The Nation-June-26-2011

Nigeria’s truly national newspaper

Bello, Idris, Opeifa, Akabueze, 33 others on Fashola’s cabinet list Eleven ex-commissioners return

VOL. 05, N0. 1802

SUNDAY, JUNE 26, 2011

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

– Page 7

N200.00

Abuja explosion : FBI probe runs into hitch – Page 6

Entertainment

I’m not stepping into Fela’s shoes —Seun Kuti Page 41

•L-R: Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) gubernatiorial candidate in Kwara State Mr. Mohammed Dele Belgore (SAN), his wife, Mrs. Bola Belgore and the National Leader ACN, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu during Belgore's 50th birthday celebration at Ilorin, Kwara State , yesterday

Cabinet: Presidency may release security report to Senate – Page 6

Present constitution can’t guarantee national unity, says Kukah – Page 64

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

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Yoruba Unity Forum’s threat on Omatseye I

HAVE been following with interest the furore which Sam Omatseye’s opinion, ‘Awo family without an Awo,’ in The Nation (Monday, June 6, 2011) newspaper has generated. Both on paper and over the internet, different dimensions of the episode have reinforced my perception of people as beings that most times allow their emotions rule over reason.

Omatseye’s article attracted a lot of protests, especially from a section of the Yoruba who felt Omatseye had desecrated on the shrine of Chief Mrs. HID Awolowo’s age. Chief among what caused the outbursts was a paragraph in Omatseye’s article: ‘I wrote once that this woman whom Awo once described as the jewel of inestimable value has lost value to his cause. If he came back to life, he would have committed the extraordinary act of divorce after death. Even his newspaper, The Tribune, has so stumbled and fallen that it swims in Awo’s vomit.’

That was his opinion.

In the aftermath, a lot of vitriol were poured on Omatseye, especially through the pages of Nigerian Tribune, the Ibadan based newspaper founded by the late Pa Obafemi Awolowo. A week later, Omatseye had corrected the perceived slight of the Awolowo matriarch; ‘My writing last week generated much hoopla, and my intent was misunderstood by some who looked at it from the viewpoint of insulting the matriarch, Chief H.I.D. Awolowo. I was misunderstood for insulting mama as a woman, grandmother and family leader.

‘The words I used as metaphor were taken literally. There is no way Papa Awo can come up from the dead today. I was not referring to the Awolowo family as a biological entity but as ideological.’

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former governor of Lagos, also shared persecution for purportedly egging Omatseye to write the article. Tinubu, via a letter to the Awolowos dissociated himself from being in the know of the article and proclaimed his continued reverence to Awolowo’s legacy.

But, it seems a section of the Yoruba is not content till Omatseye’s head is brought to them on a platter. This latest dimension is the fall-out of a meeting of Yoruba Elders which convened last Thursday at Awolowo’s house in Ikenne to seemingly crucify Omatseye. According to a front page story with a misleading title ‘Insult on Awo’ in the Nigerian Tribune of Friday, June 24, 2011; ‘The Yoruba, on the platform of the Yoruba Unity Forum (YUF), have warned the chairman of the

•Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo

By Akinrolabu Thomas y

Editorial Board of The Nation newspapers, Mr. Sam Omatseye, to apologise to the Yeye Odua, Chief (Mrs.) HID Awolowo, the Awolowo family, and the entire Yoruba nation, or face whatever consequences his refusal will bring.’

What do the elders mean by consequences? Has present day Yoruba elders resorted to issuing threats? Is it his life that is being threatened? Or that of his family? Is it continuous calumny in public space? Just what is it?

I am sure Mama has people surrounding her that know the content of section 39 of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria and its implications.

Sub-section 1 reads thus: ‘Every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.’ Section 46 of the same constitution provides redress.

I would have expected Mama visited

the courts to sue not only Omatseye but also The Nation newspaper if she felt strongly aggrieved. It is definitely more dignifying than trading words on newspaper pages, of which the Nigerian Tribune is a major culprit on this score. I know she may not even have to pay for the best of lawyers which the Yoruba race can offer? I even wonder why some Yoruba lawyers have not publicly offered to go to the courts on the family’s behalf? But, please, let us stop the needless show of shame. Yoruba ronu.

The outing on Thursday of the Yoruba leaders will be sad if the main subject was Omatseye’s matter. According to the Nigerian Tribune report, ‘while the Yoruba Unity Forum is prepared to forgive, consequent upon appropriate apology, they should be prepared for any consequences, if they fail to apologise.’

Has a person (Omatseye) become they?

Or was that ‘they’ an error? Or if it (they) is what was intended, who is being merged with Omatseye? It seems some persons are riding on Awolowo’s clout to fight their desperate battles.

It is quite unfair that people of so-called high intellect have allowed their senses to be denigrated on the parochial altar of cultural (in)sensibilities. In all, I’m wondering whether the Late Pa Obafemi Awolowo as a democrat would ever conceive or even be a party to conniving to

rid someone as the ‘consequences’ the Yoruba Unity Forum suggests. As an astute lawyer, journalist, and leader, I doubt if late Pa Awo, unlike some renegade Yoruba elders would condescend to ‘fry’ the Itsekiri journalist over a journalistic piece.

Anyway, let us assume Mama HID deserves an apology, does the Yoruba elders not deem it fit for the Nigerian Tribune reporters to offer loads of apologies to Omatseye? Or did Omatseye deserve what he got?

And to think the communiqué indicting Omatseye was stamped by Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu who acted as chairman speaks high volume of religion.

Are all humans not supposed to be equal before God again? Retired Justice Bola Ajibola, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, Dr. Fredrick Fasehun, and other prominent Yoruba elders were also present at that meeting.

But, knowing the law, it is doubtful, such personalities would want to be party to the Forum’s announced ‘consequences’ should Omatseye fail to apologise.

I wonder how we can ever grow as a people if we refuse to accept criticisms no matter how they rub on us. Good, the Yoruba venerate age so much, but is it after or before the freedom of speech. Since Omatsey’s report was published, a number of calumnious articles against him have been published in the Nigerian Tribune newspaper. A number of judges might not hesitate to award Omatseye millions of naira for defamation by Nigerian Tribune reporters. It is surprising that Omatseye has not taken legal action.

As for Mama HID, there comes a time to listen to truth, no matter how bitter it is.

And besides, the perceived sponsor of the article, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, had come out in a letter to clarify his stance on the matter. Yet, it seems Awolowo family, egged on by its apologists wants to gloat cheaply on a matter it ought to be reflecting on.

At this juncture, the salvos which have been thrown by the Nigerian Tribune hounds have already spoilt any reason for any apology by Omatseye. After all, he has been called several names which includes dog. Or does the Awolowo family want to tarnish its cherished name by having a ‘dog’ come to apologise to it? Haba.

But, the Friday report in the Nigerian Tribune clearly smacks of a threat. Before dragging the Yoruba race into a family’s feud, we should ask ourselves some pertinent questions. What is Omatseye apologising for? What does the Forum mean by ‘appropriate apology’? And what exactly is the agenda behind having Omatseye come to prostrate at Ikenne?

There has to be a motive other than the worn ‘age’ sacrilege which has already been evened out on newspaper pages.

What is it?

•Thomas writes from Ibadan, Oyo State.

Have your say What is your view of the demand by the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) that the Federal Government should remove the subsidy on petroleum products in order to enable them pay the approved N18,000 minimum wage for workers?

— Send SMS with full name and location before Wednesday to 08074473182 Responses to previous week’s question are on pages 48 & 52

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Column

Post-Empire Nigeria and its discontents A

S Nigerians grapple with the complexities of nationbuilding, it is useful to remind them of the difficulty of building a truly federal modern nationstate with an empire mentality. An empire mentality leads to an absolutism of values which sits oddly with a genuine federation. Yet it is in the nature of historical contradictions that the nation-state, being a by-product of the dissolution of the empire-state, should come with all the feudal accretions of old empire itself. The imperial order is dead, long live the imperial order.

Despite being much smaller in mass than an empire, the initial strength of the nation-state lies in its rigid, centralising order; a stiff, unitary hierarchy which brooks no contrary nonsense. It is the way of empires. But with the new human enterprise of territorial mapping also come new pathologies and unintended consequences.

Going by the paradigm of nation building handed down by Britain and other European empires to their colonial dominion, the new nation is expected to congeal and cohere around a masternationality which fashions out a new order in its own image. You cannot give what you don’t have.

In the course of a history steeped in mayhem and savagery, the English gave the Scots, the Welsh and the Irish some bloody and broken nose until things settled down.

Now, they are reaping the whirlwind in tribal commotions.

America, a new type of nation founded on the ashes of feudal Europe, quietly set about becoming an empire in its own right based on the missionary and messianic notion of American exceptionalism. It is called the doctrine of manifest destiny. A universe considered out of joints is brought to heel under a pax Americana. The result has been a long and bloody confrontation with ri-

•Lord Lugard

val ideologies and contrary notions of empire which has turned a nation founded by robust intellectuals into a bellicose and belligerent imperium that is hardly at peace with itself not to talk of the rest of the world.

The problem with Nigeria is not because it is a conglomeration of feuding nationalities but because within the same nationspace, expired and extant empires jostle to impose their cultural and political values on the rubric and template of the new nation. The result has been a bloody collision of altars which has defined the tumultuous and turbulent realities of the new nation as the major hegemonic blocs try to outwit each other in a duel unto death which has turned the Nigerian post-colonial state into a theatre of war and at-

trition.

The first major challenge to the structural disequilibrium of Nigeria was posed by Obafemi Awolowo in a pitiless and penetrating critique that formed the intellectual nucleus of his first book, Path to Nigerian Freedom. Later as his political thoughts developed, Awolowo was to add a sharp ideological critique of feudalism in the north as the major obstacle to rapid political and economic development.

In a subtle way, and probably without being aware of it, Awolowo was bringing the cultural and political values of his people as a libertarian, west-friendly and rapidly modernising race to bear on the resolution of the national question.

But the heirs to the other internal empire, the northern feudal power masters, viewed this as a cultural and political affront to be met with stern resolve. In the end, Awolowo, his party, his ideology and eventually his people were summarily impounded leading to a bloody resistance which spelt doom for the First Republic.

The radical military wing of the third leg of the hegemonic tripod tried to resolve the national deadlock in a bloody and momentous military uprising. With their fiercely republican and radicalising ethos, and if extant documents are to be believed, the Ibo majors tried to resolve the stalemate in favour of Awolowo and his modernising spirit. But it was a harebrained military adventure which did not take into consideration the balance of power.

Okon submits arms for cash A

S we were heading for bed, news came that Okon has been discharged and acquitted on charges of bigamy. Watch out for a full report of the court room drama next week. Meanwhile, enjoy an old classic from the soon to be published Chapbook of Okon. Book your copies well in advance. Tata, please be reminded that to remand also means to detain.

As amnesty day approached, the house has become a beehive of strange activities with Okon going in and out with some equally demented weirdoes mumbling some unprintable nonsense and munching palm kernels and dried coconuts.

They had converted the disused garage into a small-scale factory from which they were hauling out sacks of god knows what.

On the morning of D-Day when all armed insurrections against the Nigerian state was supposed to terminate, Okon suddenly appeared in the living room donning an ill-fitting Biafran fatigues .which was straight out of a war museum.

His two accomplices were equally decked in weird military outfits which reminded one of the boy-soldiers of Liberia.

Leglessly drunk, they conducted a mock parade, singing martial tunes from the Burma campaigns.

“Okon, what’s up this time?” snooper asked the mad boy with suppressed mirth.

“Oga, I no be Okon again. I be General Gbigigbigi alias Madu Gburugburu of Oloibiri”, he cautioned snooper with a drunken swagger.

“Okay general, what’s up?” snooper asked the mad boy with a straight face.

“I wan reach Amnesty camp make man submit dem useless arms make man collect dem cash and make man retire from yeye work. Abi if houseboy no dey, houseman go vamoose. As dem born houseboy na so dem born houseman.”, the mad boy ranted.

“Okon!” snooper exclaimed.

“Oga leave me alone oo. Abi you think say dem oil money be for dem thieves alone? This one na Okon dem break through, make I carry my own comout before dem MEND come scatter dem place.”, the mad boy snorted.

“So how much arms have

you got?” snooper demanded.

“Oga, I get am for three hundred arms”.

“Meaning what?” snooper asked in alarm.

“Oga you no say Ejimofor na human spare parts dealer”, Okon began with a satanic wink. “he come bring one sack and him say na dem armed robbers dem hands. Him say dem soldiers dey rent dead armed robbers for inspection and dem dey call dem thieves militants dem shoot for battle. After dat dem go return Ejimofor im container of dead armed robbers and dem done become spare parts be dat.But dem yeye crook come confess say him dey whack off dem hands for dem trailer drivers for Ibafo and dem OPC for Okota. Naim I go get some for Alapere. He get one man like that as he come dey piss for express I come chop him godogodo hand for am, so I come get dem sack full of arms. Dem fit pay us ten thousand for one arm, dat means say business good”.

“Okon, you will leave this vicinity at once and never to return!!!” snooper screamed at the mad boy.

S

3

nooping around With

Tatalo Alamu It was as if the north had been waiting for this military challenge all along and it met it with a bloody and chilling reprisal. Thereafter, the nation came under a draconian military inquisition. At one extreme of this authoritarian temperament is the right wing radicalism of Mohammadu Buhari. At the other was the same authoritarian anti-democratic mind-set which led Ibrahim Babangida and his cohorts to the annulment of the freest and fairest elections ever held by the nation.

In a way, then, a visionary military rule would have solved the Nigerian conundrum by forcibly homogenising the ruling class and by grinding its political elite into nationalist conformity. In the process, they would have created Nigerians out of Nigeria. But the dominant ethos of the old Nigerian military came with the imprimatur of the old feudal empire. Slaves can never become citizens, except by self-exertion.

In the process, the military rapidly became an army of occupation: futilely and fruitlessly centralising without modernising; brutally insisting on order and hierarchy without liberating the creative energies and productive genius of the captive people; stifling creative dissent and the commodious capacities of the nation for self-transformation without harnessing or galvanising the riotous possibilities of a multi-ethnic multitude.

In the event, almost one and a half decades after military rule, not much has changed. Nigeria still resembles a recently occupied land recuperating from devastation. If the military had created a pan-Nigerian elite by default or reverse mechanism, it is an elite hooked on extractive predation in which the state itself has become a vast criminal enterprise crawling with buccaneers and post-colonial pirates. As we are discovering, elections at the centre will not solve anything. In a profoundly paradoxical sense, they will compound everything.

Poor Goodluck Jonathan. He did not put himself there. He is a mere hostage to political fortunes.

People should stop moaning and just get on with it. Jonathan has been unable to come up with a decent cabinet simply because the real shareholders of the unlimited liability company have taken over and are bent on cashing their IOUs. What seems to be his joyous incompetence, his infectious airs of naïve optimism, are the very virtues that recommend him. They allow the real business of looting to proceed apace even as the phosphorent smiles put a humane gloss on the terrifying rot behind the veil.

Nigerians must stop whingeing and brace up to the consequences of their electoral choice. Jonathan is not there for any transformational agenda but as a holding device to stop the real empire builders from coming to blows at the centre. If it works, it is a brilliant strategy of containment.

The transitional importance of the Jonathan interregnum lies in the fact that it allows us a breathing space to determine what to do with an obviously failing nation after the current siege of state robbers

might have lifted.

Living in perpetual sin and in permanent denial even as it hopes for a dramatic reprieve, the Nigerian ruling class reminds one of a fable from the orient. After a day of hard battle which left the Khyber Pass crimson with blood, an ancient Persian king finally came face to face with his Afghan tormentor. “Why do you fight so hard?”, the oriental royalty demanded from the battle-hardened insurgent. “For loot of course.

What else is there to fight for?” the Afghan snapped. “I see”, the old King grunted. “And why do you fight so hard?” the Afghan demanded from the king. “For honour”, the king glumly replied.

“I see, so we are both fighting for what we don’t have”, the Afghan crowed.

While the illusionist fantasia of order and stability is going on, the old battle formation is being subtly reordered even as deadly viruses lay siege to the nation. It is boko and other harams, or as a cynical wag put it “haram boku ooo”. In the north, the fear of Boko Haram is the beginning of wisdom as education and western modernity are anathematised in a deadly duel with the Nigerian state as well as the decadent and debauched local ruling class. MEND is about to respond while MASSOB and the old OPC have been given a new lease of life. In the old west, the dominant political elite have resumed their traditional war of nerves with a suffocating unitarist “federal” structure.

It is a deadly cocktail of nationdisabling contradictions and Nigeria is totally at the mercy of centrifugal forces. Unfortunately overlaying all this like a thicket of diseased vegetation is a pan-Nigerian ruling class that hates a truly knowledge-driven society, that is in hock with godless primitive acquisition and for whom genuine enlightenment is haram. Whether they are recruited from the World Bank or the bank of River Benue, such a ruling class is incapable of the original thinking that can provide an answer to the various national and developmental ailments.

In such moments of national misery, it is easy to resort to shibboleths like a shamanistic wand.

Unfortunately, the renewed calls for a sovereign national conference is one of these. You cannot step into the same river twice and you cannot fight a new battle with old weapons. Despite snooper’s abiding respect for the patriotism and undimmed integrity of its leading lights, the call for a sovereign national conference at this moment is structurally, ideologically and conceptually flawed.

This new elite mantra ignores the diffusion and dispersal of power, the micro-pluralism of authorities and what we call the interpellation of sovereignties that obtain in civil governance unlike the unified and unitary command of a military set-up. Despite the fact that Nigeria’s fundamental problems remain, other problems have since been added and we cannot ignore new realities simply because they are less conceptually amenable than old realities. It is time to start thinking once again.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

News

Jonathan and the cabinet headache A

FTER three weeks of suspense and nocturnal meetings, President Goodluck Jonathan will, in the next 48 hours, unveil his ‘Dream Team’ cabinet to the nation. Many Nigerians are as anxious as the speculated nominees, with reports that the list has undergone endless tinkering and juggling of names. No matter the frequency of changing the list, cabinet composition is a constitutional duty that the President can neither run away from nor keep in abeyance for a while. Section 147 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), makes it mandatory for the President to constitute his cabinet to reflect the Federal Character Principle.

Why this cabinet is unique Against all odds, President Jonathan, a Southern minority had, in April, won the presidential election. Out of the total votes cast of 39,469,484, Jonathan polled 22, 495,187 to emerge top ahead of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari of the Congress of the Progressive Change(12,214,853) and Mallam Nuhu Ribadu of the Action Congress of Nigeria, who came a distant third with 2,079,151. Being a young man in his early 50’s, the electoral mandate given to Jonathan attracted many expectations from Nigerians, who are eager for a rapid transformation of the country. His capability to lead the nation is undergoing a litmus test with the coming cabinet.

The composition of the cabinet according to analysts, would enable Nigerians to know where the nation is headed in the next four years. Ministers are tools the President will use to execute his dream.

So, Nigerians want to know his lieutenants from the onset to prejudge the President.

Also, this is the first time the President will constitute a Federal Executive Council with full presidential powers. Upon assuming office in May last year as the nation’s President, Jonathan managed to embark on a sort of ‘wheel alignment’ to accommodate all interest groups and ethnic factors for the simple fact that he was to complete the tenure of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. Now that Jonathan is his own man with a new four-year mandate, how his cabinet would look like has made everyone curious. He is no longer a ‘rookie’ President that he was in 2010.

The fact that Jonathan has declared that he will not seek a second term in office makes Nigerians to be anxious on how he will assemble a team that could lay the foundation of a modern Nigeria.

The lofty ideas of the president Right from the electioneering period, the President had promised a radical departure from the old ways of doing things.

Upon his inauguration, he had set out to achieve the following targets: allow young elements to be part of the government; a cabinet made up of 50% technocrats and 50% politicians; searching for credible hands to manage the cabinet irrespective of political leaning; restructuring ministries for efficiency; fiscal discipline; ending the culture of imposition of ministerial nominees by godfathers; putting in place a Government of National Unity and fighting corruption. At a meeting with political parties on June 1, the President said: “As we want to start a new government, I am going to consult various groups and professional bodies and I think the first group I should consult is the political family”.

To meet these lofty targets, the President opted for a retreat to lay out his work plan. But politics seems to have overshadowed his objectives in the past few weeks.

Apart from opposition from the PDP, which is insisting that Jonathan must source technocrats within its rank and file, the need to stabilize his administration has compelled the President to shift his own rules which were hitherto sacrosanct. The ministerial politics has infected the President with the usual Nigerian syn-

In the last three weeks, the nation’s political landscape has been heated by the intense jostle for ministerial slots. Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation reviews the scramble so far and President Goodluck Jonathan’s dilemma

•Diezani Allison-Madueke

•Prof. Barth Nnaji

•Chief Festus Odimegwu

•Okonjo-Iweala

•Iyabo Obasanjo

•Prof. Rufai

drome he has been struggling to avoid. But he scored a major plus in the choice of Senator Anyim Pius Anyim as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

Anyim, a former President of the Senate, will surely add value to his administration with his cosmopolitan attitude and wisdom.

The only mileage Jonathan has gained so far is winning the heart of the Managing Director of the World Bank, Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to return to the cabinet she left in 2007. But many Nigerians in the Diaspora are still wary of his administration.

The search for good hands/ roll call Since the President had a retreat in Obudu Cattle Ranch, he has been consulting and searching for good hands to run his government. The hunt for impeccable hands included those in the previous cabinet, new blood at home and in the Diaspora, and others alike. He had often said that it is time for action and it is this push that forces him to look for the best.

Some of the nominees being considered are the Managing Director of the World

Bank, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; a former Minister of Defence, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode (SAN); Dr. Tonye Cole; Ms Jumoke Akinjide; a former Deputy Governor of Niger State and Campaign Coordinator for Goodluck /Sambo, Nuhu Zagbayi; exPresident, National Council for Women Society (NCWS), Zainab Maina; Bukar Tijjani; ex-PTDF Executive Secretary, Yusuf Hamisu Abubakar; Arc. Mohammed Musa; PDP National Publicity Secretary, Prof. Rufai Alkali, Dr. Akinwumi Adefila; ex-Minister of Information, Labaran Maku; Yerima Ngama; Ex-Deputy Governor of Imo State; Ada Okwuonu; PDP National Chairman, Dr. Mohammed Haliru Bello; ex-Commissioner for Education in Kwara State, Alhaji Bolaji Abdullahi; ex-Minister of Transport, Yusuf Suleiman and ex-Minister of State for FCT, Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade (retd).

Others are ex-Minister of Labour, Emeka Wogu; ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Odein Ajumogobia(SAN), ex-Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke; ex-Minister of FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed; ex-Minister of

Health, Prof. Onyebuchi; a former Minister, Prof. Barth Nnaji; ex-Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyat Rufai; Bashir Yuguda; ex-Minister of Niger Delta Affairs; Elder Godsday Orubebe; ex-Minister of National Planning, Dr. Usman Shamsudeen; the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke(SAN);Bassey Ewa; ace athlete and former Olympic medalist, Mary OnyaliOmagbemi and Senator Olasunkanmi Akinlabi, a former Minister of Youth; the National Secretary of the PDP, Abubakar Kawu Baraje, ex-Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs. Josephine Anenih; Ex-Minister of Information, Prof. Dora Akunyili; former MD of the Nigerian Breweries, Chief Festus Odimegwu; ex-Minister of Aviation; Fidelia Njeze; Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello; and ex-Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Aliyu Idi Hong and Ortom Ortom.

Why the choice of 42-member cabinet is difficult Continued on page 5

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

•Prof. Dora Akunyili

News

•Mary Onyali-Omagbemi

•Labaran Maku

Controversial list of cabinet Continued from page 4

Ordinarily for a President , who has been in charge since 2007, picking a 42member team ought to be easier because it is assumed that he is on a familiar terrain.

As a matter of fact, Jonathan was confident that within two weeks after his inauguration, he will form a new cabinet. But the President got stuck along the way and his initial plan suffered a setback due to many reasons. The cabinet brouhaha spread to the Presidential Villa such that a simple task of appointing a Chief of Staff and some advisers is now a source of crisis within his kitchen cabinet. How did things become difficult to manage?

The method adopted by the President by leaving the nomination process open to the party contributed to the confusion over the ministerial list because at a point, the President had over 1,000 nominees to choose from. Instead of the National Secretariat of the party restricting the nominees to three per state, it turned the issue into a bazaar with some states submitting up to 20 names for the President to pick one. The party ended up dumping the list on the President’s table without assisting his cause. At the end of it all, key National officers of the PDP, who ought to provide the beacon, have become ministerial nominees too.

A national mandate now an albatross?

To secure the party nomination and the pan-Nigeria mandate in the April general elections, the President had extensive discussions with many influential stakeholders, interest groups, business moguls and religious leaders. That was why his victory was overwhelming and he emerged as the first elected President with the largest votes since 1960. But this backing has proved to be his albatross, as virtually everyone who contributed to his victory is under pressure to influence the thought of the President. At the party level, there is no way the President will not listen to the advice of some governors, PDP leadership, and leaders like ex-President Shehu Shagari; ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo; ex- Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma; Chief Tony Anenih; Chief Edwin Clark; the Sultan of Sokoto; the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria; spiritual leaders consulted during the electioneering for intercession and others alike. Although it is normal to seek elders’ advice for quality guidance but the reverse is the case.

The ethnic and religious dimension In as much as the President is seeking a water-tight and A-list cabinet, this desire is being blindfolded by ethno-religious politics. There is hardly any state in the Federation where he is not confronted with tribal and religious challenges. An example is the case of Imo State where the President decided to choose the immediate past

Deputy Governor, Mrs. Ada Okwuonu on merit. A source said: “There is no state where the ‘war’ is fiercer than Imo where the people of Okigwe, an ex-governor and a former INEC official have kicked against the choice of the immediate past Deputy Governor of the state, Ada Okwuonu.

“Their argument is that Okigwe zone has been completely marginalized at the state and federal level with the outcome of the April general elections.

“Yet in the same state, some forces are making a strong case for a former Managing Director of the Nigerian Breweries, Chief Festus Odimegwu, who is considered a personal friend of Obasanjo in contrast to the benchmark set by the presidency for nomination into this new cabinet.

Jonathan’s divided focus PDP leaders, associates and friends of the President have not been able to identify the mindset of the President on the cabinet and it has accounted for why none could be able to assist him. Initially, the President had decided to make a departure from the past but in the last few weeks, the song has changed. It was learnt that he had intended having a young set of nominees but those in their 70s, whom government will end up footing their medical bills, are warming up to join the cabinet.

Slow decision making and lack of tact By foot-dragging on the constitution of his team, Jonathan has allowed the exercise to be infested by lobbyists. As at Friday, some ministerial nominees were still waiting for final security checks, a development that has made a mess of past homework the President might have purportedly done in Obudu Cattle Ranch.

Also, in carrying out this constitutional duty, the President has been less tactical in his approach. Without sufficient security reports, he had told members of the last cabinet that he is a firm believer in continuity to achieve results. But the outcome of the screening exercise by security agencies is pointing to the fact that some members of the cabinet, hitherto given A+ rating, have no business coming back.

Such a plan to return some old Ministers ordinarily ought to be a surprise package.

The danger for his government is that some old Ministers, who are confident of coming back, are not only retaining their retinue of aides, the heads of agencies and parastatals under the previous ministries are still paying obeisance to them in one way or the other.

A peep into intrigues over the controversial list The intrigues over ministerial nominees have made the President to return to the drawing board almost on a daily basis. The situation turned bad when PDP governors who ought to bear with the

President, also have vested interests in the appointment of ministers from their states.

A peep into the intrigues reveals the lowly politics beclouding a well-intended constitutional responsibility. Investigation showed that most PDP governors and exgovernors were unhappy that their recommended nominees were sidelined.

Some of the affected governors and exgovernors are Niger, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Oyo and Osun.

The Governor of Niger State, Aliyu Babangida was jolted by the choice of one of the coordinators of Jonathan/Sambo Campaign Organization, Mr. Nuhu Zagbayi (a former Deputy Governor) that he made desperate calls to the PDP national Implications of the President’s decision A source said: “The governor is from Zone B and the ministerial nominee (Zagbayi) from Niger State is also from the same zone contrary to the existing power sharing formula in the state.

“The governor had recommended four candidates from Zone A. They are a former Chairman of the party in the state, Dr. Abdurrahman Enagi; the immediate past Speaker of the Niger State House of Assembly, Hon. Umar Maali; the immediate past Deputy Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Baba Shehu Agaie, and a former Minister of Sports, Sani Ndanusa.

