’ among others,” Mrs AniMumuney said.

According to her, some corporate organisations have limitations with salary payments, payment to vendors and beneficiaries. Such firms want platforms that are fast, not bound by locations and are work-flow driven.

This, she said prompted the bank to introduce FirstPay, a work-flow driven automated payment solution that enables corporate customers initiate payment instructions electronically from any internet-enabled computer to beneficiaries in any bank in Nigeria.

The solution, she said also has direct debit functionality suitable for the collection of insurance premiums, utility bills and distributorship schemes. It is a proven, robust and secure end-to-end e-payment and collection solution.

Some of the features include that it is web-based, Personal Identification Number/Token enabled, inter-bank transactions (debit/credit) possible and multiple security levels. She listed some of the benefits as instant payments to beneficiary accounts, secure with multiple factor authentication, it is available 24/7 and is simple and convenient. It can be used for collections using the direct debit functionality. The target markets are insurance companies, government Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs), corporate organisations, professional bodies, educational Institutions among others.

‘

CBN CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, said the apex bank is taking steps to ensure that motor parks, new Automated Teller Machine (ATM) points, and rural areas are covered.

He said the policy is designed to reduce the cost of handling cash, which is eating into bank’s profits and liquidity. He estimated that banks spent N192 billion in 2012 on cash handling, noting that this would be passed on to customers in terms of fees and interest charges.

“The target is getting the cost reduced by 30 per cent in three years through enforcement of fourpronged initiatives, namely reduction in cash management cost, enhanced electronic payment system, Information Technology and centralised back-office systems,” he said.

Agent banking The CBN has said it will be taking a second look at the Agent Banking Guidelines it issued months back.

Speaking on Monday at the launch of the Geospatial mapping of Financial Institutions in Nigeria in conjunction with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), Sanusi said it is important to review the guidelines because of initial challenges the banking practice is facing.

He said many of the prospective operators are confused over the guidelines and there is need to review it to make all aspects of the guidelines clearer. He said part of the new rule will be an automatic licence for commercial banks and microfinance banks.

According to the CBN, the agent banking guideline is in line with the powers conferred on the banking

watchdog by Section 2 (d) of the CBN Act, 2007 and Section 57 (2) of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA), Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

The statute empowers the CBN to issue guidelines for the maintenance of adequate and reasonable financial services to the public. The objective of agent banking, it said, is to provide minimum standards and requirements for agent banking operations, enhance financial inclusion and provide for agent banking as a delivery channel for offering banking services in a cost effective manner.

Agent banking is the provision of financial services to customers by a third party (agent) on behalf of a licensed deposit taking financial institution and/or mobile money operator (principal).

The agent banks are expected to receive cash deposit and withdrawal, carry out bills payment (utilities, taxes, tenement rates, subscription etc.), payment of salaries, funds transfer services (local money value transfer), balance enquiry, generation and issuance of mini statement, collection and submission of account opening and other related documentation among others.

Financial Inclusion The CBN Governor has also emphasised the need for stakeholders’ support in its drive to achieving targets set in the Nigerian Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS).

He said the target outlined in the NFIS strategy is the reduction of the number of adults excluded from access to financial services from 46.3 per cent in 2010 to 20 per cent in 2020. As a member of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), he said Nigeria’s declaration was in line with the Maya declara-

The target is getting the cost of banking operations reduced by 30 per cent in three years through enforcement of four-pronged initiatives, namely reduction in cash management cost, enhanced electronic payment system, Information Technology and centralised back-office systems

‘

tion in 2011.

According to him, it is targeted that at least 70 per cent of the proposed 80 per cent adult Nigerians to be financially included, would be in the formal sector, with specific targets for services such as payments, savings, credit, insurance and pensions. To achieve this however, he said there must be collaboration among all the stakeholders in the financial industry.

Sanus said the CBN had since approved a number of initiatives aimed at improving financial inclusion. He listed some of these initiatives to include the development of Agent Banking Guidelines, tiered Know-YourCustomer (KYC) requirements to encourage Financial Institutions to reach out to under-served segments, the development of a Consumer Protection Framework under a newly set up Consumer Protection Department and a National campaign to promote Financial Literacy.

He traced the partnership between the CBN and the BMGF to the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) Global Policy Forum in 2012, where the Foundation pledged to support the CBN to achieve the targets set out in the NFIS. “The BMGF identified certain areas for collaboration with the CBN based on their assessment of Nigeria’s needs with respect to Financial Inclusion as well as the capacity of their partners.

These areas include; Geo-Spatial Mapping, Capacity building initiatives for the Shared Services Office (which drives the Shared Services initiatives including the Cashless Nigeria Policy) and Capacity building Support for the Financial Inclusion Secretariat (which would drive the implementation of the NFIS),” Sanusi said.

Sanusi said the bank was excited to be partnering with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on the project, which he noted will act as a catalyst in the realisation of the targets outlined in Nigeria’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy.

NIBSS The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) said the vision of Nigeria to be among the top 20 economies in the world providing efficient e-payment services by 2020, will be achieved. Its Executive Director, Business Development, Chritabel Onyejekwe, said the cash-less banking initiative has recorded huge success and has been able to drastically reduce banks’ operational costs significantly.

She said NIBSS in collaboration with the CBN, banks and other international partners are committed to the journey of transformation for the e-payment industry via cashless economy. He said all the parties agree that a lot of work needs to be done at the grassroots. She said, SIBS International, a Portuguese firm has been supporting NIBSS in achieving the cash-less objective.

Offshore support SIBS International, a Portuguese firm has begun technology transfer to the NIBSS in a step aimed at promoting cash-less banking initiative in the country.

Managing Director, SIBS International, Pedro Hipolito said the firm which does $6 billion transactions annually in Portugal alone is committed to expanding its operations in Nigeria to enable banks and other financial institutions fully integrate their processes into the e-payment system.

He said the firm has already entered into partnership with many of the local banks to strengthen their Information Technology operations to enable them achieve a seamless e-payment operations.

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

36

DUE DILIGENCE

Cadbury Nigeria: Improving performance

C

ADBURY Nigeria Plc rode on the back of appreciable increase in sales and cost efficiency to improve its bottom-line performance significantly. While it had leveraged on cost efficiency to drive performance in the last audited report, the company benefited from substantial growth in sales and improved cost efficiency in the first quarter of this year.

Earnings report for the first quarter ended March 31, 2013 showed that turnover rose by 16 per cent while profit growth scaled up through the ranks from 43 per cent for gross profit to 185 per cent each for pre and post tax profits. The bottom-line performance was boosted by 29 per cent reduction in finance expenses.

Total sales stood at N8.36 billion in first quarter 2013 as against N7.2 billion in comparable period of 2012. Gross profit rose from N2.27 billion to N3.25 billion. Profit before tax leapt to N1.68 billion as against N587.1 million in corresponding period of 2012. Profit after tax stood at N1.41 billion compared with N400.7 million in comparable period of 2012. With this, earnings per share tripled to 36 kobo as against 13 kobo in previous year. Underlying profitability ratios showed considerable improvements in the profit-making capacity of the company. Gross profit margin increased from 31.5 per cent to 38.9 per cent while pretax profit margin jumped from 8.2 per cent to 20.1 per cent.

Audited report and accounts of the company for the year ended December 31, 2012 had shown marginal decline in sales, but improved cost and financing manage-

2008

2009

By Taofik Salako

ment squeezed out more profit than the previous year. Although tax provisions impinged on net earnings, underlying profitability ratios generally showed stronger performance.

The company’s balance sheet indicated better financing and liquidity positions, which supported the overall performance outlook. With lower gearing ratio, improved liquidity, higher working capital and increased proportionate contribution of equity funds to total assets, amenable balance sheet structure moderated midline constraints that could have resulted from the lull in sales.

Financing structure

Cadbury Nigeria’s underlying financing structure improved slightly in 2012. The proportion of equity funds to total assets inched up to 50 per cent in 2012 as against 49 per cent in 2011. Debt-to-equity ratio improved from 9.0 per cent to 7.5 per cent. However, current liabilities/total assets ratio stood at 42 per cent in 2012 as against 41 per cent in 2011. Long-term liabilities/total assets closed 2012 at 8.0 per cent as against 9.5 per cent in 2011.

Total assets had increased by 19 per cent to N40.16 billion in 2012 as against N33.66 billion in 2011.

Non-current assets had increased marginally from N13.43 billion to N13.99 billion while current assets rose by 29 per cent from N20.23 billion to N26.17 billion. On the other hand, total liabilities rose by 18 per cent from N17.07 billion to N20.12 billion. While long-term

2010

2011

Fiscal Year Ended December 31 Nmillion

2012 12 months

Profit and Loss Statement Main Business Segment Total turnover Cost of sales Gross profit Operating expenses Interest and other incomes Finance expenses Pre-tax profit(loss) Post-tax profit (loss) Basic earnings per share(kobo) Gross dividend (Nm) Cash dividend per share (kobo) Net Assets per share (kobo)

33,551 33,551 22,453 11,097 7,205 1,619 NA 5,512 3,455 110 1,565 50 640

Balance Sheet Assets: Fixed assets Total long term assets Trade debtors Current assets Total assets Liabilities: Trade creditors Bank loans Current liabilities Long-term liabilities Total liabilities Equity Funds Share capital Total Equity Funds

2012

% change -1.6 -1.6 -2.2 -0.6 1.8 66.7 9.1 -5.9 -6.0 20.8

liabilities steadied at about N3.2 billion, current liabilities increased by 22 per cent from N13.88 billion to N16.91 billion. The company’s paid up share capital remained unchanged at about N1.57 billion, consisting of about 3.13 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each. With about 55 per cent of net earnings flowed into the reserves, shareholders’ funds improved by 21 per cent to N20.04 billion compared with N16.59 billion recorded in the previous year.

Efficiency

Overall outlook appeared to suggest steady productivity and cost efficiency in 2012. Total cost of business, excluding financing charges, stood at 88.4 per cent of total sales in 2012, almost flat with 88.0 per cent recorded in 2011. Finance expenses had dropped by 29 per cent from N41.95 million to N29.89 million.

Profitability

Cadbury Nigeria recorded a mixed-grill in 2012. While the lull in sales constrained opportunity for wider profit growth, the company fell on cost and finance management to mitigate decline and steady the bottom-line. These played out variously in the outward profit and loss items and the underlying profitability ratios.

While sales, gross profit and trading profit dipped to lower levels, gross profit margin and pre-tax profit margin showed improved cost efficiency and profitability.

Gross profit margin inched up to 33.1 per cent in 2012 as against 32.7 per cent in 2011. Profit before tax margin also improved modestly from 14.8 per cent to 16.4 per cent.

Both indices indicated that the company witnessed improvement in average profit per unit of sales, in spite of the decline in actual figures.

Total sales dropped marginally by 1.6 per cent from N34.11 billion to N33.55 billion. Cost of sales also slumped to N22.45 billion from N22.95 billion. Gross profit flattened to N11.10 billion in 2012 as against 11.16 billion in 2011. Total operating expenses stood at N7.21 billion, some 1.8 per cent above N7.08 billion recorded in 2011.

Trading profit thus dropped from N4.08 billion to N3.89 billion. With 67 per cent increase in non-core business income from N971 mil-

lion to N1.62 billion, profit before tax rose to N5.51 billion in 2012 compared with N5.05 billion in 2011. However, increase in tax provisions reversed net profit after tax by 5.9 per cent to N3.46 billion as against N3.67 billion in previous year.

Per share analysis indicated earnings per share of N1.10 in 2012, a slight decrease from N1.17 recorded in 2012. The company distributed some 45 per cent of net earnings as cash dividends to shareholders. Gross dividend of N1.57 billion was distributed on the basis of 50 kobo per every ordinary share of 50 kobo each. Net assets per share also increased by 21 per cent from N5.30 to N6.40.

The dividend cover of 2.20 times also represents substantial future payment potential. Underlying returns were however, generally lower. Return on total assets dropped from 15 per cent to 13.7 per cent while return on equity slipped from 22.1 per cent to 17.2 per cent.

Liquidity

The liquidity position of the company improved considerably during the period. Current ratio, which indicates the potential ability of the company to meet emerging liabilities, strengthened to 1.55 times in 2012 compared with 1.46 times in 2011. The proportion of working capital to sales also improved from 18.6 per cent to 27.6 per cent. Debtors/creditors ratio stood at 42.5 per cent as against 43.3 per cent.

Governance and structures

Cadbury Nigeria Plc was incorporated in January 1965 and became a publicly quoted company in 1976. Mondelçz International, a global snacks company, holds the majority equity stake of 74.99 per cent in Cadbury Nigeria while thousands of Nigerian individual

•Emil Moskofian

and institutional shareholders hold the remaining 25.01 per cent.

Mondelçz International has operations in 165 countries with total revenue of $35 billion in 2012.

Mondelçz is listed in the Standard and Poor’s 500, NASDAQ 100 and Dow Jones Sustainability Index.

The board and management of the company remained stable. Mr Atedo Peterside still chairs the board. Mr Emil Moskofian replaced Mr Alan Palmer as the managing director. Cadbury Nigeria complied with codes of corporate governance and best practices during the review period.

Analyst’s opinion

The performance of Cadbury Nigeria in the first quarter and the audited report show continuing improvement in the operating fundamentals of the company. With a relatively strong balance sheet, streamlined business that focused on optimal return and recent horizontal and vertical integrations, the company has shown considerable potential for growth. The recent absorption of its subsidiaryStanmark Cocoa Processing Company Limited and continuing integration of Cadbury Nigeria as the hub for Mondelez International’s African operations are expected to be catalysts for significant growths in the years ahead.

2011 12 months 34,111 34,111 22,951 11,159 7,077 971 NA 5,053 3,671 117 0 0 530

13,938 13,992 6,267 26,165 40,157

14.5 4.2 18.7 29.3 19.3

12,176 13,425 5,281 20,231 33,656

14,742 1,500 16,905 3,212 20,117

20.9 0.0 21.8 0.6 17.9

12,196 1,500 13,875 3,192 17,067

1,565 20,039

0.0 20.8

1,565 16,589

2008

2009

2010

Fiscal Year Ended December 31

2011

2012

2012 %

2011 %

Financing structure Equity funds/Total assets Long-term liabilities/Total assets Current liabilities/Total assets Debt/Equity ratio

49.9 8.0 42.1 7.5

49.3 9.5 41.2 9.0

Profitability Gross profit margin Pre-tax profit margin Return on total assets Return on equity Dividend cover (times)

33.1 16.4 13.7 17.2 2.20

32.7 14.8 15.0 22.1 0.00

Efficiency Pre-tax profit per employee (Nm) Staff cost per employee (Nm) Cost of sales, operating exp/Turnover

NA NA 88.4

NA NA 88.0

Liquidity Current ratio Working capital/Turnover Debtors/Creditors

1.55 27.6 42.5

1.46 18.6 43.3

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THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

37

• ABANG Platform fabricated by Nigerdock for Mobil Producing Satellite Fields Development Project.

How to localise skills for job creation The Federal Government has tried virtually all means to arrest unemployment but the problem persists. There seems to be a strategy yet to be explored and that, according to the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), is the domiciliation of industrial and manufacturing activities and skills. The champions of the strategy believe that capital flight and job export are major causes of unemployment. EMEKA UGWUANYI, Assistant Editor reports.

I

N the fight against unemployment, the Federal Government adopted some measures. It created the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) and Nigerian Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP), among others, to address the problems.

Besides, in 2010, it established the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) shortly after the passage of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act. A cardinal thrust of the NOGICD Act is to maximise the utilisation of human resources in oil and gas activities while the NCDMB regulates local content.

Since its inception, NCDMB has been exploring ways to improve Nigerians’ involvement in the industry and develop indigenous capacity and capability. To NCDMB’s Executive Secretary, Ernest Nwapa, one way to tackle unemployment,

create the expected capacity and jobs, is to domicile activities in the country.

He said until the government and well meaning Nigerians find a way of ensuring that industrial and manufacturing activities are carried out in-country and a reasonable quantum of equipment used for various projects manufactured in Nigeria, unemployment may remain high while capacity and capability levels may still remain unimpressive.

Nwapa told The Nation that the board doesn’t emphasise award of contracts to indigenous companies because that has not helped in achieving its mandate, which is to boost capacity and employment. Award of contracts to indigenous firms, he said, doesn’t translate to deepening human resources development as some of these firms give out the jobs to expatriates to handle and also import most of the equipment for project execution.

The dereliance on expatriate skills and imported equipment, he said, doesn’t lay the expected foundation for sustainable job creation and capacity building. What the board is doing is to establish industrial parks in some selected states where original equipment manufacturers will work with Nigerians to transfer the technology and skills. He said through this development, jobs and value would be created and domiciled incountry.

Stakeholders believe that this approach should be extended to other sectors aside oil and gas.

A document obtained by The Nation on what the implementation of Nigerian Content has achieved in terms of job creation, shows that over 30,000 direct jobs have been created.

The report on national quarterly job creation and labour force survey was carried out by the National Bureau of Statistics on Nigeria Content Development in collaboration

with the content board.

The report showed that at the end of November, last year the various segments of the upstream sector of the industry had created substantial jobs. The report reads: “We have provided employment... for activities directly linked to local content implementation in selected upstream activities as at November 2012.”

The table showed that Nigerians manning marine vessels that service the oil and gas industry - 3,000; those manning rigs – 1,500; those in fabrication yards that service the industry – 10,792; Nigerians in design engineering firms - 2,130; those in petroleum technology companies – 3,000; those in oil and gas manufacturing firms – 1,500; while 6,797 benefited from posttraining employment as part of industry capacity development initiative and 2,143 •Continued on page 38

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THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

JOBS

How to localise skills for job creation •Continued from page 37

Nigerians occupy managerial positions in operating companies, bringing the total to 30,862.

The NCDMB has entered into collaboration with different organisations to realise government’s aspiration in content development. The board and the Nigerian Navy agreed to deepen their collaboration in the oil and gas industry, especially on developing and utilising capacity.

Nwapa and the Commandant of the Nigerian Naval Engineering College, Rear Admiral Akinjola Johnson, made the commitment at a meeting at NCDMB Headquarters in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

Nwapa said the Board was working to identify, develop and maximise the utilisation of facilities across the country for industry work and training programmes and expressed the willingness of the Board to work with the Navy. He said the Board’s efforts were in compliance with the directive of its Chairman, Mrs. Dieziani Alison-Madueke, who is also the Minister of Petroleum.

He said the Navy Dockyard in Lagos is being used for heavy fabrication by some service companies, adding that many countries had integrated their armed forces in the advancement of national technology and NCDMB would consolidate on the existing

relationship between the military and industry.

Nwapa said when the board visited the Navy Engineering College, Sapele, Delta State in 2011, it discovered that the institution’s machine shop has some capacity the oil and gas industry can use.

He added that the machine shop will be tested for space and facilities and considered for the pilot scheme of the proposed Training Centre of Excellence the Board is developing in collaboration with Petrofac-an international training agency-and the Oil and Gas Training Association of Nigeria (OGTAN).

He advised the Navy High Command to further invest in the development of the college so that it can be upgraded to an international awarding institution and meet the standards set by Petrofac and OGTAN. “Our visit to the various training facilities to be used for the Centre of Excellence will commence shortly. I encourage you to improve the facility to meet the required standard,” he said.

Rear Admiral Johnson restated the commitment of naval authorities to improve the facilities in the college to ensure that it is included in the planned training programme of the industry and meet other national demands. “The essence of our visit is to galvanise the synergy that has existed between the board and the College for the development of Nigeria,” he added.

At a meeting of the Governing Council of the Board, Mrs Alison-Madueke said: “The implementation of the Nigerian Content Act has deepened the Nigerian Oil and Gas local supply chain and increased industry man-hours performed by Nigerians. In the first 30 months of passage of the Act, job creation has risen by over 350 per cent resulting in over 30,000 direct productive jobs. Just by insisting on using Nigerians in the industry, we have deepened the local supply chain.

“I have, no doubt, that more jobs will be

• Nwapa

created in 2013 and we shall achieve greater localisation of industry services, manufacturing and fabrication in 2013.”

She said the jobs were generated in engineering, fabrication, exploration and production, marine transportation and logistics sectors, which had been developed to become more robust.

She expressed optimism that the job growth trajectory will not only be sustained but also drive multipliers across industries following the integration of youths training into the implementation process.

Mrs Alison-Madueke said the Nigerian Content implementation has increased the level of participation of Nigerians in oil and gas contracts to 87 per cent of total industry contracts, which she attributed to domiciliation activities.

“The Board has to a large extent achieved consensus in most aspects of Nigerian Content implementation to the extent that there has been no major dispute amongst stakeholders on interpretation of provisions of the Nigerian Content Law. “Stakeholders are also responding positively to the need to do things differently in the industry, for the benefit of all. This clearly demonstrates that we have been carrying the industry along in the implementation of the Act,” she added.

Mrs Alison-Madueke said the government would continue to support the Board and its numerous local value addition initiatives, aimed at deepening indigenous participation in the industry.

While acknowledging progress made on the quantum of contracts awarded to Nigerians, Nwapa said the Nigerian Content can only grow if indigenous companies that win contracts procure items from Nigeria and execute the jobs in-country.

To grow real Nigerian Content, Nwapa said the industry must focus more on manufacturing, bringing back the bulk of fabrication jobs that are done in foreign countries and ensuring that pipes, valves, fittings and related equipment are procured from Nigeria.

Progress, he said, had been recorded in fabrication and engineering, noting that similar growth must be achieved in the manufacturing sector as most of the valves, pumps, oil and gas equipment are still being imported.

“We have started creating the platform to ensure that components of these equipment can be done here, even if we cannot manufacture the whole equipment here.

“With the support of the minister, we have also issued guidelines that require any new project to create some legacy facilities. We have been able to get commitments from international operating companies on FPSO integration facilities, dockyards, umbilicals manufacturing and fabrication yards,” he added.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS Airtel appoints Macaulay as Regional Director A IRTEL Nigeria has appointed Segun Macaulay as its Regional Operations Director for West Region.

He will report to the Chief Sales and Distribution Officer and will lead Airtel in driving growth opportunities as well as ensuring excellent 3.75G network coverage and exceptional service experience for telecommunications consumers in the West region.

