The Nation July 29, 2012

Boko Haram, others over-stretching military –Army Chief –PAGE 4

Seven million illegal arms in Nigeria

•Ihejirika

Patience Jonathan: First Lady as power house –PAGES 23-26

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

Vol.06, No. 2198

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

SUNDAY

JULY 29, 2012

N200.00

Table Tennis: Oshinaike, Edem crash out!

Team GB trash Cameroon 3-0 Serena, Federer in cruise control Senegal tackle Uruguay in London PAGES 70-71 Latest medal table

2015: North bids for power shift Moves to stop Jonathan’s second term 17 first term govs oppose single tenure

–PAGE 2

The Olympic Stadium, Stratford, London aglow from a fireworks display during the opening ceremony on Friday.

ONDO: AKEREDOLU, MIMIKO, OKE PICK PARTY TICKETS

–PAGE 2

Column

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

Death of a Black Star S NOOPER mourns with the Ghanaian people the death of their beloved president and friend of the progressive community in Nigeria, the impeccably mannered and refined gentleman, John Evans Atta Mills. We shall all miss this Black star and prince among men. A quiet avuncular figure, Mills was the classic exemplar of grace under severe health pressures. In his later years even as declining health threatened to cut short his earthly journey, President Mills bore his affliction with dignity and equanimity.

He was a gentleman in the real sense of the word, gentle but manly when it matters. He was nobody’s poodle. Yet the late former Law professor ruled Ghana with such urbane restraint and calm equanimity that put to shame the Equatorial distemper and volcanic irritability normally associated with African leadership.

He was sane, sober and civilised.

Under him, the political atmospherics in Ghana became so becalming and soothing to the spirit that the country became the preferred destination of several West Africans absconding from the post-colonial hell at home.

John Atta Mills was humble and self-effacing. As a man of solid achievements, he did not feel the need to push himself forward or push others around. He knew his own worth in gold. He was the first Ghanaian to be a Vice President and to make the transition to the presidency.

Kofi Busia was a Prime Minister. He had served with quiet distinction under the tempestuous and often manner challenged John Rawlings who often did his gruff best to provoke the mild and donnishly reserved Atta Mills.

The late president will be remembered for many things among which are his nation-building skills and exemplary patriotism. But he has also left a legacy as a notable

T

HERE often comes a period in the life of any society or nation when even its most critical intellects are incapable of making any sense out of what is going on. In such circumstances, there are two major options available to the critical analyst: either to throw up the arms in a gesture of terminal frustration, or to root for meta-fiction.

As the name implies, meta-fiction is fiction raised to the power of infinity, and up to a point where it becomes a replacement reality in its own right. In which case you don’t need to bother about whether you are actually watching a play or dreaming; or whether you are actually dead or part of the cast of a hilarious tragicomedy. We seem to have arrived at that juncture where fanciful reality meshes seamlessly with colourful fiction.

Last week, it was the feast of the goat. This week, it is the arrest and impending trial of cows. Things are getting quite Rabelaisian in the land , aren’t they? God bless Monsieur Francois Rabelais, the great sixteenth century French writer. He was the supreme master of rousing farce and bawdy humour that often tipped at the border of sheer coarseness and gross caricature. But as a well-trained medical doctor, Rabelais knew where it hurts.

He was not being hysterical for the sake of it. He was greatly appalled and disturbed by the grim social realities of his time . He was confounded by the savage existence of humanity. He was perturbed by the descent into bestial cruelty and the callous disregard for human life.

In short, he was aghast at man’s inhumanity to man. But the revolution was still a long way off. All the writer could do was to amuse himself by laughing at grief.

S

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nooping around With

Tatalo Alamu

•John Atta Mills

sportsman and his love of the game of hockey was unrivalled among his contemporaries. Hockey has been described as the quintessential sports of the gentleman, redolent of good breeding and public education encrusted in solid upper middle class credentials. This is perhaps the key to Mills’ urbane disposition and sportsmanlike conduct in politics.

It is not surprising that Ghana has made a seamless transition from President Mills to Acting President Mohama. Mohama is a worthy replacement, an astute politician and exemplary communicator. The ruling party has rallied behind him. He has already indicated that he would run for the presidency and heavens have not fallen. So far, there is no hint of ethnic, religious or regional

disequilibrium. The Black Star marches on.

In the end, you cannot give what you don’t have. Neither is it possible to do the same thing all over again and expect a different result. Those who hold that a solid and thriving middle class is the bedrock of democracy have a great point. Snooper suspects that in fact it is the middle class or “bourgeoisie” that underwrites and powers the nation-state paradigm. The triumph of this emergent class in Europe and its remarkable advent in America led to a consolidation of the nation-state paradigm and liberal democracy which is its greatest bye product.

Perhaps we can now speculate on the mystery behind Ghana’s recent triumphs in the democratic and na-

tion-building departments. It has a lot to do with a the existence of a durable and solid middle class. The old Gold Coast middle class dates back to the eighteenth century and had a lot to teach its emergent Nigerian counterpart in culture and politics.

“There is no old woman in Ghana”, as the old Yoruba saying goes.

Originating from the old Gold Coast before gradually embracing outlying reaches and the crust of modern Ghana, this middle class was never targeted for destruction by the military. Virtually all of Ghana’s military rulers and would-be putchists are from this middle class.

Whatever their revolutionary messianism, the Rawlings coupists were also disaffected members of the middle class who had the rank and file behind them.

It was to Rawlings, credit that while cleansing the entire Ghanaian society, he never targeted any particular group, religion or region for brutal inquisition. Even in a revolution, the old Gold Coast middle class still retained its flair and credo. Despite the huffing and puffing, Rawlings himself was a paradoxical product of the old middle class values of thrift and moderation.

It is therefore not surprising that it was eventually this middle class, once it has found its voice again, thanks to Rawlings economic reform, that will rise as one body to put an end to the political menace and nascent dictatorship of the old June 4, 1979 grandees. It is not as if Ghana is a political paradise, at least not yet.

The country is evenly split as shown

The trial of cows

Why twenty first century Nigeria resembles sixteenth century preRevolution France so much should be a subject for future sociologists of dysfunctional societies. The line between literature and life is completely blurred. Reality is indistinguishable from fiction. Each passing day, things get more and more outlandish. Sometimes it feels as if you are part of a great novel; a character in a moveable feast of human imagination at its insane summit.

Last Thursday morning as the newspaper review got underway, an item from one of the dailies caught snooper’s attention. It stated boldly that several cows had been arrested presumably for traffic offences or other more ominous infractions of the law. Yet without any sense of irony, the same newspapers on the same day were trumpeting the aborted arraignment of many members of the oil subsidy camarilla.

But the Attorney General was nowhere to be found and the trial was stalled. Nobody would blame the poor chap. There are cows and there are cows. It is not a good thing to be struck down by a cow that has been struck by the Mad Cow Disease.

Mohammed Adokie has not always shown extreme lucidity or clarity of mind, but it is not a good sign for the principal legal officer of the nation to be brought down in a law court by a mad cow. He is already afflicted by the Attorney General’s Disease Rabelais would be itching with his felt pen. As snooper lazed and rolled in bed ruminating about the farcical turn of events in the nation, it became clear to him that logic and rationality had become prime casualties of the social fiasco. Why would

anybody arrest a cow? snooper thought to himself aloud.

“You are a cow. It is because they are not sacred cows,” a furtive and lurking Baba Lekki sneered and then vanished into the shadows.. Snooper jumped up in bed, wondering how the crazy old crook managed to get into his room. From where he was, he could see that the door was safely locked and the bolt fastened. So, he must have been dreaming, he concluded.

As soon as one settled back on the bed, the mind drifted to momentous developments in the polity, the impeachment axe dangling over Jonathan’s head, the new continental confraternity of First Ladies and particularly the impending trial of oil subsidy racketeers. The list was a who is who among scions of the political and economic plutocracy that had held the nation to ransom.

Unless the ruling party has learnt the habits of discipline and self-purgation, there is no way this kind of trial could proceed without a major rupture. In this one again, Jonathan is playing for high stakes. Why would anyone want to try sacred cows? Snooper wondered to himself aloud again. Again, the loony old man made another dramatic re-entry.

“You are still a cow. Sacred cows can be tried because some cows have been arrested. Just as in civilised countries, men are killed not because horses are stolen but so that horses may not be stolen, in less civilised countries, cows are arraigned so that sacred cows may not be jailed,” Baba Lekki sniggered from the elusive margins and disappeared again.

Yet despite the clowning and oaf-

ish misconduct, there appears to be a logic to the old man’s arrant illogicality, a superior sense to his relentless assault on common sense that a cold shiver ran down the spine.

Snooper jumped out of bed and made for the exit door. The handshake had slipped beyond the elbow. This was no longer a dream. Nigeria is a nightmare from which one is trying to wake up.

Please recall that sometime ago, policemen arrested a goat which they believed was an armed robber they were pursuing. In a dark alley the suspect slipped the chase only for the police to come upon his bleating eminence which they summarily impounded. The goat was eventually detained pending the time common sense would persuade it to return to normal life.

When all entreaties fell on the goat’s deaf ears, it was eventually taken to court as an armed robbery suspect. It was quite a sight. The police, believing that it was a human in evil disguise, rained curses and frantic blows on the poor fellow in equal measure. One herbalist claimed that the goat was none other than Lasisi, a.k.a Sokoti, a notorious bandit and chicken rustler from Agbeni, Ibadan. Frightened out of his wits, the magistrate quickly adjourned. The next time “Lasisi” appeared in court, it was in a giant meat refrigerator appropriately tagged Goat Remains., Head but no Tail.

Snooper had crashed into the sitting room with a menacing scowl.

To one’s utmost consternation, Baba Lekki was actually there, wearing a fastidious professorial frown as he engaged Okon in satanic and sub-

in the last elections. But it is a radical rupture along ideological lines which is easier to overcome than tribal and religious divisions such as we are witnessing in Nigeria.

The good luck of Ghana is Nigeria’s bad luck. Unlike what obtained in Ghana where the military barons were all middle class products, successive military Caesars in Nigeria targeted the middle class which ought to have served as the binding glue for the society and catalyst for democratic progress. This anti-middle class fixation is a product of the worldview of the dominant military feudal complex and is their driving ideology. For the medieval military caste, the world consists of officers and men and for the feudalists the world consists of servants and masters. There is no middle ground or middle class for that matter. In any profession, the ruling ideas are the ideas of its ruling class.

Those who are lamenting the absence of genuine democracy in Nigeria must know where to direct their complaints. There can be no democracy without a genuine middle class. There will be no genuine middle class in Nigeria as long as the economy is powered by feudal predative extraction and as long as the old alliance of political and economic predators subsists. Until this old alliance with their various satraps and collaborators strewn all over the country is brought to heel either by force or democratic pressure, democracy will continue to be a cruel joke in the nation. May John Evans Atta Mills rest in peace. versive clowning.

“How did you know what I was thinking about?” Snooper demanded from the old crook without any sense of embarrassment.

“How would I imagine that you didn’t know that I know?

There is no privacy for a public fellow. As for the cows, forget about them. It is a no case matter.

There are no sacred cows because all cows are sacred,” the crazy old man submitted with another daring logical somersault. Before snooper could take in this Socratic acrobatic, the old contrarian pressed home his advantage.

“Cow is forbidden meat, you hear?

Na Nama Haram be dat one,” the old crook asserted. At this point, Okon jumped into the fray.

“Ha oga, dem cows be human people too. Dem no fit talk but dem dey hear. Dem sabi say na dem cow dey rule for obodo. Malu dey ride mumu. Gambari come finis Fulani, no case,”the mad boy submitted with a mocking grin.

At this point, Snooper felt he had had enough from this satanic pair.

He made a move to return to his room only to find his path forcefully blocked by Baba Lekki.

“Can I get back to the room, please?” Snooper screamed at the crazy old man.

“No, you cannot,” the old man growled.

“But why?”

“Because cowards are cows!” the old man thundered. At this point, snooper made a determined and overwrought attempt to clear his path. A huge hammer descended on his head at the same time. Yours sincerely awoke to a savage headache having hit his head against the head board of the bed. He had been having a nightmare about a nightmare.

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NUPENG calls off strike • Fed Govt agrees to pay subsidy within two weeks From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

HE strike called by the National Union of Petroleum and N atural Gas Workers (NUPENG) to protest Federal Government’s suspension of the payment of fuel subsidy claims to importers is over.

The strike which began on Thursday was called off at the weekend following a promise by the government to settle the subsidy within two weeks.

News of the government position and NUPENG’s decision to end the strike was broken via a joint communiqué by the Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Lawan Ngama; Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu; NUPENG President, Igwe Achese; Group Managing Director (GMD) of NNPC, Andrew Yakubu; Executive Secretary, PPPPRA, Reginald Stanley; and President, Jetties and Petroleum Tank Farm Owners Association of Nigeria (JEPTFON), Enoch Kanawa.

All the parties, according to the signatories to the communiqué, “agreed to follow up on all the issues agreed upon … and ensure their actualization. Based on this understanding, NUPENG agreed to suspend the on-going industrial action while JEPTFON shall open the Jetties and Depots owned by its members.”

NUPENG’s President Igwe Achese could not be reached by phone for comment.

It was gathered that the Federal Government, at the Thursday meeting, promised to issue Sovereign Debt Notes (SDN) for payment of verified 2012 Petroleum Subsidy Arrears within the next two weeks.

NUPENG expressed dissatisfaction over the state of the nation’s refineries, and sought to know whether their Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) would commence as scheduled.

NNPC, responding, said the TAM is already in progress and will soon be completed.

The Federal Government also agreed to address the problem of bad state of roads in and out of the refineries and the danger posed by such roads. The Port Harcourt Refinery road in particular will be given immediate attention.

The Assets Management Company of Nigeria is expected to consider NUPENG’s request for the restructuring of loans given to JEPTFON members into long term debts.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

News

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FRIGHTENING picture of the damage inflicted on Nigeria’s security by terrorists emerged yesterday after an Army General said the war on the Islamist sect, Boko Haram and similar groups, is over-stretching military resources.

Although, Major General Usman Abdulkadir, Chief of Army Standards and Evaluation, gave no details, the military authorities have had to set up Joint Military Task Forces, first in the Niger Delta, to check terrorism by militants, and now in such Northern states as Plateau, Borno and Kano in the face of the Boko Haram insurgency.

Personnel, money, vehicles and weapons that could have been put into better use have had to be diverted to solve the security challenge posed by the Niger Delta and Northern terrorists.

General Abdulkadir, who spoke at a Ramadan lecture of the Muslim Media Practitioners of Nigeria (MMPN) in Abuja, said an estimated seven million assorted illicit weapons are in circulation in Nigeria.

That works out at 70 per cent of the 10 million of such weapons in the West African sub-region alone or seven per cent of the total of 100million in Sub-Sahara Africa.

More than half of illegal weapons-3.5miilion-are said to be in the hands of non-state actors and criminals.

Of no less concern is the absence of structures to track down and investigate the brains behind killings and bombings in the country.

Gen. Abdulkadir said: “Investigations can be difficult because the structures to make investigating more ac-

Boko Haram, others overstretching military –Army Chief • 7 million illicit weapons in Nigeria • Why it is difficult to track down rampaging gunmen • Explains why Nigeria Army is intervening in crisis management From: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

curate are largely lacking.

Means of identification of criminals and foreigners are tricky because most Nigerians don’t have passports, national identification cards, social security numbers or drivers’ licences.

“There are also no reliable data banks for forensic investigations like DNA profiles and fingerprints. These issues make it difficult to track down criminals or per-

petrators and even when caught, no expedient procedures and laws to bring them to justice.”

He also faulted lack of coordination among security agencies mandated to quell violence in the country,saying:”One of the major problems with internal security operations is coordination among the various agencies involved.

He stated: “Most agencies pay more allegiance to their respective services to

the detriment of the operation they are supporting.

“Therefore, most internal security operations in Nigeria become problematic to manage and coordinate while synergy is lost.”

Abdulkadir expressed concern that the crises in the country are stretching military resources.

“The managing of internal security in Nigeria poses challenges for the security agencies in several ways.

Nigeria has several pockets

A tanker burning on an Abuja Street, yesterday.

Murder of Oshiomhole’s aide: Suspect names activist as sponsor

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HERE are indications that Benin-based activist, Rev David Ugolor , was arrested by the police at the weekend after one of the four suspects already in police custody allegedly named him as the sponsor of the recent murder of the Private Secretary to Governor Adams Oshiomhole, Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde.

Ugolor is the Executive Director of the non-governmental organisation-African Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ).

Oyerinde was murdered in his Benin residence on May 4 by four gunmen.

The police recently announced the arrest of four men in connection with the murder only for them to pick up Ugolor, a close friend of Oyerinde on Friday.

Ugolor was the last person with Oyerinde before his assailants struck and the first to be contacted by the victim’s wife to assist in carrying him to the hospital after the fatal attack.

One of the four suspects reportedly told police inter-

• It’s an attempt to frame me, says Ugolor From Osagie Otabor, Benin

rogators that Ugolor sent them to kill Oyerinde, prompting the police to arrest him at his First East Circular Road office.

They searched the office and later his residence.

Ugolor has denied having a hand in the murder of his friend saying he is being framed up.

The Programme/Policy Officer of ANEEJ, Mr. Innocent Edemhanria in a statement in Benin said the rela-

tionship that existed between the deceased and Ugolor was so deep that one could never have plotted killing the other .

He said: “The suspect who is accusing David Ugolor is a northerner and is completely unknown to Rev. David Ugolor, colleagues and friends. At the moment, the police are still holding on to David as they carry out their investigations on the allegation we consider spurious.

“We suspect strongly

that somebody high up somewhere is framing up our Executive Director, Rev. David Ugolor over the murder of the personal aide to the Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

“Rev. David Ugolor is a life saver, not a taker, as his natural penchant for poverty eradication, enlarging the voice of the voiceless, assisting the poor and needy is unparallel in his almost twenty-five years of effective and result-oriented activism.”

of crises that are beyond the Nigeria Police.

“The result is that the Armed Forces of Nigeria is deployed to several parts of the country at the same time, thereby over-stretching military resources. In addition, the Armed Forces of Nigeria is saddled with the roles of meeting Nigeria’s international obligations in peacekeeping, which worsens the situation.”

On proliferation of arms, he said: “Out of approximately 500million illicit weapons in circulation worldwide in 2004, it was estimated that about 100 million are in Sub-Saharan Africa, with eight to 10million concentrated in the West African sub-region.

“Regrettably, more than half of these Small Arms and Light Weapons(SALW) are in the hands of non-state actors and criminal groups.

Nigeria is both a producer and consumer in the West African sub-region.

“Although it is difficult to determine the exact quantity of illegal SALWEEN circulating within or penetrating into Nigeria, it is estimated that over 70 per cent of about eight to 10 million illegal weapons in West Africa are in Nigeria.

“The access to SALW makes criminals and militants to be bolder when facing security agents, making it more difficult to combat them. It also astronomically increases the levels of casualties and destruction that could be visited on the populace.”

Abdulkadir admitted that the high-level of insecurity is causing a decline in the confidence that Nigerians have in political leadership.

He added: “The present situation has also bred an atmosphere of political insecurity, instability, including declining confidence in the political leadership and apprehension about the system.

“Invariably, continuing escalation of violence and crises across the country interrupts the survival of democracy.”

The Army General advised politicians against sponsoring violence or exploiting ethno-religious differences to cause mayhem in the country.

He said if Nigeria is on fire, it could consume those behind it.

Senator’s kidnapped daughter regains freedom

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RS. Diepreye Dagi Darego who was kidnapped on Friday in Port Harcourt returned home yesterday, a free person.

Mrs. Darego, daughter of Senator Nimi BarighaAmange, was abducted by unidentified gunmen while she was on her way to the Port Harcourt International Airport to pick her sister whose traditional wedding was scheduled to

From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

commence yesterday in Bayelsa State.

Chief Barigha-Amange who represented Bayelsa East in the Senate between 2007 and 2011 confirmed in a text message that his daughter was released yesterday morning.

He did not say how the release was effected or whether a ransom was

paid.

However, he lauded the security agencies for rising to the occasion and ensuring the prompt release of his daughter unhurt.

The Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ben Ugwuegbulam also confirmed Mrs Darego’s release but, like Barigha-Amange, gave no details promising to do so after briefing from the officer-in-charge of the com-

mand’s Anti-Kidnapping Unit (AKU).

Barigha-Amange, a lawyer from NembeOgbolomabiri in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State said on Friday that the kidnappers shot repeatedly at the car conveying his daughter, before seizing her.

Mrs Darego’s car was recovered from the kidnappers, who were communicating with her relatives.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29 , 2012

Nigerian, Australian held in Malaysia for drugs

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Nigerian man and an Australian woman have been arrested in Malaysia after drugs were discovered in the car they were driving in the capital Kuala Lumpur, police said yesterday.

Police arrested the duo after stopping their car and finding one kilogramme of methamphetamine on July 17, federal narcotics chief Noor Rashid Ibrahim said.

The two are in custody and being investigated for drug trafficking. Noor Rashid did not immediately have further details.

Drug trafficking carries a mandatory death sentence by hanging in Malaysia, where hundreds of people are on the death row, mostly for drug offences.

Anyone found to be in possession of at least 50 grams of methamphetamine is considered a trafficker.

In March, Australian Dominic Jude Christopher Bird, 32, was charged with drug trafficking.

The truck driver from Perth in Western Australia was arrested March 1 in Kuala Lumpur in possession of 225 grams of methamphetamine.

News

UNILAG honours Adeboye, Fayemi, Ndoma-Egba E

KITI State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Pastor Enoch Adeboye ; Senate Majority leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN) and former Lagos State Deputy Governor, Mrs Sarah Sosan and 46 other distinguished alumni of the University of Lagos, Akoka were on Friday honoured by the University with the “ Distinguished Alumni Award.”

Fiery Lagos Pastor and Vice Presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the 2011 presidential election, Pastor Tunde Bakare; Wife of the Governor of Ogun

From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

State, Mrs Olufunso Amosun, Minister of the Interior, Abba Moro; Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha; InspectorGeneral of Police, Mr. M.D Mohammed; Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the UK, Alhaji Dalhatu Tafida; Minister of Sport, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi and Minority leader in the House of Reps, Femi Bajabiamila were also honoured at the event which commemorated the 50th anniversary of the institution.

Others included Senator Gbenga Kaka, a Supreme Court Judge, Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour; former Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice

Enitan Akande; National Chairman of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu; Group Managing Director of UBA, Phillips Oduoza; Chairman of Lagos State Local Government Service Commission, Mr. Moshood Ojikutu and Sola Ladipo-Ajayi.

Speaking at the award dinner which held at the University’s multipurpose Hall, Governor Fayemi described the honour as one of the “proudest moments of” his life; saying that he had a great time in the University especially as a student activist.

Fayemi, said whereas the award was not the first he would receive, but that the UNILAG award remains the best for him.

The event which drew a large population of old students of the University, provided an opportunity for many of them to re-connect and also discuss the future of the institution as well as the alumni association.

Other awardees include: Mr. Awa Ibraheem, Chief Poly Emeniker, Captain Ayodeji Bamgbose, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, different professors including Olu Akewusola, Mrs Majekodunmi, Ben Oghojafor, Aloy Ejiogu, Familoni Oluwole, Makanju Abayomi, Sodiq Wali, Rowland Ndoma-Egba, Dr. Sadiq Sanusi, Engineer Wole Agbaje, Mr. Tunde Than, Barrister Owolabi Salis and Deaconness Ibana Nsikanbi.

Pirates kill one in Agip boat attack

By Isaac Ombe,Yenagoa

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NE person was confirmed killed and scores missing in a midnight attack on a boat owned by the oil company, Agip, in Bayelsa state at the weekend.

The boat- MV Terrawas said to be carrying Agip staff to the company’s Clough Creek platform at Egbema Angalabiri Community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area when suspected pirates struck.

The pirates apparently ambushed the boat.

One of the victims was named as Hector Abe. The boat captain who was shot on the leg is being treated in an undisclosed hospital.

Abe’s body has been deposited at the Kpaima mortuary in Port Harcourt.

The Joint Military Force (JTF) Media Coordinator, Lt. Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, confirmed the incident and one death.

Abe was said to have been killed while attempting to escape.

He fell into the water and drowned.

Nwachukwu, who described the attackers as pirates said soldiers have been drafted to the scene to fish out the criminals.

Efforts to reach Agip authorities proved abortive.

•The Vice-Chancellor-designate of the University of Ilorin, Prof. Abdulganiyu Ambali (in long robe) with his predecessor, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, some principal officers of the university and the other contestants for the position of vice chancellor after the announcement of the University Council’s decision, at the weekend.

Irresponsible leadership behind Africa’s woes -Malawian President

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RESIDENT Joyce Banda of Malawi has linked the continent’s woes to alleged greed and irresponsible governance style of most of those holding the mantle of leadership in many countries.

She says many of such rulers do not appreciate the need to be accountable to the people or be committed to open and transparent government with a view to reducing poverty in the continent.

Banda, who spoke during an interactive session with journalists in Abuja, urged those in positions to stop seeing themselves as

From Yomi Odunuga, Abuja

some kind of gods but as leaders.

The Malawian President is in Abuja to attend the 7th African First Ladies Summit.

She said conflicts can be reduced if African leaders become more open and freely make information available to the people instead of treating their subjects with disdain.

She noted that the leaders would not only earn the people’s respect but their trust when they begin to carry them along in governance issues.

She said: “African Leaders must change. We have

had rulers for too long in the continent. Now we need leaders now.

“Leaders who can identify with the people and fall in love with them. When leaders earn the trust of their people, the people will fall in love with them.

“When trust is lacking, there will be suspicions, fighting over resources and civil unrest.”

On how to reduce conflicts in the continent, President Banda stressed the need to create institutions that would identify potential issues that could result in conflict with the aim of nipping such in the bud before they degenerate be cre-

Cross River signs pact with American state

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HE Cross River State Government and the American State of Maryland have signed a friendship agreement under Maryland’s Sister States Programme.

The programme covers international exchanges and promotion of business, educational and cultural interests.

Governor Liyel Imoke signed for Cross River while Maryland Secretary of State John McDonough did same

for his state at a bilateral meeting held at the State House Caucus Room of the State Capital House, Annapolis, USA. Imoke said at the meeting that Cross River was seeking partnership to get value and expressed his desire to learn from the experience of the Americans in agriculture, education, research, tourism and environment.

“These are the key areas where I think we can partner,” he said adding he would want to seize the opportunity offered by the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

He hoped the partnership would be beneficial to the people of both states and pledged the commitment of Cross River to the partnership.

He invited his host Governor Martin Joseph O’Malley

to Calabar.

McDonough was delighted at the partnership and described Cross River as a beautiful and historical state with rich potentials in tourism.

Apart from Cross River State, others in the sister states programme are Anhui Province, China; Bong Co. & Maryland Co., Liberia; Gyeongsangnam, S. Korea; and State of Jalisco.

ated into bigger conflicts.

She also asked African leaders to invest in capacity building of their citizens so that the continent would be less dependent on foreign aids.

She said that 40 per cent of her country’s budget comes from foreign aid, a situation, she said is unsustainable.

Banda noted that many of the countries giving aid to Africa are themselves facing challenges and may be forced to reduce their support.

She therefore called on African leaders to collaborate with one another to make the continent self-reliant.

Malawi, she said is seeking partnership with Nigeria in the area of agriculture to boost food production in Malawi. She said President Goodluck Jonathan had agreed to help Malawi in this regard.

She was confident that Africa has what it takes to break the jinx of poverty in the continent.

She called on leaders in the continent to make the education of the girl child a priority in the continent.

“Women should be educated to enable them participate in leadership,” she added.

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Unilorin VC: Co-contestants pledge support for Ambali

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HE new Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof.

Abdulganiyu Ambali, has got assurance of those who contested with him that they will support him.

Ambali, 55, was named Vice-Chancellordesignate by the University Council on Thursday.

He is to take over from the incumbent, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede when his tenure ends on October 15.

Shortly before the announcement of the Council’s decision, a special meeting of the Vice Chancellor’s In-House Committee was held at which all the applicants were present.

It was gathered that all the contestants who were present at the meeting took turn to pledge their support for the appointee.

Only two of the contestants could not attend the meeting but it was gathered that they expressed regret for their “unavoidable absence”.

Among the applicants who were at the meeting were, Prof. Musbau Akanji, Prof. Albert Olayemi, Prof.

Olorunfemi, Prof. Atte, Prof Oke, Prof Ayorinde, and Prof Olorunmaiye.

It was at the meeting that the decision to appoint Prof. Ambali was first broken to the contestants.

It was gathered that the highly charged meeting was presided over by the out-going Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Oloyede who was said to have delivered “a highly emotional speech” in which he appealed to all the contestants to support whoever emerged the new ViceChancellor.

A source at the meeting, which was also attended by all principal officers of the university, said Prof Oloyede disclosed that the purpose of the meeting was “to formally inform the critical stakeholders of the decision of Council on the appointment of new vicechancellor and solicit their support”.

In his remark, the Vice Chancellor-designate thanked God “for seeing us through the selection process” and expressed his admiration for the candid opinions expressed by the other contestants.

He however allayed some of the fears expressed by them, saying, “I will not be parochial.

This university is very dear to me and as such things will not go worse, it can only be better.”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

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Fire outbreak at UNN

Fed Govt. establishes $300m ethanol project

From Chris Orji, Enugu

From Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Nnewi

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ESIDENTIAL students of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) escaped death yesterday following a mysterious fire that allegedly gutted the office of the Dean of Student Affairs Department of the institution.

A statement from the Police Public Relations Officer of Enugu state command, Ebere Amaraizu, which confirmed the incident, said full investigations have begun into it.

An eye witness said that the fire allegedly gutted the Dean’s office located near some hostels at the early hours of yesterday.

It was gathered that the swift intervention of fire fighters stopped the fire from spreading to the hostels.

Though there was no loss of life, the fire was said to have destroyed computers, documents and other office equipment.

It was gathered that policemen surrounded the Student Affairs Department shortly after the fire incident and prevented people from getting close to catch a glimpse of the scene.

“The fire took us unawares. Nobody knows the cause of the fire, we were all surprised. If not for the quick intervention of fire fighters, it would have spread to our hostels,” a student of UNN who spoke on condition of anonymity said.

‘Kaduna State University being undermined’ From Tony Akowe, Kaduna

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GROUP, Nigerian Youth Council (NYC), yesterday alleged there were deliberate plans to undermine the development of the Kaduna State University through what it called separatist agenda.

A statement signed by its chairman, Aminu Yau and Secretary, Danjuma Sarki, faulted a petition which alleged the appointment of the current Vice Chancellor (VC) did not follow due process.

While justifying the appointment of the Vice Chancellor, the youths said his predecessors were also appointed with calls for applications.

They also noted that the appointment of the VC was ratified by the Governing Council of the University, which was constituted immediately he was appointed.

The petition, the youths stated, has put the development of the main campus on hold while all attention is focused on the Kafanchan campus of the institution.

They said, “contrary to their allegation of religious and ethnic sentiment against the Vice Chancellor, it might suffice them to know that Professor Qurix after assumption of office appointed his Deputy Vice Chancellor Academics a Muslim from Zone I, the Dean student affairs division, a Muslim from Zone II and established Directorate of Consultancy Services with a Muslim from Zone III as the head.”

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•Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obiand Commissioner for Education, Dr. Uju Okeke (left) lifting the shocked Principal of Onitsha High School Mrs. Julie Ofoefuna, after receiving N15 million from Obi as part payment for the renovation of the school last week

Teachers threaten strike in 11 states T

HE President of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Michael Olukoya, has warned the union will embark on indefinite strike in 11 states if governors refuse to honour the 27. 5% agreement signed with the federal government.

NUT had ordered its members in states yet to implement the new Teachers Enhanced Salary Structure (TESS) to down tools from July 23.

In a chat with newsmen in Abuja yesterday, Olukoya,

From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

however said the union postponed the industrial action till September to avoid disruption of examination in schools.

The affected states are Cross Rivers, Kastina, Lagos, Delta, Ogun, Ekiti, Kogi, Abia, Enugu, Eboyi and Nasarawa.

He disclosed the Minister of Education, federal legislators, Governors and wellmeaning Nigerians appealled to the NUT to postpone the

action.

According to him: “Ordinarily the strike should have started about two weeks ago but it was shelved. ‘’We are not trouble shooters. We do not take joy in causing crisis in the education sector. More so we are aware that was a period for exams and vacation and we conceded and allowed time for more dialogue.’’

He went on: “As I am talking to you we have resolved that we still have about 11

states that are refusing to honour the agreement. ‘’The stand of the NUT is that we want to appeal to the governor’s forum to intervene in this matter because it is an issue that has been dragging on for quite a long time.’’

He said the union has been pushed to the wall, saying, “If this matter drags on till September when the new session resumes, students might resume without teachers in the 11 states that are affected.

Enough is enough.”

‘Budget implementation: We are not on the same page’

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EMBER representing Fune/Fika Federal Constituency in Yobe State, Alhaji Ismaila Gadaka, has said that the House of Representatives and the Presidency are not on the same page on the issue of budget implementation currently causing friction between the two arms of the government.

Gadaka, who spoke with reporters in Damaturu over the weekend, scored some state governments higher than the federal government in the area of budget implementation.

According to him: “President Goodluck will not escape impeachment if nothing improves by the time we return from recess by September.

“I know of some state governments that are doing very well in ensuring that their budget performance is very high. ‘’In my own state Yobe for instance, Gov. Gaidam has done very well in terms of budget implementation.

Lagos state is also doing a good job and a couple of other state.”

“But when it comes to the federal government, the situation is so pathetic. ‘’ As I talk to you, no single constituency project has been approved with any cash backing. So how can the president claim that we are on the same page on this issue?

He said it was unfair that Nigerians are yet to feel the impact of government this

From Duku Joel, Damaturu

year.

“It is absolutely wrong that nothing is happening from the trillions of naira that we approved for this year’s budget and time is running out,’’ he added.

Gadaka also condemned the none presence of Federal presence in the state, while praising Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam for not waiting on the federal government to carry out some of the projects especially road construction and health.

He decried the abandonment of federal government projects in the state like the Fika-Ngeji-Gadaka water Scheme in his constituency and many others like the Gashua/Nguru/ Bayamari and Gaidam/ Maine-Soroa roads.

APGA faction hails ruling on Umeh

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FACTION of the Enugu chapter of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) yesterday hailed the court ruling restraining Chief Victor Umeh from convening national, state or local council executive meeting of the party.

It said: “The interim order paves a clear path to the restoration of sanity and democracy in the party.”

This is in contrast with the position of the party in the state which had earlier faulted the court’s ruling.

The factional APGA Chairman, Mr. Ikechukwu Alor, said how Umeh wrestled the party from the founding chairman, Chekwas Okorie, downplayed the party’s constitutional stipulations on the modalities for internal businesses.

Alor in a statement, said: “In Igbo land, the place of the first son is never subject to controversies; he presides over the affair of the family in the absence of the father. ‘’It is therefore unfair and a travesty of African culture for some people to undermine the leadership position of the Anambra governor out of selfish motives.

From Chris Oji, Enugu

‘’The ruling of the court has therefore provided a level play field for the facts at issue to be made public.”

He also said, “It is our fervent hope that after the instant case, genuine congresses leading to a proper convention would be held to produce democratically elected leadership for the party. In a democracy, the peoples consent and choice must be sought and respected; those who want to perpetuate themselves in office gained from the back-door should be seen for what they

are; enemies of democracy.”

An Enugu State High Court presided by the state Chief Judge, Innocent Umezulike, restrained the National Chairman of the party, Mr. Victor Umeh, from “taking any steps to convoke a national, state, or local government executive committee meeting of the party.”

Umezulike also restrained Umeh from expelling any member of APGA pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.

He fixed July 31 for another hearing.

‘War not only cause of conflicts in Africa’

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HE Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on gender issues, Dr. Asma’u Abdulkadir, has said war is only one of the causes of conflict Africa.

She identified unemployment, political instability and poor governance as other issues responsible for escalating unrest in the region.

Dr. Abdulkadir spoke at the 7th African First Ladies Peace Mission (AFLPM) summit held at the weekend in Abuja.

She said: “When we talk

From Olugbenga Adanikin, Abuja

about peace, there are so many factors; we have social, economic, religious factors endangering the peace that we enjoy in our various countries.”

Abdulkadir stressed the need for women to contribute their quota towards peace building.

She stated that aside other duties, women have prominent role to play in the restoration of peace.

HE Federal Government through the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its partners is to establish an integrated 15,000 hectares cassava plantation and Ethanol Plant at Ebenebe and Ugbenu communities at the cost of over $300 million.

The Minister for Environment, Mrs. Hadiza Mailaifa, disclosed this in Awka during the Panel Review Exercise on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the proposed plantation.

Mailaifa noted that the meeting was unique, adding that she was happy Anambra people are environmentally alert going by the reactions and fears expressed at the meting.

The Environment Minister, represented by Assistant Director Environment, Abbas Suleiman, informed that the fuel Ethanol Biomass renewable energy source is an attempt by NNPC and other partners to reduce the rate of green house gases and carbon monoxide on the environment.

She said the Awka North belt is rich in energy carbon harvested from cassava, sugar cane and others with huge capacities for renewability.

The member representing Awka North local Government Area, Hon Rebecca Udoji, hoped that the project will lead to development and growth in the council.

Community celebrates return of exiled monarch From Polycarp Orosevwotu, Warri

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HE Uzere kingdom of lsoko South Local Government Area of Delta State last week celebrated the return of its traditional ruler, HRH Isaac Udogri Odhuwu I JP, from exile.

The Ovie of Uzere went on a six-month self-exile over the crisis that rocked the community on his alleged connivance with the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to undermine interest of the community.

The palace of the traditional ruler was razed by aggrieved villagers during the crisis, which left to his departure in December 2011.

He returned to the kingdom amidst celebration, describing his purported dethronement as illegal and an act of ignorance.

While insisting that he remains the true and only paramount ruler of Uzere Kingdom recognised by the state government, he said anyone who claims or parades himself as Ovie of Uzere is committing an act of abomination.

He advised his subjects to always confirm all information about the kingdom before reacting.

Promising to unite the kingdom, the Ovie, at a reception to mark his return, said: ‘’as a father, not all your children will be the same, some will be good and some very stubborn but you have to treat all of them as children. You won’t throw anyone away because he is stubborn.”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29 , 2012

Agency commissions eight projects in Osun

By Tunde Busari

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O fewer than eight community projects have been executed in four local government councils of Osun State by the Agency for Community and Social Development Project, (CSDP) at the cost of over N40million.

The projects, jointly financed by the World Bank, Osun State Government and benefitting communities, were aimed at enhancing good quality living for the people at the grassroots level.

Commissioning the projects, Governor Rauf Aregbesola, represented by his deputy, Mrs. Grace Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, lauded the support and contribution of the benefitting communities.

Governor Aregbesola noted that the joint financing of the projects was to ensure that communities participate effectively as stakeholders so as to enhance sustainability of the projects and programmes.

“In the past, similar projects failed to achieve their objective, and the reason for the failure was enormous disconnect between the programme provider and the people,” he said Aregbesola, therefore, urged the people to keep and sustain the projects, just as he directed the Executive Secretaries across the 30 local government councils of the state to embrace the gesture, adding that the projects executed by the CSDP are veritable tools towards enhancing the Six-Point Integral Action Plan of the current administration in the state.

In her welcome address, the General Manager of the Agency, Mrs. Funmi Aderonke Abokede reiterated the high demand for project intervention by communities due to the sensitisation drive of the agency.

Minister seeks investors for National Theatre

By Edozie Udeze

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HE Minister of Culture and Tourism, Chief Edem Duke has said that for the Federal Government to effectively run the National Theatre, Lagos, private individuals and corporate organisations must come in to make it work.

He made this declaration at the weekend while on a working visit to the National Theatre.

According to Duke, because of the importance the Federal Government places on the Theatre as the only one of its kind in Nigeria, it will be unfair to allow it to rot away.

“This is the most recognised and imposing national building in Nigeria. Therefore after 35 years of existence, the government is now interested in finding alternative ways to ensure that the edifice is made more conducive for not only stakeholders, but to fulfill the purpose for which it was erected,” he declared.

The facility tour saw the minister instructing CCECC, the Chinese construction firm handling the blue line train rail from Victoria Island to Amukoko to brace up to meet the May 2013 deadline.

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Why women must unite,

by South Africa’s First Lady T

Police arrest alleged murderer of ACN supporter

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HE First Lady of South Africa, Mrs. Nompumelelo Zuma, has challenged African women to unite and confront the negative socio-economic vices working against their political interests in the continent.

Mrs. Zuma, who spoke at the Bayelsa women retreat organised by wife of Bayelsa State governor, Mrs. Racheal Dickson in Yenagoa, yesterday, said such unity

From Isaac Ombe, Yenagoa

among African women will enable them focus on the education of the girl-child.

She added that it would also help them to defeat gender- based oppressive policies in the continent.

According to her: ‘’The issues of lack of education, poor standard of economy, poor health facilities and other failures of the society, it is the women that suffer most.

“We must start to unite to tackle some of these problems and reclaim our leading role in Africa. ‘’We encountered the problem together and we must tackle it together. When we look around Africa, we see women face genderbased oppressions. ‘’When we look around, we see women being faced with decaying standard of living. We must move. We must wake up as it is our task

to teach women. ‘’We must unite to dismantle the decaying values and teach them about education and skill. We must let them know that solid education and skills empower women to become confident and become a human being,” he stated The South African First Lady also launched the Friday Konyefa foundation for the girl-child’’, the pet project of Mrs. Dickson.

•Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson; his wife, Racheal and First Lady of South Africa, Mrs. Nompumelelo Zuma arriving for the command performance organised in honour of Mrs. Zuma in Yenagoa yesterday

Fashola restates commitment to education

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AGOS State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), has restated his commitment to education.

The commitment, he said, remains unflagging

and unflinching.

He spoke last week during the presentation of N256 million to 128 junior and senior public schools in the State at the Governor’s Education award for performance.

Each of the schools bagged N2 million, which Fashola said would be utilised for their development.

The Governor also announced the award of international leadership training

CAN, AFCN advocate unity

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HE 2012 Annual Festival of Nigerian Choirs (AFNC) in collaboration with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) seek to bring about peace in the country using the instrumentality of music, the organisers of the feast, Evangelist Mrs. Ify Ebosie, has said.

Mrs. Ebosie spoke yesterday during a press conference at the National Christian Centre in Abuja.

“In the face of all the challenges which we battle with, such as unemployment, criminality, militancy, expansion of terrorism and general breakdown in moral values in our beloved country and Africa; music is one of the most unifying forces”, she said.

Speaking earlier, President of Christian Council of Nigeria, Most Reverend Emmanuel Udofia justified the need for the festival especially at this troubled times.

Udofia expressed hope

From: Olugbenga Adanikin and Halima Sogbesan, Abuja

that when youths know the truth of the word of God through music, there will be a better and peaceful Nigeria.

The National Chaplain, National Catholic Lithurgical Music Council (NACALIMCO), Rev. Fr. Moses Iyara explained that the event would help foster unity among all Christians irrespective of the denomination.

“We want to bring a sense of unity and understanding among Christians of various faiths. It is when this unity and understanding is achieved and when this sense of discipline is brought into Church music that choristers and choir masters can truly help people to open their heart to God during Church worship and be disposed to doing the things that will bring lasting peace and unity to our country Nigeria,” he said.