“But none of the candidates from Zone A, which is the largest voting zone, was been nominated. It will be a grave error if Zone A is not given a sense of belonging’’.

As for Rivers State, the nominee of the governor, Nelson Wike is yet to be short listed.

A top official of the state added: “So far, two nominees are in the public domain. They are Tonye Cole and a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Odein Ajumogobia (SAN).

“If the President goes ahead to choose Cole and Ajumogobia, he will be picking these nominees from the same town called Abonema. Is that tidy?”

In the case of Benue State, the governor and PDP leaders appear to have favoured the National Auditor of PDP, Dr. Samuel Ortom from Tiv land, but the President of the Senate is routing for his Campaign Coordinator, Abba Moro and a former Minister of State for Niger Delta Affairs, Sam Ode. “There are fears that the Senate President may end up having his way. This has caused tension in the state between the Tiv and Idoma,’’ said a source.

For Jonathan’s die-hard supporter, Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom, this is not the best of time. Akpabio had recommended the past Minister of Housing and Lands, Hon. Nduese Essien for ‘continuity,’ but the President opted

5

•Odien Ajumogobia

for Prof. Bassey Ewah in what was described as ‘shocking’ to stakeholders in the state.

In Oyo State, the leader of the PDP, exGovernor Adebayo Alao-Akala and other leaders of the party had recommended in order of importance a former Deputy Chief of Staff in the state, Alhaji AbdulRazak Gbadegesin, Ms. Jumoke Akinjide and Prof. Taoheed Adedoja.

But the President decided to choose Ms. Jumoke Akinjide leaving party leaders dejected as they had thought that Gbadegesin will pick the slot.

In Delta State, apart from the automatic choice of a former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, who is the anointed candidate of the President, the second nominee from the state has been conceded to a foremost Ijaw Leader, Chief Edwin Clark.

It was learnt that Clark may return his ‘godson’, Chief Kenneth Gbagi, a former Minister of State for Education, as his candidate.

The development has shut out Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan from the Ministerial exercise.

“In Anambra State , APGA is hell-bent on Prof. Dora Akunyili but most PDP leaders insisted on Mrs. Josephine Anenih whose contributions to Jonathan’s victory was unparalleled “Akunyili also has a security hurdle to clear over issues surrounding the declaration of the Senatorial election between her and Senator Chris Ngige in April. Only INEC report on the dispute could clear her as a nominee. Security agencies are already relating with INEC.” Which way forward for Jonathan?

It has got to a stage that the President needs to be decisive and be his own man in raising his cabinet. The conflicting signals on who is who on the ministerial list are untidy and they send a wrong message that the President is not really in charge. Although true to his meek and meticulous nature, the President has been trying to engage in broad based consultations. But this may turn around to be his Achilles Hills. Those who have been sneaking to the Vila pretending to offer advice may end up as his undoing. He might take solace in ex-President Ibrahim Babangida’s say: “History will forgive you for taking a wrong decision but it will not forgive you for not taking a decision at all.”

The unveiling of the ministerial list on Tuesday will unmask the true colour of Jonathan, his vision, managerial ability and where he is leading Nigeria to. With his covert agenda to withdraw fuel subsidy and corresponding decision to increase electricity tariff, a poorly constituted cabinet may be the icing of the cake and the beginning of public resentment against the President, who rode on exceptional popular will to power. If he gets it right with his team, Nigerians may still envisage a ray of light at the end of the tunnel. Will Jonathan make or mar his cabinet trip? A stitch in time saves nine.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

News

Bomb blast probe: FBI investigators runs into hitch …retrieved pieces of flesh likely for examination abroad to ascertain death toll

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HERE were strong indications that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) experts drafted to probe the bomb blast which occurred at the Force Headquarters penultimate Thursday, are facing a major hitch following the manner in which the fire was put out.

It was also learnt that rain after the blast eroded some basic samples needed for a comprehensive analysis of the bombs used.

But the government may take different pieces of flesh retrieved from the blast scene abroad for forensic examination in order to determine the actual figure of those who died in the blast. The explosion had resulted in the death of a number of people, although official figure pointed at two. The unofficial figure is between five and seven.

It was learnt that apart from the forensic analysis by the Police Forensic Laboratory in Lagos, the FBI is also conducting its own test. It is, however, still difficult to ascertain the actual number of those killed as the parking lot was meant for policemen and visitors.

A top source said: “The police are sticking to two deaths but from the pieces of flesh picked up by rescue workers, the toll could be more. Initially, the pieces of flesh were kept in Asokoro General Hospital but they will be taken abroad to determine the actual number of those killed.

A close examination of the pieces of flesh confirmed some differences, fuelling speculation that the victims could be more than two.”

As part of efforts to improve the nation’s security situation, the National Security Adviser

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RESH facts emerged yesterday that the presidency may release security reports on all ministerial nominees to the Senate to guide its screening. The list of nominees is expected to be unveiled on Tuesday when the Senate reconvenes from recess.

Also, President Goodluck Jonathan may not intercede on behalf of any nominee as he is prepared to drop any candidate rejected by the Senate. But the Senate is constitutionally mandated to screen the nominees within 21 days. According to findings, most Senators are in favour of the release of the security reports in order to be able to do a thorough screening. It was learnt that the presidency will make the security reports available to the President of the Senate, Chief David Mark, along with the list of nominees on Monday.

A reliable source, who spoke in confidence, said: “The presidency may release security reports on the nominees to the President of the Senate in line with his transparency agenda.

He won’t hide anything from the Upper Chamber. But you should know that Mark can only discuss crucial aspects of the reports with Senators at the Executive Session as in relation to any nominee.

FROM: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation (NSA), Gen. Owoye Azazi, has been reaching out to some past security advisers and chiefs on how to strengthen the nation’s security. It was gathered that some of these retired security chiefs’ desire to offer advice to the government actually informed Azazi’s meeting with them. A source who confided in our correspondent said that, “I think the blast succeeded in uniting the country as retired security chiefs across the six geopolitical zones are willing to join hands with the government to prevent a recurrence.”

According to findings, the FBI discovered that besides the foam compound used by the Fire Service, the Nigeria Police Force does not have modern and sophisticated extinguisher which could put out without affecting the remains of whatever was burnt.

The experts also faulted the preliminary steps taken by the police in cordoning off the scene of the blast without covering it.

A top source, who spoke in confidence, said: “The FBI experts have difficulty in probing the blast because instead of using foam compound to put out the fire, the Police ought to have some modern, inbuilt and central extinguisher which the Fire Service would have used.

“The blast scene was also exposed and the attendant downpour washed away vital evidence to be examined. The ideal thing is for the police to cordon off and cover up the blast scene and coordinate how rescue workers marched on the parking lot.

“But following panic, most

police officers and rescue workers marched recklessly on the blast scene. This poor coordination has even made fingerprint examination difficult.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) had warned police officers and rescue workers against marching on the explosion site but they refused.

Notwithstanding, the FBI is analyzing its findings but with a serious challenge because post-explosion coordination was poorly done. The coming of the FBI team will certainly assist the nation to manage its disaster next time, especially on the first steps to take to ease investigation.”

All police and military

formations have since been placed on 24-hour surveillance nationwide. The source also added that, “It is no longer business as usual; the government is not prepared to condone any security lapse again. That is why all formations are now on 24 hour alert.”

• L-R: Prof. Akanmu Adebayo, (Interim Director, Centre for Conflict Management, Kennesaw State University, Georgia, USA), Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, (President, Women Arise, and Campaign for Democracy)and Mr. Adesuyi Kolawole, (HOD, History and International Studies, LASU) at a symposium tagged: “The Making of a Great Ambassador”, organised by Students’ Society for the Study of History and International Studies (SSOHIS), LASU, last Friday

Cabinet: Presidency may release security reports to Senate FROM: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

“Then at the Executive Session, issues over any controversial nominee would have been streamlined into questions which Senators may raise at the plenary during screening. President Goodluck Jonathan has said that he would not go any extra mile to defend any nominee outside his recommendation and security reports.

“So, every nominee will defend his or her records during the screening and whoever is dropped by the Senate, the President will make a fresh nomination.”

Responding to a question, the source said the 1999 Constitution (as amended) empowers the Senate to conclude the screening on or before 21 working days.

“There is time limit for the Senate.

Whoever is interested in any intrigue or planning to go to court should know that there is time constraint,” the source said.

He cited Section 147(5) and

(6) to support his point that the nation may not need to wait for long before having the Federal Executive Council in place. The Section reads in part: “No person shall be appointed as a Minister of the Government of the Federation unless he is qualified for election as a member of the House of Representatives.

“An appointment to any of the offices aforesaid (offices of Ministers) shall be deemed to have been made where no return has been received from the Senate within 21 working days of the receipt of nomination by the Senate.”

As at press time, most of the nominees who had been screened have relocated to Abuja amidst anxiety over their fate. It was gathered that the nominees are already going through tutorial on parliamentary procedure when appearing before the Senate.

Another source said: “Most of the nominees are already in Abuja doing research on their areas of competence in preparation for screening.”

But as the President is set to forward his ministerial list to the Senate, all is not well in Edo State where a former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Tony Anenih, is holding sway.

It was gathered that while some stakeholders prefer Prof.

Julius Ihonvbere, a former Special Adviser to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, some elders led by Anenih have built a consensus around Arc. Mike Onolememen.

Although Omolememen has appeared for screening, the stakeholders mostly from Edo North have petitioned the President.

They alleged that Edo North has never produced a Minister since 1999 whereas Anenih’s Edo Central had produced four Ministers, with three anointed from his hometown, Uromi.

A statement by Benin Vanguard for Leadership signed by its chairman, Elder Ehigie Nosakhare and Secretary, Matthew Unuigbe, however said it was backing Onolememen. The statement said: “We commend

the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan for nominating a thorough-bred professional in the person of Arc. Mike Onolememen, who has a strong project management background, and had cognate experience in Public Management.

“Arch. Onolememen gave a good account of himself, first as Executive member of the Interim Management Committee of the Petroleum Trust Fund where he headed the Directorate of Project Management and later as Hon. Minister of State for Defence in the last five months of President Obasanjo’s administration.

“For us, Arc Onolememen’s track record as a competent Architect, seasoned administrator, political leader and a detribalised Nigerian are evidences to justify Mr. President’s decision to look for merit.

“We will support Arc Onolememen wholeheartedly in his mission to bring glory to governance as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2010

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Bello, Idris, Opeifa, Akabueze, 33 others on Fashola’s cabinet list L

AGOS State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) has finally laid to rest speculations about Commissionership nominees in the state as he submitted the list to the House of Assembly at the weekend.

Fashola confirmed on Friday night that the list was before the House for ratification.

The Nation gathered that majority of those who served in the previous cabinet between 2007 and 2011 were dropped. Some members of the previous cabinet were retained, with some new faces also recommended for parliamentary screening.

Reliable sources disclosed that 37 names were on the list.

However, the governor is yet to name his Secretary to Government and Chief of Staff.

The list is a mixture of core politicians and technocrats, which analysts said, was in keeping with the tradition of setting up a cabinet of talents in the Centre of Excellence.

During the campaigns for the last election, Action Congress of Nigeria (AC N) leaders hinted that the party and the governor would put heads together to form the cabinet.

At the weekend, however, party chieftains, who confirmed many names on the list, declined to comment on the list Former members of the State Executive Council, who made the

(Business District Special Adviser); Ganiyu Johnson (Works); Segun Oniru (Waterfront); Gholahan Lawal (Special Assistant, Special Projects); Kayode Opeifa (Special Adviser, Transport); Ade Ipaye (Taxation), and Prince Rotimi Oyekan (Finance).

By Emmanuel Oladesu, Remi Adelowo and Miriam Ndikanwu list include former commissioners, Ben Akabueze (Budget and Planning); Jide Idris (Health); Obafemi Hamzat (Science and Technology); Oyin Danmole

Also on the list are former Environment Commissioner, Tunji Bello; former Mushin Council chairman, Seye Oladejo, Gbolahan Lawal Ojora, former state legislator, Dr. Wale Ahmed, Mrs Ranti Adegbile, Tokunbo Abiru, Mrs Derin Disu, Ademoorin Kuye, Ayo Gbeleyi, former Sports

•Lagos State Deputy Governor, (middle) pointing to something of interest to the Chairman, Mosan – Okunola Local Council Development Area, Alhaji Rasheed Mafe and Mr. Muyideen Akinsanya, Permanent Secretary, Drainage Services, Lagos State Ministry of The Environmentduring the monthly environmental sanitation in the State.

Adviser, Gbolahan Badmus, former House of Assembly aspirant in Surulere Constituency, Tokunbo Odutola and Babajide Sanwoolu ( former Establishment, Pensions & Training Commissioner).

The Nation also gathered that former Commissioner-designate, Hon. Bosun Jeje; former Deputy Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Adetoun Adediran; former Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation under the Tinubu Administration, Chief (Mrs.) Kemi Nelson; former Local Government and Chieftaincy Commissioner Rotimi Agunsoye; former Special Adviser on Commerce and Industry Sola Oworu; former Information and Strategy Special Adviser Segun Ayobolu; former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice Supo Sasore (SAN) and Agboyi-Ketu Local Council Development Area Chairperson, Mrs. Yetunde Arobieke also made the list.

The source said: “Basically those who make the list will purely be based on merit, competence and contribution to the success of the party before, during and after the 2011 general elections. They will most likely come from those the party asked to step down for their colleagues during the state party primaries held in January. The party will definitely reward them”.

Group faults El-Rufai over attacks on Jonathan, EFCC

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NIGER Delta based socio-economic and

political group, Movement for Justice (MFJ) yesterday faulted a former FCT Minister, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, for his recent attacks on President Goodluck Jonathan and the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mrs. Farida Waziri.

It asked el-Rufai to defend the corruption charges filed against him by the EFCC instead of deploying resources to sponsor campaigns of calumny against the President and the anti-graft agency prosecuting him.

The group took a swipe at elRufai in a statement by its National Coordinator, Chief Daniel Otubu, released to the press in Abuja.

The Niger Delta body said it has monitored closely the alleged “reckless abandon” with which el-Rufai has been using a newspaper to attack the administration of President Jonathan and virtually every visible agency of government in a desperate bid to discredit the present administration.

The statement said: “We wish to draw the attention of the general public to the unbridled hatred and desperation with which el-Rufai is pursuing his clique’s agenda against President Jonathan and every institution working under his administration.

“We have noticed in the past weeks that the former minister has, as a matter of agenda, continued to use a newspaper

By Remi Adelowo

charges against the former minister but this should not be enough reason for him to want to bring down the whole country through systemic and calculated campaigns of calumny against Mr. President and agencies of government.

“We are of the view that el-Rufai should face his trial in court where he has the chance of defending why as FCT minister he has to revoke

promoted by him and managed by his sister-in law to attack agencies of government ranging from NNPC to Ministry of Petroleum Resources and now the EFCC. “We understand el-Rufai is bitter that President Jonathan has refused to interfere in the work of EFCC by asking the Commission to drop corruption

lands allocated to PHCN and others for infrastructural development and allocate same to his wives, brothers and associates in flagrant violation of the Abuja master plan he pretentiously defended so much, rather than mobilizing cliques within and outside the country to destabilize government.”

The group expressed its “unflinching support” for the administration of President

Jonathan and the commitment of the EFCC to ridding the country of all forms of corruption.

It also urged the general public to watch out and disregard series of publications that would be coming from the stable of a particular newspaper funded by el-Rufai to discredit President Jonathan, top government officials and notable agencies of government.

ACN will dislodge PDP in Kwara - Tinubu

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ATIONAL leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has said the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government in Kwara State would soon give way to ACN. According to former governor of Lagos state, ACN was out to dislodge the Saraki dynasty in the state for a more progressive and forward-looking government headed by Mohammed Dele Belgore (SAN).

Governor Bababtunde Fashola of Lagos State also stated that the current unitary system of government in Nigeria masquerading as federalism would continue to deny the country good governance.

The duo spoke yesterday at Ilorin, the Kwara State capital on the 50th birthday anniversary of the governorship candidate of the ACN in the State at the April polls, Belgore (SAN) .

Tinubu on his part urged Kwarans to stand solidly behind the ACN governorship candidate in the April polls, saying: “We are

…Fashola faults Nigeria’s federalism

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From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin out to rescue Kwara state. But I urge you not to be discouraged but rather steadfast.”

While recounting the ACN’s exploit in the last few years, Tinubu said: “They thought it could not happen in Edo, Ekiti, Osun and Ondo States but it happened. It will also happen in Kwara as all those states where it happened are Kwara’s next door neighbours. We cannot have two emirs in a place; traditional and political emirs.

“Traditional emir belongs to a family and it is hereditary. But the political emir we shall contest, it is not hereditary. What we want is politics of programmes and policies. It is through research and development that we can get talents to liberate Nigeria. The crowd that attended the 50th anniversary of Mohammed Dele Belgore attests to the acceptability

of our party in Kwara. Dele is going to bring government of progressive development to Kwara State. We have his ilk in Lagos, Osun - the best men for the jobs. In Oyo State I know Ajimobi from the private sector will do well to develop the State, the same goes for Amosun and others. We are going to get Benue, Taraba, Akwa Ibom and Bauchi States.

Don’t let me open up the arsenal.”

Fashola who spoke on the relationship between democracy and good governance, lamented that the current federalism being practiced in the country was all fluke.

“I am an optimist, but until that unitary arrangement is changed for a more federal arrangement, Nigeria will remain poor and denied of good governance,” he said matter-offactly”.

Expatiating, he said: “Those of us who argue for a federal arrangement do not feel that we

need the federal arrangement for the sake of it. If we have conducted elections which debatably were better than what we did in 2007 that should not be the end of the world. We must now seek to bring content into the electoral progress by making sure that we translate electoral progress into a better quality of life for our people.

We cannot do that under this unitary arrangement where everything comes from Abuja.

“We do not seek federal arrangement simply because we simply like that word, rather we seek it because Nigeria is made of many small nations, many diverse ethnic nationalities with different cultures and they are differently blessed with resources and political history has kept us and the federal arrangements is the best way to harness these resources. It can only happen if we allow each of the federating States to grow at its own pace with its comparative advantage of using its own unique resources. That is the only way you can breed competitive productivity.”

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

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ROM Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, Archbishop of the Metropolitan See of Lagos has come an appeal to Nigerians: “Show love and affection among yourselves not hatred.”

He made this call yesterday at the dedication ceremony of St. Stephen’s Catholic Church, OnikeIwaya, Lagos.

While alluding to the current tension and state of insecurity across the country, he said the only way forward is for Nigerians to continue to show love and affection among themselves as well as remain steadfast with their creator.

Okogie preaches love among Nigerians

By Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf

“Let’s preach love in place of hatred, especially at these trying times in our country. We live in trying times, no doubt. But with love we can continue to conquer all”, he assured.

Okogie who recalled that the foundation stone laying ceremony of the church was done six years ago, lauded the members of the parish for their commitment, saying “the successful dedication of the parish today (yes-

terday) is a testimony of your devotion to God’s work and may you reap the fruits of your labour.”

The clergy who attempted to define the role of the church said: “There is a big different difference between a hall and a church.

A church, as you all know is God’s sanctuary, where we seek His attention through constant devotion. I have no doubt that this church will serve that purpose and very

well too.”

Speaking earlier, Pastor of St. Dominic Catholic Church, Rev. Fr. Felix Onomheghie in his keynote address expressed joy at the successful completion of the parish, just as the Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Dominic Okure said the church dedication is a clear manifestation of how God works.

Fielding questions from newsmen, the Secretary of the Planning Committee

and President of Youth Society, Mr. Charles Nwosu who expressed joy on the occasion, said the dedication of the church building was a dream come true for both members of the parish and the catholic community as a whole.

Nwosu who recalled that the project was conceived over two decades ago, said it arose as a result of the growing expansion of the members of the parish,

who hitherto worshipped at Yaba, St. Dominic Church.

“The need to expand, given the congestion of the main parish at St. Dominic, Yaba, gave rise to the clamour for a bigger church.

This groundbreaking ceremony is what we are all witnessing today”, he said.

The highpoint of the occasion was the official cutting of the tape by Okogie in company of the parish priest and other guests.

NDLEA threatens to prosecute sureties as 26 drug traffickers jump bail

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HE Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Ahmadu Giade has threatened to take legal action against those that stood as sureties for drug accused who have jumped bail over 796.39kg of narcotics worth 387 million naira. The NDLEA boss made the disclosure on Saturday June 25, 2011 while speaking on Radio Link, a radio programme on Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) in Abuja as part of activities marking the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug Trafficking.

According to Giade a total of 26 major drug traffickers standing trial at the Federal High Court in Lagos have absconded. “A total of 26 major drug traffickers standing trial at the Federal High Court in Lagos were found to have

By Kelvin Osa-Okunbor

jumped bail. They have been declared wanted and those that stood as sureties for them will either produce them or be made to face the legal consequences” Giade warned.

He added that the inclusion of the Agency in the verification process of sureties will help to check the ugly incident of accused jumping bail.

Among the 26 accused, 23 are being charged in connection with 33.126kg of cocaine. One was caught with 1.063kg of heroin while another was apprehended with 758kg of cannabis. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) country representative in Nigeria, Dr. Oliver Stolpe and Pharmacist Ngozi Onuorah of the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) also participated in the two-hours radio programme.

Shekarau fingered in alleged N6bn scam

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HE Kano State Gov ernment has uncov ered another financial impropriety, amounting to N6.99 billion, allegedly perpetrated by the last regime of former Governor Ibrahim Shekarau.

A statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant on Press and Public Relations, Malam Umar Sa’ad Tudunwada and made available to The Nation yesterday in Kano, said the former administration withdrew the said amount within a period 28 months from the account of the Special Services Directorate.

The statement further said, the Kano State Ministry of Finance in a report it submitted to the State Executive Council, revealed that records of the withdrawals indicate that the money was used for ‘reciprocal arrangement’.

According to Tudunwada, the report by the Ministry of Finance also shows that the said money was removed through repeated withdrawals of large sums of money from banks.

From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

He said “there is no explanation as to what “reciprocal arrangement” meant as it is no known in the standard financial regulations.”

In a swift reaction, the spokesman of the former governor, Malam Sule Ya’u Sule in a telephone chat with Sunday Nation, dismissed the allegation, saying: “It is their normal characteristic of trying to paint the past administration in bad light.”

Sule said: “This is not their first time of castigating Shekarau administration. They did it by mentioning hotel bills, loans and liabilities.

“That is their stock-intrade, and we are not surprised, because we are prepared to hear more of these frivolous allegations.

“They are not ready to face the task of governance of meeting the yearnings and aspirations of the people. They are only out for vengeance.”

•His Eminence, Anthony Cardinal Okogie (middle) blessing the altar, as part of activities to formally dedicate St. Stephen’s Catholic Church, Onike-Iwaya, in Lagos, yesterday. With him are the Parish Priest and other clergymen.

PHOTO: BADE DARAMOLA

Delta community issues 14-day ultimatum to Agip

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OST communities of Okpai Gas Plant in Ndokwa East L.G.A Delta State have issued a 14-day ultimatum to Italian oil giant, Nigeria Agip Oil Company to honour a request for a meeting between the parties over award of surveillance contract by the company.

The communities under the aegis of Association of Family of Oil and Gas Producing Commu-nity (ASFOGAPCOM), Okpai branch, said it has written several letters to Agip management requesting for

From Okungbowa Aiwerie, Asaba

a meeting over the matter without any response by the company.

This warning was contained in the latest correspondence to the management of Agip, signed by Mr. Austin ObiOkwuezulu and Comrade Linus Osaji, Chairman and Secretary General of the association and made available to The Nation, where it reminded the company of the need for the meeting and copied

security agencies, the Delta State government, among others.

Other issues listed for discussion include, negotiations for WellLogging/ Wiring job condition, Wellhead Landlord welfare, Wellhead Contractors welfare and Allocation of a Manager to Kwale/Okpai Gas Plant.

Part of the statement reads,” We wish to remind you that we have expected to have a response from your company but to date

there was no response from you. We have deem it necessary to write you once again as this will serve as a last reminder over this issue and also to inform you that we have exhausted our patience allowing others benefiting from what belong to us, why we go on dying in silence.

“Therefore in case you could not fix a meeting between the interval of 14 days effective from 24th June 2011 and 8th July 2011, we shall not be blame for any possible consequences that may occur.”

Edo to implement N18, 000 minimum wage next week

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HE Edo State Govern ment has assured that it will implement the new national minimum wage of N18, 000 next week.

Governor Adams Oshiomhole gave this assurance yesterday at the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the Nigerian Association of Women Journalist (NAWOJ) held in Benin.

According to him, government has no excuse tying any conditions to the implementation of the national minimum wage because it is backed by law.

From Dupe OlaoyeOsinkolu, Benin

Oshiomhole said: “The minimum wage has been passed into law and government must be seen to respect the rule of law.

The law is not necessarily going to be convenient to anyone, for we obey law not because it is convenient.”

The governor, who recalled that he fought deregulation of petroleum product prices for years as labour leader, wondered why he should now tie conditions to payment of

LAGOS

minimum wage.

“In Edo State we are working hard to complete the process. I believe in the next two weeks, our people would have finished negotiating with the unions”, he said, adding: “The truth is we are not to negotiate whether or not to pay.

It will certainly be implemented. But what we can negotiate is having raised the minimum wage, what shall be the level of increase for those who are already above the minimum wage. Once we complete those discussions, in

the next one week, we will commence implementation.”

NAWOJ President, Mrs. Aseba Baba Nahaya who commended the governor for his progressive attitude towards workers in the state, urged him not to relent in his effort at delivering dividends of democracy to the people of the state.

PUBLIC NOTICE CHUKU I, formerly known and addressed as Chuku Ebere Ajumoke, now wish to be known and addressed as Adekogbe Ebere Ajumoke. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

THE NATION

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ON SUNDAY

COMMENT and ANALYSIS JUNE 26, 2011

Return of the ‘unknown soldier’ The rising incidents of Army-Police clashes could also be indicative that there are so many soldiers on the payroll that are underemployed

Festus Eriye efestus2003@yahoo.com 08052135878 (SMS only)

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NE of the worst bequests of long years of military rule to Nigeria is a mindset amongst soldiers that causes them to carry on like overlords.

That attitude is captured in the derogatory phrase ‘bloody civilians’ – suggesting that the rest of the populace who don’t have starched khakis in their closets are, by some twisted logic, sub-humans.

Under military rule soldiers often did as they pleased. They seized power by the barrel of the gun without our consent.

They governed without accounting to anyone. In many instances, they got away with murder, literally.

Many would recall the infamous pillaging and torching of Fela AnikulapoKuti’s ‘Kalakuta Republic’ home in the late 70s. Incensed by the musician’s constant criticism and goading – which reached its zenith with the release of the sell-out ‘Zombie’ album – a detachment of soldiers from Abalti Barracks in Surulere, Lagos, invaded the ‘republic’ with fatal consequences.

The musician’s septuagenarian mother would go into a coma for three weeks, and eventually die from wounds she sustained after being thrown down from first floor of the building by irate soldiers. Many men and women in the commune suffered grievous injuries and property worth millions lost in the invasion.

The regime of then military head of state, General Olusegun Obasanjo, instituted an official inquiry headed by Justice Kalu Anyiam to probe the incident.

He famously returned a verdict that Fela’s house had been burnt down by an ‘unknown soldier.’

Today, with military rule a distant memory, the ‘unknown soldier’ is still hard at work sowing mischief in public places. Several weeks ago in Badagry a couple of them on a revenge mission set upon some hapless policemen, killing a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) and several others.

Till date no one has been able to identify the killers. A panel was set up by Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Azubuike Ihejirika and Inspector General of Police, Hafiz Ringim, to investigate the incident.

It is not any closer to bringing closure to the matter.

Last Thursday, along the busy Ikorodu Road in Lagos, a couple of soldiers – one male, one female - insisted on driving illegally on the dedicated Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lane. When policemen attached to the Lagos State Task Force on Environment and Special Offences tried to remonstrate with them, they assaulted the cops, and tried to instigate their

colleagues who they had summoned to join in the attack. But for the swift intervention of the authorities the incident would have developed into another bloody Army-Police clash.

The Nigerian Army and its sister forces – the Navy and Air Force – are no doubt noble institutions which have played a priceless role in nation-building.

However, there are many elements within the system that are caught in a time warp.

They still have not adapted to the reality of life in a democratic setting.

Truly, their public conduct is a disgrace and projects our armed forces in very poor light. They carry on as though they are above the law, or as if there is one law for the military and another for civilians in our daily interactions with each other.