Macaulay, who is joining Airtel Nigeria from East African Breweries Limited, Kenya, has over 19 years cross functional leadership experience in General Management, Sales & Distribution Leadership, Team Capability Develop-

ment, Supply Chain, Competition Engagement, Customer Service and Channel Marketing.

Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director of Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya, said the company is committed to creating leadership opportunities for top Nigerian talents.

Airtel, he said, was passionate about empowering exceptional Nigerian professionals and ensuring that its entire workforce is highly motivated and engaged.

“As an employer of choice in Nigeria, Airtel will continue to attract

Nigerian highflyers and the recent appointment of Macaulay bears strong testimony to this fact,” he said.

Macaulay started his career in 1993 with Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited as Field Marketing Manager and held several positions spanning Trade Marketing, Sales Operations, Physical and Route Distribution, Sales Training, Customer Service and Market Development.

In 2005, he was promoted to Senior Marketing Operations Manager for West and Central Nigeria and

subsequently Lagos. He was appointed Manager, Northwest Franchise in 2007 reporting to Division President, Coca-Cola Nigeria & Equatorial Africa.

In 2008, he was seconded to Nigerian Bottling Company Plc (bottlers of Coca-Cola brands) as pioneer Head, Commercial Excellence.

In 2010, he joined Diageo and was assigned to Tanzania where he led the business acquisition agenda and became pioneer Sales Director for Serengeti Breweries Limited in Tanzania, a subsidiary of Diageo Group. Macaulay was subse-

quently appointed Head, Sales Operations, Distributor Management & Capability for East African Breweries Limited, Kenya, a position he occupied until his appointment with Airtel.

Macaulay holds a Higher National Diploma in Food Science and Technology, from Federal Polytechnic, Idah and a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management as well as Masters in Business Administration (Marketing), both from Enugu State University Business School. He also has a certification in Executive Business Development and Management from Gordon Institute of Business Science, South Africa.

CAREER MANAGEMENT

Career and job success skills for newly employed

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OW that you have made the big tran-sition through job hunting and landed the job, the next goal is job success. Don’t take that for granted. There are specific skills you need to know and use to be successful at your job. It’s important to practise these skills prior to starting the job. First impressions show from day one. You only get one opportunity to create first impression.

What follows here isn’t a complete list. It’s a good idea to check with your direct boss about what’s most important.An important information for you: employers say many people lose their job because they don’t use good work habits and not because they are unable to do the job.The following list of suggestions is based on feedback form a majority of surveyed employers.

Employers expectations

• A positive attitude is one of the most important factors in achiev-

By Olu Oyeniran

ing job success. Don’t carry negative feelings into your new workplace. Resolve them elsewhere.

• Always be on time. How long will it take to get to work? Allow a few extra minutes for traffic problems and getting children to school. Set an alarm clock to help you get up. Being reliable and dependable gains the trust and respect of your new employer.

• Good attendance and promptness are always important. It you’re going to be unavoidably late or out sick, find out the proper method of informing them.

• Know and follow office rules, policies and procedures.Read the employee manuals. Please find out the informal rules.

• Listen and learn. Be open to new ways of doing things, even if you have taught differently in school or on a different job. Don’t be quick to find fault, criticise or complain until you can prove you can do

something a better way.

• Meet and exceed your employer’s expectations.

• Learn all you can about the job you were hired to do before thinking about moving up.

Communication

• When you need to talk with your supervisor, ask when would be a good time to meet.

• Take advantage of your performance reviews. Stay calm.

Learn from them. Ask how you can improve. Show results or jobs-related classes you’ve taken. Most Supervisors appreciate employees who are concerned about performance and in finding ways to improve. Your job success is also their success.

• Be a team player. Be willing to help. Know the goals of your job and how your job fits into the overall organisation. Avoid a “know-it-all attitude.”Try to fit in with the team. Keep your sense of humour.

• Ask for help when you need it.

If you make a mistake, let your supervisor know immediately.

Find the proper chain of command.

Discuss items with your supervisor first.

Personal

• Prior to starting the job, have all your appointments with doctors, dentists, etc., out of the way. Have your transportation and daycare lined up so you don’t immediately have to take time off. Have an emergency plan for daycare and transportation.

• Be willing to learn new skills.

Keep a record of classes you’re taking that relate to the job. Review this with your supervisor at an appropriate time.

• Take time in making new friends. Find positive and upbeat coworkers. Avoid negative, critical and gossiping people.

• Be clean and well groomed.

Wear clean and job-appropriate clothes. Pay attention to how your

coworkers are dressed. Avoid wearing strong perfumes or colognes.

• Keep you personal life and problems at home. Do not use the employer’s equipment and time to do personal things like making personal phone calls, using the copy machine or resolving your personal problems on the job. If you’re having trouble resolving personal problems, counseling, support groups or employee assistance programmes may be useful.

• Create the image. Dress for the job you want next.

• Be patient with yourself and your employer. It takes time to get used to, learn and like a new job.

• Volunteer to projects and committees if your work is completed and your supervisor approves.

•Oyeniran is Lead Consultant, EkiniConsult & Associates. He can be reached on Jobsearchhow.com.ng Tel 08083843230 (SMS Only).

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

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LABOUR

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BOUT 350,000 jobs are expected to be created between now and 2015 through the National Enterpriser Development Plan (NEDEP), Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Olusegun Aganga, has said.

Aganga, who stated this during the launch of NEDEP and Kano State Council on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Sector, (MSMEs), said the main objective of NEDEP is to create 3.5 million direct jobs or five million indirect and direct jobs by 2015. ‘’The NEDEP programme is geared towards creating an additional 350,000 direct and indirect new jobs between now and 2015 in Kano State alone,” he said.

Aganga commended the Kano State Government for taking the bold initiative in composing the MSME council. ‘’This goes to show the commitment and determination of the Kano state Government to empower its people,’’ he said.

He lauded Governor

Fed Govt targets 350,000 jobs in 2 years • Unveils Enterprises Devt Scheme Kwankwaso for creating 250,000 entrepreneurs, out of which 80 per cent are women.

The minister said the programme is in line with the ministry’s commitment to create jobs, generating wealth and enhance economic growth that the MSME council came on board and became the top target of the ministry to achieving such.

Nigeria currently has 17.3 million MSMEs, which represent 96 per cent of the businesses in the country. The sector has also contributed 75 per cent and 47 per cent to Nigeria’s labour and GDP respectively, he added.

Aganga said: “The major critical inhibiting factors for MSMEs were

access to finance, markets, lack of adequate infrastructure, lack of skills and business development and entrepreneurship training, as a result my ministry has developed NEDEP as new, strategic and revolutionary way of delivering enterprise development in Nigeria aimed at revitalising MSME sectors.”

The Kano MSME council, which is the first to be inaugurated in the country, is to be used as the driving mechanism for all enterprise development programmes across the country.

The council will report to the National Council on MSME, which will soon be inaugurated by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The Council on MSMEs has its membership drawn from Small and Medium Enterprises Develop-

ment Agency (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Bank of Industry (BoI), National Association of Small Scale Industries (NASSI), NASME, KACCIMA, various private organisations and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).

It (Council) will also ensure the creation of an enabling environment to facilitate the development of MSME clusters, infrastructure upgrade, access to finance, and MSME capacity building.

In his address, the Director General, SMEDAN, Alhaji Bature Umar Masari, explained that NEDEP is being implemented under three pillars namely technical, vocational skills acquisition and entrepreneurship training and access to finance, adding that the entrepreneurship training compo-

nent of NEDEP is being anchored under the programme ‘One Local Government, One Product (OLOP).

Masari recalled that the pilot project of OLOP programme was conducted in Kano and Niger States from September 2010 to July 2011 and in the course of its implementation, baseline survey and value chain analysis was carried out and business development services were delivered to approximately 50 selected enterprises that manufacture six products in both states.

He said: “The agency has conducted sensitisation programmes, needs assessment and selected products based on competitive advantages in all the 44 government areas of the Kano state, and the products identified and soya beans and tomato which will be developed and processed in the various local governments areas for sales to the end users.”

sues had not been settled, noting that the minister had made similar pronouncements in March, this year.

He said: “In March, this year, the Minister of Labour said Labour issues have been settled with PHCN workers, but we have not seen anything yet. None of our members have been settled.

“Recntly, we saw the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo on national television saying that labour issues have been settled and severance payment will be made by the

end of July.

“We will watch and see if government will fulfill their promise at the end of this month (July),” he said.

Ibrahim, however, admitted that the Federal Government is looking into the severance payment of PHCN workers before handing over assets to investors.

It would be recalled that the Federal Government had disclosed that it would hand over 15 of the successfully privatised successor companies heaved off the Power

Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to their winning investors by the end of this month.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Power, Hajia Zainab Kuchi, had earlier hinted that labour issues have been addressed, adding that payment of severance would commence at the end of last month.

“We are finalising on labour, the labour is what is standing between us and the handing over and all the issues that were there had been addressed. We are about to begin payment, as soon as the

payments are finalised by June ending, we will definitely be handing over to the successor companies by the end of July; that is the projection we have here and that is the stance of the BPE which has a timeline which was created with the labour issues in mind.

“We have taken over all the problems and addressed all the issues, the funding is there for the payment of labour and all we are doing is data computation and as soon as we are done with that the handing over will be done,” Kuchi said.

By Toba Agboola

‘Labour issues yet to be resolved in PHCN privatisation’

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HE National Union of Electricity Employees, (NUEE) has refuted claims by the Minister of Power, Prof.

Chinedu Nebo, that labour issues with the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) workers has been resolved.

Recently, the minister said the Federal Government had resolved outstanding contentious issues with the workers.

But the Lagos State Chairman of NUEE, Comrade Adeleke Ibrahim, maintained that the core labour is-

Labour to Senate: minimum wage should remain on exclusive list

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HE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have raised concerns over efforts by the Senate to remove the national minimum wage law from the exclusive list to allow state governments decide how much to pay their workers.

Currently, the national minimum wage, which is on the Exclusive List, is determined by the Federal Government and has been pegged at N18, 000.

In separate statements, President of the NLC Abdulwahed Omar and his TUC counterpart said the removal will unnecessarily expose Nigerian workers, especially, those in the lowincome bracket with grave implications for security, productivity and national well-being, as most state governments if given the latitude, will pay

wages as low as one thousand Naira per month in spite of the relative enormous resources available to them.

“This fear is justified or underscored by the reluctance or refusal of some of them to implement the N18,000 minimum wage law. Even for some of them that implemented the law, it took a heroic struggle,” he said.

Theyu said: “the question we ask when issues of this nature arise is: do Nigerian workers and lawmakers buy from different markets?

The answer is “no”. How do we send our children to school? How do we pay our rents? How do we pay our fares to work, market, church, mosque, etc or how do those who are privileged to have a car fuel it? It is wrong for politicians to attempt to toy with the destinies of Nigerian workers.

LG autonomy: NULGE seeks partnership with PSI

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RESIDENT, Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Comrade Ibrahim Khaleel, has called on Public Service International (PSI) to collaborate with the union to strengthen the local government system in Nigeria.

Khaleel made the appeal when the General Secretary of PSI, Rosamaria Pavanelli, who was on a working visit in Nigeria visited NULGE’s headquarters in Abuja.

Khaleel said: “Our members are spread across the country and play a very great role in stabilising the country but we face many constraints both constitutional and unfortunately, because of the greed of governors, local governments are finding it difficult to operate.

“But we must work together to make it strong and viable. The local government is the only hope the rural populace have with re-

gards to good governance and opportunities. However, we are hopeful of a positive future.

“In November 2012, the National Assembly organised public hearings across the length and breadth of the nation and the outcome is that support for autonomy is almost 98 per cent. Our agitation is gathering momentum.

“For that reason, we call on the PSI to join in the struggle to emancipate the local government system because it is the one closest to the people and the only tier of government where real masses have access to governance.”

On her part, Sister Rosamaria pledged to work with NULGE to ensure that the local government remains financially autonomous for it to carry out its functions “We, at the PSI, are in contact with the ILO to develop a new line of activity for the strengthening of the local governments,” she said.

• From left: Managing Director, British-America Tobacco Nigeria (BAT); Mr. Keith Gretton, Guest Speaker and Director General, Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG); Mr. Frank Nweke (Jnr.), Guest Speaker and Founder, Centre for Value Leadership, Prof Pat Utomi and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Lagos State, Mr Wale Raji, during BATN Foundation lecture at Pan Atlantic University, Lekki, Lagos

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NECA to open more regional offices

LL is now set for the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA)’s Network of Entrepreneurial Women (NNEW) to open a regional office in Port Harcourt to train, expose and strengthen their businesses.

Also, NNEW plans to open its new Chapter in the Southsouth Zone for regional capacity building programmes for members in the region.

Speaking at an interactive session with reporters, the NNEW’s Publicity Secretary, Mrs. Edobong Akpabio, said the regional office would open up a continuous capacity building programmes to empower women on how to embrace entrepreneurship and prosper in business for thegood of the society.

She said: “The regional office will empower women entrepreneurs in the region through establishing a network of

women in business, which would support one another in managing their businesses professionally, profitably and compete globally.”

“It would be geared towards building generations of successful women entrepreneurs and empower women to embrace entrepreneurship and prosper in business for the general good of the society as it will give a new face to entrepreneurship in the Region.”

According to Akpabio, NNEW in the last seven years, has remained absolutely committed to assisting the development of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) believed to be the engine room for the development of any economy as the “SMEs form the bulk of business activities in a growing economy.

“NNEW through its SMEs schemes have developed a network that has created platform for job employment through

members’ businesses, trained Teenagers to become entrepreneurs, have a platform through its cooperative scheme to give out loans to members to support their businesses.

“NECA’s NNEW is a member of the task force of the CBN/ILO Financial Inclusiveness project for Women Entrepreneurs and has signed an MoU with The National Economic Reconstruction Fund, trained over 36 trainers using the ILO SIYB modules to build the managerial skills of entrepreneurs as well as trained 10 certified trainers out of which four have become certified Master Trainers,”she said.

Akpabio stressed that SMEs being the engine for the development of any economy because they form the bulk of business activities in a growing economy, NNEW is passionate in driving this course and have several success stories .

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THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

International Business

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Producer prices rise, give positive signal

RODUCER prices rose more than expected in June, pointing to an apparent increase in inflationary pressures that could make the Federal Reserve more comfortable about reducing its monetary stimulus.

The Labor Department said on Friday its seasonally adjusted producer price index increased 0.8 percent last month, the largest gain since September.

A Reuters survey of economists had forecast prices received by the nation’s farms, factories and refin-

China growth falls below 7%

eries rising 0.5 per cent last month.

While federal budget cuts and higher taxes appeared to slow U.S. economic growth sharply in the April-June period, the pace of hiring has held at relatively robust levels and most economists expect growth will rebound later in the year.

The data sends a reassuring signal that demand is still strong enough to push prices higher.

While much of the increase in prices was fueled by a jump in gasoline which could weigh on

consumers, a gauge of underlying inflation pressures pointed to a little more vigor in the economy.

So-called core producer prices, which strip out volatile energy and food costs, rose 0.2 per cent last month, boosted by a 0.8 percent increase in the price of passenger cars. Economists had expected core prices to rise 0.1 percent.

Core prices at the wholesale level rose 1.7 per cent in the 12 months through June, matching the gain in the previous month.

Economists had expected a weaker 12-month rise. Firmer core inflation could be good news for the economy as it may signal firming consumer demand.

That in turn could make policymakers at the Fed more confident about recent assertions that the economy was strengthening quickly enough for the U.S. central bank to begin reducing its bond-buying stimulus program by the end of the year.

“If there is a time we want to see higher inflation, this is one

JP Morgan, Wells Fargo post big profits

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C

HINA'S Finance Minister Lou Jiweihas hinted that economic growth may fall far below seven per cent in the second half of the year.

Speaking in Washington, Jiwei thought growth for the year as a whole would be seven per cent, but said that even this may not be the "bottom line".

That figure is below Beijing's official 7.5 per cent target, and below most economists' forecasts for the country. Mr Lou's comments highlight how rapidly the country is slowing down, as Beijing seeks to rein in a construction boom.

He also caused some confusion by implying that seven per cent was now the government's target, even though the target was set at 7.5 per cent in March.

Mr Lou said he expected growth for the first half of this year to come in at just under 7.7 per cent, implying that he believes growth will slow to just above six per cent in the second half.

Until last year, China had grown at an average rate of 10 per cent a year for over three decades.

Throughout that period, the country has never underperformed the government's growth target, which have typically been much higher than 7.5%.

Mr Lou's comments come after yet more economic data pointed to a sharpening slowdown.

Last Wednesday, trade data for June fell far short of expectations, with both exports and imports down from a year earlier. Electricity consumption - which is closely watched by analysts as a reliable economic indicator - rose just 4.9 per cent in the first five months of the year from a year earlier. The growth rate was 5.5 per cent in 2012, and 11.7 per cent in 2011.

The newly-installed government of President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang is intent on rebalancing the economy away from reliance on investment, construction, heavy industries and exports, and towards consumer spending by China's growing middle class.

Consumer spending is starting from a small share of the economy just a third of total spending, compared with 50-70 per cent in Western countries.

There are also fears of potential over-investment and bad debts in the construction and industrial sectors, which could come to light as cheap loans to these sectors are cut back. Last month, the Chinese interbank lending market briefly froze up, suggesting that some Chinese banks harbour doubts about the financial health of their peers. The new government has also been cracking down on corruption and profligacy

by Communist Party officials.

Liu Zhijun is the most high-profile official to be found guilty of corruption since Xi Jinping became leader The theme was taken up on Friday by Zhang Yi, who heads the regulator supervising China's stateowned businesses.

of them,” said Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist at Northern Trust in Chicago.

Inflation has drifted worrisomely low in recent months, and some Fed policymakers argue the bond-buying program should continue at full steam until inflation firms.

S&P 500 stock index futures turned slightly lower after the data, while U.S. Treasuries prices pared gains. The dollar extended gains against the yen.

• Standing from left: Economic Counsellor at the USA Embassy in Kenya, David Renz; Director Corporate Communication, GE Africa, Patricia Obozuwa; Regional Representative and Senior Advisor to President of USADF, Timothy Nzioka, Leader of the Distributed Power Leader GE Africa, Georgre Njenga at an event in Lagos.

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Nokia unveils Lumia 1020 phone

NE-TIME cellphone powerhouse Nokia Corp. is hoping to lure people back from iPhones and Android phones with a powerful smartphone camera that tops many point-and-shoot imaging devices.

According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the new Nokia Lumia 1020 phone is packed with innovations designed to provide sharp images, even in low light.

With the phone's 41-megapixel sensor and image-stabilising technology, both rare in smartphones, you're less likely to get blurry shots at night or indoors. You can also zoom in to an image and pick up details that even the naked eye will miss.

Although more expensive cameras with superior lenses can take better images, those cameras aren't always with you. Nokia said the Lumia 1020 gives people the ability to take good pictures with a device they always

H

carry.

Nokia said its new flagship phone will change how people take pictures, and marketing executive Chris Weber boasted that it will make point-and-shoot cameras obsolete.

But whether a good camera is enough to lure customers remains to be seen.

AT&T will offer the Lumia 1020 in the U.S. for $300 with a two-year service agreement. That's $100 or $200 higher than what phones typically sell for. Nokia is counting on customers willing to pay more for a phone that does more.

The phone runs Microsoft's Windows Phone system, which is far behind the iPhone and Android devices in usage. Although Nokia, AT&T Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are planning a large marketing push in the U.S., no amount of marketing can overcome the fact that the Windows system still doesn't have as many apps from outside parties

as the iPhone and Android devices.

Tony Cripps, principal device analyst at the research firm Ovum, said Nokia "may still have work to do to convince prospective buyers to sacrifice favourite apps for superior imaging." He said that leading rival devices such as Apple's iPhone 5 and Samsung's Galaxy S4 "effectively sell themselves, (but) the case for selecting the Lumia 1020 is less clear cut."

The Lumia 1020 will be available in the U.S. on July 26, with advance orders to begin July 16. Nokia said the phone will expand to China and Europe by September. Other markets are planned later.

Nokia reigned as the leading phone maker for 14 years, until early last year when Samsung Electronics Co. took the top spot.

Among smartphones, the lucrative business for phone makers, Nokia doesn't even rank in research firm IDC's top five.

emens (SIEGn.DE), Switzerland's ABB (ABBN.VX) and U.S. giant General Electric (GE.N) had also made informal contact.

Those companies either declined to comment, or could not immediately be reached for comment.

"The most obvious candidate is Emerson, which was in related talks with Invensys back in June 2012," Societe Generale analysts said.

If a bid battle for Invensys breaks out, the share price could go even higher, said Neil Veitch, a fund manager at SVM Asset Management, which holds Invensys stock.

However, a banker active in the sector said Schneider would be tough to beat. "You need to find someone willing to table an all cash bid," the banker said.

Invensys said it was likely to recommend an offer at 505 pence a share.

Morgan Stanley analysts said the

British company at around 22 times earnings forecasts for 2014. That compares with an average multiple of 13 times for Britain's industrial machinery and equipment sector, according to Thomson Reuters data.

They said a deal would boost Schneider's share of the industrial automation market from just over four per cent to around six to seven per cent, compared with world No.1 Siemens' 21 per cent.

Analysts said a deal would also create an opportunity for Schneider to sell its energy management products to Invensys' customers in the oil, gas and petrochemicals sectors.

At 1310 GMT, Invensys shares were up 15.4 percent at 508 pence.

Schneider's were down 4.4 percent at 55.51 euros on concerns it could get sucked into a bid battle and the cost of insuring its debt against default jumped on expectations it would raise new debt to fund a deal.

Schneider offer fuels talk of $5b price proposed by Schneider was bid battle "fair and reasonable", valuing the

OPES of a bid battle powered Invensys (ISYS.L) shares to a 10-year high on Friday, after the British engineer said it had received a 3.3 billion pound ($5 billion) takeover proposal from France's Schneider Electric (SCHN.PA).