Professor Lazrus Ekweme, who was also

among the delegation of the representative of the Church of Christ in the nation explained that the September event will feature genres of music such as the traditional music, western music and the contemporary Nigerian music for the worship of God. Competing choirs will be judged based on good musicianship, good vocal techniques and good choir training principles in worship.

to top two secondary school principals in the six Education Districts of the state.

Fashola also announced the establishment of 30 power clubs in junior secondary schools to promote energy consciousness among youths in the State.

According to him, policies put in place by his administration to boost academic performance include after schools coaching of SS3 and JS3 students for 3 – 4 days a week and mock WASSC examinations for SS3 students, among others.

He expressed satisfaction that government’s investment in education is paying off “as the statistical trends in students’ performance are showing an encouraging level of academic attainment”.

Olaniyan dies at 78

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HIEF Doye Olaniyan, Baale Adigun in Ona Ara Local Government Area of Oyo State, is dead. He died in his home in Ibadan on Wednesday at the age of 78 after a brief illness.

He was installed Baale of Adigun on September 12, 2005 following his

unanimous choice by the community and subsequent ratification by then Olubadan, Oba Yinusa Ogundipe, Arapasowu 1.

He has since been buried according to Islamic rites in conformity with his expressed wish before his death. He is survived by wives, children and grandchildren.

A social-political organisation, The Ododuwa Justice Group, has called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Mohammed Abubakar and the AIG Zone 11 Osogbo to bring the killers of an Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) supporter in Ogbomoso, Mr. Isiaka Ademola, to book.

Ademola was killed during the aborted April 2, 2011 National Assembly Election in Gbede, Surulere local government area.

Secretary of the group, Bada Kazeem, spoke on the heels of the arrest of the alleged murderer, Adetunji Adegboyega (a.k.a Kawu), who had been on the run since the dastardly act in 2011.

Adegboyega was alleged to have led some hoodlums believed to be supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to disrupt the peace during the accreditation of voters.

Ademola was killed while four others were injured during the violence.

The suspect was yesterday apprehended after a tip off at Olomi area of Ibadan by the police after which he was moved to AIG Zone 11 office where a petition had been lodged.

There are however some insinuations that the culprit who is believed to be a close associate of a former governor of Oyo State might be left of the hook because of his connections.

Kazeem called on the governors of Oyo and Osun states, Abiola Ajimobi and Rauf Aregbesola to ensure that the case is not allowed to be compromised.

Dafinone makes case for less privilege From Polycarp Orosevwotu, Warri

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HE Director of Dafinone Foundation, Chief Ede Dafinone at the weekend charged Nigerians to support the less privileged in the society by investing in human empowerment programmes.

Dafinone gave this charge while presenting certificates of awards to the 2012 graduates of the Dafinone Foundation in Sapele.

The graduating students, which comprised 27 trained tailors, 33 trained hair stylists and 47 trained caterers received gas cookers, hair dryers and sewing machines to begin their individual businesses.

He said the empowerment programme became imperative considering the level of poverty in the society.

He noted that the programme which commenced five years ago with a micro credit scheme for women has since empowered many individuals.

Expressing satisfaction over the success of the empowerment scheme, Dafinone said the Foundation has similar programme being extended to Ethiope West Local Government Area where youths numbering over 100 are currently undergoing intensive training.

Dafinone however challenged the beneficiaries to try and empower others who are less privileged, adding that poverty can become a thing of the past if those with adequate resources take up the responsibility of empowering at least ten people.

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News

Alumni advocate excellence in Osun Poly From Olumuyiwa Ogunleye

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SUN State Polytechnic Alumni Association on Saturday, at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) called on stakeholders in the polytechnic to work towards promoting academic standard in the institution.

The association enjoined state government, management, student’s union and the hosting community to work harder by ensuring that the institution maintains its leading status in the academic circle.

In a communiqué issued at the end of the AGM held at its National Secretariat, Iree, Osun State, the association pledged to support the institution in the area of social amenities to aid conducive learning environment.

The Alumni also pledged to encourage academic excellence by celebrating and rewarding members of staff, students who exhibited exemplary character and performed excellently in their fields.

The President of the association, Mrs. Bola Odebode, while briefing the members on the activities of the national executive in the last one year, said they have continued the building of inherited secretariat with 90 percent completion.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

Mother stabs son to save him from suffering A

desperate attempt by a 28-year-old mother to free her 11-yearold son from alleged lack of care by his father has ended in her stabbing him in the stomach, ripping open his intestines.

The boy is now battling for his life at an undisclosed hospital in Kano and the suspect under arrest.

The suspect, Joy Akule from Katsina Ala, Benue State, now says her action was unintentional.

She told reporters yesterday that she had the boy at 17 years for her lover.

Their relationship did not

From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

last long with both sides going their different ways.

The man decided to take care of his son but could not cope over the years, according to Joy. She claimed to have been sending money for her son’s upkeep, but there was little or no change in his condition.

She then decided to go and take the boy from his father so that she could take proper care of him. This, she said, did not go down well with the man and an argument soon ensued, followed

by a fight during which she said she stabbed the boy to save him from further suffering.

She was immediately arrested by the police and is expected to be charged to court soon.

In another development, the state Police Commissioner, Mr. Idris Ibrahim, said 17 policemen were arrested by a special squad, while extorting money from motorists at various checkpoints in the state.

The suspects include six Inspectors, three Sergeants, five Corporals and three Constables.

He said they would soon face orderly room trial.

The police commissioner also told reporters that a suspect has been arrested for allegedly operating an illegal finance outfit at Ado Bayero Shopping complex , Sabon Gari, Kano.

The suspect is said to have swindled 338 people of a total sum of N5.5 million after promising to give them credit facilities.

The police boss paraded two retired police officers, Abdullahi Auwalu and Marcus Tilley, for alleged impersonation and stealing of six motorbikes.

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HE indigenes of Ilara Remo community in Remo North Local Government Area of Ogun State have commended the state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, for donating a 250kva transformer to the community in its drive to enjoy stable power supply as one of the dividends of democracy.

Also, the community congratulates Action Congress of Nigeria, Ogun State chapter, for its brilliant performance in the just concluded local government council election in the state.

Speaking on behalf of Ilara Remo Development Association, its Organising Secretary, Arole Solomon Olufunso Awoyemi, stated that even though their community sponsored a chairmanship candidate for the Remo North Local Government Council in the person of Odofin Musari Oyewale Ajayi, who was not given the party’s mandate, nonetheless, he noted that the community resolved to support the party’s chosen candidate, Honourable Olufemi Abayomi Shoyemi, who fortunately did well in the election and got voted for as the next executive chairman of the local government.

Amosun’s wife organises Ramadan essay competition

LAUTECH receives EU certification on organic farm

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From Bode Durojaiye, Oyo

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HE Director, Centre for Agro ecology and food security, Coventry University, United Kingdom, Professor John Charles Harris, has advocated international concerted efforts towards successful application of organic agriculture for sustainable development, especially in the developing countries.

This was even as the acting Vice- Chancellor of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Prof. Adeniyi Gbadegesin, disclosed that “LAUTECH is the first tertiary institution in Africa that has an organic farm with the European Union Certification, by the Institute of Market Ecology (IMO), Switzerland, for the Organic Production of Ginger, Turmeric, Lemon grass and Cashew. This, according to him, opens an opportunity for international trade with Europe and other countries.

The duo spoke at a public lecture on organic agriculture, organised by LAUTECH. Prof Harris stated that long-term world food security can only rely on sustainable production through sustainable intensification and leapflogging technologies, adding that worldwide, over 130 countries produce certified organic products in commercial quantities, while over 16 million hectares of land globally is certified organic.

The organic farm, under the Agricultural Services Limited of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, was adjudged the farm with the best organic agricultural practices in Nigeria.

Ilara Remo indigenes applaud Amosun, ACN

•Senator ‘Gbenga Ashafa(Lagos East) and General Manager of Lagos State Electricity Board(LSEB) Mrs. Damilola Ogunbiyi with participants of the Lagos Youth Energy Career Programme in Lagos... at the weekend Photo: Muyiwa Hassan

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HE confusion that has engulfed the country would not have happened if the country’s leadership was entrusted in the hands of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) This assertion was made yesterday by the member representing Idemili North and South at the House of Representatives, Hon. Charles Odedo, in Nnobi, Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State.

The ACN member, who

‘PDP has failed Nigerians’ From Nwanosike Onu, Awka

gave out 10 vehicles to some communities in idemlil North Council Area yesterday as part of the programmes aimed at empowering his constituents, said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government has failed the Nigerian people

Besides giving out the vehicles to his constituents, especially the Idemili North people, the federal lawmaker equally gave out a Toyota Camry vehicle to the son of late renowned novelist Cyprian Ekwensi, Chief Ikechukwu Ekwensi According to Odedo, ‘’ It is time to try something new in this country. The PDP gov-

ernment has failed this nation; we need to try out an opposition party like ACN to achieve a better result,” Adedo said, adding, ‘’therefore, it is time a new leadership emerged in the country and ACN is the party to beat. Look at all the states being ruled by the party, is there any state that is doing better than ACN states?’’

also gone to the office of the Secretary of the Federation, Chief Anyim Pius Anyim. One of the issues we raised is that of asset declaration. We are all aware by virtue of the laws of this country that every public official is supposed to declare his assets upon assumption of office. And by the same law of this country, it is only estate surveyors and valuers registered by the regulatory body

that is authorised by law to determine the value of any given asset.”

The NIESV president also canvassed for the establishment of a National Land Commission to be headed by a qualified professional in land resource management, stating that effective management of land would create more wealth for the country and alleviate poverty.

EFCC, surveyors tackle suspicious asset declaration

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IQUED by complaints of fake and unsubstantiated assets declaration by public officials and alleged anticipatory asset declaration in anticipation of corrupt enrichment in office , the President of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Mr. Emeka Eleh, has said the institution will partner with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to expose those perpetrating such act.

Speaking at a press briefing in Lagos, the NIESV boss said the partnership with EFCC became necessary to effectively fight corruption in the country, adding that the collaboration would help to expose suspicious real estate transactions by dubious government officials and key private sector operators.

Eleh, who confirmed that most of the stolen funds were

By Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie Asst. Editor

being funnelled into real estate development to the detriment of majority of Nigerians, lamented that the trend of declaring fake assets could be handled if the government adhered strictly with what the law says on assets declaration.

According to him, “We have been to the office of Code of Conduct Bureau .We have

Work starts on 50,000-seater stadium

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NAMBRA State Commissioner for Sports and Youths, Mr. Edozie Aroh, yesterday, said work will commence next month on the state’s 50,000-seater stadium complex in Awka.

Aroh said the Anambra State Government’s policy on developing grassroots sports through schools’

From Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Nnewi

sports is a laudable policy, noting that Governor Peter Obi’s administration has done much to mobilise development in the sports sector.

This is coming as the state government is to partner with a private sports investor, Rojenny Games,

and Tourist Village, Oba, owned by Chief Rojenny Ezeonwuka, to improve grassroots sports development in the state.

Aroh, while on a facility visit to the games village, noted that it is a massive private sector investment in sports in Anambra State, which has hosted winning squads in the past as their camping ground.

IFE of the governor of Ogun State, Mrs. Olufunso Amosun, through one of her initiatives, Spouses of State Government Functionaries Association (SOSGFA), is organising “Essay Writing/Quiz Competition and Qur’anic Recitation” for school children across the 20 local government areas of the state.

A statement by the coordinator of “Essay Writing/Quiz Competition and Qur’anic Recitation,” Dr. (Mrs.) Rashidat Salisu, said the contest was aimed at providing opportunity for our school children to enhance their knowledge on Islamic issues and bring home the virtues of the glorious month of Ramadan.

“The Essay Writing/ Quiz Competition and Qur’anic Recitation is specially designed to engender scholarship, and encourage reading and research among our school children and keep them occupied as most of them are currently enjoying their academic break. We hope to promote public awareness on educational sector and enable our students analyse issues from their own perspectives.”

Dr. Salisu, who is also the wife of the Deputy Chief of Staff to Ogun State governor, said the topics for the essay writing competition for Junior Secondary Schools category is “The Social, Moral and Spiritual Benefits of Ramadan”, while for Senior Secondary Schools category “Maximising the Gains of Ramadan.

NEWS REVIEW

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

•Ani Esin

•Aggrieved returnees

Tempers are beginning to rise among Nigerians evacuated from Bakassi peninsula after it was handed over to Cameroun.

NICHOLAS KALU recently visited the area and reports.

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LMOST a decade after Nigeria complied with the decision of the World Court at The Hague to quit Bakassi peninsular and hand over the territory to Cameroun, indigenes of the area have stood up to ask for a review of the judgment.

The agitation has assumed such fervency that it is already creating tension in the ceded area. The renewed agitation to seek a review of the verdict is perhaps fuelled by the July 10, judgment of the Supreme Court which determined that the much disputed 76 oil wells belonged to Akwa Ibom State and not Cross River.

Rising temper The Paramount Ruler of Bakassi, Etim Okon Edet, recently told journalists that he may not be able to control angry youths who are insistent on getting their ancestral home back.

According to him, the youths of have threatened to go back to the creeks to render the entire Gulf of Guinea inaccessible to oil and marine exploration activities if they do not get their land back.

On why they waited until now to insist that the matter be reviewed he said, “We wanted to give enough time so that

Bakassi: Return our land

whatever actions Nigerians would see we would be justified even in the presence of God. So we waited all that long and you are aware that 10th October 2012, would be the closing date for appeal.

“Having waited for this long, nothing has happened. We need back our land let us go back to where we were before. Bakassi people have come of age. We have studied the situation in Nigeria and we know that there is no justice.

“First and foremost we were told to move so that peace would prevail in the world. We became a sacrificial lamb. We left and having left for ten years, we are thinking that if the federal government is sincere and is able to meet their demand, “we shall still allow peace to reign, but if they don’t we have to return to our land. It means we are not wanted in Nigeria and we don’t also want to be with the Cameroun. That is why we are doing what we are doing. We have been cheated.”

He added, “In the whole world I have never seen a people so quiet.

Their area is taken and after that they came and took their oil wells and the people are still so quiet.

There is going to be a change of attitude because we need our land back. Nigeria and Cameroun can go away and live us and allow us to be.

“This battle is going to be worldwide. After all, when Bakassi was ceded the super powers came and supervised the signing of the Green Tree Agreement. It was done in a haste without a corresponding haste in relocating the people. Human lives are involved.

All these people have no place to stay.” He is unhappy that he was made to abandon his palace in Bakassi and no soul today occupies the building, “I left it and no one has paid any compensation.

We left our various homes and houses no one has paid anything.”

He accused the international community of abdicating its responsibilities to the Bakassi people asking if they are only ready to step in when a war breaks out. He said, “They want people to fight

and kill themselves first before they can come in. They came and supervised the handing over of the territory, maybe they thought at that time that there would be war so that they can come in and do whatever they normally do. But they saw that there was no war.”

Mr Ani Esin, leader of the Save Bakassi group, which has been vocal over the reclaiming of the ceded land said, “Before the ceding we were part of those that said the peninsula should not be ceded until a lot of issues were reconciled.

This is the step we took to stop the FG but they still went ahead beyond the court injunction, against the court order to cede the place.

So FG first of all broke the law of the country to cede the place. Beyond that we wrote a petition to the Senate that conducted a public hearing here in Calabar and Abuja. We were also the delegation from Bakassi that went to protest and against all odds, yet the executive still went on to cede the place. It was wrong to cede the place without the consent of the people. Never have we participated in anything from the time of the hearing at the ICJ up till the judgment and ceding, none of us participated in anything. We are going back to UN.” He reiterated that it was wrong for the land to be ceded without the consent of the people. On why the call is insistent now, he said, “As you know in a football match, when it gets close to 90 minutes, the match becomes tougher. More tense. The gaps begin to close up especially when you are on the losing side. The tension becomes higher. Now that we know that our matter is going to be closed and the book closed forever and put in a shelf. I think is just natural that

Bakassi people must react this way. Don’t forget that we shouted when the judgment came, Nigerians did not care.

We shouted during the ceding.

A lot of things happened. People disappeared. People were chased out. People died. So it is painful to us. We would continue to cry till the last hour, and we are appealing to Nigerians.

“I have never seen a country that does not care for its citizens.

Forget the oil. As a Nigerian, I believe that one Nigerian soul is more important than anything.

In Israel, remember in Entebbe someone was left behind, ten years after, they even went for the corpse, talk less of thousands of Nigerians that you have turned them to Camerounians. In their life time, they were born Nigerians but they would die as Camerounians.”

A return to the trench The Bakassi Agitators, a group which claimed to protect hapless Nigerians in the peninsula before they dropped their arms in line with the federal government’s amnesty programme, is insisting that it would not let an inch of the peninsula go to Cameroun.

Franklyn Duduku, a leader of the group in statement said, “By October 10, it is going to be ten years since the judgement that ceded Bakassi to Cameroun and we expect the federal government to go to the United Nations and reject that judgement completely.

“We would not agree that an inch of the Nigerian soil should go to any Camerounian territory.

That issue has to be properly addressed. Even the people that moved have not been resettled.

Nobody wants to know about their welfare and we are very bitter about the situation.

“We cannot afford to lose our continental waters. As it is now, it is only the gendarmes that are patrolling that place, leaving the flanks open for any attack on Nigerians.

“The Bakassi Freedom Fighters defended the people of Nigeria in the creeks along the waterways. In the process, lives were sacrificed. Fishermen and other Nigerians in the area are still being terrorized by the Camerounian gendarmes.”

He called on the federal government and the international community to rectify the issue so as not to cause havoc and acrimony. He said vehemently, •Continued on Page 67

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

News Review

London Olympics, subsidy trials and im Jos floods kill 38

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HE heavens opened up on crisis-ridden Jos on Monday leaving no fewer than 38 people, including seven children of the same father, dead. A 90-year old woman was also among the dead.

Sixty-eight others were declared missing and 200 houses swept away by the floods in Rikkos Tundun, Gangare and Angwar Rogo parts of the city. The disaster was blamed on the construction of houses on waterways and blocking of drainage.

Why we’re against Jonathan, by Reps HE House of Representatives has dismissed suggestions that its threat to launch impeachment proceedings against President Goodluck Jonathan was motivated purely by selfish interests.

Spokesman for the House, Mr. Zakari Mohammed said in Abuja that the Reps are acting only in the best interest of the generality of Nigerians. He said while “all revenue-generating agencies have surpassed their annual target by mid this year’ this positive development has not reflected in the implementation of the budget for the benefit of the people.

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Fuel subsidy fraud: EFCC lists 20 firms, arraigns Ali’s Tukur’ sons

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WENTY firms and individuals are to be prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in connection with an alleged N13.403billion oil subsidy fraud, the agency announced on Tuesday. They are accused of claiming to have imported about 237million litres of petroleum products which the EFCC could not trace. Listed for prosecution are seven companies and 13 individuals, including an official of the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA),Fakuade Babafemi and a director in the accounting firm of Akintola Williams Deliote, Ezekiel Olaleye Ejidele.

Impeachment threat:100 per cent budget execution not possible, says Okonjo-Iweala

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INANCE Minister Ngonzi Okonjo-Iweala declared on Wednesday that nowhere in the world does government budget record 100 per cent implementation as is now being demanded of the Federal Government by the House of Representatives. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala told reporters at the end of the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in Abuja that the September deadline given by the Reps for government to implement this year’s budget 100 per cent is untenable. But she explained that performance level reached 56 per cent as at last week and there is room for improvement.

Committee wants N382b recovered from 21 firms

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HE Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede Presidential Committee on Verification and Reconciliation of Fuel Subsidy payment submitted its report on Tuesday and asked that N382billion be recovered from 21 firms indicted by it for allegedly making fraudulent claims. The N382billion is part of the contentious N422billion identified by the Technical Committee also chaired by Aig-Imoukhuede

OLYMPICS BEGINS

Spectacular show heralds games

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HE queen and James Bond gave the London Olympics a royal entrance like no other on Friday in an opening ceremony that rolled to the rock of the Beatles, the Stones and The Who. And the creative genius of Danny Boyle spliced it all together. Brilliant. Cheeky, too.

Highlight of the Oscar-winning director’s $42 million show was pure movie magic, using trickery to make it seem that Britain’s beloved 86-year-old Queen Elizabeth II had parachuted into the stadium with the nation’s most famous spy.

A short film showed Daniel Craig as 007 driving to Buckingham Palace in a black London cab and, pursued by the royal corgis, meeting the queen, who played herself. “Good evening, Mr Bond,” she said.

They were shown flying in a helicopter over London landmarks and a waving statue of Winston Churchill - the queen in a salmon-colored dress, Bond dashing as ever in a black tuxedo - before leaping into the inky night over Olympic Park.

BATTLE FOR ALEPPO

A man carries wounded fiveyear-old Mohammed Amumrej, who was injured by shelling in Aleppo, Syria and later died, as fighting for control of the country’s second largest city intensifies. Photo: AFP

Ibori forfeits $3m assets to US, N2.2b to Fed Govt

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ONVICTED ex-Governor of Delta State, James Ibori, has forfeited $3million worth of assets to the American government and N2.2billion cash to the Federal Government.

The forfeiture is in compliance with a restraining order to register and enforce two orders from UK courts. Forfeited to US are a mansion in Houston, Texas and two Merrill Lynch brokerage accounts while the cash forfeited to the Federal Government is a $15million allegedly offered as bribe by Ibori to former EFCC Chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu through an undisclosed source.

LAND TUSSLE

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HE Nigerian Army, on Thursday, in Abuja, donated vehicle-stoppers to churches and mosques as part of measures to protect places of worship against terrorist attacks.

Major-General Bitus Kwaji, Army Chief of Civil Military Affairs, while handing over the devices to some leaders of churches and mosques, said that the gesture was part of the army’s corporate social responsibility.

Kwaji explained that the vehiclestopper was a unique device that

ARTEFACTS

Turai Yar’Adua versus US returns Nok statues Dame Jonathan T

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HE Federal Government last week informed an Abuja High Court of its willingness to settle the legal tussle be tween incumbent First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan and her predecessor, Turai Yar’Adua over a prime plot of land situated at Cadastral Zone in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. Documents before the court showed that the disputed land was duly allocated to Turai’s non-governmental organisation-Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation (WAYE) by the minister for the FCT with the right of occupancy duly issued to it.

Shortly after these transactions, the minister for the FCT, without reasons, issued a notice of revocation of the said property which it allocated to the plaintiff for the purpose of building public institution (training/vocational centre).

The said letter of revocation was backdated with effect from October 27, 2011.

Immediately after the revocation letter was issued, the FCT Minister, Bala Muhammed swiftly re-allocated the plot to another organisation, African First Ladies Peace Centre, to which the current first lady sponsors.

H E United States has returned 11 cultural artifacts to Nigeria.

Authorities said French customs officials tipped off the U.S. in April 2010 about a s h i p m e n t headed to New York’s Kennedy Airport.

The 10 Nok statues and a carved tusk were seized from a Manhattan gallery owner, and an investigation determined they were bona fide antiquities. The artifacts are to be displayed in Nigeria’s national museum.

Nok statues are about 2,000 to 2,500 years old, among the oldest sculptures in West Africa. They were first unearthed in 1943 at a tin mine near the village of Nok in Plateau State.

Homeland Security investigators say two Nok statues and a carved ivory tusk were previously seized at Chicago O’Hare International Airport.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

News Review

d impeachment intrigues New salary for police soon

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HE new salary scale proposed for the police will take effect soon, Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG, in charge of Zone 9, Umuahia, Abia State, Mr. Solomon Olusegun, has said in Awka, Anambra State.

Olusegun, who was on a visit to Anambra State, urged officers and men of the force to exercise patience, explaining that the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, had facilitated the implementation of the new salary scale.

He said: “I am aware that a new salary scheme is coming, but we need time to put things in order before payment begins, as the IG is putting finishing touches to it.”

He commended the Anambra State Police Commissioner, Mr. Bala Nasarawa and officers of the command for what he described as their performance in crime fighting in the state and urged them not to relent.

Northern communities shielding Boko Haram - SSS

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HE Director of the State Security Service in charge of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Mr. Little Okojie, has alleged that some communities are shielding members of Boko Haram from security operatives. Okojie said the security threat posed by the sect had become seemingly intractable because of the cover provided for the members by communities. The SSS director also said the sect’s asymmetric mode of operation also contributed to the difficulty in going into meaningful dialogue with them. Okojie spoke in Abuja while playing host to the newly elected executive members of the Abuja chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists on Wednesday. He said the situation was further complicated by the fact that intermediaries of the group refuse to disclose the identities of the members of the sect. However, he restated the determination of the SSS and other security agencies to OPE Benedict XVI on ensure effective coordination of Wednesday appointed the campaign against crimes in the Lebanese and Nigerian society. He lamented that some clergymen to a Vatican departmembers of the public decline to ment aimed at countering growvolunteer information on the ing secularisation in a sign of atactivities of Boko Haram members tention to two problematic reto security operatives. gions for the Catholic Church.

The Vatican said the Archbishop of Beirut of the Maronites, Paul Youssef Matar, and the Archbishop of Jos in central Nigeria, Ignatius Ayau Kaigama, would could stop vehicles that came in contact with it from any direction or be joining the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelisation. angle, saying: “`the innovation is simple and effective.

“It has been discovered that most attacks by suicide bombers are carried Despite the raging conflict in Syria, which has also raised tenout with vehicles loaded with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDS).

“In order to disallow bombers from reaching their targets, this invention sions within Lebanon, the pope comes in handy as it forcefully stops any vehicle that comes in contact is expected to visit Beirut on September 14-16 with a message callwith it at whatever speed,”’ he said.

The Army Director of Policy, Major-General Richard Chioba, said that ing for peaceful coexistence between religions in the region. the equipment had been tested in other countries and it worked.

Nigerian, Lebanese archbishops get Vatican posts

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Army donates anti-bomb devices to churches, mosques

COMEBACK

Oteh resumes work at SEC

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HE recently reinstated Director -General of the Se curities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms. Arunma Oteh reported for duties last Monday.

An official of the SEC said Oteh was at her desk before 10 am on Monday. The Nation gathered that everybody went about their duties peacefully despite the protest that trailed her reinstatement by the Federal Government on Wednesday.

However, most of the staff of the commission were still apprehensive at her reinstatement because they are afraid the DG might “weed out those who she perceived to be against her.”

THE WEEK IN QUOTES “The Nigerian federation is not working and cannot work in its present form because we have a sharing federation. A lorry cannot fly, for the simple reason that it is not designed to fly. In the same vein the Nigeria federation cannot succeed as a productive nation because it is not designed to produce. Nigeria needs to be unbundled to create a productive federation where all parts can produce and contribute not equally but in equal strength.”

—Senator Magnus Abe, on the need to restructure the country.

“If change – positive change – will ever come to our clime, it will not be engineered by those who are benefitting without conscience from the present cesspool of corrosive corruption. It will and can only come from a new breed without greed and a radical opposition to corruption. True, genuine change can only come from those not infected by the present corruption malaise; it can only come from positive agents of social change who are totally sold out to public good.”

—Pastor Tunde Bakare of the Latter Rain Assembly on “How to change government peacefully and make society better.”

“The assertion that the North is poorer than the South is largely untrue if we put into cognisance the enormous natural and human wealth and potential in the North that are absent in other geographical zones of Nigeria. The northern states simply need to free the region from those social, cultural, political, economic and religious inhibitions that retard, stifle and stunt the socio-economic and human development of the region.”

Civil rights activist Shehu Sani on why the North must depend less on oil revenue.

•Abe

OBITUARY

Ghana President Mills dies at 68

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HANA and its friends were thrown into mourning last week, with the sudden death of President John Atta Mills. He was 68.

“It is with heavy heart that we announce the sudden and untimely death of the President of the Republic of Ghana,” a statement from the President’s office said. It said Mills died a few hours after falling ill, but no further details were given.

A presidential aide, who asked not to be named, said the President had complained of pains on Monday evening and died yesterday afternoon when his condition worsened.

Reports said the President died of throat cancer.

Mills, who oversaw the start of oil production in Ghana, returned from medical checks in the United States last month after what he described as a “routine medical check-up.”

•Bakare

•Sani

QUIZZED

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SSS summons Bakare

HE Directorate of the State Security Service (SSS), Shangisha, Lagos, last week invited the Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly and Convener of the Save Nigeria Group (SNG) Pastor Tunde Bakare for questioning.

His media aide, Comrade Yinka Odumakin, said: “Yes, he has finished and is out of the place.” The Chairman of the Campaign for Democracy (CD), Dr Joe Okei Odumakin, confirmed the report.Her words: “I spoke with the pastor some minutes ago. He is out of the place. He told me that he was invited for a chat by security operatives. He got there around 3:10pm and left the place around 4:20pm.”

On whether the invitation was in connection with his Sunday sermon, entitled: “How to Change Government Peacefully and Make Society Free”, the activist said the cleric was questioned on several issues.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

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COMMENT and ANALYSIS THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

Agunloye: The chicken has finally come to roost E

VEN in party politics truth is constant, no matter its inherent intrigues. But not so the vacillating, chameleonic characteristics of some selfserving politicians who swim with every political tide, so far the price is right. Lacking in enduring personal principles, this group of politicians has been aptly labelled Any Party in Power (AGIP) in the Nigerian context.

One interesting example of such politicians whose attitudes change as swiftly as the tropic weather is none other than Dr. Olu Agunloye. Only a month ago, he was one of the candidates who vied for the gubernatorial candidacy of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) for the forthcoming poll in October. But now he is back again to the Labour Party, (LP) which he previously lampooned for lack of vision, to pledge support for Governor Olusegun Mimiko’s second term ambition. Talk about the African description of a bat as neither a bird nor a rat.

It is a notorious fact that this is not the first time he is exhibiting such a terrible trait. It has become his stock-in-trade to jump ship once his self-serving political ambition is not fulfilled. In fact, his serial betrayal habit can be traced back to 1999.Then, the Alliance for Democracy (AD) had unanimously adopted Chief Adebayo Adefarati (now late) as the gubernatorial candidate. But Agunloye, who incidentally hails from the same Akokoland, stood against Adefarati to the shock of the party leadership. He lost his bid, of course. But there was more to come from his bag of poly-tricks.

The ugly betrayal streak in him reared its ugly head again in December, 2002 when the agents of darkness shot and killed the hugely popular Chief Bola Ige (of blessed memory).Though Agunloye was the personal assistant to Ige who had served as the Minister of Power and Steel and subsequently, as the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, he betrayed the cause of the progressives against the reactionary forces by joining the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s government as the Minster-of-State for Defence.

Not done, his wily and crafty nature came to the fore again, when he colluded with Olusegun Agagu, as the PDP arrowhead in Ondo State to maneuver Adefarati out of power in 2003.That was when the anti-people party’s rigging machinery bulldozed its way through the South-West, winning nebulous and controversial victory to the amazement of patriots.

It was not long, however, that he stabbed the same Agagu in the back when he threw his weight behind Mimiko to get Agagu out of power as the governor. And acting more like a slippery, fictional character in a political thriller of a power game, Mimiko having known Agunloye’s antecedents pitched his tent with Professor Ajayi Borrofice, the Asiwaju of Akokoland, to scuttle Agunloye’s senatorial ambition.

Against this misty backdrop, the ACN political party hierarchy had to exercise caution to find out who is really committed to its party’s ideals. Though naturally, those seeking for political posts swarm like the butterflies, the birds and the bees to the flower’s nectar, it must be able to identify only those ready to pollinate the state with veritable ideas rather than suck it dry.

With years of sound political engineering experience, the ACN has been careful in its choice of gubernatorial candidate for the sunshine state. Just like it had done in Lagos, Ekiti, Osun, Edo, Ogun and Oyo states, quality leadership is its guiding credo. Characteristic of its painstaking sifting mechanisms to bring out only the best

Some praise in the morning what they blame at night, but they always think the last opinion right. -Alexander Pope

Lekan Otufodunrin Otufodunrin@thenationonlineng.net 08023000621 (SMS only)

Whose First Lady?

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•Agunloye dancing with Mimiko at the governor's rally last week

By Idowu Ajanaku

of men to occupy sensitive political posts, it was able to identify Agunloye as a mole planted by the Labour Party within the ACN. Having studied his past in politics, it was discovered that this indeed is a man driven more by the passion for selfaggrandisement than pursuing the common good, the fulcrum on which the party rests its levers of power. For instance, Agunloye had crawled back to the party thinking that he would win the 2011 senatorial poll. But he lost woefully to Prof.

Ajayi Boroffice and Dr.Bode Olajumoke of the PDP even in his ward, from the same Akokoland.

Besides, it is a painful reality that with his years in party politics and as a Minister, Agunloye cannot point to any visible structure as his achievement for his people. How then would ACN go ahead to give a nod for his governorship ambition, when he could not win as a senator?

Notably, when he decamped from LP to ACN he did not come in with a single follower. The structures he has been bragging about are that of the ACN he met on ground.

Interestingly too, now that he has jumped back to LP, he has done so without a single coordinator moving along with him. In fact, one of his closest associates, Mr. Femi Johnson, now the Deputy Director General of ACN Campaign Organisation in Ondo -South and all his supporters have since pledged their unalloyed loyalty to the ACN and its leadership, ahead of the coming governorship elections.

The ACN leadership had it suspicions, that just as certain individuals were planted by the PDP in the defunct Action Congress (AC) for the 2007 general elections; it is the same way that the LP has used Agunloye as the hidden cankerworm within the ACN foliage. The huge sums of money he was spending was a justification of Mimiko’s tacit funding of Agunloye’s ambition within the party.

In addition, since he declared his ambition to run for the governorship of the state on the platform of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, the National Chairman has

been receiving a deluge of text messages from Ondo State, alluding to the fact that he had an ace up his sleeve. He had to pass some of the messages to Mrs. Jumoke Anifowose, who was then the chairman of the party. But the party has seen through Agunloye’s political shenanigans and acted swiftly. If ACN had chosen him as the governorship candidate and he went on to win the election, it is apparent that he will jump ship again, to either the PDP or LP - his former parties.

To succeed in politics as it is with life, trust must be sacrosanct. But like a bird ever in flight for the next fruit to savour, Agunloye has not been able to perch and stay true to any political ideology. Was he not the same man who said that: “We do not have government in Ondo State. We only have a governor of market builders who lack vision on how to run government.” Of course, he said so. Similarly, it is on record that the same Agunloye painted “Mimiko as the worst governor that Ondo State has ever produced. With close to N550 billion accruing to the state in the last three years there is nothing on ground to justify the huge amount of money. Ondo State cannot continue with this government in another four years.”

Now the same man has gone back to his vomit. Must one trade his honour and integrity for a pittance?

It would interest all readers to know that in spite of all the media hype and several awards to his credit Mimiko has not constructed a single road either in Ondo his home town or Akokoland where Agunloye hails from. His exit from the ACN is good riddance to bad rubbish to an irredeemable political traitor.

As Burke, the erudite philosopher once rightly observed:” The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”. The ACN, as a solid platform for progressive minds cannot but rise up to the challenge of salvaging Ondo State from the stranglehold of inept political leadership.

•Ajanaku is director of media, publicity and strategy for the campaign organisation of Ondo ACN governorship aspirant, Rotimi Akeredolu

AME Patience Jonathan’s defence of her recent appointment as a Permanent Secretary in Bayelsa State has once again stirred the controversy over what the role of wives political appointees should be in government.

If the First Lady has her way, the role of the wives of political appointees will be included in the Constitution so that as she puts it “we too can retire with some benefits.”

She didn’t find it funny that the Lagos State Governor, Raji Fashola, reportedly asked her husband to call her to order when she came to Lagos on advocacy visit and caused a traffic gridlock. “When it suits them, they will say we don’t have office, why won’t I pursue my career that I am sure of,” she told newsmen after being sworn in.

I don’t have any problem with governors or anyone giving Dame Patience or any other political appointee’s wife any award, but when it comes to an official positions for which there are guidelines to comply with, it is unfortunate that she will justify what is clearly an unnecessary show of sycophancy by the Bayelsa governor.

The decision is indefensible however hard Governor Seriake Dickson tries to.

There is no provision for a Permanent Secretary at large in the civil service. If the state government thinks Dame Patience deserves the position based on her reported service in the state civil service, it should wait till she returns home from her present ceremonial assignment in Abuja.

Without any constitutional provision, there is enough for Dame Patience or wives of state governors to occupy themselves with. The problem is when they over step their bonds like many of them do.

They need to realise that the only thing that qualifies them to be in government house is that their husbands were elected into office. They are their husbands’ first ladies and not that of the country, state or council.

I don’t doubt that some of them are accomplished on their own and don’t need government’s office to be relevant, but there should be limit to how they throw their weight around and deplete resources that could have been better utilized for the benefit of the people. We can do without some of their bogus projects whose lifespan do not go beyond their stay in office.

Some state governor’s wives have literaly assumed the positions of deputy governors. This explains why they are usually at some official assignments where their presence are not needed.

The ongoing African first ladies conference holding in Abuja is an example of unnecessary jamboree that first ladies embark on. How can the Oyo State government for example justify the reported trip of wives of legislators in the state to United Kingdom for whatever training?

If their husbands are interested in training them, it is okay, but to spend state resources on a programme like this is uncalled for.

While the president and state governors may not openly admit, the truth is that their wives have become a major distraction and concern for them and the earlier the women realise this, the better for their husbands who may have to suffer the political consequence.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

Comment & Analysis

BRAHAM Lincoln said that a house divided against itself cannot stand.

He was right about slavery, but the maxim doesn’t apply to much else. In general, the best people are contradictory, and the most enduring institutions are, too.

The Olympics are a good example. The Olympics are a peaceful celebration of our warlike nature.

The opening ceremony represents one side of the Olympic movement. They are a lavish celebration of the cooperative virtues: unity, friendship, equality, compassion and care. In Friday’s ceremony, there’ll be musical tributes to the global community and the Olympic spirit. There will be Pepsi commercial-type images of the people from different backgrounds joyfully coming together. There will be pious speeches about our common humanity and universal ideals.

And there will be a lot of dancing. Because we’re social, semi-herdlike creatures, we take a primordial pleasure in the sight of a large number of people moving in unison. Dance is physical, like sports, but, in many ways, it is the opposite of sports. In dance, the purpose is to blend with and mirror each other; in sport, the purpose is to come out ahead. Dancers perform for the audience and offer a gift of emotion; athletes respond to one another and the spectators are just there to witness and cheer.

Dancers, especially at the opening ceremony, smile in warmth and friendship.

No true sport is ever done smiling (this is the problem with figure skating and competitive cheerleading).

After the opening ceremony is over, the Olympics turn into a celebration of the competitive virtues: tenacity, courage, excellence, supremacy, discipline and conflict.

The Olympic contradiction

By David Brooks

The smiling goes away and the grimfaced games begin. The marathoner struggling against exhaustion, the boxer trying to pummel his foe, the diver resolutely focused on her task. The purpose is to be tougher and better than the people who are seeking the same pinnacle.

If the opening ceremony is win-win, most of the rest of the games are win-lose.

If the opening ceremony mimics peace, the competitions mimic warfare. It’s not about the brotherhood of humankind. It’s about making sure our country beats the Chinese in the medal chart.

Through fierce competition, sport separates the elite from the mediocre. It identifies the heroes and standards of excellence that everybody else can emulate (a noble loser can serve as well as a talented winner). The idea is not to win friendship; it’s to win glory. We get to see people experi-

encing the thrill of victory from the agony of defeat and judge how well they respond.

In sum, the Olympic Games appeal both to our desire for fellowship and our desire for status, to the dreams of community and also supremacy. And, of course, these desires are in tension. But the world is, too. The world isn’t a jigsaw puzzle that fits neatly and logically together. It’s a system of clashing waves that can never be fully reconciled.

The enduring popularity of the Olympics teach the lesson that if you find yourself caught between two competing impulses, you don’t always need to choose between them. You can go for both simultaneously. A single institution can celebrate charitable compassion and military toughness. A three-week festival can be crassly commercial, but also strangely moving.

F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said that the mark of a first rate intelligence is the ability

“In sum, the Olympic Games appeal both to our desire for fellowship and our desire for status, to the dreams of community and also supremacy. And, of course, these desires are in tension. But the world is, too. The world isn’t a jigsaw puzzle that fits neatly and logically together. It’s a system of clashing waves that can never be fully reconciled”

to hold two contradictory thoughts in your mind at the same time. But it’s not really the mark of genius, just the mark of anybody who functions well in the world. It’s the mark of any institution that lasts.

A few years ago, Roger Martin, the dean of the University of Toronto’s management school, wrote a book called “The Opposable Mind,” about business leaders who can embrace the tension between contradictory ideas. One of his examples was A.G. Lafley of Proctor & Gamble.

Some Procter & Gamble executives thought the company needed to cut costs and lower prices to compete with the supermarket store brands. Another group thought the company should invest in innovation to keep their products clearly superior. Lafley embraced both visions, pushing hard in both directions.

The world, unfortunately, has too many monomaniacs — people who pick one side of any creative tension and wish the other would just go away. Some parents and teachers like the cooperative virtues and distrust the competitive ones, so, laughably, they tell their kids that they are going to play sports but nobody is going to keep score.

Politics has become a contest of monomaniacs. One faction champions austerity while another champions growth. One party becomes the party of economic security and the other becomes the party of creative destruction.

The right course is usually to push hard in both directions, to be a house creatively divided against itself, to thrive amid the contradictions. The Olympics are great, but they are not coherent.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

Comment & Analysis

15

Impeachment threat Time for olive branch and it must come from the hand of the President

T

HE threat by the House of Representatives to impeach President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan over the poor implementation of the budget has elicited mixed reactions across the country.

While some Nigerians are urging the Representatives to carry out the threat, others have condemned the plan as unnecessary and an attempt to raise political tension in the country. For us, and we guess many non-partisan Nigerians, while we are disappointed with President Jonathan’s stewardship so far, we are also appalled by the quality of representation from our legislators.

No doubt, the House of Representatives has the constitutional prerogative to initiate an impeachment proceeding against the President, as long as they follow the dictates of the constitution. According to the members of the House, President Jonathan has failed to obey the provisions of the appropriation act, and they have given him until September to obey the law or they will initiate impeachment proceedings against him. We agree that when a budget is passed, it becomes an act of parliament, and a flagrant disregard of its provisions constitutes a gross misconduct on the part of the executive. Moreover, the constitution gifts the legislature the prerogative to determine what constitutes an impeachable offence.

Yet, the House must act with caution in exercising this constitutional mandate; as it should be exercised conscientiously.

This is not the first time that impeachment Damocles has overhung the presidency in this republic. During the tempestuous Obasanjo regime, the legislature tackled the executive, if in futile warfare.

This is the first in the Jonathan presidency, and it came a few weeks after the Lawan/Otedola standoff gutted the moral air of our body politic.

The issue from the legislative standpoint is that the president has fallen short in implementing the budget. The prime job of the executive is to govern and the budget is the core of that responsibility. This implies providing security, infrastructure, education, healthcare, among others. If the president has fallen

O

N behalf of the Ojukwu family of Umudim, Nnewi, in response to your recent interview with one Mr Sylvester Ude [The Nation on Sunday, July 15, 2012] who parades himself as an ‘Ojukwu’, I advance 20 serious questions the said individual should answer.

Anyone/media who persists in describing the said Sylvester Ude as Ikemba’s son, first son etc. faces risk of legal action for aiding and abetting fraud, misinformation. Serious journalism demands that statements are substantiated.