Not too long ago naval ratings travelling with a senior naval officer, Rear Admiral Harry Arogundade, assaulted a young lady, Uzoma Okere, almost stripping her stark naked in broad daylight on a busy Lagos road over a traffic disagreement. The courts, courtesy of a N100 million judgment in favour of the lady, have since shown the thugs that we do not live in a jungle.

One of the great reform achievements of the last 12 years of civil rule has been the reordering of the mentality of the military to make them content with their constitutional role. This has been aided, of course, by the sweeping retirement of a class of ‘political soldiers’ from whose ranks a steady stream of coup plotters were often recruited.

Subsuming yourself under civilian authority also means bringing yourself under the same laws that govern the conduct of all others in civil society.

Therefore, the next big challenge for the military and political leadership is to drive home the concept of the rule of law – especially into the heads of the middle and lower ranks.

For some inexplicable reason, these soldiers expect the law to be bent for them just because they are soldiers. They drive against traffic and flout common regulations for safe driving at will. Any policeman who dares challenge them faces the danger of being assaulted.

They have refused to let go of a sense of entitlement acquired in the years of military rule. For instance, in all public and private commercial vehicles in Lagos, soldiers and other people in uniform don’t pay transport fare.

The commercial bus driver who has the temerity to ask for payment is in danger of a hiding. The military authorities by turning a blind eye and pretending that this is not happening are inadvertently encouraging this blatant act of extortion and exploitation to continue unchecked.

•Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Azubuike Ihejirika

Soldiers need to be re-programmed to accept that as far as law enforcement in our society is concerned, the constitution has given the responsibility to the police.

This is not about a superiority contest between the forces; it is the law.

The police, too, have to get rid of an inferiority complex foisted on them during the military rule years when they were often neglected and treated like an afterthought. They have to begin asserting themselves where they catch military men violating the law. They could pay a short term price of suffering criminal assault, but they have the law on their side and would always prevail because they are carrying out their legitimate duties.

We understand that soldiers are trained to be aggressive. But their aggression is supposed to be deployed in the right direction – against external enemies of the nation and, in some special circumstances, internal ones.

But since there are so many idle ones roaming the streets of our cities causing mayhem, and dragging the image of the image of the armed forces in the mud, they could be drafted to Borno State to confront fearless Boko Haram militants who have so far overwhelmed the police. There, perhaps, their aggression can be put to better use.

The rising incidents of Army-Police clashes could also be indicative that there are so many soldiers on the payroll that are underemployed. To revisit that old cliché: the devil always finds a job for idle hands. We could deny the devil the amusement by culling the bad eggs from the system and save the nation badly needed cash.

“Soldiers need to be re-programmed to accept that as far as law enforcement in our society is concerned, the constitution has given the responsibility to the police. This is not about a superiority contest between the forces; it is the law”

Insecurity: The giant confronting President Jonathan

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NFORTUNATE things are happening in quick successions and facing President Goodluck Jonathan’s new regime. If I were the president, I would make sure that anybody (directly or indirectly, knowingly or unknowingly, remotely or otherwise) on my way to stamping out the insecurity in the land would be removed. He should understand the maxim in combat operation which implies that “any obstacle on the way should be seen as enemy and must be eliminated”.

It is now evident that if care is not taken with the introduction of suicide bombing, the insecurity in the land would become uncontrollable (God forbid). We now read of alleged internal connivance in the Louis Edet House bombing. Nigreria presently does not have the requisite knowledge and infrastructure to handle this kind of situation. Heaven helps those who (first) help themselves.

President Jonathan should do the much he can by demonstrating utmost good faith, sincerity and openness towards accepting that sentiments cannot provide security but promote insecurity. He needs to review his security and intelligence gathering apparatuses. He should first of all accept their existence is almost zero.

The mouth-shooting but lessacting Inspector General of Police, Hafiz Ringim, who Jonathan started relating with since his (Ringim’s) stint as the Bayelsa State Police Commissioner when he (Jonathan) was deputy governor should be checked out of office.

Ringim was promoted two steps ahead

by Jonathan even when the south-east zone where Ringim controlled witnessed unprecedented increase in criminality.

As a matter of fact, it was Ringim that caused the bombing of Louis Edet Police Headquarters by Boko Haram people.

Ringim while receiving the Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) donated by the present Borno State governor two days (Tuesday) before the suicide bombing incident (Thursday) warned the Boko Haram people that it was a matter of few days; they become wiped out of the earth.

Why need he utter so when he knew that his side was deficient in intelligence gathering compared with Boko Haram that attacked timely. Whereas the President had mooted ‘carrot and stick’ approach that would have paid off, Ringim chanted war words. Ringim’s sins are many: Prior to 2011 elections he redeployed all the States Police Commissioners but glaringly left one which many perceived was to help a state governor rig election; allegation of comprimised was levelled against him (Ringim) and he has till date failed to defend this.

Also it seems that since the arrival of the present National Security Adviser, retired General Azazi, into office, the calm that existed in almost all parts of the country broke down. Then what has he secured; yet he was reappointed?

Fatima Jibril (fatimajibril90@yahoo.com)

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Comment & Analysis

27B, FATAI ATERE WAY, MATORI, LAGOS. WEBSITE: www.thenationonlineng.net

Is Nigeria too difficult to govern?

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

O

UR leaders do not like to admit it, but it is clear all the same. They are finding the business of running this country too tough. You can tell from what they say, and how they say it.

You can glean it from even what they fail to say. But above all, we can tell from the body of evidence that stares us in the face.

Let’s start from the most basic of things.

The impossible roads have humbled everybody including the leaders; the roads have had the better of our cars and our motorcycles. The loss of life and property on them leaves everyone in torment. And so does the unremitting destruction brought on vehicles. Perhaps, the only ones smiling in this are the auto mechanics whose industry has since been elevated to a vibrant money-making enterprise, no longer a fringe job for school dropouts. The very fact that their workshops are crammed with broken-down or badly battered vehicles leaves them in good cash and better spirits. Things have been looking up for Nigerian mechanics.

We have also found it impossible to convert our plentiful water into usable household commodity. And this has thrown up all manner of water industrial-

Current kerosene crisis illustrates enduring leadership challenges ists and merchants, wholesome and unscrupulous, all extracting handsome profits from the poor consumer.

In the same way, generating and distributing electric power has become a mystery no one can crack. And as in the case of water, a whole new alternative but very expensive power industry has emerged.

Almost every home, no matter how small or economically challenged, has a power generator whose maintenance and running costs far outstrip the meager resources of the breadwinners.

Security of life is an eternal challenge.

Increasing population and joblessness seem to be breeding more outlaws than the police can handle. But beyond that, even the high turnover of the police leadership and the circumstances surrounding their retirement do little to allay our worst security concerns. Almost every Inspector-General of Police leaves office in a cloud of one scandal or another. It is unclear yet how Mr Hafis Ringim, the incumbent, will ride the storm gathering over him

since the terrorist attack on the police headquarters penultimate week.

Now consider the anguish of Nigerians over kerosene and petrol. In the days of President Olusegun Obasanjo, no effort was spared in trying to ram fuel subsidy removal down Nigerians’ throats. At every opportunity, the President’s foot soldiers reeled out statistics and charts to convince Nigerians that sustaining the subsidy was inimical to the country’s resources. They also went on to tempt us with the idea that the billions of naira that would be saved from the subsidy removal would be used to resuscitate our comatose infrastructure.

Obasanjo’s men often fell into a chant.

Hospitals would be built or rebuilt, they sang. Drugs would be available in the hospitals. The insufferable roads would be fixed.

Without shame they told us why ought to pay more for what God gives freely and in such awesome abundance. Even in the pre-Obasanjo era, the argument has been running. They used to ask in the late 80s

“Cooking stoves empty, lamps dry, women and children, and sometimes men, have mounted a sustained search for kerosene. Failing to find it in the neighbourhood where it has gone for anything between N250 a litre and 600 for two and a half, the searchers have often ended up at filling stations”

why a bottle of soft drink should cost more than a litre of petrol. We have been paying more ever since, and still suffering.

The latest round of suffering is experienced right from the kitchen to the filling station. Cooking stoves empty, lamps dry, women and children, and sometimes men, have mounted a sustained search for kerosene. Failing to find it in the neighbourhood where it has gone for anything between N250 a litre and 600 for two and a half, the searchers have often ended up at filling stations. There, a waiting queue curls round the facility or even outside it, cutting a picture comparable only to fuel lines and traffic gridlocks. A man narrated how he went from one filling station to another, keg in hand, searching for precious kerosene. His search covered a few miles before he located the cooking fuel, he told me. Then he walked all the way back.

When these terrible things happen, it is always the poor that suffer.

Why has it been impossible to build just one refinery in the country, or make the existing ones work? Perhaps, there is no end to the incongruities of Nigeria. Otherwise, why should a country be so blessed with such resources and yet remain so cursed and afflicted? Why should so much money be sunk into so many projects (electricity, roads, refineries, etc) and yet nothing works? What is the logic or wisdom of extracting crude with foreign expertise, only to export it for refinement and then import it into the country?

Perhaps, running the country is truly tougher than some of us imagine.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Comment & Analysis

13

The Boko Haram menace Why should FG parley with terrorists?

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan’s position that the Federal Government is ready to dialogue with members of the Jamaatul Alissunna lid da a wa wal jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram has generated ripples in the polity.

This is so in view of the fact that some influential and powerfully positioned members of the society and even opposition parties are already rooting for dialogue with this insurgent group.

Expectedly, the shocking bombing of Louis Edet House, the headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Abuja has pushed sect to the front burner of national discourse, hence the debate on whether or not dialogue option should be pursued with the much dreaded Boko Haram Islamic.

Unfortunately, rather than embrace the soft landing avenues availed it by the government, the sect unapologetically gave conditions that must be met before it can enter into dialogue.

The group wants among others that Sharia law should be implemented in the northern part of the country where Muslims form the majority; the immediate release of all their members kept in detention in Borno and some parts of the north; that former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff and Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Umar Garbai El-Kanemi, Shehu of Borno, should be prosecuted according to Islamic Law for allegedly allowing security agents kill its sect leader, Sheik Mohammed Yusuf during the July 2009 crisis.

The sect called for the prosecution of Christopher Dega, former commissioner of police, the Director, State Security Service (SSS) who served during that period of the crisis and those members of Operation Flush that allegedly shot their members before the crisis erupted. The sect stated that unless the federal government met the conditions, it would not participate in any dialogue.

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HERE is no better way of describing the bomb blast that occurred at the Nation’s Force Headquarters in Abuja on Thursday June 16 than to describe it as very callous. If the enemy within had succeeded in penetrating our porous security network and bombed the seat of our internal security, then its next target might be the Defence Headquarter or the Presidential Villa itself.

It is a treasonable felony which should be condemned in its entirety no matter the motive behind it. The dust raised by the post-election violence are yet to settle down when incidences of bomb-blasts become rampant.

For several times, since the days of this Administration even in acting capacity, we have been drumming it into the ears of The Presidency to take the issue of security very seriously. Food security, energy and fighting corruption can only come next to it (security). The nation is not fighting external aggressors and yet our apparent weak intelligence/security apparatus coupled with lack of adequate political will on the part of The Presidency to deal decisively with the problem is making her to lose her citizens in needless acts of terrorism. There is no doubt that the recent modus operandi of the dissident bears the signatures of foreign terrorist groups, although with local content. While the National Assembly are hesitating to pass the local content bill in our Oil Industry, the terrorists in our midst have pulled the rug under them by ‘domesticating’ terrorism and thus posing serious challenges to our security agencies. With the scandalous pilfering of our National Treasury in billions by our politicians and highly placed bureaucrats, what does it cost our governments both at the federal and state levels to ensure that our major cit-

The sect haughtily threatened that the planned deployment of troops to Borno State or the seeking of assistance of FBI, CIA, the Israel intelligence agency, Mossad or Interpol would not stop its members from fulfilling their mission of destroying the country further. After the deadly blast at the Force Headquarters of the Nigeria Police, the latest in the series of deadly blasts that has plagued the country in recent times, and the recalcitrant posture of the sect going by its threat to wreck more havoc, it will be wrong to assume that its members are reasonable.

What has been established is that the sect is ready to take head on the Nigerian state. The demands that it has made so far are pointers to the fact that the sect is highly contemptuous of constituted authorities. Whatever the enormity of its grievances is, it is high time to make the sect realise that it is in no way above the law and no matter how long, its wings of pride shall be clipped for good.

The absolute recourse to violence by Boko Haram that publicly espoused its avowed aversion to civilisation is unacceptable to us. Nigeria in all ramifications subscribes to the values highly cherished among civilised nations. These values

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

•Editor Lekan Otufodunrin •Managing Editor Festus Eriye •Olayinka Oyegbile Deputy Editor •Associate Editor Taiwo Ogundipe

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

Boko Haram claims to loathe and as such we call on government to use its full weight to quell this insurgent men and women hiding under the guise of Islam to perpetuate evil in the society.

We recollect that the Boko Haram rebellion commenced in Bauchi State on July 26, 2009 and in less than five days spread to neighbouring states of Borno, Yobe and Kano. What began as mere religious skirmishes has sadly assumed the status of terrorism which the Nigerian government must do everything to halt.

We know that it is high time that the sect called Boko Haram is criminalised because it has proved to be nothing else but a terror group that is disturbing the peace and security of the nation.

The first step to nip its criminality in the bud is for people living in environment where the sect exists to route members out of their hidings. Once this is done, it is certain that there will be no hiding place for these religious vermin masquerading as Muslim fundamentalists.

The security agencies must be forthcoming in the way they do their job. So far, there is nothing worth cheering from their end but a manifestation of failure of intelligence. They have demonstrated regrettably, dereliction in intelligence gathering since over time, they have been unable to anticipate violence that has erupted in several parts of the country.

Well, it was reported that over 50 members of the Boko Haram sect have been arrested and now in police custody. The security agencies should be highly interested in gathering vital intelligence from the miscreants in the fight to rid the country of their menace. We believe there is no need for dialogue with an unrepentant terrorist group that has committed crime against humanity in the country.

Time to stop dissident groups ies are well covered by Close Circuit Television (CCTV)?

The federal government should take a holistic approach to the issue of security in this nation.

And it should start by having enough trained personnel for intelligence gathering and proper analysis of same. Our security agents will be handicapped to perform their constitutional duty without proper well-processed information/intelligence to work with. In the last two years, the nation has recorded a high turnover of Security Chiefs on account of security breaches. There is the need for synergy and collaboration among our security agencies if they must rise up to the security challenges in our country.

In addition, our security agents will not be encouraged to do their work if our political leaders do not have the political will to prosecute and punish identified suspects with their masterminds so as to serve as deterrent to others. The Nigerian nation is not asking for too much from The Presidency led by President Goodluck Jonathan. What the Nation is asking for are the basics that any government should provide for her citizens. Throwing of bombs isn’t part of Nigerian culture and the federal government should do all it can to ensure that the dastardly acts of terrorism do not take root. The nation is still waiting to see actions on the part of our governments and not sermons. The nation is being ravaged by poverty and plagued by corruption in high places amidst epileptic power-supply; yet the International Community has rated us

as the happiest people on earth.

May be because of our resilience and religiosity. We believe in the axiom that if there is life, there is hope. Now that our lives are being decimated in strange circumstances due to no fault of ordinary Nigerians, then it is high time our leaders rose to be the occasion so that they can worth their callings.

Despite these challenges, we are still keeping faith and our hope is alive in this nation that is

destined to be great politically, economically and militarily in the comity of nations. While we are praying for the realization of this vision, our leaders should couple our faith with necessary actions.

“Faith without works (actions) is dead”, says the Holy Scriptures.

We were about to go to Press when we read of MASSOB’s threat in the newspapers that the group is planning to adopt BokoHaram’s strategy. Well, there is no doubt that Jonathan Admin-

istration political will is being put to serious test. We pray GOD will grant him the grace to take the right steps in the right direction. But he needs to be decisive otherwise these dissident groups may mess up his government and put the nation’s peaceful co-existence in jeopardy.

Oluwagbemiga Olakunle, JP General Secretary National Prayer Movement gbemigaolakunle@yahoo.co.uk

Political criminals should not go unpunished

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T is unthinkable that the former Speaker Bankole and his Deputy was involved in such huge sums of money that we now read about. If that is so, can anyone tell me why the Senate President David Mark and his Deputy should not be investigated even now on seat?

It is still fresh in our minds how the former Delta State governor James Ibori called the shots with impunity during Umaru Yar’Adua’s tenure as if he was a saint. No sooner Yar’Adua died the bubble burst with former Attorney General of the Federation, Aondoakaa, becoming the first to fall and Ibori escaped with the aid of security and anti-graft agencies.

EFCC boss, Farida Waziri, is now being revealed as Ibori’s lawyer when Ribadu held sway as the EFCC boss.

We were all witnesses to the type of looting (N20billion recovered) from then sitting Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun.

What is the guarantee that all the past Police bosses did not enrich themselves more than Tafa

Balogun? Even the sitting Police boss; a strong allegation was made against him that he was bribed with a whopping N500million by a south-south governor in order not to tamper with posting of the State’s Police Commissioner who probably together with other security agencies’ heads and INEC allegedly helped the governor to to rig election that is now under election tribunal investigations. The IGP should take the recent bombing of his headquarter as a sign that he should turn a new leaf in order that God’s wrath would not come upon him. He should be held responsible for provoking the Boko Haram attack on the Louis Edet House; when he was not ready he boasted that the sect has only ten days before being eradicated.

Those ones reacted under two days thereafter and Ringim was saved by whisker.

What can one also say about former Imo Governor Ohakim, former Ogun Governor Daniel (though now back) and former Oyo Governor Akala – all ran away under the watchful eyes of

the EFCC, the SSS, the Police and the ICPC as if we Nigerians are robots and do not have brain to perceive that only few crooks are being prosecuted while majority of the crooks are still walking the streets somewhere on this earth.

These types of brazen looting of the treasuries by politicians are still on-going with most sitting governors hiding under immunity to continue with the impunity. Most politicians need go for psychiatric examination.

There are dethro ned governors like those of Ondo, Ekiti, Osun, and Edo who have never been asked to render account of their fraudulent stewardships. There are also some second term governors facing election tribunals and may be planning to escape; now the EFCC and other anti-graft agencies would not perfect their expected proactive stance.

Chief Barnabas Osuanlele/ Ikpoba Slope/Benin City/Edo State barnabasosuanlele@yahoo.com

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Comment & Analysis

Boko Haram: still playing the Ostrich?

Ropo Sekoni ropo.sekoni @thenationonlineng.net

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HE recent outing of Boko Haramists is, as expected, generating outbursts from Nigerians and their governments. But commentators from government officials to pundits are saying what is expected of Nigerians in the wake of such serious assault on the polity and society: rushing into exaggerations, understatements and digression in analysis and recommendations. If something requires Nigerians to delude themselves in such situations, it is the perception that nothing should touch the country’s unity and that no lie or equivocation is too much to make on account of the country’s unity.

First hear some of the comments.

The federal government has assured Nigerians that security is receiving adequate attention. Presidency spokespersons even said that security at Aso Rock has been beefed up since the suicide bomber hit the police headquarters. Even state governments are beating their chests on measures they have taken or are taking to keep Boko Haram at bay in the desert. Even the police has withdrawn its initial statement that the bombing was at the instance of a suicide bomber. It has since embarked on investigation into remote and immediate causes of the bombing. Police public relations officer has withdrawn the initial announcement that the Abuja bombing was done by a suicide bomber while

Boko Haram is out to destroy Nigeria by destroying what keeps the different parts of Nigeria together some highly placed Nigerians are already calling for the sack of the Inspector-General for poor performance.

The Senate President has refused to be upstaged. He has called for fortification of the country’s security while members of the House of Representatives have also accepted to wear name tags to identify them on their way to the hallowed chamber of lawmaking. On the executive side, the Presidential Adviser on Amnesty has said categorically that amnesty will not be extended to Boko Haram. To him, amnesty is a special programme that should not be politicized. Interestingly, the presidential adviser’s wisdom is in contrast to the wish of one of the country’s cultural power brokers, the Nigerian Council of Islamic Affairs. The Council has recommended extension of amnesty to Boko Haram as a way of achieving peace, citing the success of amnesty for Niger Delta militants. Some anonymous peace experts playing an advisory role to the presidency have indicated that Boko Haram’s struggle has no clearcut objectives.

The problem with all that have been said about Boko Haram since its most brutal attack (so far) is not with the plurality of perspectives. That should be expected in a country with freedom of expression. What is troubling is the failure of commentators to come to grips with the facts and reality of Boko Haram. This is not a new organization in the country’s political and religious space. It has shown by words and action its preference for violence as a way of achieving its goals. It is therefore wrong for anyone to say or pretend that Boko Haram has no clear goals and objectives. Ibrahim Gambari’s comments at a lecture at the University of Ibadan

are something to which more attention should be paid by the federal government in particular and state governments in general. Gambari said among other things that Boko Haram has the capacity to turn Nigeria into Sudan and Darfur. He added that Boko Haram represents threats to national cohesion and development, an indication that “the nation is still far from being there.” If anybody should know the implications of Sudan and Darfur, Gambari should.

Apart from being the most experienced Nigerian in international diplomacy still in service, Gambari has been assisting the United Nations to find peace in Darfur for over three years.

An organization that states unequivocally that it is opposed to western education and is committed to destroying all manifestations of western education has clear objectives and goals. It is a different matter if pundits are unwilling to get it, as Americans would say. There is no doubt that sponsors and members of Boko Haram are out to destroy the cord that ties Nigeria together. To be opposed to western education is to be opposed to the corporate existence of Nigeria as one country. Nigeria was created

by Frederick Lugard in 1914 as a colony of the United Kingdom. It was administered until 1960 in consonance with British political principles and practices that derive from western education and values.

Nigeria has been sustained as one country since 1960 largely by British or western-type of institutions: the military from 1966-1979 and from 1984 -1999. Even those that have ruled the country as civilians have done so on the basis of western education.

English is the language that holds Nigeria together. The country’s constitution is written in English. Poli-

tics and business are conducted in English. The language that people from the country’s federating units have in common is English. And there is no other way for citizens to acquire the language except through western education. Boko Haram is out to destroy Nigeria by destroying what keeps the different parts of Nigeria together.

Giving amnesty to members of Boko Haram is not any different from giving amnesty to Niger Delta militants. It is playing the Ostrich or hiding one’s head in the sand as a way of avoiding to come to terms with one’s reality. Amnesty was given to Niger Delta militants as a palliative. The real thing to do was (and is still) to bring Niger Delta militants to the table to discuss what the region wants from other parts of Nigeria. It will be worse for the country if amnesty is now extended to Boko Haram. It may also not do the country any lasting good if Boko Haram is silenced through monetary bribes or through annihilation of its members and sponsors, if they can be identified. It is important that those Boko Haram members responsible for bombing and killing innocent Nigerians are punished.

But what is needed most is a national conversation or dialogue on the way forward for Nigeria as one territorial unit. Boko Haram has done more than any other agency to question the existence of Nigeria. In relation to Boko Haram, the unilateral enrollment by Babangida’s military dictatorship of Nigeria in the Organisation of Islamic States; Obasanjo’s decision to ignore the illogic of a country that houses millions of born-again Christians like him in OIC, and the introduction of Sharia in most states in northern Nigeria now appear to be side shows.

What is required after the guilty

has been punished is a sovereign national conference or constitutional conference to allow Boko Haram to present its case in the midst of other self-determination groups such as MASSOB, Oodua Liberation Front, Atayese, Ijaw People’s Congress, Ohaeneze, Arewa Consultative Forum, Afenifere Renewal Group and freely elected representatives of the various nationalities in the country.

Nigeria has to respect the right of all indigenous peoples to self-determination. Boko Haram is looking for a country that suits its own religious and emotional preferences. So are there many organizations that want a Nigeria that allows them to organize their societies in accordance with their preferred values, though many of them, unlike Boko Haram, refuse to be violent.

It is not enough to pay attention to symptoms at the expense of causes.

Boko Haram’s violence is an instrument of an idea that government and non-government commentators may be sweeping intentionally or unintentionally under the mat. Punishing culprits alone may not achieve the peace Nigeria need. The country has to address the ideology that drives the organization. Before Boko Haram becomes a secessionist organization (carving a section of Nigeria for implementation of its cultural policy) or a colonizing group ( re-creating Nigeria through violence in its own image), Boko Haram’s cultural goal needs to be given a hearing at a constitutional conference. The promise

by Arewa Consultative Forum to appeal to Boko Haram to sheathe its sword and to assist in planning better security in the 19 northern states may also not solve the problem that Boko Haram has become for Nigeria as one country.

The Scottish election and its relevance to Nigeria Femi Orebe femi.orebe @thenationonlineng.net 08056504626 (sms only)

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Y present vacationing in Scotland has provided the urge for me to do a long postponed article on their last Scottish elections with emphasis on its implications for a country like Nigeria. But first, a word about Livingston where we are staying for the 2- week holiday.

Located approximately 25 km west of Edinburgh and 50 km east of Glasgow, Livingston is the fourth post-war new town to be built in Scotland. Adorned every inch of the way by enthralling greenery, Livingston is built around a collection of small villages: Livingston Village, Bells quarry and Livingston Station. The 2001 census put the town’s population at 50,826 with its 2008 population estimated to be around 63,160.

The name, however, dates back to 12th century when a Flemish entrepreneur, De Leving, built a fortified tower and the settlement around it became known as Levingstoun, Layingston [2] and eventually Livingston. Livingston is, without a doubt, a visitor’s delight.

The Scottish election of May 5, 2011, was the equivalent of a political tsunami ; giving the SNP an unprecedented landslide victory far beyond the expectations of the lead-

The Scottish elections should open our eyes to the unreasonableness of Nigeria as presently structured ing lights of the party; especially bearing in mind the fact that the Labour party was a full 8-10 points ahead in opinion polls as late as February.

Thanks to a few weeks of a resurgent nationalist fervour: things worked out so good for the party it today has in Parliament, 69 members to Labour’s 37 and Conservative 15, Liberal Democrat 5, Green 2, and 1 Independent.

Nobody has put what happened in that election better than Danus G.M Skene, an Independent Political Scholar, who wrote , and I quote: ‘in the secret recesses of their collective mind, Scots’ voters have contrived a revolution.’

It was certainly nothing less.

And concerning the consequences of the election, Skene added: ‘This historic election, without a doubt, is bound to change both the Scottish and British lexicon for all time. It will obviously change Britain permanently, as Scottish independence becomes a real option on the agenda, signaling an end to the 400-year-old concept of a multinational and imperial British state during which , for instance, Scottish collective revulsion at the policies of the Thatcher government of the 1980s, further consolidated nationalist feelings. This election, Skene concluded, is a further sharp move in the parting of the London and Edinburgh tectonic plates!’.

What accounted for SNP’s shellacking of the other parties, especially the Labour party?

For answers to this question, I turned to my son who has lived here for four years after a longer stay in

London. In his words, the SNP has done nothing else but work for the people of Scotland. For instance, he said, SNP has announced a bill making university education totally free of charge for any Scots studying in Scotland just as it pledged free prescription drugs. For the past four years, the SNP minority government has managed Scotland within the limited existing powers of the Scottish Parliament and government machinery better than any of its predecessors.

Increasingly therefore, the question in Scotland will become ‘what is the essence of the Union? And this exactly is where the election’s relevance to Nigeria comes in. The key question to Nationalists, regarded until the elections in London and even by many elite Scots as a fringe movement, has for 40 years been: “Do you really want to break up the UK? Why?” And for the Nationalists the answers had always been: cultural identity and shared history, economic selfmanagement, promotion of enterprise, and an end to local imperialism. Nigerians must note that you can substitute Nwazurike’s MASSOB for Nationalists in the above statement and you would still be spot on.

How, for instance, is Nigeria as presently structured, benefiting its constituent parts? Is it equitably structured?

What are the fiscal, economic and security arguments for its continuation in its present circumstances with each of the 36 states running to Abuja for sustenance like beggars at the end of each month? Is its increasing se-

curity challenges made worse by a ragtag, religiously driven, Boko Haram, but which an obviously feckless federal government makes to look like the most structured and organized urban terrorist organisation?

What can one describe as the communal benefit in a Nigerian state where the federal government keeps an ungodly percentage of the national resources just so there will be enough money to be shared between the Executive and the Legislative branches of government? Must the rapacious National Assembly be on full time basis even as members are known mostly for their absenteeism, as we see at its thrice weekly plenary sessions with members working only for about 186 days in a year? Why retain a federal police structure when community policing, manned by officers familiar with the community, its culture and terrain, would better serve the citizenry?