According to Invensys said Schneider, which confirmed only it had made a proposal, was considering an offer of 505 pence a share in cash and stock, 15 percent above Invensys' closing price on Thursday.

A deal would allow Schneider to tap the British firm's strength in industrial automation, which is enjoying rapid growth in the oil, gas, petrochemicals and utilities sectors.

However, Invensys shares jumped as high as 513.5 pence on speculation the proposal could flush out other bidders.

U.S. group Emerson Electric (EMR.N) was in talks to buy Invensys a year ago, while a report in May 2012 said Germany's Si-

P Morgan has recorded a profit of $6.5billon (£4.3billion) for the second quarter of the year, up by 31 per cent from last year.

JP Morgan's steep rise in profits, Reuters said, was flattered by the heavy losses controversially incurred by the US banking giant's chief investment office last year.

Dubbed the "London whale", trader Bruno Iksil ran up $6.2billion in losses in total.

Separately, Wells Fargo reported a 20 per cent rise in quarterly profits to $5.27billion as it set aside less money for bad loans.

Net revenues at JP Morgan's large retail bank were slightly down from a year ago, but rose 10 per cent at its investment bank, and also rose at its asset management unit.

JP Morgan is the first of the big US banks to report results. As the US's biggest bank by assets, JP Morgan is looked at as a bellwether for the health of banking industry.

The figures are the first the bank has posted since chairman and chief executive Jamie Dimon overwhelmingly won a shareholder referendum in May on whether he should hold both posts.

He said in a statement that the results showed a "strong performance across our businesses".

The US economy was showing "broad-based signs" of recovery, but consumers, small businesses remained cautious, he said.

UPS warns on profit as customers cut costs

U

NITED Parcel Service Inc (UPS.N), the world's No.1 package delivery company, estimated second-quarter profit below market expectations as international customers accelerate their shift from aircraft to slower but cheaper ships.

UPS shares fell five per cent after the firm also cut its full-year earnings forecast to $4.65-$4.85 per share from $4.80-$5.06. Shares of rival FedEx Corp (FDX.N) fell two percent.

UPS and FedEx, the No.2 package shipper, are considered economic bellwethers because of the massive volume of goods they move around the world. FedEx said in June it was raising shipping rates and cutting jobs and costs.

UPS's stronger North American domestic ground network puts it in a better position than FedEx, which focuses more on international air shipments.

UPS said on Friday it expected to report second-quarter earnings of $1.13 per share. Analysts on average expected $1.20 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. The company said its package volume growth had also slowed due to labor negotiations. It said it had extended an agreement that covers its domestic small-package employees with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The company is scheduled to report second-quarter results on July 23.

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THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

43

POLITICS THE NATION

E-mail:- politics@thenationonlineng.net

OGUN POLITICS Ahead of the 2015 governorship election in Ogun State, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Labour Party (LP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have returned to the drawing board. Correspondent ERNEST NWOKOLO writes on the permutations and issues that will shape the contest.

Ogun 2015: ACN, PDP set for battle O

GUN State Governor Senator Ibikunle Amosun has been making deft political moves since he came to power, to the discomfiture of the opposition and critics.

Amosun was senator between 2003 and 2007 on the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). But he was sworn-in as the governor on May 29, 2011 on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN). He defeated former administrator of Ekiti State, General Tunji Olurin (rtd) of the (PDP), Gboyega Isiaka of the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN), Ogbeni Lanre Banjo of the National Conscience Party (NCP), and Rev. Jide Awosedo of the Labour Party (LP).

Prior to the April 2011 polls, the governor had also contested for the same office in 2007 on the ticket of the All Nigeria Peoples Party(ANPP), but lost to former Governor Gbenga Daniel of (PDP). The legal battles to re-claim the mandate stolen from him failed to yield the desired reult.

Opposition parties and critics are not only having sleepless time regarding the pace of transformation in the state by Amosun, but are also confused because of the precarious financial position he inherited from the previous administration.

Daniel left a debt profile of about N49 billion, but Amosun had continued to fault it, saying it was well above that. A foretaste of what Amosun’s administration has in stock for the state was the expansion of the Totoro - Sokori Road to six - lanes and, particularly, the construction of the first flyover in the state at Ibara, Abeokuta, which the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Michael Gbadebo, likened its unveiling to the day “electricity, pipe borne water and railway first came to Abeokuta.” He lauded the governor for changing the “city from the status of 19th century to that of the 21st century.”

Governor Amosun has remained steadfast in turning around the face of Ogun through his five - cardinal programmes that bordered on building of model schools, more roads (expansion and construction), revolution in agriculture, clean and safe environment, return of peace and orderliness, jobs creation, industrialisation and improvement in the healthcare service delivery.

This did not come as a surprise to keen watchers. Commissioner for Environment Mr Adebayo Fari ascribed the feats to purposeful planning, focus and commitment to development by the governor and his team and as the support of the good people Ogun State resulting from “sincerity and credibility” that was brought to bear on governance in the last 25months.

Fari said: “We hit the ground running because we were aware of the huge infrastructural deficit on ground and so, this government is committed to further developing the people and we have been able to bring credibility to governance. That is why the people are in support of us. And because of population expansion, we are futuristic in planning and developing as evidenced in the types of roads and model schools being built in Ogun.”

President Gooluck Jonathan has also commended him. According to Jonathan, who visited the state to flag - off the reconstruction of the two sections of the Lagos - Ibadan Expressway, Governor Amosun “is a hard working governor,” and “has done wonderfully well” in his two years in office.

But Amosun’s most vociferous critics, Mr Ladi Adebutu, who recently joined the Labour Party, thinks differently. Adebutu, who contested for the House of Representatives in the last general election on the ticket of PDP, lost to the ACN candidate. He has not seen anything good in Amosun’s many projects, particularly, the roads and model schools in the state.

To him, they are not only a misplaced priority but also channels through which the governor is plunging the state into needless debt.

Adebutu alleged that the two years of Amosun administration has put the state in a debt trap of N200bn via loan facility. But he could not ex-

• Amosun

• Obasanjo

plain when and how the loan was obtained and what institution granted it when pressed by reporters to substantiate his claims.

Finance Commissioner Mrs Kemi Adeosun debunked the allegation. She dismissed the N200 billion loan as “internet loan,” which the Ogun state government never obtained. She said it is not even possible for anybody to borrow that kind of money.

“The N200 billion on the internet; maybe it is an internet loan. We didn’t take N200 billion from anybody. It is not even possible for anybody to borrow N200 billion I don’t know where they got the N200 billion”.

She explained that of the N16.6 billion bank loans approved by the House of Assembly this year, adding that Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s had only taken N7 billion out of that amount.

According to her, the state inherited a debt profile of N87 billion as at May 2011, but following the “financial re-engineering efforts” of Amosun’s team, the debt figure as at December 2012 has “reduced marginally to N61.640 billion.”

These achievements did not come about without some levels of pains to the people. Homes, shops, religious houses, offices and even burial sites were compelled to give way to the rebuilding mission in Ogun.

Amosun has acknowledged this momentary setbacks and sufferings severally and had commended the people for their patience and understanding, knowing that one can’t make an omelette without breaking an egg. He had equally assured of alternative arrangements being put in place for traders who lost their shops to roads expansion projects.

This, analysts further contend, would also complement the earlier gains when over 21,000 children of secondary school age, who hitherto were compelled to drop out of school, because their parents and guardians, could not afford to send them to private ones.

The immediate past administration ceded some public schools in the state to the original missionary owners, but later found their way back to school when Amosun reversed the policy and returned such schools back to the state.

The recent tour of the three senatorial districts was a test case for Governor Amosun. Although

• Osoba

•Olurin

it was designed to enable the stakeholders have on the spot assessment of the projects being executed by him in the last eight months, it turned out also to be another eye opener to the political reality that, contrary to insinuations and speculations in some quarters, the governor and his government projects are not only well received, but also quite popular with the people.

In Ogun West, leaders of thought and traditional rulers in the zone, including the renowned historian, Prof. Anthony Asiwaju and the Olola of Ilara Kingdom, Oba Samuel Alade Adeluyi, lauded him for opening the area for the 110km Ilara road construction as well as construction of model schools for the children.

Oba Adeluyi and Prof. Asiwaju , noted that their communities, which were almost marooned from each other and from the rest of the state, would henceforth, be able to inter-connect with one another effectively through Ilara - Ijoun - Egua - Oja Odan - Ilase road that stretched over four local government councils in the zone.

The monarch called on his people to back Amosun with their “support and prayer” to ensure continuity of the transformation.

The youths of the area endorsed Amosun. Observers said the youth might have reckoned that the good job being carried out by the governor should continue because the basis for the their yearnings for the slot in 2015 is the development of the area, which is being met by Amosun.

The youth leader, Yomi Olojeloju, noted that they are not unmindful of the reality that Yewa/ Awori people are yet to produce a governor since the birth of the state, but said the aberation was self-inflicted.

Olojeloju said: ”We must reciprocate this unparalled gesture by supporting Amosun to continue beyond 2015 and we, in collaboration with other senatorial districts, have talked to ourselves concerning Ogun West for governor project. For now, any individual or group of people nursing or canvasing gubernatorial ambition in Ogun West are seen by us as being egoistic and self-centered because there is no basis for such at the moment.

“We are very conscious of the fact that we have not produced the governor, but several opportunities to occupy the seat had come our way,

‘We must reciprocate this unparalled gesture by supporting Amosun to continue beyond 2015 and we, in collaboration with other senatorial districts, have talked to ourselves concerning Ogun West for governor project. For now, any individual or group of people nursing or canvassing gubernatorial ambition in Ogun West are seen by us as being egoistic and self-centered because there is no basis for such at the moment’

but going through the records of past political activities, we discovered that we have always been architects of our own misfortunes.

“For now,we seem not to have the needed unity among ourselves, which can see us through such a gigantic electoral contest. And if God in his wisdom, gave us the incumbent governor, who has been performing well, even beyond our imagination, we should therefore commend and support him.”

Analysts said that the endorsement and accolades that trailed the tour of the three senatorial districts by the governor gave the opposition and critics away as ones not only crying more than the bereaved. They said majority of the residents are not swayed by the criticism of the governor, whose giant footsteps they see daily.

Amosun himself recently said his critics were doing so because they can’t give the state what they do not have and that their criticisms proceeded from ignorance.

The governor told reporters in Ilaro that his critics and detractors had thought that his administration would run into a financial cul-desac and collapse, following the massive capital intensive projects being pursued.

According to him, no financial institution would want to deal with Ogun State in respect of credit facility, but following the administration’s financial re - engineering strategy, it was getting short term borrowing to execute long term projects.

Amosun said:”With what we met on ground when we came on board, nobody would want to touch us with the longest of poles over credit facility, we have to take the bull by the horn, it is a cross we have to carry it and so we are borrowing short term and spending it long term. “ It is hard and tortuous but that is the fact we met otherwise we (the government) will collapse. That is what they think will happen, because they believe that there is no way out but with the benevolence of God, the support of our people and our professional calling have stood us out in good stead. It is not only the roads, we have very good health centres we built.”

Expectedly, in the political annals of the state, there is no gainsaying the fact that many still remain quite grateful to the founding fathers for laying the solid foundation upon which subsequent generation of leaders are building to keep Ogun on the path of greatness, however, pundits are saying given the pace at which Amosun is transforming the state, he may go down in history at the end of the day as the builder of modern Ogun State.

Amosun told the people in Ogun West: ”We know that governor comes and governor goes and we also know that it is by what we do that we will be remembered for.”

But the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state thinks otherwise. The PDP Chairman in the state, Mr. Adedayo Bayo said:”Amosun’s government is nothing to write home about, the people know it, the teachers know it, the students know it, he is not performing, this is an administration that is thinking of only white elephant projects.

“He is not thinking of the communities. You may come to our place in Ogun East Senatorial District. We have nine local government areas, but we are not feeling the impact of his government.

“They are not functioning because all allocations coming to them are being utilised by the state, that is why there is no developmental projects at the grass-root. When we think of development at the state level, nothing is done except destruction.

“Amosun is going about destroying people’s property and is not doing the right thing for the people, he is not thinking about our healthcare and education save white elephant projects where he can have billions and billions of naira to put in his pocket.”

But whether these criticisms will affect the outcome of 2015 election, only time can tell.

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POLITICS

‘PDP can’t win Osun’

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• Governor Rochas Okorocha displaying the INEC result in favour of the APGA candidate

Political parties are back to the drawing board in preparation for a repeat of the Imo State House of Assembly re-run election for the Oguta Constituency, which has been declared inconclusive in eight wards by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Correspondent OKODILI NDIDI writes on why the election is important to all the stakeholders.

Imo APGA, PDP prepare for fresh re-run

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HE recent Imo State House of Assembly re-run election for the Oguta Constituency has become a big political puzzle, which many people in the state and across the country are battling to unravel. The reason is clear. Multiple results have been brandished by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) the as the authentic results.

More worrisome is the fact that, despite the parties’ claim to victory, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has held tenaciously to its position that there was no winner in the election. it has declared the election in eight wards inconclusive.

But both parties, relying on different result allegedly signed by the INEC officials, insisted that their candidates won the election and should be issued a Certificate of Return. They accused each other of bribing the officials to falsify the result.

Governor Rochas Okorocha was the first to congratulate the APGA candidate, Mr. Walter Uzonwanne, for emerging the winner of the election, after he was said to have scored a total of 9,595 votes as against the PDP candidate, Eugene Dibiagwu, who got 7, 584 votes.

But the PDP, which equally has a signed election result in its favour, insisted that it won the election with 7, 585 votes while APGA got 7, 241 votes. The governor, who copiously displayed a result sheet signed by INEC Returning Officer in the election, Dr Cynthia Oguike, in favour of APGA, asked the commission to declare the APGA flag bearer as the winner and issue him with a Certificate of Return.

According to him, “INEC was at the verge of announcing the result when they suddenly got a call from somebody at the top and immediately retired to a closed door meeting after which it announced that the election was inconclusive. How can it say the election is inconclusive just because the APGA candidate won. If it were the PDP that won the election, INEC will not declare it inconclusive”.

But the PDP leadership, which also congratulated their candidate, insisted that the party won the election, despite the alleged intimidation and harassment by the security operatives, who they alleged, were incited by the government.

The State Chairman of the party, Eze, Duruiheoma (SAN), alleged that weeks before the election, Okorocha had issued directives to all the traditional rulers and senior civil servants in the area to deliver the APGA candidate or lose their positions. This explains the violence and desperation that greeted the election, he said.

Duruiheoma also alleged that commissioners were assigned areas to deliver in the election or risk dismissal, although most of them are not from Oguta.

The PDP boss lamented that the development had ridiculed the state in the comity of civilized people, stressing that the governor should represent all the people and not a section.

Duruiheoma explained that the result presented by the PDP contradicted to that of the state government and APGA, based on the valid result of the votes already cast. He disclosed that PDP is aware of plans by the state government to use a customary court Judge to swear in the APGA candidate.

‘The election will determine who controls the political machinery in the state, ahead of the 2015 general elections. For the PDP, which occupied the seat before it was nullified by the Court, failure to win the Oguta re-run will further deplete its already battered image’

Although INEC agreed that one of the parties is leading with 2011 votes, but it declined to identify the winning party. The Oguta Constituency election has become a major issue in Imo State politics. The ruling party, APGA, and the foremost opposition party, PDP, have been locked in fierce battle over who wins the oil-rich, council area.

To analysts, the election will determine who controls the political machinery in the state, ahead of the 2015 general elections. For the PDP, which occupied the seat before it was nullified by the Court, failure to win the Oguta rerun will further deplete its already battered image.

The reason the election is generating such attention is not farfetched. The state governor has not hidden his interest in the election. At one of the campaign rallies for the APGA candidate, he told the party supporters that the election was not about the candidate, but a critical support for his administration.

Another controversial dimension to the election is the seeming external interest, which has helped in heating up the polity.

During the election, security operatives were mobilised from outside the state, especially from Abuja, to beef up security.

Expectedly, during the election, the various troop who were obviously working at cross purposes, were the first group to clash. But for the timely intervention of senior officers who openly criticised the mobilisation of troop for an ordinary re-run election for one constituency.

INEC despite the earlier assurances of credible polls, seemed inundated by the turn of events and declared it inconclusive, to the chagrin of the people of Oguta Constituency, who have not had a representative since the inception of the current House, more than two years ago.

While waiting for the next round of election, the political parties have gone back to the drawing board to re-strategise on how to outwit each other.

YO State Commissioner for Finance Mr. Zacheaus Adelabu has lauded the performance of Osun State Governor Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, saying that opposition parties in the state have no chance in the next governorship election.

Speaking at the inauguration of the secretariat of the Ede Chapter of a socio-political volunteer group, ’De Raufs’, Adelabu charged the members of the group to be fearless in publicising the good works and ideals of Ogbeni Aregbesola praying that the dream of the volunteer group would come to reality.

“The enormous achievements recorded by the present administration in Osun State would speak for Governor Aregbesola during the election in 2014”, he said.

He however, solicitedfor the support of people the governor’s reelection bid Adelabu said the governor has performed beyond the expectation.

He further described Governor Aregbesola as the parameter of good governance and representation stressing that, “what we are witnessing today in the State of Osun today is not by accident, but carefully planned action of a visionary leader like Ogbeni Aregbesola.

Adelabu, who lamented the cost of acquiring education in the country, urged the government to ensure that education is accessible to the children. He noted that Governor Aregbesola has brought the needed change to the education sector. The recent launching of Opon Imo, “The Tablet of Knowledge” in the state by Ogbeni was the first of its kind in the black continent of Africa., the said.

Adelabu, who later donated an 18 seated passengers bus to the group and paid N1,000,000 for surgery for a patient with cancerous neck tumour, urged the group to support the governor.

He described the leader of the group, Comrade Amitolu Shittu, as someone who has passion for the development of the society at large.

“Going by the antecedents of the present crop of leaders controlling the southwest region of the country, we can now say that we have good government and Nigerians in this part of the country can also feel the real good governance which indicates that democracy has been entrenched and there is future for the country’’.

Also speaking at the event, the Osun State Commissioner for Environment and Sanitation, Prof. Olubukola Oyawoye, urged the people of the state to support the government, promising that Aregbesola Administration would bring more dividends of democracy to the people.

Professor Oyawoye, who was the guest of honour called on the people to also support the re-election bid of Aregbesola.

Delivering his lecture, the guest speaker Prof. Siyan Oyeweso, said that the event is watershed in the political history of the ancient town where people without political sentiment would come together to support a candidates for the election.

• Aregbesola

‘Imposition of candidates undemocratic’

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NAMBRA State politician Ogbuehi Ekeneme, has faulted the alleged zoning of the governorship to the North Senatorial District by Governor Peter Obi. The move, he argued, smacked of imposition of a candidate on the people of the state.

In a statement in Lagos, Ogbuehi said the days when few people in a political party, would impose their candidates in the name of party supremacy, were gone. He added that methods negates democratic principles.

The politician advised the people to consider the strengths of the candidates before endorsing them. He maintained that zoning is agreeable with the tenets of democracy, stressing that the people of Anambra State must be allowed to choose a candidate of their choice.

Ogbuehi said there should be no anointed person and utomatic ticket for a successor to Governor Obi. He emphasised that a free, fair and credible election would not be achieved by the imposition of a candidate from Anambra North Senatorial zone. He however, noted that Anambra North has qualified persons that can challenge the aspirants from Anambra Central and South.

“This issue is creating a whole lot of dichotomy and division in the state. Those already parading themselves as the anointed candidates of Governor Obi would be disappointed because people are now enlightened enough to shun injustice and fraud. Party supremacy should be applied to enforce justice and protect the choice and will of the people and not the other way round”, he said.

Ogbuehi explained that democracy has given Nigerians the freedom to choose those who would rule them; freedom to choose the political parties to belong, freedom to vote according to their con-

science, freedom to criticize government’s style of leadership and freedom to contribute their own quota by way of advice on how government can be improved.

He urged the people to shun the imposition of candidates.

He also raid that tickets will no longer be given in Abuja because there will be primary elections from in the wards adding whoever that wins will earn the respect and support of the other contestants and the party.

•Ekeneme

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NEWS TREE PLANTING IN LAGOS

•Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu (left) receiving the 2013 Global Empowerment Award from Commissioner of Tertiary Education, Dr Muhammad Bashar Nuhu, who represented the Governor at the ceremony in Houston Texas... last weekend. With them is Special Adviser to the Governor on Investments, Hajiya Asabe Ahmed.

•Chairman, Amuwo Odofin Local Government, Comrade Ayodele Adewale (second left) being assisted by representative of the Environment Commissioner, Mr. Ojelade Adesoji (right); former Lagos House Speaker Abayomi Kinyomi (second right) and a member of the local govenrment Climate Change Unit, Mrs. Niccia Anwoju, at Festac PHOTO: NIYI ADENIRAN Town, Lagos... yesterday.

•Representative of the Lagos State Governor and General Manager, Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), Mr. Adebola Shabi (right) planting a tree at the Industrial Tree Planting Day hosted by the Nigerian Breweries Plc at the company’s corporate headquarters, Iganmu, Lagos...yesterday.

With him is representative of the NB’s Managing Director, Mr. Samson Agbedo

•Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio (right) with Managing Editor of Daily Independent, Mr. Akpandem James at Mboho Akwa Ibom Conference in London... yesterday

PHOTO: ISAAC JIMOH AYODELE.

•Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu (second right) with delegates at the launch of the Treatment 2015 at the Abuja +12 African Union HIV/AIDS Tuberculosis and Malaria in Abuja... at the weekend.

•Supervisor for the Environment, Mushin Local Government, Lukman Olajide (left); representative of the Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment, Dapo Ajadi, an engineer; Governor’s representative, Hon. Aliu Kazeem; Chairman, Mushin Local Government, Mr. Olatunde Adepitan, his Vice, Mr. Emmanuel Bamigboye, in Mushin... yesterday.

•Pupils of Olivesfield Secondary School, Magodo at a youth forum in Lagos

•From right: Representative of the Lagos State Governor, Mr Olasunkanmi Owodeinde being assisted by the Chairman, Mosan-Okunola Local Council Development Area, Abiodun Mafe and his vice, Princess Opeyemi Akindele, at Lion of Juda, Lagos.