Sylvester Ude whether natural, adopted, biological, chemical, outside, step, school or sugar or ‘guzo-were’ son was NEVER acknowledged by the Ikemba as his child. He is not Ojukwu, he therefore is not from Nnewi. His contract to manage company property ended in 2007. It is OVER for him. He should pay and refund the company money owed. In the future, any time Mr Ude opens his mouth documents/ letters will be released.

Positive things should be reported about the family/ company: a member of the family recently delivered a baby on the Delta airline Lagos to Atlanta flight; the company board is being expanded to hopefully include Ikemba’s children soon.

short of these, as indeed he has, then it goes without saying that he has committed an impeachable offence.

The finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has argued that the budget implementation has surpassed 50 percent. This is frightful as we cannot see evidence in terms of corresponding provisions of basic amenities. It is not a good sign. Implementation, from the people’s perspective, is not about paying salaries and emoluments, but in providing such basics as water and electricity.

Regrettably, the House itself reels from one scandal to another, and many Nigerians regard the legislature and its executive counterpart as two sides of a filthy political coin. As things stand, neither side seems capable of redeeming the other. The House of Representatives’ threat is made even more unattractive by the allegation that what rankles their members is the non-implementation of the much abused constituency projects and similar corruption-induced padding in the budget. The House has denied this, and we have no evidence to prove that the absence of pecuniary advantages from the executive is driving the threat.

What no one can deny though is that from the onset of this leadership under Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, the president has set itself on a collision course with the legislature. The election of the leadership was not even President Jonathan’s preference.

In spite of this bad blood, the presidency has not tried to build bridges. Rather, the problem has exacerbated. We have other evidence. Early in the year when the nation crawled under the fuel subsidy

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

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

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

strikes, the House pitched its tent with the people against a defiant presidency. A few months ago, the president and the Speaker engaged in a public disagreement over bills sent to the president for assent.

The most contentious recently was the Lawan/ Otedola scandal in which the presidency is perceived to have gloated over the agonies of the House when one of its own fell for allegedly accepting a bribe. The presidency, which is chummy with Otedola, has not shown any sense of outrage at the giver of the alleged bribe while the taker suffers.

We cannot deny that this foul air may have provided the background to this impeachment threat, and President Jonathan’s ineptitude in governance so far has merely provided the fodder for an avenging legislature.

So, while we support that the president should obey every act of the parliament, including the budgetary act, we are numbed when we remember that the House of Representatives and even the Senate, since this political dispensation, have continually shown that the corrupt interests of their members count.

To avoid this regularly travelled road, we urge that between now and September, the parties should put the national interest above the parochial follies of the two arms of government, to resolve their misunderstanding.

Unfortunately, because of poor performance, a sizeable number of Nigerians would have readily acquiesced to an impeachment trial for President Jonathan.

The House of Representatives itself has scant regard for the honour and dignity the constitution expects from it. Whether in their inordinate greed that harvests huge salaries which they back by law, or by failure to pursue the so-called constituency projects with integrity, they have not presented themselves as moral superiors to a derailed presidency.

However, the president is the numero uno in this republic, and if the adversarial air persists, it is because he has failed to mollify the turbulent waters by generating an olive branch.

LETTERS

20 questions for Sylvester Ude [a.k.a Debe Ojukwu] Ikemba’s Will hopefully will be read soon; proposed Sir Odumegwu Ojukwu Memorial Hospital should take off soon whilst his legitimate grandchildren are working hard in various fields.

I have these 20 questions for him: 1. Where is your birth certificate?

2. Do you have any picture of

your ‘parents’ together or the marriage certificate?

3. Any picture of you and Ikemba when you were growing up? A few photos may exist when the poor man’s sight was failing recently.

4. Any evidence of Ikemba paying any school fees for you?

You went to the Ivory Coast to see Ikemba whilst he was in exile, any photos? No, be-

cause you were sent back at the airport!

5. Did Ikemba ever draft a letter disowning you? Do you want it published?

6. Were you ever investigated for corruption in the police—if so when?

7. What was your last transfer in the police, where to and why? Did you go? Why not?

How much was in your bank account then?

8. You called Innocent Okafor your father’s ‘trustee’—do you really mean ‘confidant’?

9. How is Innocent Okafor a member of the Ojukwu family?

10. Have you ever slept under the same roof as Ikemba? If so, when, who can confirm it? Has he ever visited you?

When and where?

11. Show us a single letter written to you by Ikemba.

Isoko and open varsity study centres

T

HE recent plan to set up National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) study centres in two strategic Isoko communities in Oleh and Ozoro, Delta State, are welcome development. This will help to reduce adult illiteracy in the land. The opening of a study centre will also attract massive investments in the region.

Over the years, only the young minds go to school while the old go to farm and fish and nothing else. With

globalisation and cross-fertilization of knowledge and competence, many old Isoko people are now embracing educational system. In 2001, when NOUN kicked off its academic programmes, many working class and retired citizens who could not attend the normal conventional universities due to financial incapacitation had opportunity to further their education. Even former President Olusegun Obasanjo graduated with a diploma in theology after his service years

as a president.

Ozoro and Oleh are good sites to establish study centres.

Knowledge derived at old age is not a waste but for the betterment of Nigeria. The benefit of NOUN is that of it does not deprive someone his or her career in life. Its academic activities are done online, which invariably make aging persons to be equipped with computer knowledge.

It is unfortunate that the so-called bigwig politicians have abysmally failed to pro-

vide for aging Isoko people.

Some regions are greater than others as a result of exposure to education. No region grows fast without education.

It is a pity that the newly established federal universities did not extend to Isoko nation.

Over the years, the Isoko region has been marginalised and neglected by powers that be. It is the minority factor that has been militating against the region over the years.

By Godday Odidi, Ajegunle, Apapa, Lagos

12. How old were you when you started answering Ojukwu?

13. What was your mother to Ikemba? His relatives are willing to testify—ok with you?

14. Have you doctored/forged any document regarding mandate to manage Ojukwu Transport Limited (OTL) property? Do you want it referred to EFCC? 15. Why can your conduct in management of (OTL) property not be described as corrupt/theft/assault/thuggery?

16. Is it true that when Ikemba and his hirelings came to evict you from 13 Alexander/Ojora Rd you ran away abandoning your wife and children??

17. Have you ever given money to Emeka Jnr/Bianca?

18. Did you ever see Ikemba’s body after he died? Show receipt of any expenditure when Ikemba was abroad.

19. Do you not care about your wife, children and grandchildren knowing that you are accused of being a bastard and a thief? Is 30% for 12 years not enough?

20. Have you heard of the saying: ‘every day for the thief, one day for the owner’?

Ike Ojukwu

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16

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

Comment & Analysis

Ropo Sekoni ropo.sekoni @thenationonlineng.net

T

ODAY’S piece responds to queries from some of our readers. One of my charges is to comment on the advantages or disadvantages (or both) of our country’s presidential system.

Our presidential system was imposed on the country by military dictators in 1979 and has been sustained by them or their civilian cronies ever since, as part of military-authored constitutions. Many have argued that the adoption of the presidential system was to achieve a political engineering that the military considered to be closer to their command system, particularly in the extensive powers given to the president than the parliamentary system inherited from the British at independence in 1960.

Others have argued that the adoption, along with introduction of unitary system, nicknamed in the constitution as federalism, was also aimed at getting a political system that was close to the Emirate or Sultanate system popular with states of origin of most of the military dictators that ruled the country from 1966 to 1999.

Whatever the motivation for copying or bastardizing the presidential system was, it has turned out to be an extremely plutocratic system, particularly since the beginning of what is known as transition to democracy from

Our presidential system: from kleptocracy to plutocracy?

The current presidential system is a mode of government reserved for the rich Babangida’s era till now. The presidential system is much more expensive to operate than the parliamentary system. It also encourages more mediocrity in lawmaking than the parliamentary system. In terms of policymaking and implementation, it is supposed to save more time than the parliamentary system but it has not been able to do this in our own country.

On cost, President Jonathan was quoted as saying when he wanted to introduce one term of six years for presidents and governors that his proposal was to save so much of the resources spent on electioneering. He has been through two campaigns and should know how much money must have gone into running with Yar’Adua and later with Sambo. It is surprising that the president has suddenly gone soft on this matter ever since the Senate announced its intention to amend the 1999 Constitution. It is true that the presidential system in the United States is also expensive, but the business pedigree of presidential candidates and candidates for the legislatures is starkly different from that of their Nigerian coun-

terparts. Even the fundraising culture in the United States is a world apart from what obtains in Nigeria.

More than in the parliamentary system in which the chief executive is also a legislator, our presidential system isolates the president from lawmaking. The chief executive – president or governor— though elected on a party platform, can run on his own financial steam in our country. The monetization of politics since the period of transition from 1993 to now has virtually left running for executive and legislative positions under the presidential system to moneybags.

It has been argued that military dictators deliberately opted for the presidential system because they were sure that their retired members and their cronies would have enough resources to run for office, succeed them and give military dictators soft landing in the post-military era. This appears to have happened. Otherwise, no former military head of state should be receiving the generous superannuation benefits they receive today.

The sad part of the monetization

of the presidential system is that it has thrown up candidates that have deep pocket, regardless of how they came about it. We do hear of some former governors who had to sell their property to run for gubernatorial elections, but on the whole, most of the candidates for office since 1999 have been those with history of participation in politics under the military or of contract awards during military rule. It is common knowledge that corruption during military rule, much more than the government they displaced in 1966, earned the country its notoriety as one of the most corrupt countries in the universe. This is not to say that the civilian administrations since 1999 have not been trying hard to outdo their military predecessors in the race of corruption.

The current presidential system has now become a plutocracy, a mode of government reserved for the rich, regardless of the fact that the number of Nigerians with deep pocket from genuine business can be counted on finger tips. In a way, people are right to think that most of the plutocrats in power today must have started as kleptocrats while in

government or associated with those in power before 1999. There are a few without money but who have godfathers with kleptocratic pedigree to sponsor them for elections.

The mediocrity in governance and lawmaking may have developed from the monetization of the electoral system and post-election governance. Lawmakers, like presidents or governors who have spent so much of their ill-gotten money to win elections, certainly need to pay as much (if not more) attention to recouping what they see as investment than worrying about the citizens and the infrastructure. It is the recognition by those in government that money drives the country’s presidential system that must have accounted for the recent charge that legislators wishing to impeach the president for budgetary non-performance are doing so because they have not been given a chance to collect their allowance ahead of time. It is the focus by those in government on self-enrichment that makes it normal for the executive and the legislature to accuse each other of giving and taking bribe, from Obasanjo’s third-term project to Jonathan’s petroleum subsidy removal.

The parliamentary system may not be corruption-free, but it requires more discipline of party members than what obtains in the current presidential system we operate in our country.

Fayemi: 21 months of quiet revolution in Ekiti (2) Femi Orebe femi.orebe @thenationonlineng.net 08056504626 (sms only)

T

HE quip of a wisecrack at our watering hole during the past week that the Lilliputians governing us have atrophied Nigeria to their Lilliputian heights meant nothing to me until the following day when I hit the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, 9am last Tuesday, 24 July, 2012, and by 12 noon still did not know when I would reach the city. I had intended to honour the memory of departed Rev Ibukun Wale Falope, my brother and friend, all the way from Christ’s School Ado-Ekiti, where he was a year ahead of me .

But the Lilliputians denied me that sacred duty to a dear friend. A tearinducing wit, and son of a Bishop, Wale was your delectable man of God. All we can now do is pray God to grant his ‘inimitable soul mate’ of a wife,’ Vicky, and the children, Bishop and his siblings, the strength to bear this irreparable loss. My commiseration equally goes to Brother Femi, Jumoke and the other members of the exceedingly great family he left behind. Wale, please put my absence at your glorious obsequies at the feet of the Lilliputians.

Till we meet, at the feet of Jesus, to part no more.

Hakeem Jamiu, Senior Special Assistant to Gov Fayemi, concludes a narration of the governor’s achievements. Please note that it is massively edited for space purposes.

A total of 15 intra and inter township roads would be delivered within the next three months. Road construction of 5 kilometres each is presently going on in all the 16 local gov-

Governor Fayemi has impacted positively on large areas of the state ernment areas of the state. Under the urban renewal programme, all roads in Ado Ekiti metropolis shall be resurfaced with thick asphalt overlay that would last for at least ten years.

This is already in progress. Presently in the state capital, walkways are being constructed as well as flower beds. Reconstruction and beautification of major roundabouts will soon follow while the contractor that will erect streetlights on the newly resurfaced roads has moved to site. Road construction is simultaneously going on in all the 16 local governments of the state.

As is already well known, power is an integral part of the governor’s 8-Point Agenda. Apart from the procurement of 120 transformers to boost power supply, the administration has freshly extended electricity to many areas of the state. A good example is the Oke-Ako community in Ikole local government area which has been without electricity for over 200 years. Other communities that have benefited from provision of electricity under the Fayemi regime are: Otunja, Irele-Ekiti, Ilemeso, Ilupeju-Ijan, Omisanjana, Science Secondary School Emure, and the Ekiti State University Gate. On-going electrification projects include Eda–Ile, Aba Osun, Odo-Uro, Iyemero, and Aba Fatunla in the Ikole LGA. If anything is integral to the Fayemi administration, it is the overall development, and deployment, as much as possible, of the huge human capital in the state. It is not for nothing that the ILE IYI, ILE EYE was hitherto dubbed the Fountain of Knowledge The administration has employed a total of 4,643 graduates under the Youth Volunteer scheme, 7,500 facility managers and street

sweepers. 200 youths are undergoing skills acquisition while some 240 youths are about resuming training under the auspices of the National Directorate of Employment which has established an active synergy with the state government not to mention the hundreds in the employ of the Traffic Management Agency..

The state, where sits the world famous Ikogosi Warm Springs is irretrievably being developed into a tourists’ centre of choice in the country. The Warm Spring has been completely re-engineered with a new swimming pool and a befitting landscaping, while modern chalets have been built for the use of tourists. An amphitheater is currently under construction at the resort and has reached 70 per cent completion.

The Ekiti State Community and Social Development Agency jointly funded by the state and the World Bank has executed 108 projects spread across the 16 local governments. The projects include rural roads; basic health centres; rural electrification; boreholes, construction of storage tanks, box culverts and drainages; civic centres and markets.. The government paid N100 Million counterpart fund in 2011.

The Fayemi administration provides free and compulsory education at the primary and secondary levels while it reduced fees payable in higher institutions. It consolidated the shambolic higher institutions it inherited for purposes of better funding and overall management.

They are now well poised to partner with the state government in its development efforts.

The one laptop per student project has now seen a total of 6,969 laptops distributed to students and 5,031 to teachers in its first phase. The

target for 2014 is a laptop for each student, their teachers, as well as the physically challenged students.

School bags as well as dictionaries were distributed to the students.

In a massive operation RENOVATE ALL SCHOOLS IN EKITI which will involve 100 schools in the first phase within the next eight weeks and which was flagged off by the governor this past week, the old, nauseating and decrepit schools which dotted the educational landscape will give way to glittering schools.

With its scintillating launch of over 7000 school chairs same week, the state SUBEB which is currently building over 100 schools all over the state has powerfully announced its arrival as a major development arm of the state government.

In the area of industrialization, the Ire Burnt Brick Industry, the Ikun Diary Farm, ROMACO, a Quarry company located at Igbemo, are all being resuscitated. The Fountain Solid Minerals Company recently established by the governor to explore our mineral resources for maximum economic benefit started mining on July 17, 2012. Exploration of Kaolin has started at Isan Ekiti while that of Aluminum bauxite has commenced at Orin-Ekiti.

The Ekiti Enterprise Development Agency has attracted several investors to the state. It recently began a Kero-Direct project which has been dispensing kerosene to Ekiti people at N50 per litre instead of the shylocks’ N150.

Ekiti National Assembly members have decided to jointly fund an irrigation project for commercial farming at the Egbe dam. The project is worth N600 million. For this purpose, the state government has

cleared 2,000 hectares of land. This will be given out to youths for commercial farming.

In financial engineering, the ereceipt and biometrics systems introduced by the administration has blocked leakages in the state’s finances and has seen the Internally Generated Revenue increase significantly going from 109 million naira in Oct 2010 to 620 million in April 2012. Though the federal government is no longer able to release statutory allocation to states when due, the Ekiti State government is not owing its workers any salary arrears.

I speak here of a work force of 58,000 and a monthly wage bill of N1.5 Billion from a 2.8 Billion.

As a result of all these, the state, under the sterling leadership of governor Kayode Fayemi, was recently described as follows in the current Human Development Report: ‘Ekiti State is the most conducive environment to live, for long and healthy living with a life expectancy average of 55 years more than the national life expectancy average of 50 years’.

Similarly, the latest MDG Report (2012) circulated by the Federal Ministry of Health scored Ekiti high in healthcare delivery. According to the report, Ekiti has the second lowest infant mortality rate in the country.

As a result, the Minister of Health last week commended Ekiti State for doing what no other state is doing on health care in the country. Ekiti is the only state that is doing free health 100 per cent to its pregnant women and covering 45 per cent of the state’s population under her free health programme.

It is the only state that has in place, a social security programme by which it takes care of its elders.

Without a doubt, Governor Fayemi has impacted positively on large areas of the state and by the time on-going projects are concluded, the governor would have more than firmly planted his feet on the sands of time as the ‘primus inter pares’ amongst all Ekiti governors.

Comment & Analysis

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

Tunji

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

M

UCH water has passed underneath the proverbial bridge since the January fuel subsidy revolts in the country.

And much is still expected to, given the sensitive nature of the issue. In the past few weeks, there were at least three developments that necessitated my commenting, once again, on the matter. One is the dragging of the Federal Government to the Supreme Court by the governors.

The two have agreed to settle the matter out of court; a thing that calls for concern and eternal vigilance by Nigerians because they are likely to be the beasts of whatever burden that will come out of that unholy settlement by the September deadline that the apex court gave them to resolve the matter.

Two, the threat by oil marketers to stop importation of petrol over unpaid subsidy and sundry issues pertaining to a Memorandum of Understanding they said they had with the Federal Government in 2010. And then, the arraignment of some of the subsidy fraud suspects in court. These are serious developments in our quest to know the truth on how we spent trillions on fuel subsidy last year.

Of these three developments, at least two were predictable: the governors’ new demand for more money and the threat by the marketers. Indeed, I had predicted the latter in at least one of my previous write-ups.

The road we are going to travel in this long-drawn battle to retrieve

17

Subsidy suspects’ arraignment, etc.

We need eternal vigilance to retrieve our stolen money from many of the marketers what they got illegally from the country will be long and tortuous. That is beginning to happen. The marketers sneezed last week and, in less than 48 hours, the government decided to effect subsidy payment.

According to the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi OkonjoIweala, the directive to pay “…is to reinforce the Federal Government’s determination to ensure that there is no disruption in fuel supplies across the country”. That is the subtle blackmail to expect.

Well, there is nothing wrong in paying people for services rendered; in fact, we should do that possibly before their sweat dries up.

But what happened in the subsidy regime is that we paid far more subsidy than the quantum of fuel many of the marketers supplied, particularly last year. Unfortunately, the government that should have applied the brakes when the subsidy payments were becoming outrageous (i.e. more than triple what we had been paying in previous years) simply looked the other way,

thus fuelling speculations that it was part of the racket. This theory seemed plausible not only because the government did not act until prompted, but also because there was no increase in economic activities to justify the consumption of more fuel last year.

Worse still, it was an election year, in which some of the companies involved in the subsidy racket donated substantial sums to the government. A more responsible government would have asked questions when the subsidy was mounting. Yet, but for mass protests in January, it would have been business as usual iwith the fuel racket, with people smiling to the banks with stolen billions and the government itself helplessly watching, as Nigerians are forced to undergo needless pains in the name of deregulation. Even when the House of Representatives looked into the matter, the government was busy looking for excuses to discredit its report because of the so-called ‘sting operation’ involving the chairman of the ad-hoc committee that examined the subsidy regime,

“So, whatever they are,’ fat cows’ or ‘king’s goats’, those who stole via subsidy payments should just keep whatever is left of what they stole somewhere with the hope of turning it in when the time comes. This cannot be the usual PDP ‘family affair’. They have stolen too much for the owners to notice. If today’s king knows Joseph, a king may come that will not know Joseph”

Farouk Lawan and oil magnate, Mr Femi Otedola.

In fairness to the governors, it is not that some of them do not have genuine need for more money. No doubt, many of them may be as guilty as or even guiltier than the Federal Government where fraud is the issue. But it could be painful for a governor who is truly desirous of giving good governance to see the kind of scams running into billions in the centre without feeling a sense of loss, especially when the money being looted perpetually is a collective patrimony. There is too much free fund in the hands of the Federal Government; and that is why it is easy for billions to be stolen without the government realising that the country is bleeding.

But where I disagree with the governors is this their idea of craving for money at all cost, not minding whether Nigerians are skinned alive for such money to be available.

When they began the case for more money from whatever savings they thought the government was going to make from subsidy withdrawal last year, many of us disagreed with them not because we did not want them to provide infrastructural facilities (for the serious ones among them) but because we knew ab initio that the entire subsidy regime was a huge racket. The governors’ argument that we would be out of the subsidy mess once the government deregulated the downstream sector of the oil industry, also did not appeal to many of us because the deregulation would have been based on that fraudulent template. This is much more so because we have in

place a government that is behaving as if money is not our problem but how to spend it.

What I would have expected the governors to do was side with Nigerians to fight the Federal Government and ensure that sanity is restored to the oil sector. But the governors apparently thought that it was easier to side with the latter against the people . The Federal Government too must have reasoned along that line; hence, its leaving those who are stealing in the name of subsidy to continue smiling to the banks while asking Nigerians to get ready to keep providing the fund for them to steal.

All said, what we need at this stage of the matter is eternal vigilance. We should not go to sleep just on account of a few suspects being arraigned. What we lost to subsidy racket is by far more than the few billions for which the suspects have been arraigned. I sincerely hope this is just the beginning of the arraignment . Those involved are fat cows.

My candid advice to them, however, is that they should not see their loot as the leg of a mad man that belongs to nobody. What they stole belongs to the Nigerian people and they will have to cough it up sooner or later. So, whatever they are,’ fat cows’ or ‘king’s goats’, those who stole via subsidy payments should just keep whatever is left of what they stole somewhere, with the hope of turning it in when the time comes. This cannot be the usual PDP ‘family affair’. They have stolen too much for the owners to notice. If today’s king knows Joseph, a king may come that will not know Joseph.

To cure your bellyache, just double over Postscript, much of what has happened with the subsidy money Unlimited! has been to the full knowledge of this government By

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

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HEN everyone raised, first their eyebrows, then their voices against the sudden, prodigious jump in payouts on fuel spendings in the national budget, the government took umbrage and looked the other way. Now, the enquiries have proved the people right and the government sad. It turned out that some among us have become very light-fingered indeed and have dipped into the national fuel business simply by collecting money for what they did not supply. You could say it was because they knew how.

By extension, this also means that they have dipped their hands into my pocket as I now have to pay more for fuel because of them. How dare they?!

Unable to go and confront them in person, I have been constrained to watching them on the telly and what I have seen has not pleased me one bit. I have seen that the fuel subsidy scam suspects are well and truly connected to the ruling political elites by blood or business. Believe me, one is as good as the other.

So, as I look at them and try to fight the temptation to poke my digits

right in their eyes on my telly and barely winning, I think these are the highs of the highs robbing the lows of the lows. How low or scummy can you really get!

Worse, on the news, I have seen that these alleged suspects all to a man and woman are wearing this look of calmness and ennui that is all but saying, ‘this too shall pass’.

Their looks collectively say ‘trust Nigerians to build a castle from a molehill: what is all the fuss about?

Is it not just a few billions? The dust will soon settle and Nigeria will go on as before’. It’s a matter of lawyers. When two elephants fight, after all, it’s the lawyers who gain.

Now, why have I not thought of that line of business before? No, I am not talking about taking fuel money and refusing to supply the product; I am talking about being the advocate of someone who is asked to account for billions of Naira. It is at such times of frustration that my stomach pains tend to occur or become aggravated. I have trouble digesting bad news or bad business decisions.

The trouble with stomach ache is that when it strikes, you have to really listen to it to know in which direction it is coming from and where it is going; more importantly where it is taking you. Some would take you to the err, loony room again and again (forgive my crudeness, dear reader) while some would not be satisfied with anything less than a visit to the physician who may grope around your midriff a bit, shake his head, and

confirm your fears by his silence.

Once, someone suffering from some serious pains in the stomach region took himself to the doctor who, yeah, groped around the patient’s midriff, and then frowning, asked him if he had had it before. Yes, gasped the patient. Well now, said the doctor, you’ve got it again. I took a good look at my own stomach pain and decided to do something about it. I went to the doctor. Gerrout of here, he told me; no one gets stomach ache from undigested bad news.

I then went to a healer and complained. No, he did not prod me.

He simply asked if I was also throwing up. I said no. When do I feel the pain most? Usually when I hear some bad news about the country, I replied. He laughed and told me to go and simply put some salt and sugar in water and that would balance me. I laughed. Salt and sugar? Try it, the sugar will sweeten you, he insisted. I did. The sugar gave me extra weight (as if I didn’t have enough) while the salt gave me extra sweat.

Next, I listened out for some advertisement that would point me to some solution other than salt and sugar. One ad said the problem might be due to something I ate but did not digest or did not agree with me. Ain’t that right, I thought; try the news that persists in settling like a rolled-up ball on one’s nether regions. Anyway, the ad recommended its own salts that fizzed worse than the ocean’s froth in the grip of a strong wave. It also tasted

like the ocean water and the effect was worse: it sent me scampering in every direction looking for that loo. Worse, the rolled-up ball stayed, undigested.

Then I think that, maybe, my stomach ache is the result of not being related to these high and mighty party men, as in, like, you know, daughter, sister, etc. Is it not possible that what I get can be no more than a bellyache, particularly seeing that I am probably envious? Serious on its own too, I believe, but thank God, it has a cure. Trouble in the nether regions usually has one bent double sniffing the ground; so all I need to do is double over. With a posture like that, two things can happen. The trouble either disappears or I soon forget it. Of course, bent double like that, I also get to see no evil, and well, I get to see no evil. At that point, ignorance is bliss.

The arraignment of the fuel scammers has led me to an interesting discovery: ignorance can sometimes be a sign of genius. The story goes that some very, very clever person keeping a python as a pet in the house woke up one night to find it loose in the sitting room. It had escaped from its terrarium and was wandering around like the Israelites. The owner soon captured it again and put it in a sack hoping to take care of it in the morning. Somehow while everyone slept again (this even pains me to write), the ‘stupid’ python freed itself, slithered around, and struck and strangulated the owner’s toddler who was asleep in her own cot, killing her slowly. I

have recounted the story for you in a mild form, dear reader, so as not to offend your sensibilities too much. Obviously, those who keep dangerous animals as pets have absolutely no idea what the blessed things can do. That is what brings out the genius in them. For instance, it is a truth that no one has any idea what a python is really capable of.

Or is it a case of knowing being one thing, believing being another? I really don’t know.

In the same way, I think it should be obvious enough that much of what has happened with the subsidy money has been to the full knowledge of this government. It is very clear that those at the heart of the subsidy problem are those who have access to the throne room of the government; yet it let them loose in its sitting room. Now, those tough guys are strangulating the weaker citizens who have no access to the corridors of power. Instead, the government has been seeking how to make those same weak citizens pay for the consequences of its masquerades. What genius! This is not just snake-keeping; it is snakecuddling.

The government has been negligent in this matter. It has failed to rein in its few powerful friends and instead, seeks to sacrifice the interests of its many defenceless citizens at the altar of political expediency.

It has failed to enforce the laws laid down against these things. Wherever a system that regards person and position exists, there is bound to be arrogance. The bellyache I get from listening to the news comes from this aloof arrogance that just seems to dare the rest of us: do the worst you can. To end my own bellyache, therefore, I have resolved to just double over.

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ARLIER in the life of his administration, Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo stated that the provision of infrastructure is a responsibility of any government to the electorate. He said all what is needed for the government to prioritise and deliver the goods is a well focused, coordinated, balanced, goal driven and mutually inclusive approach to questions of leadership and societal development across the relevant sector of the society.

It was a declaration of intent to open up all sectors as development strategy that would facilitate direct and indirect total transformation of the lives of the people of Gombe State. For quite some time now, the need to gear development efforts towards stemming rural urban migration have become the trend nationwide.

Thus, development policies centred on provision of more infrastructure to the rural areas as a way of contending with the ever growing population of the cities have become a major challenge in Gombe state. This is not forgetting that the state being relatively new still need a lot more to be dome to raise the status of the metropolis to that of a modern state capital city.

Accordingly, amenities like electricity, road and pipe borne water which stimulate industrial establishments and commercial activities that provide job opportunities are a major attraction of people to urban centres. They also have the capacity creating the satisfaction that sustains interest in rural life and invariably agriculture which from time immemorial been the highest employer of labour in the country It is on this premise that a focused and shrewd governor like Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo of Gombe State is now articulating policies for the holistic development of the state, given the need to make rural life worth the living and the bulk of work yet to be done

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HE State of Osun is starting off its investment drive from a very low base. This is hardly surprising. For even more than most of the other federating units, the state has been hamstrung by previous maladministration. The usual culprits come up to the fore here. The usual mix of bureaucratic elephantiasis, runof-the-mill corruption and an ancien regime that had neither road map nor plan.

To say that the incumbent government led by Engineer Rauf Aregbesola was really up and against it would be to grossly underestimate the situation. This has made the task of positioning Osun State as investment ready and friendly even more difficult. Nevertheless, danger, as the Chinese has for long realised, can and should be turned into opportunity. Our proposition here is to take a discerning look at how far and how much the Aregbesola administration has done in a short space of time in the attempt to reverse the debilitation.

Assessing the effort made so far is like an excursion into Government 101. All the basics needed to ensure an inflow of capital investment was just not there. To begin to redress the debilitations, the government had to start with the obvious. Or perhaps, in view of the immediate past, it might not have looked so obvious. There had to be, to start with, a brutal assault on bureaucratic elephantiasis’ consisting of duplication, waste and leakages in order to bring equilibrium to the state’s public finances.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

Comment & Analysis

Dankwambo’s holistic development approach in Gombe

By M. L. Ismail

in the state capital. In this regard, the governor since assuming office has opened up greater intercourse between comminutes and rural areas and the state capital through massive roads construction efforts.

With the aid of these roads, he has accelerated the development of social and economic lives of rural communities via easy evacuation of agricultural produce to the most desired and most profitable markets.

Small scale industries and overall commercial activities are also on the increase to sustain the socio economic wellbeing of the rural populace.

It remains hazy and incomprehensible to people the much Talban Gombe has done for such a time he has spent in office. Things, especially roads happen so fast that someone once observed that you pass by a place today and the next day it is wearing a complete new look because a road work is springing up. Just recently, the Minister of Works was treated to the flag-off of the Kanawa – Deba – Jagali – Jauro Gotel road which has been neglected for years both by the federal and state government failed to recognise it as theirs. Designed to be completed in two years, the 54-kilometre road branches off to Kuri village with a view to opening up Kuri International Grain Market.

So far, Governor Dankwambo has equally tilted massively towards lighting up the rural communities. Justifying this is the distribution of 50 unit of transformers while still waiting to take delivery of another 55. A good number of communities have benefitted from rural electrification projects and so many others have been

penciled down.

But the block-buster electrification effort is the Balanga Dam Electrification Project which is capable of powering the entire Gombe South Regional Water Supply Scheme and all the unlit rural communities within Balanga local government and beyond. This milestone three-in-one hit project, Balanga Dam is also housing a gigantic water work which when completed will supply water to Akko, Balanga, Billiri, Kaltungo and Shongom local government areas in Gombe south and central senatorial districts respectively. The Dam on the other hand supplies water through a well over 30-kilometre stretch of irrigation canal thereby making possible an all-year-round farming within the belt.

Talking about boosting food production capacity of Gombe State, government, among other activities, has articulated a programme that will train 1,100 youths on various agricultural practices. The programme will take off fully by the time government is able to source 1,100 hectres of land to facilitate the venture.

“Grandaunts would be resettled with implements and a soft loan to enable them takeoff on their own with a strong monitoring team to ensure that the purpose is not defeated,” said the state Commissioner of Youth Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Mijinyawa Sani Labaran.

While drugs and equipment are being provided to the public health facilities, Governor Dankwambo is presently taking a comprehensive stock of all the existing health facilities in the state with a view to doing a detailed work of renovation, reconstruction and reequipping the facilities as well

as constructing new ones where necessary. This is driven by the noble intention of bridging the geographical distance between health facilities and the populace, particularly at the rural areas.

The technocrat turned politician also in one of his public utterances observed that posterity would not forgive him if he failed to better the lives of the people with their resources committed to his hands, just as it would be pointless building infrastructures while those they are meant for are not attended to. Side-by-side with balancing the table comes with a scheme through which the issue of the state’s peculiar security challenge is being addressed.

This agenda is being executed through the Talba Youth Rehabilitation Scheme under which 1,200 youths have been trained as Ward, Environmental and Traffic Marshals and put on salary from the state government. Similarly, 320 youths have been trained on seven trades and resettled with N200,000 soft loan. That programme has been scaled up to accommodate 520 youths and 13 trades. The rehabilitation programme on the other hand is a continuous exercise and as such, camp would soon reopen for another set of trainees.

Still in the area of training, 110 tertiary institution graduate youths at the time of filing in this piece are undergoing training in renewable energy. The intension is to resettle them with tools of the trade after training, while there is a proposal for N200,000 take-off grant as loan.

Education has also been found to be another veritable front for reconditioning the mind sets and future of Gombe youths as well as address the problems associated with idleness. Accordingly, primary, secondary, remedial and tertiary

Ready for business in Osun

By Daniel Oke When Aregbesola came in, the finance of Osun State was simply upside down. So much so that a biometric exercise had to be carried out to ascertain the amount of actual (as opposed to ‘ghost workers’) on the state’s payroll. This is an illustration of just how low the basis of operation was. This made good sense. Indeed it represents a sensible start off point.

For no sane investor is going to rush into a maladminstered entity, irrationally run, hobbled by corruption and ensnarled in a debt trap.

All of the above was real. So irrational for example was the previous administration that (kindly do not laugh) short-term loans were procured to finance projects with a long-term gestation period. This of course sounds irrational to even a run of the mill first year economics student at an average university.

Unfortunately in Osun State it was actually the grim, absurd reality. The new administration in the state had to simply go back to the drawing board and renegotiate this absurdity.

Loan tenors had to be extended and unbundled. In addition and very crucially, interest rates had to be renegotiated. The consequence of not doing so is better imagined.

There was of course another compelling factor. If the government in to embark on an investment drive

they have to invest in infrastructure.

Without a stream lining of public expenditure this will remain a mirage. It is an unfortunate truism that the previous regime led by a gruff military helmsman saw administration in rather simplistic if not comical terms. Their worldview was a self-defeating fixation on the monthly allocation handout from the centre. After which they go to sleep.

Pre-Aregbesola, such terms as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and infrastructure planning and development had not yet come into the lexicon.

What the Aregbesola administration has had to do is to position the state as ‘business ready’.

Apart from the cost cutting and savings, money has had to be spent on the physical and social infrastructure. For these represent the decisive battleground. This is why contemporary newspaper head lines out of Osun read like “Osun saves N10bn for Road construction, Health, Education in LGs” and “Osun sets to commence 10km roads in each council area”. A potential investor will not unnaturally ask questions.

He or she will want to know about the state of infrastructure. A discerning and serious investor also wants to know about the level of skills of the potential workforce.

Questions will inevitably be raised about the issue of the state’s

indebtedness, the capacity of the government and its position on that handy perennial - corruption.

On all of these fronts, the Aregbesola team has pro-actively tried to pre-empt any reservations coming from the would be investor. For example a new open reporting system has rolled back the frontier on the level of corruption in the public procurement system. Indeed, on the contrary, public procurement is now being used as a trajectory for real development. This is very much in contradistinction to the previous operating framework of, ‘come and eat’. In addition the massive investments in skills acquisition is a way of demonstrating to the potential investor that efforts are being undertaking to ensure that a skilled work force awaits his enterprise.

To further convince the potential investor, the state has laudably launched a number of imaginative schemes. For example, the hook-up with the Nigeria Railway Service to modernise its services to the state was frankly a stroke of entrepreneurial inventiveness. Rather than wait for the vitally necessary repeal of the impeding Railway’s Act of 1955, the state government has found an expedient way around the impediment. By investing in wagons’ for haulage in tandem with the Rail service a terrific infrastructural advance has been made.

institutions are being built and established across the state by the government while opening a horizon of employment for qualified but jobless persons to fill the thousands of begging teaching vacancies in the state government.

Time and space may not be adequate to mention it all but it’s very appropriate to say that Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo’s footprint is in the labyrinth of every sector and sphere of human endeavour in Gombe State and “it is still like we have not started,” said the Governor while performing a public function. Yet some watchers of event on the other hand are saying that what Dankwambo has done in a spate of 14 months far outweighs, what many of his counterparts have achieved in 48 months.

All the aforementioned and innumerable unmentioned physical projects as well as visible and invisible projects were possible due to mindful, accountable and meticulous attitude towards public fund. And the fact that Gombe State is practically the least on the statutory allocation chart makes the feat simply splendid. Little wonder the Governor said, while receiving Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, the Executive Secretary of Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, that “it is not the amount accruing to a state that matters, but how well it is managed and used for the betterment of the people and state.”

It is also no surprise that he wished more fund was available to the state in view of the immensity of work yet to be done. But for the much already done, the people of Gombe State are proud to be associated with the effective and efficient development approach and good governance while praying for greater impact and more strength to deliver the goods for the betterment of Gombe State Ismail writes from Bolari Quarters in Gombe At the brilliant stroke of a pen, the logistics impediment that can hobble the decision to invest by a potential investor has been ameliorated.

Logistics of course, as we are aware is a critical factor in the decision to invest.

This sort of forward thinking, proactive, as well as can-do mantra is being replicated across the board. The State government is obviously going the extra mile to emphasise that the state of Osun is ready for business. And the vital ingredients are being put into place. For example, there are initiatives to make the environment more secure.

This is of course another important consideration for the intending investor.

The question, of course, is should we invest in Osun? The answer ought to be in the affirmative. For the state now has a can- do government in place which is deeply motivated by longer term economic considerations that the usual short-term jockeying for immediate political advantage. Let us recall once again that the present administration started from a very low base. In spite of this it has in a remarkable short space of time, made a great effort to create an investment friendly environment.

For the first time the state has a government that looks beyond bootysharing. The direction of thinking in government circle has shifted from consumption to an emphasis on production. On baking the cake rather than just sharing an increasingly shrinking stake. With that sort of mindset the state deserves to be seen as investor friendly and ready for business.

POLITICS

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

Fresh intrigues trail PDP’s search for BOT chairman In spite of its merely advisory role, the race for a new chairman, Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been fraught with intrigues among influential stakeholders of the party, reports Remi Adelowo

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EQUEL to the formal disengagement of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo as the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) about three weeks ago, the race to fill the coveted seat has begun in earnest.

Though top officials of the self-acclaimed largest party in Africa do not see a quick replacement of Obasanjo as an immediate priority, sources disclosed to The Nation that some key aides who have the ears of President Goodluck Jonathan have impressed it on him on the urgent need to fill the position as quickly as possible.

Their argument, it was gathered, is premised on the calculation that a BOT chairman would serve as a check and counter-balance to the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, when and if the need arises.

This line of thought, according to analysts, seems plausible. The two people who have occupied the seat; Chief Anthony Anenih and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, contrary to the belief of many Nigerians who think the role of the BOT chairman is largely advisory, wielded enormous influence in the affairs of the party and also enjoyed the confidence of the president.

While he reigned as the BOT chairman between 2005-2007, Anenih, who was the pioneer occupant of the seat, had a largerthan-life image that was almost at par with that of the then National Chairman of the party, Chief Ahmadu Ali. Not only did his words and body language in matters pertaining to the party and by extension the government, carry a lot of weight, members of the PDP across the country also held Anenih with reverence, a privileged status he maximally leveraged on.

His successor, Obasanjo’s case was not in any ways different. While some party members argued that he was adequately checkmated during the Umaru Yar’ Adua presidency, his stature and influence in the party, especially in the South-West geopolitical zone, where he hails from, was never in doubt.

Indeed, it was no secret that his hilltop residence in Abeokuta, Ogun State, became a Mecca-of-sort for top officials of the party in the South-West, who visited him either for consultations or directives on important issues.

Who does the cap fit?

By virtue of the constitution of the PDP, which states that only former presidents and ex-chairmen of the party are eligible to occupy the seat of BOT chairman, the contest has been narrowed down to six eminent members of the ruling party.

They are the former National Chairmen of the party-Chief Solomon Lar (19992001); Senator Barnabas Gemade (20042006); Senator Ahmadu Ali (2006-2008); Chief Vincent Ogbulafor (2008-2009) and Chief Okwesilieze Nwodo (2009-2010).

Another individual who served as Na-

•Anenih

•Obasanjo

•Ekwueme

tional Chairman of PDP, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has since decamped to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and is definitely out of the race.

For Alhaji Kawu Baraje and Alhaji Haliru Mohammed, sources in the party disclosed that their candidacy may not fly due to the fact that they held the position in acting capacity.

In the case of Gemade, who is presently at the Senate, the likelihood of his relinquishing his lawmaking assignment to vie for the BOT chairmanship seat is considered near-impossible, according to sources.

versy with relative ease, he is also said to be an unrepentant loyalist of Obasanjo.

Mention is also being made of his tenure as the Chairman of the Petroleum Products and Pricing Regulatory Authority (PPPRA) which ended early this year, as one of the reasons some powerful elements may be opposed to his candidacy.

Ogbulafor’s chances are also very slim.

Some power brokers are yet to forgive him for not pulling his weight behind the president in the heat of politics of succession, when Jonathan was the acting presidency.

His error of judgment, some have argued, allegedly led to his ouster as the National Chairman of the party in 2009.

The major handicap of Nwodo, party sources alleged, is his not too cordial relationship with some state governors, particularly in his South-East zone and his alleged arrogant posture.

Between Lar, Ali, Ogbulafor, Nwodo Lar’s chances to clinch the seat, according to findings by The Nation, are quite bright. Many factors are believed to work in his favour. The Second Republic governor of old Plateau State, in the opinion of strategists in the Presidency does not cut a controversial image that could polarize the party, and would most likely command the respect of party members.

Most important of all is that he allegedly enjoys the respect of the president.

However, those against his choice argued that he may not serve as a ‘counter-check’ to the incumbent National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, since both of them are not only founding members of the party, but also belong to the club of former Second Republic governors.

For Ali, Ogbulafor and Nwodo, sources disclosed that the Presidency may not support any of the trio. Ali is not only described as someone who courts contro-

Other options The Nation also gathered that The Presidency may be working on another permutation to throw the race open to include ‘loyal and deserving’ members of the party.

It is on this plan that names like Richard Akinjide and others are been mentioned.

For this option to sail through, it not only requires the support of the power brokers in the party, but also the review of the constitution of the party to accommodate such. Already, supporters of this arrangement are insisting that until the draft constitution is finally adopted, the issue of BoT chairman will not be discussed.

Alex Ekwueme steps in?

•Tukur The former Vice-President fits into the above calculation quite perfectly. In spite of the many disappointments he has faced in the party, of which he was a founding member, Ekwueme has remained loyal to PDP over the years.