What is this attraction to a federal police with state governors, incongruously described as Chief Security Officers of their respective states, having to wait upon a Commissioner of Police whose loyalty is to a man hundreds of kilometers away and without whose say so he dares not do a thing?

Without a doubt, the Scottish elections, with its intended Scottish independence or, at least, fiscal autonomy some 3 or 4 years down the line, should open our eyes to the unreasonableness of Nigeria as presently structured.

And this is where the results of the last April elections in SouthWest Nigeria provide a workable

paradigm for co-operative or fiscal federalism; the type Nigeria should work towards. Even though former President Obasanjo’s ingenuous manipulation of elections especially in the zone made it look magical, the fact we voted the way we did bears eloquent testimony to governor Fashola’s yeo-man’s efforts in further deepening the developmental foundations laid by his predecessor in office. The way he aggressively tackled security issues in a trail-blazing synergy with the private sector further recommended the A C N to South-West electorates who readily drew a correlation between his government and Awo’s action-packed years as Premier of Western Region.

Therefore, if the current SouthWest governors can make a success of their current tenure, through measurable developments based on regional integration and synergy, which we pray and hope they do, it should be possible for the geo-political zone to accentuate the sense in making geo-political zones the basis of our federalism since the aim of governance is meeting the needs and aspirations of the greater majority of the citizenry as Fashola spectacularly did in Lagos Sstate.

This paradigm will ensure fiscal federalism, planned economic development, community policing, wages and salaries based on each zone’s ability to pay rather than this present head-master type arrangement of a federal government rail-roading compensatory issues.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Comment & Analysis

15

Governors have mixed up Genesis with Exodus Tunji

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

G

OVERNORS who reportedly rose from their meeting on June 21 in Abuja, asking the Federal Government to remove the so-called fuel subsidy must themselves be brazing up for trouble. A child who says his mother should not sleep should not expect to doze either. Fuel subsidy has always been a contentious issue and it will so remain until the Federal Government does the appropriate thing on fuel supply. It is unfortunate that the same untenable excuses that military dictators had always given for removing fuel subsidy are the same excuses that even our democratically elected officials have been recycling to justify same. What this tells us is that people are no longer doing any rigorous thinking in government.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo lent credence to this when he said at the swearing in of some of his advisers that he was not mandated to take their advice.

We all know this is the truth; but it is not to be said. As a matter of fact, in some climes, some of the advisers would decline to serve in that capacity due to that un-presidential utterance. If their advice would not count, why waste public money on them? But this is precisely what is happening at all levels of governance in the country.

Postscript, Unlimited!

By

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

W

HILE in traffic, I have often had cause to yell at some other driver for one infraction or the other. Recently, however, I took a hard look at the situation and concluded that my yelling did not seem to accomplish much. Other road users seemed to be getting worse, so I settled the matter in my mind. I resolved, instead, to begin to name drivers according to the grade of their traffic offence. Anyone who runs into my car is the devil; a driver/rider who goes at a hundred km down the highway with no consideration to any other road user is the devil’s errand-man. The ones who cut in irreverently into the traffic in front of me are the devil’s angels, and the ones who stop suddenly in front of me to say hello to their friends have got to be the devil’s teachers.

Within a few weeks of each other, a young man and a recently married young lady, relatives of mine, sadly lost their lives in two separate road accidents. A third is still in hospital for injuries sustained in yet another road mishap

What is the link between fuel subsidy and minimum wage?

When even governors appoint advisers and special advisers, they are not necessarily to serve the public interest but are supposed to be reward for political patronage. That explains why we have many advisers who do not advise on anything.

What the governors want confirms my assertion that there is no rigorous thinking in government any more. Really, there is no incentive for any serious thinking because there is a ready-made cash cow that makes money available without anyone needing a thinking cap, or having to worry about where the next allocation would come from.

The governors have a problem on their hands, and, in order to solve that, they would not mind to create an even bigger one that they may not be able to handle when it explodes in their faces. For them to pay the minimum wage, they want to mix up children at the hospital ward; they are confusing Genesis with Exodus. Any nexus between minimum wage and fuel subsidy?

This, as a colleague put it, is the height of gubernatorial rascality.

Nigerians knew that at the rate at which money was changing hands during the last elections, it was only a matter of time before they

would be called upon to start making some funny sacrifices. They have been condemned to cycles of sacrifices and attendant poverty.

The irony of it is that while they are busy making the so-called sacrifices, there is increasing evidence that the over-pampered political class is immune from such sacrifices. Rather, members of the political class would not even mind to borrow billions of naira to ‘spoil themselves a little’.

I sympathise with the governors because some of their predecessors who knew they had fallen out of favour in their respective states, and were therefore not likely to return to office after the elections put them in the quagmire of having to pay the minimum wage, willy-nilly. If it was that convenient, why didn’t the immediate past governors start paying in those states? The truth however is that I have never believed in national minimum wage because states are not equally endowed.

But the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is insisting that the governors must honour the National Minimum Wage Act. It is now a law and there is little choice for the governors but to pay.

The point, as had been noted is that governments at all levels

“If the governors had stopped at asking the Federal Government to shed some of the excess luggage of funds it is carrying, which has enabled some of its officials to … steal in billions, they would have more than enough disciples. But to tie minimum wage to removal of a phantom fuel subsidy is the height of lack of imagination and insensitivity …”

have not demonstrated the needed examples to convince Nigerians to believe them whenever they say they have no money for developmental purposes. What the people see in and around government houses is a sharp contrast to the impression of governments having cash-flow problems. They see their purportedly elected officials in opulence in the midst of the pervasive want outside the government confines. Nigerians can literally touch corruption at all levels; even in the most unexpected quarters.

By asking the Federal Government to remove the so-called subsidy on fuel so they could be able to pay the new minimum wage, the governors are merely exhibiting their insensitivity to the pervasive poverty in the land. In the first place, Nigeria has no business importing fuel. If therefore we are importing fuel despite being a major producer of crude oil, the question that people who were truly elected by Nigerians ought to be asking is how did we get to this sorry pass? Whose fault is it that we are importing fuel? There has been a democratic government in power since 1999, how come we have been unable to find a solution to our inability to refine adequate petroleum products at home? I do not expect popularly elected governors to queue behind the Federal Government in this matter; rather, they should be on the side of the Nigerian people so that together, we can wake that government from its slumber. That governors would rise from their meeting only to come up with this solution to the problem created by

the demands of a new minimum wage further lends credence to my assertion that many of our leaders are no longer interested in any thinking caps. What they are after is quick fix which has got them fixated on the monthly allocation that they necessarily go cap-inhand to Abuja to collect every month. Suppose the oil dried up today, would that be the end of the world?

If the governors had stopped at asking the Federal Government to shed some of the excess luggage of funds it is carrying, which has enabled some of its officials to steal in billions, they would have more than enough disciples. But to tie minimum wage to removal of a phantom fuel subsidy is the height of lack of imagination and insensitivity for which the governors should apologise to Nigerians. Twelve years into democratic governance, we should be thinking about how to deepen federalism. We cannot do that if all eyes are still on the proceeds of crude oil from the Niger Delta. What we need now are governors that would be thinking ahead; governors that would be imagining their states without crude oil.

There is hardly any state that is not endowed. Let the governors put on their thinking caps and make the best of whatever God has deposited in their domain.

Even if the governors’ intention is to blackmail labour so it could be soft in its demand for the minimum wage, it is still the result of the same problem: lack of imagination in government. The governors can be more creative.

When the devil’s teachers drive… that occurred while she stood by a roadside waiting to board a taxi and got hit by someone who tried to beat the traffic light and consequently lost control of the car and the road. The way many Nigerians drive makes one think that the devil has been much wronged and maligned. The truth is, when they drive, it appears as if there is no law, and where there is no law, the people perish.

I do believe, however, that Nigeria has a plethora of laws to take care of offending abusers of traffic laws, and people who take more liberties to themselves than the laws allow. One of the problems is that there is hardly any strong body of people to enforce these laws. I have always said that the ruin of a country begins with the ruin of its policing system because the effectiveness of every single law in the land is only as strong as its enforcement. But you and I know only too well what our police love to enforce more …

Then again, take the drivers.

Half of the commercial and professional drivers who populate the roads in this country are uneducated, and the other half are illiterates. Even when they can read and write, they are so crude in their pursuit of profit and happiness on the roads that I despair of any sense of refinement ever arising from or getting through to them. You’d sooner get a hippopotamus to tap dance. Indeed,

from the way they drive, it is obvious that some kind of possession takes place immediately they take the wheel. This kind of possession may not be unconnected with the early morning stops they make to some out-of-the-way wooden shacks, unseen to anyone else but which they only can locate in the bush. One stop in a day often guarantees the reckless and brazen display of insanity that you and I witness on the Abuja-Lokoja road, LagosIbadan road, Kaduna-Zaria road, and other by-roads in the country! That is where over-takers overtake over-takers overtaking over-takers on two-lane roads and grin stupidly while at it!

Now take the so-called literate drivers. Half of them are no more than children fresh out of their nappies that so-called rich parents, using looted Nigerian treasury funds, empower to cause havoc on the roads. Knowing no better than his retarded parent, the equally retarded Junior takes the wheel and pushes the throttle to its maximum number, that’s beyond floor level, ‘just to test how far it can go.’ The ones who are a little older, such as the retarded parents, get into their own powerful jeeps (bought with…), put on their full lights in the bright of day, and then proceed to edge every lowly car off the road for having the effrontery to ride on the same road with

them.

The Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, introduced a fresh perspective to teaching road manners to his state citizens recently. He forced those ‘Speed Racers’ to ride with him the entire day as he went on his own duties! I wish he had, in the course of that day, constrained them to watch him eat his lunch, and then make them wash the dishes afterwards. That would be a lesson in humility indeed. I think if anyone wants to test the strength and speed of their car, they should go to the Kalahari Desert.

Someone once tried to test the speed worthiness of his car in a town in England by going beyond the speed limit of that zone.

When he was stopped by the police for over-speeding by about twenty-kilometres, he very cleverly exclaimed, ‘Officer, the earth is doing 940 million kilometers round the sun at 107 305 km/h, and you want to give me a ticket me for travelling at 40 m/h in a sixty mile zone?’ He got the ticket.

Many of us get away, sometimes literally, with murder on the road because there is no punitive measure attached to a road crime.

It is only in this country that traffic laws are made and then promptly hidden from every one’s view. Traffic policemen persistently wink at criminals who travel with children sitting in the front

seat, hang large L cards on their cars and drive alone, holding up the traffic, have more than the required number of people in their commercial vehicles …

Rather than berate a wrong-doer, most traffic policemen content themselves with wearing a look of ennui and sighing at an offender, ‘These Nigerians, sef.’

Clearly, all is not well with Nigerian roads, drivers and the entire country, if you like, because our road management system is just a metaphor for the country’s governance. It is a little like asking that the feet be cured when the entire body is hurting. True, governance seeps down and affects every part of the body politic. In the end, however, each unit still needs to be addressed as a part of a whole.

Where the roads are concerned, there is no substitute to making everyone of us sensitive to our road responsibilities. Let the mobile courts work swiftly, summarily and decidedly daily throughout the country; let the police, traffic wardens and FRSC men and women stop smiling at motorists, including me, especially when we try to imitate the speed at which the earth is moving; let insane drivers be pulled off our roads, and that’s everybody else... And please LET US STOP MAIMING AND KILLING ONE ANOTHER ON OUR ROADS just because the devil has turned his back on Nigerian drivers.

16

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Essay

Barack the great: The unexpected warrior president War is the first resort of the powerful but the last of the prudent.

P

RESIDENT Obama recently has made two foreign war policy decisions, one regarding Afghanistan, the other Libya, giving insight into his national security theology.

On balance, his is a subtle yet daring stroke freighted with heavy consequence for how American democracy parcels war-making power between the Presidency and Congress as well as how America conducts its martial business abroad.

President Obama now moves away from the traditional "big" war of massive deployment of personnel and equipment needing Congressional approval to a novel concept of smaller "non-wars" carried out by long-range, high-tech weaponry like drone bombers. Not classified as wars, these smaller exercises would not require Congressional approbation. They would be under the personal mandate of the President. The happy tiller of battlefields he has become, President Obama could grow them like mushrooms in the moist soil of a dark room.

It would be wrong to apportion all the blame for this turn on the President. He could not have concocted this intellectual distortion by himself. He has been spoon fed false ambrosia by elements of a military apparatus run amok because it has grown too big to control. Too big to fail and too big to succeed, the military machine acts for its own pleasure. It protects the security of the nation only because it needs that security to enable its perpetual expansion. Making its way around the penumbral halls of the Pentagon and White House, there likely exists a detestable little memorandum drafted by some ambitious bureaucratic troll. The document probably gives a blunt, cynical outline for how the President and Pentagon can finesse a chunk of war-making power from the untidy and too public Congressional process by teaming modern martial technology with the ancient art of political obfuscation to mask the nature of what the military security complex is actually pursuing.

Told this tack would increase his power and ability to defend the republic, President Obama believed the con and swallowed the bait like the gullible mark that he is. While he went to sleep with the stealthy memo still in his hand, the constitution slipped from the night table into the trash can.

There it remains.

The lines of this shift were set in motion weeks ago when the President nominated the current CIA Director to take over the Defense Department and to place the high priest of counterinsurgency, General Petraeus, as the wizard of dark arts at the CIA. These placements signal a shift from massive war to tiny, boutique wars, a shift from open use of the sledgehammer to the concealed stiletto.

Superficially, the decisions regarding the partial withdrawal in Afghanistan and the designation of Libya as a non-war seem unconnected to each other. Standing alone, the Afghan decision smacks of sound judgment. Former President Bush's most notorious foreign policy blunder was starting the Iraqi war. His second greatest mistake was his prosecution of the Afghan war. This war had a justifiable national security basis; yet, Bush treated it as ancillary to his visceral quest to finish Saddam Hussein. He kept the effort in Afghanistan on life support; the war festered for five-six years.

Slowly, the Taliban regrouped and regained lost territory.

Obama had better strategic focus than Bush. He recognized the importance of handcuffing Al Qaeda and the Taliban. After a long period of relative inactivity, America went back to a fighting instead of a holding war in Afghanistan only last year. In effect, the Afghan war has been a three-year war stretched into a decade. The American public is understandably weary. They have wanted to exit for a long time. Recognizing this, President Obama embarked on a policy of a temporary increase in military force to bloody the Taliban, putting them on the defensive. This was done to soften them, hopefully making the Taliban more amenable to a political solution that would entail them giving Al Qaeda a farewell note.

Given the mess Obama inherited, this is a reasonable approach and seems to be working to a degree. Talks are underway with the Taliban and Al Qaeda's presence in Afghanistan is skeletal. Its presence in Pakistan is another matter for another type of warfare it would appear. Thus, President Obama's announcement of a slow withdrawal of significant troops serves two purposes: it douses vocal domestic opposition to the war yet allows him to keep intensified pressure on the Taliban for the foreseeable future.

This gives the President more political space while compelling the Taliban to negotiate. Again, if the Afghan decision were the only major one, Obama would get a passing mark.

However, in national security policy all is connected.

Thus, he is stuck due to his trespass against common sense and the constitution with regard to Libya.

On Libya, President decided not to comply with the War Powers Act. This measure requires the President to formally seek Congressional approval after engaging in "hostilities" not based on a Congressional declaration of war or an imminent national emergency. The military action in Libya was neither based on a war declaration nor was it in response to an imminent threat. President Obama's rationale for ignoring the War Powers Act is the Libyan intervention did not amount to hostilities because there was little likelihood of

•Obama

By Brian Browne

American casualties given the nation's long-distance role in the NATO intervention. Although America is bombing and helping others bomb Libya, he did not consider this as being involved in hostilities. This conclusion was because American personnel were outside the geographic range of any weaponry known to be in Gaddafi's small, depleted arsenal.

With Obama, technology has more than altered the practice of war; it has altered its very definition.

He asks us not to define war by the mass of destructive assets America hurls toward an opponent. He defines it by the probability of danger the opponent may inflict on America.

This definition is not a function of what America does but of the military capacity of the other party. If weak and minus the capacity to inflict long-range damage, whatever damage America inflicts against them is not to be considered an act of hostility. After all, how could anyone reasonably consider an act by the Nobel Peace Prize winning President hostile?

This is a breathtakingly regressive doctrine redolent of 18th century monarchs.

Under this coloration of the world, the President could commit squadrons of drone airplanes to bombard a nation that has no air defense. He might dispatch a flotilla off the coast of nation with no naval capacity to blockade and bombard that nation into submission. That a blockade is traditionally an act of war would not matter as long as that nation was one of fishermen and their puny canoes. He could even drop an atomic bomb on a poor, army-less nation of goat herders and mango farmers; but this would not be engaging in hostilities because the adversary was too weak to threaten plausible damage. If you do not have sufficient military capacity, you do not even deserve to describe as "war" what America's superior military may do to you. Henceforth, it will be called by whatever euphemism the President and his gray-hearted military advisors decide. In Libya it is a "humanitarian intervention" or a "kinetic military action."

Those on the receiving end of the high-gauge, high-tech barrages might be dumbfounded to learn they are not experiencing war. That is beside the point. The person doing the pulverizing not those being pulverized not only calls the shots but now can reword what he calls them.

We have finally heard the Obama doctrine. It is the newest chapter in the manual of bully diplomacy and represents an autocrat's snubbing of the constitutional separation of powers. The President has decided he can unilaterally embark on long-range warfare against weak nation, turn its capital into rubble, and finish off a contumacious leader without having to ask Congress. President Obama has arrogated to himself the right to declare limited war against nations that have little muscle to fight back. In that the American President commands the most potent military force history has known and that said military force equally commands him, drawing the list of potential nations subject to this definition will require more paper than the roster of those few nations exempt from it.

The framers of the American constitution placed the power to declare war in Congress for a reason which had little to do with the prowess of an enemy. The framers were reluctant to place such power in the hands of one person.

They feared one person wielding this power would become imperial in strategic outlook and imperious in temperament.

They recognized that war, any war, even against the most

piddling adversary, was a grave moral and resource investment with consequences that, invisible at the onset, would outlive the period of active conflagration. Going into the wrong war or going to war too often was a sure path to disaster.

America's current batch of leaders has learned the wrong lessons about military power. Resort to power is exhilarating the first day of war but exhausting every moment thereafter.

Perhaps our success in the two world wars led them to concluded that military action is usually more beneficial than not. If so, they have been blinded to the real factors underlying American advancement after those wars. America emerged from both wars better situated than the other major actors.

This was not because of better fighting capacity. It was largely an accident of geography. Separated from the Eurasian land mass by two oceans, America entered the two wars later than any other contestant and never had to fight on her soil.

America entered WWI in the last year but claimed an equal share of the victors' laurels without enduring an equal part of the hardship. America also came late to WWII. In Europe, the most savage fighting took place between the Soviets and Germans on the eastern front. America was content to send war materiel to the Soviets then watched as the fascists and communists strangled each other in a mutual death grip. Only after Germany was severely wounded did America massively advance against the Nazi western front.

Britain won both wars. But because it was engaged from the very inception, Britain's status at the end of it all was indistinguishable from those nations which lost. In winning two wars, the British lost their empire and place as the world's leading nation. After two debilitating wars, the nation was still Britain but it was no longer great. The country that would take over as the preeminent one would do so because it was the nation that had won the most by fighting the least.

Perhaps these victories have beclouded American strategic orthodoxy ever since. Instead of realizing their special geographic advantages and later entry into war led to their post-war gains, Americans have come to believe they are military success incarnate. Political leaders, supremely ignorant in the ways of war, push the nation into it at the drop of a hat. They act as if a war machine is like a muscle that gets stronger the more it is flexed. Instead, a nation's fighting capacity is like a well. The more you take from it, the drier it becomes.

Sadly, President Obama has taken his place in the herd.

He has enunciated a doctrine naked in its distain for Congressional power and weak nations. This doctrine is already at work in Libya and in the skies over Yemen where increased drone attacks are also underway. The future will tell us what other nations may be on the list. This is sad indeed. There was a fleeting moment President Obama could have opted for a less militaristic strategy. This too would have had its drawbacks and imperfections but it would have been preferable and wiser in the long haul. At the most general level, there are groups whose hostility toward America is synonymous with their existence. These groups are immune to negotiation and there is little utility in diplomacy with them. This category is a small minority. The majority of groups and nations opposed to America are not immune to negotiation and diplomacy.

However, President Obama was visibly thin-skinned and vulnerable when it came to national security. Because of domestic political reasons, he could not be seen as weak or naively toward enemies of America. Thus, he has done a poor job differentiating between eternal foe and situational opposition. All are indiscriminately dumped into the same bag. Turn the bag upside down, bomb the luckless one who comes out first. This is what American national security policy has become.

Hopefully, President Obama will not actively pursue the line of reasoning contained in his Libya explanation. If he does, there will be more drones flying over more nations, killing miscreants and innocents alike. He can wage these little wars without Congressional approval and without the public understanding the extent of it all. Resort to drone warfare is easy because it does not require a unified or outraged public as does mobilization for traditional war. All drone warfare requires are a ready, able military machine and a President willing to flick the switch. Long-range warfare becomes as easy as starting your car or turning on a light. The sad bit is these excursions will be partially effective and this will encourage Obama to continue and intensify his volleys, hoping persistence will turn partial into full success.

The goal will be Sisyphean. Bombing kills people but never wins wars.

When a nation bombs another, it creates more enemies than it kills. Pakistan is evidence of this rule of expanding animosity. At the end of the day, President Obama has inched close to being a tactical mastermind but a strategic misfit. If he actually implements the policy he suggests he will succeed in reducing the number of America's present foes only to create a larger number of more dangerous ones in the future.

This should not be the legacy of the man who catapulted to office as the man opposed to the easy, mindless resort to war.

If so, President Obama will assume the mantle of relentless warrior President Bush had hoped to claim for himself.

Focus

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

17

Nasarawa’s theatre of conflict

•Victims of the clashes

T

HOUSANDS of displaced persons spread across three local governments in Nasarawa State namely, Keana, Obi and Doma are now living in squalor in their relations or neighbours’ houses as the clashes between Fulani herdsmen and the Tiv natives rage on in Nasarawa even as many more are said to be on the move.

The end is not yet in sight for a battle that has so far taken the lives of a soldier and a police inspector as well as others the actual figure of which the authorities cannot give but which sources put at over 50.

Though the cause of theclash that suddenly broke out last week could not as at the time of this report be ascertained, it was, however, gathered that the entire area, especially Doma, is known to have been experiencing

Johnny Danjuma reports on the unending communal clashes between Fulani herdsmen and Tiv natives in Nasarawa this problem for quite a long time.

It was also suggested by some observers that what is happening now is just a continuation of violence intertwined with crime in a location described as “landlocked” and suitable for such misbehaviours.

During the Nigerian Civil War in the 60s, the troubled areas around Kwarra, Angwan Mada, Doka, Ankoma, Didan yeyi, Gbego, Rukubi, Akpata, Akpanaja and other surrounding communities made up of Tiv, Agatu, Migili and Alogo natives used to witness disturbances as war helicopters of the Nigerian Army flew through these places to avoid weapons getting into wrong hands. The route is remote and provides good cover.

While Guma in Benue are accessible by land to Nasarawa through Doma, these other areas are bordered by Benue State with River Benue serving as the border line between some of these commu-

nities. This allows for easy crossing access by trouble seekers who sometimes flee across to the other side.

It was, however, alleged that those who caused the unrest in Benue (the Fulanis) now escaped and crossed over into Nasarawa State around these communities earlier mentioned.

The aggrieved Tiv natives in Benue upon discovering this were said to have vented their anger on their kinsmen for allowing those who attacked them to settle quietly among them without reacting.The retaliation, however, brought enmity between the fleeing Fulanis and the Tivs which snowballed into the happenings of last weeks.

The problem in these Nasarawa communities, it was learnt, used to be between Tiv and Alago people when they settled down together.

But it has since been converted to Tiv/Fulani crises.

The Doma area of the state is

said to have become the regular flashpoints because of its strategic nature of being used as a transit point for the movement of cattle by Fulani herdsmen to Benue State.

However, because there has always been a military presence at Udei at the Benue end of the border, the Benue State government, it is said, has always found it easy to curtail the excesses of fighting between the Fulani herdsmen and its own people.

The recent clash in Nasarawa State was said to have started from Angwan Yaya Mada where some Fulani men were alleged to have gone after a prominent Tiv man and killed him. Thereafter, destruction of property and looting followed through Udei to Doga areas.

But things came to a head when the Fulanis allegedly killed a military personnel identified as Lt. Chinedu Anyawu. The sol-

diers were said to have engaged the latter at the Benue/Nasarawa border points. And when they ran into the thick forest at the Nasarawa end which was inaccessible due to lack of passable roads, they had to drive down to Kadarko and to Agyaragu near Lafia still on the trail of the assailants some of whom were said to be holed up in Akanga area, also near Lafia.

As at 22nd of June, the soldiers who went after the suspected herdsmen later came out with six of them whom were said to have been arrested.

Attempt to stop and hand those arrested over to the police in Kadarko, however, failed as the soldiers immediately drove off towards Makurdi when residents of Kadarko and the displaced persons in the town were swarming around the trucks that were used to convey the suspects.

The difficulty of security operatives to properly handle the crisis especially between the Nasarawa/ Benue borders is said to be as a re• Continued on page 18

18

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Focus

• Continued from page 17

sult of the main long road linking Kwarra, Angwan Mada, Doka, Ankoma, Gidan yeyi, Gbego, Rukubi, Akpata, Akpanaja, the flash points of the crisis zone.

Though the Nasarawa State Government has called a meeting of traditional rulers urging them to educate their subjects on the need to live harmoniously amongst one another, the urgent and immediate step of ending the crisis lies in the construction of the roads around most of this communities that will help expose the activities of the so called trouble makers not only to the security agents but also the people around such places.

At the early part of his administration, the Nasarawa State former governor, Alhaji Aliyu Akwe Doma; promised to construct the road from Kadarko down to Doma that will link some of these communities but the project unfortunately remained on papers till his departure in May. Because the road is very long and not cared for, in times of crisis, it becomes a negative asset in the hands of warring factions as even security men could not venture into them at such times.

Even robbers were said to have always taken advantage of the remoteness of the road to waylay innocent travelers whom they dispossess of their belongings. And since it is also used by people near the borders of Benue and Nasarawa State, the border crime rate along this route is said to be high.

A police source who spoke with The Nation on condition of anonymity said that “the Fulani attackers are not ordinary herdsmen but mercenaries that were hired for the purpose and wielding sophisticated weapons.”

Confirming the killing of two Tiv chiefs

by Fulani men whose eyes and genitals were removed, the source said this led to the fighting by the two tribes around Kwarra area near Benue State. He also said two corpses were recovered thereafter and taken to the specialist hospital in Lafia.

The names of the two chiefs whose eyes were removed were given as Kiri Asoho and Iorwanev.

A victim of the crisis, Francis Nomijor from Kyayor Village who ran to Kadarko explained that they were in their village when they started hearing gun shots and everybody started running for dear life.

On how many people were killed at his own village, he said he did not stay back to note this as he fled along with members of his family and they “are all safe now at Kadarko.”

He, however, said that during the attack by the Fulani invaders, there were burning of houses and looting at the same time. He said the invaders just entered into houses and removed personal effects like motorcycles and mattresses.

When our reporter visited Kadarko while the fighting was ongoing, many people especially women and children

Violence in the land

•Nasarawa State Emmanuel Obiako

Police

Commissioner,

•Tiv Spokesperson, Alfred Davue

•Fleeing victims

were seen with their household belongings trying to settle with relatives in the town and some were moving further away into Benue State.

It was also alleged that the conflict between the Fulanis and the Tivs in Nasarawa was being instigated by some prominent people in one of the three local

government areas for political reasons to pitch the Tivs against the newly installed government in the state.

The spokesperson for the Tiv at Kadarko, Alfred Davue who spoke with our reporter, however, said he and his kinsmen were worried and angry that their interest in Nasarawa State was not

being protected.

“The plight of the Tiv man in Nasarawa State is not properly cared for and I have no regrets saying this because it’s true”, adding that government which should be seen protecting the lives and property of the people has done nothing to pacify the Tiv people for the unwarranted attacks.

Since the beginning of this crisis about a week now, Davue said the Nasarawa State Government has not deemed it necessary to visit the troubled areas to ascertain the level of hostilities against them or to get a first hand information on the situation.

Badagry women protest pipeline project W

OMEN in Ajido, Imeke, Araromi and other communities in the outskirts of Badagry, last week staged a peaceful rally to protest what they described as an impending environmental hazard posed by the activities of the West African Pipeline Company (WAPCO) in the community.