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MOTORING THE NATION

MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

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

Peugeot returns with 301 model AP France and M.S. and Sons have unveiled the new Peugeot 301 to the public amid pomp and pageantry in Abuja last week.

TAJUDEEN ADEBANJO reports

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HE new Peugeot 301 has been described as a rugged

car with enough room.

It comes at an affordable price.

It was made from over 120 years of automotive experience and stands out as car loaded with the best in terms of safety, space and comfort.

The car, according to its manufacturers, can compete in the automobile industry.

It provides comfort for its passengers and also exudes great space and opulence.

The Allure, with 1.6 engine, is in the top range while and Active with same capacity is the middle range. Access which is the lower range has a capacity of 1.2.

The 301 has many equipment designed to make journeys easier. From its comfortable interior to its driver assistance technology and plush dashboard, the 301 is a perfect blend of style and driving comfort. Its instrument cluster is complete with a monochrome matrix which displays information about the onboard computer.

It was unveiled by ASD Motors Group on behalf of AP France and M.S and Sons last week in Abuja.

The company’s Group Managing Director (GMD) Alhaji Shehu Sani Dauda said Peugeot wants to use the car to make a statement that the company is back.

“By we are back. I mean that we have been absent for about a year. Our clients have been requesting us to be present in the sedan lower earning segment of the automobile sector.

“The coming of this car is to tell you that we have a new global initiative that is produced and suitable for clients’ world-over.

We produce for the global market now, not just for segments like Europe and Africa,” he said.

Dauda said the Peugeout 301 has been unveiled in Dubai, Kuwait, China and other Asian countries, adding that the manufacturers are targeting Africa.

The GMD further said, “The 301 is rugged, spacious and affordable. One thing people should understand about this car is that it is very affordable and cheaper than most of its competitors.

“While most other cars in this category go for above N4.3million, our product is about

•The Peugeot 301

•From left: Mr Pena; Alhaji Umar; Alhaji Dauda; Mr Oladejo; Managing Director, ASD Motors Kaduna, Sa’idu Muhammed; Chief Benson, and Head Sales, Road Truckers in Lagos Mrs Enitan Benson at the event.

N3.5million. We are going to have another entry product which will come with a 1.2 litres engine that will cost less than N3million.

You can imagine what the impact, will be? We intend to make it affordable. We intend to make all Peugeot lovers we lost to come back to us and to also make them know we are thinking of them.”

The car is very fuel efficient and has more power than other brands in the category.

It’s about 150HP and also more of the modified engine of 307.

“In terms of sales, we are quite down but we are coming back.

This is the product that will make us catch-up. As you can see, it is definitely going to make an impact based on the quality and features it has. We will give them

(competitors) a run for their money. We are back. We, are ready and they going to feel our impact very soon,” he said.

The 301 is unmistakable Peugeot styling exudes French elegance, while its impressive road handling and superior fittings makes driving a pleasurable and comfortable experience.

“What I’m showing you is a product that has been developed to adapt to all conditions of use, even in extremes, such as hot countries, cold countries and poor road surfaces,” Dauda said, adding that the 301 is strong on the outside and also comes with a generous inside.

The GMD revealed that the slogan of the new car-‘Know how.’

He said the new bride has great

promise in style and quality that can stand the test of time. According to him, the 301 is car of today and the future in view of its robust design that inspires confidence, stability and durability.

It uses ultrasound sensors installed in the rear bumper to detect nearby people or objects, thereby communicating the distance of the obstacle visually through sound via the screen of the Bluetooth audio system.

Furthermore, the speed limiter, working in tandem with the cruise control allows the driver set a maximum speed limit. A hard point in the accelerator pedal lets the driver know when the set limit has been reached. The driver can then momentarily override the limit if be by applying greater

foot pressure on the pedal. The highly innovative 301 has a heating element inserted between the windscreen’s two sheets of glasses, a device which heats up the area around the wiper blades, ensuring they never stick. It is controlled through the same button as the rear windscreen demister and together the two guarantee the much needed convenience in cold weather.

Dignitaries who graced the include, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) MBU Motors Dutse, Jigawa State, Alhaji Bala Muhammed Umar; MD/CEO , MNL-ASAO, Mr Ismail Oladejo, MD/CEO Road Truckers, Chief Oladele Benson Acting Managing Director PAN Nigeria Limited, Mr Jaime Pena among others.

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NEWS

Kudirat Abiola’s family will get justice, says Umar •Abiola’s wife unhappy over release of al-Mustapha, Shofolahan •ARG: no one will escape God’s judgment

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FORMER Military Governor of Kaduna State, Col. Abubakar Umar (rtd) has advised the family of the late Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, wife of the acclaimed winner of the June 12 presidential election, Chief Moshood Abiola, not to be demoralised by the Appeal Court judgment on her murder.

The Appellate Court in Lagos, on Friday, discharged and acquitted Major Hamza al-Mustapha, the former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, and his co-accused, Alhaji Lateef Sofolahan, for the June 1996 murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola.

Their discharge was predicated on what the Appeal Court called a lack of circumstantial evidence linking the duo with anyone in the conspiracy leading to the killing of the late Abiola’s wife.

Reacting to the verdict, Umar told our correspondent that all those involved in the murder of Alhaja Kudirat would be brought to book.

“Kudirat and her family will get justice. It is only a matter of time. All those involved in this dastardly act will have their just reward.”

The former governor said the Judiciary failed to deliver justice for the heroine 17 years after her murder.

He said: “As a believer in God and in His justice system, I know that He will deliver His judgment on this matter. God has promised victims, like Kudirat, a reward in heaven. By this, I believe she’s in heaven resting with God. “It is a fact that Kudirat was murdered by the agents of the Abacha regime while she was dutifully fighting to get justice for her husband, who was being wrongly, illegally and inhumanly detained, having won an election that was adjudged the freest and fairest ever conducted in the history of this country.”

Umar urged the Federal Government to re-open investigation into the murder of Alhaja Kudirat.

It is not too late to re-investigate this matter, he added.

Also, Mrs Modupe OnitiriAbiola, one of the wives of the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief Moshood Abiola, has decried the acquittal of Major al-Mustapha and Lateef Shofolahan by the Court of Appeal.

The court, on Friday, upturned the death sentence passed on the duo by a Lagos High Court over their involvement in the murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola on June 4, 1996. al-Mustapha was the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, while Shofolahan was an aide to the late Alhaja Kudirat.

Abiola won the election on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP).

The appellants were set free from the Kirikiri Prisons in Lagos at about 5.30pm. after spending over 14 years in detention for their alleged involvement in the murder of Kudirat.

Onitiri-Abiola told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos yesterday that the court’s decision was unfortunate.

“I feel embarrassed for the justice system of Nigeria and feel so much pain for the children of late Alhaja Kudirat Abiola. How can the Court of Appeal discharge al-Mustapha and Sofola-

al-Mustapha weeps over detention ordeal MAJOR Hamza al-Mustapha, a former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, arrived Kano at the weekend to a rousing reception.

The soldier, who had been portrayed with a steely mien, betrayed his emotion as he wept openly at the Government House in Kano.

Al-Mustapha was relieving his ordeal in Kirikiri Prison, where he was held for 15 years for the alleged murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, wife of the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Bashorun Moshood Abiola.

The former CSO was visiting Kano State Governor Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso with his family and close associates, including the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) founder, Dr. Fredrick Fasehun. al-Mustapha told the governor that he was a victim of trump-up charges. al-Mustapha was released following last Friday’s Court of Appeal verdict. han, saying there is no evidence against them.

“I do know that all those who planned and carried out the assassination of Alhaja Kudirat and my husband, M. K. O. Abiola, will soon receive their judgment from God,” she said.

The Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), yesterday said those who killed Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, wife of the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Bashorun Moshood Abiola, would not escape God’s ultimate judgment.

In a statement, ARG put a question mark on the administration of justice in the country.

The statement reads: “We of the ARG continue to wonder whether the justice administration system in Nigeria is fostering the cause of strong nationhood. Now that the Appeal Court has pronounced Hamza al-Mustapha guiltless as charged, we can as well say the late despotic ruler, Sanni Abacha, under whom al-Mustapha served as the Chief Security Officer (CSO), did no evil and, therefore, should never again be spoken ill of.

“It is also instructive that no one has been pronounced guilty of any of the numerous high-profile murders in this country, which makes it difficult not to believe that Nigeria’s justice administration system is not skewed against the poor and ordinary citizens languishing in our prisons for frivolous charges. One is being forced to believe that justice in Nigeria is defined by influence and power instead of equality before the law.

“Despite all the revelations that came to the fore during the Justice Chukwudifu Oputa Reconciliation Committee (Oputa Panel), no effort was made to heal the wounds of evil that have been perpetrated by those who wielded power unduly.

The Oputa panel was only good for the media frenzy it created and did nothing to make us forget the evils of the past so that we could forge ahead as one true nation.

“The ARG is under no illusion that having everything we call dividends of democracy means this country is progressing. Whatever seeming progress we may be making in terms of infrastructural and economic development will be like a man sitting on a three-legged chair, if justice and egalitarianism are not the foundation upon which we build.

“We are of the opinion that building a just society, is even far more important than any form of development and it is the reason we have been sounding the gong for the convocation of a Sovereign National

By Leke Salaudeen, Assistant Editor

Conference (SNC), without which true and lasting peace may

From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

The former CSO said he was returning to an empty home, having lost both parents when he was in detention.

He said: “...Even though I lost my father and my mother, who I was forced to see only two times in 15 years - I am their first child; I am their confidant and best friend in my family. Yet, even when the court forced the then authorities to allow them set my eyes on them, the approvals of the court were flagrantly refused. I was kept and punished the more; a ploy to ensure that I didn’t set eyes on my parents.

“I saw my father in 2001, and later I saw him in May 2007. For my mother, I was allowed to see her in August 2001. Then I was allowed also to see her after a long battle, despite all instructions from the Federal High Court, Lagos. I saw her in 2006; she died last year, in the month Ramadan.”

remain elusive to us, cutting us short of attaining our full potential.

“Kudirat Abiola walked a

golden path and left an enviable legacy. Had her husband, late Bashorun M. K. O. Abiola, been allowed to rule according to the

June 12 mandate, she would have dignified the First Lady’s office and would undoubtedly use it to defend human rights.”

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

54

USEFUL PHONE NUMBERS ON ANY EMERGENCY Council endorsed the useful phone numbers submitted by the security agents for easy access in case of any emergency on the metropolitan Roads.

Accordingly, the public may easily Contact KAROTA for: Breakdown of Vehicle(s), Traffic Congestion, Accidents, Illegal / Wrong Parking to kindly Call KAROTA through the following number - 08091626747. Similarly, the State Police Command could be contacted on - 08032419754, 08123821575. In addition, the State Fire Service can also be contacted on - 07051246833, 08191778888.

106TH KANO STATE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING

L

ast Wednesday 3rd July, 2013 (24th Sha'aban, 1434AH) the Kano State Executive Council held its One Hundred and Fifth (105th) where decisions were taken on 49 memoranda submitted by eleven (11) MDAs among which thirty (30) were approved for execution with an expenditure of Three Billion, Thirty One Million, Three Hundred and One Thousand, Eight Hundred and Thirty Four Naira, Twenty Kobo (N3,031,301,834.20) covering twenty- two (22) projects. Thus eight (8) of those approved were on policy issues such as on the waiving of unpaid inherited treasury loan in the sum of N19,519,000.00 given to Kano Agricultural Supply Company, upward review of bicycle loan to junior officers from N6,000.00 to N20,000.00, the conduct of a summit by Kano State indigenous citizens in the diaspora in the State, compliance with due process in the execution of contracts, etc.

Today, Wednesday 10th July, 2013 (1st Ramadan, 1434AH) the Kano State Executive Council held its 106th sitting under the Chairmanship of Governor Engr. Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso, FNSE. Forty three (43) memoranda were submitted for deliberation by Council from twelve (12) MDAs. Twenty (20) of them were approved for execution with an expenditure of One Billion, Four Hundred and Sixty Seven Million, One Hundred and Ninety Thousand, Eleven Naira, Ten Kobo (N1,467,190,011.10) covering twenty (20) projects as follows: 1. OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY TO THE STATE GOVERNMENT This Office submitted twenty-four (24) memoranda on behalf of some MDAs for deliberation by Council. Ten (10) of them were approved for execution. Thus: a) Request for the incorporation of Kano Hydro & Energy Development Company Limited for the Tiga and Challawa Electricity Project(s):This administration realizes that generation and supply of steady electricity to the population for domestic and industrial use is panacea to pervasive poverty affecting the Nation. Thus, to have reliable and affordable electricity is a pre-requisite to development in any society. The developed nations are progressing at a faster rate than developing ones because of their ability to have more sustained and efficient electricity supply for their domestic and industrial use. The State, Kano State is facing acute supply of electricity due to the failure of the National Grid to generate adequate electricity for the nation. Thus, as the population of the State increased so its demands for and consumption of electricity. The electricity demand of the State outstrips the supply from the National Grid thus the need for the State to think of alternative source(s) of generating and supplying of electricity. Such initiative will boost economic development and provide platform for industrial development. In fact, with the transformation taking place in the State, adequate electricity supply is an unavoidable pre-requisite for development.

This explains the reasons behind the submission of this memorandum. Progress achieved pertaining to effort of the present administration regarding the generation of electricity in the State through the installation of hydroelectricity plants using Tiga and Challawa Gorge Dams was presented to Council. Already an EPC Contractor has been appointed to handle the projects while a Consultant has been engaged.

Council was informed that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between Kano State Government and Messrs. Skipper Nigeria Limited for the generation of 35MW of electricity to Kano State (10MW from Tiga at the cost of $25,000,000 and 25MW at the cost of $62,000,000 from Challawa). The whole issue centres on how to finance the projects by accessing a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Bank of Industry (BOI) Power Sector and Airline Intervention Fund (PAIF). This is only possible after fulfillment of certain guidelines stipulated by the CBN for qualification and participation in the Fund. Essentially, the guidelines provide that the State enters into discussion with Commercial Banks who will facilitate drawing from the Fund. Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB) and Fidelity Bank have indicated willingness and readiness to participate in the projects. Discussions with the banks yielded the following proposals for the funding of the projects in line with the prevailing CBN Intervention Fund Guidelines as follows: i. GTB will provide the sum of $62,000,000 for Challawa Gorge Dams. ii. Fidelity Bank will provide the sum of $25,000,000 for Tiga Dam. Total = $87,000,000 (equivalent to N14,000,000,000.00).

Further, Council was notified that another critical requirement for the projects is the establishment of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for which the services of Messrs. S.S Gezawa & Co. Legal Practitioners were sought. The Solicitors, Messrs. S.S. Gezawa & Co. Legal Practitioners submitted a proposal for the incorporation and registration of the Hydro Energy Development Limited in the sum of N2,810,000.00.

Considering the relevance of the long awaited projects to the transformation of the electricity demands in the State, Council approved as requested for the release of the sum of N2,810,000.00 to the Office of the Secretary to the State Government for onward payment to Messrs. S.S Gezawa & Co. to enable the incorporation of the Hydro Energy Development Limited. b) Request for Funds to Facilitate the Preparation/Successful Conduct of the 2nd Batch Lafiya Jari Training Program, Northwest (2nd July - 20th July, 2013) at the School of Hygiene, Kano:This administration realizes that there is no issue as important as the provision of formal and informal education to equip the youths to be self-reliant. The administration realizes the vital contribution of youths to the development of the State leading to the formulation of various measures aimed at empowering them for self-reliance. Lafia Jari Program is one of the skills acquisition policies of this administration formulated to effectively remedy the situation of unemployment in the State. The idea is that empowering youths through the acquisition of skills will enhance their economic status. In fact, Lafia Jari Program gives more emphasis to vocational skills development strategy as lack of such skills is a bane to the economic development of any nation. Under this program, around 1800 youths with health related educational background were trained and empowered to operate patent medicine stores across the State. Through this, genuine drugs are being sold to the citizens leading to the elimination of not only fake drugs but also unqualified individuals cashing on people's ignorance. Under the same program 2000 youths are selected to be trained as barbers under Amana Barbers Manicure program. Out of the 2000 of those selected, 800 of them have undergone the training and were empowered with working tools and funds to open Barber Shops to attend to customers.

This explains the reasons behind the submission of this memorandum. The Office of the Secretary to the State Government presented highlights of the Report submitted to the State Government by the Coordinator Lafiya Jari in response to an Executive directive issued for the organization to detail Council with an update of its activities. Thus: i. That under the Northwest Empowerment Program, 500 participants indigenous to Kano State were targeted for the training. ii. 200 potential beneficiaries were trained under the first batch of the Lafiya Jari (Northwest). iii. 165 of the 200 beneficiaries of the 1st batch are currently operating in different States of the Northwest (i.e.

Kaduna =51, Katsina =49, Jigawa = 55, Zamfara = 7, Sokoto = 02 and Kebbi = 01). iv. That the proposed 2nd batch of the Northwest Lafiya Jari Training will involve 200 beneficiaries earmarked to cover Bauchi and Plateau States due to their proximity to Kano State. v. That beneficiaries will repay the N150,000,000.00 granted within eighteen (18) installments in eighteen (18) months. vi. That the Lafiya Jari Committee refunded the sum of N6,750,000.00 to Government's account as funds in respect of the 35 beneficiaries yet to open shops prior to writing of this report.

Considering the foregoing, the Lafiya Jari Committee proffered the following recommendations for consideration and approval by Council: " Need to provide a utility vehicle (Toyota Hilux) for monitoring and supervision of Lafiya Jari beneficiaries distributed across the Northwestern States. " Need to effect payment of registration fees with the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria to be based on the amount of money charged by different States. " Need to release the sum of N63,946,152.00 to facilitate the preparation/successful conduct of the 2nd batch Lafiya Jari Empowerment Northwest Program comprising 200 potential beneficiaries selected and screened from the 44 LGCAs. Council noted, considered the recommendations proffered and approved the release of the sum of N6,950,000.00 to the Office of the Secretary to the State Government to procure and allocate one (1) unit of Toyota Hilux Double Cabin Pick Up in respect of the Office of the Coordinator Lafiya Jari for monitoring and supervising Lafiya Jari beneficiaries distributed across the Northwestern States. c) Request for Funds to Facilitate the Smooth Conduct of a 2 - Week Training Program for Forty (40) Participants on Information Technology Essentials and Applications Training for Graduates:General Computer Literacy and Information Technology Communication capabilities have become essential prerequisites in the day to day running of modern day activities. This and more made the present administration to accord priority attention to the area and even established the Kano Informatics Institute in order to address the problem of demand for the training of the skill required.

As such, the Ministry of Science and Technology corresponded with Council, through the contents of this memorandum requested for funds to enable the conduct of the 2 - Week training program mentioned above at

the aggregate sum of N1,091,600.00.

The details submitted for consideration enabled Council to approve the release of the requested sum of N1,091,600.00 to the Ministry of Science and Technology to facilitate the smooth conduct of a 2 - week training program for forty (40) participants on Information Technology Essentials and Applications Training for Graduates. d) Request for Funds to Procure and Allocate Official Vehicles to Members of Zakkah and Hubsi Commission - Chairman, Commissioner I and II and the Director General:The Zakkah and Hubsi Commission submitted a request for the allocation of Official vehicles to its Members as cited above.

Cognizant of the fact the Zakkah and Hubsi Commission is of comparable statutory status with established organizations such as the Shari'a

Rabi’u Musa Kwankawaso

Commission and Hizbah Board, which have already been allocated/provided with befitting Official vehicles in line with the Revenue Mobilization Law 2007, Office of the Secretary to the State Government recommended to Council to consider approving the allocation of KIA Cerato 1.6mt model vehicle to each of the respective four (4) members of the Zakkah and Hubsi Commission at the unit cost of N3,750,705.00 aggregating to a total of N15,002,820.00. This was the amount requested for release by Council to enable the procurement and allocation of the four (4) vehicles in respect of the four (4) members of the Zakkah and Hubsi Commission. Approval was granted as requested by Council in compliance with statutory provisions. e) Request for Funds to Procure and Allocate Official and Operational Vehicles in Respect of the Shura Council:The contents of this memorandum notified Council that the Chairman Shura Council is yet to be provided with official as well as operational vehicles for the smooth conduct of scheduled functions.

As such, Office of the Secretary to the State Government recommended to Council to consider and approve the following: i. One (1) unit of KIA Cerato 1.6MT N3,750,705.00. ii. One (1) unit Toyota Hiace 18 - Seater bus N7,500,000.00.

N11,250,705.00 Considering the relevance of the request, Council approved the release of the sum of N11,250,705.00 to the Office of the Secretary to the State Government to procure and allocate one (1) unit each of the vehicles respectively mentioned in respect of the Shura Council/Chairman. f) Request for Funds to Enable the Conduct of Sensitization Visits to the 44 LGCAs Community Interest Groups (CIGs) Registered:The contents of this memorandum tacitly notified Council that the State's Commercial Agricultural Development Project (CADP) has collaborated with the State Community Reorientation Council and facilitated the registration of 448 CIGs across 14 of the 44 LGCAs of the State with the support of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, Cooperatives and Tourism.

The State Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources requested for the release of the sum of N286,000.00 by Council to conduct sensitization visits to registered 448 CIGs across the 14 LGCAs. The sensitization tours are aimed at educating the registered groups on project guidelines/procedures, rapid rural appraisal to develop Business plan as well as the procedure to access support. Relevance of the request prompted approval granted by Council. g) Request for Funds for the Provision of Essential Items to the Inmates of ten (10) Prison Yards/Cells in Kano State:N11,280,000.00 was approved for release by Council to the Office of the Secretary to the State Government to enable the Nigerian Prison Services, Kano State Command meet their commitments on the provision of essential items such as mats, bed sheets, mosquito nets, feeding plates, buckets, soap, slippers, mattresses, and generator for pumping water to allay the hardship of the 3,120 prison inmates. Council approval was based on this administration's stand of improving the living condition of the inmates. h) Presentation of the Need to Engage Nest Trust and Request for Funds to Conduct Professional Training and International Certification:The Ministry of Science and Technology is the main custodian of Information Communication Technology (ICT) as the supervising Ministry to the Kano Informatics Institute.