Some party members, it was learnt, are of the opinion that the Anambra State-born elder statesman would do a good job of the assignment and should be persuaded to take up the offer.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

Politics

I

T all started like a smokescreen among federal lawmakers. Many of them frowned against the absence of something to fall back on after leaving the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly. Getting pension and gratuities, like their Executive counterparts, after service will guarantee their financial future, many Senators and House of Representative members felt. The idea sounded attractive. The only snag was how to sell the idea without much remonstration from Nigerians.

The member representing Apapa Federal Constituency, Hon. Babatunde Adewale, spoke the minds of his colleagues when he sponsored a bill seeking pension and gratuity for federal legislators. Entitled ‘’National Pension and Gratuity Bill 2012’’, the intention, according to him, is to reduce the incidence of corruption among legislators.

Adewale said: “If the legislators have the guarantee that they would be getting something till death, the oversight function would be thoroughly done because most of this issue of corruption on the part of legislators is because of the fear of tomorrow.

“But if the legislators should be enjoying this like the executive are enjoying it, definitely it will reduce corruption because people will have rest of mind that they will have something to fall back on; oversight function will be carried out very thoroughly and you will be able to do your job very diligently and you will be happy to be a legislator”.

Why Nigerians are kicking The bill has undergone second reading in the Lower Chamber, raising suspicion among Nigerians over the speed of work on it.

Expectedly, Nigerians have kicked against the bill, dismissing it as self-seeking. The National Chairman of the Progressive Action Council (PAC), Chief Charles Nwodo, believes the lawmakers are already earning jumbo salaries and allowances. He said they do not need pension and gratuity because they are already overpaid.

According to him: “At this moment they should focus all attention on how to collaborate with the executive arm to rid the country of corruption. They should also bring about laws that will unite this nation’’.

He suggested that legislation should be on part-time basis, stating Nigerians are angry with their fat salaries and allowances.

The Deputy President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Promise Adewusi, said legislation should not attract pension and

•Jonatha

•Tambuwal

•Mark

Should lawmakers earn pension, gratuity? gratuity since it is not a career.

He said: “As a unionist, I strongly believe that an employee should enjoy the benefit of the sweat of his labour. But political office holders, including legislators cannot be called employees, properly so called within the contemplation of the law.’’

He added: “Employees do not fix their salary. The concept of pension presupposes compensation for full time in a contract of service, whereas, what a political office holder has is a part time job in a contract for service which ought not to attract any pension since it is a contract appointment, for a fixed period, albeit renewable.”

Adewusi said for legislators to contemplate pension for themselves is insensitive and an insult on the sensibilities of Nigerians. He also recalled that part of

“There is also the issue of timing. The bill is coming weeks after the $3 million cash-for-clearance bribe saga between suspended House of Representatives Committee Chairman on fuel subsidy, Hon. Farouk Lawan and oil baron, Mr. Femi Otedola.”

The House of Representatives is considering a bill seeking pension and gratuity for federal legislators. Sunday Oguntola examines the controversial proposal the reasons legislators give for fixing jumbo salaries and allowances for themselves is their nonentitlement to pension and gratuity.

The General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Chief John Kolawole, also kicked against the proposal. He alleged that lawmakers are abusing their privilege by considering the bill. Kolawole said that it would be detrimental to the country’s legislative system if the proposal sails through.

The National Chairman of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Mr. Damian Ogbonna, said that legislation was not a career and did not require pension and gratuity. ‘’Legislators are just officers elected to work for a brief period of time; so, it is wrong for them to grant themselves pensions,’’ he argued.

The National Public Relations Officer of the KOWA Party,

Prof. Oluremi Sonaiya, also condemned the proposed law.

“These legislators owe us money already because they have taken much more than they deserved and far more than they worked for. Assuming we have legislators whose salaries are reasonable and comparable to the salaries of civil servants, maybe, we can think about some kind of takeaway benefits for them,” she said.

The National Secretary of the Democratic People’s Alliance, Mr. Sam Onimisi, also said the decision would increase corruption. He advised them to drop the bill.

The oppositions against the bill are not unconnected with the high suspicion with which lawmakers are treated. The feeling among Nigerians is that they already receive huge unjustified allowances and over bloated salaries. To get more under any guise,

many Nigerians believe, is taking greed to the highest level.

The National Assembly, especially the House of Representatives, is also suffering serious image problem. The general feeling is that the National Assembly is ridden with corruption. This is why getting another share of the national cake is considered insensitive and unfair.

There is also the issue of timing. The bill is coming weeks after the $3 million cash-for-clearance bribe saga between suspended House of Representatives Committee Chairman on fuel subsidy, Hon. Farouk Lawan and oil baron, Mr. Femi Otedola. To many minds, to contemplate getting more out of public funds without self-cleansing exercise is a great disservice to national interest.

Left for Nigerians, the bill should be dead on arrival. But the Reps members have conducted second reading of the bill. If they insist on pushing it through, more Nigerians are certain to keep kicking. How far that will however stop the Honourable members remains to be seen.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

Politics

Political

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Political Politics turf

ripples

with Bolade Omonijo boladeomonijo@yahoo.com

Adoke: Again Awwal Tukur and 2015 guber project Olu Agunloye’s behaving true to type •Agunloye

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NTIL he took a sabbatical from politics about four years ago, Awwal Tukur was a promising politician with an eye for the future. Eldest son of the incumbent National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the younger Tukur contested for the PDP governorship ticket in Adamawa State with the eventual winner, Admiral Murtala Nyako, in early 2007. The outcome of the primaries, which was mired in controversies, led the former member of the House of Representatives (1999-2003) to withdraw temporarily from politics.

He reportedly counted his losses and made plans for the future.

The latest report about Tukur is that he may throw his hat into the ring once again in 2015 and vie for the PDP governorship ticket.

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• Tukur

deal with Mimiko

T’S no longer news that the former Corp Marshall of the Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC), Dr. Olu Agunloye, has for the umpteenth time jumped ship in his very short political career.

The former Minister last week decamped to the Labour Party from the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in a move that did not surprise political watchers in his home state, Ondo.

The lure to return to Labour Party, according to sources, may not be unconnected to the promise of being handed the LP senatorial ticket for Ondo North in 2015 to replace Senator Ajayi Boroffice, who presently represents the zone at the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly.

‘Why we accord traditional rulers great respect’ The Oyo State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Peter Odetomi, spoke with Bisi Oladele on grassroots development, the state’s council of Obas and Chiefs and explained why Senator Abiola Ajimobi’s administration treats the monarchs with great respect. Excerpts

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HAT do you think qualified you for this position?

When I began my political career in 1990, I was elected as councilor in the defunct Ogbomosho Local Government and I served in that capacity between January and September 1991.

In September 1991, the defunct Ogbomosho Local Government was divided into two: Ogbomosho North and South. I contested under the SDP for the chairmanship position in Ogbomosho South in November 1991 and I won the election and served in that capacity till the time Gen. Sanni Abacha seized government in 1993. In 1996 during the zero party system, I also contested and won again, and I served between March 1996 to March 1997, as the Executive Chairman of Ogbomosho South Local Government. Again in 1998 when there were three parties, namely, AD, AP and PDP, I contested under the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and I won, and I served between 1999 to 2003 as the chairman. I have acquired so much experience as a one-time councilor and as a three-time elected Chairman of Ogbomosho South Local Government.

In ensuring that the due process is followed in all that you do, do you have problems with some local government chairmen in carrying out projects in the councils?

We have never had problem with them and I am sure we will have no problem with them in the future because for anybody who is serious and knows what he is doing, he will ask himself why he should be a scapegoat among 33 local government chairmen? I think this is helping all of them. They assess themselves by considering certain factors such as how do I attend to the needs of the people and am I pleasing the people? How do you relate to people and do you make yourself available to peo-

years. Recently the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Samuel Odulana, declared that he is the chairman of the council. What exactly is the situation with this council?

• Odetomi

ple? Do you attend to them even when they come to you? If you have N1 million for your council, you must plan on what to do with it that will be of great benefit to your people. A lot of things are being done like building of classrooms, digging of borehole, rehabilitation of roads and a lot of others and I believe they will do more.

Chieftaincy affairs are under the purview of your office. How relevant are traditional rulers in the current dispensation?

They are very relevant. They are the custodians of our traditions and there is no way we will do without having them and we are according them due respect and we see them as integral part of this government and they are being treated as one.

The Oyo State Council of Obas and Chiefs has been in crisis for so many

I think the case is already pending in the court of law and when an issue is pending in the court of law, it is not ideal to speak on it. Why not wait until court decides? But we are also doing some things underneath but it is better we do not discuss it since it is now in the court of law.

What are the challenges of the ministry?

There are a lot of challenges. At times when we are bringing in innovative ideas some people may not want it – staff and chairmen, but I will keep pursuing the agenda because I know what the result will be and it is the result that I am after. Many people think when they are asking for something and you are asking them to follow due process, it means that you are delaying things, while some believe that they are seeing a new ministry of local government that is different from what they used to see.

People believe the ministry is still what it used to be and that is the problem we are trying to correct, but God is seeing us through and the challenges are not beyond our handling.

What advice do you have for people at the grassroots across Oyo State?

My advice for the grassroots people is that they should cooperate with the government of Senator Abiola Ajimobi.

They should support council chairmen.

This could be done in various ways: by paying their taxes, supporting the government agenda and maintenance of the infrastructural facilities being provided by the local government chairmen. You can see how people destroy roads that are being constructed within a short period of time.

T FIRST, the indication was that the Federal Government was unwilling to prosecute those against whom prima facie cases of subverting the process in managing the socalled subsidies on petroleum products had been established.

The pronouncements of the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Bello Adoke, betrayed him as he insisted that the government was not bound to accept and work with the report submitted by the House of Representatives.

Cleverly, though, the Chief Law Officer of the country changed the story later. He said the government had a responsibility to establish the cases against the corporate bodies and individuals. He explained that there was no point in rushing to court only to lose; that the EFCC, the Police and SSS, among others, had to be encouraged to do a good job before legal processes could be activated. It sounded logical, but those who have followed the actions of the AGF would not fail to look beyond the surface. Fingers had been pointed at prominent members of the government who reportedly had their hands in the under the table deals that saw the alleged subsidies rise from about 400 billion Naira to more than two trillion per annum within the space of a few years, mainly in the post 2007 era.

During the period, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was, at first, a Vice-President, then an Acting President and finally an unelected President – all between 2007 and 2011. Then, last year, he mounted the saddle as a President with the full mandate of the people in his own right. Whatever, therefore, could have happened in such a critical sector, the cash cow of the Federation, it is difficult to imagine that the man who tries to live his first name could distance himself. Specifically, it has been suggested that much of the round tripping that marked the subsidy management regime went to fund the President’s election last year.

The fact that the government was quick to jump to the defence of some of those indicted gave a lie to the late rally to arraign some, including children of chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and some financiers of its activities.

The timid manner of handling the prosecution by the AGF supports the view that nothing may come out of the volte face.

It appears a mere ploy to divert the attention of the public and push the blame to the judiciary while the government might indeed have decided to adopt the same approach that has kept cases of corruption against former chief executives of states and ministers on the cause list for about eight years. Cases preferred against the likes of ex-National Chairmen of the PDP Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, Mohammed Bello and others appear to have been secretly dropped. Why should anyone expect the government to act differently in this case?

In all this, Adoke has been a worthy successor to Michael Aondoakaa and Bayo Ojo. They established the do-nothing tradition whose template has been serving Adoke well. Adoke wants us to believe that he intends to take up the cases because they are of vital national interest. Yet, twice now, a few men have been arraigned, and Adoke conveniently made himself unavailable for the job. We are yet to see any of the big firms or those corporate giants that financed PDP campaign despite constitutional provisions forbidding it arraigned. They never may. They have the money to hire Senior Advocates of Nigeria.

They know what to do to bring in senior government officials who would then see to their exoneration. They understand the judicial process and can identify the gaping holes in the administration of justice. They will either be saved the humiliation of arraignment or, even if arraigned, could be assisted in buying justice.

I lay all this at the feet of AGF Adoke. He is the Legal Adviser to the President, the most senior Legal officer of the federation and an administrator of justice who is perhaps senior to even the Chief Justice of Nigeria in the temple of justice. He is saddled with the task of handling or deciding who handles criminal cases. He could discontinue prosecution of any big case without offering any explanation. We saw the gross abuse to which this was subjected under the watch of Aondoakaa.

At the very least, at this point that the 1999 Constitution is being reviewed, the office of the AGF should be separated from the Minister of Justice. They are two powerful positions that should not be handed a man handpicked by a political office holder. And, beyond this, the National Assembly should come up with a guide on the qualities that a holder of such a sensitive office should possess.

We all should say that, never again should men who have failed to prove their mettle and demonstrate their utmost commitment to the nation be allowed to serve in the justice temple.

Waving the impeachment wand This is only a tentative mention of this running matter. We all know that this is a very serious punishment for gross misconduct by those public officers who in a way stand above the law by way of the immunity clause in section 308 of the constitution. It is not something to be taken lightly or merely used as a political weapon. There are other ways of cutting to size any chief executive at the federal or state level who may be overreaching himself. We shall return to this later.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

Politics

‘Why I canvas openness in INEC appointments’ Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Cross River State, Mr. Mike Igini, in this interview in Calabar told Nicholas Kalu that INEC still has so much to do to achieve the expected goal. Excerpts

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T is now two years since you assumed office as REC in Cross River State. How would you assess your performance so far?

I do not think that at this stage we should be talking of personal assessment but rather, we should reframe the question and ask whether the Nigerian people are happy with our efforts. Although from all the opinions expressed, thus far, Nigerians acknowledged a marked difference between the previous terribly flawed 2003 and 2007 general elections in particular and elections of 2011 and subsequent ones till date as a remarkable departure from the past. Nigerians certainly are not yet satisfied with the electoral process, they have only given INEC a measured commendation, hoping that we will do more to perfect the processes and instil more confidence and trust, as against an umpire that makes electorates and contestants develop hypertension because of election. Where then do people like us derive our satisfaction when the people we are meant to serve are not yet satisfied? We still have so much to do and indeed I am not satisfied myself, with where we are now, but it is work in progress. On a personal note, l have not wavered, I have stayed on the course of commitment to the issues and expectations of this appointment, namely the reforms that will enable free, fair, credible and more importantly, acceptable elections in Nigeria.

You were quoted recently to be calling for more openness in the appointment of commissioners of INEC. What exactly did you mean?

My call in the last few years, not just recently, for openness in the appointment of commissioners and indeed all offices that require Senate confirmation, especially INEC, is essentially to highlight the need to have open screening on the floor of the Senate, like nominees for ministerial positions where questions are put to them and not just a committee screening alone. This is necessary in order to give the voting public and other stakeholders a greater say in the process of appointing election commissioners at all levels, given the sensitivity of the office and the role played as election managers in relation to elective offices, and the collective destiny of people at various levels. I am of the view that the credibility of the confirmation process by the Senate would be enhanced further, if

the public is allowed to scrutinize public records or the performance credentials of such nominees, especially from their own communities where such records will be examined from the earliest stages up to the last office held. This is important because apart from competencies for the job, trust, personal integrity, and honesty are intangible, and are indeed essential to an umpire just as we were told in our university days in Benin, that we can only graduate if we are found worthy in character and learning. Neutrality, impartiality and trustworthiness are germane to the office of commissioners for state electoral bodies and the national electoral body.

Would you say that all that you have done or tried to achieve in the last two years in public office is worth the appointment?

Well I have had my highs and my lows. I have had experiences that have given me better insights to the political and social context in which elections are conducted, which should be taken to account in regard to the administration of elections. I have also realised that while these local issues are important, globally, the values of democratic elections are shaping into commonly accepted practices, from which deviations should not vary too significantly. The efforts of the last two years are, therefore, based on these parameters.

But specifically speaking on areas where I have expended efforts, I will like to point out a few key areas. One is the fact that the legislative template guiding elections, namely, the Constitution, the Electoral Act and the derivative guidelines of INEC are the DNA that directs the activities and actions of the electoral system. Another area of key interest is the level of voter awareness of their role in the political process.

Frankly, illiteracy and poverty remain the greatest challenges to our fledgling democracy. It’s sad and

• Igini

very depressing to hear or to find people, who still sell their voter cards, solicit for pecuniary rewards in exchange for votes, people who lend themselves to be used for election malpractices.

What is your position on the notion that the disposition of President Jonathan is largely responsible for the outcome of the 2011 and the recent governorship elections like that of Edo? That is a statement of fact, given the chequered history of elections conducted since 1959 up till the 2007 General Elections, until the 2011 election and the subsequent ones conducted under the leadership of President Jonathan, who despite being a contestant demonstrated exemplary statesmanship by rising above partisan interest, by ensuring non-interference in the works of INEC. Recall that the pre-independence election was influenced by the departing umpire, Britain, to get a pre- determined outcome, the 1964/65,1978,1983 elections supervised by the then ruling party and the military dictated to the umpire the direction that the electoral outcome should go. Even the 1993 June 12th election had to be annulled because the military leadership wanted a different outcome. Those of 1999, 2003 and worst still the general election of

2007, were all not spared of interferences by the disposition of those who led the country when those elections were conducted. In fact, those elections should be best described as organised crimes supervised by the state and supported by religious leaders of both Christians and Muslims who organised various thanksgiving celebrations for election riggers, spiced with the strange and spurious doctrine that God gives power to whoever he pleases, which means that there is a divine right of election rigging as opposed to the divine right of free men to choose leaders of their choice.

As the former Director of the Centre for Leadership Values and Policy, how have you been able to bring all that to bear on the staff of Cross River State INEC in the last two years as a commissioner in charge of the state?

Well, values act as a compass for our societal actions and this has impelled my actions on the current task. The matter of leadership is a little more complex, the understanding of leadership has transcended several worldviews from the inborn traits of a leader as first propagated by the Michigan School in being able to influence or direct purposive action to achieve the ends desired, when

Well I have had my highs and my lows. I have had experiences that have given me better insights to the political and social context in which elections are conducted, which should be taken to account in regard to the administration of elections. I have also realised that while these local issues are important, globally, the values of democratic elections are shaping into commonly accepted practices, from which deviations should not vary too significantly. The efforts of the last two years are, therefore, based on these parameters.

people see leaders as strong or charismatic people, then this moved to their abilities in different situations, the so-called contingency models and eventually moved on to an understanding of leadership as the outcome of interactions between leaders and their followers, before the modern day use of competency frameworks, in which organisations develop a core set of competencies which they expect the leader of an organisation to possess to achieve the desired results. All these different understandings of the roles and uses of leadership has been directed at understanding one main thing, how to be effective in directing or influencing an organisational or group purpose. I realise that for the task of an election manager to be effective, the first thing is to be trustworthy.

Once you have the trust of all players that you will be even-handed, and that you will be impartial and you will stand by the truth and be fair to all, most of your job as a leader in electoral administration is done. The rest of the job is management and while leadership is complex, management can be learned by following the expectations of organisational roles in planning, organising, directing and controlling.

Given your two years in public office, how would you compare public and private sectors in terms of organisation, value addition and service delivery?

Theoretically there should be very little differences in comparison in the value added because in both instances, these are two types of sectors or organisations with different goals. The goals of the private concern are that of profit while the public organisation, whether government-run or run by non-profit civil organisations, have the goals of providing benefits to society. So whether the goal is profit or benefits, the main parameter is the provision of maximal outputs for a given input.

However, the reality in Nigeria is that public sector has delivered far less for comparable inputs. For the same amount of input, a private organisation will get about four times better value than a government organisation, and where a private organisation will spend one unit for five units of utility, a government organisation will likely spend 20 units for 25 units of utility. l can confirm that our bureaucracy and some uncommitted civil servants remain a cog in the wheel of real value for service.

How is INEC preparing for the possibility of electronic voting system announced by your Chairman recently?

As l have said previously, one of the challenges of public service delivery is the array of stakeholders that would have to be consulted or taken into account before some clear and implementable policy could be adopted. The commission, as the chairman declared publicly, has been developing some templates in the area of e-voting that would require legal backing by the National Assembly which is out of the purview of the commission.

Other templates that form part of the EVS that are purely procedural such as electronic authentication of a voter using his or her voters card, am sure will come up stream when the commission shall have considered all other measures that would take the electoral process to a higher level by 2015. If lndia with over a billion people with a high level of illiteracy, an argument that people usually advance here in Nigeria, could use such simple methods, why can’t Nigeria achieve it?

INSIGHT

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

Patience Jonathan: First Lady as power house Sam Egburonu, Isaac Ombe, Yenagoa, Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt, report on the essence of Dame Patience Jonathan

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ROM a humble beginning in the swampy creeks of Okrika, Rivers State, as a school teacher to the glamorous office of Nigerian First Lady in Abuja, Dame Patience Jonathan, like the rest of her family, has benefitted immensely from Mother Luck.

Married to Goodluck, she may have expected such supernatural favour will follow her in all her endevours, but it seems Mother Luck has mischievously refused to smile on her public image. As a result, instead of being adored by all, the seemingly endless controversies that have trailed her path over the years have not only made her one of the most discussed, but also one of the most reviled and criticised Nigerians of today. In fact, some of her critics are of the view that she is the most controversial First Lady in the history of Nigeria.

While this allegation may be a subject of debate, investigations into his activities reveal that as the First Lady whose every action and utterance have elicited criticisms, she seems to enjoy being in the spotlight, even if her critics consider her actions and utterances embarrassing.

Such criticisms peaked following her recent appointment as a Permanent Secretary in Bayelsa State. In fact, since Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State named the First Lady as one of the 17 new Permanent Secretaries in Bayelsa State civil service, she has been reviled, called unprintable names and described as unworthy of such honour.

But Mrs. Gloria Izonfo, from the office of the Head of Service in Bayelsa State, who read the statement of her appointment on radio, pointed out that besides the fact that Mrs. Jonathan was eminently qualified, her appointment was at the prerogative of Governor Dickson. She said; “By the constitutional power conferred on the state governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson, in section 203 sub-sections 2c, Dame Patience Jonathan and 17 others have been elevated to the position of Permanent Secretary in the state civil service.”

The state government further said Dame Jonathan, a native of Okrika in Rivers State, served in the Rivers State civil service before her husband’s election as deputy governor. At that point, according to the government, she transferred her service to Bayelsa State and rose through the ranks until she was elevated to the directorate level in 20…

Some of the arguments advanced by critics against her appointment as a Permanent Secretary were that she was neither academically qualified nor has she worked long enough as a career civil servant to merit such appointment.

Her official records however showed that the wife of the President has a National Certificate of Education in Mathematics/ Biology, which she obtained in 1989 from the Rivers State College of Education. It is also on record that she has a degree in

•Patience Biology and Psychology (Education) from the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

At the beginning Patience Jonathan, who hails from Okrika in Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State, had it rather rough financially, shortly after her marriage to Dr. Jonathan from the Otuoke, Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, as he was born son of a humble fisherman.

Jonathan, as a lecturer at the Rivers State College of Education (now University of Education), Port Harcourt, was struggling to make ends meet, considering the peanuts teachers were paid then, making his wife to be involved in petty trading to support the family.

The Jonathans, however, heaved a sigh of relief, when Dr. Jonathan gained

employment at the defunct Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC), as the Director of Ecology and one of the pioneer staff.

To further improve the fortunes of the family, Dame Jonathan attended the Rivers State College of Education, Port Harcourt, for the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) programme and proceeded to the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) for a Bachelor’s degree in education.

She was awarded honourary doctoral degree at the 2011 convocation of UNIPORT. From OMPADEC, the humble and unassuming Dr. Jonathan was picked in 1998 by Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha as his governorship running mate on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa State.

Alamieyeseigha emerged as the pioneer civilian governor of the mainly-riverine and homogenous Ijaw state, with Jonathan as the deputy governor. It was however said that he was nothing more than a mere spare tyre.

It was alleged that the former governor’s cousin, Chief Abel Ebifemowei, from the same Amassoma in Southern Ijaw LGA with Alamieyeseigha, was the de facto deputy governor, even as the Transport Officer (T.O.) in Government House, Yenagoa, before his elevation as the Special Adviser on Transport.

All that however ended in when Jonathan emerged the governor of the oilrich state, following Alamieyeseigha’s historic impeachment. From then on, Mother luck has smiled on the Jonathan’s as he •Continued on Page 24

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

INSIGHT

•Nigeria’s first couple at a rally in Abuja where Jonathan declared his intention to run for president

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AME Patience Jonathan may not have occupied any political office recognised by the country’s constitution, but her exploits suggest she has not only become a major player in Nigerian political scene but is perhaps the unseen power behind Mr. President.

Her political exploits date back to her days as the wife of the deputy governor of Bayelsa State.

Although as the deputy governor’s wife, she was only seen when the then first Lady, Mrs. Margaret Alamieyeseigha, had public functions, she secretly prepared what could be called her political apparatus. Unknown to her political rivals then, whenever she attended any function with Mrs. Alamieyeseigha, she would be recognised only as ‘the wife of the deputy governor also present.’

But Dame Jonathan finally came to limelight during Alamieyeseigha’s impeachment saga.

Then, Patience, like Margaret, the then governor’s wife, also had political followers hiding under the names of different women groups.

The two women effectively mobilised their groups to muster up large women followership, which later played major roles in the impeachment saga.

Her hotel in Otueke, according to insiders, was the major venue where all the political schemes were made and finalised.

At this point, the relationship between the Alamieyeseighas and Jonathans had deteriorated so much that the battle was no longer in secret.

Then, observers described the exchange of words between the two groups as “a campaign of calumny.” For instance, the night before Alamieyeseigha’s impeachment, a woman leader in Margaret’s camp advised Patience thus:

•Continued from Page 23 rapidly graduated from governor of Bayelsa State, to Vice President of Nigeria, acting president and president in an unprecedented rapid succession.

Ironically, the political troubles of the Jonathans have increased in equal precision, with most of the scandals directly, deliberately or mischievously linked to Dame Jonathan.

For example, it is widely believed that former Governor Timprye Sylva’s trouble with Jonathan began in 2009 when the then governor decided to do a biometric record for all civil servants in the state. Sources said when the list was compiled and sent to the

As political as they come “tell your husband to come back, he has been forgiven; you and your group should come and join us, by tomorrow the whole thing will be over, you should come quickly before it’s too late for you and your husband.”

At the end of the bitter battle, Jonathan won, and Patience became victorious. Women groups in the state followed her, and she became popular as she continued to mobilise them for her husband’s victory at the federal level.

Since then, she has remained the hidden political pillar behind her husband’s successes though her critics described her style as “crude, aggressive and sometimes vengeful.

At the historic battle for the succession of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, insiders said most of the hidden political battle was fought between Patience Jonathan and Turai Yar’Adua.

She was alleged to have taken exception to alleged marginalisation of her husband in the scheme of things and so set out to repeat the feat she helped her husband to carry out in Bayelsa State, when they faced similar power challenges.

An insider told The Nation that Dame Jonathan mobilsed “her women” is the battle, even before the National Assembly’s doctine of necessity that saved the day, before the eventual death of Yar’Adua.

Of course, the rivalry between the two First Ladies did not end at the emergence of Jonathan as president. This is attested to by the ongoing rift over the land where Mrs. Jonathan is planning to build the permanent secretariat of the

African First Ladies Peace Mission (AFLPM).

While inaugurating the temporary secretariat recently, Mrs. Jonathan, who was accompanied by other African First Ladies who were in Nigeria for the 7th AFLPM summit, said that the secretariat, which would accommodate the mission until the completion of the permanent site, would facilitate efforts to bring peace to Africa.

The main hall of the secretariat, according to reports, is designed to accommodate all the 33 African First Ladies and at least 200 observers.

It is equipped with a modern press gallery with media gadgets that can transmit live reports in the four official languages in Africa: English, French, Portuguese and Arabic.

Meanwhile, efforts had been made to reconcile the two. Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mohammad Bello Adoke (SAN), was widely reported when he allegedly indicated interest to settle a legal battle between Mrs Jonathan, and her predecessor, Turai Yar’Adua, over an Abuja land out of court.

Counsel from the AGF’s office, Baba Sa’idu, informed Justice Peter Affen of an Abuja High Court sitting in Bwari that the government was willing to settle the matter amicably.

The said plots of land (plot 1347 Cadastral Zone, Central Business District, Abuja, measuring 1.84 hectares) according to documents before the court, was duly allocated to Turai’s non-governmental organisation - Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation (WAYEF) by

Patience unveiled governor, it was discovered that Dame Patience Jonathan’s name was listed as one of the state’s civil servants who were drawing salaries from the state’s coffer.

Sylva, according to some insiders, felt there must have been an error somewhere and since the Patience Jonathan whose name appeared on the list didn’t show up for biometric verification, the name was struck out. However, when this got to the knowledge of the First Lady, she was livid and decided

to fight it out with him. She allegedly rebuked the governor and asked why her name was removed and that those in charge of the biometrics should have travelled to Abuja to come and do her own.

This, the governor felt was going too far.

He decided to ignore her and went ahead with his job and since the federal government was determined to fight corruption he felt it was an opportunity to cut cost and lead by example.

the Minister of Federal Capital Territory with the Right of Occupancy duly issued to it.

The report said the FCT authorities on November 2, 2011 via a letter dated October 27, 2011 issued a notice of revocation of the said property and was re-allocated to another organisation, African First Ladies Peace Centre believed to be sponsored by Patience Jonathan.

WAYEF however got a court order restraining the defendants from affecting the title.

Minister of the FCT, Senator Balla Muhammed, Federal Capital Territory Administration, Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS) and the AGF were listed as defendants in the matter.

During the last Presidential election in 2011, which Jonathan won, Dame Patience literarily took over the campaign as she moved from state to state, using wives of state governors to mobilize women and other electorates.

Even after the election, Dame Patience has continued to wield strong political influence and have shown willingness to deal with or crush any political opposition.

Till date, the experience of Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), will continue to serve as a signpost to her political style.

Former governor of Bayelsa State, Timipreye Sylva, it is believed, also lost his seat to governor Dickson because he allegedly dared Dame Jonathan.

His close associates said this was to be his undoing as the powerful First Lady was poised to settle scores. As the saying goes, “a woman scorned is dangerous”, Mrs. Jonathan decided to wait and strike him where it would hurt most.

It was also gathered that her last promotion was when her husband was governor of the state before he moved to Abuja as Vice President. She had before then worked with the Rivers State civil service before she transferred her service to Bayelsa. It could not be ascertained what level she was when this transfer was effected. However, her recent promotion to the post of a permanent •Continued on Page 26

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

INSIGHT

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•Dame Patience Jonathan •Her new multi-storey hotel rises in Yenagoa

•Life’s good!

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N Bayelsa State, not much was known about Dame Patience Faka Jonathan until her husband, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, became the state’s deputy governor in 1999 and later emerged the state governor, following the impeachment of former Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha.

The only news few Bayelsans may have heard about her then was that she was a teacher in Rivers State. It was later heard that she transferred her services to the state Schools Management Board in the state ministry of education.

She became more popular with the launching of her pet project, ‘ARUERA A. Foundation, in the early days of her husband’s tenure as governor.

As the pet project of the First Lady of the state, every ministry was mobilised to donate to it as it was aimed at assisting women and young ladies to learn various skills.

A parcel of land was made available for it by the government out of the present Okaka Estate, built by Jonathan along the Isaac Boro express way. But the land was later in dispute as the family that originally owned it headed to the courts.

But before the family could be declared winner of the case, the First Lady pleaded that the matter be settled out of court. At the height of the court proceedings, it was alleged that some of the lawyers were reached but that they refused to accept the offer made to them, insisting that justice must be seen to be done. However The Nation learnt this matter was finally settled out of court not too long ago.

But surprisingly, after the historic launch of the project, most people thought

•Side view of Megals Resort, Otuoke -owned by the First Lady

Life as Bayelsa’s First Lady Isaac Ombe in Yenagoa reports on the activities of Dame Patience Jonathan when her husband, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, was deputy governor and later governor of Bayelsa State. it would sprout up from that parcel of land.

That was not to be as another large parcel of land was acquired for the project along INEC road in Yenagoa. The place became a mini Mecca for women and young ladies in the state. It also became a rallying point for women of all shades. Around the place is also a large shopping complex, the only one of its type in the state, probably in the two states of Rivers and Bayelsa.

The activities of the foundation and the shopping complex were the center of activities until Dame Patience moved to Abuja as the Vice President’s wife.

But the main Aruera building along the express road, which was launched amidst fanfare, with a gothic ‘A’ inscribed on it, was more or less abandoned. Some sources said this was because of the court case.

But after the matter was settled out of court and when she became Nigeria’s First Lady, a beehive of construction activities kicked off there. The place now has one of the largest hotels in Nigeria currently sprouting out of the land. More mighty structures are still sprouting up as at the time of this write up as

construction activities are in progress 24 hours daily.

Whenever she visits Yenagoa, it is one of the places she must visit before jetting back to Abuja. Residents of the area told The Nation that they could always tell when the First Lady is around because then, roads are barricaded and there would be presence of large number of heavily armed security personnel around the area.

As a major road, heavy traffic is normally experienced for the period she inspects the mighty structures in the place that has become the cynosures of all eyes.

A resident said “it’s likely going to be a major tourist site in the state capital in no distance time.”

Even at Otueke, the husband’s country home, she has a hotel, Megals Resort, OtuokeOgbia, with the motto, “service and hospitality.” The hotel, with several rooms, has been in place since her days as the wife of the deputy governor of Bayelsa State as it is usually a meeting point for political activities when the family visits the country home.

When The Nation visited the place this

week, it is being expanded as several construction activities are currently in progress.

As the then Deputy Governor’s wife, Mrs. Jonathan combined the hotel business at her husband’s country home, Otueke.

It was arranged in such a way that guests of the family were usually lodged there. The place was also used for political gatherings. In fact, politicians in the state claimed that they used the resort to perfect plans aimed at dislodging the then Governor Alamieyeseigha from the seat of power.

The resort is also remembered because it served as a place of refuge for the First Family when some militants burnt down their family house in 2006. Since a major part of the house was burnt to ashes, the remains of Jonathan’s belongings were evacuated to the resort. Since then, it has remained the place to stay whenever President Jonathan visits the community as it was later renovated.

Currently the premises of the resort are receiving a major presidential phase lift. For example, two mighty black gates have just been erected. They lead into the old and new compounds, with an Army formation and an armored tank guiding the area.

When our correspondent visited the area this week, he noted a beehive of activities punctuated by the presence of the new University of Otueke Campus which is located directly opposite the compound.

As the First Lady of the state for one year, most of Dame Patience Jonathan’s other business interests in the state were not publicly known then but she undoubtedly made impact and effectively mobilised women groups through the activities of Aruera.

26

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

INSIGHT

•The new president of African First Ladies Association in Abuja last week

•Mrs Jonathan being received by Michelle Obama at White House, Washington DC.

Power house •Continued from Page 23 secretary brought the issue to the fore again.

Mrs. Jonathan also has great appetite both for wealth creation and accumulation. Long before her sojourn to Abuja, she set up a hotel in Otuoke, which has grown to be a multi million naira complex, highly patronised by government officials. Other multi-million naira investments have also been linked to her.

Her views: In spite of criticisms trailing her public utterances, Mrs. Jonathan has shown courage in advancing ideas, sometimes considered controversial by her critics. For example, her critics were dumb founded when at her inauguration as a Permanent Secretary in Bayelsa State, the First Lady ignored public outcry and insisted that time has come when First Ladies should be granted some constitutional roles.

It was not the first time she would make such brave even if unpopular comment. It is on record that instead of working towards the 30 percent slot for women in offices, she laboriously advocated for 35 percent. Her admirers said this outspokenness is a proof of her strength of character and doggedness.

Her critics disagree. The debate continues.

•Mrs Jonathan with her predecessor, Turai Yar’Adua ... now locked in a dispute over land in Abuja.

Endless stream of controversies

A

S a public figure, her first publicised controversy was when militants from Okrika, her hometown, allegedly tried to force her husband, then deputy governor, to leave the seat of power,

popularly referred to as the Creek Haven, at a time when Alamieyeseigha, the governor then, was away. Then, the Okrika-born warlord, Ateke Tom, was engaged in supremacy battle with the militant leader, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari.

It was alleged then that Dr. Jonathan simply relocated to his private residence in Kpansia, Yenagoa, a distance of about five kilometres, for peace to reign.

However, when Alamieyeseigha returned from his overseas trip, he directed his then deputy to quickly return to the Government House, Yenagoa, with the rift settled, while the warlords returned to the creeks to continue with the Niger Delta struggle.

Later, Alamieyeseigha was removed by members of the Bayelsa House of Assembly. So, Jonathan was immediately inaugurated as the substantive governor, but it was at the peak of militancy in the Niger Delta, with many of the “Generals” camps in Bayelsa state, the heart of the crude oil and gas-rich region.

As Dr. Jonathan was trying to settle down as the new governor, militants armed with sub-machine guns and other sophisticated weapons stormed Yenagoa through the Government Jetty near Government House, with alleged intention of kidnapping the governor, who earlier described them as criminals and not freedom fighters.

With the militants’ invasion of the state capital, many soldiers and other security personnel at the jetty and adjourning streets were killed, valuable property destroyed, while the warlords were marching towards the Government House, with Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) immediately deployed, thereby checking the lawlessness.

Sources said the highly-terrified First Lady (Dame Jonathan), then a Director in the Bayelsa civil service, rushed to the Governor’s Office where her husband was working on the first floor of the storey building and virtually dragged him down, to avoid being kidnapped or killed by the rampaging militants.

Though their critics claimed that the Jonathan family and some aides fled that night from Yenagoa following the advice of the First Lady, they denied the claim the following morning on Radio Bayelsa.

Another controversy where her name was linked while she was still Bayelsa First Lady was when operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested one of her aides for money laundering. At first, the matter became very embarrassing but somehow, it was later swept under the carpet.

Since she and her husband went to Abuja, she had continued to be linked with one sizzling controversy after the other.

Sometime in 2005 or thereabout, when she visited Bayelsa State, a vehicle which was accused of not giving way to her convoy was arrested with the occupant. The driver was detained and all entreaties to her for their release fell on deaf ears. The then governor, who had already fallen out of her favour was shunned and they had to appeal to her husband in Abuja to prevail on her. It was at this juncture that he (Jonathan) had to call a commissioner to go and meet her and affect the release.

Unfortunately, reports said it was during this journey that the commissioner was involved in an accident and died instantly.

Another controversy took place in her country home of Okrika.

Till date, Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), will not forget in a hurry, the show of shame at Okrika, when the Nigerian First Lady, Dame Jonathan, openly snatched a microphone from his hand, over demolition of Port Harcourt’s waterfront settlements, mostly occupied by Okrika people.

As Nigeria’s first lady, Dame Jonathan was still at the forefront of fighting for his Okrika people over land, which they placed so much emphasis on and she spoke her mind on the occasion, to the shock of Amaechi.

Rather than uttering a word, the highly-embarrassed Amaechi simply moved into a vehicle and sat quietly till the end of the event. Eyewitnesses said Mrs. Jonathan was not bothered at least throughout the event.

But insiders confirmed that the ugly incident strained their relationship, before they were later reconciled.

Appointing Dame Jonathan as a Permanent Secretary in Bayelsa state should not be a surprise. When her husband was governor of the state, the current governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, was the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General, with the President also supporting the new governor’s emergence as the helmsman, in spite of the fight by the exgovernor, Chief Timipre Sylva. It is time to show appreciation.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

Glamour

28

•Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde Patched Ankara skirt •Beyonce

•Patched Ankara dress

•Model

•Patched Ankara jacket

•Lovely patched Ankara dress

Patched Ankara wonder How to rock

•Classy patched Ankara knee-length skirt •Mixed Ankara patches hand bag Courtesy merceeco.files.wordpress.com

patched Ankara trend

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

Glamour

29

Five expert tips

•High low dress night out

•This look, inspired by Melody’s signature colours (white and coral), is perfect for a day strolling the boardwalkc

30

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

Glamour

red How to wear

lipstick like a goddess Wumi Oguntuase

O

NE wonders why red lipstick never seems to go out of fashion; the fact is that it is a universal classic and therefore cannot go out of style. Many women assume they

Style tips for red lipstick

•Stella Damasus

•Uche Jombo Rodriguez

•MAC red-lipstick

32

Glamour

The first runner-up of the 2011 Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria and the 2011 MBGN Miss Universe, Sophie Gemal, reveals her favourite things to Kehinde Falode

Goldie:

Another look at Prezzo, BBA House

t

e-mail: victor_akande@yahoo.com

Dietrick Haddon for Sammie Okposo’s album concert

•Sammie Okposo

Durella stars in episode six of Big Friday Show

Prezzo with Goldie

•Durella and Basket Mouth on the Big Friday Show

Big Joe drops Boko Haram video August date for M.I, Naeto C's Hennessy Artistry joint track

•Big Joe

34

Entertainment

Entertainment

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

39

Why I can’t marry another wife —Adewale Ayuba

e c n e i r e p x e My w o d i w g n u o as a y

I don't know what happened along the line, but everybody in the group just went their separate ways.

Then I was doing a business by the roadside at Iyana Ipaja, selling batteries

—Nollywood actress

u w k u h C a n i g e R

Davido launches album in concert Gabriel Afolayan shoots video

Learning took away my business from me, and I could hardly pay my children's school fees because there is no money in it. I would go for four days and come back begging my mummy for N10 to buy sugar

Sport&Style THE NATION

SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

PAGE 35

WAIDI AKANNI DECLARES

I'm a stylish Lagos Boy!

HOT & FRESH Lawal's Love Life

By Morakinyo Abodunrin

Contd. On page 48

36

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NATION SPORT & STYLE SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

NATION SPORT & STYLE

NATION SPORT & STYLE

C I P M OLY N E D L GO GIRL

BAYWATCH IN BRAZIL

Andy Carroll swaps football for surfing with girlfriend

Racy Victoria's

CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS? Boris Becker treats family to sunshine break despite financial problems

secret side

THIRD TIME LUCKY Tyson enjoys romantic stroll with third wife

Jessica Ennis earns huge sums from lucrative sponsorship deals

R E H T E G O T O TW ‘I'm a stylish Ruud Gullit spends quality time with teenage daughter

Lagos Boy’!

Contd. from page 38

Sport&Style SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

PAGE 38

PAGE 38

‘How I met my wife’ From page 35

WAIDI AKANNI DECLARES

I'm a stylish Lagos Boy!

By Taiwo Alimi

Contd. On page 37

40

Entertainment

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

How Gulder h c r a e S e t a m i t l U changed my life

ue b g a k O r e h p o st ri h C r, e n in w —GUS 8

Yes I have always had my share of female friends and fans but after winning GUS, the number increased drastically. It •Chris

Entertainment

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

NEXIM Bank’s largesse for entertainment industry:

Who’s next, after Doctor Bello?

•Ben Bruce with Roberts Orya

Victor Akande Entertainment Editor

ide Bakare •Roberts Orya flanked by Chris Ekejimbe and Olum

41

42

Entertainment

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

CINEMA GUIDE LAGOS

Dark Knight: Excellent sequel

ABUJA

Ice Age 4: Marvellous animation

PORT HARCOURT

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

‘Being Adeboye’s son helps, but...’

Glamour

43

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

Glamour

Social

ADETUTU AUDU (E-mail: crownkool@yahoo.com, Tel: 08023849036)

Trouble looms between Demola Oyefeso and K1

Caverton Helipcopters boss, Remi Makanjuola, gets grandchild soon

Chris Okotie moves on

Ene Lawani finds love Ken CalebOlumese retires

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

Glamour

45

Katung Aduwak's new vocation

Leah Abiara mellows down

Bolu Akin-Olugbade’s undying passion

Dapo Sorinolu goes into oblivion?