The women who defied the cold weather took to the streets, chanting solidarity songs and bearing placards with inscriptions such as ‘save our souls, ‘WAPCO don’t wipe us out’, ‘WAPCO your pipelines are pain-lines and many others.’

The protest march which was coordinated by the Enviromental Rights Actions (ERA), a non-governmental organization saw the women, decked in customised shirts speaking their minds on the activities on the WAPCO and how it has affected their lives adversely.

One of the participants Mrs. Bamidele Kafishewon, disclosed that since the

By Vincent Nzemeke

company commenced operations in the community about five years ago, things have gone from bad to worse. She called on the management of the organization to fulfill its corporate social responsibility by making life better residents of the community.

“What we are agitating for is that WAPCO fulfill the promises they made to our community leaders before they commenced this project. It is unfair for them to be making so much money while the people in the community whose lives have been affected by their activities languish in poverty”.

She added that the pipe-lines conveying the gas from the Compressor Station in Ajido to the Republic of Benin and Togo passed through many farmlands and lagoons within the community and have rendered many residents, especially farmers and fishermen unemployed.

“Before this people came, our commu-

nity was very peaceful. We had clean water, and our land was very fertile. But since this their project began things have not been the same. Because of the gas flaring, the rooms are always hot and all the fishes in the river are also dying.

We don’t want what happened in the Niger-Delta to happen here, that is why we are calling on them to do something before it gets too late”.

Serifat Asani, another resident of the community, said the company has reneged on its agreement with the leaders of the community, thereby leaving innocent residents to fate and exposing them to a great environmental risk.

“This people promised to build schools, hospitals and roads for us when they first came, but look at this community today nothing has changed. The school they built is overgrown with grass because there is no one there, the hospital is also empty and we don’t have good roads. We cannot continue to keep quite

in the face of all these dangers, they have to do something”.

In a chat with The Nation, Betty Abba, the Gender Focal officer of ERA said the protest march was a campaign for justice and a more humane environment for the people of Ajido, Imeke, Araromi, Tori-Lovi, Age-Mowo, and other communities hosting WAPCO. Abba said it was the responsibility of the company to make life better for the women and other residents because they are benefitting from their community.

“What we are agitating is that WAPCO wake up to its responsibilities. They need to impart this community positively by employing these women who have been deprived of their means of livelihood. Many of them were farmers before the pipelines were constructed, but now they cannot go back to their farms because the pipes have taken over. The company has no right to displace people and expose them to environmental hazards without compensating them”.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

PAGE 19

‘I’m glad I’m not leaving in shame’ Page 20

‘My walk through the valley of death’ E

VERYTHING suddenly turned dark.

Death appeared so close and real. I felt I should just die than face a lifetime of disability. The crash was so close that I reckoned there must have been permanent organic damages. For some moments, I decided to take a permanent rest. Just as I closed my eyes for the journey to hereafter, I suddenly remembered my young wife and 17month-old son. How on earth can I leave such a young family all alone? My wife will be devastated. My son would grow up hating me for not fighting to live. I should at least struggle to live and see what follows next.

This thought bought me back to life. Few minutes before the accident, I was having a nice ride on the third mainland bridge from Ikeja axis. Besides me was Ngozi Nna, an intern. We were headed to Broad Street, Lagos for a scheduled interview with a business mogul who had just acquired a media organisation. Little did I know I would be hospitalised on the same street few hours later for weeks. That Friday afternoon, I had driven out of the office towards Ikeja to interview a source for a story I was working on.

I was in Oshodi when my Editor, Mr Lekan Otufodunrin called and wanted me to urgently conduct the interview on the Island.

He wanted to know if I could make it. I told him I was heading to Ikeja for a scheduled interview, but if he wanted me to conduct the interview I would head straight there from Ikeja. That would be fine, Editor said, as I hung up. To make the Island interview, I could not even wait for my source in Ikeja who was hosting some people in the office. I left promising to come another day.

I drove through Alausa secretariat to the 7Up junction from where I joined the third mainland bridge through Oworoshoki. I remember Ngozi commenting I seemed to be enjoying the ride. Yes, I concurred, adding that driving on highways, especially interstate routes, is my hobby. I recalled many times I had driven out of Lagos to various states. These trips, I told her, had honed my

Sunday Oguntola writes on a near-tragic accident he was involved in on the third mainland bridge, Lagos and his experience as a patient in a General Hospital

•Oguntola

driving skills and made me a more confident driver. As I drove beyond the Ebute Metta exit junction on the bridge, I suddenly heard a deafening sound. ‘’Not on a day like this,’’ I grumbled to Ngozi. ‘’We just had a punctured tyre,’’ I announced. I noticed my front tyre on the passenger’s side was down. Instinctively I moved on to where I could get help in replacing the tyre. But this was around 3.30pm and there could possibly be no security threats on the bridge, I reasoned. Since the car was jerking, I steadied my hold on the steering and bought it to a stop on the service lane. I stepped out and Ngozi wanted to follow suit. ‘’No please stay in the car and let me sort this out alone. This bridge is a death

threat,’’ I told her. She returned to the car while I made for the boot for the C-Caution.

As I got the boot, something told me to look behind to be sure I parked well. That was my saving grace. I saw an SUV speeding directly towards me. By then, it was too late to avoid the car. The best I could do was to turn and avoid being hit headlong. Completely shaken and stunned, I shouted J-E-SU-S as the car hit me right there. I was thrown off balance and landed on the rear windscreen of my car. It broke immediately. I realised my head was broken too. I then landed flat on the highway.

Down not dead It was while lying there that I contemplated dying or fighting for life. I am glad I chose to live. But for my resolve, I could have died right there. It occurred to me that many accident victims probably die from loss of will power to live rather than injuries. Having chosen to live, I managed to get up to be sure I was alive. That confirmed, I slumped to the ground as pang of pains pierced through my body. While there, I told myself ‘’you are only down but not dead. You cannot die now because you are strong’’. I thought my wife would be proud I fought to live and my son glad I lived for him. My parents would be grateful they did not have to bury me and my loved ones would still have me around for many more years.

Suddenly, I heard people shouting around me. ‘’Let’s carry him to the hospital,’’ one of them said. A hand felt my pulse and asked me if I could stand on my own. I simply nodded in the negative as it occurred to me my legs might have been fractured or broken.

As the people carried me to safety, I looked back and saw that my car was badly damaged. I felt bad because it has been my companion in no small way. Like every first time

car owner, I have developed an emotional attachment to the Toyota Corolla, which I fondly refer to as Mr. Reliable. To see it badly damaged was heart-breaking. What if I have died, I reasoned, as I felt pains all over me again.

By now, the pains had become terribly unbearable. There were bruises on my leg and blood on my head. My mouth was bleeding too. My native wear was torn and I looked like really pitiable. The driver of the SUV, one Prince Ekwueme, stepped down from his vehicle and blamed me for not using the CCAUTION. I felt really scandalised, protesting I was going to get it when he ran into me.

Besides, vehicles coming behind me had already seen the hazard lights and avoided my path. A medical doctor driving behind him was even more incensed. ‘’I was telling my daughter you were over speeding and driving dangerously just about now. See what you have caused,’’ she confronted him.

According to her, she had not finished telling her daughter before Ekwueme ran into me. As a medical doctor, she said she could not witness such a scene and not wait. Her comments probably convinced Ekwueme of his stupidity. It was the Samaritan doctor that flagged down a taxi, paid and told the driver to take me to nearby General Hospital, Lagos. By then, I was finding it difficult to cope with the pains.

Baptism of fire I was taken to the emergency section of the hospital where we were told there was no space. The section was full of accident victims with varying degree of injuries. Thankfully, a space was made available on the veranda as the treatment room was fully occupied. But for Ngozi’s presence, I would have been left unattended to. She was told to get a •Continued on page 21

20

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Life

‘I’m glad I’m not leaving in shame’

P

ROFESSOR Michael Oladimeji Faborode is a man of a few words.

But one of the issues that brings out the best in him is the status of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife, Osun State, where he was the vice-chancellor for five years, (2006 – 2011). “Discussing the state of the university gives me plenty of joy,” he said. He is always eager to inform you too that the position came with its own challenges, but they were not too tough for him to surmount.

He said: “I have elaborated on this several times. A glorious ending is what gives one a lot of relief. Some people see me these days and they’d say oh you look more relieved and relaxed. Yes, there is great relief that five years have come and gone.

The greatest joy is that one is not leaving in shame; one is not leaving with any regrets. There are emblems and things that dot the landscape of the tenure.”

He went on to assert that, “Well, then, one is leaving on a high note, handing over the university in a better way than one met it. And this is with the confidence that whoever is coming in will continue to build on what can be nurtured for the benefits of the university community. This is because, I believe the potentials have been rebuilt, strategies to harness then have also been exposed so that whoever is coming along will be able to brush his way more easily.

When I started in 2006, I believe we were able to remove a lot of obstacles that militated against the progress of OAU. So, the university is now poised to exploit some of the potentials available in terms of academic access, in terms of public goodwill, in terms of international recognition and acclaim.

Faborode’s concern has always been for the growth and development of OAU as he said: “Last year I was in South Africa for the Association of African Universities conference. It was very revealing to me; OAU is held in very, very high esteem.

A young colleague from the I-lab group also made a presentation. His name is Akinwale. He is just an assistant lecturer.

He has just bagged his masters and is working on his doctorate. He spoke on the use of I-lab to the congregation and it was quite outstanding. When he finished everybody acknowledged that it was good.

Everybody was looking for the document afterwards. Now they are asking him to write a review for Science Index which is a top-rated science news line.

The former VC also added that: “People are now aware of what is going on here more than ever before. And we have been getting proposals on partnership to do a lot of things. The ground work has indeed been laid for whoever that is the vice-chancellor now. He has a fertile ground to now exploit.”

Now that the universities have been given the autonomy to select their vicechancellors, does he think the process will produce the best candidate? His response was forthright and concise. His words: “Yes, it is a very good development. Here in OAU, my successor has been appointed and the process was rancour-free. The verdict was truly applauded by everybody.

There was no single person who objected to his selection as the V.C. In fact, there was no voting; it was a unanimous decision to adapt the report of the joint selection committee of the Council and the Senate that conducted the interview for the 17 contestants. And there has been a review on the internet that it was a rigorous exercise and that they are proud of OAU. We thank God for the Council members who were very upright in that exercise and today OAU is the better for it. So, it is a process that makes for progress, for speedy development and a rancour-free environment.”

Even after leaving office as the VC Faborode is still keen on going back to teach, a move many have considered as unprecedented given the university tradition where former VCs never returned to classes.

“You know, there are two sides to every coin,” he said slowly, his two hands outstretched for emphasis. “Well, it is true that most former VCs did not stay back, but it was not because they didn’t want to.

The truth was that the university environment was not conducive for them to stay.

Professor Michael Oladimeji Faborode is the immediate past vice-chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, where he held sway for five years. In this interview with Edozie Udeze in his residence at the campus, he shares the ups and downs of his tenure and some of the issues that almost marred his tenure

•Faborode

This is because, each and everyone of them that finished his tenure left in such a way that you began to wonder… Well, the memories were not pleasant at all.

“Even my predecessor, Prof.

Makunjuola, ended his tenure, stayed back, in fact he was the first to stay back.

But he had since retired now, even though he comes in once in a while. But effectively, we are putting an end to that sort of ugly scenario where VCs would finish and won’t stay back. This evening, for instance, the committee of deans has hosted me to a dinner, sort of honour, including the university graduates association, just to make me feel that sense of nostalgia.

“Everybody is happy with what we have done and the commitment we’ve shown has been encouraging. They particularly love the way we have solved the issue of rancour and that the university is on the way to progress. Even the handover programme was novel. It had never been able to mend fences. In the handover, the whole community should be there so that you’d tell them what you have for them. It has to be a cordial atmosphere for everybody. This is what our next five years have to be and I think it is a healthy development for us all. It is a good way to bid farewell to the past and build the university

along new ideas where everyone is involved.”

He added, however, that: “We are now in a new dawn where the university is to explore all the inherent advantages. So, I will be going back to my teaching research.

Yes, I am going back to the classroom. I love to go back and teach first year students and then post-graduate supervision.

It will be a thing of joy for me to do that.

Indeed, I have never stopped my research in Agricultural Engineering. Recently, West African Research Association came for a conference here in Ife in honour of what I have meant to the research community in West Africa. They encouraged me and I am an accomplished researcher myself. The British Council was also here because we have been in partnership since 1990. That is even the longest partnership, I can remember. It is a natural thing therefore for me to return to classes.

“But then, I will take the first two months which is my holidays to rest a bit.

I will go and cool my head somewhere.

And then I am entitled to one year sabbatical which I am still pondering whether to go to Ghana, at the Legon University to work or not. Or I may stay here to see what developments in the higher institutions one can also be part of.”

“Everybody is happy with what we have done and the commitment we’ve shown has been encouraging. They particularly love the way we have solved the issue of rancor and that the university is on the way to progress.

Even the handover programme was novel”

While in office what was your relationship with ASUU like?, he was asked.

After feeling uncomfortable for a while, he said: “There were two regimes before me, to be able to answer that question properly. As somebody who was an active member of ASUU I didn’t find it difficult to relate with my colleagues while in office. We brainstormed together and tried to solve problems together. That was why up till the last time the last chairman was there, there was no problem. But then all of a sudden, another chairman came on board with his own agenda. To all intents and purposes, he was not in consonance with the mission and vision of the university. Under that situation, it was necessary for me to draw the line. This is not university culture. It is not consistent with the ASUU that I used to know; it was not expected of a senior member of the university. And so they created a lot of problems, but we were able to overcome them all. I continue to pledge my support for the dreams of ASUU because I remain a strong member. In fact I worked hard to ensure that the aberration we had before was totally removed from the OAU ASUU.” At a time during his tenure, there was a crisis concerning the university pension fund, Faborode was asked how the issue came up and how it was finally sorted out.

Looking the reporter squarely in the face, he said, a little smile perching on his face, “That is what I was saying. It is misinformation and sheer determination to create problem where there is none. A totally wrong and incomprehensive interpretation of the law, deliberate falsification of facts to cause confusion in the minds of the people. And you know the strategy was that he was aware that there was no way he could have convinced the members of ASUU. Therefore he went and formed alliance with the other members of the community and, somehow, he had a feeling that an academic person would not be a liar. But at the end of the day, the truth prevailed. All the committees that were set up discovered that there was nothing wrong with the pension fund. From the Accountant-General office, they had their independent report. And the Senate set up its own panel of six eminent professors who also gave its own verdict. Yet he was not satisfied. ICPC also came and gave a clean bill, in fact went beyond the issue of double deduction. It proved conclusively that there was no double deduction of pension.”

The former VC also threw more light on how the problem was finally resolved.

Said he: “And then they went and did the audit of the university account from 2004 to 2008 and throughout my tenure, when the issue was brought up. At the end of the day, it was commendation all through.

Rather than owing workers, we have been using internally-generated revenue to pay for the shortages of what government had been sending us. This was about 172 million naira. So, in all I was cleared and truth indeed prevailed. Then I thank God that my integrity was intact. I never had any doubt that anything would be amiss. All those who told lies later came to apologise which I accepted.

In my last Council meeting I said that those of them who had gone beyond their brief and were facing the panel should be left off the hook. Let them go, sin no more, but I left them to their consciences and to their God.”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Life

‘My stay in the emergency ward left me paralysed with fear’ •Continued from page 19

card with a sum and leave her contact before treatment could commence. I was totally stupefied. I taught saving life should be more paramount. What if there was nobody to get a card and leave a contact? For over an hour, the nurses just moved around, not even dropping a word of sympathy for me. It was the beginning of my baptism into the cruelty and unfriendliness of health workers.

When I could no longer bear the nagging pains, I shouted on a male nurse who said I needed to eat sometimes before injections could be administered. What if I had not spoken up, I reasoned. The pain reliever did me much good and I became comfortable again.

By now, my wife had been informed of the unfortunate incident. She had coincidentally called as soon as the accident occurred to ask after an assignment she wanted me to carry out. ‘’Mr. Sunday just had an accident on third mainland. Please be coming,’’ a shaken Ngozi had informed her. She was inconsolable. I had to speak with her to assure her I was alive.

My colleagues from the office soon arrived and wheeled me to the x-ray department. Since the injection was administered, I felt I was fine and good to go. I had no idea I had weeks of hostilities to endure. It started the following day. My stay in the emergency section had left me paralysed with fear. The first night, I watched as a patient opposite me gave up the ghost. He was an accident victim too. That left me paranoid with fear, wondering if it could be my turn too. Others let out cries of horror throughout the night, soliciting for relief.

I was in this state when a nurse confronted my wife for staying with me. ‘’Madam, get out of here,’’ she ordered her. I was really mad. I felt that was an insult that was unnecessary. I told her so and she flared up. ‘’I would get you out of this place if you don’t take time,’’ she yelled at me. ‘’Go ahead and do just that,’’ I replied her. ‘’Is that how you were taught in nursing school to take care of patients? Throw me out and see what will become of you. It would interest the authorities to know how you treat patients,’’ I added.

By then, an attendant was around to effect my eviction. Despite my relations’ pleading, I said I would be better off away from there.

Tempers calmed and normalcy returned. For my audacity, I was made to stay unnecessarily in the section for hours. I saw cases that would melt the strongest of hearts. A patient was bought with his left leg broke and shattered. I saw his broken bones and skins completely torn apart. It was said it was a motorcycle accident. I could not bear to have a look at his condemned leg.

Life in Ward B1 After what seemed like an eternity, I was admitted to ward BI where orthopaedic patients are kept. Right from the first moment, I knew I was in a detention camp of a sort.

The female nurses ruled with iron fist. They administered drugs with hostility, changed beddings nagging and helped with mosquito nets grumbling. One of them kept saying ‘’nurses are not slaves. None of us here is a drop-out’’. I was so shocked by this open display of cruelty from trained health providers who should know better.

I remember patients using bedpan for excreta really had a hard time with these female nurses. They consider it a big deal to provide the bedpans and help empty them in the toilet for patients. When I realised how much they insulted patients for this, I vowed I would never have to use bedpan throughout my stay. So I regulated my meals and avoided anything that would upset my stomach. It was the same with mosquito nets.

There was a particular lady who insisted she would not spread it for patients who cannot lower the nets down.

All of these exposed the failings of public health care services in Nigeria where the

workers are not monitored. I spoke with many who were once admitted in government hospitals. They told me with cases of maltreatment, negligence and sheer wickedness by health workers. Many nurses and health workers do stuffs for which they would have been sacked in other climes. One day, one of us requested for bedpan. He was told off by a nurse. For hours, he begged to no avail. Exasperated, he spoke harshly to the young nurse who strangely kept her cool.

We thought the case had ended until the following day when she emerged with a ‘gang’ led by the matron to tongue-lash the poor chap. I was boiling and asked to speak. But the assistant matron said I had no such privilege.

Under that atmosphere, many patients’ health deteriorated. Many feared the nurses more than the ailments afflicting them. Many kept to themselves, resigning to injustice. I almost cried one day as a fellow patient was dressed down by nurses and told to bring his relations to take care of him. Yet, when these relations show up, they treat them with scorn. The hostilities were so thick that many patients avoided nurses they should normally confide in. Many of the nurses were glad with not being bothered by patients..

The more you had nothing to do with them, the better for them. They are supposed to be caregivers but gave heartaches to many patients. Those who resisted were punished with abandonment and seclusion.

In fairness, the nurses were overstretched and overworked. One of them complained she ran many night shifts without help. I wonder why more nurses could not be employed in public hospitals. Another said they are underpaid. I do not believe this, not with the many agitations for salary increments by health workers in recent times. I believe it is a function of perspective and personal choice. Nurses who complain of low pay are much like journalists who attribute poor writing skills to industrial challenges. How come these same nurses perform better when they move to the private sector or even overseas? Many of them, I found out, chose the profession thinking only of the glamour of wearing all-white uniforms without considering the challenges. They get into it and realised there are far many seemingly unpleasant duties associated with it than they can bear. In that circumstance, nobody but them deserves the blame.

The unsavoury treatment was worsened by the poor state of infrastructures in the hospital.

Many who have been to public hospitals said my experience is not much different. Mosquitoes kept us on our toes throughout the nights while most of the meals were bad. Electricity was not regular, forcing the authorities to resort to generators for most nights. To underscore the parlous state of infrastructures, some of us were awaken around 2.30am one day by smell of electrical sparks. One of us who could thankfully walk went to the electrical box and found it on fire. The fire was intense that it was threatening to consume a store full of foams.

We were all shaken. I was on transoms to rectify the pelvic and hip injuries I sustained. Others were on POP or transoms as well. Here were we without legs tied to a spot and confronted by outbreak of fire.

It took almost an hour before the situation could be bought under control. The day before, the entire surgical room was consumed by fire. Many scheduled surgeries were called off, leading to aggravated medical cases. On most mornings, there was no warm water to clean up. I saw these maltreatment and infrastructural shortfalls and resolved to get out as soon as possible. Two weeks after, I was too glad to go home for another weeks of healing from home. I did a lot better at home under a friendlier and conducive atmosphere. I left wondering how many people were unlucky to emerge alive. Perhaps they would have lived if our general hospitals are a lot better equipped and the health workers friendlier.

21

22

Life

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

PICTURE OF THE WEEK

Keeping tabs on people and events in cyber space

WHO’S TALKING...

ACCORDING to saharareporters.com, militant group, Boko Haram reportedly shot Peter Adebayo, a lawyer for the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). The Boko Haram islmist militants also shot and killed 22-yr old Civil Defense worker, Baba Usman at the Lawan Bukar ward in Maiduguri on Monday night. This latest news on the series of attacks by the group trigged reactions from Nigerians. Here are a few of them:

• I smiled when I saw this picture. Isn't he just adorable!?!

Ali Pedro This is no longer the Nigeria I know and love, how did we get here? When one sows wind, you reap a tornado. We have allowed corruption to fester for too long and too deep. Now we are reaping its ‘pikins’. God help us

Bashorun Kankafo I think the next thing now is to allow the leader of the sect (Boko haram) to rule the country if it is more powerful than the elected president and his bundle of fools. May be the lives of the ordinary Nigerians will be secured.

Col. Gaddafi The last thing the federal government should do is to talk to Boko Haram. They are terrorists and therefore no responsible government will come down to start talking to them. How could you talk to them when they have not talked to non-violent organization like MASSOP and others? Things are strange these days, it seems. GOOD is BAD and BAD is GOOD

Patrick Agbobu If this Boko Harram is a ploy to soften the grounds, to give the impression that Nigeria is ungovernable and thereby bring in a military government, they should be very aware that such baloney, will not wash with Nigerians and it will fail woefully and it deserves to fail woefully. Nigerians have embraced democracy and free and fair elections and there is no going back. The government and all security

agencies should go into the very roots, of all these unwanted detractors and all other so called militant organizations, uproot them, expose those behind them, shame and severely punish them after due process. Pussy footing with this canker worm of iniquity is not an option.

Taye Taye Bankole,Nafada and inshort all political leaders, appointees and civil servants or looters’ , Boko is just the beginning…as much as I do not support violence, the nauseating display of stolen money from the people, the lack of jobs and infrastructures in the country would lead to more of these killings.

Too bad!!!

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Interested applicants are to send copies of their C.V’s online to www.pzcussons.com/pzc/ working/pznigeria/vacancies before the 5th of July.

If you are very good at cooking up tasty and healthy meals, here’s your chance at a big job opportunity as the PAN African University is recruiting an Executive Chef.

Applicants should posses an excellent knowledge of food, diet and nutrition, quality control principles, costing and budgeting and an SSCE /

O level certificate. A professional diploma in catering and hotel management is also compulsory. C.V’s should be sent t o assessmentcentre5@gmail.com Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc announces vacancy for a Packaging Development Manager.

Applicants should posses a B.Sc./HND in Packaging/ Printing Technology, Food Science & Technology, Polymer Science or any related field.

Specialized training in Food Packing Technology is mandatory. A minimum of 8 years working experience in a food organization, part of which must have been spent in packaging development/production is also necessary. Interested applicants are to visit www.dragnetnigeria.com/ fmnplc and apply on-line on or before 8th July, 2011.

Oando Marketing is currently seeking a Lubes Sales

Engineer to execute plans to meet the sales and marketing target of Oando for Commercial and Retail Lubes through effective marketing strategies. The lubricant Sales Engineer under the Branch structure covers a minimum of 3 branches spanning over a minimum of 3 states of the country.

The Lubes Sales Engineer is also responsible for building, maintaining and sustaining good and lasting Customer relationship with our entire Commercial and Retail Customers by ensuring excellent service delivery. All candidates with less than 3 years post NYSC will be required to pass an aptitude test before they can be considered for interview. For further details and application, please visit w w w . o a n d o cvmanager.com/careers/

4-1-WEIRD A FATHER of seven girls has not washed in 37 years because a priest told him it would guarantee a son.

Farmer Kailash Singh, 65, whose dreadlocks are six feet long, has not touched water, save to rinse his mouth and hands, since 1974.

Instead, he takes a “fire bath” every night – smoking marijuana, praying to the Hindu god Lord Shiva and dancing around a bonfire.

The farmer, from Chatav, India, where temperatures regularly

reach 47C, said: “Children tease me and my wife doesn’t like it, but she must bear all the hardships I have to bear.

“I have no son, so I will never wash again.”

Wife Kalavati Devi, 60, said: “I abused him and cried when he told me about his senseless decision.

“I even threatened to stop sleeping with him but he is my husband so there was little I could do about it.

“He says he’d rather die than take a bath.”

Source:www.oddity.com

Source: www.todaystuff.blogspot.com

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19TH STREET, an emerging music group based in Nigeria is giving away 6 tracks at bellanaija.com.

The musical duo, Mobaz and Chykes, met in the University and named their group after the street where they lived. The video of one of the tracks titled Oya, is already receiving massive airplay.

RANDOM POST Woman with world’s largest breast speaks ANNIE Hawkins-Turner, who is better known by her pseudonym Norma Stitz, showed off her whopping 102ZZZ assets, which weigh a massive eight stone, making her a Guinness World Record holder.

The 52-year-old told Phillip Schofield and Jenni Falconer how she’s constantly been taunted over her mammoth cleavage since her bust started growing when she was nine.

The mum-of-two, who said she got her first bra when she was ten, went on: “I don’t know what size I was. I was just big.

The only thing I remember about those bras is they were cotton and they stuck out just like footballs and that’s when I knew I was different.”Kids are some of the worst people in the world when it comes to picking on people.

“I was teased a lot. I was called fat. I couldn’t dress like other kids and the guys my age didn’t like me. Older men liked me because I was a young girl in an older woman’s body.

She explained: “Life was difficult then. Even if I had a relationship, which I did eventually get a boyfriend, I never would take off my clothes off in front of him.”

Annie said she used to try to shrug off nasty comments by making a joke out of them and she told of how her huge cleavage had an impact on her when she had her children Darren and Clara.

She said: “I couldn’t breastfeed, my breasts were too big. I would have smothered my kids. There was no room to lay them. They grew bigger when I was pregnant and I

leaked so much until I had to wear sanitary pads in my bra.”But said she finally really learnt how to love herself and her size after meeting her late husband Alan They were married for 13 years until he died six years ago.

She said: “He turned my whole life around. He made me love myself and turned me into his Barbie doll. I was like a plussized Barbie doll to him. He treated me like a queen. He loved me and he loved my kids.

He was my angel, it wasn’t just sexual.”

It was retired air force officer Alan’s idea to send photos of Annie to a magazine, which was when she said her pseudonym Norma Stitz was born.

She said being featured online and in racy magazines made her embrace her size. She explained: “I fell in love with myself. Every time I get a new doctor they offer me surgery but I don’t need surgery. I’ve got a strong back and have never had back ache. I’ve had therapy on how to hold myself so I won’t hurt myself.

“When I get out of bed I have to roll over so my breasts are hanging off the bed and I get up using my elbow instead of my back.

“When I go out of my house I have to think about what my day is going to be like and who is going to attack me today. Every day someone teases me that doesn’t know me. They make fun of me and there’s no reason. I’m human like everybody else. I’m just blessed in different ways than other people. It affects my son very badly because people stare.”

And Annie told how she used her assets to work topless on adult websites - but insists she’s just fulfilling people’s fantasies and would never have sex on camera.

She said: “I’ve shown people big is beautiful and you can be sexy in your own way. It’s not mucky, I’m an entertainer.

I’ve done nothing wrong. I don’t have sex on film - I never have and never will.”