As such, the need to train twenty-two (22) staff of the Ministry of Science and Technology was communicated to Council through the Office of the Secretary to the State Government. The twenty-two (22) staffs are to undergo the Nest Trust training in Local Area Networking (LAN), Wide Area Networking (WAN), Web Administration, Web Management, Data Development as well as Databank Administration. The training is to hold for a period of 3 - 4 months at the aggregate sum of N3,520,000.00, which was requested for release by Council to enable the conduct of the training.

Council noted, considered and approved the release of the requested sum of N3,520,000.00 to the Ministry of Science and Technology to enable the conduct of the referred training. i) Request for Funds to Procure and Allocate One (1) Unit of Toyota Hilux DC Pick Up in Respect of the Office of the Special Adviser on Special Projects:The Kano State Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport notified Council, through the contents of this memorandum that the Phase I project of the construction of Model Villages at Kunchi, Makoda and Warawa LGCAs have been completed to 100% level.

Presently, preparations to commence the second phase of the project are underway consequent to which the Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport deemed it imperative to request for the provision of one (1) unit of Toyota Hilux DC Pick Up to the Office of the Special Adviser on Special Projects for inspection purposes.

Vigilance, as one of the cardinal policies of the present administration prompted Council to approve the release of the sum of N6,950,000.00 to the Office of the Secretary to the State Government to process procurement and allocation of one (1) unit of Toyota Hilux DC Pick Up to the Office of the Special Adviser on Special Projects for inspection purposes. j) Request for Funds to Facilitate the Training of Second Batch of 239 Candidates Qualified for Enrolment into Training at the State Corporate Security Institute, Gabasawa:The State Corporate Security Institute, Gabasawa was amongst the 18 Skills acquisition institutions established by this administration. The contents of this memorandum reminded Council of the recent graduation of the first batch of 216 trainees from the Corporate Security Institute, Gabasawa and the subsequent directives to proceed with the selection of 239 candidates qualified for training, provision of uniforms, combat batons, beds, mattresses, etc. at an aggregate sum of N40,327,000.00. Council noted, considered and approved the release of the sum of N40,327,000.00 to the Management of the Corporate Security Institute, Gabasawa to enable the conduct of the 2nd batch of training at the Institute.

2. MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND BUDGET Presentation of Report on the Training Program Conducted by Kuwait Finance House for Microfinance Banks Managers from Kano State:The Honorable Commissioner for Planning and Budget notified Council, through the contents of this memorandum, of the salient aspects as summarized from the report. Thus: i. Participants were trained on the origins of Islamic Banking, its relationship with Conventional Banking System; ii. The training was attended by ten (10) Managers, two (2) Consultants and one (1) Representative of the Steering Committee from Kano State. iii. Participants had problems with their exposure to such programs. iv. Conspicuous absence of monitoring was also a problem that resulted in the poor conduct/behavior of the participants. v. Participants were corrected on their mistakes, which they accepted and promised never to commit again.

Five (5) recommendations were proffered for consideration by Council which were acknowledged appreciatively and approved for implementation.

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013 3. MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES This Ministry submitted three (3) memoranda for deliberation by Council. Two (2) of them were approved for deliberation as follows: a) Request for Funds to Host the 8th Implementation of Supervision Support/Restructuring Mission for the Commercial Agriculture Development Project (CADP) (8th - 12th July, 2013) in Kano State:The contents of this memorandum respectfully informed Council that the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources received a submission of budgetary expenditure from the State Commercial Agricultural Development Project (CADP) Office to the tune of N4,524,900.00 required to cater for the successful hosting of the program mentioned above. Details were submitted to Council for consideration which were noted, considered and approval granted for the release of the trimmed down sum of N3,000,000.00 to the State Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources to enable successful hosting of the program mentioned above. b) Presentation of Notification of the Commencement of 4th Batch Training (3rd Batch for Men Only) at Kano State Institute of Livestock and Entrepreneurship Bagauda and Stipulation Guidelines Seedling Trainees from the 44 LGCAs:The Kano State Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources reminded Council of the graduation of the 3rd batch (Women only) of participants from Kano State Institute of Livestock and Entrepreneurship Bagauda celebrated at the Government House Kano presided over by Governor Engr. Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso, FNSE. Further, Council was informed that the 4th batch training for men only has commenced in the first week of July, 2013. However, some lapses were observed with the previous trainees who showed more interest in two (2) of the three (3) modules offered (i.e. Ram and Bull fattening) neglecting the other (i.e. Rabbit Production). This observation made the Management at the Institute to produce stipulation guidelines for distribution to all LGCAs of the courses offered for all participants to partake. Copies were presented for the consideration of the Council and granting of approval for distribution.

Council appreciatively acknowledged the presentation and approved the commencement of the 4th batch (3rd batch men only) and the distribution of the stipulating guidelines to the 44 LGCAs across the State.

4. MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT Request for Funds for Clearing/Dredging of Major Drainage (Jakara/Gogau):Drains are constructed to help keep the cities free from flooding. There is, therefore, the need to maintain all drainage infrastructures from blockage. The need to embark on aggressive clearing of drainage in the municipality to ensure free flow of discharged water during this raining season brings us to the reasons behind the submission of this memorandum. Cognizant of the laudable policy of the present administration to embark upon sustained annual dredging/clearing of major drainage within Kano metropolis, the Ministry of Environment requested Council to approve the release of the sum of N14,061,325.18.

The requested money was estimated to cover for the cost of the project for dredging/clearing of the major natural drainage system (Jakara/Gogau), which is urgently required due to the ongoing rainy season in order to check the occurrence of the seasonal flooding that results in loss of lives and property. The clearing exercise is estimated to cover a distance/length of 4,190.52M (4.2KM).

Approval was granted by Council for the release of the requested sum of N14,061,325.18 to the Ministry of Environment to enable the execution of the annual project of clearing/dredging of the natural drainage system (Jakara/Gogau River).

5. MINISTRY OF HEALTH Request for Counterpart Fund for 2013 Onchocerciasis (River Blindness) Control in Kano State:The Honorable Commissioner, Ministry of Health notified Council, through the contents of this memorandum that, Onchocerciasis (commonly known as River Blindness) is a disease transmitted through the bite of black flies and is endemic in eighteen (18) LGCAs of Kano State details of which were presented for consideration by Council.

Further, Council was informed that, since 1999 the Kano State Ministry of Health has been working in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), the African Program on Onchocerciasis Control (APOC) and Christopel Blunden Mission (CBM) toward the establishment of a sustainable River Blindness Control Program in all the endemic areas.

Based on agreement entered with Nigeria, the Kano State partners provide support with free drugs, motor vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles, formulation of control strategies, provision of technical assistance to State's program and result project evaluation. These partners have recently donated 7million tablets of Metizan and 1.9million tablets of Albendazole for the treatment of over 2.5million patients of River Blindness and Elephantiasis in 810 endemic Communities in Kano State. Notably, the market price for the donated drugs is over N1.5billion.

As such, Kano State Government is expected to provide counterpart fund for the project to cater for key activities such as monitoring and supervision, primary eye care, Community sensitization and mobilization, capacity building for Health Workers/Community volunteer, replacement and maintenance of equipment, etc.

Consequently, the Ministry of Health requested Council to approve the release of the sum of N9,557,700.00 to undertake its own part of the responsibilities according to the agreement.

Approval was granted as requested by Council for the release of the sum of N9,755,700.00 as the State counterpart fund to the Ministry of Health for the year 2013 Onchocerciasis (River Blindness) Control in Kano State.

6. MINISTRY OF EDUCATION Two (2) of the four (4) memoranda submitted from the Ministry of Education for deliberations by Council were approved for execution as follows: a) Presentation of the Need/Appropriateness to Immortalize the Deceased/Late Government Printer (Alhaji Ahmad Tukur) and Datti Ahmed:Council sent its condolence to the families of Late Alhaji Ahmed Tukur (former Government Printer) and Alhaji Datti Ahmed (former Permanent Secretary and Limamin Galadanchi). Their contributions while alive to the development of the State led to the submission made by the Honorable Commissioner, Ministry of Education for immortalizing their names forever through naming some institutions after their names. The contents of the memorandum stated that late Alhaji Ahmed Tukur was from a village in Rimin Gado Local Government Area called Zangon Dan Audu where a Government Junior Secondary School called GJSS Zango is located in the premises of a Primary School. The memorandum suggested that the Secondary School now at its temporary site can conveniently be named after him and should retain the name when it eventually moves to its permanent site.

In the same vein, the memorandum recommended that to immortalize Alh. Datti Ahmad Galandaci, Government Secondary School, Warure should be named after him.

Council noted, considered and approved as recommended in recognition and respect for the two (2) dedicated deceased personalities who selflessly served Kano in their meritorious existence. b) Request for Funds to Enable the Transportation of Students on Exchange Program (SEP):The Ministry of Education informed Council through the contents of this memorandum that Public and Private Secondary Schools will close on Friday 2nd August, 2013 for the 3rd term holidays.

Consequent upon this, the Ministry of Education has completed all necessary arrangements for the transportation of students on exchange program to their respective home States based on agreed guidelines of the program.

Specifically, 954 students participating in the program will be transported from Kano to their home States, while 665 Kano State indigenous students studying in 18 Northern States will be transported back to their Schools after completion of the 3rd term holidays in September, 2013. Details of the financial requirements to the tune of N3,652,300.00, which was requested for release was submitted to Council for consideration and approval. The request was approved by Council in view of its relevance.

7. MINISTRY OF WATER RESOURCES The Ministry of Water Resources submitted two (2) memoranda for deliberation by Council. Both were approved for execution. Thus: a) Request for Funds to Enable the Construction of Micro - Earth Dam at Saya - Saya Village in Albasu LGCA:Provision of treated potable water for the citizenry of Kano State irrespective of their chosen places of residence is among the cardinal resolutions of the present administration. Laudable efforts have been embarked upon towards this end, from inception of this administration to date in harnessing, treating and distribution of potable water to urban and rural/regional areas. Colossal sums of money have been expended in this sector with the positive result that potable water supply has now reached many of the areas hitherto experiencing water shortages.

Unfortunately, Albasu LGCA is among the few of its counterparts not being served by any regional/rural water scheme due to the absence of improved/harnessed surface water stored for treatment and distribution for domestic use and irrigated agriculture.

As such, the Saya - Saya Community in Albasu LGCA submitted a request for the construction of a Micro - Earth Dam in their area which was sent to the State Water Board and WRECA for advice and production of detailed drawings and Bill of Quantities for the project. The estimated sum of N31,833,805.00 was submitted as required for the project, which was requested for release by Council to enable its execution.

Council noted, considered and approved the release of the sum of N31,833,805.00 to the Ministry of Water Resources to enable the construction of the Micro - Earth Dam at Saya - Saya Village in Albasu LGCA. b) Request for Funds to Purchase Mobile Laboratory Equipment and Furniture for Water Board's Central Water Quality Laboratory:Water quality assessment is a necessary routine in the general endeavor of the provision of potable water for human use. This effort ensures that people are protected against ingesting/drinking or coming into simple contact with contaminated/infected water, which may lead to outbreak of water borne diseases such as Cholera, Typhoid, Amoebic Dysentery, etc.

As such, continuous water quality assessment is an important aspect that transcends the current arrangement of having sedentary water quality laboratories located at Challawa and the new Tamburawa Water Treatment Plants, which are used for routine water quality tests/assessments.

Conspicuously, all the Regional Water Supply Schemes have no laboratories or standard equipment to carry out water quality tests despite the requirement for conducting certain tests promptly as the water samples are collected.

Consequently, the State Water Board estimated/assessed the requirement for the establishment/creation of mobile water quality laboratory to cater for the needs of Regional Water Schemes in the area of water quality tests in addition to the requirement to furnish the new Tamburawa Central Water Quality Laboratory. Details were presented for consideration by Council as the total estimated sum of N19,901,681.39 was requested for release to cater for the dual purposes mentioned.

55 Approval was granted by Council for the release of the requested sum of N19,901,681.39 to the Ministry of Water Resources to enable the establishment of mobile water quality laboratory for the regional water schemes and provide furnishing at the new Tamburawa Central Water Quality Laboratory.

8. MINISTRY OF INFORMATION, INTERNAL AFFAIRS, YOUTHS, SPORTS AND CULTURE Request for Funds for the State's Basketball Team's Pursuit of the DSTV National Basketball League Title 2013:The Honorable Commissioner, Ministry of Information, Internal Affairs, Youths, Sports and Culture reminded Council, through the contents of this memorandum that the State Executive Council has already granted approval to the Sports Council's request for the release of the sum of N16,241,000.00 for the purpose mentioned above of which 50% (N8,120,500.00) was released pending the balance.

Meanwhile, the released sum of money has been judiciously expended as presented details showed based on which the Sports Council solicited for the release of the balance of N8,120,500.00.

Approval was granted as requested for the release of the balance of N8,120,500.00 to the Ministry of Information, Internal Affairs, Youths, Sports and Culture to enable the State's Basketball Team's pursuit of the DSTV National Basketball League 2013.

9. MINISTRY OF LAND AND PHYSICAL PLANNING Request for Funds to Enable the construction of a Dual Carriageway on Sheikh Mahmud Salga Road:This administration since inception has awarded contracts worth over N120 billion for the construction of both urban and rural roads to ease commuting within the State and open up rural areas for economic and social development. Amongst these roads are Hadejia Road, Zaria Road, Sheik Ja'afar Road and Gwarzo Road that are being upgraded and expanded to ease traffic congestion within the metropolitan Kano. In addition, each Local Government has a 5kilometer road network awarded for construction.

The Sheikh Mahmud Salga Road is among the major/important roads leading into and out of Kano ancient city.

The road has been scheduled for dual carriageway in consideration of its daily high traffic generation at the sum of N1,219,983,792.37.

The project was considered relevant and congruent to the laudable policy of the present administration as Council approved the release of the sum of N1,219,983,792.37 to the Ministry of Land and Physical Planning to enable the construction of dual carriageway on Sheikh Mahmud Salga Road.

10.

OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY GOVERNOR/HON. COMMISSIONER, MINISTRY FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS This Office submitted four (4) memoranda for deliberation by Council. Only one (1) of them was approved for execution. Thus: Request for Funds to Facilitate Free Maternity Services at Primary Healthcare Facilities in Kano State:Developing nations for too long have been facing high mortality rate amongst women due to complications of pregnancy and childbirth. UNICEP stated that a woman dies from childbirth complications every minute. The situation becomes more appalling when WHO stated that poor maternity conditions account for the fourth leading cause of female mortality worldwide. This can, however, be prevented if access to healthcare is brought closer and at no cost/fees to women. In fact, since inception, the administration has expended billions of Naira in health sector through the provision of more health centers, equipment and employment of qualified personnel.

However, the administration realizes that unaffordable medical bills are one of the major barriers to the utilization of maternal and child healthcare services in both rural and urban centres. Thus, the administration's policy on free antenatal services was formulated to open access of healthcare facilities to the poor women thereby improving their health and that of the child. Through this, the administration provides free family planning, maternal and neonatal healthcare to women in health centers, which were meant to reduce the number of women dying during pregnancy and childbirth.

This brings us to the contents of this memorandum. The Deputy Governor/Hon. Commissioner, Ministry for Local Governments complied with the Executive Council's directive issued to him at its sitting of Wednesday 3rd July, 2013 regarding proposal presented by the Honorable Commissioner, Ministry of Health for the introduction of free maternity services at Primary Healthcare facilities in the State. The proposal was properly examined resulting in the following observations: i. That the already existing free maternity services at the Secondary health facilities has been successful over the past one decade (10 years) of its establishment since the period of the 1st incumbency of Governor Engr. Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso, FNSE. ii. That all the 34 Secondary Health facilities in the State are providing free maternity services with thousands of women as beneficiaries. However, these services are unavailable in all the 1078 Primary Healthcare (PHC) facilities across the 44 LGCAs where they are needed. iii. That by providing free maternity services in the Primary Healthcare facilities, the attendance of pregnant women to these facilities will definitely increase thereby reducing the maternal mortality and morbidity rates in the State thereby addressing MDGs goals 4 and 5. iv. That the cost of providing free maternity services for 586 PHCs monthly across the 44 LGCAs is N20,737,825.16.

Details were presented to Council for consideration and approval for the release of the sum of N20,737,825.16 monthly for the stated purpose. Council noted, considered and approved the release of the sum of N20,737,825.16 monthly for the provision of free maternity services by the 586 PHC across the 44 LGCAs in the State.

11. MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION Request for Funds to Enable the Construction of Staff Office Complex, Library Complex and Administrative Block at College of Arts, Science and Remedial Studies (CARS), Kano:The College of Arts, Science and Remedial Studies, Kano has served Kano State for a long time in providing alternative access route into Universities for Degree Programs for the benefit of our youths who would have otherwise dropped out of School.

As such, the requested sum of N36,891,957.00 was approved for release by Council to the Ministry of Higher Education to enable the execution of the construction of staff office complex, library complex and administration block to enhance the atmosphere of reading and learning in the School.

UPDATE ON ACTIVITIES OF THE 106TH KANO STATE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL SITTING 1. VISIT BY THE COUNTRY DIRECTOR OF WORLD BANK TO KANO Council acknowledged the visit by the Country Director of World Bank, Madam Nelly Fransuwaz Memy on a two day working visit to Kano State. The visit was anchored on the development of agriculture and irrigation in the State and especially on the utilization of dams as source of water for irrigation farming.

2. OFFICIAL VISIT BY THE MINISTER OF INDUSTRIES TO KANO STATE Council appreciatively acknowledged the official Visit by the Honorable Minister of Industries to Kano State for the official launching of Street Numbering and Provision of Identity cards in the State. On this note, Council appreciated the efforts of the Minister for showing interest in the developmental programs being implemented by the State Government.

3. VISIT BY THE AMBASSADOR OF SWITZERLAND TO KANO Council acknowledged the visit to the State by the Ambassador of Switzerland and prayed that such kind of visits will open up business relationship between the two.

4. CONDUCT OF POLIO EXERCISE ACROSS THE STATE Council witnessed the flag-off of the Polio Immunization Exercise on Saturday in the State. Council thanked all the stakeholders and the general public for their support towards ensuring the successful launching of the program.

5. SIGNING OF MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU) BETWEEN THE STATE GOVERNMENT AND SASAKAWA AFRICA Council witnessed the Signing of an MOU between the State Government and Sasakawa Africa for collaboration and partnering in Agricultural Development and Empowerment of Farmers in the State.

Similarly, Council witnessed the presentation of a Souvenir to Governor Engr. Rabi'u Musa, FNSE by Dr. Juliana Dwella Myer for his immense contribution to the development and transformation of the agricultural sector in Kano state.

6. PRESENTATION OF AWARDS TO GOVERNOR ENGR. RABI'U MUSA KWANKWASO, FNSE Council witnessed the presentation of Award to the Governor by the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) at the 82nd Conference of the Association for being the' "Governor of the year 2013'' for his immense contribution to education in Kano State and Nigeria in general.

Similarly, Council witnessed the presentation of another award by the Association of Students studying in India for his giant stride in educational development and provision of scholarship to qualified indigenes of the State to study abroad.

7. GRADUATION AND EMPOWERMENT OF 1,282 YOUTHS Council acknowledged the successful graduation and empowerment of 1,282 youths who were trained by the State Government under the Hospitality and Tourism Institute and Livestock Institute, which is in tandem with the present administration's desire to create job opportunities and also create an avenue for the State teeming youths to become self-reliant.

8. OFFICIAL FLAG OFF OF CLEARING OF DRAINAGES ACROSS THE STATE Council witnessed the flag-off of clearance of drainages across the State, which was held in Kano Municipal Local Government area. Council wishes to call on the general public to continue to support the exercise in order to clear all congested drainages within their environments in order to avoid flooding in the State. To this end, Council pledged the continuous support of the Government to ensure success of the exercise.

REPRESENTATIVES OF REVENUE MOBILIZATION ALLOCATION AND FISCAL COMMISSION (RMAFC) SENSITIZATION VISIT TO THE STATE Council received representatives of the RMAFC who were on official visits to the State. Council appreciated the visit.

Signed: Hon. Commissioner, Ministry of Information, Internal Affairs, Youth, Sports andCulture

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NEWS Church seeks solution to insecurity

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HE General Overseer of the Christian Ministry of Reconciliation, Magboro, Ogun State, Revd. John Ogu, has urged leaders to find a lasting solution to the security challenges facing the country.

Ogu gave the advice during the church’s anniversary yesterday.

He claimed that past leaders failed the country by not planning for the future and providing empowerment for the youths.

He said: “Insecurity in this country shows the mistakes that leaders have made in the past. They did not have vision or plan that will absorb our children that comes out of the university. . They give education without job. They render the children jobless and the effect of that is what we are seeing today.

“What I see is that the insecurity challenge facing the country today is that it is a way for the young ones to protest the lack of plan for them. The insecurity should gear the government up to see that there is need for them to develop the standard of our education to have peace like other countries. Why do we have cults? Is it not initially to protect the students to avoid paying money to pass examinations, the female students have to sleep with lecturers to pass exams, so is the security challenge?.

The cleric said the leaders should concentrate on education and other areas that could aid job creation.

Rev.Ogu went on: “In those days, our students get job easily before they leave school. Companies show interest in them. But today, what we have is hotels all over the places.

There is no good investments that will absorb our children when they come out of school. The only way to solve it is to build factories that will provide jobs for the youths.

“We can say that most of our graduates are not fit for employment because the level of employment is a shame and nothing to write home about. The governments are not doing enough to develop the standard of our university to be at par with others in the world. Varsity teachers are always on strike, it is a discredit to our educational system.”

Police arrest 22 kidnap suspects

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HE police in Enugu State have arrested 22 kidnap suspects. All their victims, including a Lebanese, except a girl who was found dead, were rescued.

A statement by police spokesman, Ebere Amaraizu, said the police rescued the Lebanese, Mohammed Kanaan, attached to Grey Line Construction Company.