Olamiposi Akala’s new lease of life

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

Glamour

&

OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL (08033572821) raphseg2003@yahoo.com

Groom's parents, Chief & Chief (Mrs) Chikwe

At the superlative wedding of Kema Chikwe’s son, Naeto C

Bride's parents, Mr & Mrs Jerry Chukweke

BY : Olusegun Rapheal

I

T was a gathering of notable politicians, business moguls and diplomats penultimate weekend, when Naetochukwu Chike (Naeto C), son of former Minister of Aviation and PDP Women Leader, Mrs Kema Chikwe, exchanged marital vows with Nicole Chukweke. The wedding was solemnized at the Catholic Church of Divine Mercy, Admiralty Way, Lekki, Lagos. The wedding train later moved to the Impression Event Centre, Blue Waterway, Lekki where guests were treated to a lavish reception.

Among the dignitaries at the star-studded nuptials included former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo; Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi; Minister of State for Defense, Erelu Olusola Obada and husband; Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu, Sen. Chris Ngige, Paulline Tallen, Sen. Andy Uba, to mention but a few.

L-R: Wale Babalakin and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo

L-R: Emeka Uju and Sen. Chris Ngige

L-R: Tony Elumelu and D’Banji Defence Minister of State, Erelu Olusola Obada and husband L-R: Mrs Kemi Adewumi and Ruth Osime

L-R: Ayo Balogun and Chioma Madubiko

L-R: Mike Ahize, Chief & Mrs Charles Ahize

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

47

VOL 1 NO. 037

S

Brands & visual artists

O much happens with change. Though it is constant, sometimes change come with some damaging effect such that leaves more for negativity than add value. Part of the negative impact of change we talked about in our appreciation of technological development with special focus on social media vehicle. In that circumstance, we pointed out the fact that the appreciation and application of social media as a brand management tool does more harm than good in the face of IT development in our local market.

Yes, we did establish the truth in the need to be rational in our application of technology because the efficiency of our thinking cannot be divorced from the readiness of the local environment for such applications. Take for instance the new cashless transaction planned to take place from January 1st, 2012; how else can one describe mistake: in a society where trust is the most priced currency for payment, how can you force the use of card money?

How do you want to facilitate big volume cash-based trade transaction on PROMISORY cards when we know that the average trader in Nigeria do not trust even the bank draft? Such is the negative impact of change, yet we must observe change. However, growth dynamics requires some measure of careful consideration in the acceptance and application of change in the face of established norms. As it most often turn out, careless acceptance of change can be dangerous.

So we ask: of what use is change when it does not add up to growth, development or progress? How can we justify change when it ebbs away on quantifiable gains and established core values, no matter how minute? We question hypothesis on the basis of rationalization in the face of change.

So, we question CHANGE some times. One of such questions we have had to raise concerning change is the impact it has had on brands management from the angle of creative arts!

I have just come to the conclusion that in most cases, the OLD SCHOOL is better than the product of change around the world today even in religion. But here we are looking at the incidence of CHANGE in special relation with the efficiency of creative arts in the process of brands management.

The structure of today's advertising agency is so suspect; traditionalists like me are at a loss as to how to refer to them. But they have also turned out smart in the image perception they have made of themselves. It's been so apt one from the old school some times doubt some of these old thinking's. Today we hear of brand architects, brands managers, brands management consultants, and so much more. In form and substance these are all different new reference to what we originally know as ADVERTISING AGENCY. Also annoying is the knowing that these so-called professionals do not really practice the profession in its true form.

Consequently, we now see consumers exposed to campaigns or tactical advert materials lacking in message content or functional creativity. Some time last week I was privileged to see Coca-cola's seasonal TV Commercial conceptualized as a Christmas salutary ad on CNN. It was awesome; a masterpiece of a creative work. It refreshed my appreciation of creative ingenuity. The TVC came across as a piece from the masters, with excellent use of lighting, appropriate music and sound effect and deep-thinking casting (use of models was exact); reminds me of the work I and the team I worked with did for Procter & Gamble's euro Pampers when they were preparing to enter Nigerian market. It all came properly put together by a team committed to agreed creative work plan.

I believe and practice by the Old School tradition because I know it is more effective. It may not be very competitive in

terms of very fast response-timing, convenience and style, but it has proven to be more beneficial. As my contemporaries and I know it, the creative artist or visualize(r) is first and primarily someone naturally gifted and trained in the expression of creative art. They are trained and prepared for creative thinking and expression in their natural medium sending messages and expressing emotion. For advertising, as we knew it then, we primarily dealt with the visual artist

At that stage, the entire creative team inclusive of the strategic planning unit, the client service person and even the creative services person, come up to critically evaluate the pencil scamps which are essentially visual expression of the artist's understanding and interpretation of the assignment on hand.

At this preliminary stage, nothing is agreed until it is agreed.

It is only when the scamps are passed for appropriateness of thought and expression the creative team go on to finishing, in preparation for creative review, preparatory to agency presentation to the client.

The process of progressing from scamps to finishing involves the use of the computer with all the software in aiding beauty and exactitude. Then we had the airbrush machine, the pantone color markers, pencils, cardboard papers, water color sets and erasers as basic work tools for the visual artist (in addition to other quite strange materials they some time require then, depending on the assignment and objective). Those were days that really tasked creative thinking and visual arts. I remember how my colleagues in the creative department manually produced storyboard for television commercial by use of hand. Then we had wild strokes strong and expressive of great thinking. There was no short cut in the creative process.

We dare say brands gained more from that OLD SCHOOL than what obtains today.

In the first place, change crept in but unfortunately met with laziness and desire for short cut, undermining natural talent. All kinds of things happen today in the average advertising agency that amounts to die-service to brands and the creative process as we started out with. In fact, it is so bad today, that some people who are not artists by nature and by training, bow function as creative artist because all sorts of software is now available for work. Consequently hustlers quickly get computer use skills with a bent for application of tools for visual arts and there we go, as creative artists.

It is exactly same reason all sorts of thing now pass for music: laziness and fast means to success.

The entire system and process gets corrupted because nobody wants to go through the hard road. Most of the creative materials in advert materials today are lacking in deep thinking, awkward in expression and constitutes noise in the use of words and picture in the communication for brands. Just as anything sells for music in this market today, anything sells for advertising, leaving the brands compromised, the target audience confused and throwing negativity in the brand

we called VISUALIZER. The visualize, by reason of his/her natural creative abilities is charged with the responsibility of expressing the agency's strategic thinking in pictures.

The criterion for engaging visual artist was largely based on the extent of creativity and ability to apply same for advertising. So we had men and women proven to be naturally expressive in visual arts. Another beautiful thing about them is the tools of trade way back; the creative process was thoroughly investigative. Starting from understanding the overall creative direction agreed for a given brief, the Visualizer primarily puts his/her thought down in form of 'pencil scamps' a format that allows for consideration and scrutiny.

building process.

In 2012, we shall step up this critical analysis to include analyzing campaign materials with special attention on concept and finishing. We know there are a few advertising Agencies out there who appreciates the true process and can rekindle the 'old school' pattern if the rules are strengthened for guidance. Unfortunately the clients are also not too strong in appreciation of creative products. But as mentioned above, next year, we shall concern ourselves with playing up the rules with a view to cleaning up the stains.

Change is good and constant, but its implication is only as good as it is expressed.

48

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

It is difficult for anybody who exposes too much flesh to be seen as a person of integrity because anything that is precious should be hidden. The same way you do not expose the money in your bag because it is valuable, that is the same way the body should be treated

It’s better for a woman to go naked than wear skimpy clothes

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

New WOMAN

49

Preparing for the future...

Becoming money wise!

Lust in transit

By Rita Ohai

50

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

Etcetera

SUNNY SIDE

Cartoons

By Olubanwo Fagbemi

POLITICKLE

deewalebf@yahoo.com 08060343214 (SMS only)

A twenty-first century guide Forget the report that rated Nigerians high on the happiness scale, the pursuit of happiness has never been more daunting: education is costly, the job market saturated and basic amenities scarcer than ever. Good governance? Poor, particularly at the centre. Still, no one can begrudge patriots the craving for fulfillment, bliss even, anymore than one can stop families from starting out daily, children being born and graduates pouring out of higher institutions with dreams of success. Beyond representation of general Nigerian experience, the guide thus served the hopeful reflects the zeitgeist, or spirit of the times. The reader is enjoined to ingest the fare with a pinch of salt, for such is the cynical requirement for testing the times that seem sour partly for want of constructive spice and creative juice.

CHEEK BY JOWL

OH, LIFE!

THE GReggs

DEAR youth, or the youthful, fret not, for the time spent hanging around with friends while younger was not really wasted. Whether working on some fruitless pet project, playing sports, reading novels – classics, hopefully – or watching films – good ones, expectedly –, you’ll find that one of the most important factors associated with happiness and wellbeing is your meaningful connections with human beings and their endeavours. Much of the friendship forged early will serve you in latter years, you’ll find.

But be warned: some of your worst days are ahead. If you are going to do anything worthwhile, you will have to tackle and overcome periods of grinding self-doubt and failure. Take advice after critical analysis as counsel is often designed to benefit the supporter as the recipient.

Keep fit. But don’t pick on the weak. It’s immoral. And don’t antagonise the strong without cause. It’s foolish. Don’t undermine colleagues. Never mentally or physically abuse people because of who they are, or how they present themselves. Bullying people into compliance is distasteful.

Acquire empathy, good interpersonal skills, and confidence. Learn to read body language and non-verbal communication. Don’t just concentrate on your vocational or technical skills or you’ll soon be betrayed. Don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself. It is an important skill to obtain. As they say, speak your piece, even if your voice shakes.

When you reach adulthood, people will get in your way. Some will step in your path. Older people will stumble in front of you at the wrong time.

Don’t blow your top; get on top of the situation. Just step aside and go about your business. Note that these are passive aggressive methods by others to get you to acknowledge their existence.

Invest in yourself. Material things come to those that achieve goals and ambition. A poser you should never be. Be not the one who swindles others for a living, or one who flaunts fashionable clothes and gadgets beyond earning power. To gain respect, you’ll have to earn respect.

Don’t make the world worse. Aspire to great things without using your prodigious talents to induce chaos. Yes, you are smart, motivated and creative, and everyone that tells you that you can change the world is probably not far from the truth, but “changing the world” does not require circumventing financial regulations and bending the law.

Read obituaries if and when you can. They are somewhat short biographies. And they remind us that interesting, successful people rarely lead orderly, straightforward lives. If your entry into the world was not rated first, second, third and so on, why should you care about your class when you exit?

Have fun. Life ought to be an interesting journey, not an excruciating race. Success shouldn’t be about outrunning everyone else in some set direction. You didn’t deserve the pressure of having to make the ‘exclusive’ school and you are better off without the strain of landing the plum job or achieving the ‘juicy’ promotion by all means.

•Concludes next week

QUOTE Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not. A sense of humor was provided to console him for what he is.

— Horace Walpole

Jokes Humour Troubled Slumber A POLICE chief, a firefighter, and a lawyer were travelling together by car to a management conference in a distant city. Their car broke down in a rural area, and they were forced to seek shelter for the night at a nearby farmhouse.

The farmer ushered them in but cautioned that there were only two spare beds, and that one of them would have to sleep in the store with the farm animals. After a short discussion, the firefighter agreed to take the store.

Shortly after retiring, a knock was heard on the door of the farmhouse. The party inside answered to find the firefighter standing there, complaining that he could not sleep. There were pigs in the store, he said. The lawyer then volunteered to exchange with the firefighter.

A short time later, another knock was heard at the door. The lawyer complained that the cows in the barn reminded him of the cow that started the great fire from years ago, and that every time he started to sleep, he had a nightmare of burning to death. The police chief, not minding that he was sometimes

derogatorily called a “pig”, then agreed to sleep in the store.

This seemed like a good idea until a few minutes later when another knock was heard at the door. When the occupants answered the door, there stood the cows and pigs.

Plucked Rooster A SALESMAN is talking to a farmer when he looks over and sees a rooster wearing tousers, a shirt and suspenders. He says, “What the heck is that all about?”

The farmer says, “We had a fire in the chicken coop and all his feathers got singed off, so the wife made him some clothes to keep him warm. Now there’s nothing funnier than watching him try to hold down a hen with one foot and get his trousers down with the other!”

Questionable Courtesy Son: Mom, when I was on the bus with Dad this morning, he told me to give up my seat to a lady.

Mum: Well, you have done the right thing.

Son: But mom, I was sitting on daddy’s lap.

•Culled from the Internet

R

ULES for Writer ’s Fountain writing mystery: Even more than writing in In mystery writing, plot is everything. other genres, mystery writing tends to follow Because readers are playing a kind of game standard rules. This is because readers of when they read a detective novel, plot has to mysteries seek a particular experience: they come first, above everything else. Make sure want the intellectual challenge of solving the each plot point is plausible, and keep the crime before the detective does, and the action moving. Don’t get bogged down in back pleasure of knowing that everything will story or go off on tangents.

Introduce both the detective and the culprit come together in the end.

Of course, the best way of testing the early on. mystery writing rules that follow is to read As the main character, your detective must widely in the genre. See how others use them obviously appear early in the book. As for or how and when they get away with the culprit, your reader will feel cheated if the antagonist, or villain, enters too late in the breaking them. book to be a viable suspect in their minds.

Introduce the crime within the first three Random knowledge: •The size of a raindrop is around 0.5 mm - chapters of your mystery novel.

2.5 mm, and they fall from the sky on The crime and the ensuing questions are what hook your reader. As with any fiction, you average 21 feet per second.

•Over 90% of diseases are caused or want to do that as soon as possible.

The crime should be sufficiently violent — complicated by stress.

•There are over 200 parts in a typical preferably a murder. telephone.

For many readers, only murder really justifies •Paper money is not made from wood pulp the effort of reading a 300-page book while but from cotton. This means that it will not suitably testing your detective’s powers. disintegrate as fast if it is put in the laundry. However, also note that some types of •The city of Las Vegas has the most hotel violence are still taboo including rape, child molestation, and cruelty to animals. rooms in the world.

THE ARTS

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

A

‘How we formed UB 40’

REMO Babatope Babayemi has seen it all as an artiste. As early as 1976 when he left Nigeria for England to study for his Advanced level examination, he had stuck out his neck to be an artiste. Today, even as he gathers steam to run and manage his pet dream named Little Theatre, located at the National Theatre, Lagos, he still finds time to reflect and rummage into the past.

At that tender age, Babayemi had told himself that he would establish a name for himself in the annals of music in the global arena. When in 1977 he and others finally formed the globally-acclaimed musical band called UB 40, it was like his tallest dream had been actualised. “It was the greatest moment of my time,” he enthused in a chat.

How it all began I left Loyola College, Ibadan, in 1976 and went to England to go do my A-levels. My father was a Ph.D research student at the University of Birmingham. So, he and my mum, who was at the University of Hugh, took me along.

In the summer of ‘76, December precisely, I went to a local pub, a bar, you know, to have a drink. I went there from college and there was a group of boys – black, white, mixed blood, all about my age. They were at one corner of the pub. And I came in a suit, over-dressed, as it were, and that caught their attention. An African student fresh from home and as soon as I got in, they said, ‘hey, look who’s come in, man!’

I went to the bar, I took my double brandy. I downed the first, the sec- •UB 40 in 1977. Second from right is Babayemi ond and the third. And when I had the last double, I went to sit down with it. The 1970s saw a boom in black art and consciousness in the United KingAt that point, the boys said they liked my swagger. They came over and dom. One man who was part of those glorious years and instrumental to asked me: ‘Are you from Africa?’ And the formation of UB 40, a pop musical group in England, was Aremo I said ‘Yes, I am from Nigeria.’ ‘Yeah, yeah, sure,’ they exclaimed together. Babatope Babayemi. He told Edozie Udeze in a chat about the genesis of That was how we became friends. That was Christmas of ’76 and we hung the group and lots more. around till the following year basically. streets to black art and to the people.

Yes, I came home in 1979, because woman in-charge was not in the hall.

It was in early 1977 that we then So, they played significant role in the I was jazzed home. Oh, I was brought Norman Hassan, one of our pals who decided to set up a band together. At Bob Marley phenomenon. This paid or dragged home by my people. I just was 16 years, but already had a son, that time, we allotted roles to ourselves. off wonderfully. By the time Bob was woke up one morning with the Jamai- decided to play naughty. We wanted Hey you, play percussion; you the driving the first BMW 631 CSI series, can woman I was planning to marry to be mischievous that day. Norman drums, while you and you, the guitar the first nigger in England to do so, and was being propelled to return put his son across the counter. When and so on. I chose to play the percus- people knew that African art had ar- home. It was beyond what I could do the woman came, saw the boy on his sion and sometimes too, the drums. rived. By then he had booked into the and tears began to stream down my own, hell was let loose. As she came That was how we formed and began penthouse of Hilton Park Lane Hotel eyes. I knew something was there forc- out, saw a gang of ten youths in the UB 40 in 1977. where he had his home. Every Friday ing me because my father had said no hall, she was alarmed.

You see, there was a cultural revo- they’d fly in Jamaican coffee, one of son of his should play pop-music, more Quietly, she called out the title – lution going on in the United King- the best, into England for his use. so his first son. Being the first son, I Unemployment Benefit File number dom at that moment. A silent cultural If you go to England today, BMW had no choice but to comply.

40. That’s UB 40, she exclaimed. One revolution, which I, in particular, is what most popular African artistes UB 40 of the boys said oh, UB 40. That’s a didn’t know. Don’t forget that in 1971 use because Bob made it so. I was How we got the name, eh? Okay, good catch for sure. This name is catchy, Bob Marley released Catch a Fire. And therefore privileged to be part of that let me tell you the story. In England boys, and so from there we went to the it was to turn around the history of era. I got to know years later that I then, if you had no job, every Thurs- club to have drinks. We had got the music in the world. With that, Reggae was to be the first African to hold a day, you’d go to the unemployment name for our band. music made its debut worldwide. Until Masters of Philosophy in Black Per- office to register. We called it, you sign Members of the band then included then it was only played in Jamaica, forming Arts in the United Kingdom. on the dough. So as unemployed Earl and Robin Campbell, children of parts of the Caribbean and so on. The That was from the University of Bir- youths we were qualified. And one a very famous folk musician who Island Records took over Bob’s works mingham.

Thursday when we got there, the played for miners and labourers. They and made them into what they turned out to be.

They took The Wailers to the UK and gave them unlimited studio time.

This had an everlasting effect and in- “ am persuaded that for a young litFrom Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin thographic clusters and errors of erature like ours, more poetry fluence on the social cultural scene in wordage arising from misspellings.” ends and spaces of the city in the melpublications are still desirable just the UK. Before then black art was in Na’Allah is yet the only one Nilifluous tone of a court raconteur; Ilorin the basement, it was not recognised as many more readers are needed, and gerian poet who has given us a truly is the rational hybrid of cultures, its by the law. So, the successes of Bob many, many more honest criticism is multilingual volume of poetry, and Marley and the Wailers brought out the in want,” President, Association of praise-song steeped in the invocation his offering is as fresh as it is alluring. and evocation of indigenous, oriental Nigerian Authors (ANA), Professor black art out of the basement into the and western traditions. Written in Yes, overall, Ilorin Praise Poetry is a open, made them commercially rel- Aderemi Raji-Oyelade has posited. work that should be read with a hovProf Raji-Oyelade made the ob- English, Yoruba and Hausa, the poems ering sense of performance,” he points evant. This equally gave impetus and are carefully stringed in short spurts legitimacy to the experience of black servation in Ilorin, the Kwara State out. youths in the whole of UK, including capital at the launch of two books of epical quality.”

His words: “However time, Nige“To extend on this, what the poet authored by the Vice Chancellor of ours. rian poets have reflected on places; the has done creditably well is to trap the This was what propelled me on, it the Kwara State University (KWASU), trademark sonority of the typical tra- most memorable example of such powas that era when the black youths in Professor Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah. etic reflections on a known, identified, The books are Ilorin Praise Poetry ditional singer in the “cold complic- acquired or adopted place of being is J. the Diaspora no longer felt low. If you tell them to go, they’d say to you, ‘Hey, and Cultural Globalisation and Plurality: ity” of the written word. As a scholar- P. Clark’s “Ibadan”. There have been poet, Na’Allah is privileged, workwe were there in Africa when you Africa and the New World. other less known single compositions Reviewing the Ilorin Praise Poetry, ing conveniently and almost effort- on geographic places (Obudu, Kano, came to disrupt our flow. Now, you lessly both as translator and transhave to deal with our presence here Prof Raji-Oyelade describes it as anPort Harcourt, Umutu, etc) by other on your soil. We have to be part of the thology of poems dedicated to Ilorin as porter of images from one tradition authors. In Ilorin Praise Poetry, the trato another. empire. And I am part of this citizen- a city and Ilorin as a people.

“However, I will like to draw at- dition becomes extended and revised The lecturer at the department of ship and so on.’ tention to what I consider two short that it becomes more significant, and English, University of Ibadan, notes Cultural boast slurs or low points of the collection. in need of a name, as a sub-tradition in That was what happened on the that the book “captures the times, legFirst, there are the problems of or- modern Nigerian poetry.

We need more literary works—ANA President

I

•Babayemi

were the two left-handed guitarists in the group. Also were Norman Hassan on trumps, Jimmy on drums, Bryan on saxophone, myself on percussion, and Micky Virtue on keyboards.

Micky was half cast. There was also Faulkner on the bass guitar. After I left, new people joined. However, today UB 40 is the only surviving big band in the world. They celebrated 30 years sometime ago with great hits.

When Thisday invited them to Nigeria, I was contacted to be with them.

But they did not play, otherwise I’d have played with them. I’m in touch with them in England.

Why Little Theatre?

Yes, it is called Little Theatre, promoting new works and production. It was established to promote new works and new authors. This is basically what I am doing here. We promote new authors. It is our platform to promote culture and keep it alive. In a harsh economy like ours, where artistes find it difficult to survive, we come in to be of help, to offer succour.

Here too, we produce our own events and then we let the place out to organisations whose interests and activities relate to what we are doing.

Part of our programme is Thank God it is Friday, which we have rechristened Sounds like Lagos. We play music on Fridays and break even on drinks. If you really want to hear and enjoy fresh new music from Lagos, Little Theatre is where to come.

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Six Nigerian authors at the Olympics

•Babatunde

I

N the spirit of the Olympics, the newly opened Nigeria House in London is currently playing host to a showcase of arts and cultural products and expressions from Nigeria.

Planned to span July 23 through August 15, the event is to showcase Nigerian Arts, Culture and Lifestyle in the course of the Olympics in London at Theatre Royale, Stratford East.

The Literature segment which is to feature book display and sessions with top Nigerian writers is being anchored by the Committee for Relevant Art, CORA, organisers of the quarterly Art Stampede since 1991, as well as the yearly Lagos Book and Art Festival, LABAF, since 1999.

Titled Nigeria House Literature Showcase, the event is designed to exhibit the best of Nigerian Literature through book readings, conversations on literature and a display of a wide range of books by Nigerian authors at home and in the Diaspora.

Select Nigerian authors being featured include: Diran Adebayo, Sefi Atta; Helon Habila, Ade Solanke, Zainabu Jallo, Nnorom Azuonye, Chibundu Onuzo, and Rotimi Babatunde, whose recent win of the Caine Prize is still being celebrated.

The authors will be on parade on the 26th, 30th and 31st of July 2012 at Theatre Royale Stratford East.

Their books will be on display and available for sale, alongside other books by Nigerian authors, at the same venue from July 24 through August 3 2012.

The event is sponsored by the

Bank of Industry and is produced by British Council and CORA Art & Cultural Foundation.

Each of the three sessions will be moderated by three UK-based Nigerian artistes and culture advocates: Dr Sola Adeyemi, a theatre artiste, scholar and lecturer at the Goldsmith Colege, London;Lookman Sanusi, theatre artiste, and founder of the Bubbles FM, London; and Ike Anya, a medical doctor and creative writer and literary critic.

Mr Ayo Arigbabu, writer and publisher of DaDa Books, and director of projects for CORA, is coordinating the event that is aimed at showcasing the best of Nigeria’s creative industries to the teeming crowd expected throughout the duration of the event.

•Seffi Atta

Where psychopaths are enthroned…

How can she be called a mother Woman whose hand’s full of murder?

Being blind, deaf and dumb To the agony of her children – her peo-

Who wonder around like sparrows without nest.

A denial of milk and honey nature bequeathed Man unkind to mankind; Birthright forfeited Will a child cry out in pain And the mother not respond?

Her people surrounded by ocean greatly thirst Dwell in plenty; yet, mal-nutritionally fed Exiles, refugees, and slaves of the world they become Yet, stranger is king in their homeland.

The leaders having more dribbling skills Than the mango tree has leaves The people’s pride deeply buried in the mud Insecurity hovers in the air; darkness all around Smiles have vanished from their faces

Books

Jailed to glory

B

EYOND The Yard is a story about the condition of prisons in Nigeria. But in the story, the author, Iyang Ekwo, pinpoints the conditions that lead to the imprisonment of people, some justified, while others were wrongly done. Being a Judge of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Ekwo’s account goes a long way in giving an insight into the way the prisons work in a society where injustice and victimisation prevail from time to time.

Abdul is jailed for ten years; years when he does not know whether to be useful to himself or to society. He goes on to acquire much education within this period. Besides being a determined prisoner, Abdul is a talented footballer who leads his prison team to win several football laurels.

This indeed strikes the Interior Minister as a noble conduct; something that must be rewarded.

Ekwo uses the occasion of the football and the talent possessed by Abdul to go into the nitty-gritty of prison officials; how they operate, the powers they display and the language they use. One could easily see why one can go to the prison to be either a good or bad citizen thereafter. The prison could either reform or harden you if you so chose.

Abdul decides to allow it to propel him on; to help him look into the future with hope and determination.

By Edozie Udeze

There is a propelling force here, however. The man, within the yard, puts his energy into football, an innate talent, and uses it to achieve his freedom on a platter of gold.

When he is told he is now free and ready to leave the yard after eight years, Abdul stands there confused and unsure of himself. “It means your permission to depart is with me,” one of the prison wardens tells him (page 11). Yet Abdul’s confusion intensifies.

Not really because he does not want to be free. More fears haunt him.

How can he face the future? Who is out there to be of help to him? So many pressing and unresolved issues staring him in the face.

Ekwo is not only careful in his choice of words, he is equally at home with the appropriate descriptions for the yard environment and the issues that obtain inside the thick walls. The novel is a professional touch of class, well-crafted to tease the mind. It shows that a lot happens in people’s professional areas that can be turned into fiction.

Abdul typifies the turpitude nature of Nigeria. Now that he is free, the society, his so-called pals and associates still refuse to reabsorb and make him part of the system. The author’s ability to examine the society in all its facets shows a man at

home with his environment. And also credit must go to the publishers, Jemie, Books, for the clarity of the lines and the proper sequence of presentation.

Given the lucidity and clarity of purpose exhibited by the author, one can safely say that Beyond the Yard can earn a place in the literary firmament of this society and beyond. It is a story about the system, about the people and the society in ways that can make one either whimper or wink or sulk with amazement or sadness or both.

Another crafty tortoise

K

ELVIN Biachi’s book, Tortoise The King is a children’s story, set in the village of Bangon.

In it, King Rius, the cruel ruler, lords over both the people and animals with an iron hand. He allows even his beautiful daughter, Princess Wizo, to get away with sacrileges such as being rude to chiefs. His nemesis comes when the princess abuses the Bigo, the town crier, when he tries to seek audience with her father. For punishment, he gets locked up for three days and the villagers are not happy.

Upon being released, the Tortoise makes friends with Bigo and he begins to get privileged knowledge of on-goings in the village. Upon cultivating the friendship of Bigo and the cat in the King’s palace, the Tortoise

By Joe Agbro Jr.

gets to know the inner workings of the palace. He gets to know that if he gets hold of the King’s crown during a festival, he can unseat the King and take over and he in connivance with the cat plans towards that. Deceiving even the cat, the Tortoise gets the cat to steal the crown in the belief that the cat gets crowned king after a period of 10 days without the crown.

However, the deadline that the king needs is seven days. The king promises half of his kingdom, and his daughter in marriage to anyone who finds the crown. On the seventh day, Tortoise saunters in to claim the princess as wife. No amount of entreaties, even an offer by King Rius to make the Tortoise the richest, would sway him. At the end, Tor-

toise is crowned king.

In the dearth of Nigerian children stories, Kelvin Biachi’s 73-page book, Tortoise The King, is a breath of fresh air. As expected with children’s books, the book is loaded with colourful artistic illustrations by Olusola Akinseye which children can easily follow.

Talking about girl-child

POETRY

ple,

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

Arts/Reviews

Their soul weary and scary Blood of the innocents crying, while Looters are exonerated, celebrated and decorated.

A place where psychopaths are enthroned, Virtues, values, sanity… are sacrificed!

Oh, Mother Africa! Her leaders Dancing to the drumbeat of third parties Whose interest only is coveted.

A stain on the conscience of the world Pillar by corruption and un-patriotism The People ride on vague promises, Lack of basic provisions only enjoyed Butcher’s son feeds on assorted bones; Cloth merchant’s haggardly clothed in rags Bankrupt! On less than a dollar a day they live, Yet, millions of dollar oil barrens daily exported.

Isn’t a hungry people an angry people?

Will a people cry out in pain And the nation not be concerned?

By Yomi Oguntoyinbo

T

HIS book is written in the 21st century by Jonathan O. Edeh, a legend who is a gender writer and social entrepreneur that helps women build images that command respect by giving them a sense of purpose for better effectiveness, impart and productiveness. He also seeks to help them understand the situations that has been labelled; ‘beyond comprehension.’

Touched by the many little Girlchild he had come across in his life, the writer writes on the title, “In Love With The Girl-Child,” his latest addition in his line of books written out of his ardent love for the woman in his life.

The author presents word-pictures of scenes and events by giving details that appeal to the five senses, or to the reader’s imagination.

Narrating his experience and observation on (v – vi) what the experience of the girl-father relationship should be, the writer bequeaths to internalise his feelings and opinions by leaving the reader with a few questions that may encourage them set out to help shape or reshape the somewhat shapeless life of the girl-child lest they become, or make a girl-child they know a victim of their indecision: •What would you do if you knew your girl-child, another’s, or your daughter’s daughter doesn’t stand a chance of having a happy and fulfilled life?

•What would you do to make the

By Amarty Maryam Bologi

life of the girl-child in your care better?

The author after a logical analysis and coherent representation of facts based on experiences and observations admonishes us to live with the consciousness of “in trying to make your life comfortable, never make another’s uncomfortable”. A philosophy I personally find morally and spiritually inclined. Bearing in mind that no man is an island and also never ruling out the fact that you may need serious help the day you begin to think and act as if the lives of your girls are more important than the life of another who isn’t yours (ix).

Acknowledging the crucial role the foundation plays in a building, the writer goes ahead to emphasise the place of our CREATOR in achieving the true essence of imbibing the required virtues in the lives of the little girl-child.

The book is written in the first person from the perspective of a young girl-child. The language is extremely simple and the point of view is very consistent for its time. The book moves at a relaxing pace and is extremely absorbing without being dull or loose.

Plot points are tight and the characters both in human and narrative are complex and completely fleshed out thus adding to the well crafted feel of the book. It is unnecessary to say that the book is superb- the fact that it stays with the reader for a long time is ample testi-

mony. Jonathan uses rhetoric to convey many kinds of meaning with just one line, which makes every line very intense and open to a variety of interpretations. Ample use of puns and metaphors put forward ideas about identity, female sexuality, stigmatization, etc. It is interesting to note how Jonathan treats love. But there are other kinds of love that have received comparatively lesser attention. The extremely low-key treatment of the relationship between the little girl-child and the men in her life is startling when one considers the tragedy it may bring. Mothers’ insight into this form of love, forms the basis of the book and the ideas about parental supervision and imposition run as an undercurrent.

53

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

Every experience is an adventure Olamide Ajayi is a graduate of Ohio State University, USA. She holds a degree in Ecology and specialized in product development, clothing and textiles. She spoke to Yetunde Oladeinde about her brand, ICONOLA, her parents and the things that make her tick.

•Ajayi

express it. You cannot be around me and not feel my energy. Every experience is an adventure for me and I pride myself in my love for every aspect of life.”

Ask Ajayi how the label ICONOLA is doing in the fashion scene and she replies, “Iconola is doing very well. We are at different levels of expansion and we hope that it will go smoothly and successfully.”

As she scrolls down memory lane, the pretty designer takes you into her world, tracking some of the achievements recorded over the years. “In year 2007, Iconola won the hottest designer of the year by the City People Awards and was nominated as young entrepreneur in 2008 at the Future Awards.

We have been documented in so many television shows and magazines in the past and on MNETs 53 extra in January of 2012.”

Naturally, you would expect Ajayi to say that the business is very lucrative as she xrays some of her achievements. Her words: “I believe that any business can be lucrative as well as meet different challenges that can cause failure or slow growth. With Iconola, we have been fortunate enough to put certain structures and personnel in place to help my business and therefore, it proves to move progressively in the direction that we wish for it.”

Strategically, Ajayi informs you that she has put in some measure to tackle challenges in the sector. “I have been dealing with general issues that every business deals with in Nigeria such as lack of good infrastructures and electricity. There is also a lack of solid industry for fashion designers and we are working on tackling this. It is such that every

“

Naturally, you would expect Ajayi to say that the business is very lucrative as she x-rays some of her achievements. Her words: “I believe that any business can be lucrative as well as meet different challenges that can cause failure or slow growth.

With Iconola, we have been fortunate enough to put certain structures and personnel in place to help my business and therefore it proves to move progressively in the direction that we wish for it”.

“

P

RETTY Olamide Ajayi is the CEO of ICONOLA, a brand that offers madeto-measure service catering for brides, bridesmaids and a variety of inspirational designs for modern upward women and men.

In a recent encounter, she traces her memories of early life with nostalgia. “My early childhood memories are filled with happiness and wisdom. One can’t grow up around my parents and not be happy and wise. I am too much like my dad.”

In addition, she shares some of the other similarities and bond with her parents. “My father has a personal style that I admire but I must say that my mother is also very stylish. It runs in the family and that is where I got the creative thing”.

Ajayi, who is the daughter of Olu Agunloye, former minister of Power and Steel, said: “I enjoy music, I love to write and I am a good cook. My beauty routine is peace of mind and happiness even though that sounds so cliché. Personal style is simple and classic. I like things that are different but I have to be simple. I love sunglasses and neckpieces.”

The Abuja based designer tells you about a tea party, she organised in Lagos a few weeks back. “We organised the tea party to satisfy à huge demand from Lagos. It was also to introduce ourselves to potential customers and preview what is to come as we aim to bring a store back to Lagos as soon as we can.

It proved to be a huge success because we were able to achieve all of the intended objectives.”

Role models The conversation then moves on to identify some of her role models and mentors. “My role models are Oprah Winfrey because of her longevity and success, Tyra Banks for her versatility and strength and Sean John for his unconventional success in the clothing business. My mentors also include my parents.”

How does Ajayi cope with her tight schedule and family life? “My work schedule is crazy and I love it because I am a bonafide workaholic. My family life is playful yet grounded and that is a huge reflection of who I am. I am able to balance because I have the best of both worlds.”

Next, you want to know the greatest influence in her life and she says: “My personality is big and solid and I love to

•Ajayi

individual or business has to put certain measures in place to make sure that ends meets.”

So, what makes her label different from others, you ask? “My business philosophy is to make sure that people around me are happy.

I love beautiful things and I studied what aesthetics does to people. Therefore, I can say that is what separates my brand from the rest.

In terms of price, fit, style, and beauty we pride our brand to have the advantage.”

You also want to know what’s in vogue at the moment and she answers: “There is a huge use of lace in vogue at the moment, and very colourful and floral pieces are being worn now.

There is also a huge emphasis on chic office wear and because summer is here, many of us are showing skin, as the trends have stated.”

54

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

Miscellany

A women and youth group recently won an award from the TY Danjuma Foundation.

Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf, reports •Governors Aregbesola and Ajimobi leading one of the walk sessions

•A spice of dancing and drumming

The thrills and frills of Walk- to -Live in Osun

•Large crowds of walkers

W

ITH several years of despondency, the citizenry of every particular locale require, after being delivered from the grip of an administration that had little or no socio-political and economic direction, a strategic plan that will inject life back into them and ginger them into actions to change their lives for better.

“The Walk-to-Live monthly programme put in place by the administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola appears to be doing that perfectly,” says Coach Festus Adegboye Onigbinde, former Nigerian’s Chief Coach and a Technical Instructor for CAF. Walk-to-Live is a monthly physical exercise that involves trekking of at least, 8 kilometres by interested citizens of the State of Osun after which a round of various other physical exercises follow to ensure that the citizens remain physically fit and mentally alert.

Talk of interests! Of course, the citizenry become much more interested seeing their governor leading the pack with top echelon of his administration who spot sports wears walking through the multitude in excitement.

Under the six-point development agenda of the governor’s administration, which he calls “My Pact with Osun”, promotion of healthy living is one. “There can be no healthy living without constant physical exercises,” the governor is always quick to remind his people each time people troop out to partake in what is appearing the biggest platform for mobilizing the people to action in the state.

Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State, after his participation in the 7th edition of the programme held in Ila

By Semiu Okanlawon

Orangun on July 14, attested to the potency of the monthly event for springing the people into action. Perhaps, the more reason he made no pretence about replicating the same programme in the “Pacesetters State.”

Each edition of the programme seemed to have learnt a lesson from the previous one. The 7th edition held in Ila Orangun, home country of the National Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria and former Governor of the State, Chief Bisi Akande, pulled perhaps a higher crowd than the one held in IleIfe, which took off at the Palace of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuade, and terminated at the Sports Centre of the Obafemi Awolowo University campus.

Before Ile-Ife, the programme had been staged in Iwo Local Government Area of the state which was the first edition held outside the state capital, Osogbo which witnessed the first four editions.

In its own right, it is emerging as a potentially tourist action with the frills and thrills now associated with it. What with the now regular presence of notable actors and actresses of the Nigerian movie industry?

Tunji Bamishigbin, a lawyer, actor and film producer sees the Osun Walkto-Live as a “potentially crowd pulling event which the state can package as a tourist attraction if properly managed.”

On hand to pep up the event at different editions, apart from Bamisigbin were veteran actors such as Chief Lere Paimo, Chief Aderemi Olofaina, Chief Karimu Adepoju, Antar Laniyan, Yomi Fash-Lanso, Bolaji Amusan, Fathia Balogun, Ebun Oloyede and a host of

others who have become household names in the country’s entertainment industry.

And Onigbinde, who has not missed any edition since he took part in the second edition, is not the only sports personality that identifies with the programme. Ex-internationals such as winger Chief Segun Odegbami, former midfield maestro, Demola Adesina, ex-defender Taiwo Ogunjobi and others, having graced the occasion once, have fallen in love to ensure they do not miss any edition.

The combined effect of the physical presence of the Governor of the state, the entire members of the executive council, veteran, regular faces in the country’s entertainment industry, renowned sports personalities magically stir people into action in a frenzy of adulation that confirm a meeting point between the government and the people.

“People have been so alienated from the government in the past years,” lamented Comrade Rotimi Obadofin, a chieftain of the Action Congress of Nigeria and a former governorship aspirant of the party in Kogi State. “But this is a commendable way of mobilizing the people and identifying with them,” Obadofin added In no small dimension, the programme appears the best in closing the gap between the people and the government. Each edition of the programme sees excited citizens who cannot join the usually long and winding procession either staying in front of their houses; climbing topmost parts of their buildings to catch glimpses of the governor, movie actors and actresses

and sportsmen who have become regular features of the event. Young mothers who cannot stay at home straddle their babies in the back. Physically challenged ones waddle their ways through the crowd to ensure they complete the ‘race’. Students, market men and women, old and the young want to be part of what they see as an engaging event that help them regain their selfconfidence. It is common scene to see excited, ordinary citizens wanting to get handshakes with the Governor and other top members of his administration.

“This programme makes your people to once again regain their selfconsciousness,” says Mr. Gbenga Omotoso, Editor, The Nation Newspaper who witnessed one of the editions.

“Part of the problem is that many leaders lock themselves in far away from the people who voted them in. Until another election is approaching, people don’t see them again. But people need to see and feel their governor and others working with him to take decisions that affect them,” Omotoso enthused.

But apart from other benefits now accruing from the event such as raising the political consciousness of the people, Governor Aregbesola has never failed to remind enthusiasts at the events on monthly basis that “Walk-to-live exercise was introduced because we realised that we have all forgotten the need to physically exercise ourselves. We are highly sedentary and socially wild; we must compliment this with engaging in physical exercise. Osun is promoting Walkto-Live to ensure that we have a healthy people in a healthy state.”

He said the incessant violence witnessed in the Northern part of the country is not unrelated to the fact that the dominance population of youths is not positively engaged.

“We do not know how totally vulnerable we are particularly as a nation with a population of which about 60 percent are youth. The implication is that more than half of the country is in that category where if we do not engage them in activities that will saturate and dissipate their energy, we are doomed.” The governor noted.

To the veteran Coach, the Walkto-Live is another way of reviving interests in sporting activities in the state, realizing the potentials of the younger ones to bring glory to their state through this.

“We have to develop before we go into competitions; you want your child to have a Bachelors degree in whatever field without going to the university, is that possible?. If you do not develop, you don’t expect high achievements, the talents are there let’s discover and train them.” Onigbinde stressed.

For the Deputy Governor, Otunba Grace Laoye Tomori; Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti; Chief-of-Staff to the Governor, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, there is nothing like looking forward to every edition of the programme as this provides them the much needed opportunity to rejuvenate.

“I feel a sense of renewal after each event,” says Oyetola •Okanlawon is the Director, Bureau of Communications and Strategy, Office of the Governor

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

55

Makoko: Picking up the pieces —PAGE 57

Another house of terror?

Located in Ojodu, Lagos, Mountain of Liberation and Miracle Ministries, has become a source of serious security concerns for residents. Sunday Oguntola writes on the many strange, unorthodox practices of the church

R

ICHARD Eghaghe, a journalist, was only lucky to emerge from the lion’s

den alive. But for a bit of native wisdom and tact, the death sentence pronounced on him would have been executed. Eghaghe, a correspondent with National Mirror newspaper, had gone to Mountain of Liberation and Miracle Ministries, Ojodu, Lagos that Friday afternoon determined to recover a debt of over two months the church owes his organisation.

Months after supplying 300 copies of his paper that featured the General Overseer/ founder of the church, Prophet Chris Okafor, Eghaghe’s efforts to get the N45, 000 payments has been difficult. But when Okafor arrived at the premises of the church surrounded by his retinue of bodyguards and security men, hope of getting the cash surged within Eghaghe. He stood for recognition having interviewed the church founder before. But that landed him in troubles.

He said, “A certain Pastor Sylvester ordered security men to throw me out for having the effrontery to stand up. Before I knew it, the security men were on me. They grabbed my trouser savagely by the waist band, dragged me to the main gate like a sheep to the slaughter and pushed me outside. In the process, my trouser got torn. I fell down but quickly got up for people not to notice the humiliation.’’

Completely overpowered, Eghaghe did the only sensible thing that occurred to him: call his editor to report the incident. But that was yet another wrong move. One of the security men grabbed his phone and smashed it. Before he could recover, “six other members, including two pastors, as well as the prophet’s driver rushed at me and ordered me back to the church,’’ he

stated.