And Annie, who says she’s never considered having her breasts reduced, says her massive boobs are still growing. She added: “Sometimes it irritates me when people ask, ‘how do you walk?’ I’m not handicapped. I’ve just got very large boobs which I’ve learned to take and just do marvellous things with.”

Source: www.thesun.co.uk

N.B: You can send your jokes, pictures and gist online to pearlohai@yahoo.com

23 SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

•National Troupe of Nigeria performing.

The grandeur of World Music Day It was celebration galore on Tuesday June 21st when artists gathered at the National Theatre, Lagos, at the instance of the National Troupe of Nigeria to commemorate this year’s World Music Day. Edozie Udeze reports

W

HEN the United Nations Organisation (UNO) declared the 21 st of June every year as the World Music Day, what they had in mind was to keep afresh in the minds of the public the fact that creativity drives a nation. Those who are involved in the music profession should be respected and their copyright also should be protected. Over the years, pirates and some other clever crooks have been living on the properties of creative artists. This, indeed, was one of the major reasons why the UNO made this declaration so as to let the world know that musicians, just like other creative professionals have the right to reap where they sowed.

This was the mood last Tuesday when stakeholders, artists, art enthusiasts, critics and scholars gathered at the National Theatre, Lagos, to celebrate this year’s World Music Day. The event was organized by the National Troupe of Nigeria (NTN) with a public lecture entitled Music in Contemporary Nigeria: Emerging Trends and Developments and series of performances. These were all to ignite the art scene and to keep professionals in the mood to enjoy what is their own.

Chief Tony Okoroji who chaired the

•Adaji

occasion reminded the audience that June 21st is the only day in the history of the United States of America (USA) when musicians are at liberty to blast music to high heavens. “It is the only day when you can play music to disturb your

neighbourhood, to draw people’s attention, even against their will to the music you play. World-over, whenever I travelled out no one ever asked me about our leaders, the politicians or the like.

All they asked are about our creative people; people like Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Fela and so on. That shows you that creativity drives a society because all these people are wellknown all over the world,” Okoroji, a professional musician and music promoter said.

“So, we need to keep reminding ourselves that time had come for us to be proud of who we are and what we do.

This is no longer the time when music or the art was meant for dullards or neverdo-wells. It is a higher calling now that can take you to the highest level in life,” he said, insisting that “Our music can effectively compete with ones in Europe and America.”

In his lecture entitled Music in Contemporary Nigeria: Emerging Trends and Developments, Dr Albert Oikelome, of the Creative Department of the University of Lagos, made it clear that music is an integral element in the culture that is closely associated and integrated with the daily living of the

African. Today it has become a global phenomenon that indeed lends itself to diverse interpretations and opinions of people whether they are schooled in it or not.

Aikelome, a musicologist contends that music as an art is fast gaining grounds in contemporary Nigeria. “Yes it is gaining more grounds as part of a socio-religious and ceremonial activities of the people. In fact the wealth of tradition embedded in the music of Nigeria is seen in its dynamism among practitioners of the art. From the early 1960’s till date, we have witnessed several changes and developments in the musical landscape of the country,” he presented.

He went further to state that the proliferation of musical typologies has, in the wake of the 21 st century, contributed to the emergence of various categories of musical practices in contemporary Nigeria: He however categorized the music genres in Nigeria into three. “They are traditional, art and popular music. Traditional music is that music that has been practiced in Nigeria in its unadulterated form before the country came under the influence of Europe and America. This era witnessed the type of music enshrined around events of life cycle, ceremonial, ritual and entertainment, mostly handed down by our fathers.”

He bemoaned the dearth of folkloric songs and moonlight stories that formed the first set of musical accompaniments in the society. “The coming of electricity perhaps has made the moonlight plays less effective where parents and their children spend more time before the television screens than listen to folktales and songs… Also, the content of poems being taught our children in the nursery schools reveal more of songs and poems from the West than our Yoruba or Igbo folksongs,” he said.

For Aikelome, the art music genre was made possible due to contacts with •Continued on page 24

24

Arts

•Continued from 23

foreign influences.

“A major characteristic of this genre of music is that, it is written down for presentation

by Nigerians. The two imperial forces of Britain and America were indeed responsible for the introduction of Western classical music to Nigerian indigenes,” he said. Even though a lot of Nigerians have found their ways into this type of music, it still appears and sounds elitist. This is why it is common in places like the Muson Centre and embassies in Nigeria.

Aikelome’s main concern is that highlife and other local and popular genres of music have gone down in terms of acceptance and that the so-called Naija hip hop has taken over. Even though hip hop is widespread and engages a lot of young people who play it, Aikelome queries the content of the lyrics. “Where are those beautiful, elevating, inspiring, soul lifting, galvanizing, inflaming and scintillating voices of the 70s? Where are our local and classical traditional orchestras?,” he asked.

Even though he acknowledged the fact that some hip hop singers have used their works for positive purposes, he still insists that a lot of their lyrics leave much to be desired. Said he: “The boldness with which these musicians speak on these vices is so despicable, to say the least. One of the reasons given for the down turn is the undaunted efforts of marketers and music promoters in the country. This is not good enough for the society and for the youths,” he said.

His conclusion is that both the government and concerned people should come to rescue the industry and bring it back to its glorious days. And there has to be a synergy between all aspects of musical practitioners in order to move the industry forward.

In his remarks, Martin Adaji of the

S

HE sat there in a daze thinking it must be a dream because she couldn’t believe that this could be happening to her in the twilight of her age. The opulence of the sitting room was suffocating and she couldn’t be sure if the air-conditioning was working. The people around her were just not there and she couldn’t remember how she got to Lagos from the village. It was as if she was in a trance, she could recollect vividly as if it was yesterday when Alaba, popularly known as Ladi was born, which in actual fact was two months short of forty years.

He was called Alaba because he was born after a set of twins and Idowu but was also named Oladipupo, with a short form of Ladi, the sixth child and the only boy to the family of Bello.

She remembered that morning when she was about to prepare breakfast for her family and suddenly realized that she was wet which was a sign of imminent delivery. She quickly sent one of her daughters to call their father from the backyard, when she told him that her water had broken and judging from past experience, he knew she would deliver within hours. He quickly rushed to their room to pick the already packed bag for such an emergency and supported her to the church which was not far from the house. It was there she had had her previous five deliveries.

The church minister shouted, ‘mama ibeji, you are here again’ and quickly took control. As predicted the baby was born within two hours of getting to the church and the whole village burst into joy on hearing that mama ibeji had given birth to a baby boy at last because it was an open secret in the community that baba ibeji had been making life difficult for mama ibeji for giving birth to only girls. She was in the church during the evening programme when one of the church prophets saw a vision and told baba ibeji that the newly born baby will be ‘beacon of hope’ to the family, the church, the village and the entire community, only that they should be praying for him all the time. When baba ibeji told his wife this vision after the service, she thanked God and said she had nothing better to do than to be praying for her children. She went back home on the third day and no expenses were spared for the naming ceremony of the boy on the eight day.

When Ladi was five years old, he started following his sisters to school and the school authority made an exception of admitting him into primary one based on his history in the village as the only boy in the family of six and he turned

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 19, 2011

A celebration so colourful

•National Troupe dancers

National Troupe of Nigeria enjoined practitioners to be alive to the profession so as to prove to the world that this is a serious profession. This is why we are here to celebrate music and make stakeholders feel the importance of

today.

The National Troupe artistes equally performed a few highlife tones to spice the occasion. In the same vein, Abiodun Batik along with his team performed a few chapters of art music which really

The beacon of hope out to be a very intelligent boy. The following year he was given double promotion which made him join his immediate senior sister, Idowu, in the same class and his parents were very happy.

Ladi was very popular in school, apart from his academic prowess; he was very good in sports and quite neat too. He became a member of the school relay team when he was in primary four and the leader of the school literary and debating society in primary five which made him to be well-known within all the schools in the village and beyond. He even represented the school at an event organized by the Local Government Educational Authority and was adjudged the best debater in the LG. The school authority encouraged him to sit for the primary school leaving certificate examination in primary five and he passed the exam in flying colours. He was posted to Government Secondary School (G. S.S.) in Ibadan, a distance of about thirty kilometers from his village but the whole village saw this as a sign of good things to come being the only boy posted there. His mother was heartbroken at the thought of the distance which will make it impossible for her to visit the boy regularly. The parents struggled to pay the school fees and the boarding fees as well because four of his sisters were also in the local secondary school and the father had sworn that all his children would be educated even if he had to sell the shirt on his back. He made this vow for he had seen the importance of education when he was in the army and younger men who had secondary school certificate were made his seniors while some even went to Nigeria Defense Academy to come back as officers.

Again, Ladi excelled in the secondary school and was given scholarship when he was in form three which tremendously relieved his parents and also made the whole village proud. As it happened in the primary school, Ladi became the most popular student in G. S.S. because of his excellent performance in sports, especially football when he became the captain of the team in form four. He was also very good in both science and art subjects that he didn’t know where to belong when they were asked to select subjects in form four. He finally chose science subjects for he planned to read mechanical engineering in the university. He sat for the West African Ex-

amination Certificate with his mates in form five and when the results were released, the whole community was dumbfounded because he was the best student in the state with nine A1s. He was awarded automatic scholarship to any University of his choice in Nigeria by the state government apart from cash gifts by different organizations and his Local Government Council.

His parents were the toast of the village and a thanksgiving service was held in the church to give God the glory. He sat for the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board Examinations and passed with very high marks which enabled him to be admitted to the University of Ibadan, his first choice, to read mechanical engineering.

His winning streak was still very much with him in the university as he excelled in all the courses he picked but disaster struck when he was in year two. His father was on his way back from Ibadan where he had gone to collect his pension when he died in a motor accident. Ladi was inconsolable for he knew how his father struggled to get him educated because only two of his sisters were able to go to College of Education; the remaining three had to stop further education after secondary school. It was not possible for them to educate six children at once. He was lucky to get scholarship but was sure his father would have sold everything he had to see him in the university. He was awarded first class honour during the convocation ceremony and not only that; he got five prizes out of ten from his faculty and was the best graduating student in the Engineering Faculty. He was invited by the University authorities to come back for his masters after NYSC while he would be working as a graduate assistant but decided to utilize the scholarship offered by a multinational company for him to do his masters degree abroad in order to widen his horizon.

After his NYSC in Delta State where he served with an Oil company, he travelled to one of the best engineering schools in America where he did both his Masters and PHD before returning to Nigeria. He was offered instant employment by the multinational company that sponsored his training abroad while many other organizations in Nigeria and America equally asked him to join them. He decided to work with the com-

thrilled the audience. The rendition of the musicals truly made the celebration more lively as people shuffled their legs, nodded their heads and mimicked to some of the vibes.

pany that sponsored him in order to show his appreciation and started work there as a management trainee. Within three years of joining the multinational company, he became a manager and his promotions were very rapid that he became a divisional general manager within eight years and an executive director at the age of thirty five, thirteen years after becoming a staff.

During this time, he built a modern bungalow for his mother in the village and a country home for himself; he established businesses for his sisters and asked the two who were teaching to resign. He established a nursery & primary school for the eldest and gave the second one enough money to also go into business. He constructed a magnificent building for the church in the village and a block of classrooms for his former primary school while encouraging the pupils to face their studies by offering scholarships to the best three graduating students in the three primary schools in the community. He assisted the community when they came to him for help during the building of the community hall in the village. He became a hero to all the young men in the community by offering help when necessary and whenever he came home, which he did once in a month, he was a blessing to the whole community for he assisted all those that came to him for help with genuine reasons.

He got married on his return to Nigeria to the lady he met in the university who he brought home before travelling abroad as his fiancé and they had four children, two boys and two girls. Mama ibeji was jolted back to reality when her four year old granddaughter tapped her and asked innocently, “why is my mummy crying and where is daddy?” It was then mama ibeji realized that it was not a dream. Ladi was shot to death on his way from work yesterday by armed robbers who snatched his land cruiser jeep. A car was sent for her this morning to come and see her son who was in the hospital only to arrive and see the crowd in his compound wailing and crying. She heard one of Ladi’s friends shouting, “So Ladi is gone!

Another live lost to the senseless killings in this country. What is the government doing about insecurity of lives and properties? One cannot imagine the effect of Ladi’s death on hundreds of people”. To mama ibeji, finally the BEACON OF HOPE has been extinguished.

-Short Story by Olusoga Basola

sogabasola@gmail.com

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Books

25

A wind of hope and despair L

ION Wind and Other Poems is Sam Omatseye’s third collection of poems. As the latest in an intriguing foray into the charmed circle of contemporary Nigerian poetry, this book symbolises a crystallization of the ideas and techniques that were first manifested in his two previous poetry collections, Mandela’s Bones and Other Poems and Dear Baby Ramatu. Comprising fifty-seven poems, this collection focuses mainly on nature and the environment, although there are also poems which look at social, historical and other issues.

The poems can be roughly classified as follows: Natural Phenomena (‘Lion Wind,’ ‘The Pond,’ ‘Tiger,’ ‘Mango and Flies,’ ‘Butterflies,’ ‘Harmattan,’ ‘Green Eagle,’ ‘Vulture,’ and ‘Meteor’); Identity (‘My Umbilical Cord,’ ‘My Name is J,’ ‘Prison House’ and ‘I Am Not Enough’); Individuals (‘Small Death,’ ‘Death of Sister Lily Imoh,’ ‘Only a G o v e r n o r , ’ ‘Ovonramwen,’ ‘Mahatma,’ ‘December 25, 2009,’ ‘Abdulmutallab,’ ‘Lazarus’ and ‘Street-side Body’); Situations (‘Pollutants,’ ‘Haiti Quake,’ ‘Police and Burning Girl,’ ‘Sickle Cell,’ ‘Death and Return,’ ‘Blood Fest,’ ‘Plateau,’ ‘King Leopold’s Guests,’ ‘Children of Sosoliso,’ ‘January One,’ ‘People’ and ‘One Hundred and Fifty Bodies Found in a Well,’); States of Mind (‘Languor’ and ‘Reverie’); Love (‘Ode to a Canary’ and ‘Naked Shadow’); God (‘Glory Hills’ and ‘Luminosity’).

These categories are, of course, not totally discrete: indeed, many poems incorporate several issues simultaneously.

Several of the poems which ostensibly focus on natural phenomena, for instance, also proffer insightful commentaries on human society. Many of the poems, regardless of category, address the complexly intertwining relationships that exist in nature and in society.

Thus, nature is often considered from the perspective of its interrelationship with the persona; oppressive social situations often find a parallel in the environment; and historical personages and situations are often

situated within a natural context.

The collection is also noteworthy for the way in which it adopts multiple perspectives on issues.

Many of the poems can be categorized according to whether they are referring to a golden past or a tarnished present.

Examples of the former are ‘Ode to a Canary,’ ‘My Umbilical Cord,’ ‘Blood Fest,’ ‘Little Soldiers,’ ‘Many Years Since,’ and ‘Street-side Body.’

Examples of the latter category include ‘Pollutants,’ ‘Mango and Flies,’ ‘Police and Burning Girl,’ ‘Plateau’ and ‘Children of Sosoliso.’

Some poems actually combine the happiness and plenitude of a bygone era with the meaninglessness and waste of the present to produce a haunting threnody: ‘The Pond’ is one such poem.

The manifestation of multiple perspectives can also be seen in the presence of poetic pairings.

Poems like ‘Lion Wind’ and ‘Harmattan,’ ‘Green Eagle’ and ‘Vulture,’ ‘Sickle Cell’ and ‘Death and Return,’ and ‘December 25, 2009’ and ‘Abdulmuttalab’ are pairings which examine issues from often diametrically-opposed perspectives, thereby offering a more nuanced picture of such issues.

‘Sickle Cell’ and ‘Death and Return’ are particularly telling examples of the contest and contradiction, the claim and counter-claim that shape nature and human society. The two poems offer contradictory takes on the matter of abiku, the so-called “bornto-die” phenomenon that has caused so much grief in African societies across the ages.

The speaker in ‘Sickle Cell’ is aggressively insistent in his repudiation of the ancient myth: “You are no evil child/Locked in the cycle/Of death and return/The lies desecrate memory” (p. 36). ‘Death and Return’ is just as assertive in the abiku’s own assertion of its infinite existential flexibility: “I will ply/This earth/From time to time/Till my sojourn is done” (page 37).

It is clear that the two poems are meant to be read together, because it is when they are seen as the component parts of a pair that the overall meaning becomes apparent. The increasingly insistent

denials of ‘Sickle Cell’ are met with ever more confident assertions of impunity in ‘Death and Return.’ Ultimately, the reader gets an unmistakable sense of a yet-unresolved conundrum in which neither ancient tradition or modern science has the upper hand in completely answering an age-old question swathed in mysterious cultural imperatives.

In a similar manner, ‘December 25, 2009’ and ‘Abdulmuttalab’ confound conventional wisdom on the unsuccessful attempt by a young Nigerian to bomb an American airliner two years ago. The first poem is from the father’s perspective, and laments the dishonour brought upon him by his son’s

infamous action. The second poem rejects all filial obligations, claiming adherence to a superior authority. Each poem, while sensible in itself, cannot be fully understood without the other: the anguish of the father, for instance, can only be truly appreciated when it is weighed against the unbending intransigence of the son.

As is his wont, Omatseye dispenses with punctuation in his poetry, and in the best traditions of free verse, shapes his lines to the cadences and patterns of the human voice. The collection also displays the poet’s penchant for alliteration, as can be seen in ‘Many Years Since:’ “Rabid joys/ Riotous raillery/ Rambunctious repasts/

Ruddy rabble of ribaldry/ Reeling before you” (p.

59). At its best, this approach gives his poetry an articulateness and fluency that cannot be bettered.

Sometimes, however, it does necessitate careful reading, as the absence of punctuation and the utilisation of various sound effects often require more work on the part of the reader.

As befits a collection that draws heavily upon the natural world for the bulk of its subjects, the preferred motifs and symbols come from the natural world: water, blood, tears, the sun, the sky, vegetation, the land, dust and animals are among the more common examples.

The way in which these

symbols are used in the collection can be seen in the title poem, ‘Lion Wind.’

The poem combines tactile, auditory and visual images to provide a memorable characterisation of the dry, dusty harmattan which sweeps across Nigeria during the last few months of the year. In admirably contradictory lines which reflect the paradox that is life itself, the persona declares “I love this wind/ Fiery and friendly” (p. 7).

It is fiery because it makes no apologies for what it is (“it prized only its soul” [p. 7]); it is friendly because its swift dry coolness is both comforting and therapeutic. With the imperiousness typical of all natural phenomena, it cannot be restricted, confined or controlled; it is thus not susceptible to the machinations of humans. Like the lion, it is proudly assertive, graciously acknowledging obeisance as its due, but with no mercy towards “the potentates/Of trees and barks/ and their egotossed stubble afterwakes” (p. 7).

The paradox of a fiery and friendly wind is replicated in other poems, like ‘Python,’ in which the snake is seen to be both awe-inspiring and helpless, “fattened to frailty” (p. 15), ‘Tiger,’ whose “impunity is fragile” (p. 16), and ‘Blood Fest,’ where gods “require neither worship nor fear/But the sovereignty of self-belief” (p. 44).

Lion Wind and Other Poems clearly marks a distinct stage in the evolution of Omatseye’s poetic voice. He is no longer quite so vulnerable to the temptations of timeliness, the desire to focus on contemporary issues which is an occupational hazard for one who is, after all, a practising journalist. It is as if he realises that the requirements of poetry and literature give him the leeway to exercise his extremely fertile imagination to its limits.

Title: Lion Wind and Other Poems Author: Sam Omatseye Publisher: Kraft Books Limited, Ibadan Year of Publication: 2011 Pages: 84 Reviewer: Harry Olufunwa

26

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Arts

1st Chapter A string of wit I

T was evening. The sun had gone down from behind the high peaks. The deep shadow of the forest was closing in around Akomo. Flocks of toucans cut their air with great wingbeats and their plaintive calls died slowly away. The last night of my holiday in Spanish Guinea came stealthily down.

Soon I would be leaving this country used by us ‘Frenchmen’ from Gabon and the Cameroons as a place to slip away for a break whenever things became a little strained between ourselves and our white compatriots.

It was the time of day for the customary meal of fish and cassava sticks. We eat in silence, for while the mouth speaks it does not serve for eating. The eyes of the housedog sprawled between my legs followed, full of envy, piece after piece of fish down the throat of his master, my host. We all ate our fill. At the end of the meal with our little fingers we scratched our bellies each in turn. *The mistress of the house thanked use with a smile.

The evening would be full of merriment and forest stories.

We pretended to forget that I was soon going away. I gave myself up to the spontaneous gaiety of my hosts whose only thought now as to gather round the fireside and tell over the endless adventures of the tortoise and the elephant.

‘There is no moon,’ said my host, ‘or we would have danced in honour of your departure.’

‘We could make a bonfire in the courtyard,’ suggested his wife.

‘I did not think of it during the day, there is no more wood.’

His wife sighed. Suddenly there was a sinister roll of drums.

I could not understand the drum language used by my Spanish friends but I knew from the

Houseboy is written in the form of a diary kept by the Cameroonian houseboy Toundi, an innocent, fascinated and awed by the white world, the world of his masters. When the head of the Mission, to whom he is devoted, is killed in an accident, Toundi becomes the ‘boy’ of the local Commandant.

His dream is all of advancement and improving himself, and to do this he studies his new world closely-too closely. Gradually his eyes are opened to its realities, and in the end this leads to tragic consequences because the Europeans cannot endure the gaze of the man they have destroyed. troubled looks on their faces that the drums spoke of some misfortune.

‘Madre de Dios,’ said Anton, crossing himself.

His wife turned up her eyes until the pupils vanished. She too crossed herself. Without thinking I brought my hand up to my forehead.

‘Madre de Dios,’ said Anton again. He turned towards me.

‘Another poor Frenchman …it says a Frenchman is very ill, They do not think he will last the night.’

This man was nothing to me.

I did not even know him. Yet my mind was deeply disturbed.

It is strange. A message of death like this in the Cameroons would have woken no more than a shadow of emotion in me – the distant pity we feel when the hour of death has come for someone else. Here, on Spanish soil, I was overwhelmed.

‘The drum comes from M’foula, which is very strange,’ said my host. ‘There are no Frenchmen at M’foula that I know of. The dying man must have come this morning. We shall know tomorrow.’

I felt them all watching me with that look of silent compassion which our people can give their eyes. I stood up and asked

Anton if M’foula was very far.

‘Just the other side of the great forest…the lamp is full of paraffin.’

He saw into my heart and read what was written there.

We set out armed with spears. A boy went in front with an old hurricane lamp that threw a pale and feeble light on our path. We passed through two villages. The people we me who recognized Anton asked what it was that called us out to travel at night. They spoke a jargon of Spanish mixed with Pahouin.

Several times I caught the word ‘frances’. Everyone crossed himself. Then as they left us, they suddenly forgot these dramatics and shouted a jovial ‘Buenas tardes’ after us. Our path went deeper into the forest.

‘Tired already?’ said Anton to me. ‘The journey is just starting.’

At last our path left the forest and wound its way across a heath among tall essessongo trees. The sound of the drum grew more and more distinct.

We came out into a clearing. The gloomy hoot of an owl broke one of the intermittent silences that followed the muffled beating of the drum. Anton gave a great shout of laughter that echoed and re-echoed among the

giant forest trees. He began to hurl insults after the bird as if he were abusing another human being.

‘It’s poor Pedro,’ he said, between gusts of laughter. ‘The dog. He died a fortnight ago.

When we fetched a priest to save his soul, he told him to fuck off.

His wife even burnt his fingernails to try and bring him round to a conversation. But nothing doing. The old bugger stuck it out. He died a heathen. Now he’s turned into an owl and he’s dying of cold in the depths of this forest. Only the priest can do anything now, if his widow decides to have a Mass said after all… Poor old Pedro!’

I made no reply to this lesson in metempsychosis delivered in the night, deep in an equatorial forest. We skirted a bush fire and arrived. M’foula was like all the other villages we had passed; huts thatched with raffia, with whitewashed walls, arranged around a courtyard foul with the droppings of animals. The darks mass of the aba* stook out against the night.

There was a great bustle and disturbance. We went inside.

The dying man lay on a bamboo bed. His eyes were haggard. He was curled up, folded

into himself like a huge antelope.

His shirt was covered with blood.

‘This stench will make us ill,’ someone said.

I had never seen a man die.

There was a man before me, in pain, and I saw him utterly untransfigured by any glimmer of the after-life. He looked as if he might still summon the stubborn energy not to go on the great journey.

He coughed. Blood ran out from between his lips. The boy who had come with us put down his lamp beside the dying man.

With a superhuman effort he struggled to cover his eyes. I move the lamp away from him and turned down the wick. The man was young. I bent over and asked him if there was anything he wanted. There was a nauseating stench of decay. I lit a cigarette. The man turned towards me. As he took me in detail by detail he seemed to come out of

the coma he had been in when we arrived. He smiled faintly and then coughed again. He stretched out a trembling hand and stroked the knee of my trousers.

‘A Frenchman, a Frenchman,’ he panted. ‘You are from the Cameroons…?’

I nodded.

‘I know it, I recognized you were, brother, by your face…

Some arki, I want some arki.’

A woman passed me a cup full of kind of rum smelling of smoke. I poured it into his mouth. He was a connoisseur.

In spite of his pain he gave me a wink. He seemed to have gathered strength again. Even before he had called out to me to help him sit up he had begun to lift himself on his elbow. I put my arm round his shoulders and drew him up so that he could lean his back against the wall.

His vacant eyes suddenly shone.

They never left me.

Nobel Greats

Naguib Mahfouz

Winner of Nobel Prize in Literature 1988

“Who, through works rich in nuance - now clear-sightedly realistic, now evocatively ambiguous - has formed an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind”

B

Born: 11 December 1911, Cairo, Egypt Residence at the time of the award: Egypt Language: Arabic Died: 30 August 2006, Cairo, Egypt

ORN in Cairo in 1911, Naguib Mahfouz began writing when he was seventeen. His first novel was published in 1939 and ten more were written before the Egyptian Revolution of July 1952, when he stopped writing for several years. One novel was republished in 1953, however, and the appearance of the Cairo Triology, Bayn al Qasrayn, Qasr al Shawq, Sukkariya (Between-thePalaces, Palace of Longing, Sugarhouse) in 1957 made him famous throughout the Arab world as a depictor of traditional urban life. With The Children of Gebelawi (1959), he began writing again, in a new vein that frequently concealed political judgements under allegory and symbolism.

Works of this second period include the novels, The Thief and the Dogs (1961), Autumn Quail (1962), Small Talk on the Nile (1966), and Miramar (1967), as well as several collections of short stories.

Until 1972, Mahfouz was employed as a civil servant, first in the Ministry of Mortmain Endowments, then as Director of Censorship in the Bureau of Art, as Director of the Foundation for the Support of the Cinema, and, finally, as consultant on Cultural Affairs to the Ministry of Culture. The years since his retirement from the Egyptian bureaucracy have seen an outburst of further creativity, much of it experimental. He is now the author of no fewer than thirty novels, more than a hundred

short stories, and more than two hundred articles. Half of his novels have been made into films which have circulated throughout the Arabicspeaking world. In Egypt, each new publication is regarded as a major cultural event and his name is inevitably among the first mentioned in any literary discussion from Gibraltar to the Gulf.

In the early evening of Friday, 14 October 1994, the Arab world’s leading man of letters Naguib Mahfouz was on his way to his weekly gathering with friends at one of the public cafés of Cairo. He stepped out of his house and had barely got into the car of one of his friends who had come to drive him to the meeting, when a young man thrust his hand through the

car window.

Thinking that he was one of the innumerable fans who seek to shake hands with him, Mahfouz immediately stretched out his own hand, only to find that the young man’s hand held a knife, which in a second was thrust into the old man’s neck. Two very fortunate coincidences saved Mahfouz’s life. First, the friend driving him was a physician, who immediately put his hand tightly on the wound, stopping the hemorrhage. Second, the incident happened almost in front of the Police Hospital, adjacent to Mahfouz’s house, so that only a few minutes after the attempt on his life Mahfouz was in the operating room, surrounded by a fine team of surgeons.