The statement reads: “Albert Chukwu alias Agbalanze, who claimed he

From Chris Oji, Enugu

hailed from Ugwuoba, was arrested in connection with the incident and he is assisting the operatives in their investigations.

“Operatives, acting on a tipoff, rescued unhurt Fidelia Obetta from Nsukka. Four suspects were arrested namely Chibueze Areji, Ikowo Ekene, Eze Ikechukwu and Ezema Okechukwu. Two locally made guns with live cartridges were recovered.

PDP chieftain flays Rivers violence From Sanni Onogu, Abuja

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EPUTY National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chibudom Nwuche yesterday condemned last week’s violence at the Rivers State House of Assembly .

The former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives described the development as a “gruesome display of barbarity”.

He called on the police to investigate the incident to arrest and prosecute those involved in the show of shame.

“This incident is a very sad commentary on the quality of persons who, by hook or crook, have found their way into various levels of governance in recent times.

“We see in this people who lack character, integrity and morality, and who have no business whatsoever in public office.”

JTF uncovers new method of concealing stolen crude •Discovers illegal fuel dump in shrine •Arrests 15 suspects, barges

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IL thieves have adopted a new approach of concealing their stolen productsthey keep it in shrines belonging to communities in the Niger Delta, it was learnt yesterday.

This emerging trend is aimed at hiding their illicitly-acquired products from the prying eyes of the Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Pulo Shield.

But JTF operatives have discovered such illegal fuel dump in a shrine in Egbekodo community in Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State.

JTF’s Media Coordinator Lt. Col. Onyema Nwachukwu said the development was uncovered by the troops of 3 Battalion Sector 1, led by Lt-Col. Ifeayin Otu. Nwachukwu said in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, the troops im-

From Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

pounded 230 drums of illegally-refined Automated Gas Oil after raiding the shrine.

He said the operatives also destroyed 13 illegal refineries close to the shrine.

The spokesman said the owners of the illegal refineries also hid 37 steel surface tanks, 360 drums and 44 opened boats filled with stolen crude oil in the creeks of Benneth Island, Gbekobor, Iffie communities in the local council.

“During the operation, two suspects- Queen Maku and Sylvester Togo- were arrested with eight live cartridges and one empty cartridge. The suspects are in custody,” he said.

The spokesman said the JTF’s 5 Battalion troops impounded three self-propelled barges and a tugboat in one of its operations.

He said two of the barges, christened MV LAMME and

MT FUFUSWAY, were laden with 100,000 litres and 500,000 litres of illegally-refined AGO. He said the AGO was a product of stolen crude oil.

“The barges, which had 11 crew members on board, were intercepted around Bonny Anchorage in Rivers State and are now in custody of Sub-Sector 5, while the crew members on board both barges have been conveyed to Headquarters Sector 2 in Port Harcourt for further investigation.

“A third barge, christened DFC 2, was impounded on Azagbene River in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State without its crew members.

“The patrol teams also impounded two open boats caught while attempting to siphon crude oil near the Shell’s burnt pipeline site at Bodo West.”

In Bayelsa State, he said, troops of 343 Regiment of

Sector 2 and Forward Operational Base (FOB FORMOSSO) of the JTF destroyed 22 illegal refineries in Southern Ijaw and Brass local government areas.

He said the soldiers impounded three wooden boats and 500 drums used for oil theft in Masonkiri, Lagosgbene, Oyeregbene, Igbematoru, Ekiambiri and Polubobou communities in the local government areas.

He said the JTF conducted all the operations between July 3 and 12, adding that 15 suspected oil thieves were arrested.

After preliminary investigations, he said the suspects would be handed over to relevant prosecuting agencies.

Following allegations that communities were shielding oil thieves in the region, JTF’s Commander JTF, Major-General Bata Debiro, called on all leaders and youths to help stop the menace.

Udoedehe: Akwa Ibom govt did everything to ‘kill’ me

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HE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom State, Senator James Akpanudoedehe, yesterday said the government did everything possible to “kill” him during the 2011 general election.

Akpanudoedehe, who was the ACN candidate in the 2011 election, said murder and treason charges were slammed on him as a result of the March 22, 2011 mayhem in the state.

He spoke at a thanksgiving service organised in his honour by the ACN at Solid Rock Kingdom Church, Uyo, the state capital, as part of the activities marking his victory in court.

His words: “We were warned not to come to Ikot Ekpene by the power-thatbe. We went to Ibiono; they attacked our members. We went to Ini, they maimed our members.

“We were asked to go and campaign at Ikot Ekpene, the first venue was taken away from us. On our way, our

From Kazeem Ibrahym, Uyo

convoy was attacked, they told us not to pass the same route we took and we told them no. Our people were killed, 10 women died in the process.

“They lied against me. The Akwa Ibom State government did everything to kill me. They said I am a murderer, that I have a gun factory but I was vindicated at the end of the day.”

The ACN chief also decried the level of poverty in the state, despite the huge amount of money coming from oil derivation.

According to him, the level of development in the state is low compared to the amount of money received by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government in the last six years.

He said: “What the PDP government is celebrating in the state can be likened to the achievement of a local government chairman because it is only a local government chairman that will build health care centre and

commission it.

“When I was a Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory, it was mandatory that you must build a health care centre in each of the wards to be closer to the people based on the criteria for development. It is not just going to paint classrooms in the street.”

The ACN chieftain, who also spoke on zoning, called on the people not to slaughter their freedom on the altar of zoning.

Udoedehe said: “We have despots who have stolen so much money. We need to be liberated. We don’t slaughter the freedom of the state on the altar of zoning. I support fairness and I am not part of zoning. As we speak everybody who is seeking the office of the governor believes in anointing.

“They are not peoplefriendly. Our people are under a certain spell. They are smiling while they are suffering. How will you have democracy and have people frightened to their marrow?

Democracy is freedom. That

•Udoedehe

should not happen in a normal political setting.

“What the people need in Akwa Ibom is a liberator, a freedom fighter. A government that can prepare a platform for individuals’ aspirations and dreams. A government that will propel some talented individuals to achieve their goals.

“When we came out with our programme, they copied it and people believed that they would implement it. We know that they have no intention. The only thing they are good at is looting the treasury. They celebrate making billions of naira. Nobody thinks about tomorrow.”

Dickson not a junketer, says govt

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AYELSA State Governor Seriake Dickson is not a junketer, the government said at the weekend.

His spokesman, Daniel Markson-Iworiso, denied the claims that the governor has been travelling instead of working.

Markson-Iworiso said the allegations of junketting were made by critics of the government “and mischiefmakers for want of something to say.”

“This is not the first time such a report is being peddled.

“Those behind it are doing it out of pure mischief. And we know them. To them everything is politics even when

it is so glaring that the government is working to change the face of Bayelsa State.

“The same governor that they falsely accused of spending more time out of the state works harder than everyone, even to the detriment of his own health,” he added.

The media aide said even though trips were an integral part of government, Dickson has taken care to ensure that his trips, besides being part of state functions, add value to Bayelsa State.

“Those trips are themselves part of governance. In the first place, we are lucky to have a governor who doesn’t like travelling. Each of the governor’s trips is official and we

can count the number of times he has embarked on such trips since assuming office.

“The mischief-makers typically blow things out of pro-

portion and their aim is to distract the governor and seek undue relevance. We realised this from our first day in office and therefore cannot fall for such antics,” he said.

Court quashes death sentence From Osagie Otabor, Benin

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WO robbery suspects, Blacky Ojo and David Egharevba, who were sentenced to death by a Benin High Court have been freed by the Court of Appeal.

Ojo and Egharevba were sentenced to death by hanging for robbery.

But the Court of Appeal sitting in Benin City set aside the judgment of the lower court, saying it erred in law by not properly evaluating the evidence of the appellants.

Justice Helen Moronkeji observed that the lower court would have throd softly, if it had examined the totality of the evidence of the appellants.

Justice Moronkeji set aside the judgment of the lower court and discharged and acquitted the appellants.

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THE NATION MONDAY JULY 15, 2013

NEWS

Ekiti Rep renders account of stewardship •Bamidele: I’ll always donate my salary for projects

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•Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun with winners of 2013 edition of Wole Soyinka Open Door Series Essay Competition, in commemoration of Prof Soyinka's 79th birthday in Abeokuta…yesterday

One dead as MASSOB, Igbo youths clash

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NE person was reportedly killed when members of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) clashed with members of the Association of Igbo Youths Organisation (AIYO) in Onitsha, Anambra State.

Several others were injured in the attack, which allegedly occurred in a forest on the Onitsha-Owerri Expressway.

A source said the MASSOB members invaded an “illegal torture camp”, which allegedly belongs to AIYO inside the forest to dislodge them.

The police confirmed the incident but insisted that there was no casualty.

Police spokesman Emeka Chukwuemeka said the

•No casualty, police insist From Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Onitsha

presence of the police and other security agents on the scene was to maintain law and order.

He called on MASSOB and AIYO members to maintain the peace and called on the public to go about their businesses without fear.

MASSOB’s Director of Information Uchenna Madu confirmed the operation but denied any death.

Madu said MASSOB, acting on complaints from the public about the activities of AIYO, moved in to restore peace and security in Onitsha.

He said: “MASSOB, as the genuine Igbo group genuinely fighting for Ndigbo, has heard reports of rape,

kidnapping, illegal arrest and detention and robberies by a group of miscreants who call themselves AIYO members.

“We decided to move into the illegal camps where even security agents could not enter and as I am talking to you, we have taken over the area and dislodged them.

“These boys were also responsible for crimes on the Onitsha-Owerri Road and other parts of Onitsha. Several times, they had kidnapped people, including our men, took them to these “illegal torture camps”, where the victims were forced to part with money and other valuables to regain their freedom.

“When MASSOB stormed the camp, we discovered so

many people kidnapped and tied to stakes.”

But an AIYO member, who pleaded for anonymity, accused MASSOB members of trying to dominate Igbo land, adding that AIYO was working for the government through its national leader, Rommy Ezeonwuka.

“MASSOB, in its usual criminal way, invaded some camps of our members around 2am yesterday, wielding weapons and brutalised our members.

“The members burnt the makeshift camp we use as our operational base.

“They said AIYO is an illegal group but they forgot that we are the only group recognised by the Anambra State Government through our national leader, Rommy Ezeonwuka (Ogirishi Igbo),” he said.

Tier-1 banks’ gross earnings cross N200b mark

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IER-1 banks last year recorded gross earnings in excess of N200billion, according to the Deposit Money Banks’ 2012 profitability report.

Tier-2 banks recorded N102 billion average, Afrinvest West Africa Plc, said in its report.

The Tier 1 banks, as defined by asset size and market share, are: Access Bank, First Bank of Nigeria (FBN), Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Zenith Bank.

The Tier 2 banks are: First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Skye Bank, Fidelity Bank and Diamond Bank.

The report is part of the highlights of the firm’s report tagged: ‘Special Report on Nigerian Banking Sector 2013’ which will be launched in Lagos on July 24.

The report hinted that banks’ Return on Equity (RoE) revealed that most Tier1 banks’ earnings resulted from high profit margin while Tier-2 banks relied more on assets turnover to grow earnings.

It said that in 2012, banks’ management tried to beat

By Collins Nweze

high earnings expectations, causing them to focus on fixed income securities like treasury bills because of their high yield capabilities. The report projected that the “treasury focused” investment strategy would moderate in 2013 as outlook on yields and fee income decline.

It said that Tier-1 banks account for 68 per cent of the N21.3 trillion of industry assets, with First Bank Nigeria Limited mainly accounting for N3.2 trillion asset base (or 15 per cent of industry assets).

It said that with the implementation of the preceding three pillars, banks are expected to begin to engage the real economy through initiatives such as development finance, foreign direct invest-

ment, venture capital and public private partnerships.

The Afrinvest report said the future of the Nigerian banking space will rest on ancillary banking services such as Merchant Banking and Primary Mortgage Institutions. There are also renewed hopes in Retail Banking and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) banking. The industry, it claimed, is now confronted with the reality of declining fee incomes, mobile money and dollar denominated capital sourcing.

It predicted that the era of “real banking” appears to be gradually re-emerging as traditional sources of high income/profitability continue to come under threat from increased competition and

tighter regulation.

It predicted that in the next five years, outlook on yields and fee income remain downwards, necessitating the need for banks to focus on lending to the real sector. Also, banks are expected to develop and grow the depth of their core retail banking businesses to retain and amplify cheap deposits.

The lenders also need to expand their geographic footprint and business scopes as urbanisation gradually remodels cities and sub-urban areas. “Mid-Tier banks will need to consolidate and integrate vertically in order to compete with Tier-1 banks as economies of scale and scope increasingly become differentiating success factors,” it said.

Abia builds 450 schools

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HE Abia State Government has built and equipped 450 classrooms across the state.

The governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Ugochukwu Emezue, said it had become necessary to make such achievements public because of the attempts by fifth columnists to discredit the administration.

Emezue said the administration’s achievement in the education sector had made pu-

From Ugochukwu Ugoji-Eke, Umuahia

pils from the state to perform well in competitions.

He praised the State Universal Basic Education Board (ASUBEB) for winning the award of one of the best managed state education boards in the country.

Emezue said what Governor Theodore Orji is doing in the state has made the state to become one huge construction site.

OUSE of Representatives member Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele yesterday promised to always donate his salaries and emoluments for constituency projects as part of activities to spread the dividends of democracy in the area.

The legislator from Ado/ Ifelodun-Irepodun Constituency, Ekiti State, also promised to justify the confidence reposed in him by articulating the interest of the constituency.

Bamidele, who chairs the House Committee on Budget and Research, rendered his account of stewardship at the monthly meeting of ‘Ekiti Parapo’, an association of Ekiti indigenes in Lagos held at the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja.

The meeting presided over by its chairman, Aare Akomolede, was attended by the boardroom guru, Sir Remi Omotoso, and Lagos lawyer Deacon Debo Adesina.

Giving his mid-term report, Bamidele, who was elected in 2011, said that he had fulfilled his promises to the people, assuring them that he would sustain the empowerment programmes set up by his constituency office.

He said: “In keeping with the promise I made during my electioneering and as contained in ‘My Covenant’, to the glory of God and benefit of my constituency, I inaugurated the Fund Advisory and Allocation Committee to advise in the judicious use of the funds accruing from my salaries, which are ploughed into a special account for the purpose of alleviating the suffering of our people and seeing to their welfare.

“The committee headed by Oba Ademola Ajakaye, the Oluyin of Iyin, has provided necessary advice in the utilisation of funds in touching the

By Emmanuel Oladesu, Group Political Editor

lives of indigent citizens of Ado-Ekiti/ Irepodun-Ifelodun Constituency”.

Bamidele said that, in the last two years, he had empowered over 800 widows, senior citizens, youths, and women through cash donation, provision of equipment and tool kits and other support schemes.

The legislator, who said that he has not been a bench warmer, listed the bills and motions he sponsored and co-sponsored.

He also said that he had attracted many projects to his constituency from the Federal Government.

He added: “Posterity brings to remembrance my motion on the irregularities in the administration of the petroleum products importation, allocation and distribution. This timely motion prepared the House for the huge task that later snowballed into the discovery of the mismanagement that characterised the fuel subsidy regime.

“The motion I brought to the floor of the House about the late submission of the 2012 budget proposal resulted in the intervention of the House to push for early submission of budget to ensure prompt passage of the bill in a bid to improve budget performance”.

Bamidele said that he would devote attention to the matters affecting physically challenged persons and sustain his fight against poverty in his constituency.

He added: “I will also seek your particiapation in identifying communities that should benefit and are in critical need of the basic amenities that will ameliorate the conditions of living within our federal constituency as it is our collective duty and would be in our collective interest”.

NTI trains 413 teachers

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HE National Teachers Institute (NTI) has begun training of 413 teachers of mathematics and sciences to improve their ability to handle the subjects.

Sunday Kolawole, speaking on behalf of NTI DG, insisted that the Strengthening Mathematics and Science Education (SMASE) training was aimed at meeting challenges in the methods and approach used by maths and science teachers.

“We just don’t do our training, we do a follow-up to find out what has happened to those people we have trained,” he said.

He noted that each of the six geopolitical zones is assigned a consultant professor, quality assurance experts “who go round to see what the trained teachers are actually doing”, as well

Old students meet July 20 MEETING of the 1972-1976 Set of Anglican Grammar School Igbara -Oke will hold on July 20 at the home of Mr and Mrs E. D. Owolabi of Plot 5 Block XX1, D. O. Fagunwa Street, Ijapo Estate, Akure. According to the secretary, Rufus Adu, the meeting is a reunion for the old students”.

A

as independent monitors.

“These are people we use to ensure that the quality of what we have done is all right, and what we have asked them to do is what they are doing,” Kolawole observed.

The training will last two weeks. A trainee from Enugu, Caroline Okoro, said the SMASE training “will make an impact on our children.”

PUBLIC NOTICE

COKER I, formerly known, called and addressed as Miss Aunsiem Chitua Oluchi Lucky, now wish to be known, called and addressed as Mrs Eche-Bright Chitua Lucky Oluchi. All former documents remain valid. Nursing Department, IMSU, FRSC and the general public should please take note .

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THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

59

NEWS ACN urges PSC to widen probe of Rivers crisis Continued from page 4

•Pupils of Carol Primary School, Agege, dramatising at the 2013 Tree Planting campaign in Lagos…yesterday

Wike urges supporters to be ready to fight

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INISTER of State for Education Chief Nyesom Wike yesterday urged his supporters to be ready to fight against those he described as outsiders in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Wike, who is leading the group opposed to Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, spoke in Buguma, Asari –Toru Local Government Area when he took his 2015 mobilisation to the base of the militants. He is believed to be nursing a governorship ambition in 2015.

He also escaped attack from people described as Amaechi’s supporters.

Buguma is the traditional headquarters of Kalabari Kingdom where the Speaker of the Rivers House of Assembly, Otelemaba Dan Amachree, hails from.

The event was the inauguration of the wards (13) and local government executives of the Grassroots Development Initiative (GDI). Wike is the grand patron of GDI. Wike said: “We cannot be intimidated. Do not allow anybody to provoke you. Rivers people have said enough is enough. If they say they want to meet us in the field, they should come to the field and meet us.

From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

We are not afraid of anybody. If you (Amaechi’s supporters) like, you should continue to put your own band there, we will continue to do what we are doing.

“What I can tell you today, Nigerians know that those friends from this state, they have lost control of the state. This is the first time that Rivers people are seeing that the National Assembly will be making laws for them. The National Assembly members (from Rivers state) should withdraw. They should all come back home.

“I told GDI people I would be here today. I heard they said they would stop the inauguration. I said nobody could stop the inauguration. I want to thank you for standing firm. Do not be afraid. If they want to fight you, be ready for them. This is not the time anybody will intimidate you.

“This is not the time anybody will use police to arrest you. If they come for arrest, we will also arrest them back. This is the time for action. Let them know it clearly that we are not afraid of anybody. I have decided to come here (Buguma) to send the message to them. I am not going to be afraid of anybody.

“I want to tell you, PDP is in charge. All of them are no longer PDP members. All of you here today are PDP members. If they want to confront us, let them go to another party and face us in the election.

“Why are they running? Why are they hiding under PDP? If they know that they are popular, let them join another party. I thank you for coming out en masse and for refusing anybody to intimidate you.

“We will continue. Do not allow anybody to separate you from your brother, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. President Goodluck Jonathan is your brother. President Goodluck is an Ijaw man.

Do not allow anybody to bring any problem among you. They are only seeking for their personal ambition.

“We cannot reject our son, a Southsouth person. We will vote for him (President Jonathan) for 2015 presidential election. The wife (Dame Patience) is a Rivers woman. Nobody can tell us stories. We will stand by our brother. It does not matter whatever that will happen.”

The leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Mujahid DokuboAsari, and another ex-militant, Soboma Jackrich, are from Bu-

guma.

Just as the President-General of the GDI, Bright Amewhule, was inaugurating the members of the executives of the group in the 13 wards and the local government chapter, supporters of Amaechi in Buguma decided to position loud speakers to face the arena, blaring music.

Amaechi’s supporters were throwing plastic chairs towards the GDI members. They hurled bottles, stones and sachet water at the gathering. The minister suspended the office’s inauguration and quickly left for Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

The development heightened tension in the ancient community, with people scampering to safety, to avoid being hit by the missiles. Soldiers and riot policemen restored order.

The Secretary-General of the GDI, Samuel Nwanosike, who is also the Rivers Publicity Secretary of the PDP, later in a telephone interview, said the inauguration of the GDI office in Buguma for Asari-Toru chapter was not on the programme.

GDI President-General Bright Amewhule urged Wike’s supporters of Wike not to be intimidated, stressing that when they follow the minister of state for education, they would not regret their action.

Tinubu: Rivers PDP crisis portends danger to democracy Continued from page 4

The ACN national leader added: “Nigerians must ask: “Is this the way President Jonathan intends to transform Nigeria? By turning it from an imperfect democracy into a perfect mess? A total lack of respect for Constitutional democracy is what we are witnessing. Governor Rotimi Amaechi swore an oath to protect and serve the people of Rivers State. He is thus empowered by the Constitution to carry out this function. Not even the Police has the constitutional right to impede him from carrying out his functions as governor.

Yet, we have a federal government under whose eager eyes an assault on our constitution is taking place in the open.”

Tinubu cautioned against the danger of abandoning Amaechi to his fate, warning that more victims would suffer the impunity of the PDP in the future, if this trend is not curtailed.

He said: “My advice is that we should not leave Governor Amaechi to suffer his fate alone. All true democrats must defend constitutional

democracy and true federalism. In what stable and functioning democracy can you find a President or his agents bully a governor this way or violate the federal Constitution so openly with complete impunity? “ When the interest of the nation is subjugated so that the narrow, parochial interest of a clique in power is served, events like we see unfold in Rivers will soon become common place.

“As a new breed of imperial rulers run amok and with impunity, violate Nigeria’s Constitution, the days ahead seem gloomy and uncertain.

Discerning minds must locate the present crisis in the suspected injustice in the Bayelsa and Rivers State oil boundary legal battle. For standing up in defence of the interest of his people, Governor Amaechi became a marked person.