Eghaghe knew getting back to the church’s premises would earn him more beatings. He was determined it would not happen. “I held on to the iron rails of the fence of the church but they started raining blows on me and hitting my hand with batons to weaken my grip on the rails. I started crying for help that they wanted to murder me. People were attracted but nobody dared to came to my rescue for fear of being beaten up as well. Two of them pulled my legs off the ground’’.

He added: “I lost stability and then they hit me on the chest. I was dazed completely and I fell heavily, hitting my head on the ground. Then they started kicking and

•Battered Eghaghe narrating his ordeal PHOTO: MUYIWA HASSAN

dragging me on the ground into the church.’’

Okafor, Eghaghe said, merely looked away as they beat him. He then ordered that the journalist be taken to his office for ‘interrogations’. “I was dragged like a thief up-stairs. When we got into the office, I was ordered to kneel down before him. When I complained that can’t kneel down because of the injury on my knees, they started torturing me, slapping and hitting me all over my body to force me on my knee,’’ he recalled.

When Okafor warned that he could be dead, Eghaghe knew he was really in for trouble. “I was terrified and started entertaining the fear that my days on earth were numbered,’’ the journalist added. Okafor, ever in charge, asked, “Who sent you?’’ The dazed, beaten journalist could only watch helplessly. Okafor started ranting. He threatened to curse Eghaghe. He said he could order his death and nothing would happen.

At a point, he even applied subtle tactics, saying the journalist was a victim of generational curse that only him could exorcise. After Eghaghe was ‘released’ after six hours of ‘detention’, he barely managed to get himself to Alheri Hospital, Ojodu where he was admitted for three days. He later reported the case at Adigboluja Police Station.

Beating for Christ Residents of Oshofisan Close, off Ereke Street where the church is located, told our correspondent that such beating incidents are commonplace. One of them, who simply identified himself as Samuel, said he witnesses such beatings at least once every week. “The church is really a threat in this neighbourhood.

Just last week, another man was allegedly beaten for abandoning his wife, a member of the church. He was forced to write an undertaking that he would return home and be a responsible husband,’’ he stated.

Residents disclosed that the exercise is

tagged “Beating for Christ.’’ Offenders are allegedly asked by the general overseer to be flogged certain strokes of cane. Sometimes, many of them are compelled to undertake to ‘repent and sin no more’. Among those beaten are church members who cannot abide by certain rules of the church. Relations of members are also invited for ‘deliverance’ after which they are subjected to severe flogging.

At nights, they said they hear screaming from members who are allegedly tortured for one offence or the other. The church, it was reported, has always maintained the screams were from deliverance sessions carried out on members and visitors.

An emperor in council Our correspondent, who spent two days monitoring proceedings at the church last week, observed that Okafor rules with an iron fist. He drives a patrolled Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV). All roads leading to the church are cleared at least five minutes before his arrival. Once he emerges, members bow in absolute obeisance. Many go on their kneels while some simply bow faced down. No one moves close, except his close associates.

The flamboyant, handsome pastor speaks slowly, barely audibly. But he operates like a lion once on pulpit. Okafor reels out prophecies upon prophecies for worshippers. He calls out mobile numbers and ancestral origins of worshippers to convince them the prophecies are real. The preacher is also renowned for spitting live fire during ministration. The fire, members said, is a sign that whatever he asks from God comes to pass.

Okafor’s words are laws in the church.

Once, a former member said, he decreed a woman should leave her matrimonial home.

The woman allegedly left the following day, •Continued on Page 57

56

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

Life

Makoko: Picking up the pieces For years the people of Makoko had lived their lives on water. This idyllic rhythm was abbreviated when the Lagos State government gave the residents a quit notice. Tunde Busari visited the community and reports.

• Some of the residents and their cluster of canoes

L

IVING on water has been their life. They have never known any other lifestyle.

They sleep, eat, play and learn on water. The fear of water was never part of their lives. They know the water as much as those who live on land know the nooks and crannies of the land. They tempestuous rage of water does not frighten not cow them; both old and young have become one with the water. They swim and literally walk on water. Their lives depended on it and they do not see it as posing any threat to them.

However, the Lagos State government does not think so. On July 12, 2012, the Ministry of Waterfront Infrastructure Development sent a letter to the community to notify them on the need to vacate and remove shanties and illegal developments along the waterfront.

According to the letter: “You have continued to occupy and develop shanties and unwholesome structures on the waterfront without authority thereby constituting environment nuisance, security risks, impediments to economic and gainful utilization of the waterfront such as navigation, entertainment, recreation, etc.

“That Lagos State Government is desirous of restoring the amenity and value of waterfront, protect life and property, promote legitimate economic activities on the

waterfront, restore security, improve water transportation and beautify Lagos waterfront/ coastline to underline the Mega city status of Lagos State and has decided to clear all illegal and unauthorized developments on its waterfront and water bodies.

“Therefore, notice is hereby given to you to vacate and remove all illegal developments along the Makoko/Iwaya Waterfront within 72 Hours of receipt of this notice.”

Things go haywire The residents in compliance with the notice decided to pull down their wooden structures on the waterfront while their leaders

• Debris of the eviction

PHOTOS: MUYIWA HASSAN continue to engage the state government in dialogue to see how to reach a middle ground.

It was in the course of this that on the afternoon of July 21 tragedy hit the community. A community leader, Timothy Huntoyanwha, was allegedly shot and killed by a marine police man. This has thrown the community into a deep sorrow and a new twist has been introduced to the quit notice. The community and the immediate family of the deceased leader have been in mourning and calling for justice to be done.

Although the mother of the deceased, Mrs. Celestina

Huntoyanwha, has succeeded in wiping off tears from her eyes, her total mien, however, show a heavy heart, groaning under the excruciating pains of the loss of her son.

The septuagenarian looked frail and had to be supported to walk out of the room for an interview with the reporter. No question made any meaning to her except her frantic request that Governor Raji Fashola should help bring the killer of her son to justice.

Her voice soaked in agony she pleaded “That is what Fashola should do to appease the soul of my son. My son did not deserve to

die in this manner. On the day he was killed he was going to appeal to the youths not to make trouble with the police who were demolishing our houses. Why then should the policeman kill him?”

The sight was moving and pathetic as the three wives and 14 children of the deceased sat by his mother. While the eldest son remained speechless owing to the uncertain fate of his own child who is also in a hospital as a result of wounds sustained when the police came to the community. The third child, Justina Huntoyanwha, blamed the police for what she called their overzealous disposition towards the people.

The 25-year-old said there was no reason for the policeman identified as Corporal Pepple Boma to pull the trigger and cut short the life of her father. She said the action was an evidence of the acclaimed extra-judicial killings the police have always perpetrated against innocent citizens.

“He should come out and tell us the crime which my father committed before he killed him.

The policeman is heartless and I know God will avenge the death of my father no matter how long.

Look at us the children who will now take care of us? They need to tell us whether the governor sent them to kill us here,” she said.

It was gathered that the deceased had a few hours before his death taken delivery of roofing sheets he bought to complete his new wooden house under construction in the area.

It was also learnt that the alleged killer policeman, serving at Marine section of the Oworonsoki Divisional Police Headquarters, had before he carried out the act, demonstrated a strange behaviour, which his colleagues in the team comprising of some armed soldiers deployed for the demolition operation, frowned at.

Premeditated murder or a mistake?

But all the effort his colleagues to caution him were unheeded until he reached for his gun and fired some shots into the air. The spectacle, according to an eye witness, had a semblance of one possessed by demonic forces.

“He was shouting and barking that ‘I will kill somebody today’. It was while he was doing this that we heard the cry of the deceased shouting that he had been shot at.

He held his stomach as if complaining of stomach upset.

“He was shouting ‘bullet has hit me’. We did not at first take him serious because it looked like a funny stunt. It was when we saw blood gushing out of his body that we quickly ran to him,” a youth who witnessed the incident disclosed.

The sight of a bleeding Huntoyanwha instantly •Continued on Page 57

• A woman rowing her canoe with her baby strapped on her back

Life

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

Another house of terror?

• The entrance to the church

PHOTO: MUYIWA HASSAN

•Continued from Page 55

glad to have ‘obeyed the man of God’. Short of how to address him, members address him in various ways, “The man of God’’, “The Prophet’’ and so on.

Litany of controversies Controversies appear to be the second nature for Okafor. He holds queer services that many other church leaders have questioned. Thankfully for him, the church neither belongs to the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) nor the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). He operates more or less like an emperor,

completely unanswerable for his strange doctrines and practices. Okafor holds what is known as ‘cane service’ where members are told to bring canes with which they beat the ‘devil and his cohorts’.

The middle of his altar also hosts what is known as “Pool of Bethsaida’’, which members are encouraged to drink for solution to their predicaments. Many of them were also seen bringing pictures of relations or their ‘sworn enemies’ for prayers of vengeance.

The mysterious ‘kidnap’ On March 12, Okafor was allegedly

‘kidnapped’ in Awka, Anambra State, few hours after hosting a crusade tagged ‘Nnewi/Awka power and prophetic conference 2012’, with the theme “feast of solution.’’

The kidnap allegedly took place around midnight beside Psychiatric Hospital, Nawfia. Okafor was travelling back to Lagos to meet the Sunday service before the supposed abduction. Instead of taking the Enugu-Onitsha expressway, his driver reportedly decided to ply the old road.He was said to have discovered that a Camry vehicle with five men was trailing their Black Armada Jeep. The five-man kidnap gang reportedly opened fire on

57

Okafor’s exotic 2009 Armanda Jeep. The heavy firing grounded the vehicle.Attempts by Okafor’s security details to resist the attack turned fatal. One of his security details was reportedly killed. Okafor, in an interview with our correspondent after his ‘release’ said the mobile police officer died “because he did not heed the divine instruction not to jump out of the vehicle.’’

The body of the police officer, who he said died in the attack has not been seen. While in custody of his alleged abductors, Okafor was reportedly in touch with associates and partners of the ministry, soliciting for funds.

Okafor, it was gathered, kept calling in the middle of the night begging acquaintances to save his life. He allegedly raised over N10 million during the saga that ended 53 days later. Curiously, the case was not reported to the police by his church members.

Fifty three days later, he appeared in his ancestral home, saying he had just been released. According to him, his abductors decided to let him go because “they had angelic visitation disturbing their sleep.’’ Tongues started wagging when the preacher arrived at the domestic wings of the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos. He appeared fresher and bigger without any trace of molestation or harassment, eyewitnesses said.

He left later for Sheraton Hotels where he lodged for over a week. Asked why he chose to lodge in Sheraton, Okafor said he was only at the hotel to attend a welcome luncheon organised by his members and associates. The cleric said his enemies were behind the incident, wondering how he could have arranged it to raise funds. “We are not hungry at all,’’ he began.

“There is no reason on earth why I would plan to endanger my life, let alone those of others.’’On why anyone would be after his life, he said: “If they wanted to kill Jesus, why not me? You don’t have to offend anybody to become a target. Once you are fulfilling destiny, you become a target but I have forgiven my abductors and their sponsors.’’

Last year, he moved into a 19-bedroom duplex in Magodo that sources said is very tasteful and grand. Okafor rebuffed all attempts to speak with him last week. His personal assistant, a certain Pastor Tony, declined comments. The church’s Public Relations Officer, Sunday Adeyemi, later called to deny all the allegations made against him. He said those envious of the church’s strides are responsible for all the charges.

What future for Makoko?

•Continued from Page 56

infuriated the youths, they quickly mobilised others to the scene. They were, however, prevented from taking law into their hands by the quick intervention of the Baale of Egun community, Chief Ayinde Jejelaye and other chiefs.

The end of a peace maker According to Jejelaye, who was installed chief of the community in October 2007, said “Luckily Chief Aji with whom Timothy (the deceased) went to appeal to the youth on water was there to caution them. Otherwise, it would have degenerated to a serious clash because the youth saw how one of us was killed without any reason” The youth were restrained but they did not allow the suspect to escape.

They carried Huntoyanwha’s corpse into the boat and led him to the Oworonsoki Police Division where the matter was reported. Efforts were subsequently made to revive the deceased at a private hospital. He was later rushed to Gbagada General Hospital where he was confirmed dead.

“The doctor at Gbagada then said we should take the corpse to the Ikeja General Hospital. As we were planning to deposit the corpse in the mortuary, the Deputy Commissioner of Police of Panti (State Criminal Investigation Department) called us on phone to bring the corpse. We carried it there and he saw it and took its photograph after which he said we should return it to the mortuary,” the chief said.

One week after the incident, the corpse is still laying cold in the mortuary

• High tension cable over Makoko Community with no sign of early burial in sight as at the time our correspondent visited the community on Wednesday. It was learnt that a meeting was held between the police and the community, the details of the meeting was kept secret.

Chairman of Yaba Local Government, Dele Jimoh, who visited the community, condemned the killing and promised to

PHOTO: MUYIWA HASSAN

ensure the matter was not swept under the carpet.

Jejelaye is not happy that the community was asked to vacate a place where they had lived for ages. He said, “We are waiting for what they would do as we have always been lawabiding. We never dreamt of this type of treatment from the government. We used our population to vote for him because we saw what

he did in his first term. We still believe he is doing his best in the second term but he should not send us away from our natural location.

“We have no other place to live than here because water is our source of survival.

It is from water we make money with which we send our children to school. What they are now doing is waging war against us.”

In furtherance of their decision to protest their eviction, the community on July 23 stormed the Alausa office of the governor in a peaceful protest march to press home their demand for restraint and further demolition of their properties.

While the governor commiserated with them over the killing of one of them, he gave an assurance that the government will look into the circumstance that led to the unfortunate incident. He reiterated that the decision of government was a painful obligation which he must not shy away from carrying out. He told them that the demolition was done for the interest of the environment which he is committed to protect.

The community which had lived on the water for ages was in danger because some of their houses were built right under high tension wires, which are dangerous and with the fact that it is under water any cut could lead to electrocution and massive death and destruction.

Now, that the community has been evicted many are watching to see what the next step of government would be.

Activists have pointed to the fact that when the poor were evicted from Maroko in the eighties what sprouted out of those shanties was Victoria Island Extension.

The question now is: what will Makoko beget?

58

Your HEALTH THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

Caesarean section by choice

The risks of caesarean section

59

BUSINESS

‘Why Toyota cars aren't manufactured in Nigeria’

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

-- Page 61

Dangote, Ibeto battle over cement market The age-long rivalry between two of Nigeria’s leading businessmen-Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Chief Cletus Ibeto over the control of the lucrative multi-billion naira cement market is yet to abate if latest reports are anything to go by. Remi Adelowo writes

Briefs Bank boosts traders’ income

By Adeola Ogunlade

I

•Dangote

A

FEW weeks ago, a new chapter was opened in the clash of the business titans when Alhaji Aliko Dangote instituted a suit at the Federal High Court, Abuja, presided over by Justice Binta Nyako, praying the court among other things to void the payment of $40m plus a sum of over N7b by the Federal Government to Ibeto Cement Company Limited and its associate companies IBG Investment Ltd and Derima Ventures Ltd. Genesis of the crisis It all started in 2005 when the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo ordered the closure of Ibeto Cement plant over alleged ‘misrepresentation of facts in obtaining the quota of 800,000tonnes of cement allocated to it by the Federal Government.’

Prior to the closure, the Federal Government had formulated a backward integration policy whereby licences were given to some companies to import cement in order to augment the shortfall in supply. But there was a proviso attached to this: the intended beneficiaries must have proven investments in the manufacture of cement and secondly, own and operate land-based import terminals.

However, controversy over whether Ibeto fulfilled these conditions has remained till date.

Dangote’s grouse against Ibeto Though Dangote admitted that Ibeto completed its development of land-based terminals which was leased from the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) to enable it take full advantage of the backward integration policy, he alleged that Ibeto was not at any time investing in the local manufacturing of cement or had any interest to invest.

He alleged that based on this fact, the Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (CMAN) peti-

•Ibeto

tioned Obasanjo in September and October 2005 over government violation of its cement policy, with references to the metric tonnes of cement importation license given to Ibeto, which it alleged had no plan to invest in local manufacturing.

Acting on the petition, Obasanjo revoked the license earlier given to Ibeto until the company showed proof of its investment in local production of cement.

In addition, its bagging terminal was also shut down.

Ibeto, according to findings, subsequently filed a suit challenging the FG’s action but it was struck out by the court.

Ibeto fights back Events took a dramatic turn with the coming of the Umaru Yar’Adua presidency. Cletus Ibeto, it was learnt, wrote the former president, urging him to order the reopening of his plant. That was granted.

In addition to that, Ibeto sought for and obtained Yar’Adua’s approval to import 1.5million metric tonnes of bulk cement per annum at 5 percent import duty and free VAT. But according to Dangote, other CMAN members who complied with the government policy were not given such preferential treatment and made to pay a duty of 10 percent and 5 percent of VAT. This development, according to sources, compelled CMAN to petition Yar’ Adua, urging him to give all players a level playing field. The late president in January 2008, later directed that all cement importers operate under the same concessions, as well as ‘pay 10 percent duty rate and 5 percent duty for VAT without exception’.

But to the consternation of Dangote and other CMAN mem-

bers, they alleged that the presidential directives were not obeyed as it concerns Ibeto, as the company continued to pay 5 percent duty and zero VAT. Moreover, in January 2009, Dangote claimed that the then president approved a reduction in tariff for bulk cement import to 5 percent, while the statuotory flat rate of 5 percent was retained for VAT. This directive according to him, like the previous one, was flouted allegedly in favour of Ibeto.

Ibeto’s defence To all these allegations, Ibeto stated that contrary to Dangote’s claims that it has not made any investment for manufacturing of cement, it spent over N12b to construct an ultra-modern factory in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Stating unambiguously that it did not misrepresent any fact to obtain the quota of 800,000 tonnes of cement allocated to it, the company added that following the closure of its plant in 2005, it instituted a suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/400/ 06 seeking redress for the huge losses incurred.

On January 8, 2008, the company claimed it wrote Yar’Adua to reopen its factory among other reliefs it sought for. The then president, seeing the merits of its case, granted certain rights to the company, which it claims, spent several millions of naira to reactivate its plant and machinery.

But following renewed efforts by some unnamed competitors, Ibeto, which The Nation investigations revealed controls about 40 percent of the cement market in the South East and South South regions, instituted another suit against the FG on the need to protect it and its investments.

An out-of-court settlement was reached by Ibeto, FG and the Attor-

ney-General of the Federation, which resolved that Ibeto should be paid $46m plus another sum of about N2b. The terms, it claimed, were signed by all the eight members of the inter-ministerial committee and Ibeto Company Ltd. Further, it was also agreed that Ibeto could import the approved 1.5million metric tonnes of bulk cement per annum in the name of its two associated companies and also enjoy any concessions that may be granted it for bulk cement importation.

It also denied that it concealed any presidential directive, while denying claims by Dangote that the government compelled Dangote or any other company to establish manufacturing plants before it could benefit from the backward integration policy.

Urging the court to dismiss Dangote’s suit, Ibeto stated that its competitor was not in any way affected by the concessions granted it (Ibeto) by the FG and that it had no legal interest in the subject matter of the suit, which it stated its purely a tax issue.

Posers & questions Within the industry circles, there are unconfirmed speculations that the current administration of President Goodluck Jonathan has allegedly paid the agreed sum of $46m and N2b to Ibeto, a development that has riled its major rival, Dangote.

Already, not a few industry players are reading meanings to this. One, has Dangote fallen out with the president, with whom he reportedly enjoys a chummy relationship?

What is likely going to be the outcome of the court case instituted

by Dangote? Who would have the last laugh between Dangote and Ibeto?

N a bid to alleviate poverty in the community, Ultimate Micro Finance Bank, Ipaja, Lagos, has introduced a programme tagged ‘Traders Support Programme’ for market men and women.

The Chairman of the bank, Mr. Wale Odunayo made this known yesterday at the Annual General Meeting of the bank.

According to him, the idea is to generate more income, adding that under the programme traders are given a fixed amount of money at a reasonable interest rate for a minimum of 90 days.

He stressed: “this way, the bank is reaching out to several customers at the same time by granting facilities without collateral.”

Odunayo, however, complained that the operating environment is quite hostile. He added that the cost of funding the bank and others businesses is still high while the interest rate on bank deposit is low and customers are not liquidating their loans as at when due. He, however, added that the management is still lending out.

“Many customers have taken the advantage of this generous gesture to access loans with little or no collateral. I hereby implore all beneficiaries of these loans to pay back promptly as the bank has put machinery in place to enforce recovery with the attendant sanctions,” he said.

He said the bank’s gross earnings for the year 2009 was N29.45million, 2010 was N22.21 million while that of 2011 was N26.371 million. He added that the bank made N3.644million as profit in the last year while N23.680 was recorded as loss.

A director at the bank, Dr Femi Adeyeye of the Faculty of Management Science, Lagos State University (LASU) said the bank is one of the best microfinance banks in Lagos that has lived up to the expectation of their host community by alleviating poverty among the people.

Nokia warns Nigerians against scam

M

OBILE phone manufacturer, Nokia, has warned Nigerians against responding to emails and text messages claiming that they have won huge sums of money in alleged Nokia promotions. This has come in the light of the growing number of reported incidents of Nigerians receiving text messages and emails from unscrupulous senders.

The Managing Director of Nokia West Africa, Mr. James Rutherfoord, said the number of such scams had become worrisome. Most of the scam mails, he said, lure unsuspecting victims with the promise of huge sums of money usually in foreign currency.

“Upon response, people are usually asked to pay a token amount as a processing fee or deposit before they can claim the money purportedly won. After the deposits are paid, the victims usually lose touch with the scammers as the phone numbers and email addresses used for the scam are usually discarded,” he said.

Rutherfoord maintained that Nokia does not ask for any form of payment in any of its promotions. He called on Nigerians to disregard any of such mails or text messages, especially when they have not put in for a Nokia promo.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

Business News

Cashless policy: How Businesses groan over closure banks fleece their customers of Third Mainland Bridge

L

ESS than one year into the introduction of cash-less policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria, all seems not to be well in the operation of the policy.

The CBN under Lamido Sanusi early this year introduced cashless policy into the Nigerian banking system and economy so as to reduce movement of cash and the cost of printing the naira. To experiment how successful the policy would be, the CBN limited the policy to Lagos with the plan to extend it to other parts of the country if it proves successful in the commercial centre of the country.

However, investigations have revealed that contrary to expectation, the policy seems not to be working.

Some bank customers who spoke with The Nation lamented that banks now charge customers more than necessary. One case is in the use of the ATM machines. George Promise, a customer with one of the banks, said in several cases many of the ATM machines are not functioning leaving customers with no option but to withdraw across the counter. Such customers, according to him, were then charged for no fault of their own.

“I don’t believe Nigeria is ready for this policy because things are not going well the

Stories by Bukola Afolabi

way it should be. Imagine a situation where you want to withdraw money from the ATM and the machine refuses to work. You have no choice but to go the banking hall to make your withdrawal following which the bank will charge you for not using the ATM. Is it the fault of the customer that the ATM refuses to work? I think banks are using this means to extort their customers which should not be the case. Worst is the fact that some banks would even charge more than what they are supposed to charge. All these problems should have been envisaged before the policy was introduced,” he said.

Echoing similar sentiments, Samuel Ademulegun, a financial expert added that extortion and excessive charges is a sign that the policy was not well thought out before it was introduced.

So as to correct these anomalies, the CBN recently said it has issued new draft guidelines to all banks on excessive bank charges. Under the new rules, banks are required to apprise customers of all charges before they are implemented.

Deputy Director, Financial System Stability, Markus Zacharia, who stated this re-

cently at a meeting in Abuja, said as regulators, the CBN has issued several exposure drafts, among which is the guide to banks charges.

He added that the CBN feels that this new guideline will enable bank customers to know ahead what they are going to be charged to avoid any extra or unnecessary charges that are not in the contract that they entered into with the financial institutions.

Zacharia further said the apex bank has recently set up a Consumer Protection Department, so that customers are allowed to lodge complaints, stating that such complaints are not taken lightly by the regulators.

Reacting, the Managing Director of Sterling Bank, Yemi Adeola, said that all banking channels are now fully integrated and 21 banks are currently live on MIP. Banks, he explained, are cooperating and they are innovating around alternative channels of delivery, like mobile banking, mobile money, internet banking and electronic funds transfer, among others, as well creating awareness, adding that the bankers committee is carrying out studies to see areas that they need to improve on and to ensure that more people imbibe this programme.

PHOTO SHOP

B

ARELY one month after the partial closure of the Third Mainland bridge by the Lagos State government due to repair works being carried out on the bridge, commuters, traders, businessmen and women as well as commercial bus drivers are already counting their losses.

Investigations revealed that losses both in time and money have been recorded by those who regularly ply the bridge on a daily basis.

It would be recalled that as a result of the partial closure, vehicles were diverted to other roads thereby causing gridlock and traffic jam.

Many people who spoke with The Nation lamented that the closure has made them to lose manpower and resources. One of them is Olaleye Akintunde, an estate surveyor who lives at Ojodu Berger but works at the Victoria Island.

According to him, the traffic jam caused by the closure has made him to reduce the number of days he goes to his office.

“Since the bridge was closed, it has not been easy going to the office. If you ask anybody that has one or two things to do at the island; he will tell you the same thing.

The traffic alone can make you sick. Now, I don’t go to office more than three times a week because it is not easy.

You have to pay more for transport not to talk of the stress you go through getting

to the office and coming back in the evening. Even for those three days that I go to office, I don’t go with my car. You waste your time in the traffic thereby wasting lots of fuel while at the same time, you get home stressed up. I pray work on the bridge will be completed on time so that things can go back to normal.”

Akintunde is not the only one counting his losses.

Oluwasegun Afolabi, a stockbroker who works with a financial company at Obalende axis of Lagos, equally lamented the negative impact the closure is having on his business.

“You cannot fault the fact that millions of naira are being lost on a daily basis as a result of the closure. You can imagine the number of people that work on the Island and make use of that bridge daily. I can tell you that some of our customers has stopped coming here, at least for now, because of what is happening”, he complained.

Speaking further, he said: “Some will call to say they cannot go through the stress of the traffic in coming here. I can tell you categorically that we have even excused some of our staff from coming to office daily.

Those who live far come to the office three times a week while those that live not too far comes four times a week and are allowed to go home on time. Every other person that works around here will tell you the same thing.”

As for commercial bus drivers, they also are not left out. Many of them told The

Nation that they have had to work lesser since the closure compared with what it used to be. Though the cost of transportation has increased by 100%, they argued that it has not made up for the loss of time spent in traffic.

“It is true that we have increased fare but you also need to consider the fact that we have not been able to work as much as would have love to do. For instance, before now, I can make four trips from Obalende to Oshodi before 12pm but since the closure began, I hardly make trips before 12pm. This because a journey that does not take more than thirty minutes now takes almost one hour. So you can imagine what we are going through. People should not think that the increase in fare has made up for what we are losing because we still have to pay all those agbero so by the time you close, what you have left is nothing to write home about,” said Mufutau,a commercial bus driver.

Market women and traders also share their experiences. Mrs. Funmilayo sells fruits and roasted corn at the foot of Obalende Bridge.

She lamented that transporting her goods from Ogun state to Obalende has become a hectic experience for her due to the closure, adding that she has had to pay more for transportation thereby reducing the amount of profit she would have made on her goods.

Globacom launches Glo Flexi

G

LOBACOM has relaunched its dynamic tariff plan, Glo Flexi to give subscribers on the Glo network a discount of up to 40 percent on calls made to other networks in addition to the existing discount of up to 99 percent on Glo-to-Glo calls.

The benefit is the key feature in the Glo Flexi Reloaded tariff plan which was relaunched on Wednesday in

Lagos. In August last year, Glo had launched the first dynamic tariff plan in Nigeria offering up to 99 percent discount on calls within the Glo network.

Speaking at the re-launch of the tariff plan in Lagos, Globacom’s Head of Marketing, Adeniyi Olukoya, said the new Glo Flexi Reloaded plan is an amazing package that offers the biggest discounts to Glo subscribers as they can talk for as low as

1k/sec on the network.

Subscribers on the Glo Flexi plan can also enjoy up to 200% bonus on recharges made on their phones.

He said that Glo Flexi was pioneered and now re-engineered in line with Globacom’s dynamic approach to introducing products and services which empower and give the biggest benefits to its subscribers.

Multi-billion investment in Lagos Free Zone , says NEPZA boss

•From left: Globacom’s Head of Enterprise Marketing, Justin Coetze, Head of Marketing, Adeniyi Olukoya, GM, Prepaid Marketing, Ashutosh Tiwary and Glo ambassador, Chioma Akpotha, at the launch of Glo Flexi Reloaded tariff in Lagos, recently

•From left: Dr Adamu Nuhu, Chief Medical Officer/Disease Control, representing Dr Adoj Muhammad, Executive Director/CEO, National Primary Health Development Agency, Abuja; Mr. Lekan Asuni, Managing Director, GlaxoSmithline (GSK), Anglophone, West Africa and Dr. Mejebi Phillips, National Surveillance Officer, representing Dr Alex Gasasira, EPI Team Leader, World Health Organisation (WHO), Nigeria at the Pneumoccocal Vaccines Stakeholders' Roundtable GSK Nigeria held at Sheraton Hotels, Ikeja recently

O

UTGOING Managing Director of the Nigerian Exports Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), Dr. Adeshina Agboluaje, has lauded an investment of over N100 billion at the Lagos Free Zone, located in Apapa, Lagos.

Dr. Agboluaje who described the establishment of free zones as the nucleus of the nation’s economy, made the remark in Lagos during the week while on a valedictory tour of the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics (LADOL) base, a subsidiary of the Lagos Free Zone (LFZ).

He expressed delight that the promoters of the Lagos Free Zone had taken the risk in investing so much both in local and foreign currencies, thereby paving the way for others to follow in view of the successes so far recorded at the zone.

Pointing out that every free zone has its peculiarity just as they play individual

roles in the economic development of countries, Agboluaje who is retiring after nearly a decade in the saddle, maintained that for Nigeria to be globally competitive there must be a sustained effort on the part of government as well as operators in harnessing the potentials.

“I am grateful to the current government under the leadership of Dr Goodluck Jonathan for doing everything possible to encourage these establishments. This is the future, and the future lies with free zones operation both in the areas of manufacturing for export and in jobs creation. I will remain committed to the ideals even after exiting”, he said.

Earlier in her presentation, managing director of LADOL Dr Amy Jadesimi, described Dr. Agboluaje as synonymous with FZ operations in the country, saying, “his legacy will not only be the current achievement of the FZ in the country but everything that is to come…thanks to him, Nigeria

is more likely to become Africa’s hub for maritime, oil & gas and manufacturing, and for this, the nation owes him a great deal”.

Delving into investment at the Lagos Free Zone, Dr Jadesimi disclosed that the establishment had so far attracted payments and investments amounting to an estimated N35, 787,971,938.58 and $226,506,151.50 into the nation’s economy.

On revenue payments to the national treasury, she said government had so far earned over N12 billion and $22.404 million trough LADOL. Also, she disclosed that the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) had collected about N3, 539,963,480.95 and $22,404,832.16 as revenue from operations at the base, just as payments to NEPZA had stood at N94, 800,000.1 and $600,000.

This is even as the Zone had similarly attracted investment amounting to N791, 139,240.51, and $125,000,000.

Business

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

61

INTERVIEW

‘Why Toyota cars aren’t manufactured in Nigeria’ Hard work. Prudence. Self-discipline. Those are the pillars upon which 41-year-old Elizade Nigeria Ltd, a car-selling firm, was built. In one year, its growth startled everyone including RT Briscoe, a British firm for which Elizade founder Chief Michael Ade Ojo worked, first as freelance and then dealer. In this interview with Steve Osuji and Ogochukwu Ikeje, Ojo speaks, among other issues, on Elizade’s small but purposeful beginnings as well as why a made-in-Nigeria Toyota car remains a mirage. Excerpts:

H

OW did Elizade which started as a campus vision become the success story it is today?

Indeed, there was a vision but at that time we were not thinking we would be what we are today. The name started at University of Nigeria Nsukka where my late wife and I both studied. While I studied Business Administration, she studied History. When we both decided that we would be partners for life, we embarked on forming a name by combining hers Elizabeth and my middle name Ade. After making some permutations, I came up with Elizade.

On how the firm began I left my paid employment at BP Nigeria Ltd because I felt instead of being rewarded I was being punished. I was asked to relieve somebody who was managing the BP office there. I went there and increased the turnover of the company by 25 % within three months and came back to Lagos. About two months after returning to Lagos, that person that I went to relieve in Benin was made my immediate boss and I was really aggrieved. So when that my new boss sent me any memo I would send it back immediately with the words “No comments, please”, because I felt that I was made to do the job while he took the credit.

I did that for roughly two weeks within which I came to my senses, and asked myself how long I would last on the job if I did not cooperate with the man.

I decided that if I won’t be able to do that, then I should look for something else to do. So I went to the old RT Briscoe and approached them to appoint me as freelance to help them sell their vehicles on commission. They gladly accepted since they were not going to pay me salary.

I went back to BP and asked for my annual leave; it was accepted and I went out selling Toyota cars and within four weeks I sold 40 cars. I calculated my commission on those 40 cars and discovered that it was bigger than my one year salary at BP. When I resumed I gave notice of quitting, my belief then being that before I finished spending this money, if it didn’t go well I would dust up my certificate and start looking for work. On August 1, 1971 I started Elizade. It was called Elizade Independent Agency, independent because I could sell not just Toyota vehicles alone but also any other cars I found to sell. I started the company with one man who essentially stayed in the office.

I was recording success in my selling activity. RT Briscoe made me a dealer for their Vespa scooters but a freelance for their cars. They also asked me to deposit 600 British Pounds. I asked for a loan at the bank but it was turned down because I did not have collateral. A cousin, now late, lent me the £600 which I returned in

three months. Before leaving BP I had applied for a car loan. The car (a Peugeot 404) came but feeling that I did not have the capability to use it I sold it at a good price and the money formed part of my capital. With it I bought one car, and then two, and so on. Then, when I received my commission I put everything back into the company. For the first five years we didn’t pay ourselves salary, except to take care of necessities.

On why the company succeeded I think I worked very hard. I also prayed very hard. I tried very much to discipline myself. I came from a very poor family and my experiences taught me to be very prudent with money. The business received the first priority over everything else. The first was self-discipline; the second was money: I did not buy what I desired or wanted, only what I needed. I also asked for God’s support. As we grew we had to employ people and were lucky to have some good staff who helped to grow the business. In March 1972 I asked my wife to quit her teaching job to stay in the back office while I foraged.

The business grew rapidly and even RT Briscoe was surprised. So the reason for the growth was determination to put everything back into the business.

On discipline I was using a Volkswagen at BP; I continued using it till 1972 when I bought a one-door Panel Van popularly called salaake, inYoruba, from the proceeds of two 40-tonne trucks sold at £720.

On his inability to achieve a childhood desire of being a medical doctor I believe that in all that happened, I was being led by God but without my knowledge. After looking back and ruminating, there was the invisible hand of God guiding me in what I was doing.

•Ojo

On the direction of the country I have come to appreciate the enormity of the problems we are facing in this country. All of us have decided not to be human beings, from top to bottom. It is not the leaders alone. I think, two years after Gen Ibrahim Babangida mounted the rostrum, I said on Radio Lagos that all of us should accept that we are sinners and confess our sins, young and old, poor and rich, and start another course. It is my belief that all of us in Nigeria need redemption; we are liars, we are not serious, we are just deceiving each other and we have become so accustomed to it that it is beginning to mean nothing.

The biggest problem we are having is

“One of the reasons is the absence of infrastructural facilities. In this country you have to provide your own electricity, water, security… [Chief Olusegun] Obasanjo (during his presidency) invited us to breakfast. He was saying we are going to formulate how we are going to do things by ourselves by the year 2020. I told him, Mr President, you are very lucky to be endowed with the kind of people we have in Nigeria, in terms of knowledge, adventure, initiatives, etc. I said 2020 is too far; give us electricity, good roads, water, security; leave education and other things and you will see what Nigerians will do in five years. We are very enterprising. The biggest problem we have is human capital. Until this deception stops Nigeria will not grow”

the uncouth way that people are getting wealth. It is the biggest cause of laziness, of stealing, etc. Everybody is talking of money; nobody is talking of merit.

At 74, why not slow down?

Who said I’m not slowing down? Today, I’m not involved in Elizade Nigeria Ltd or Toyota Nigeria Ltd or even the [Elizade] university (which is taking off soon). When I was younger I started work at 2am and worked for three hours, did my quiet time and went back to sleep.

These days I still wake up but can’t do more than one hour. When I was younger I wasn’t playing golf; now I’m playing golf. I have built an 18-hole golf course; it is not for others to play; I’m going to play there. If I don’t engage my brain it will die and I’m not prepared to allow it to die now.

Why is Toyota not yet manufactured in Nigeria?

How is the motor assembly in Nigeria doing?

Not well, at all One of the reasons is the absence of infrastructural facilities. In this country you have to provide your own electricity, water, security… [Chief Olusegun] Obasanjo (during his presidency) invited us to breakfast. He was saying we are going to formulate how we are going to do things by ourselves by the year 2020.

I told him, Mr President, you are very lucky to be endowed with the kind of people we have in Nigeria, in terms of knowledge, adventure, initiatives, etc. I said 2020 is too far; give us electricity, good roads, water, security; leave education and other things and you will see what Nigerians will do in five years. We are very enterprising. The biggest problem we have is human capital. Until this deception stops Nigeria will not grow.

62

Business

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

Beyond Why China is fastest growing economy Talent A NEWS

CITY running on autopilot. That just about sums up what Beijing, the capital of China, has become, what with the breathtaking state of the arts skyscrapers, superstructures that dot one of the world’s famous cities.

China’s claim to being the fastest growing economy is not a mere platitude judging by its rising GDP at $5.8 trillion as at 2011, coming behind USA with $14 trillion but overtook countries like Japan with $5.4trillion, United Kingdom France and Germany, to mention just a few.

It is, however, instructive to note that China remains the first country in the world to have maintained nine percent growth rate on the GDP for the past 30 years consecutively.

While China’s foreign exchange reserves hit $3 trillion in 2011, it was ranked 95th in the global per capita GDP rating due to its large population.

Expectedly, to improve the per capital GDP rating and provide better services for its citizens, China has since introduced one child per family policy, through which it hopes to control its population growth that has been rising on a geometric progression.

These and many more, The Nation gathered, are what may be propelling the fast-paced growth in Beijing, China.

Echoing similar sentiments, Prof. Sun Qiming of University of Post and Telecommunication, at an interface and discussion session tagged: ‘The Economic Development of China’ with information officers and journalists from English-speaking African countries in attendance, stressed that China has been able to maintain the 9 percent growth for 30 years compared to other world economies.

“China maintained 9 percent growth rate for 30 years while it took Germany about 10 years to achieve 8 percent growth rate after the world wars. No country has been able to achieve the Chinese

Augustine Ehikioya, who recently paid a visit to Beijing, China’s capital, recounts the rapid socio-economic growth in the world acclaimed fastest growing economy

• China Leather City

record,” he boasted.

Stressing that China is still a developing nation, he said that many strategies and policies introduced by the Chinese government resulted in the economic revolution the country has experienced.

“Agriculture is the basis of any economy. We are now pursuing Green GDP. The Chinese government has always attached great importance to grains. The Chinese people view land as the most important thing in their lives,” he stated.

He noted that because of its huge population, China attached importance to agriculture mainly because no country in the world can satisfy its grains demands if there is scarcity.

This move resulted in increased agricultural production and laid the foundation for the shift of China’s economy to market economy.

The second stage of Chinese rural reform was recorded in 1992 while it progressed to embrace hybrid rice production in large quantities.

Apart from revolution in its agricultural economy, China has also set up different

factories producing variety of products for domestic consumption and export to other countries.

Considering its volume of exports, it is now being referred to as number one global factory.

In the Zhejiang Province, near Shanghai, is situated Haining China Leather City, also known as the ‘Leather Capital of China’, which is a giant producer and distribution centre for leather garments.

With over 2000 companies operating in the leather city and business network extending to Europe and America, the annual turnover of the products is put at $634 million.

Another city under the Zhejiang Province, Yuyao City, is one of the Top 100 Counties in China with comprehensive economic strength.

It is blessed with four leading industries of household appliances, plastic mould, machinery hardware, and chemical fibre and textile.

The city also has 10 characteristic economic fields of lamps, water and heating fittings.

Champion Lager wears new look

F

OLLOWING the successful acquisition of a majority stake in Champion Breweries Plc, Consolidated Breweries Plc has repackaged Champion Lager beer.

The Managing Director, Consolidated Breweries Plc, Mr. Boudewijn Haarsma, at the glamorous unveiling ceremony in Calabar stated that “Consolidated Breweries has a proud tradition in offering high quality brands to consumers at affordable prices.

After a year of hard work and investments, I am pleased to say that we have now also achieved that with Champion.

The new refreshing packaging and improved product quality are the outcome of putting our consumers at the forefront in our thinking and action.”

The General ManagerSales, Mr. Frank Van Asperen, while addressing trade partners, stated that a full range of activities aimed at restoring Champion Lager beer to its prestigious position will be rolled out. This includes activations for both trade and consumers at all touch points.

With an advanced open economy, Yuyao has 101 hitech enterprises and 6 listed companies.

The city can presently boast of over 1700 foreign-invested enterprises, over 1600 enterprises trade with more than 160 countries and regions and has registered the trademark for exported products in more than 120 countries and regions.

As at last year, Yuyao is said to have realised total import and export volume of $7,590 million including independent export of $5,120 million.

One of the leading companies in the city include Zhejiang Dafeng Industry Co. Ltd., which is involved in design, manufacture, installation of stage machinery, lightening and sound and world leading manufacturer of cultural and sports facilities.

Geely Automobile, which is one of the top ten automobile manufacturers in China, is located at Ningbo Base in Zhejiang Province, manufacturing vehicles including Volvo cars.

For 2011 alone, Geely Automobile is said to have sold 432,000 unit cars.

Another area through which China has been boosting its economy is tourism.

There are many tourist sites in the country which provide income to the government through fees collected from foreigners and Chinese citizens who throng the sites on a daily basis and in large numbers.

Among these tourists sites located in Beijing include the Science and Technological Museum, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall.

Other tourists’ sites include the National Stadium where the 2008 Olympic held.

The Temple of Heaven in Beijing has now turned into an arena for people to do their morning exercises after paying a fee at the gate.

Academy hosts Aregbesola, Tinubu

T • From left: Brands & Promotions Manager, Consolidated Breweries Plc, Ima-Abasi Esu, Managing Director, Mr. Boudewijn Haarsma, Managing Director, Etu Odi Communications, Mr. Uzoma Okoye, and Head of Marketing, Consolidated Breweries Plc, Mr. Prashant Patwardhan, at the unveiling of the repackaged Champion Lager Beer, in Calabar, Cross River State, recently Stories by Esther Mohammed

Speaking on the launch of the brand’s new visual identity and advertising campaign, the Head of Marketing, Mr. Prashant Patwardhan, stated that “the new bold & contemporary label makes the brand stand out among its peers.”

The Managing Director of

Champion Breweries Plc, Mr. Thompson Owoka remarked, “Though it has not been an easy journey to meet the high quality standards that were set

by Heineken International, but with support of the technical team from Consolidated Breweries, and the relentless efforts of Champion Breweries Plc employees, we have successfully achieved it.”

HE management of AES Excellence Club is set to play host to Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Thursday, 2nd August, 2012 in the August edition of its Business Luncheon.

In a press release signed by the Asst. Registrar Tony Ajiboro, he said the luncheon will hold at the Lekki Oxford Hotels, with Aregbesola as one of the eminent speakers.