Pg. 22

Nation •Perpetua

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Free Copy

•Stella PAGE 27

•Dede

FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP

We can't afford to fail—Dede Says Falcons ready for France Promises clean sheet From Ejiro Femi-Babafemi, Germany

28

PRECIOUS DEDE Date of birth: 18-01-1980 Position: Goalkeeper Club: unattached Height: 180cm FIFA World Cup Appearances—2003, 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup In 2007, Precious Dede was outstanding in goal for the Super Falcons despite crashing out in the group stage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in China. Today those heroic saves that earned her the accolades of USA former coach Greg Ryan appears to have faded away. But the 31 years old shot stopper thinks differently. Luckily for her, the Nigerian captain enjoys the confidence of Coach Uche Eucharia. As fars as Eucharia is concerned, Dede is the best. Unattached at the moment, since returning from Norway, Dede needs the tournament to prove that age is just a number. How far she would go would be determined when Nigeria takes on France in today’s opener. Against the French team, Dede must be cautious in the handling of aerial balls and set pieces.

Strengths—Good in the air, calm, experienced, good anticipatory instincts and commands the respect of players Weaknesses—fumbles when not expected, occasionally loses her calm when under pressure ALABA JONATHAN Born: 01-06-1992 Position: Goalkeeper Height: 165 cm Club: Pelican Stars FIFA World Cup Appearance: 2010 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup The Pelican Stars keeper who is Falcons third choice made history for saving the penalty of USA captain, Christine Nairn that enabled the Falconets qualify for the semi final. However her critics claim that Jonathan is still not ripe for the big stage. Many still feel that Jonathan is not ripe for the big stage her penalty saves at the 2010 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. Strengths—Needs encouragement Weaknesses—Lacks players confidence and not proactive

FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP

•Ohale

Meet Nigeria’s Super Falcons

•Onome

•Sunday •Rita

•Oparanozie

•Dede

•Helen •Rebecca •Ebere ONOME EBI Date of birth: 05.08.1983 Height: 179 cm Weight: 66 kg Position: Defender Club: Duvenciler, Turkey FIFA World Cup Appearances: 2003, 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup The Super Falcons player has just made a big move to Turkish side, Duvenciler for an undisclosed fee after

Faith Ikidi Position: Defender Date of birth: 28-02-1987 Club: Linköping Sweden FIFA World Cup apperances: 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup 2006 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, Russia Faith is one of Nigeria’s most trusted and dependable defenders as far as the women’s game is concerned. It was her versatility and indispensability was what earned her an automatic shirt in the squad despite not reporting to the team’s Austria camp on time. The Swedish based player will be aiming to make up for her absence at last year’s Africa Women Championship by living up to expecatations. The Bayelsa state defender was caught up between club and country prior to the championship.

Strengths: Faith enjoys playing in the central defence but can also play in other positions when the occasion demands. Standing at 5.8, she has a nice way of clipping her opponents. U.S.A big forward Abby Wambach can attest to the defender’s credential. This was after both teams met at the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup in China. Enjoys a fantastic rapport with colleagues and has the ability to use both legs effectively.

Weakness/es: Her recovery rate for a defender has been called into questioning in some occasions. She was heavily criticized for her inabiliity to connect during Nigeria’s second leg All Africa Games qualifier against Ghana in Accra.

OSINACHI OHALE Date of birth: 21-12- 1991 Position: Defender Height: 174 cm.

FIFA World Cup Appearances: 2010 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Club-Delta Queens, Nigeria Ohale has been nicknamed “Woman Mountain” by former Abia State Governor, Orji Uzor Kalu. This was after an impressive outing at the women junior championship in Germany which she repeated at the Africa Women Championship. The Delta Queens of Asaba defender showed great confidence at the AWC that policing Equatorial Guinea’s Salimata Simpore in the final game posed no problem. The player who is blessed with good height could be the suitable replacement for ex-captain Kikelomo Ajayi.

Strengths— Very disciplined defender, committment is great, good speed, tight marker and good aerial abilities.

Weakness/es—momentary lack of concentration

HELEN UKAONU Date of birth: 17.05.1991 Club: Sunnanå SK of Sweden Position: Defender World Cup appearance: 2010 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Helen Ukaonu’s thunder against USA in the quarter final of the 2010 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup was chosen by the FIFA assessment team as the ten most outstanding goals of the tournament. Since then, Ukaonu caught the attention of Falcons handler, Eucharia Uche who invited her for the Africa Women Championship. Like they say, the rest is history. Among close watchers, the former Delta Queens player is regarded as one of the most disciplined defenders in the country.

Strengths- Good freekick specialist, confident on the ball and good in the air Weakness/es—Average speed

21 players are on national assignment for Nigeria in Germany. Their objective is to ensure that the team gets into the final after five previous attempts. For some, it is a mission impossible but for others it is achieveable. Ejiro Femi-Babafemi takes a look at these girls and their pedigree who open their campaign against France today.

•Perpetua

•Stella Mbachu

•Sarah

TOCHUKWU OLUEHI Date of birth: 02.05.1987 Height: 150 cm Weight: 64 kg Club: Sunshine Queens FIFA World Cup Appearances: 2006 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup Over time Oluehi has proved that she is competent to fit into the shoes of Precious Dede when the latter decides to hang her gloves. Until that day comes,Oluehi has continued to drum support for Dede who she has always referred as her big sister.

Strengths—good reflexes and can organize her defence very well Weaknesses—Absent minded

ULUNMA JEROME Date of Birth: 11-04-1988 Position: Defender Club: Pitea IF of Swedish Record at FIFA Tournaments Tournaments FIFA Women’s World Cup Final 2007 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Final 2004, 2006, 2008 Ulumma has come of age and would be best remembered for her defence splitting pass to Perpetua Nkwocha that resulted in Nigeria’s opening goal against Equatorial Guinea in the final of the Africa Women Championship last year in South Africa. It was Perpetua’s 11th goal of the competition. Obviously Jerome would be looking forward to something similar in Germany. Something else, Ulunma cannot wait for is Nigeria’s second group game against Germany to avenge the 8-0 loss humiliation in last year’s international friendly.

Strengths: A good team player and excellent aierial abilities Wakness/es: Slow recovery rate, heavy and can easily be displaced by an intellegent attacker.

NationSport 45

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

NationSport

•Amenze

•Francisca

•Ogonna •Alaba •Ikidi

•Jerome

enjoying a good spell in the Swedish topflight. However, this could be the last World Cup for the 28 years old ex-Delta Queens player who has paid her dues.

Strengths—Fearless, long kicks Weakness/es—lacks speed, poor reaction

REBECCA KALU Date of birth: 12-06-1990 FIFA World Cup Appearances: 2008, 2010 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Club: Rivers Angels Position: Midfield Women footballers are not blessed with good looks unlike tennis players or athletes. Maybe the physical nature of the sport could be the reason. So when a female footballer begins to enjoy so much admiration from the men folk for her looks, then it must be worth the look. This is the story of Rivers Angels midfielder, Rebecca Kalu. The ex-Falconets player has been adjudged the prettiest Falcons player under chief Coach, Eucharia Uche. What this implies is that the men will be encouraged to watch all the matches of the team because of a single player.

Good omen for the girls.

Another plus for the player is that she has been likened to former Nigeria international and current Director of Sports Development at the National Sports Commission (NSC), Patrick Ekeji.

Strengths— Good ball distribution Weakness/es— Not strong and not a good marker GLORY IROKA Date of Birth: 3-01-1990 Club: Rivers Angels Position: Midfield FIFA World Cup Apperance: 2010 FIFA Women’s World Cup, 2008 FIFA Women’s World Cup Iroka may have the experience but she may be denied enough paying time by coach Eucharia. But one thing is however certain that she is a player for the future.

Strenghths—Experienced midfileder, good passes Weakness/es—Small in height RITA CHIKWELU Date of Birth: 06-03-1988 Club: Umea FC of Sweden Position: Midfield FIFA World Cup Apperances: 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup, 2004,2006, 2008, FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup

on it will be Oparanozie. The sudden interest stems from the views of its coach, Silva Neid, who has described the junior international as Nigeria’s biggest revelation. She told the press after watching the youngster shine at the 2010 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. Both teams face each other on June 30 in Frankfurt in the all important game that the Falcons have been tagged the underdogs. The Delta Queens attacker who is Turkey bound burst into national limelight in 2008 when she represented Nigeria in the colors of the U-17 National female team-The Flamingoes in New Zealand. Last year, Oparonozie scored three goals during the Africa Women Championship.

Strengths: Pace, Passion, Fearlessness, relentlessness Weakness/es: A selfish player and cannot dribble properly •Tochukwu

•Josephine

It is very clear that the No10s are the players to watch in any game. They are the driving force for their respective teams. Rita Chikwelu is Falcons motivational player. She will be heavily counted on by coach Eucharia Uche as Nigeria files out against France tomorrow in their opening group game. Fortunately for Rita, she would have the opportunity of revenging 3-2 loss against the French team that occurred during the 2008 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup quarter final game in Chile. Rita was the captain of the Nigerian side handled by Daniel Evumena.

Strengths— Strong on the ball, good dribbler and experienced Weaknesses—The pace may no longer be there EBERE ORJI Date of birth: 23-12-1992 Position: Forward Club: Rivers Angels FIFA World Cup Appearances: 2008, FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, 2008, 2010 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Ebere has not really lived up to expectations since making her debut for the Super Falcons last year. So not much is expected from the Rivers Angels forward in Germany even though it is a familiar terrain. The player was part of the national team that reached the final of the last year’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup hosted by Germany.

Strengths— Good speed, deadly in front of goal and full of energy Weakness/es—lazy player and sometimes indecisive in attack OGONNA CHUKWUDI Date of Birth: 14-09-1988 Club: Umea IK Position: Midfiled FIFA Tournaments Tournaments Editions: 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup, FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Final 2006, 2008 Ogonna showed flashes of the stuff that she is made off during Falcons last group game against U.S.A in China in 2007. An effective left winger, Ogonna would be useful to Coach Uche if Falcons adopt the wing play.

Strengths— Fast and technical left winger. Useful for offensive game Weakness—A one legged player DESIRE OPARANOZIE Date of birth: 17-12-1993 Place of birth: Nigeria Delta Queens: Forward FIFA World Cup Appearances: 2008 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, 2010 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup If there is any Nigerian player that the German defenders would keep an eye

FRANCISCA ORDEGA Date of birth: 19 Oct 1993 Club: Bayelsa Queens FIFA World Cup Apperances: 2010 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Position: Forward.

Stakeholders have described Ordega as a dream attacker. Can this Bayelsa Queens player prove her worth among the more established attackers?

Strengths—Strong, agile, good in one on one situation, packed with shots in both legs Weakness— Poor delivery SARAH MICHAEL Date of Birth: 22-07-1990 FIFA World Cup Appearances: 2008 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Position: Forward Club: KIF Orebo Nicknamed the modern day forward, however Sarah Michael has not been fortunate with the Super Falcons. Ordinarily her rating should have risen after the 2008 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Chile. Unfortunately the former Delta Queens forward whose goal qualified Nigeria for the quarter final of the championship is still struggling to make an impression. Obviously she would be looking forward to a good outing in Germany so as to silence her critics who feel that her foreign sojourn has not transformed her game let alone given her the opportunity to shine on the big stage. Not even the seven goals she has scored for Danish club Orebo last season has been able to convince them Strengths— Blessed with good shots and wonderful ball control Weakness/es—Loss of confidence and is considered slow for an attacker.

Nigeria versus France Who wins the battle between the African champions and the European champions?

The answer is in the air. While Nigeria will be aiming for revenge, France is seeking for another win. 80% of Nigeria’s opponents are drawn from the Lyon women side.

They have a strong defensive line up unlike the Nigeria back four which is considered the weakest in the group according to bookmakers. The argument is against the Nigerian slips when under pressure. defence Falcons have an edge in the midfeild ably led Perpetua Nkwocha and Rita Chikwelu. Ahead of tomorrow’s game both teams parade a strong forward line up. France attack is built around the enterprising Gaetane Thiney with additional support from Camille Abily and Sonia Bompastor.

As a collective unit,the French are a hard nut to crack and against Nigeria,a team with immense individually brilliant players,coach Uche and her assistants will need to maintain a united front where players work for each other to ensure victory.

Germany versus Nigeria It is an admixture of youth and experience for both teams. Secondly both sides are handled by women and ex-players. One has won the World Cup and the other the African title. The name of one is Silvia Neid who and the Eucharia Uche. Nevertheless, it is Germany that is regarded as the favoured side. For coach Neid her players have the reputation of cauing havoc when unleashed. Bearing in mind the 8-0 hammering Nigeria suffered in the hands of the World Champions, in November,2010, Uche will have to dig deeper into her well of tactical knowledge to device a method of either containing the marauding Germans who are poised to go on a rampage, or a means of getting past the defense on June 30 in Frankfurt.

Canada versus Nigeria The last-day duel between these two competition regulars on July 5 in Dresden could well have a big bearing on the final outcome in the group. The two have appeared in nine FIFA Women’s World Cup finals altogether but have only met once, a 3-3 draw in the group phase at Sweden 1995, with both sides failing to make the next round on that occasion.

For the Canadaians they have been on a steady rise since coach Carolina Morace took over in 2009,in fact Canada has been playing their best soccer since. Like they say, a coach’s character will always rub off of his/her players and so has Morace’s.Canada hopes to improve upon their 4th place finish at the world cup in 2003,their best finish yet. Under the leadership of captain, Christine Sinclair,a player with so much experience,the most capped with 155 international caps and 116 goals in attack, flanked

by Melissa Tancredi and Sophie Schmidt,there is bound to be fireworks when these teams have the ball at their feet.

GERMANY World Titles : 2 FIFA Ranking: 2nd World Cup Appearances : 6 Strengths : Attack and Midfield Weakness : Defence Players to watch: Prinz,Bajramaj, Nadine Angerer(‘keeper),Popp,Garefrekes.

CANADA World Cup Appearances : 5 World Titles : 0 FIFA Ranking: 6th Players to watch : Christine Sinclair,Karina,Timko,LeBlanc(‘keeper) Strengths : Attack Weakeness: Defence FRANCE World Cup Appearances : 2 World Titles : 0 FIFA Ranking: 7th Players to watch : Sonia Bompastor,Sandrine Soubeyrand,Carine Abily Strengths :Defence Weakeness :Midfield NIGERIA World Cup Appearances : 6 World Titles : 0 FIFA Ranking: 27th Players to watch : Perpetua Nkwocha,Ebere Orji,Rita Chikwelu Strength :Attack Weakness : Defence

PERPETUA NKWOCHA Date of Birth: 03-01-1976 Club: Sunnanå SK of Sweden Position: Attacking midfielder A lot has been said about the playing career of Perpetua Nkwocha. Armed with a rich C.V that boasts of three Africa female player awards, two World Cup appearances and Africa’s highest goal scorer in the women’s game, Nkwocha who is 34 years old is yet to give up. Playing in her third World Cup final, Nkwocha would be the rallying point for the Falcons in their quest to surpass their quarter final ticket.

Strengths—Inspirational, ability to score goals at ease, good pace Weaknesses—Could be selfish with the ball, and tends to go solo

ESTHER SUNDAY Date of birth: 13-03- 1992 Position: Attacker Height: 160 cm FIFA World Cup Appearances: 2010 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Club: Sunshine queens Strengths—Pace Weakness— Not an intelligent player, finishing is poor

STELLA MBACHU Date of birth: 16.04.1978 Club: Rivers Angels Position: Midfield FIFA World Cup Appearances: 1999, 2003, 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup Mbachu was a delight to watch in those good days from the right flank where she operates from. Her blistering pace and intelligent crosses were a threat to the oppossing team. But age is beginning to tell on the player whose deliveries lately have come under knocks. Chief among them was her performance at the 2010 Africa Women Championship. So anyone sticking her neck for the three time World Cup veteran in Germany may be doing so at his own risk Strengths—experience Weaknesses—Not skillful

AMENZE AIGHEWI Date of Birth: 21-11-1991 FIFA World Cup Appearances: 2008 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Club: Rivers Angels Position: Attack Aighewi may have impressed Coach Uche at the team’s final training in Saalfeden in Austria, but the Rivers Angels striker is one of the few players who is in Germany to understudy.

Strengths— Has speed Weakness — She has inexperience working against her

JOSEPHINE CHUKWUNONYE Date of Birth: 19-03-1992 FIFA World Cup Appearances: 2008 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Club: Rivers Angels She missed the 2010 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup party due to injury. The Rivers Angels defender would however be contented watching the matches from the bench as there is no way she can wrest the central defence position from Onome Ebi. Strengths—Very good marker Weaknesses—loses confidence easily

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JUNE 26, 2011

Style Watch 29 In-Vogue Social Circuit Oops & Kudos Parade Well-being Entertainment plus

I participated in the O Miss Nigeria contest because of the car prize –Joan Okorodudu

n the surface, the modelling world l o o k s u l t r a glamourous and glitzy. But behind that alluring facade lies a dark murky side fewoutside the cliquey industry are aware of.

How sleazy it can be was brought home to keen observers of the fledging modeling industry in the country when a big, messy scandal broke out about two years ago in the sector. It was a tale of alleged breach of contract, betrayal and blackmail involving some past model search winners, a model organiser and agency owner and even some media people among others.

Recently, one of the main protagonists of this 'drama', Mrs Joan Okorodudu of Isis Models and the originator of the model search contest, Nigerian Next Super Model, (NNSM) who had refused to be drawn into the media and internet 'battle' that ensued in the wake of the scandal, decided to break her silence.

She invited The Nation’s Patience Saduwa to her Ikoyi, Lagos home where she spoke on the incident that engulfed her agency and threatened its reputation. She still maintained it was a gang-up to bring her agency, which achieved success in such a short time, down.

On her earlier silence, she stated that she was not ready to speak back then because she believed there was a time for everything. “Now I'm ready to talk and I have loads of evidence to back up whatever I have to say,” she declared. Not just that, she threatened to spill the dirt and expose a lot of people in the process. She blamed the incident on some detractors who she claimed wanted to pull her competition down so a rival model search contest could reign unchallenged.

The experience, she revealed, has made her stronger and NNSM bigger contrary to the expectations of her detractors.

Interview on Page 32

32

Glamour Continued from Page 29

T

here could be some truth in that as her home looks like a modeling school or agency. Tall, gangly girls with gazelle-like statistics and looking like younger clones of Naomi Campbell, wander in and out of the house on a regular basis.

Like a mother hen, Joan Okorodudu, a former beauty queen herself, keeps a sharp eye on them.

She scolds the erring ones, encourages and gives the necessary push to any of them that is discouraged and 'slacking.'

Some of the girls even live with her, an unusual domestic arrangement she attributes to the situation of some of them. “Some of them don't have parents or their parents don't live in Lagos,” she disclosed. Besides the Marcia incident, she spoke on the challenges of organizing a model contest, the modeling industry and Corporate Nigeria, why she entered for the Miss Nigeria competition in the early 80s, family life and what she does off-duty among other issues.

Entering The Miss Nigeria competition I entered for the competition because of the car.

That was the main attraction. My father didn't like us to drive or go near his car so I wanted my own.

Family life I have a son. My husband doesn't mind all these girls coming here and even living here with me.

He's a wonderful man. He has shown me so much love over the years. They stay with me so I can monitor them.

Leisure time I like to travel a lot. Next week I will be traveling for a proper vacation, not for shopping or anything. I love Switzerland. There's a placeBasles in the Alps which I like going to. The water there is cool. I also love Ghana, the Upper Volta region. I just go there and unwind. There's this hotel facing the water and it's quite lovely. I don't swim, I wish I could but I like jogging. That's the form of exercise I do.

Challenges faced in this year's NNSM Every year we start the model search from the month of May. We send out e-mails, go on Facebook and our website to let the girls know that it's time for the Nigerian Next Super Model (NNSM). This year was particularly interesting because parents were bringing their children to us. We did the eastern zone casting in Enugu which was quite good. A lot of girls turned outsome came from Port-Harcourt, Owerri and other parts of the zone.

This year, we had the problem of too many good girls so we became confused and faced with the dilemma of who to drop and who not to drop. This is the first year we are facing this kind of problem.

Why Nigeria has not produced another top model like Oluchi There are some who have come after Oluchi won Face of Africa that are doing well. Bunmi Adumokoya is doing quite well-she opened African Fashion Week in 2010 and she has just been booked again for Cape Town Fashion Week and she's heading to Europe as well soon. She has worked with Elie Saab and other big designers.

One thing about the Face of Africa is that at that time, they were looking for something from Africa. I don't know if it's still on because it wasn't done last year.

The bottom line is that we need to start doing things for ourselves in Africa. We keep complaining about why people do not do this or do that for us. But the truth is, we have enough companies in this country to keep our young folks working. But we are not doing that. We think we can only be validated by the whites which shouldn't be the case. Why is it that this is the only country in the world that people will only use those from outside? We have major companies in this country yet they won't use our own local models or encourage local talents.

You saw the designs on Sunday (at the screening) especially when Mon Ami showcased.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

‘The incident with my former models has made me stronger’

•Okorodudu That guy has not been given credit in this country. This is a country where the best are not picked. Mon Ami is the bestI'm telling you. That's why I'm interested in working with the best. He's a true icon. He has promised that he will be doing a lot with the NNSM. Gucci is somebody's name and so is Louis Vuitton; why can't we do a campaign with Mon Ami and a company will say let's use a model as the face of the campaign, just like Glo is doing with the entertainment sector. We pray that they will do the same for the modelling industry someday. Operating on the international modeling scene is not easy. It's tough, especially for black models.

On the scandal involving two ex-NNSM winners

She misbehaved that's why she didn't get her car.

Are the other girls not driving theirs? Why is her own case different? I told her that if you go on the streets of Johannesburg and fight and dance on tables when you go to clubs, you will not get your prize.

What actually happened was that the runner-up and that year's winner were fighting and one of them nearly died. She was almost stabbed with a dagger.

These girls were going to kill each other that's why I brought them back from Jo'burg. You can check the fight on the internet-it's on You Tube. It was really nasty and disgusting. They were abusing themselves, using all kinds of foul language that you will expect more from street girls than models. And over what?

They were fighting over a married man!

After that incident, I regretted allowing them participate in the contest. People had warned me about them, that they were trouble but I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. And see the way they behaved. They were arrested by the South African Police for unruly behaviour. It was terrible. If we did not have four men there when she drew a dagger and was going to kill the other girl, we would have had a different matter on our hands. At that point, I said enough. After the police left, I called her and told her, 'you are no longer Nigeria's Next Super Model,' that her disgraceful conduct had disqualified her. That was why she didn't get anything. She fought on the streets, used profanities and broke every rule of the competition. There are rules to pageants and she broke every one of them, so she had to go. These girls had everything it takes to make it as models but character wise, they are zero.

Lessons from the incident It has made me stronger, unfortunately for them.

There's so much laughter in my mouth because God has answered my prayers, that's all I can say. I've just booked some of my models for Cape Town Fashion Week. My models work in Cape Town, Jo'burg, New York, Europe and other places. Isis Models is here to stay and we are going to make sure it's the best.

There's one thing in life that everybody must knowyou will succeed with a lot of prayers and hard work.

I cannot put in these many hours every day and get bugged down by some people. I've come a long way.

At the age of just 22, I made it into Who is Who in Africa (back in the 80s). And you think after getting to that position, somebody can just come and pull me down?

What kind of background do these two girls even come from? Now I check their backgrounds which I wasn't doing before. If your background isn't good, I won't pick you.

Leisure time I like to travel a lot. Next week I will be traveling for a proper vacation, not for shopping or anything. I love Switzerland. There's a place- Basles in the Alps which I like going to. The water there is cool. I also love Ghana, the Upper Volta region. I just go there and unwind. There's this hotel facing the water and it's quite lovely. I don't swim, I wish I could but I like jogging. That's the form of exercise I do.

Favourite food I love okro soup with eba or sometime with pounded yam. I love Nigerian food. I don't like spaghetti. It was only recently that I ate noodles and I loved it; I didn't know it was that sweet. Because I disliked spaghetti, I now transferred that dislike to noodles.

But somebody prepared it for me one day and I really liked. The girls eat it a lot. We buy it in cartons.

Favourite outfit I love trousers and tops. My favourite designer is Mon Ami. He's the best.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

–an eye on celebrities and society people 08023201831(sms only)

Michelle Obama wows in Nigerian designer's collection

I

T was an entrance fit for a First Lady.

Looking stylish and elegant in her ensemble, Michelle Obama arrived South Africa last week on a bright note on her first major solo overseas trip as First

BY PATIENCE SADUWA

Lady of the United States. She wowed her hosts with the bold yet elegant look she chose for her arrival at the airport in Pretoria- a black-and-orange printed top

by Nigerian-born, London-based designer Duro Olowu paired with black trousers and bright blue patent ballerina flats.

Her look

that day was in sync with her sartorial s t y l e since becomi n g

First Lady - sleek, sophisticated and polished. And helping her achievie that look is a host of designers both the big names and the up coming. It's not the first time, Mrs. Obama would be rocking an Olowu design. In fact she seems to have a soft spot for the designer's bold, colourful prints that are especially suited for the darker skin tones of black women.

For instance, for her appearance with President Obama on a final Oprah Winfrey show earlier in the year, she chose a gorgeous multi-colored silk dress accessorized with bold, red shoes.

His designs were also part of her holiday wardrobe last year at Martha's

Vineyard, Massachusetts where she and her husband vacationed. A particular outfit-a vibrant, folkloric, smock-style dress- stood out among the various looks she chose for her leisure wear.

She has previously worn Olowu's designs in 2008 and 2009. Olowu is not the first Nigerian designer the First Lady has a great love for. Last year, she commissioned a jacket from the collection of another UK-based Nigerian designer, Bunmi Koko.

In the two years or so that her husband has been in the White House, Michelle Obama has acquired the reputation of a style icon of note. She is in fact often compared with a previous American First Lady, the late Jackie Kennedy who was a trendsetter in her day.

Michelle favours an eclectic style and look and has over time assembled a United Nations-style wardrobe from mainstream brands such as Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren as well as designs from lesser known designers from different cultures and backgrounds.

The lawyer-designer who dresses a First Lady Duro Olowu, 44, was born in Lagos and studied law in England, before switching to his first love, fashion. He had long been inspired by the unexpected mix of fabrics, textures and draping techniques of the clothing worn by the women of his homeland, Nigeria.

He launched his own label in London in October, 2004, and was an instant hit with his use of luxurious fabrics and vibrant, clashing prints and a timeless and ethnic inspired approach to design. His designs are elegant, fresh and fun from a rich variety of cultures.

He won the New Designer of the Year award at the British Fashion Awards in 2005. Last year, he opened his own boutique in London, in Mason's Yard, St James's, offering both ready-towear and made-to-order.

Last year he was given the International Designer of the Year award at the 2010 Africa Fashion Awards, in Johannesburg. He has exhibited at the London Fashion Week and the New York Fashion Week Other Duro Olowu fans include Princess Caroline of Monaco, supermodel Iman and other celeb clients.

Ladies of style: Michelle Obama with South African First Lady Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma.

Mrs. Obama arrived at the airport sporting a black and orange printed top by Duro Olowu

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Glamour

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Social New music act, MBK

T

he showbiz sector is set to witness the rise of a new star and the new kid on the block is MBK. Surprisingly, the Kogi born singer whose real name is Moses Omale and who has just released a singles titled Baseline, is the younger brother to Abuja's foremost Prophet, Emmanuel Omale . MBK who is currently in Lagos to promote the singles is working with the elder brother of Faze, Ifeanyin Odogwu to achieve stunning results. The young man is also working on a full length album which he hopes will convince sceptic of the stuff he is made of. Presently, the video of MBK's Baseline is enjoying great attention from music lovers across the country. But one interesting question many are asking the young singer is why he is singing secular songs while his elder brother is a renowned prophet. Moses' response to this is that God has given both of them diverse and un-interchangeable gifts for the benefit of the world. MBK hopes to see the country affected positively by the vibes of his music in no distant future.

What people love about Tilone MD, Stanford Tasse

M

r, Stanford Tasse, the Managing Director of Tilone Nigerian Ltd, an underwater engineering firm is known for his passion to elevate the status of the Nigerian workers particularly in the sector of deep sea engineering. Port Harcourt-based Tasse, who is popularly referred to as Mr. Local Content has not relented in his fight to ensure that the Nigerian worker is not short-changed by the International oil companies when it c o m e s t o employment or engagement in terms of contract awards and so on.

And that is what people love most about Stanford Tasse.

Why Jim Iyke hates the media with such passion

Patriotic Princess Folashade Olabanji-Oba

H

ow patriotic can one be? This is the question many are asking about American and United Kingdom returnee and CEO of Shelter Grace Foundation, Princess Folashade OlabanjiOba. Folashade stayed in the United States of America for 16 years and the United Kingdom for 10 years before returning to the country to contribute her quota to the developmen t of her native Ikorodu in Lagos State. While others are running out of the country in search of the good times, this pretty lady who is also a property consultant is bringing back to the system her wealth of experience and financial wherewithal for the betterment of the society.