“The irreconcilable political differences between main actors in Rivers State soon magnified the crisis with heavy lifting from the Presidency.

Like a running thriller with nightmarish garnishing, Nigerians are watching an elected governor come under in-

cessant illegal assault sanctioned by the powers that be.

But we need not just watch.

People with good conscience must speak up now.”

Tinubu pointed out that the Rivers PDP crises were consistent with the party’s past attempts to scuttle fair elections and genuine democratic processes.

He said: “Undermining democracy has become a central plank in the party’s manifesto. What happened in the Rivers House is one more reminder. PDP leaders hold democracy in contempt and will trample it, if given the slightest opportunity. If they invert the relatively small numbers involved in the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) and the Rivers State House, what they might do to general elections involving such a large population as ours is a hard piece of wood to chew”.

Tinubu warned the PDP leaders against lording it over the 150 million Nigerians in a manner reminiscent of the colonial masters, adding that it is impossible to seek to control the mind of the people through threat, intimidation and assault.

He said that this style,

which could lead to “elected dictatorship”, is unacceptable, even if the dictator initially got to office through the ballot.

Describing the PDP as “poor steward of democracy”, Tinubu added: “It is hard to be a good democrat without knowing how to count properly and this crew cannot count. During the NGF debacle, they claimed that 16 was larger than 19. Now in Rivers, they claim 5 outnumbers 27.

“If they can’t count, how can we count on them to improve the nation? If they can’t add, it is a mistake to rely on them to add anything good to our lives. For reasons best known to them, they have tried to pin the Rivers governor to the wall. In doing so, they have turned Rivers into an embattled state.

“Those of us living in other states should not be indifferent. What is happening in Rivers today can come to your state tomorrow if the PDP holds sway. Events in that state are but a symbol and a forecast. As long as the current PDP leadership holds forth, we will have many rivers to cross before this land sees genuine democracy”.

sanction even the policemen shown to have acted badly that day, the sanctions must extend to their bosses who allowed that to happen. Anything short of that will be akin to punishing a bus conductor for an accident involving his vehicle while exonerating the bus driver,’’ it said.

ACN also insisted, in line with its earlier statement, that President Goodluck Jonathan cannot be absolved of blame over the crisis, much as his aides and party have struggled to distance him from it. ‘’Anyone with a conscience knows that the root of the problem in Rivers lies in the President’s bedroom, and no amount of fanciful statements or name calling targeted at those who are conscientious enough to call a spade a spade will change that. ‘’This is why we are insisting that the President must be impeached by the National Assembly for his failure to respect the

rule of law and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which he has taken an oath to uphold,’’ the party said.

It called on the Presidency to heed the voice of reason instead of instigating attacks on those who have called attention to its overt or covert role or its vicarious responsibility in the Rivers crisis. ‘’Our party, the ACN, has been viciously attacked for standing up for what is right on the Rivers crisis. One of the country’s most respected personalities and a global icon, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has been called names for speaking up in order to avert a deterioration of the crisis.

But this is nothing new. The legend Obafemi Awolowo was equally castigated when he called attention to the worsening state of the nation’s economy in 1983, only for him to be proven right shortly thereafter.

The Presidency and all concerned must listen to the voice of reason in the interest of the nation,’’ ACN said

JTF finds Boko Haram mass graves, bunkers, tunnels Continued from page 4

they know Mohammed Marwana or not who was the person we met with?

Has anyone come out to say that Marwana is not a member of Boko Haram?

Has anyone disputed the position of the Deputy Leader of Boko Haram which Marwana claimed he is occupying?”

The source stressed that neither the Chairman of the committee nor any of its members said they met Shekau. “We had talks with Marwana, who represented the group,” he said, adding: “The Boko Haram leadership up till now has not disowned Marwana, who also defended the sect last week that it was not behind the killing of 36 students in a secondary school in Mamudo in Yobe State. Marawana told us that Boko Haram members were not behind the gruesome killings. The sect has also corroborated Marwana’s position.

“If Marwana is not a member or one of the leaders of the sect, Boko Haram leadership would have disowned him by now. In March, one Abdulazeez said he was speaking for Boko Haram and his claim was swiftly dismissed.

“So, we will not take up issues with Shekau because if we do, we will now leave substance and begin to chase the shadow.

“We do not want anything that could derail our ongoing talks with Boko Haram.”

On the claim by the Defence Headquarters that it was not involved in ceasefire negotiation, the source said it was not yet time for Defence to be involved.

“This committee does not report to the Chief of Defence Staff or any of the service chiefs. We are expected to report to the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who will then decide on how the military and other security agencies should be involved,” the source said.

‘Amachree remains Rivers Speaker’

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PEAKERS have condemned the purported ousting of Rivers State House of Assembly Speaker Otelemeba Dan Amachree, saying it is unconstitutional and barbaric.

The Conference of Speakers of State Legislators of Nigeria said it recognised him as the substantive Speaker of the Assembly.

The chairman of the Conference and Speaker of the Gombe State Assembly, Mr. Inuwa Garba, spoke at the weekend in Gombe where he presented the position of the Conference on the imbroglio.

He said: “It has come to the notice of the Conference of the Speakers of State Legislators of Nigeria that five Honourable members of Rivers State House of Assembly with the aid of hoodlums allegedly invaded the Honourable House and announced the impeachment of the Speaker of the House, Right Honourable Otelemeba Dan Amachree and purported to have replaced him with Honourable Evans.

“The Conference of Speakers do hereby condemns the

By Vincent Ohonbamu, Gombe

action of the five Honourable members of that House in totality as it contravenes the Constitution.

“Section 92 (2c) of the 1999 Constitution as amended provides that the Speaker could only be removed by the resolution of the House via the vote of not less than twothirds majority of the entire members of that House.

“In view of that Constitutional provision, five members alone cannot remove a Speaker of the House of Assembly of 32 Honourable members. This therefore, implies that the action of those five members is unconstitutional and null and void.”

Garba urged the National Assembly “to declare action of the five honourable members as treason and commence process of taking appropriate constitutional action against them in order to save our democracy”.

The Conference also called on security agencies to give Amachree and all members of the Rivers Assembly protection to facilitate smooth legislative activities.

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

60

FOREIGN NEWS Kenyatta: no row with Nigeria over drug trafficker

Woman gored at spain’s bull run

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BULL gored an Australian woman and left her seriously injured during the final bull run of this year’s annual San Fermin festival in Spain yesterday. Four other runners were hospitalized

Malian troops open France’s Bastille Day Parade

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ROOPS from 13 African countries that took part in the French-led war against alQaida-linked extremists in Mali marched with the French military during the Bastille Day parade in Paris on Sunday to honour their role in the conflict.

U.N. troops in blue berets who are helping to stabilize the west African nation of Mali also paraded with thousands of other soldiers down the Champs-Elysees Avenue in France’s annual tribute to military might. It marks the storming of the Bastille prison July 14, 1789, by angry Paris crowds that helped spark the French Revolution.

with cuts and bruises.

The 23-year-old woman, identified only as J.E., was gored in the back and suffered multiple rib fractures and damage to her right lung that left her in “very grave” condition after an operation at Navarra Hospital, said the regional government that organizes the festival.

The Australian was struck by a massive Miura bull as she clung to wooden barriers outside the bullring entrance, said regional health authority spokesman

Javier Sesma.

It is very rare for women to be gored during the annual festival since most of the runners are men. Javier Solano, a San Fermin expert working for national broadcaster TVE, said records showed only two other women had been injured by gorings in the recent history of the fiesta.

The four injured runners who were tossed by bulls or fell as they ran were identified as a 39-year-old man from California, a 23year-old man from Madrid

and two men from Navarra, said the regional government organizers. None of those injuries were serious.

Dramatic confrontations between runners and bulls had occurred during the previous two days of the festival.

A 19-year-old Spaniard who had stopped breathing after being crushed by large pileup of fallen runners on Saturday has recovered consciousness and begun to breathe without mechanical assistance, Sesma said Sunday.

Egypt: Defense minister defends ousting Morsi

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N his first remarks since Mohammed Morsi’s ouster, Egypt’s military chief said yesterday the armed forces acted according to the will of the people because the former Islamist government had stumbled.

Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi made his comments on the eve of another round of mass protests by Morsi’s Islamist supporters who have accused the military of staging a coup

and demanded the reinstatement of Egypt’s first democratically elected president.

Also Sunday, Egypt’s chief prosecutor froze the assets of Mohammed Badie, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, the group from which Morsi hails, and at least 13 other senior members of the Islamist group. The U.S. State Department’s No. 2 diplomat, William Burns, arrived in Cairo on Sunday, the first visit

•Morsi

by a high-level American official since Morsi’s ouster.

Burns was scheduled to meet with Egypt’s interim government officials as well as civil society and business leaders during his two-day visit. The State Department says Burns would underscore in his meetings U.S. support for the Egyptian people and a transition leading to an inclusive, democratically elected civilian government.

•Kenyatta

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ENYAN President Uhuru Kenyatta at the weekend denied any rift with Nigeria following the deportation of a suspected Nigerian drug trafficker.

Kenyatta left Nairobi yesterday for Abuja, to attend the Special Summit of the African Union on HIV/ AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

He was accompanied on the trip by Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Ambassador Amina Mohammed and her Health counterpart James Macharia among oth-

ers.

President Kenyatta is also expected to hold bilateral talks with his President Goodluck Jonathan.

The Head of State will also open the Kenyan Chancery and the residence of the High Commissioner in Abuja, according to a statement from the Presidential Strategic Communication Unit (PSCU).

During a meeting with Kenyan Editors on Friday, Kenyatta denied reports of frosty relations with Nigeria following the deportation of notorious drug traffickers including Antony Chinedu.

“We have no problem at all with Nigerians,” the president said “in any case they are very good people and we encourage them to come here and invest.”

Iraqi: Bomb attack kills 38

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T least 38 people have been killed in a bomb attack in a cafe in Iraq’s northern city of Kirkuk, officials say.

The blast happened shortly after 22:00 local time (19:00 GMT). More than 26 people were wounded.

Cafe customers were reportedly marking the end of the day’s fast for Ramadan.

It comes after more than 40 people died in a series of bombings and shootings across the country, including in Kirkuk, on Thursday.

Many of those targeted were members of the security forces.

In one of the attacks, 11 people were killed as mourners gathering for a funeral were hit in Muqdadiyah, north-east of Baghdad.

South Sudan celebrate second year anniversary

T •A paratrooper lands in front of the presidential stands during the Bastille Day parade at PHOTO: AFP the Place de la Concorde in Paris ... at the weekend.

HE South Sudan Wednesday celebrated it’s second year independence anniversary with pump and pageantry last Wednesday with the hope that a final solution would be arrived at on the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) with North Sudan.

South Sudan’s ambassador

Espionage: Perspectives on the Snowden Spy Saga

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SPIONAGE, just as harlotry has been with humanity ever since biblical days. Ever since Joshua sent his two trusted assistants (now the frenzied, crazy Nigerian political kaleidoscope will probably and vainly label them as SSAs, SPAs or PAs to whoever, given the nature of our puerile pursuit of nonsensical titular glorifications.)

Anyway, the spying of Joshua’s two disciples over the hill lands of Jericho, their hidden on the roof of a certain God-sent woman, culminated in the decisive victory for the Israelites and the falling of the famous wall of Jericho after the demise of Moses.

As we write, somewhere inside Moscow’s expansive International Airport, probably in a VIP chalet, maybe in a toilet sits American or shall we say former American Intelligence Analyst, Edward Snowden, stripped of his American c citizenship and his American international passport invalidated, Russia is claiming he has yet to submit a formal request

for asylum which is intricately complicated because what he now has as a travelling document, an International passport is not recognized by the state of Ecuador, his primary choice for asylum.

United States of America’s President Barak Obama is beefing and fretting with thye whole world; most especially China and Russia’s President Vladimar “Spooky”’ Putin for not helping a brother out in extraditing a now renegade Snowden back to U.S. Throw in , into this volatile mix a new revelation yesterday by the The Guardian Newspaper of London that Snowden has in his possession tons of embarrassing information about YankeeLand and its Government and then you start to understand this treacherous game of nations spying against nations.

Wiki leak founder has spilled so much embarrassing beans against America. The dust has not yet settled and the diplomatic fall out is still reverberating understandably around and within in-

ternational capitals.

The conduct and misconduct of international behaviours among nationstates have been so much documented; awashed with what we now see as outcome measures of convenience as if we are back in the Freudian psychoanalytical world.

From the moribund League of Nations to its rejuvenated United Nations, the exigencies of international politics demand a game-playing framework that demands the survival of the fittest and this insatiable quest for the superlative advantage of one over the other.

The end of the cold war was a concatenation of absolute realities which dictate that a zero-sum game is not in any body’s interest. There came forth the Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) doctrine as an instrumentality of curtailing both super powers, unnecessarily wasteful, unproductive and unbridled pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.

The Snowden spy saga will not change anything in the way nations relate with each others it might caution their

approaches in mostly these cloak and dagger affairs.

What is at stake necessarily dictate the feelings and understandings of where the other nation stands vis-a-vis the other’s national interest imperatives.

China is still complaining about a whole range of cybernetic attacks on her networks by America and the list is endless.

President Obama can fret and shrill all he can about Snowdengate, but he knows he needs to keep his house in order because the world is a global village and matters of state hatched in the cloak room will always come out in the open. It’s all a matter of time.

Royal Baby Watch: Britain’s royal baby watch was at the peak as we speak.

Catherine Middleton, The Duchess of Cambridge is expected to deliver her first son and another lineage to the Monarchy on July 13th by all medical calculations at a private hospital in London.

Kate’s hubby and expectant dad Prince Williams was seen

•Expects final solution on peace agreement From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

to Nigeria, Parmena Makuet M. Riak who spoke in Abuja on the occasion of the celebration said, “ Abyei is not a forgotten cause because, we will remain actively seized of the matter until a final resolution is

found.

“We are aware that the United Nations Security Council has authorized the deployment of the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) in order to ensure resettlement of the people of Abyei back in their homes.

Global Focus DAYO FAKUADE, Foreign Editor sms 08134230367

daborgu@gmail.com playing at a charity polo game in London yesterday, very much relaxed and competitive as usual.

Mandela Watch: Over the weekend former President Nelson Mandela is still well and stable. This much from wife Gaca Machel who denounced all notions of his being medically and forcefully sustained. In the meantime, President Zuma is urging South Africans to volunteer and brace for the Father of The Nation’s 95th birthday which hopefully will be nationally celebrated, this Thursday.

Teresa Heinz Kerry: Our prayers go to Teresa, wife of U.S. Secretary of State Senator John Kerry. The 74year-old Heinz Kerry was hospitalized on Sunday after exhibiting symptoms that family members described as consistent with some type of seizure.

Her doctors have ruled out several serious conditions

such as a brain tumor, stroke or heart attack as possible causes.

Heinz Kerry, an heir to the Heinz ketchup billionairess fortune, is the widow of former U.S. Sen. John Heinz, who was killed along with six others in 1991 when a helicopter collided with a plane over a schoolyard in Merion, Pennsylvania. She married Kerry, a longtime senator from Massachusetts, in 1995.

In 2009, Heinz Kerry was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent lumpectomies on both breasts.

Finally, we received several feedback on our article on Sudan-South Sudan and we thank you all for the pros and the cons. We especially thank a gentleman Mr. Ogedengbe, he did not specify where he wrote from but his perspectives were instructively deep. Please keep them coming. The globe is ours and we shall all remain focused on its collective survival. See you next week.

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

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THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

REJOINDER BY ALHAJI HAMMED OMIDIRAN TO PRINCE DITI OYEKANMI’S NEWS REPORT PUBLISHED ON PAGE 11 OF “DAILY SUN” NEWSPAPER ON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2013 TITLED “ALLEGED ABUSE OF POWER: NJC PROBES OSUN JUDGE”.

T

O correct the adverse insinuations capable of being generated by the News Report particularly against Osun State Judiciary widely regarded as a pride to the Country’s Judiciary, Alhaji H. A. Omidiran who was pinpointed in the News Report deemed it most expedient to put the facts on which the Report was based across to public domain to enable right thinking members of the public aware of the situation and make objective assessment of Diti Oyekanmi’s report, a lawyer who prides himself with OVER 50 YEARS LEGAL PRACTICE, and Osun State Judiciary which he attempted to paint black in the News Report.

And it will not be out of place in the circumstance to call upon the Judiciary to thoroughly investigate Diti Oyekanmi’s Report whether justifiable or otherwise for redress.

1.

PRINCE DITI OYEKANMI This is a lawyer who prides himself with OVER 50 YEARS LEGAL PRACTICE, a member of Matanmi Royal Family, Osogbo, but based in Ibadan and who never attended Court on over 25 adjournments for the cases he said he was, acting for his family. He filed no process in those cases except for one defective Counter - Affidavit which he filed against the Matanmi Royal Family’s Irrevocable - Decision he filed on suit No. HOS/153/2011, the steps he took, “on his own frolic” without the consent or authority of the family. The Counter – Affidavit was defective and unreliable on a number of issues that would not justify the processes filed in a case by a lawyer with OVER 50 YEARS LEGAL PRACTICE. (i) In this misleading Counter - Affidavit, he referred to a case with 4 Claimants of which he was the 4th Claimant, whereas suit No. HOS/153/2011 is of 3 Claimants in which he was made the 3rd. (ii) He referred to one PRINCE GBADAMOSI BABADE OLADUNNI, who died before the institution of suit’ No. HOS/153/2011, as 1st Claimant, whereas the 1st Claimant in Suit No. HOS/153/2011 is PRINCE ASHIRU OYEWOLE. (iii) It is worse that he neglected or (did not know) to ‘file Written Address with the Counter - Affidavit as required

by Osun State Amended (Civil Procedure) Rules, which made this process faulty.

He contested for the vacant Ataoja of Osogbo stool in 1976 but lost the contest to late Ataoja Iyiola Oyewale Matanmi III who reigned from 1976 to 2010.

And according to Matanmi Royal Family sources, he had since his lose on Ataoja stool as far back as 1976, he had disconnected himself from Matanmi Royal Family affairs, both domestically as well as Royally.

It is strange where Diti Oyekanmi discovered his own 65 Acres of Matanmi Family land bone of his contentions when the two cases HOS/57/2011 as well as HOS/153/2011 are counter - claim and claims on 71/2 Acres and 32.579 Acres which belong to Alhaji H.A. Omidiran and his Omidiran Enterprises (Nig.) Limited backed by Land Transfer Agreement dated 5 th November, 2008 and 32.579 Acres by Deed of Conveyance dated 19/2/1976 Registered as No. 39 Page 39 in Volume 1887 conveyed to him by Osarayi Family of Ojege’s Cornpound, Osogbo.

This fact thereby exhibits Diti Oyekanmi’s complete ignorance of the situation but dabbled into to cause confusion.

A senior lawyer of OVER 50 YEARS LEGAL PRACTICE behind him ought to know that if he is dissatisfied with the judgment of court, he had ample chance to appeal against the judgment instead of writing fictitious petitions and shouting wolf where there is none on a claim which he could not substantiate in a futile attempt to dent a third party’s image or reputation such as Osun State Judiciary.

And according to family sources this so called Prince in exhibiting his hatred to the family even refused to sympathize with the family at the demise of Ataoja Iyiola Oyewale Matanmi III and never took any part in the Ataoja’s funeral rites.

And according to family sources also he was not on speaking terms either with the late Ataoja when alive or with any prominent members of Matanmi Royal Family. It is therefore strange that he suddenly woke up late in the day to defend Matanmi Royal Family in any matter when the family never mandated him so to do in these circumstances.

2.

REMI ATOYEBI He is based in Lagos though is said to be a legal practitioner, a member of Matanmi Royal Famiiy,Osogbo.

He had never identified himself with the family affairs, according to the family’s sources until the demise of late Ataoja Iyiola Oyewale Matanmi III in 2010 when he emerged, conveyed a fake Matanmi Family Meeting in which he vowed to recover Matanmi Royal Family landed properties already legally disposed of by his ancestors, apparently for his own benefit.

And family sources revealed that he floated a fake Matanmi Family Estate Limited with Land Sale Forms directing prospective purchasers of his adventure, to pay proceeds of sale to his Remi Atoyebi & Co. account at Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc. This lawyer made Radio announcement advertising landed properties for sale. He trespassed on those properties and planted signposts on which he inscribed “LAND FOR SALE AT MATANMI ROYAL ESTATE Contact: 08024669833 & 08034097992’’ conspicuously on several portions there.

He engaged an apparently innocent Surveyor from Ile-Ife to those sites and on Remi Atoyebi’s instructions moulded thousands of concrete survey beacons which he heaped thereon, and disturbed those who legally acquired those areas from developing same, until those owners eventually succeeded in chasing off the Surveyor.

It was this provocation that prompted Alhaji H. A. Omidiran to cause V. A. Akinyele Esq., his counsel, to report the criminal activities of the lawyer in relation to these properties to Osun State Commissioner Of Police for redress.

And it was on Remi Atoyebi’s reply to the allegations that he laid claim to Alhaji H.A Omidiran’s legally acquired parcels of land and maliciously defamed Alhaji H. A. Omidiran.

The defamatory statements Remi Atoyebi published to Commissioner of Police in his reply gave rise to action for damages for defamation being taken against him in Suit No. HOS/57/2011.

Remi Atoyebi filed Statement of Defence to the action and therein counter claimed for the same Alhaji H. A. Omidiran’s parcels of land.

And as the case was pending, he instituted suit No. HOS/153/2011 claiming the same parcels of land for which he counter claimed in suit No. HOS/57/2011. It was at this stage that Diti Oyekanmi emerged out of the blue.

3.

ALHAJI H. A. OMIDlRAN Alhaji H. A. Omidiran who is now object of castigation by Prince Diti Oyekanmi and Remi Atoyebi happened to be one of the closest confidants of late Ataoja Iyiola Oyewale Matanmi III and his wives and children both in late Ataoja Iyiola Oyewale Matanmi III lifetime and after late Ataoja Iyiola Oyewale Matanmi III death.