The theme of the luncheon tagged: “Transformation and Investment Opportunities in Osun State,” will also have in attendance Executive Director, Seven Up Bottling Company, Mr. Femi Mokikan, as guest speaker.

By Adetayo Okusanya

Email: adetayookusanya@hotmail.com

Feed them like champions

I

HAD a colleague, once, of Asian descent, who came out of an annual performance review meeting with his manager and was excited to be ranked in the ten percent category of his peer group. He soon discovered, from another colleague, that this rating made him companions with the bottom ten percent performers in the organization and not the top performers as he had initially thought. He was, understandably, upset by this revelation. He felt his manager had failed him, and done him a great disservice, by not giving him constructive feedback at a time when he had the opportunity to do something about it.

This week, I have chosen to continue in the spirit of midyear reviews by focusing on an important part of the process, namely Performance Feedback. Performance feedback is simply a conversation between an employee and his supervisor about how well the employee’s performance (behavior + results) meets standards and expectations. It can be formal or informal. One of the best career advice that was given to me by my mentor, CT, was that I should never wait for the annual review period to seek performance feedback from my manager. In his view, a good annual performance review discussion is one that has “No Surprises” and is simply a revisiting of feedback received and acted upon throughout the year.

If you are a supervisor, manager or team leader, or you aspire to become such in the future, here are some ways you can improve the quality of your feedback and enhance your ability to coach your employee(s) to success: 1.

Performance Feedback should be Timely. It should be communicated when the desired or undesirable behavior occurs or not too long afterwards. Think of feedback as fruit – it is best when served fresh and quite unpleasant when stale. The longer feedback is delayed, the more it loses its value and motivational power. You should be constantly on the lookout for coachable moments to provide BOTH praise and constructive feedback to your employee.

2.

Performance Feedback should be Employee-Centric. Like any other form of communication, it should be conveyed in the language of the listener and take into consideration their style and preferences. The focus of the conversation should be the employee, rather than the manager or the organization.

3.

Performance Feedback should be Constructive.

Development should at the heart of performance feedback.

It is not the time to keep score, grandstand or get back for perceived wrongdoing. There should be no hidden agendas and the conversation should be open, honest and thoughtful. The spirit of performance feedback, whether praise or correction, is to build up. Focus on the problem, not the person and be sure to link your feedback to your employee’s career goals. Avoid making value judgments about your employee’s behavior and resist the inclination to make assumptions about his intentions.

4.

Performance Feedback should be Balanced. Tell your employee what he is doing well, what he needs to start or stop doing, and what he needs to do different. There are always things that an employee is great at doing and things he can get better at. It is your job as a manager to figure this out and use this knowledge to enhance their performance. Balance also means getting objective feedback from other stakeholders and not relying on your own observations and perceptions alone.

5.

Performance Feedback should be Specific. Describe the exact behavior your employee demonstrated that you are praising or providing constructive feedback on, as well as its impact on the team and organization. For example, do not say “Your presentation was good”; rather say “You clearly and concisely communicated your point of view and this helped the customer make the right decision”. Avoid using inflammatory or exaggerated language such as always, never, absolute, total, gross, failure, incompetence, etc.

6.

Performance Feedback should be Actionable. You and your employee should agree, document and regularly track the prioritized actions that he commits to executing to achieve higher levels of performance. Focus on things within the employee’s control. As his manager, you should also be clear on how you will support and facilitate his development. Once my manager provided feedback about my “attitude” and when I asked him for his suggestions on what I could do different, he said “I was afraid you would ask and I don’t have an answer for you”. I left that conversation demoralized and demotivated.

A good friend of mine, Dr Carl Binder, captured in his work, Six Boxes™ - A Performance Thinking Approach, the results of research that shows that the communication of expectations and feedback is the most influential driver of organizational performance. Without it, individuals, teams and organizations cannot achieve higher levels of performance. One of my favorite quotes says, “Feedback is the breakfast of champions” and so I encourage everyone that is or desires to be a people manager to adopt this as a philosophy that guides their people development agenda.

• Okusanya is CEO of ReadinessEdge

63

WORLD NEWS THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

Egypt PM to announce cabinet Thursday

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GYPT’S new Prime Minister, Hisham Qandil, will announce a cabinet on Thursday, almost a month after President Mohamed Morsi took office amid a power struggle with the military, state media reported yesterday.

Qandil, a former irrigation minister, has been in consultations with candidates since Morsi appointed him last week to head the new government, which must carry out the president’s ambitious plans for the country.

“Qandil said he will announce the final cabinet line up on Thursday,” the official MENA news agency reported.

The new team will replace one appointed by the military, which took charge after a popular uprising ousted President Hosni Mubarak last year and which still has broad powers after formally transferring control to Morsi.

Syria army pounds Aleppo T

HE Syrian army launched a massive assault on rebels in Aleppo yesterday amid growing world concern about the risks of reprisals against the civilian population of the country’s second city.

Troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships, which had been massing for the past two days, moved on southwestern districts of the commercial hub, where rebel fighters concentrated their forces when they seized much of the northern city on July 20.

Artillery pounded Salaheddin and other rebel neighbourhoods from 8 am (0500 GMT) as ground troops advanced, an AFP correspondent reported.

Trapped civilians crowded into basements, seeking refuge from the intense bom-

bardment.

“The fiercest clashes of the uprising are taking place in several neighbourhoods of the city,” the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP. At least 10 soldiers and six rebels were killed in fierce fighting after the assault began, the Observatory said.

“The regime’s forces tried to storm the headquarters of Salaheddin but thank God, the heroes of the (rebel) Free Syrian Army repulsed the attack,” FSA Colonel Abdel Jabbar alOqaidi told AFP. “We have now destroyed eight armoured vehicles,” he said. “There are 100 tanks massed on the outskirts of the district.

“The battle will be hard because there is no balance of

forces but we are determined and we have faith in God,” he added.

The opposition fighters had been holding their fire in readiness for the threatened assault, the AFP correspondent said.

But their small arms and rocket-propelled grenades were little match for the heavy armour of President Bashar alAssad’s regime.

“There are thousands of people in the streets fleeing the bombardment. They’re being terrorised by helicopter gunships flying at low altitude,” said an activist calling himself Amer.

“There’s a large number of civilians who have taken refuge in public parks.”

Pro-government media had warned that the “mother of all battles” loomed in

Aleppo as the government moved to reassert its authority after recapturing rebel districts of the capital earlier in the week.

“Aleppo will be the last battle waged by the Syrian army to crush the terrorists and, after that, Syria will emerge from the crisis,” the Al-Watan newspaper said.

Both sides acknowledged that casualties were likely to be high as the more than 16month uprising comes to a head.

“Rebels are stationed in narrow streets, in which fighting will be difficult,” a regime security official told AFP. Nationwide, violence killed at least 52 people yesterday — 22 civilians, 16 rebels and 14 soldiers, the Observatory said.

Germany rejects Spain aid request

G

ERMANY’S finance minister is rejecting talk of a possible application from Spain for the eurozone’s bailout fund to buy the struggling country’s bonds, a newspaper reported yesterday.

This week, European Central Bank head Mario Draghi promised to do “whatever it takes” to preserve the euro. The German and French leaders then said that they were “determined to do everything to protect the eurozone.”

Neither mentioned any specific action. But those comments raised expectations that the ECB — or the eurozone’s temporary rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility — might step in to buy Spanish government bonds and lower the country’s borrowing costs, which have been at worryingly high levels in recent weeks.

Still, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was quoted as telling the Welt am Sonntag newspaper that Spain’s short-term financing needs are “not so big.”

Saudi campaign raises $72.3m for Syrians

A

five-day Saudi fundraising campaign to support the people in Syria has raised more than $72.33 million, the kingdom’s Interior Minister Prince Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz was quoted as saying yesterday.

The campaign, launched on Monday, received donations worth 271.245 million riyals ($72.33 million), the state news agency SPA reported quoting Prince Ahmed.

The national fundraising effort saw a donation of 20 million riyals ($5.3 million) from King Abdullah.

Crown Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz, who is also deputy prime minister and defence minister, followed by donating 10 million riyals ($2.6 million).

The campaign also collected food, medical equipment, clothes, tents, blankets, and jewellery as part of its drive to support the people of Syria.

N. Korea floods kill 88, leave thousands homeless

F

LOODING across impoverished North Korea this month has killed 88 people, left tens of thousands homeless and devastated swathes of farmland, state media said yesterday.

A week of floods “caused by typhoon and downpour... claimed big human and material losses”, Pyongyang’s official news agency said. The new death toll was a dramatic increase from the figure of eight reported Wednesday.

A total of 134 people were injured and almost 63,000 people were left homeless by the floods, which started on July 18, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, with thousands of houses damaged or destroyed.

The biggest loss of human life was in two counties of South Pyongan province, which were hit by torrential rains on Monday and Tuesday, it said.

More than 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) of land for growing crops was “washed away and buried” or “submerged”, KCNA said, a potential blow for a state that is beset by persistent severe food shortages.

With rugged terrain and outmoded agricultural practices, the country faces serious difficulties in feeding its 24 million people. Hundreds of thousands died during a famine in the mid to late1990s.

UN agencies, after a visit to the North, estimated last November that three million people would need food aid in 2012.

Israelis arrest militant in West Bank •Bangladeshi rickshaw drivers transport passengers during a downpour in Dhaka yesterday. The monsoon rains, which sweeps across the subcontinent from June to September, is crucial for farmers but also claims many casualties from flooding every year.

AFP PHOTO

Ebola breaks out in Uganda

T

HE deadly Ebola virus has killed 14 people in western Uganda this month, Ugandan health officials said yesterday, ending weeks of speculation about the cause of a strange disease that had many people fleeing their homes.

The officials and a World Health Organization representative told a news conference in Kampala yesterday that there is “an outbreak of Ebola” in Uganda.

“Laboratory investigations done at the Uganda Virus Research Institute...have confirmed that the strange disease reported in Kibaale is indeed Ebola hemorrhagic fever,” the Ugandan government and WHO said in joint statement.

Kibaale is a district in midwestern Uganda, where people in recent weeks have been troubled by a mysterious illness that seemed to have come from nowhere. Ugandan health officials had been stumped as well, and spent weeks conduct-

ing laboratory tests that were at first inconclusive.

On Friday, Joaquim Saweka, the WHO representative in Uganda, told The Associated Press that investigators were “not so sure” it was Ebola, and a Ugandan health official dismissed the possibility of Ebola as merely a rumour. It appears firm evidence of Ebola was clinched overnight.

Health officials told reporters in Kampala that the 14 dead were among 20 reported with the disease. Two of the infected have been isolated for examination by researchers and health officials. A clinical officer and, days later, her 4month-old baby died from the disease caused by the Ebola virus, officials said.

The officials urged Ugandans to be calm, saying a national emergency taskforce had been set up to stop the disease from spreading far and wide.

There is no cure or vaccine for Ebola, and in Uganda,

where in 2000 the disease killed 224 people and left hundreds more traumatized, it resurrects terrible memories.

Ebola, which manifests itself as a hemorrhagic fever, is highly infectious and kills quickly. It was first reported in 1976 in Congo and is named for the river where it

was recognized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Scientists don’t know the natural reservoir of the virus, but they suspect the first victim in an Ebola outbreak gets infected through contact with an infected animal, such as a monkey.

I

SRAELI troops yesterday arrested a member of the Islamic Jihad militant group at his home in the West Bank city of Nablus, his relatives said.

Relatives of Abdallah Harouf, 24, said that troops seized him at his home near the Old City during the early hours yesterday.

During the raid, Harouf’s family said, troops fired tear gas and five people suffered effects of inhalation.

Local residents said that four other people were also arrested but their details were not immediately known.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

Madagascar ousted leader denounces wife’s expulsion

M

ADAGASCAR’S ousted leader Marc Ravalomanana yesterday denounced the expulsion of his wife hours after she had returned home as proof that his rival was not serious about peace efforts.

The former president and his wife have repeatedly tried and failed to enter the country after he was toppled in 2009. Lalao Ravalomanana returned to the island on Friday but was forced by authorities to go on to Thailand.

“Once again the regime in Madagascar has proven that it cannot be trusted,”

Ravalomanana said of his rival Andry Rajoelina, the current ruler who took power with army backing three years ago.

The two held talks this week.

Rajoelina’s office described the attempt by Ravalomanana’s wife to return, as “provocative” and in “flagrant violation of the resolutions taken at the face-toface talks held in Seychelles.”

But Ravalomanana fired back, saying: “I am appalled by the treatment of my family. My wife is not involved in politics.”

He insisted that Lalao Ravalomanana sought only to visit her 82-year-old mother.

“Once again, Mr Rajoelina has broken his word and shown that he is not trustworthy. He will continue to abuse anybody for his own ends and this only sets back attempts to resolve the conflict in Madagascar peacefully,” the ousted leader said.

The first direct talks between the two in Seychelles failed to agree on conditions for Ravalomanana’s eventual return, one of the major hurdles in guiding Madagascar towards elections.

Continued on page 62

64

World News

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

American presidential race: Into the swamp they go!

T

HE American presidential campaign intensifies daily and will soon hit full throttle. The tenor of this election differs markedly from its immediate predecessor. In 2008, then Senator Obama rode into the White House as a symbol of change and democratic revival against the vested interests that had turned governance into a turbid, labyrinthine thing that only plutocrats could navigate. His opponent was an idiosyncratic septuagenarian whose disdain for Obama was so intense that the man’s campaign wafted with a pugilistic aggression suggestive of temperamental imbalance. Candidate Obama’s most effective tactic was the counterattack. Every time his opponents tried to smear him as some radical, alien fifth columnist, he adroitly positioned himself as sound, mature and intelligent. The more successfully he rebuffed their attacks, the more outlandish their subsequent attacks grew. After awhile, enough of the public senses that his opponent, not Obama, had slipped off the rails and lost his way. Candidate Obama was able to portray himself as a fusion of President Lincoln, perhaps the nation’s greatest statesman, and the highly popular uncontroversial black entertainer, Will Smith. Even with this highly efficient, astute campaigning, Obama found himself locked in a close race.

But for the timely intervention of the worst economic crisis in 70 years and the public’s aversion to the Republicans’ bumbling of the crisis, the outcome of that election might have been different.

This year, reality has shorn President Obama’s armor of its knightly luster. Most Americans see him as just another politician. Although more talented and intelligent than most of the brood, he is no longer considered in a noble and distinct class by himself. Some of the diminution was inevitable; campaigning is easier than governance.

However, much of the reduction was due to leadership style that was geared more toward opportunistic, tactical compromise than toward the actualization of a strategic vision.

His emergency fiscal stimulus policies staved the onset of economic depression in 2009. However, these were half measures, wholly insufficient to bring the type of economic revival the voter expected, especially from one who promised epochal change. In the 2008 election, Obama struck the pose of a progressive. Once in office, his policies veered rightward. His increasingly conservative, pro-austerity economic policies made him a moderate Republican in Democrat’s clothing. His attempt to command the middle of the road made him vulnerable to strikes from both sides.

First, he was insufficiently assertive and innovative regarding economic policy. Because of this opaque stewardship, the recovery was frail and inchoate. It also was unable to withstand external shocks. By not acting strongly enough to spur economy growth at home, Obama unwittingly took the strategic risk of hinging the well-being of the American economy on decisions taken in Brussels, Berlin, London, Madrid and Athens. By instinctively walking the path of cautious political compromise, he opened himself to a much larger strategic gamble where political decisions beyond his control and taken in other lands might determine his political fate. The American economy is slowing at the worst time and the strongest

A political campaign is that odd ritual where normally reasonable people don white suits then enter a pit to sling mud at each other.

•Obama

By Brian Browne headwinds are coming from a European Union mired in recession.

President Obama came to victory in 2008 because of the economic crisis.

As irony might have it, the same boat that brought him to victory’s harbor might take him back out to sea.

President Obama knew his skin color would taint everyone’s political calculations; public reaction to his achievements and failures, his attributes and flaws, would be different than with other politicians.

Sadly, he and his mostly quasi- liberal, White advisors erred in determining how that difference would manifest. They thought it wise to play a “cautious, don’t lose, don’t alienate anyone” game, optimistically believing in his ability to woe those who disliked him. He cynically and somewhat arrogantly took for granted his support base – blacks, other minorities, youth, and liberals. Thinking these groups had no other alternative but to stick with him, Obama felt he could hold them at arm’s length without suffering much political fall-out. For most of his term, President Obama behaved like the talented but anxious freshman actor dedicating his best lines to sway critics who had already panned him. This meant he also turned his back to those who supported his ascent to the leading role.

Not until the approach of these elections would President Obama realize gravity of the mistake in playing to his enemies instead of trying to firmly establish a new national electoral coalition by strengthening his natural support base.

In committing this error, the Obama team forgot winning an election is about both percentages and absolute numbers. Generally he must win a sufficient percentage of the aggregate popular vote in order to achieve the requisite number of Electoral College votes to secure reelection. This requires a sufficient turn-out of voters among of those demographic groups that support him. In other words, his supporters must come out in sufficient absolute numbers so that he attains a winning percentage. This is where his failure to nurture his support base may now fail him. He will win the overwhelmingly percentage of blacks, Latinos, liberals and youths who vote. His problem is that many

•Romney who voted in 2008 are so disillusioned that they will not venture to the polls this time.

Nowhere is this gap more noticeable than in the black community. The traditional black elite remain his most ardent supporters.

They will follow him anywhere even if that place is nowhere. Because of their relative economic security, they are sufficiently elated simply by the fact of a black occupant of the White House. Theirs is basically an emotional attachment.

However, the rank-and-file don’t enjoy the luxury of operating solely on emotional symbolism. Theirs is a stark little bread and no butter existence. Since the 2008 recession, the black community has confronted a situation best described as a depression. The ordinary people are somewhat befuddled the first black president seems detached from their plight and has not strenuously tried to energize the economy to spur job creation needed in their communities. In fact, the Obama administration has done the opposite, showing itself adroit at reducing government jobs which have been a mainstay of black employment.

Consequently, President Obama faces a situation where he will garner the vast majority of black votes but the overall pool of black voters will fall short of its 2008 high.

Here, the President stumbles over another secular reality in American politics. Due mainly to racism’s stubborn persistence, 40 percent of the electorate opposes him and their opposition is nonnegotiable. Conversely, he can count on the support of 30-35 percent of the electorate. From the onset, he starts out with a handicap.

Meanwhile, 25-30 percent is up in the air. Presidential elections are determined by this undecided portion of the electorate. Most of these people are white and politically moderate to conservative. President Obama thought his political moderation would assure and win them to him. He was mistaken because another, more emotional factor trumped his intellectual alignment with them on substantive issues.

If President Obama cannot distinguish himself as a clearly superior leader, he is in mortal electoral danger. If he is not demonstrably better than his opponent, many of these undecided voters will angle away from him. If the choice is be-

tween two politicians of middling performance, these voters will back the one who looks most like them.

That the President and his advisors did not seem to appreciate this racial dynamic remains an utter mystery.

They apparently inhabit an America different than the one that exists.

Because of this, President Obama now walks one thin ice. He will have to move nimbly to reach firm soil before the ice cracks. Already, recent nation polls indicate that the race is even, with some polls giving his opponent a slight edge.

The President has been placed in a dilemma. He wanted to campaign much the same way he did in 2008.

He hoped to tout a recuperating economy and then fend off desperate attacks from his clumsy, overeager adversary. However, the economy failed him. If he showcases the economy, he consigns himself to a single term. The reality of this insurmountable wall has made him change direction. First, he realized he needed to revive his base. In recent months, he initiated policy directives halting immigrant deportations, thus reaching out to Latinos. He recently established a White House office on AfricanAmerican education, a small crumb to blacks. He has backed gay rights and women’s reproductive rights in hopes of annealing youth support and that of women. In the past few months, he has made more noise about employment, economic growth and the plight of the middle class than he did during his first three years. Still, these half-steps will be insufficient at this late stage to stir his base to replicate their 2008 voting turn-out. Thus, he is forced to violate one of his central tenets. Instead, of the preferred position of defending on the counterpunch, he now must lunge for Romney’s jugular.

This is uncomfortable for the President because he never wanted to risk being seen as the aggressive black man frontally and mercilessly attacking a white opponent. Ironically, his apprehension to make waves has placed him in the predicament where he now must do so to survive.

For some time, I have asserted the President behaves more like a Republican than a Democrat. For the most part, this assertion was more indictment than compliment. However, when it comes to campaigning, Republicans clearly are masters where Democrats are amateurs. Re-

publican presidential campaigns have been traditionally been more effective. Their hard-hitting campaign tactics have often sent Democrats scurrying for cover. Until now.

Copying wholesale from Republican manual of scorched earth political warfare, President Obama has unleashed a torrent of negative ads against Romney that have left the Republican flat-footed and tongue-tied.

Obama’s team has painted a compelling portrait of Romney, the former venture capitalist, as man who enriched himself by outsourcing the jobs of thousands of ordinary Americans. The theme of the Obama campaign has shifted from change you can believe in to change you had better fear: a vote for Romney is tantamount to putting an unrepentant Ebenezer Scrooge in the White House.

The campaign against Romney has been masterful. A wounded and wincing Romney has yet to find an effective counterattack. The sad thing is that he might not have to mount one. Despite the power of the attacks against Romney and is maladroit campaign, he seems to be gaining on the President.

Romney’s dumb, good fortune partially stems from the adverse economic news. What becomes of the economy will become of Obama. The American economy now bears Obama’s signature; he will rise or fall with this thing that bears his name.

Clearly, with his unfavorable ratings higher than is approval ratings, the majority of the American public has been underwhelmed by his interpretative performance of “Hamlet as America’s First Black President.”

However, there is something else at play. Mitt Romney is a dud, a blank cartridge. An attractive man, Romney looks like one of those welldressed mannequins in the display window of an upscale clothier. The problem is that he also campaigns like a mannequin. His race thus far has been devoid of ideas, style and passion. So eager to attract the nearest voter, he has flipped-flopped on so many issues that he resembles a porpoise on methamphetamine. If Obama and Romney were of the same race, be it black or white, this contest would not be a nail-biter.

Despite his flawed performance, Obama would be leading in the national polls by a solid 5 percent points if not more.

True, Obama has been a disappointment. He promised the people a candlelight dinner. He brought the candles but neglected to bring the meal. Romney promises nothing and he will deliver that in full. As such, Obama is twilight and Romney darkness. Neither is inspiring but one is less harsh than the other. However, Romney might win. By playing it safely for so long, President Obama has now placed his fate in the hands of Chance. How the economy unfolds in the next two three months will largely write the story. Some of this will be determined in Europe. Some will be determined by how the political and economy winds decide to blow That President Obama stayed wedded too long to the curious policy of love thy enemy yet despise those who love you is an uncontroverted fact. Time is too short to repair the unnecessary amputation of his support base caused by this policy. In this, he is like the general who furloughed his most loyal division on the eve of battle because he was told a division from the enemy camp would defect to his side. The defection never came and the general limped into battle undermanned and slightly unhinged. Obama must now steel his nerve for the grueling trench war ahead. He must continue to pound Romney, hoping his opponent will crack and make a terrible gaffe under the pressure of the relentless attack. I Romney can avoid the big mistake and merely limit himself to his normal dose of daily but minor missteps, this race will be close and down to the wire.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

65

EBERE WABARA

WORDSWORTH 08055001948

ewabara@yahoo.com

Flooding: Lagos assures Egbiri residents of govt intervention ...issues one month ultimatum to Oko-Oba cattle dealers

Cartoonists and cartooning T

N

ATIONAL Mirror, July 26, 2012, was economical with lexical truth on three occasions: “Naira firms after CBN fix reserve at 12%” A rewrite: Naira firms up after CBN fixes reserve at 12% “We are tired of this gimmicks....” (Back Page cartoon)No tomfooling here: this gimmick/these gimmicks. The challenge of cartoonists and cartooning in Nigeria is illiteracy, excluding the very few exceptions! It looks like Prof. Adebayo Williams had a very long time ago written about today’s headline, which I gladly borrow.

DAILY Sun of July 25 darkened, instead of blazing, one of its pages: “Fuel subsidy crisis: Lagos depots to shutdown operations over N300bn debt” Noun: shutdown; phrasal verb: shut down.

The front, editorial and inside pages of The Guardian of July 24 contained an avalanche of advertorial and editorial indiscretions: “GTAssur is now MANSARD INSURANCE Same Company. Same People. Same Values. For life and living: The same company.

The same people. The same values.

“Adamawa lawmakers pass vote of confidence on (in) Speaker” “...would be in charge of all correspondences of the government and governor....”

‘Correspondence’ is uncountable. And this: the government and the governor (two distinct entities). ”President Goodluck Jonathan’s admonitions to people to eschew violence was statemanly....”

Get it right: statesmanlike....

“Guaranty Trust Assurance plc (PLC) is now to be known as Mansard Insurance plc (sic). All former documents remains (why?) valid.”

“The country needed to revamp technological development at the craft level to compliment (complement) efforts of....”

Finally from the above edition of The Guardian: “...ensure that all hands are on deck to get it right this time around (round).”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY of July 22 goofed: “Ogunlesi brothers bury hatchet” Truth in defence of freedom: bury the hatchet.

Let us continue this edition with a headline solecism from DAILY Sun of July 11: “2015: Can the opposition seize the opportunity?” From the other side: you take (not seize) the opportunity.

Take note, however, that the extract is acceptable to Americanism!

DAILY Sun of July 23 also fumbled: “N23bn monthly allocation crash inter-bank rates” Business English: allocation crashes.

“2015: Anglican bishop wants vigilante groups to help policemen protect ballot boxes” (DAILY Sun, July 24) In the interest of eschatology: vigilance group.

The next three puerile excerpts are from DAILY CHAMPION of July 25: “Today, it is becoming increasing (increasingly) clearer that a free and fair election is possible in Nigeria….” “…this he applied in fighting the cause of oppressed (the oppressed).

He was Igbo (an Igbo) leader.”

“Itse Sagay accuses Supreme Court justices of setting bad precedence in the country’s judicial history.” (Blueprint, July 24) There is a morphological distinction between ‘precedence’ and ‘precedent’, which applies here.

“Economics, as if the poor matters!” (Source: as above) Voice of the nation: the poor matter!

The next lexical lawlessness is from Vanguard of July 11: “Before independence, you don’t lobby to (sic) made a judge.” Get it right: you didn’t lobby to be made a judge.

From this medium a fortnight ago comes the next farcical entry: “Are the leaders calling for prayers so that we learn not to kill ourselves….”

Truth in defence of freedom: we learn not to kill one another. “…it was common (a common) sight to see a classroom crowded with between 150-200 children….” (DAILY INDEPENDENT, July 11) Either: between 150 and 200 or from 150 to 200 (depending on preference). No mix-up.

“The grassroot man of Oyo politics” (DAILY INDEPENDENT, July 11) Basic knowledge: grassroots man.

From the Nigerian Compass, July 11 comes the next goof: “Omisore

assures on credible poll in 2015” The way to go: Omisore assures Nigerians (or everyone) on credible polls in 2015 “We invested heavily on their training and welfare and so should be told what led to their death….” (THE NATION, July 12) Dana crash: we invested heavily in their training….

From THE NATION of July 13 comes the next impropriety: “Chidi, as I use (used) to call him….”

“The church…was filled to capacity last weekend as….” (Source: as above) We cannot mention ‘capacity’ when a hall is filled as that fact is implied. According to my copious dictionaries and reference books on the English language, fill means “to occupy the whole space of….” This also applies to “filled to the brim”, et al.

“What the church has joined together…” Ancient English: joined together. Modern version: joined.

Still on THE NATION of July 13: “In the area of health, Aliyu has moved in to reduce maternal mortality through the introduction of antinatal (what!) care for pregnant women….” ‘…ante-natal for pregnant women’? Should it have been for which other women or, worse still, men?

“Petrol tanker crushes 1 to death” (DAILY Sun, July 12) Though some dictionaries give leeway to usage of ‘crush’ as extracted, Let us transcend the rigidity of some dictionary explanations and be creative. So, petrol tanker crushes 1 “The statistics are here, I can give it to you.” (Nigerian Compass, July 13) Back to school: I can give them to you, No discord, please.

“Ndigbo is for Jonathan” (Daily Trust, July 13) Singular: Onyigbo; plural: Ndigbo. Why the disagreement?

“I decided to participate in politics this time around….”

(THE GUARDIAN, July 13) No debate: this time round (fixed expression).

The next two improprieties are from THISDAY, July 13: “…multiple allocations which has (sic) lingered for over 10 years is (sic) finally put to rest.” No further comment, please!

HE Lagos State Government has assured residents of Egbiri community in Ojokoro Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of intervention in addressing the challenges of dilapidated roads, flooding and erosion that have overtaken the area in recent times.

Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, gave the assurance yesterday when he led government officials on the monthly environmental sanitation monitoring in the local government.

He appealled for calm among the residents, saying government will intervene to address their challenges in the shortest possible time.

The commissioner who

By Miriam Ndikanwu addressed newsmen alongside his Information and Strategy counterpart, Mr. Lateef Ibirogba, however, frowned against environmental degradation at the Oko-Oba cattle markets, lamenting the rate shanties have sprung up in the area.

He also kicked against indiscriminate parking of trailers on the roadside.

Bello urged the traders to desist from constituting environmental nuisance and clean up the area, saying that government will not hesitate to shut down the market by the end of August if they do not comply.

According to him: “The people trading there do not

have the sense of environmental cleanliness and don’t forget that the cows and rams they sell, people eat them. ‘’So if they are not reared in a clean environment, they can pass on a lot of diseases.

They habour rabid dogs in that area, you see them around the market and I don’t think it is hygienic enough for us”.

“A community leader in the area, Mr. Olu Omoshaye, said the neglect of the area by successive governments has left it in bad shape.

He said: “We can`t afford all of these any more. We want the government to build a good drainage system here fast as well as a standard bridge across on Soyinka Street will enable residents move safely during the rains.”

[R-L] Head of Service, Lagos State, Prince Adesegun Ogunlewe, Commissioner for Environment, Mr.Tunji Bello, Commissioner for Information & Strategy, Mr.Lateef Ibirogba and Chairman, Ojokoro LCDA , Engr. Benjamen Labinjo and others during the inspection tour of drainage projects at Akinsegun Street, Ojokoro, Lagos as part of July Sanitation exercise, yesterday.

PIC BY OMOSEHIM MOSES

Suswam’s aide denies ICPC arrest From Uja Emmanuel Makurdi

T

HE Special Adviser to Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State on Millenuim Development Goals (MDG), Mr. Timothy Aikyor, has denied media reports that he was arrested by operatives of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) over alleged misappropriation of N500m.

He described the reports as figment of the imagination of his detractors bent on frustrating his efforts at providing community services in the state.

While encouraging reporters to imbibe the dictates of the profession, Aiyokor flayed reports that his office was raided by the anti-graft agency.

66 CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

ADEBISI

AKINNIFESI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Adebisi, Bunmi Kafayat, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Olori, Bunmi Kafayat. All former documents remain valid.

Access Bank Plc. and general public should please take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Akinnifesi, Felicia Omobowale, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ogundijo, Felicia Omobowale. All former documents remain valid. Adeyemi Demonstration Secondary, School Under Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo and general public should please take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ibrahim Adeola Nimotalahi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Adeyemi Adeola Nimotalahi Adeola. All former documents remain valid.

Osun State Local govt. Service Commission and general public should please take note.

ADESANYA

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Marian Onwude Useni, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Agbugui Marian Onwude. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

BOLAJI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Bolaji, Bolaji Olanike, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Durojaiye, Rashidat Olanike.

All former documents remain valid.

PHCN and general public should please take note.

OTANIYI

I,formerly known and addressed as Otaniyi Bisola Fehintola, now wish to be known and addressed as Thomas Bisola Fehintola. All former documents remain valid.

NYSC and general public should please take note.

ANIYI I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ajoke Abiodun Deborah Aniyi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ajoke Abiodun Deborah Ajibola. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ADELOWO

I,formerly known and addressed as Adelowo, Modupe Olayemi, now wish to be known and addressed as Oladesu, Modupe Olayemi. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note. Gbenga/Robert

ADEBISI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Roihanot Titilade Adebisi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Roihanot Titilade Hayodeji. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ABU

I,formerly known and addressed as Atsenokhai Abu, now wish to be known and addressed as Omoh Thomas Abu. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

POPOOLA

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Elizabeth Oluwaseyi Popoola, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Elizabeth Oluwaseyi Ade-Adams. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ALLI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Bintin Oyindamola Alli, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Bintan Oyindamola Ashorobi.

All former documents remain valid.

MTN, GTBank, FCMB and general public should please take note.

BADMUS

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Badmus Surakatu Iyabo Oluwatoyin, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Sanusi Iyabo Oluwatoyin. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

EFIOM

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Blessing Asuquo Effiom, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Abeng Blessing Eyam. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Mrs. Adesanya, Abosede Ojajure, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Adesanya, Abosede Mary. All former documents remain valid. Eti-Osa East LCDA and general public should please take note.

ABDULRAHEEM

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Shakirat Abdulraheem, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Shakirat Adebimpe Shittu.

All former documents remain valid.

Kaduna Polytechnic, NYSC and general public should please take note.

OGUNNIYI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Esther Kehinde Ogunniyi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Esther Kehinde Afolayan. All former documents remain valid. Lagos LGSC, Agbado Oke-Odo LCDA and general public should please take note.

AKINWUNMI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Akinwunmi, Olubunmi Olayinka, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Akin-Ajayi Olubunmi Olayinka. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

LASISI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Lasisi Comfort Bukola, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Aina Comfort Bukola. All former documents remain valid.

Ido/Osi Local govt., Ekiti State Local govt. Service Commission and general public should please take note.

FALADE

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Falade Fisayo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Adeyemi Fisayo. All former documents remain valid. Ekiti State Local govt. Service Commission and general public should please take note.

KILANKO

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Kilanko Funmilayo Moyosola, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Adejoro Funmilayo Moyosola. All former documents remain valid. Union Bank Plc. and general public should please take note.

OLASOJU I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Olasoju Temitope Olubunmi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Fatona Temitope Olubunmi. All former documents remain valid. TASUED, Ijagun, NYSC and general public should please take note.

BELLO I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Bello Rukayat Mariam, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Onimisi-Bello Ruqoyah Omayoza. All former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public should please take note.

KALU

I,formerly known and addressed as Udeagha Ucha Kalu, now wish to be known and addressed as Ojisi Ucha Ogba. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.Benita Kalu Diamond 7369825 of 26/7/12

OBIA

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Josephine Obetan Obia, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Adesola Josephine Adebisi. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ODERINDE I,formerly known and addressed as Oderinde Olayinka Emmanuel, now wish to be known and addressed as Abodunrin Olusegun Emmanuel. All former documents remain valid. OAUTH Ile-Ife, Osun State, Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Limited, PENCOM, First Bank Nigeria Plc. and general public should please take note.

AMESO

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Hafsat Yomi Ameso, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Haruna Ibrahim Hadsat. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME This is to confirm that Mr. Adolphus Simon Agaba is one and the same person as Mr. Adolphus Patrick Simon Agaba. All former documents remain valid. Federal Unversity of Agriculture, Abeokuta and general public should please take note.

BOLANLE I,formerly known and addressed as Bolanle, Muhibah Adedayo (Mrs.) (Nee Olaniyan), now wish to be known and addressed as Olatunji, Muhibah Adedayo (Mrs.) (Nee Olaniyan) All former documents remain valid.

Lagos State Judiciary, Lagos State Judicial Service Commission,Nigerian Bar Association, University of Lagos and general public should please take note.

OLATUNJI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Olatunji Zainab Ponle, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Oluwasegun Zainab Ponle. All former documents remain valid.

Federal College of Animal Health and Production, Technology, Moor Plantation, Ibadan and general public should please take note.

ONWUGHALU

I,formerly known and addressed as Mrs. Onwughalu Irene Uzoma Azuka, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. John Ifejika Irene Uzoma Azuka. All former documents remain valid. Federal Civil Service Commission, Federal Ministry of Education and general public should please take note.

IWUAGWU

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Iwuagwu Onyinyechi Lilian, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Augustine Rowland Onyinyechi Lilian. All former documents remain valid.

School of Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) and general public should please take note.

IBRAHIM

USENI

AMOO

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Amoo Shakirah Omowunmi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Idowu Shakirah Omowunmi. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

UKOH I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ruth Emem Ukoh, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ruth Victor Udofia. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

UGOLO

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ugolo Priscilla Nwakaego, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Okike Priscilla Nwakaego. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ODUSOLA

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Odusola Deborah Charmorsay, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Mofaz Deborah. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

OLAOYE

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Olaoye Bolanle Oluwabunmi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Babalola Bolanle Oluwabunmi. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

AKINREMI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Akinremi Mary Omorinola , now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Olaniyan Mary Omorinola. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012 CHANGE OF NAME CHANGE OF NAME CHANGE OF NAME DADA

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Dada, Shakirat Temitope, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Awotidebe, Shakirat Temitope. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ADEYEYE

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Adeyeye Esther Bosede, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Sina-Ayodele Esther Bosede. All former documents remain valid. Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti and general public should take note.

OLAOFE

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Olaofe Funmilayo Rachael, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Rabiu Funmilayo Aishat. All former documents remain valid. Hospital Management Board Ekiti State and general public should take note.

FISUSI

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Fisusi Emily Monisola, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Akinyemi Emily Monisola. All former documents remain valid.

Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti and general public should take note.

ERI

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Eri Franca, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Oladimeji Franca. All former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

LAWAL

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Lawal Bukola, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Oladele Bukola. All former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

AWOLESI

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Oluwasanu Elizabeth Awolesi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Oluwasanu Elizabeth Adedayo. All former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

ORAIFITE FOR CHRIST MOVEMENT(OCM) We, formerly known and addressed as Oraifite For Christ Movement (OCM), now wish to be known and addressed as Oraifite Born Again Christian Association (OBACA).

All former documents remain valid.

General public should take note.

ADENEKAN

I,formerly known and addressed as Adenekan Ayobami Sola, now wish to be known and addressed as Adenekan odunayo Olusola. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

EKUNDINA

I,formerly known and addressed as Mr. Ekundina Elijah Oluwaseun , now wish to be known and addressed as Mr. Ekundina-Ota Elijah Oluwaseun. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

FASUYI I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Fasuyi Bolanle Grace, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Adeleke Boalanle Grace. All former documents remain valid.

Ekiti State SUBEB, Ado LGA and general public should please take note.

EWELAMOHUN I,formerly known and addressed as Ewelamohun Olufunke, now wish to be known and addressed as Omotuke Olufunke. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

BALOGUN

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Balogun Rodiat Olusola , now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Balogun-Onifade Rodiat Olusola. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

IRITE

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS. IRITE PAULLET PREYE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. JEREMIAH PREYE PAULLET. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

UDOYE

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS. NKEIRUKA . F. UDOYE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. NKEIRUKAOKECHUKWU ONYEMENAM. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

EZEMONYE

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS. EZEMONYE LINDA CHIOMA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. ILONU LINDA CHIOMA. All former documents remain valid .IMSU, NYSC and general public please take note.

OBAYEMI I, formerly known and addressed as MISS. OBAYEMI, SEUN JOSEPHINE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. GEORGE, SEUN JOSEPHINE. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

IZEVBIGIE I, formerly known and addressed as MISS. IZEVBIGIE PEPERTUAL FAITH OSARUGUE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. IBITEINBO-OFORI FAITH KULUMA. All former documents remain valid and general public please take note.

ABDULMUMINI

I,formerly known and addressed as Amina Abdulmumini N., now wish to be known and addressed as Amina Nasiru A. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

MUSA

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Musa Mubarakah Modupe, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Mubarakah Modupe Musa Akanji. All former documents remain valid. FCDA and general public should please take note.

OJO I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ojo Modupe Veronica, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Oniyere Modupe Veronica. All former documents remain valid.

Ondo State Local govt. Service Copmmission and general public should please take note.

NWACHUKWU

AKANNO

I,formerly known and address as Mr. Sylvanus Edward, now wish to be known and addressed as Mr. Sylvanus Edward Elias. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

JONATHAN

I,formerly known and address as Krotamunonye Christopher AbelTariah, now wish to be known and addressed as Paul Christopher Balley. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

I,formerly known and address as Jonathan Nwokolo Amachi, now wish to be known and addressed as Ahiara Ndubuisi Prince. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

KROTAMUNONYE

KALU

OGUOMA

I,formerly known and address as Miss Queen Elizabeth Oguoma, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. John Jonathan Ubochi. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

OGUOMA

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Oguoma Uchechi Queeneth, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Anukam Uchechi Nnenna. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

OBIALOR

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Obialor Chinwe Joy, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Madufor Chinwe Joy. All former documents remain valid.

NYSC and general public should please take note.

DJONDO

I,formerly known and addressed as Djondo Olusegun Joseph, now wish to be known and addressed as Martins Olusegun Joseph. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

EJINDU

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Nnenna Ejindu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Nnenna Kalu. All former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public should please take note.

OKOMAYIN

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Okomayin Faith Omejere, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Alao-Efisue Faith Ometere. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

OLADAPO

I,formerly known and addressed as Mrs. Juliana Adetutu Oladapo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ramotu Adetutu Hassan. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

UDENTA I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Udenta Chika Angela, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ngwu Chika Angela. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

SANDA

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Regina Sanda, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Regina Bature Malachy. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ADEBISI

I,formerly known and addressed as Adebisi Ayo, now wish to be known and addressed as Ajayi Sunday Johnson. All former documents remain valid. Lagos State Govt. Service Commission and general public should please take note.

UWENWEKE

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Uwenweke Ukamaka Chimaobi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ezike Ukamaka Chimaobi. All former documents remain valid. UNN, Nsugbe Campus,NYSC and general public should please take note.

SAVAGE

I,formerly known and addressed as Savage Omolewa Sidikat, now wish to be known and addressed as Durojaiye Omolewa Sidikat. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

JAIYESIMI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Nwachukwu Uche Ann, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Idasefiema Uchechi Ann. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

I,formerly known and address as Jaiyesimi Anuoluwa and Jaiyesimi Anuoluwa Olaoluwa, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Akinwale Anuoluwa Olaoluwa. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

NJOKU

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Francis Funmilayo Josephine, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ayinla Funmilayo Josephine. All former documents remain valid. FINLAND Bank Plc. and general public should please take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Njoku Peace Chigoziri, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Aguwa Peace Chigoziri. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

EDWARD

I,formerly known and address as Miss Love Ngozi Akanno, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Love Ngozi Bashir Momoh. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

FRANCIS

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Chidinma Kalu, now wish to be known as Mrs. Ejie Okeke Chidinma. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

NWANKWO

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Nwankwo Augustina Ijeoma, now wish to be known as Mrs. Uhuo Augustina Ijeoma. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ANAZODO

I formerly known and addressed as Miss.

Anazodo Ijeoma Kenechukwu, now wish to be known as Mrs. Ugorji Ijeoma Kenechukwu. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

EMA I formerly known and addressed as Miss Kufre-Abasi Emmanuel Ema, now wish to be known as Mrs. Kufre-Abasi Oluka Favor Ngofa.

All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME Ikwue Pius Igoche and Beetseh Pius Ayem refers to one and the same person. I now wish to be known as Beetseh Pius Ayem. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME Mgbaja Chukwuemeka Solomon and Akunuba Chukwuemeka Solomon refers to one and the same person. I now wish to be known as Akunuba Chukwuemeka Solomon.

All former documents remain valid.

Financial Institution and the general public please take note.

ASHAOLU I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ashaolu Ruth Omobola, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Taiwo Ruth Omobola. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

MASHOOD

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Mashood, Mariam Morenikeji, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs.Lawal, Mariam Morenikeji. All former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public should please take note.

ADVERT: Simply produce your marriage certificate or sworn affidavit for a change of name publication, with just (N4,500. NEW RATE effective from 20th March) The payment can be made through FIRST BANK of Nigeria Plc. Account number 2017220392 Account Name - VINTAGE PRESS LIMITED Scan the details of your advert and teller to gbengaodejide@yahoo.com or thenation_advert@yahoo.com For enquiry please contact: Gbenga on 08052720421, 08161675390, Emailgbengaodejide @yahoo.com or our offices nationwide.

Note this! Change of name is now published every Sundays, all materials should reach us two days before publication.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 29, 2012

News

Expert explains budget implementation

T

HE President, Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management of Nigeria, Alhaji Mohammed Aliyu, has blamed the non-involvement of procurement system for absence of budget implementation.

He spoke yesterday at the 2012, Group B Induction ceremony of the institute in Abuja.

Aliyu said: "The key to budget implementation is procurement. About 90 percent of the total budget goes into contract, procurement and services so if that section is not in whole, how do you implement? ‘’That is why we have been having the problem of

From: Olugbenga Adanikin, Abuja

budget in Nigeria. And if the procurement of any organisation is higher than its budget, it is an unforgivable sin."

However, he stated the need for professionalism in the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) for the bureau to function efficiently.

Aliyu noted that the procurement system has not been properly implemented based on the Act that established it.

"If we are to attain the desired goals on a national basis, we must continually monitor the performance and the problems of the Nigerian public procurement system," he noted.

Arik Air introduces Lagos-Abuja, Lagos-Port Harcourt shuttles

A

RIK Air has announced the introduction of a new flight programme that will make more seats available to domestic air travelers, ensure on-time departure and passenger satisfaction.

The innovation, which becomes operational tomorrow, is the introduction of a LagosAbuja-Lagos and LagosPort Harcourt-Lagos shuttles.

The shuttles will make it possible for passengers to connect a flight be-

By Kelvin Osa-Okunbor

tween the two city pairs every one or two hours.

Arik Air Managing Director/Executive Vice President, Chris Ndulue, said: “We would like to assure Nigerians that Arik has enough capacity to meet the demands of air travelers. ‘’With our increasing fleet of modern aircraft, made up of short, medium and long range types, we are equal to the task of providing Nigerians with a seamless air travel.’’

T

HE Lagos State Government has charged officials of Neigbourhood Watchers responsible for grass root policing to step up vigilance considering cases of missing persons recorded in recent times in the State.

Commissioner of Rural Development, Mr. Cornelius Ojelabi, gave the charge at the monthly stakeholder and security interactive session held in Alausa yesterday.

The commissioner, who was represented by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Rural Development, Mr.

Missing persons: Lagos tasks Neigbourhood watchers on vigilance Babatunde Hunpe, urged them to be more vigilant in community policing to unravel the mystery of missing people in the state.

According to him: “as watchers and the security personnel at the grass root ,you must put your ears on the ground to uncover the mystery of the disappearance of ace broadcaster Alhaji Aremu Gawat who has

been declared missing about two weeks now.”

He urged them to take their job seriously and respond promptly whenever they are called upon.

The Director, Enforcement and Compliance, Lagos State Waste Management Authority

“That place (Bakassi) does not belong to Cameroun in respect to the geographical terrain of that area. Today, I speak with you Nigerians are still living there. They have their means of survival there, fishing and farming. Besides they are harassed on a day to day basis by the gendarmes.”

He appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan and the national assembly to reexamine the process that led to the handover of the land to Cameroun.

Another group, Bakassi Self-Determination Front has also threatened to attack the ceded land as a way of wresting it back to Nigeria. One Ekpe Ekpenyong Oku, who signed as the Commandant General of the group, in a letter to the paramount ruler Edet said “Time is not on our hands. We shall no longer wait for any more deceit without concrete action from the Nigerian nation.”

The group threatened to unleash violence in the area if its demands are not met.

However, a concerned citizen, Mr Cletus Obun described the threat of violence as a natural reaction to the negligence the federal government has demonstrated over the Bakassi matter by not going to appeal and ask for judicial review in the international court.

He said, “No move has been made. Violence becomes one of the few options by which the international community can intervene in situations. Those who are speaking violence are only speaking about the option available to them. Otherwise we are demanding for a conference of stakeholders of the Cross River State territory within the Nigerian nation to review and determine whether we can still happily say we are Nigerians and that we should take a decision as to whether we should still belong to the Nigerian State considering that the ICJ and all parameters of international jurispru-

(LAWMA), Mr. Ayo Williams, said the agency has created a unit tagged local policing with the mandate to stop people from dropping refuse on the highways.

He solicited for the assistance and cooperation of Neighbourhood Watchers in this regard.

Ogun NURTW: Cleric sues for peace

A

N Islamic cleric, Alhaji Tajudeen Adeosun, has urged members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Ogun State to work harmoniously before and after the holy month of Ramadan.

He urged them to embrace dialogue to resolve differences among themselves.

The cleric made the call yesterday while delivering Ramadan lecture for members of NURTW in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

According to him: “I want to strongly appeal to you to make the best of the season by using the teachings of Islam to resolve whatever difference you

From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

may have among yourselves.

“It is important to imbibe the teachings of your religion and live by it and also be change agent that will ensure peace and tranquility.

“As much as possible, avoid backbiting, bitterness, hatred among other vices but ensure justice and fairness as Allah has thought us.”

Responding, the state Chairman of NURTW, Alhaji Akeem Adeosun, noted that the union would not relent in its efforts to ensure constant education of members on the need for them to shun violent conducts and be peaceful.

UNILAG’s Registrar re-appointed

T

HE Registrar of the University of Lagos, Mr. Oluwarotimi Sodimu, has been reappointed for a one -year term.

Sodimu, an alumnus of the institution, was reappointed at the Council meeting of the

University last week having completed a four- year term.

The Registrar who holds a first and second degree from Unilag , is also lawyer.

He served as Assistant Registrar and Deputy Registrar of the University before his elevation.

Bakassi: Return our land •Continued from Page 9

67

dence and international minimum standards of interaction do not allow that we (Cross River) should aspire to be Nigerians any more. We must go farther than the violence, because violence would mean we are still Nigerians. Nigeria has demonstrated since 1960 that the territory called Cross River is not required.”

All these developments have heightened tension in the ceded Bakassi peninsula as the Camerounian authorities have reportedly started moving arms and troops into the area in preparation for any form of violence.

Recently, the House of Representatives called on the Federal Government to commence the process for the review of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgment ceding Bakassi peninsula to the Cameroun.

This resolution emanated from a motion moved by Essien Ayi, who represents Bakassi/Akpabuyo, Calabar South Federal Constituency in Cross River State and was unanimously adopted without debate.

According to Ayi, Article 61 of the Statute of ICJ provided for application for the revision of a judgment only when some facts that are decisive factors, are unknown to the court and the party seeking revision.

He said the people of Bakassi insisted on having a United Nations’ supervised plebiscite, where their rights to self-determination would be exercised.

He said the people of Bakassi have called on the federal government to do the same by invoking the machinery of justice and demand for a review of the case.

He noted that there was the need for a review as the judgment was reached in error.

“One of these facts is that the 1913 Anglo-German treaty relied on by the ICJ to cede Bakassi to Cameroun is in breach of Article 6 of the General Act of Berlin Conference that enjoined European powers to

watch out over the preservation of the native tribes and not to take over or effect transfer of their territory, “ Ayi had said.

He said the Federal Government should initiate the process towards the conduct of a UN supervised referendum in Bakassi.

Daniel Asuquo representing Akamkpa/ Biase Federal Constituency insisted that following the non-ratification of the June 12, 2006 Green Tree Agreement between Nigeria and Cameroun which laid the frame work for the handing over of Bakassi Peninsular to Cameroun by the National Assembly, Bakassi still remains part of the Nigerian territory.

In a submission in the House of Representatives, Asuquo declared that Bakassi still belongs to Nigeria, observing that the Green Tree Agreement was a Treaty which according to section 12 of the 1999 Constitution as amended must be ratified by the National Assembly before it can become binding.

“Since the National Assembly was yet to enact a legislation to ratify the Green Tree Agreement, it was unconstitutional, wrongful and void for the federal government to have hurriedly ceded Bakassi Peninsular to the Cameroun” A lawyer, Mr Okoi Obono-Obla however sees no chance of a judicial review of the 2002 ICJ judgement. He said, “The pertinent question is: is the judgment of the ICJ appealable? In other words can judgment of the ICJ be subjected to an appeal? The answer to the question is in the negative.

“There are basically six documents that guide the exercise of the jurisdiction of the ICJ. These are United Nations Charter; the Statutes of the Court; Practice Directions and Rules of the Court and other texts.

“It is submitted that Article 60 of the Statute of the ICJ explicitly provides thus: “The judgment is final and without appeal. In the event of dispute as to the mean-

ing or scope of the judgment, the Court shall construe it upon the request of any party”.

“It follows that there is no appeal against the Judgment of the ICJ. It goes without saying that either Nigeria or the Cross River State can appeal against the judgment of the ICJ. This is settled.

“It is therefore clear that the claim by some people that the judgment of the ICJ can be appealed against within 10 years by the Cross River State is hollow and not well founded.”

In the face of all these, however, the federal government still appears calm. Observers believe that it is unlikely the FG would pursue a judicial review of the judgment, especially after having to a large extent complied with the said judgment. Though unilaterally, it had in 2006 signed the GTA that recognized Camerounian sovereignty over the area, and pulled out Nigerian troops in 2006 and formally handed over the land in 2008 in Calabar.

The state government has been silent on the matter.

In June 2006, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his Cameronian counterpart Paul Biya had resolved the dispute in talks led by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in New York City. Signing the Green Tree Agreement, Obasanjo agreed to withdraw Nigerian troops within 60 days and to leave the territory completely in Camerounian control within the next two years.

Nigeria began to withdraw its forces, comprising some 3,000 troops, beginning 1 August 2006, and a ceremony on 14 August marked the formal handover of the northern part of the peninsula.

However, on 22 November, 2007, the Senate passed a resolution declaring that the withdrawal from the Bakassi Peninsula was illegal. But the federal government still went ahead and handed the final parts of Bakassi to Cameroun on 14 August 2008.

But with the recent agitation by the Bakassi people and the reported deployment of troops to the peninsula by the government of Cameroun, things may heat up again between the two countries. Who can tall?

68

WORSHIP THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

NEWS

Okonkwo rains curses on corrupt leaders

P

IQUED by massive graft in the public service, presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM), Dr Mike Okonkwo, last Sunday rained curses on corrupt government officials.

It was at the quarterly Breeding Leaders for Empowerment and National Transformation (BLENT) outreach of the church, specially targeted at the sports industry with the theme: ‘’repositioning Nigerian sports’’.

Stories by Sunday Oguntola

An enraged Okonkwo noted that all the sectors of the nation have nosedived because of massive looting and graft. ‘’Every corrupt leader in this nation, God will deal with them. Those that need to be removed will go; those that should go on exile will become unseen forever; those who need to die will leave this world for us,’’ he declared.

Pained by the pension fund scam, Okonkwo told all

•Okonkwo presenting the wheelchairs to the Paralympic Committee PHOTO Muyiwa Hassan

guilty parties: ‘’that money you have stolen will kill you.

Your children will not live to enjoy them.’’

Sport, he said, should have been the biggest industry in the nation, considering the natural sporting talents of Nigerians.

He, however, lamented that the sector has been recording shameful performances, placing the blame on the doorsteps of corrupt administrators.

He urged corrupt government officials to have a rethink or be prepared for an imminent divine visitation.

God, he said, will visit the country and cause a massive tsunami that will consume many beneficiaries of corruption.

Speaking at the occasion that attracted sports men and administrators, 1996 Olympic gold medalist, Chioma Ajunwa-Opara, stated Nigeria has achieved more in sports than in politics and economy.

She bemoaned the dwindling fortunes of the nation in sporting activities lately.

Ajunwa-Opare a presented a five-point action plan for the nation to regain her lost sports glory.

These, she said, include professionalising the sector, offering adequate motivation, funding the National Sport Institute(NIS) to draw up regular training programmes, enacting laws that will make sponsorship of sporting activities mandatory for corporate organisations and proper supervision.

A club owner, Churchill Oliseh, called for drafting of a national sports policy and development of sports as a business venture to save the sector.

He also called for the expulsion of bad eggs in the sector as well as the empowerment of ancillary bodies to complement sports institutions.

The church presented gifts to the National Sports Institute and five wheelchairs to the Paralympics Committee in support of the nation’s sports sector.

Revolution is coming, says Oladiyun

A

LL hope is not lost for Nigeria despite the current backwardness witnessed in all sectors of the nation, Senior Pastor of the Christ Livingspring Apostolic Ministry (CLAM), Pastor Wole Oladiyun, has declared.

Oladiyun predicted that Nigeria will soon witness a mind-blowing revolution that will permeate all segments of the society.

He spoke last week at a forum he organised to brainstorm on national issues.

Lamenting the sociopolitical challenges and killings recorded in the nation almost on daily basis, Oladiyun blamed the development on government’s insensitivity.

According to him: ‘’Nigerians are being wasted because of the failure and inactivity of government to do the right things at the right time.

‘’Instead of promulgating policies that will uplift Nigerians, our government is busy incapacitating them.

The nation seems to be moving towards no where.’’

He noted that poor power supply has led to the winding down of many companies, stressing that more and more Nigerians are becoming bankrupt.

•Oladiyun

However, the renowned prophet sees a silver lining in the cloud for Nigeria.

According to him: “I see a revolution coming soon but not arms -carrying revolution, but family value revolution whereby people will train their wards to have the fear of God. ‘’I see a mindset revolution, whereby people will want to do what is right for the nation.

“I see a governance revolution whereby people want to go to government to do what is right.

“I see an industrial revolution in the country whereby there are industries in every state and local government in this nation. ‘’I see an integrity revolution, morality revolution and spiritual and revival revolution in this nation. ‘’I see a positive turnaround for the nation because we cannot continue like this as a nation.”

INTERVIEW

‘Why I sold off my church’ Apostle Emmanuel Ehimika is the initiator of Jesus Dream project that mobilised prayers for unity worldwide recently.

He publishes Ministers Alive, an interdenominational magazine circulated free worldwide to church leaders. He spoke with Sunday Oguntola on leadership tussles, disunity among church leaders and sundry issues

Y

OU are here in Abeokuta reaching the world via publications, yet you have not travelled out of this country. How did you get there?

The Bible says in our weakness, He is made strong.

You know sometimes the way our preachers share testimonies, you wonder if you should give God the glory or praise them. We are unwittingly telling people we have the formula to success. If all we need to succeed are seven steps, then we don’t need God anymore.

I have not travelled abroad though I have all the monies to do that every week. Yet, God told me to stay here so that He can prove a point that He is everywhere. There are Americans who are proud they have never travelled out but the more Nigerians travel, the more fulfilled they feel.

So, God has not released me to travel. An American saw our last publication and commissioned us to design his magazine cover because he was amazed something like that came from Nigeria. Of course, there are people God will need to travel but I am just not one of them.

How have you been coping with publication and circulation of the magazine without any constant source of funding?

It is a mystery and I can’t even begin to explain it. I started motivational teachings in schools in this country. In 1996, I got the federal government to partner with me for a national conference for students at the National Stadium. I went round schools then in the country. But when I came to Abeokuta, I started a church because people asked me to. I was the first preacher to be on TV here and people thought I needed a church. We tried to make it grow but it never did. But there were signs and wonders and people thought what was wrong. After a while, God told me he never asked me to start a church. I then closed down the church. I actually sold it off after I started preaching hard and people left. It was then I started the magazine to encourage ministers. That was in 2004. I expended all my money on the publication until I had just N5 left in my accounts. Very few ministers responded but God has been sustaining us. Most times we have to absolutely depend on God. It has cost me not being able to build a house, buy a car or anything because as the money comes, we invest everything. My family has sacrificed so much but God has been good.

•Ehimika

Despite not travelling out, how did you pull off the Jesus Dream project that mobilised millions to pray for unity worldwide?

I would rather say God did it for us. I have friends travelling out but they never linked me up. Then, God started bringing people our way via the internet. Ordinary Christians started buying into the idea. They mobilised people on their own without even seeing me. They gathered on their own and prayed like never before that God would unite the body again in the world. Our phone lines were jammed. It was so humbling that God used a small me to get that done.

How did the church get to the point where unity was lost?

I will say it was due to greed and insistence on having one’s way all the time.

None of us is willing to suffer. Suffering is being willing to be wrong and humble enough to allow others have their way. Some of the general overseers are so flamboyant that their associates also want to be like them. So, they break away and start a church.

I don’t see how my staff will like to be like me. My life is not attractive; it is fully dependant on God. You break away and others do the same and we keep moving in a cycle. You must know there is bitterness among pastors more than among any other group. It was shocking when I realised this. This is my ministry. I minister to church leaders.

Why are they embittered towards one another?

You see pride is there;

money is another key thing.

They want to keep amassing wealth. What we should show people is not wealth but faith towards God and love to others. So, churches are busy showing off their wealth, thinking that makes them better. If that is all we have to offer, then we are failures because the richest people in the world are not even part of the body of Christ. If we are boasting about these things, they will just be laughing at us. But we have love and that is something the world does not have.

We need humility as church leaders to unite the body. The problem is none of them is willing to stoop low, accept responsibility and apologise first. And you will be shocked what they have against one another are little issues that need only maturity. I tell my driver I am sorry. I apologise to my staff. I let them know I am human after all and must initiate reconciliation.

So, you believe unity is now achievable?

We have kick-started that process. Unity does not mean thinking alike or living the same way. It means having the same motive and mind.

We have been praying for unity and I believe God will make it happen. We need one another in the body because no one is an Island. I don’t raise offering and there are people who hate me for that.

Those who invite me know I am radical but that does not mean we should keep malice.

I minister on reconciliation and see members crying.

Even pastors who don’t relate with one another become reconciled and now work together.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

Worship

How to handle money in your marriage Dr James Iruobe

MARRIAGE & DESTINY

I

T is my pleasure to welcome you again to Marriage and Destiny. I will like to use this opportunity to wish you a Happy New month.

Today, we will be discussing a very imperative topic which has generated more disagreement and acrimony in marriages and that is – Money. Yes, money!

Research has it that money is responsible for divorce and marital problems more than any other factor in the world.

Some schools of thought believe that if husbands and wives can agree on money, there is nothing that can separate them. Interesting!

Money is very vital and important to everything we do. There is scarcely anything you can do without money. If you don’t have money you won’t live comfortably and if not you will die early. It amazes me to learn that even those who sleep under the bridges in Lagos now pay rent. You need money to live a good life and can I be honest with you, you also need money to serve God. I have discovered that what makes people poor is bad handling of money.

When you do not handle money the way you should, you will be poor. Money comes to everybody, although the quantity that you get may be little compared to others. But, if you know how to handle the little you have, you will have more money to spend and even to spare in the nearest future.

Money is too important to be ignored in the family.

Therefore, we must talk about money management in the family. This issue has generated a lot of quarrels in

home in the past. In fact, there have been more quarrels in the families about money than on any other issue.

Money is a Servant Couples must agree that money is a servant to them.

You need to agree that money will never separate you. Do you know that there are people who live better and harmoniously when they had little money than when they have more? When their money increased it separated them! The money they have been praying and working for came and separated them.

Why? Because the money dictated how they lived.

Learn the Use of Money Agree that you will learn how to use money because there is a learning process to this. We must have the right attitude before we can handle money properly. If you do not have the right attitude towards monetary expenditure, you will encounter problems. Let me give you a glimpse of people who do not have the right attitude to handling money.

Such people always overspend – they spend well above their earnings.

What leads people to indebtedness is over spending. As long as a person overspends he or she can not be rich. It is a well known fact that a borrower is always a servant to the lender. There are people today who borrow money to buy clothes. Some even buy shoes, wristwatches and jewelries on credit. Such, spend their salaries before they earn it. So one wonders how they intend to make ends meet. This is one thing you must not involve yourself in. Make the money first, and then you will be qualified to spend it.

Be Content with your Present Level of Income In Luke 3: 14, John the Baptist said something to the soldiers that I think we should all heed. As he was preaching his dynamic message, the soldiers came and said to him, what shall we do and he replied among other things, “… be content with your

wages.”

This does not mean that you should not aspire for a greater income; in fact, I encourage people to do so.

However, you should make the best use of what you have now instead of complaining that your income is to small or never enough.

When you are not content with your wages, you will go borrowing. One major reason why people do not have a right attitude towards their expenditure is because they do not have a vision. Where do you intend to be in 10, 20, 30 or even more year’s time?

You must have a vision as to where you are going and you must be working towards it. For example, though building a house in Lagos or Abuja is expensive, if you agree with your wife that you want to build a house in Lagos before you are 45 and you work in line with your vision you will achieve it. It may seem impossible but our God does impossible things.

So, do you have a working plan or a financial plan? Or did I hear you say, I don’t know? Then, talk to people who know so that they can help you to come up with one.

I encourage you to seek good financial information by reading books written by proven authors. You may wish to subscribe for my book “4 things intending Couple Must Agree on Before Marriage’ for more information. This book is our major reference materials for this series. God Bless your home and marriage. See you next time.

For counseling on marriage and other pressing issues, you can reach Dr James Iruobe through Elshaddai Covenant Ministries, 7, Social Club Road, New Oko-Oba, Lagos .Tel 07034183333, 08083001752 or e-mail .iruobe@gmail.com.You can follow him on www.drjamesiruobe.blogspot.com, twitter.com/jamesiruobe ,www.facebook.com/ drjamesiruobe

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The prophetic ministry of Biblical Prophet Isaiah (1) Apostle Israel Akinadewo

SANCTUARY MESSAGE

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HE scriptures recorded the activities of many prophets, classifying them into major and minor ones.

Some of the Major Prophets include Isaiah; Jeremiah and Ezekiel, but I will commence this writing on the book of prophet Isaiah.

Family background The bible reported that Isaiah was the son of Amoz, and had his ministry during the time of kings Uzziah; Jotham; Ahaz; Hezekiah and probably still alive during the time of Manasseh, all of Judah (the Southern Kingdom of the divided Israel). Aside, the mentioning of his father’s name, his ancestral background was not really detailed by the bible. But the Wycliffe Bible has this to say ‘A Palestinian seal bearing the inscription “Amoz the Scribe” may have belonged to Isaiah’s father since Amoz is a rare name.

This may indicate Isaiah was from a family prominent in government’.

Isaiah whose name means ‘God is our salvation’, had two sons named Shear-jashub (meaning “a remnant shall return”, and followed Isaiah, as per God’s directive, to meet king Ahaz to deliver a message) and Mahershalal-hashbaz, whose name means “Swift is the booty, speedy is the prey” and has the longest name in the bible, was so named to indicate the speed at which the powers of Rezin of Damascus and Pekah of Samaria would be destroyed by the king of Assyria – Isaiah 8:3-4 says ‘ And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the Lord to me, call his name Mahershalalhashbaz. For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria’. His wife’s name is not

stated by the bible, but she was said to have been a prophetess.

He being one of the greatest writers among the prophets, was said to have ministered the word and as a prolific writer for over 60 years. This came about, if one considers the years of the successive kings of Judah that ruled during his time. Uzziah (probably during his last days, as recorded in Isaiah 6); Jotham (750735 B.C.); Ahaz (735-715 B.C.); Hezekiah (715-686 B.C.); with little time of the years of Manasseh.

Isaiah was a great author, writer, prophet, and preacher; was a thorn in the flesh of disobedient kings of Judah, and was a contemporary of prophets Hosea and Micah. Micah’s own was even more cemented with the similarity of Isaiah 2:2-4, and Micah 4:1-3, both making almost the same statement as to the restoration of the fortune of the people of Judah, and that better days were ahead of them. It is also imperative to know that there are sixty-six (66) chapters in the book of Isaiah; and we shall treat each of these chapters weekly, denoting the relevance of the prophetic messages to the contemporary world, and most especially the happenings in Nigeria as a nation.

Chapter One Aside the introduction of the parental background of prophet Isaiah, this chapter commenced with the stern warning to the people of Judah, reminding them of how He (God) has nurtured and nourished them, and how their disobedience and rebellion had brought sorrow and disaster to the generation. This vision from Isaiah, the great prophet, analysed this explicitly in verse 4 that ‘Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy one of Israel unto anger, they are gone backward’. It further says in verse 9 that ‘except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah’.

It is an exposed attitude of the people of God, the reason why God had allowed miserable things to happen to them, why they have called and sacrificed unto Him, yet He refused to answer them. This is where

sacrifice and burnt offering had no meaning to the Creator for ‘to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?

Saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats’ – verse 11.

Relationship of this chapter with contemporary nations of the world Although, people have become more religious, most especially in Nigeria, but it has been religion of ‘you can see me, I am on my way to the church, and I attend the best church in town’, and not religion of the heart. It is a question of people trooping to the church in thousands, but the mind is full of evil.

It is a situation of people stealing from the public treasury and brings it to the church; it is that of ‘Christianity has not said, I should not perform my family inherited idolatry’; it is a situation of many ‘believers’ killing fellow human beings in order to take their positions. The sins of the people of Judah, that made God to speak angrily, and justifiably through prophet Isaiah, is incomparable with what has been happening in this generation. He told the people of Judah that the nation would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah, if not for His mercy in leaving small remnants of the people. It is of note that this chapter was also prophesying concerning the events that would happen years after prophet Isaiah would have gone, for like I said at the very beginning that he ministered during kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah etc, and at that time, Judah had not been taken into captivity to Babylon, but this forced exodus to Babylon was revealed during the time of king Hezekiah.

It was like in early days of king Saul, when he disobeyed God and was warned by Samuel of the consequences and that God had no interest in sacrifices, but only to obey Him. To be continued.

Prayer Point Pray that God should purify your heart to be able stand righteously in His presence.

For comments and enquiries: Tel: +2348060572904 E:mail: motailatusanctuarychurch@yahoo.com

NEWS ‘Why Christians should pray for leaders’

A

former Commissioner of Women Affairs in Lagos State, Mrs. Teju Philips, has enjoined Christians to cooperate with government and continue to pray for them for the nation to witness the much-needed transformation.

She spoke last week at the Women’s Guild annual conference of the Diocese of Lagos West, Anglican Communion, in Ayobo-Ipaja, Lagos.

Acknowledging the multifaceted challenges facing the nation, Philips, however, said they are not insurmountable.

“Thank God for the inde-

fatigable leaders which Lagos has been endowed with who are making fundamental changes in the lives of people. Our challenges will soon be over,” She stressed that Nigeria will attain greatness through sincerity of purpose, service to humanity and faith in God. She, however, charged the woman folk to take a pride of place in leadership positions to foster development in the country.

“The theme of this event is marching forward. We should be forward- looking persons. As women we can do what any man

can do, even better,” she added.

Wife of the Bishop of the Diocese of Lagos West and Diocesan President of Women’s Guild, Mrs. Caroline Adebiyi, said the objective of the conference, which marked its thirteenth anniversary, is to honour God. According to her, the God that led Israelites out of Egypt can do the same for Nigerians if we exercise strong faith.

“God has a purpose for us today. We are not to go back to the former bondage. We are to go forward, we are to grow and not stand still,” she declared.

Shonekan makes case for accountability

F

ORMER Head of Interim Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan, has identified accountability ‘’as the hallmark of good governance and leadership’’.

Shonekan spoke at the annual award and lunch-

By Stella Edmund

eon service of the Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN) in Lagos.

A good leader, he said, must be humane, sincere and accountable.

Another former Head of State, Gen. Yabuku Gowon (Rtd.), praised BSN for suc-

cessfully translating the Bible into 60 various languages in the nation.

The Chief Executive Officer of the BSN, Rev Dr Fred Odutola, said the organisation is working on a Bible for the visually impaired and blind.

•Chariman, Men’s Missionary Union (MMU), Gospel Baptist Conference of Nigeria and Overseas, Elder Sanmi Opabiyi sharing a thought with the Church’s President, Archbishop Magnus Atilade during the 80th birthday ceremony of retired President of the National Industrial Court(NIC), Justice Paul Atilade, (seated) in Lagos recently

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THE NATION SPORT SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012

SPORT EXTRA

PHOTO SPLASH

Mawussi Agbetoglo of Togo

Ryan Lochte

Serena

Team GB against Cameroon

Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall

GB Women's Soccer team beat Cameroon 3-0

H

OSTS Great Britain will continue their Olympic challenge into the quarterfinals after Hope Powell's team booked their place in the last eight with a handsome 3-0 victory over Cameroon in Cardiff yesterday.

Quickfire goals in the first half from Casey Stoney and Jill Scott set Great Britain on their way to an important win, and the points were sealed with ten minutes to play by Stephanie Houghton.

Knowing that victory would guarantee a place in the next round alongside Brazil, Team GB began brightly, creating several chances to break the deadlock, and eventually claimed an early lead through Stoney after 17 minutes.

The team captain, a veteran of two FIFA Women's World Cups™ with England, had a simple finish from two yards out after a deep delivery from the left hand side to put the hosts in front.

Fans at the Millennium Stadium did not have to wait long for a

second goal either, with Everton midfielder Scott doubling Great Britain's advantage with a sumptuous team goal.

Kelly Smith found Scottish star Kim Little free in the Cameroon penalty area and the latter produced a sensational flick with the outside of her foot to perfectly set up Scott, who made no mistake with a side-footed finish.

As the half wore on, Team GB could have added to their lead.

Smith went close with a free-kick, while Cameroon goalkeeper Annette Ngo Ndom was tested twice, first by Little then by the match-winner on Day 1, Houghton.

The two combined to present Little with a chance that Ngo Ndom was equal to before Houghton sent a far-post header towards goal which the 'keeper pushed onto the post and away.

With their two-goal cushion in place, Great Britain dictated the play in a second half of few

opportunities. Anita Asante saw an effort cleared off the line by Bibi Medoua and Little again worked Ngo Ndom before Houghton iced the cake in the 81st minute.

Little was involved again and, after failing to work space for a shot of her own, set up Houghton to drill a precise finish into the corner and ensure that the hosts will be among the eight teams taking part in the quarterfinals.The final round of fixtures in Group E will be played on Tuesday 31 July, when Great Britain and Brazil will battle for top spot, while Cameroon take on New Zealand.

Great Britain celebrate after 3-0 win against Cameroon

Vinokourov beats Brit Cavendish to road race gold

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ARK Cavendish's bid to claim Great Britain's first Olympic gold of the London 2012 Games on The Mall was ended as Kazakhstan's Alexandr Vinokourov triumphed in a dramatic men's road race.

China's Yi Siling claims first gold of London 2012 Cavendish, the world champion and winner of 23 Tour de France stages, was HINA'S Yi Siling became the to say thanks to China, to my among the favourites for the 250-kilometre first gold medal winner of the mother and father. event, which included nine ascents of Surrey's 'I'm very excited and happy. I London 2012 Olympics after Box Hill. have been shooting since I was 13claiming the women's 10 metre air But despite phenomenal support from his years-old. 'I've been up since 5 rifle title. four British team-mates late breakaway The 23-year-old was second until o’clock this morning. There was a stayed clear and Vinokourov won the sprint lot of pressure on me.’ two rounds to go at the Royal for the line.

Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, Colombia's Rigoberto Uran, a Team Sky before launching a late bid. Poland's colleague of Cavendish's, claimed silver, with Sylwian Bogacka, who led for most Norway's Alexander Kristoff third. of the competition, took silver while Cavendish described Britain's five-man China's Yu Dan won bronze. squad as the 'dream team', with Tour de Yi exploded with emotion after France winner Bradley Wiggins, Chris the 10th and final round, hugging Froome, David Millar and Ian Stannard riding her coaching team as the noisy in support of the Manxman.

Chinese contingent inside the All four had ridden alongside Cavendish stadium roared with approval. when he won the World Championships road Yi, speaking after receiving her race in Copenhagen last September, but this medal from International Olympic task was tougher, according to Millar and Committee chairman, Jacques Wiggins.

C

Rogge, said: 'I'm very happy. I want

RANK 1 2 3 4 4 6 7 7 7 10 10 10 10 14 14 14 14 14 14

MEDAL COUNT COUNTRY GOLD SILVER BRONZE TOTAL China 4 0 2 6 Italy 2 2 1 5 USA 1 2 2 5 Brazil 1 1 1 3 South Korea 1 1 1 3 Japan 0 2 1 3 Australia 1 0 0 1 Kazakhstan 1 0 0 1 Russia 1 0 0 1 Colombia 0 1 0 1 Netherlands 0 1 0 1 Poland 0 1 0 1 Romania 0 1 0 1 Belgium 0 0 1 1 North Korea 0 0 1 1 Hungary 0 0 1 1 Norway 0 0 1 1 Serbia 0 0 1 1 Uzbekistan 0 0 1 1

http://www.thenationonlineng.net

QUOTABLE “... It is practically impossible to achieve 100 percent implementation.

In any developing nation, it is impossible. Here, the situation is even worsened by the lack of understanding of what budget is all about by most people and all parties.”

UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL. 6, NO. 2198 SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012 TR TRUTH

—Governor of Benue State, Dr. Gabriel Suswam on the Executive/Legislature face-off on the 2012 budget.

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R Ebenezer Babatope, whose recanted progressivism is mesmerising the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja, angered party faithful in Ondo State during a recent visit when he suggested he would have loved his party not to present a candidate for the October governorship election on account of Governor Olusegun Mimiko’s giant achievements. In his days as Director of Organisation of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Babatope was a dominant voice for progressivism. Today, he has become a dominant voice for conservatism. It is a compliment to his energy and commitment that he brings passion to any assignment given him.

His angry party men in Akure are only now discovering what many of us knew way back in the 1980s, that the former Transport minister’s talents do not include the ability to rationally discriminate between two contradistinctive causes or to take a principled stand for either.

It was, therefore, not surprising that during the said trip he had this to say of Mimiko’s government: “I passed through this state on my way to Benin to campaign for the candidate of our party and I was amazed by the level of development I saw. What we are seeing in Ondo State should be replicated in other Southwest states where nothing is moving in terms of development.” It is comforting indeed that at least Babatope’s gift for hyperbole, which he honed in the Second Republic, has not left him. In the coming months, we expect to hear more of such sweeping and unsubstantiated conclusions.

But Babatope is not the only impressionable Nigerian to be bewitched by Mimiko’s sorcery. When the governor assembled top politicians, leading Yoruba personalities and media professionals to mark his third year in office in Akure last year, many of his guests became strangely voluble. Retired Major General Olufemi Olutoye, a former federal commissioner in his days, enthused about Mimiko’s achievements in this manner: “Since 1978 when I retired from the Army, I have been fully resident in Akure. I have witnessed all the administrations. In terms of performance, I can say that this is the second Awolowo. He has performed.

He has tried his best. Somebody said that he is a candidate that should go to the centre later. I fully agree and pray that it will be so.” It is hard to know what chimera these men saw, or what also inflamed invited media professionals, who should know better, to concur with the illusions in Akure, but the fantasy has been sustained by the most carefully wrought propaganda effusions any state government has ever designed.

The governor himself believes his own propaganda. While receiving defectors from other political parties in the state recently, including from the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Mimiko warned that Ondo State would not give in to politicians he described as emperors. He added that the order of politics in the state did not give room to politicians he also described as District Officers (DO) or colonial masters. It is clear what he meant. To him, all his fellow governors in the Southwest are DOs, and he is the only brave Prophet Elijah who has not bowed his knees to Baal. There are many reasons to explain why Mimiko will ardently embrace the politics of personality and abuse and strenuously avoid the politics of issues.

Lagos State’s inoperable Traffic Bill

A Mimiko and the Southwest

•Mimiko

•Babatope

During his declaration of intent to seek reelection, the governor mentioned what he termed his achievements as proof he had the interest of the electorate in mind. As part of his Caring Heart programme, he said, his agricultural settlements were modern, and were already up and running. But when the graduate settlers manning the farms protested poor facilities and neglect in the Ore settlement, the governor simply abandoned the scheme while he continues to tout it as an achievement. He also mentioned his model schools, two of which took him nearly four years to complete. Work out the equation yourself concerning his schools – not education – programme if he gets another four years. There is also the Mother and Child hospital scheme, only one of which has been completed. He apparently expects pregnant women from all over the state to flock to Akure. Here again is a hospital scheme without a health programme.

But who can deny the nice-looking bus stops that adorn Akure roads, even though the governor has no roads programme and has not constructed any new one; or deny the water fountain at Alagbaka and the expansion of Oyemekun Road; or deny his mega markets without tenants (except in Akure) which have no co-ordinated and consistent economic framework to sustain them; or the white elephant event centre called Dome, as if that is what the people need? Who indeed can forget the static Kaadi Igbe-ayo, a disingenuous social security programme inaugurated in Igbara Oke with the flip-flopping Dr Olu Agunloye’s ‘sterling’ technical ideas? There is no coherence to governance in Ondo, there is no sense for economic direction and modelling, there is no real social contract worth the concept but some 12-point trifles on paper, there is no breath-taking vision, and, worse, there is no future. And it is for this yawning emptiness, this journey of longings and despair, this cel-

ebration of unbefitting regional crassness, that the leading lights of Afenifere and other top Yoruba leaders gathered in Akure both to honour and to give Mimiko’s re-election ambition a boost. Is this what the Southwest has become? Do character, principles and ideology no longer matter? Are noble virtues now to be sacrificed for a few bus shelters and grandiose markets?

The rest of the Southwest may not know that the only things taking place in Ondo are tokenism and propaganda. Mercifully, Ondo people know. They are too smart to be hoodwinked by propaganda, by striking abuse, by feeble gestures. They know that in spite of Mimiko’s resort to abuse and name-calling, and in spite of the enormity of the work needed to reverse the damage done by previous governments, the Southwest governors are laying a more enduring and modern foundation for the future. They know that contrary to what some Afenifere leaders say and what Babatope parrots, regional integration will unleash unquantifiable developmental energies in the Southwest, trigger limitless economic possibilities and rewrite the region’s social, political and cultural paradigms. They know it is a ruse to say the foundation of integration can be laid irrespective of the parties ruling the region. Both Obafemi Awolowo and Mimiko refute that conclusion violently: the first by his unexampled talent in harnessing the region’s productive abilities, and the other by his unproductive and unimaginative individualism.

More importantly, Ondo people know that they need integration as much as integration needs them, and that it would be tragic if they were left out of the new deal; or that like Afonja in the days of Oyo Empire, they were to allow one man lead them into a revolt against the dominant and progressive ideals that have shaped their region’s history and destiny.

African First Ladies and their charming presumptions

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IVEN our unmatched sense of vanity, if the United States-type constitution we are operating had not permitted the notion of First Lady, we would have had to create one, even in a parliamentary system. And so, after many years of military tyranny and half-baked democracy, Nigerian leaders have expanded on the concept of First Lady, laced it with many social and anti-democratic frills, and reinforced it with presumptions even their husbands never pretended possible. Now, more frighteningly, the notion has assumed new significance in Africa, all in a continent bristling with poor governance, creative tyrannies, whether of the pretentiously democratic type or of the overtly and arrogantly military hue.

It was in this depressing context that African First Ladies met in Abuja last week for their seventh summit. They were hosted by the Nigerian First Lady, Dame Patience

Jonathan, with the objective of fostering peace and resolving conflicts. The first summit, which I think took place in 1997 under the aegis of Mrs Maryam Abacha as the convener and chairperson, dedicated its aim to the pursuit of peace and humanitarian issues. The summit has transformed into an organisation for peace mission. Perhaps humanitarian issues are too omnibus, too unwieldy, less glamorous and expensive.

It is, however, striking that an organisation whose credo is peace should both dedicate itself to conflictual ends and be indifferent to the antagonisms it has inspired in the immediate past First Lady, Turai Yar’Adua. Dame Patience’s African First Ladies Peace Mission (AFLPM), it will be recalled, has a case in court with Turai’s Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation whose land in Abuja the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) authorities peremptorily revoked in

favour of AFPLM. An adjournment was procured to enable the two parties explore an out-of-court settlement. Instead of peace, however, the AFLPM has gone ahead to lay the foundation stone for the building of a costly secretariat on the disputed land.

Apparently, Dame Patience has taken to heart a corrupted form of the adage, Si vis pacem para bellum. This Latin adage attributed to both Plubius Flavius Renatus and Plato means “If you wish for peace, prepare for war.” How remarkably quaint! Or better still, as it was insinuated of Napoleon Bonaparte’s imperial tactics, perhaps Dame Patience took to heart this reworked adage, Si vis bellum para pacem, meaning, if you are preparing for war, put your enemies off guard by cultivating peace. Who could tell at independence that Nigeria would find itself in this bind? How indeed can any Nigerian hold his head high in the midst of such brazenness and affront?

MONG other things, the amended traffic bill awaiting Governor Babatunde Fashola’s assent provides for the jailing, without options, of a category of offenders and the forfeiture of their vehicles. These are very drastic provisions, admittedly for traffic problems that are themselves drastic and seemingly intractable.

However, some of the provisions in the bill are based on the wrong philosophies and assumptions of the correlation between crime and punishment. The governor should reexamine the provisions, after seeking expert advice, before sending the bill back to the legislature to be reworked.

Not only are some of the punishments disproportionate to the crimes, they will only worsen the extortion and violence that have accompanied and undermined civilised efforts to restore sanity on the roads. Instead of the strident punishments contained in the bill, it should provide for the suspension or, in extreme cases, revocation of driving licences of incorrigible offenders. Jailing should be a last resort. The government does not even have the courts to try offenders, and hospitals to examine those suspected of insanity, let alone room in the prisons.

BRT and the colonel

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N July 17, Governor Babtunde Raji Fashola of Lagos State intercepted a serving colonel in the Nigerian Army driving unlawfully on the dedicated Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lane in Lagos. The chastened colonel was rightly full of apologies, for as the governor himself said, not even the governor had the right to break the law to make use of the lane. The Army authorities promised investigation, though the facts spoke for themselves, with photographs to show. Some days after, exasperated by media persistence and perhaps, too, by the publicity that attended the interception, the Army told the press that the colonel would pay nothing more than the normal fine levied against offenders. It is, however, shocking that an army that should pride itself as the most disciplined and powerful on the continent, and perhaps the most intellectual and ambitious, should miss the signal lessons and import of the incident, and that their embarrassment had rather led them to a resentment of the law and constituted authorities than the chastening and restitution which mortification brings.

Since then, on at least two occasions known to this writer, there have been two incidents in which soldiers vented their spleens on state traffic managers and BRT drivers. The notable point is that while venting their spleens, the soldiers audibly referred to the July 17 interception as humiliating to the officer and the army. The society will of course let the aberrant incidents pass, but it must worry the country to keep guessing just how deep the culture of impunity has permeated the military, and why officers who should know better, and be more disciplined, sometimes think they are above the law.

I do not know how deep the resentment against civil authority runs in the military, but they must by now appreciate through the disorder unfolding in many parts of the North and other broken societies in Africa what dangers impunity and lawlessness constitute to the unity and progress of Nigeria. The military is not just about defending the country against external aggression; it is also about defending the country in peace in a manner that should earn them respect and love. As many officers must have seen in their training programmes overseas, the law is the law, and must be obeyed by both plebeians and royalty. Whenever exceptions are allowed to the law, the society often unravels quickly, as indeed many fear Nigeria is already doing because of the many disgusting gestures to privilege.

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