It is ‘pertinent here to mention that neither Alhaji Hammed A. Omidiran nor his Omidiran Enterprises (Nig.) Limited purchased / given any parcel of land directly from Matanmi Royal Family, But some unscrupulous members of Matanmi Royal Family invaded / trespassed upon Omidiran Enterprises (Nig.) Limited 26.15 Acres of land covered by Deed of Conveyance dated 17th March, 1977 Registered as No. 32 at Page 32 in volume 2065 of the Lands Registry, conveyed by Oluawo Oba Royal Family, Osogbo.

It was this said land on which members of Matanmi Royal Family illegally disposed of about 20 Acres.

It was on this trespass that Alhaji H. A. Omidiran briefed Lateef O. Fagbemi SAN for redress against the trespassers. Lateef O. Fagbemi SAN took up the matter and dispatched letter dated 4th July, 2007 to the then head of Matanmi Royal Family, Abidoye Babatunde and 3 others.

Late Ataoja Iyiola Oyewale Matanmi III then intervened and prevailed on Alhaji H. A. Omidiran to sheath the sword on which Alhaji Omidiran was given a parcel of land of 7½ Acres in replacement for what the Matanmi members illegally appropriated. Alhaji H. A. Omidiran reluctantly agreed to the proposal and never demanded the remaining area of 13 Acres, which they have sold.

It was on this understanding that the Land Transfer Agreement of 7½ Acres dated 5th November, 2008 was executed.

After the demise of late Ataoja Iyiola Oyewale Matanmi III, the Land Transfer Agreement dated 5th November, 2008 was later revoked by Matanmi Royal Family’s letter dated 19th December, 2010 on the advice of Remi Atoyebi who made himself Legal Adviser to the family.

Upon ‘receipt the letter of revocation of Matanmi Royal Family by Alhaji H. A. Omidiran, he briefed his counsel, V. A. Akinyele Esq., to write a letter of protest against the said letter of revocation, and V. A. Akinyele Esq., on behalf of Alhaji H. A. Omidiran dispatched a letter of protest to Matanmi Family members dated 22nd December, 2010.

Upon receipt the letter of protest dated 22nd December, 2010 by Alhaji H. A. Omidiran’s counsel, V.A. Akinyele Esq., the revocation was later withdrawn by Matanmi Royal Family’s letter of withdrawal dated 9th January, 201l.

1. The genesis of the episode was some parcels of land which Alhaji H. A. Omidiran acquired several decades ago duly backed by legal documents executed thereon which one Reml Atoyebi who claimed to be a lawyer and member of Matanmi Royal Family, Osogbo at first laid siege upon and later joined by Diti Oyekanmi WITHOUT THE CONSENT AND AUTHORITY of Matanmi family now headed by PRINCE ASHIRU OYEWOLE. 2. The parcels of land are: (a) 32.579 Acres duly conveyed to Alhaji Hammed A. Omidiran by Deed of Conveyance dated 19/2/1976 Registered as No. 39 Page 39 in Volume 1887. (b) 71/2 Acres of land which Matanmi Family transferred to Omidiran Enterprises (Nig.) Limited backed by legal document dated 5th November, 2008 in replacement for Omidiran Enterprises Nig.) Limited parcel of land and which the family members trespassed and wrongfully disposed which replacement was facilitated by the then Ataoja Iyiola Oyewale Matanmi III, who was from Matanmi Family, and induced Alhaji Omidiran to shelve legal action against the trespassers Matanmi Family members.

3. Alhaji H. A. Omidiran had been uninterrupted possession of these parcels of land and exercised absolute acts of possession thereon, for decades until one Remi Atoyebi, who claimed he is a lawyer from Matanmi Family laid siege on these properties claiming Matanmi Family’s ownership over them WITHOUT MATANMI FAMILY AUTHORITY or NOTICE. And in laying the siege over the parcels of land, he planted several sign posts over them; disturbed those Alhaji H. A. Omidiran had placed on portions thereon and destroyed survey demarcations beacons e.t.c.

Alhaji Omidiran called the attention of Matanmi Family head by Prince Ashiru Oyewole to these wrongful acts, but he claimed ignorance of the wrongful acts which lacked his family’s consent and authority. , 4. It was in the wake of these provocations that Alhaji Omidiran caused his solicitor to report Remi Atoyebi’s criminal acts on his landed properties to Osun State Commissioner of Police for redress, V.A. Akinyele Esq., his solicitor reported the wrongful acts in 2 petitions to Osun State Commissioner of Police dated 9/5/2011 and 28/ 5/2011 and were duly delivered to the officer, and they were subsequently arrested.

5. Remi Atoyebi’s reaction to the petitions on which the Commissioner of Police acted was a receipt of Remi Atoyebi’s reply dated 1st June, 2011 to the petitions to the Commissioner of Police which Remi Atoyebi himself also endorsed to Alhaji H. A. Omidiran’s solicitor. And on receipt of Remi Atoyebi’s reply, Alhaji H. A. Omidiran and his counsel discovered that the reply was a bundle of defamation against Alhaji H. A. Omidiran to which he instructed his counsel to react.

6.

Alhaji H. A. Omidiran’s counsel, on his instructions thereafter instituted action in Suit No. HOS/

57/2011 at Osogbo High Court against Remi Atoyebi claiming damages for the defamation on 27th June, 2011.

It was in the Statement of Defence of Remi Atoyebi to this claim for defamation filed on 27th October, 2011 that he COUNTER - CLAIMED for Matanmi Family ownership of Alhaji H. A. Omidiran’s parcels of land, on which he trespassed upon without the knowledge, consent or authority of the family or Prince Ashiru Oyewole, the family head.

As Suit No. HOS/57 /2011 was pending in Court, Remi Atoyebi falsely used Matanmi Family as cover to institute Suit No. HOS/153/2011 on 8 th December, 2011; PRINCE ASHIRU OYEWOLE & 2 others Vs. MR. BELLO ADEYEMI & 7 others, at Osogbo High Court, claiming ownership of Alhaji H. A. Omidiran’s landed properties, which obviously was his Counter - Claim in Suit No. HOS/ 57/ 2011.

For the simple fact that the Counter - Claim of Remi Atoyebi in Suit No. HOS/57/2011 and his claim in Suit No. HOS/153/2011 had common cause of action in the claims for ownership of different parcels of land between Alhaji H. A. Omidiran on one hand and Matanmi Family on the other, and in order to .save time and expenses prayer was made to Court for consolidation of the 2 Cases in Alhaji H. A. Omidiran’s counsel’s application to the Court.

After Counsel’s addresses, the 2 cases were therefore ordered to be consolidated. As the next Hearing Notice for the case was still expected, surprisingly, the Hearing Notice fixing next hearing at Iwo High Court before Vacation Judge was sent to the Counsel on which the case was later returned to its Court at Osogbo Court 5.

When members of Matanmi Family realized of the unauthorized actions of Remi Atoyebi and Diti Oyekanmi· who suddenly emerged out of the blue in constituting the clog in the cordial relation between Matanmi Family and Alhaji H. A. Omidiran, they called meeting and made IRREVOCABLE DECISION of the family that the different parcels of land on which Remi Atoyebi and Diti Oyekanmi were alleged to be fighting over are bona fide properties of Alhaji H.A. Omidiran.

This decision of the family was stated in document dated 28th May, 2012.

Realizing the ground had been shaking beneath, Remi Atoyebi applied to Court by NOTICE OF DISCONTINUE with the Suit No. HOS/153/2011 as the cause of conflict had been amicably settled.

Alhaji H. A. Omidiran’s counsel then filed a Rejoinder to the Notice praying Court make the family’s Irrevocable Decision the reasons for the notice to discontinue with the suit.

It was at this stage that Diti Oyekanmi emerged out of the blue by sworn and filed Counter - Affidavit against the family’s Irrevocable Decision already filed with the processes.

But the Counter - Affidavit exposed his complete ignorance of the cases or the stage reached on it by claimed 65 Acres instead of 71/2 Acres and 32.579 Acres of land in dispute.

He-based his Counter - Affidavit he referred to on a fictitious case which he misrepresented as Suit No. HOS/153/ 2011. He made himself 4th Claimant in the fictitious case when there were only 3 Claimants in case No. HOS/ 153/2011. He made one PRINCE GBADAMOSI BABADE OLADUNNI, who died before the institution of suit No. HOS/153/2011, the 1st Plaintiff in his case, but no one goes by that name in Suit No. HOS/153/2011. To add to his confusion, he missed filing Writing Address with his Counter - Affidavit against the rules of Court.

These points and several others showed Diti Oyekanmi’s complete ignorance of the situation. He only jumped in to cause confusion.

It is pertinent that he never attended Court throughout the hearing and never filed any statement on the Matanmi’s Claim which he claimed he represented.

Alhaji H. A. Omidiran’s claims in suit No. HOS/57/2011 against Remi Atoyebi is still pending at Osogbo High Court No.2.

Prince Ashiru Oyewole, MatanmiFamily head and the entire family had denounced Remi Atoyebi and Diti Oyekanmi’s role in this matter for lack of their authority or consent in their family meeting held on 5/5/2013.

Matanmi Royal Family also sworn to Counter - Affidavit against Prince Diti Oyekami’s claim against the family’s Irrevocable Decision duly signed by prominent members of the family dated 11th October, 2012.

Matanmi Royal Family also recently sworn to an Affidavit dated 13th May, 2013 denouncing Diti Oyekanmi and Remi Atoyebi’s actions as regards to suit No. HOS/153/2011.

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE OSUN STATE OF NIGERIA IN THE OSOGBO JUDICIAL DIVISION HOLDEN AT OSOGBO. AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON THE 5TH DAY OF MAY, 2013 TO DENOUCE ALL THE ACTIONS OF BARRISTER DITI OYEKANMI. I, PRINCE ASHIRU OYEWOLE, Nigerian, Male, Muslim, the head of Matanml Royal Family, of Matanml’s Compound, Osogbo, Osun State of Nigeria hereby make oath and say as follows:1. That I am the most senior and eldest member of Matanmi Royal Family, Osogbo.

2. That after a well attended meeting of 5th day May, 2013, all the members of Matanmi Royal family conferred on me authority and consent to depose to this affidavit.

3. That Barrister Remi Atoyebl did not seek my consent and authority before the case No. HOS/ 153/2011 was instituted in court in my name.

4. That the entire members of Matanmi royal Family dissociate themselves from the action of Barrister Diti Oyekanmi and strongly condemn and denounced his action concerning the Irrevocable Decision of 28th May, 2012· that was unanimously agreed upon by aII the members of Matanmi Royal Family.

5. That any decision that Barristers Remi Atoyebi and Diti Oyekanmi may have taken before now or in future is not authorized by the members of Matanmi Royal Family.

6. That all members of Matanmi Royal Family who are below 40 years old do not know Barrister Diti Oyekanmi in person.

7. That all entire members of Matanmi Royal Family still have strong belief in the Irrevocable Decision reached as a result of the 28th May, 2012 meeting.

8. That Barrister Diti Oyekanmi decided not to have anything in common with the entire members of Matanmi Royal Family, since 1976 when he contested the vacant stool of Ataoja of Osogbo with Late Kabiyesi Aransi Iyiola Oyewale Matanmi III in which he failed woefully.

9. That eventually, Barrister Diti Oyekanmi was not chosen as the next Kabiyesi of Osogbo, but rather all the members of Matanmi Royal Family and the Kingmakers gave unflinching support to Late Kabiyesi Aransi Oyewale Matanmi III. 10. That ever since Barrister Diti Oyekanmi failed in his bid to become the Ataoja of Osogbo in 1976, he has deserted the members of Matanmi Royal Family.

11. That a vote of confidence has been unanimously passed in me (Prince Ashiru Oyewole) as the Head of the Family, by all the members of Matanmi Royal House.

12. That more than 90% of all members of Matanmi Royal Family who attended the meeting upon which the Irrevocable Decision of 28th May, 2012 was reached were well educated.

13. That the Irrevocable Decision of 28/5/2012 was not forced on any members of the Mutanmi Royal House that attended the said meeting.

14. That it is highly reprehensible of Barrister Diti Oyekanmi for calling his kinsmen who embraced genuine reconciliation by signing the Irrevocable Decision dated 28/5/2012 as illiterates and semi-illiterates.

15. That I swear this affidavit in good faith believing same to be true and in accordance with Oaths laws of Osun State.

THE NATION MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

63

SPORT EXTRA

•Keshi

S

Keshi advises Mikel on transfer

UPER Eagles’ Head Coach Stephen Keshi has advised Mikel Obi to consider making a move to another club if that would guarantee him a regular playing time.

The big boss said that it would amount to nothing for the mercurial midfielder to be

From Patrick Ngwaogu, Abuja in Chelsea without commanding a regular shirt “If I’m to advise him now, I will tell him to look elsewhere if he is not going to have the attention of the new coach.

Mikel is a good player that

many clubs would be desperate to have. There is no need for him to be in Chelsea without commanding a regular shirt.”

Since the return of Mourinho to Chelsea at the close of last season, he has not hidden his intention to see Mikel out of the team.

WHO SAID WHAT

MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

‘Undermining democracy has become a central plank in the party’s manifesto. What happened in the Rivers House is one more reminder. PDP leaders hold democracy in contempt and will trample it, if given the opportunity’ ASIWAJU BOLA TINUBU

VOL 8 NO 2,547

C OMMENT & D EB ATE EBA

T

HE recent news of uproar in the creeks of Delta State reminds me of my days in secondary school. I often looked forward to my holidays with my grandmother in my village in the Niger Delta. I preferred it to Lagos. We had no light, no cars, no pipe-borne water, no paved roads. I thrived on the predictable staple of eba and starch and yam. Lagos offered the glitzy contrast. I bustled with what Americans call jungle fever. My only trepidation as a teenage boy was the prospect of wild beasts, especially snakes. Against them, I had no skill.

But I loved the enchantment of the terrain: the arboreal beauty of the forest, the limpid glow of the rivers and the mysterious destiny of streams. They deleted any phobia. In vain, I craved the naïve facility of the country bumpkin. But I shivered with the joy of what South African novelist Peter Abraham called a dumb townie, a city boy out of sync with the primitive sweetness and sensuous peace of the village.

The city like Lagos where my parents domiciled belonged to the wild impulses of civilisation: armed robbers, political corruption, teenage delinquency, the pull of filthy lucre. In the village, wild meant simple: honesty, unadorned clothing, innocence of lucre. The other wild of the village belonged to the animals that imposed a rhythm of noise and silence to the forests, the pops and serenities of streams, the stir and stillness of the foliage.

When I taught journalism in the United States, critics of editors often cited a naivety among newspapers that stereotyped rural residents as innocents and the city dwellers as the poison tree of modernity. The rumble of Delta State between the Itsekiri and Ijaw spilled blood on the quiet streams and statuesque beauty of the forests in the region at the time. I cited the far-flung example to my students to show the other side of prejudice.

Innocence does not always drape the simple.

That thought came to me when the news broke of the fight between the two ethnic groups around the Warri North Local Government in Delta State. I must state, as it is obvious from my name, that I am an Itsekiri man, and if that betrays any bias, I take responsibility. But I will state my point as my conscience propels me.

The reports show that a group known as Egbema Radical Group had been jockeying for some elective positions in the local government, and that matter brewed even as advertisement in newspapers. In the midst of this, some radicals first launched an attack on the house of an Ijaw man. The culprits did not secure the attention they desired. They

SAM OMATSEYE

IN TOUCH

intouchsam@yahoo.com 08054501081(sms only) •NMMA Columnist of the Year

Feeding the monster

•Uduaghan stepped up the ante, and attacked Itsekiri villages. This gave the incident the flavour of inter-ethnic feud. Newspaper reports also fed this motif, and all over the region and the country, men and women in high and low places worried. They saw the return of the incubus of the old conflict. The mermaid of blood and death had risen out of the waters.

This writer imbibed that impression until I probed. It became clear from some more critical reporting like the one from our Southsouth regional editor, Shola O’Neil, and conversations with some insiders. It became clear that this was conflict as intimidation.

Some boys who had been left out of the am-

RIPPLES I’LL BE SATISFIED IF NO NIGERIAN IS HUNGRY– Jonathan

...This looks like another POLITICAL STATEMENT

nesty largesse had fought back with a vengeance. These young men wanted to take advantage of the flimsy agitations of the Egbema Radical Group’s call for representation by stoking up a conflict. The ERG wanted to feed off that tragedy to advance its positions.

Shola O’Neil’s report showed how brutal the killings defaced the villages that had enjoyed peace for close to a decade when the crisis ended. Whole families were wiped out, and ironically the Itsekiri were not the only victims. Some Ijaw also fell. Bullets spill blood but recognise no kin.

The perpetrators attacked for intimidation.

They wanted to railroad the state government and the Federal Government for attention.

Hence Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan warned that he would not concede to them and would not act under duress. He noted that the positions the ERG wanted were elective positions and if an Itsekiri won, it was not his doing. The Governor noted he was an Itsekiri man and he understood the sensitivity of the issue. Sources say the boys want to have their own opportunity to bunker oil.

They are learning from the futility of the amnesty programme, and they are trying to take advantage of a subdued tension between the two ethnic groups. They betray envy of the big boys fattening on contracts from the president.

The perpetrators want to follow an old script: levitate selfish and parochial interest by exploiting familiar grudges. This is dangerous, and Governor Uduaghan understands this and he has shown why caving in would amount to feeding a monster. The irony is not lost for most of the beneficiaries of the amnesty programme are Ijaw. We have seen

HARDBALL

A

S if to pre-empt public angst over the trip, presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati released an elaborate explanation as to why President Goodluck Jonathan’s shuttle to China was not a junket.

Bilateral trade between the two countries has grown exponentially, they say; China is granting Nigeria a $500 million loan to build four airport terminals and that the men of the orient are involved in building key infrastructural projects in Nigeria in the last few years. Indeed, Nigeria is said to account for one third of the trade between China and the West Africa sub-region.

But laudable as all this may be, it is still difficult to see how it explains the virtual moving of Nigeria’s Federal Executive Council, about half a dozen state governors and a coterie of Nigeria’s mealy-mouthed businessmen to China. By Hardball’s rough estimate, there must be no fewer than a hundred people on that trip lasting about five days.

One empirical evidence Hardball relies upon was the airport scene as relayed on television. The arrival of the Nigerian contingent at the airport provoked such bedlam that even the super-efficient Chinese almost could not manage. Apart from the days they hosted the Olympic Games it is unlikely that they had witnessed such large entourage from a single country.

Certainly not from a presidential visit;

If this is not a jamboree… plucky presidents, not to talk of thrifty ones would never haul such a crowd across the world, over several oceans in search of what?

One cannot find another example of any president who would contemplate such awkward, derisive, inelegant, unexampled, and outright uneconomical shuttle. If it was not revelry, why would a presidential team go through the trouble of such logistical trauma carrying so many people who had no business on a trip? If only to maintain presidential dignity, more than half of the crowd could have stayed home and if indeed we were on to a serious business, the president and about half a dozen other people would have been sufficient.

Dr. Abati and other government commentators were clever by half in telling Nigerians the benefits of the trip without letting us into the costs. Nigerians deserve to know how many people exactly are on the president’s entourage, how many are on full estacode, what does it all come to? If the trip was of such rich economic benefit as stated, then officials ought to be quick in letting us into the little cost of achieving such gains.

how the Jonathan administration has lifted these former brigands to be caretakers of our patrimony. Now, he should see that the same ethnic group is insatiable. It is a parable of the failure of the amnesty programme. It is the President’s action that made a group to call for an Ijaw region to cover other ethnic groups like Urhobo, Itsekiri, Isoko, etc. This is because, increasingly, Jonathan cannot distinguish his role as an Ijaw man and his position as President of Nigeria.

He has not addressed why the problem of violence persists. Bayelsa State has witnessed bursts of violence and Governor Seriake Dickson, his son governor, has been weeping impotently in public over the menace.

The same groups are terrorising Rivers State to the extent of lobbing teargas into the Government House.

We all know the bloodletting that the Itsekiri-Ijaw conflict wrought in the region.

It changed the landscape, wiped out the ambition of some of the youths for a generation, decimated families, destroyed businesses, and the state, in spite of the long spell of peace, still bears scars of that sanguinary era. Governor Uduaghan ensured peace in the state even before the so-called amnesty.

In his new book Transatlantic, Irish author Colum McCann noted that peace is harder than war. Those who want to rekindle the inter-ethnic war are obsessed with “half-remembered fragments of some enormous receding and impossible dream,” apologies to Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. But the Federal Government owes it a task to the country to address the source of the problem. We must replace greed with work and opportunities. We cannot continue to feed the monster, or the Niger Delta will default to its old theatre of blood thirsty goons with flamboyant lifestyles.

Mimiko: Whitlow of west

N

EWSPAPER correspondents and labour leaders in Ondo State must love Governor Segun Mimiko very much, so much so that they would not report that the man they so gleefully serenaded in the last election has been owing salaries of the civil servants and local government workers for months. Where is the people’s money? In the five fingers that represent five state governors, Mimiko has earned his place as the whitlow of the west. He cannot say his master Jonathan is not paying him allocations, because good lackeys and lapdogs deserve sweet bones. The Iroko should not fatten at the expense of those who give it nutrients.

•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above But Hardball insists it’s a junket until proven otherwise. It is only in this side of the world that government officials, especially people in power like presidents, governors and even ministers go abroad deigning to seek foreign investors. It must be a peculiarly Nigerian joke this idea of flying off abroad to seek businesses. Even though Nigerians have long come to the realisation that it is all a ruse, yet our leaders won’t stop. It is trite that real investors will always find their own locales and outlets. If investors as we know them are still businessmen looking for a conducive environment to make profit, you don’t go looking for them, they look for you.

How could President Goodluck Jonathan pretend to go seek Chinese investors when those in the country are wounding down and relocating elsewhere; when was the last time this government engaged the local investors meaningfully? How come the PDP government has not been able to solve the power problem which is the first call for investment anywhere? Corruption is so rife and pervasive that no honest investor can do business here right now. No, it is a jamboree sir and Hardball is of the mind to declare that any Nigerian official who ever determines to go on this chase of foreign investors should be accosted at the ports of entry and put through a forensic search; we wager there is more to it than they tell us.

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