Folashade's love for the people of her community is also one of the reasons for her setting up the Shelter of Grace Foundation, a NonGovernmental Organisation that aims to cater for the needs of the less privileged and those hurting in the society.

Now, one thing many people do n o t understan d and are asking questio n s about is h o w come the lovely lady loves the city c a l l e d Ikorodu so much.

I

s it true that the media is always heckling Nollywood Star, Jim Iyke? Is it true that reporters love only the negative aspects of the life and actions of the versatile actor? Are they always misrepresenting the handsome young man anytime they write something about him? Is he always being misquoted in the media? These are the questions agitating the minds of people who have seen the manner the actor has been giving reporters the cold shoulders when approached for clarifications on issues of great importance. Jim Iyke, at an event recently in Abuja defended himself saying reporters have hurt him badly and that is why he does not like them. According to him, he would not waste his time talking to a reporter when at the end of the day, all he will get will be heartbreak, agony and regret. Many have argued that it is wrong to misrepresent anyone not to mention Iyke and in any case, it violates the ethics of the profession. Hence, it would be nice if anyone doing such repents so that the actor can feel free to respond to needling questions from the media.

And I can bet my salary that the pending questions awaiting the actor are very many.

VICTOR OLUWASEGUN (E-mail: thejagu@yahoo.com, Tel: 08032439153)

Glamour

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

35

Disu returns Elizabeth R pioneers Bella to social whirl graded event bouquet B

T

•Ibidun Ighodalo

he very charming Ibidun Ighodalo, the enterprising young woman who runs Elizabeth-R, has something new up her sleeves. The latest news right now is that Nigerians can now afford and enjoy the unequal services of Elizabeth-R, unarguably, one of the best event companies in Nigeria.

Ibidun has set up her services in various bouquet plans, to ensure that all and sundry can afford Elizabeth-R services.

Few days ago, the CEO of Elizabeth-R who is Nigeria's first Lux beauty queen, confirmed this development as a means of making sure that her company's services, from weddings, to corporate events are available for everyone who need them.

She stated further that most people believe that they cannot afford the cost of hiring a standard event planning company, pointing out that this is a misconception she wants to correct with her new services.

Elizabeth R , Ibidun added, has created bouquets that provide clients with various classified offerings, including worldleading expertise, tools and techniques sourced from the world's most innovative event experts. The bouquets also feature the most reputable masters-ofceremonies, exciting hall decorations, aesthetics, ushers, entertainers, refreshments, security and coverage. All of these bouquets have their own (negotiable) price tags, while there are other customerfriendly details taken into cognizance. In addition to this, upcoming event managers and planners can benefit from a free-ofcharge mentoring support service tagged 'Betty Assist'. This new initiative was as a result of the many requests by upcoming planners to be trained.

Asides its rich repertoire of clientele, Elizabeth-R is one of the few event planning companies that has carved a niche for itself

KAYODE ALFRED

ella, the beloved daughter of Globacom boss, Dr. Mike Adenuga, is currently staking her claim on the social space. Of course she has the full right to do so. Many would remember her high-octane wedding to Jameel Disu, ranked amongst the best and biggest in the country about two years ago.

Since the fairytale wedding which shook the town to its foundation, Bella, an Executive Director of Globacom, became a scarce feature on the social scene. Speculations were rife as to her whereabouts, but sources confirmed that she took a step back from the social arena to have her baby. Having been delivered of a bouncing baby boy in the United States of America, Mrs. Disu is back on the social scene with a bounce.

Penultimate week, she was sighted with her husband at rave artiste Wizkid's album launch at the Eko Hotel& Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

And did the couple look splendid? You can say that again. Bella's graceful step back into society is a plus for high society as she has been sorely missed.

Laolu Saraki picks JULY 1st and 2nd wedding date

C

ontrary to wide spread insinuations by rumour mongers that popular silver spoon kid and former Special Assistant to late President Umaru Yar'Adua , Laolu Saraki got married to his Spanish lover a few weeks ago, insiders informed Social Circuit that the story was a ruse after all. We gathered from those who should know that Laolu and the Saraki family have officially picked July 1st and 2nd wedding date in Spain.

Already, members of his family including the patriarch, Dr.Olusola Saraki ,Dr. Bukola Saraki and Senator Gbemi Saraki and the new Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, are warming up for the wedding. Laolu's preference for Caucasians is not a secret, as he is known to have flaunted some of them in the past much to the chagrin of Nigerian ladies who would give an arm and a leg to have him for keeps.

Between Kafilat Ogbara and OBJ

F

or a while now, the news making the rounds about beautiful Kafilat Ogbara is that she has become very close to the former president and PDP Board of Trustees chairman, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. According to sources, the reason for this newfound closeness may not be unconnected to Ogbara's ambition to get an appointment in this new dispensation. But trust busybodies, they are reading meanings to this development, alleging rather mischievously that the relationship is more than a father to daughter relationship, which Kafilat is making some of her friends to believe. Many would remember Ogbara for having contested for a seat in the House of Representatives to represent Kosofe federal constituency in 2007, which she lost. Late last year, the beautiful woman became more ambitious and moved to Ogun State to contest for the PDP governorship ticket. But that project also came to naught.

But right now, Ogbara is banking on the influence of OBJ to ensure her being given a federal appointment.

(E-mail: kayflex2@yahoo.com, Tel: 08035733605, 08099400057)

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Glamour

Glamour

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

It was an event strictly for women. Tagged the Woman to Woman conference, the forum was organised by Susan Eyo Honesty’s Glam and Essence magazine to discuss the issues of relationships from the women’s point of view. But remarkably, most of the female celebrities present, though not dressed flamboyantly, still looked chic and decent in their Photos: OLUSEGUN RAPHAEL

outfits, reports Olasumbo Otagbo

Can’t expect less from a renowned fashion designer Kudos, Susan EyoHenesty

Simple but Delectable, Kudos! Prisilla

A delight To the eyes, Kudos! to Tayo Alakiu

We can only wonder what Stephanie is shading with her sun-glasses, Oops!

Nice blend of Western and Africa fabric Kudos! Carol Alvere She could have exempted one of the colours, Oops!

Barbara

Confidence has a way of boosting one’s style, Kudos!

Adebusola Akinubi

Example of African beauty, Kudos!

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Glamour

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Funfare, as Radi 8 boss, th Tony Kan marks 40 birthday

VENTS T PHOTOS: OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL 08033572821

By REMI ADELOWO

hough a good mixer, journalist, writer and public relations consultant, Mr Tony Kan is not known to be a social bird. But penultimate weekend at the Coral Hall in Victoria Island, Lagos, the very affable young man, was the cynosure of all eyes, when he played host to friends, associates and family members at a select gathering to mark his 40th birthday.

Tony Kan sure had every reason to celebrate. Having transverse the media, banking and telecoms sectors, where he distinguished himself managing the corporate image of blue-chips including Zenith Bank and Visafone the fast talking poet, about a year ago, finally called it quits with paid employment to float a PR, event and design company, Radi 8, in collaboration with another partner.

That bold move has paid off beautifully, with Tony Kan getting busier every day due to big briefs coming his way from reputable blue-chip companies and individuals.

The 40th birthday, though modest in every form, was quite classy in its packaging and organization.

•Celebrator’s parents

•Celebrator, Toni Kan with wife & children

•Mr. Mahmood Alli- Balogun & wife, Nkechi

•L-R: Jossy Ogbogu Jacquline Asikaogu and Onyeka Onyeibor

•L-R: Lynda & Kayode Ajala

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Glamour 39 Lifestyle Health Nutrition Fitness

with Patience Saduwa

08023201831 (sms only) psaduwa@yahoo.com http//edirinsaduwa.blogspot.com

ÀŞÀBI, Nike Oshinowo's Women's health and dietary needs (2)

new perfume enters market

Folate deficiency and aneonia

F

OLATE, also known as folic acid is an essential B vit. needed for body functioning and normal growth. While folate is the natural form found in leafy, green vegetables and other types of whole foods such as legumes, bananas and eggs, folic acid is the synthetic form of Vit. B that is added to foods and nutritional supplements.

Folic acid reserves and consumption, still remain essential nutrients of a woman's health. It's especially important during pregnancy and breastfeeding. A lack of this vital vitamin can cause anemia especially in women and young children. The food items that contain iron are rich sources of folic acid too.

Folic Acid and Pregnancy Inadequate levels of folic acid can lead to brain defects in the child and neural tube birth defects. Folate deficiency increases the risk of spinal cord defect, spina bifida in new born babies. This problem can arise in early pregnancy, so regular intake of folic acid or folic acid supplements is essential. Women in the childbearing period are advised to consume 800 mcg of folic acid. Pregnant women have higher requirements for folic acid and should take folic acid supplements as advised by the doctor or dietician.

Foods rich in folate include spinach (which is the highest source of folic acid and iron and can be used in making tasty soups and stews), lettuce, fresh beans especially green beans and peas, asparagus and other leafy vegetables. Other foods include corn, millet, finger millet, dates, almonds, broccoli, cabbage, potatoes, kale, clams, oysters, raisins, fig, whole wheat pasta, okro, orange juice, blackeyed peas, lentils, sunflower seeds, grapes, pineapple juice, chickpeas, liver and turnip greens. Other than these, fish, poultry, collard greens and any other green leafy vegetable are high in folic acid and iron.

Iodine and brain development Iodine is a chemical element essential for the production of thyroid hormones that regulate growth and metabolism. Diets deficient in iodine increase risk of retarded brain development in children (cretinism), mental slowness, high cholesterol, lethargy, fatigue, depression, weight gain, and goiter which is a swelling of

•Face of tomorrow: Iodine deficiency in school age-children can cause brain retardation, learning disabilities among other ailments

•Fish pepper soup

•Spinach

the thyroid gland in the neck.

Iodine is a component of almost every living plant and animal. In general, foods from the sea contain the most iodine, followed by animal foods, and then plant foods. Of all foods seaweed, like kelp, is the most well-known and reliable source of natural iodine. However egg, dairy

•Yummy: Edikang-Ikong soup with pounded yam

•Green beans

products (milk, cheese, yoghurt), as well as animal products like red meat and poultry, grains such as brown rice can also be good sources.

That's why it's essential for young children and those of school-going age to eat plenty of these foods to ensure good brain development and normal body growth. Also use

•Orange juice

•Iodised salt

iodised salt in preparing meals to ensure your family get adequate intake of iodine in their diet. Another good source of iodine is potato which is an easy addition to most meals, and is one of the richest sources of iodine in the vegetable kingdom. With the skin, one medium-sized baked potato holds 60 microgrammes of iodine.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Relationship

40 Continued from last week

T

O compound issues, she was a quiet person who really kept to herself. So she did not have too many female friends who could introduce her to eligible bachelors.

2. Some ladies live away from home, hence no family member around to introduce them to other people. Sometimes the absence of their family may also make them a prey to players. There is no matured person to challenge them or ward-off would-be time wasters.

3. Paradigm shift of the society into prosperity.

Hence the focus is not on HOLINESS/marrying to avoid fornication but on making money or climbing the corporate ladder. Some parents may even encourage a daughter to face her career so that she can make more money for them and her siblings.

4. Lack of time to build good relationships. E.g. they are too busy at work and do

Why are matured ladies still single? (2) not have time to get involved with others. When a lady works in an office and leaves home by 5am and gets back home by 9pm she has little or no time to build relationships.

Some ladies are so tired doing this for 5 or 6 days during the week that they just sleep in on Sundays and miss a crucial time to network and make friends in church.

5. Class consciousness.

Men sometimes complain that matured ladies look down on them and that it is almost impossible to get them to give single men a chance except that single man has more than them materially.

Some ladies will not marry a man who does not have as much education, money,

pedigree, popularity as them.

6. They want to have lots of money in order to prove to any man that they are self sufficient. If a lady has seen women on her side of the family being maltreated because they are not financially independent, she may decide that she wants to succeed even before she will consider marriage.

7. Saving to have a society wedding. Nowadays weddings cost from one million naira to ten million naira.

A lady may feel that if she has waited so long to get married, she might as well have a grand marriage. She may feel that she must let people know that she has not waited for nothing. In a bid to convince

people that she has caught a big fish, she may keep postponing the marriage date in order to save enough for her big day. The problem with this is that this usually leads to a quarrel between her fiancé and herself. Sometimes the quarrel becomes really serious and often degenerates to misunderstanding between the couple-to-be families and the wedding never takes place.

8.

Perhaps the main reason why matured single ladies remain single is because matured men tend to prefer younger ladies when they are ready to settle down.

Even when a man loses his wife and thinks of getting married again, he usually

Relationship Deola Ojo 08027454533 (text) pastordeegfc@yahoo.com thinks of a younger lady.

WHY DO MEN PICK A YOUNGER LADY WHEN THEY ARE READY TO SETTLE DOWN 9.

Men tend to prefer marrying younger women because they are prettier. An older woman may not look as attractive as a younger lady.

10. Men also want a lady they can impress. It is easier to impress a lady who has just left school than a bank manager.

11. SUBMISSION ISSUES. Men feel that a woman who is aged may be set in her ways.

12. CHILDREN. Men are afraid that an older woman may not be able to bear chil-

dren.

13. The Younger lady gets pregnant and they are forced to marry her. Sometimes, the only time a man decides to settle down is when the lady gets pregnant.

But should we really have matured men and women remain single year after year? Should we as a society be promoting early marriage which should make commitment to one life partner more feasible?

By the way, if matured single men keep marrying younger ladies, is it okay if matured single ladies marry younger men?

Concluded

Jealousy: how to deal with it J

EALOUSY. It may only be a simple word, but does not have such a simple definition behind it. There are many reasons we feel jealous and though it is a normal human emotion to feel, it tends to get out of control if we fail to tame it. In order to tame it and control it however, you will first have to learn where your jealousy is coming from. There is always a cause for jealousy to arise and once you have those causes figured out, controlling it will become easier.

When your jealous emotions come out, all you know is that you are feeling that way, correct? That is where you need to stop! It will be hard to remember, but you must take a pause every time you feel jealous and ask yourself why you feel that way. Does it have something to do with your own self-esteem, or does the person you are in a relationship with provide you with good reasons to feel this way?

Speaking of self-esteem, jeal-

ousy is a good way of lowering it. So no matter what the reasons may be, it is extremely important for you to conquer it, otherwise it can do great damage to your self-esteem.

Once you figure out where your jealousy is coming from, you will then need to discover why it makes you feel jealous.

For instance, if you figured out that it makes you jealous when your boyfriend or girlfriend talks to the opposite sex, then you need to discover why it makes you jealous. Did you have an experience in a previous relationship that now causes you to feel jealous with similar situations, or do you just have a fear of being betrayed? If so, why does that fear exist? Is your self-esteem a little lower than you thought? As you can see, there is a huge line of questions that need to be asked and answered in order for your jealousy to be conquered and under control. Acknowledging it is the first and important step, so you are al-

ready on the right and smart track!

Once you have realized where your jealousy comes from and what causes it, you can then concentrate on keeping it in control and hopefully get rid of it. If the reason has something to do with your partner, then it is best to have a serious conversation with him or her about it. Do not be afraid or feel stupid for feeling the way you feel. You have the right to express yourself and they are entitled to knowing what is making you feel jealous. If they truly care about you, they will work on ways to prevent you from experiencing such emotions. It is also a good idea to make an appointment with yourself and find ways you can improve your self-love and health, so that you can gain more strength and confidence, and be ready fight off such jealousies when they come to surface.

Toning down your jeal-

•Mr and Mrs. Efe Agbro after their wedding at the Ikeja Marriage Registry, Ikeja, Lagos, last Thursday

ousy and possibly getting rid of it for good will take time. It all depends on the situations and reasons. If having a flirtatious partner makes you jealous and your partner stops flirting, then it may be easier to overcome. However, if your jealousy is coming from a different area such as your competitive nature towards other women, then it will be more difficult. It is very common for women to feel jealous of each other’s physique, success and relationships. The best way to fight this jealousy off is to improve your own self-health and lifestyle. Do things that boost your confidence. If you feel jealous of what great shape another woman is in and the attention she gets, then perhaps you should focus on yourself rather than her success. Concentrate on finding ways to satisfy yourself both physically and mentally.

Learning how to handle your jealous emotions will be a huge influence on how your

situations will turn out. Combine your jealousy with a more rational emotion so that you can keep it from going overboard. If you combined it with an equally or almost equally stressful emotion such as anger, you will only push yourself back from reaching the outcomes you really want and are looking for. You could end up making a decision that will leave you feeling worse.

To keep yourself on the right track of jealousy conquering, just remember these steps: Acknowledge your Jealousy.

Ask yourself where it is coming from.

Question why it makes you feel Jealous.

Make self-health and lifestyle changes that will assist you in fighting it off.

Combine jealousy with a more rational emotion.

Practice!

As long as you keep those steps in mind and follow them,

you will learn how to take control of your jealousy instead of it controlling you. The last step is important . . . practice! You know the saying, practice makes perfect. So if you continue to practice these steps, controlling this stressful emotion will become easier and easier, until you have become a total master at it. Taking control of your emotions will make you the leader and not follower of your emotions, which can prevent you from entering many unwanted territories, such as break ups, low self-esteem, depression and even an increased amount of jealousy. You will be able to focus on the more important topics in your life and see things with a more clear and open mind, which will guide you into making better decisions and finding better solutions to the obstacles you will face in your relationships and life in general.

Source: www.google.com

•Mr Joseph Olasehinde and former Miss Christie Oluwakemi Ogidan at their wedding at St Johns Catholic Cathedral Church,Ilawe Ekiti , Ekiti state recently.

THEATRE

With VICTOR AKANDE

Recording and releasing a successful album is a challenging task. But when you are a Kuti, no matter what you achieve with music, the world hardly salutes your creativity as everyone attributes your success to Fela's ingenuity and not yours. In this piece, MERCY MICHAEL talks to Seun Kuti's on his new album, as he talks about his ideology, beliefs and creativity that are strictly his; and most of all, his take on marriage.

L

IKE a big masquerade in the middle of a village square, the music community waited for Seun Kuti to release his next body of work, pondering on what he will sing about, just like generations past did to his father.

Eventually it dropped, from the title of the album, fans had a lot to talk about.

Why would he title his album “From Africa with fury: Rise”, in an era that Africans all over the world are striving to paint a better picture of the continent? A chat with Seun did not only offer explanations for the title of his new album, as it also gave a clear insight into another fact, which is; what makes Seun a force to reckon with? It goes beyond his father's name as he shows that he has become his own man through acquisition of knowledge. “Take a look at Africa, there is no love, peace or happiness. All I see is anger and fury. Like I said in the title of my album “From Africa with Fury…” all I can see in Africa is nothing other than anger. Why are people angry?

They are angry because they are in the middle of plenty yet they own nothing.

The oil is in Africa but the companies that explore the oil are foreign. The diamond is in Africa and the companies that own them are in Europe; the so called policy makers who are politicians are not helping matters.

What other way is there for the ordinary man other than to take our destiny into our hands?” Is Seun taking this stand with respect to his family linage, or out of self conviction? this writer inquired, “Being an activist speaking out against the injustice and corruption that exist in our land has nothing to do with being an Anikulapo.

Again, that's a misconception; people believe it's a Kuti affair to be an activist or to demand change. People have often accused me of stepping into Fela's shoes,

t

BIGSCREEN

Tel: 08077408676

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e-mail: victor_akande@yahoo.com

I’m not stepping into Fela’s shoes n u e S — Kuti One may choose not to a have a but for me it goes beyond that. For the records, my father and grandmother were relationship, but can one choose not to have feelings? “I don't have feelings not the first or only activists who spoke either. I am single. I'm single and I'm not against the injustice in Africa, my stands searching. I like my single life existence. If have nothing to do with family I find someone that sweeps me off my feet background rather it is a civic and marries me then I will get married. responsibility that I owe to my children But for me, I can't marry someone who unborn. It's a duty that must be doesn't have money. Why would I want performed by every one that has the love to marry at all? The only of Africa at heart. So it's reason I would marry is not a shoe I'm stepping into. I think I'm just If I find someone because the woman has of dollars. I fulfilling my own civic that sweeps me off millions don't believe in responsibility. marriage and I don't my feet and For a man who is believe in love and all professing love as the marries me then I those things. It is not catalyst that is propelling really my thing. There is will get married. him to fight for the good true love in Africa of Africa, it is right to But for me, I can't no between men and assume that he should women, because love marry someone know in Africa that one been cannot fix the who doesn't have has commercialized, you community without must have this or buy money. Why fixing the family. So, that before a woman when will Seun begin a would I want to can love a man; so I family? “Ha! marriage? marry at all? The myself. I want to marry “I am not planning that a woman that has oh.” only reason I money since we have In this part of the would marry is commercialized love. world where it is Real love is dedication. believed that with every because the Where can you find successful man there is a woman has someone who is woman, is there any to you woman in his life? “The millions of dollars dedicated without an ulterior person who said behind motive? You might every successful man think I'm a cynic but I'm there is a woman, did not put the African not. I'm a realist. Like Uncle Femi Falana men into perspective; because behind put to me, he said, “People expect the every successful African man there are African man to love, romance, and forget women. Look at Obasanjo, how many reasoning, but it's very impossible for the women are behind him, Abiola too, what Yoruba man to abandon his reasoning for of Babagida? Even Fela my father had a romance.” lot of women behind him. Me, I don't Is there a possibility that Seun could have a woman per se. I'm not in a anyway be considering marrying more relationship. I can't say I have women than one wife just like is late father? ”I because it sounds derogatory.”

think marrying more than one woman is a mistake. Monogamy is one woman too many. Polygamy is too many women.”

For having something negative to say about every facet of the African continent you might be tempted to call him a pessimist, but Seun has an answer for you. “I am not a pessimist, rather I am a realist.”

If truly he is a realist he should be aware that the only weapon he has to impact the change he wants in Africa and Nigeria is music. And for years now, Europe and not Africa has become the marketing target of his elder brother and himself when their works are released; so, how is Seun ensuring that the marketing of this album gives the average lover of his music the opportunity to access it? “First, I will like to point out that I just got back from the United Kingdom and the purpose of my visit was to enable me hold an album release tour. And it is true, we have our way in Europe. I can assure you of one thing, as this album is being released, you will find it at high end stores as well as traffic jams in Lagos and all street stores across Nigeria. For our people in Europe, we will be playing in major cities of Europe to get our message across.

How will Seun handle the hydraheaded monster called piracy that is destroying the Nigerian music industry?

“Well, piracy in Nigeria, there is nothing you can do about it. Is a case of if you can't beat them you join them. And I've joined them. By releasing your music in Nigeria it means you have pirated the music because these people who sell music legally are the same people who pirate this music as well. For us we are not letting it bother us, all we desire is to see the music out there. Where else do you want us to go to if we do not go to Alaba?” he asks.

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Entertainment

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

HO LLYWOOD

•Mike Aremu

Compiled by MERCY MICHAEL

R. Kelly sued by ex-manager

50 Cent contemplates label change

5

•50 Cent

T

0 Cent is contemplating quitting his record label after a feud with bosses threatened to delay his new album.

The rapper was busy working on his next release until he had a heated exchange with Interscope chiefs last month, accusing them of "moving in slow motion."

He warned his bosses that unless they worked harder to make the release a success, he would put a hold on the new material.

He tells MTV.com, "I don't know. It will all be clear in the negotiations following me turning this actual album in.

And, of course, the performance and how they actually treat the work will determine whether [I] still want to stay in that position or not.”

HE rumour mills just can't get enough of Jennifer Aniston's supposedly "warp-speed," ringflashing romance with Justin Theroux, especially now that there's a chance to drag Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie into the mix.

"How Jen Stole Her Man," blares the latest cover of Us Weekly (don't even get us started on the concept of "manstealing," because last we checked, we weren't living in a country song from the '60s). "Did she pull an Angelina to land her new love?"

The love triangle storyline comes down to this: When did Theroux end his 14-year, on-off relationship with live-in girlfriend Heidi Bivens, and when did he become "inseparable" with Aniston, whom he met last fall while shooting "Wanderlust" in Atlanta?

According to Us, the "bitter irony" of all this is that Jen, 42, would pursue a romance with the so-called edgy

actor-writer, 39, given her pity-partytossing past.

The mag claims Aniston "went after" the hirsute writer-director during filming, and they supposedly had a few "secret" rendezvous at her "secluded" rental home.

But, alleges an insider, "Jen and Justin both backed off. Justin's pretty bold, but he felt like it wouldn't be much longer before anyone got wind of it."

Theroux purportedly told Aniston that "things were over" with stylist Bivens, "but it was going to take time to undo.”

Sarkodie, DJ Mensa For USA

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S

OUL star R. Kelly's former manager is suing the singer for more than $1 million in commission cash he insists he's owed.

Jeff Kwatinetz claims Kelly instead used the money to pay off

Jennifer Aniston under fire for new romance

Crane over Ghollywood HE event, being put together by Makola African Market & TM Entertainment, is to mark the 2011 Ghana Republic Day in New Jersey.

Sarkodie is so hot right now, having already clinched a distribution and clothing line deal with Konvict Musik owned by the third richest billionaire musician, Akon.

Michael Owusu Addo, better known as Sarkodie, will also be making his first appearance in New Jersey and the good thing about it is that his New Jersey fans will get to listen to his 'Rappaholic' album before his

•R. Kelly

people who accused him of sexual misconduct.

In his lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles on Monday and obtained

by TMZ.com, Kwatinetz claims he helped resurrect Kelly's career in 2008 when the singer was fighting child pornography charges.

He states, "(I) guided Kelly through the recording of two new albums, substantial multi-million dollar tours ... a book deal, and a myriad of other appearances and events," adding, "Kelly reaped millions of dollars" while under his management.

But the singer has "failed and refused to pay" the 15 percent commission rate they allegedly agreed upon.

fans in Ghana.

The concert is also expected to be beefed up with the finest Ghanaian musicians already based in the states.

Before Sarkodie comes on stage, DJ Mensa (Michael Mensah Ayenu) is billed to thrill the audience with indigenous Ghanaian songs.

•Sarkodie

•Majid

I

•Aniston with new lover

T has been revealed that players within Ghana's movie industry are covering up an incident in which actor Majid Michel reportedly had a poisonous substance put in his food.

News-One sources say during the shooting of the movie 'Somewhere in Africa', medical reports suggested that someone had put poison in a tin of milk Majid was supposed to have used in his food.

“It was very serious but we have been asked to keep quiet about it.

When he took the tin of milk, he realized that the contents had changed into a very black substance so he got scared and raised an alarm.

He was taken to the hospital and the doctors confirmed that it was food poisoning.

“It is not clear who exactly did it but the milk

Majid in poisoning scare was opened the previous night and was to have been used but something else came up so he put the milk back in the fridge and went with his friends to eat in town.

“The next morning he took it again to use and saw the black substance,” the source revealed.

Two other sources who were part of the cast and crew of Somewhere In Africa also confirmed the report to NEWS-ONE but begged to remain anonymous.

What they added was that Majid left his hotel room door open when he went out with friends that previous night, noting that was the time his milk might have been poisoned.

The incident reportedly happened in a hotel near Shai Hills in Accra.

Sax Appeal with Mike Aremu, Kenny G

A

FTER what looked like an exquisite night of jazz music in Lagos with Smooth FM on Friday November 12, at the new Expo Center, Eko Hotel, featuring Angie Stone, Gerald Albright, Richard Bona and Mike Stern, another imaginable moment is in the making with veterans of the art, as Mike Aremu Vision partners Classic FM to feature award winning king of smooth jazz, Kenny G in an all-jazz evening at the same venue come Sunday, July 3rd, 2011.

Aremu, the notable Nigerian export on Jazz music said at a press conference, Tuesday, that the show is in line with his vision of further raising the standard of music in the country by constantly bringing quality live music with multi talented artistes from home and abroad.

Tagged 'Sax Appeal', the event which enters its 3rd edition this year, follows, with conscious improvement, the last edition of the event at the MUSON centre in July 24, 2010 where he, kunle Ayo, Judith Sephuma, Yolanda Brown, Tosin Martins and Bez brought the house down with scintillating performances.

“Sax Appeal 3 is not only bigger in terms of artistic content but the demand has meant that a larger venue to accommodate the fans wishes has to be met hence the hosting of this year's edition at the prestigious new Expo Centre Eko hotel V.I. who are giving a major support to the event this year”, says an excited Mike Aremu.

Supporting the headliner, Kenny G, according to the organiser, is another promising line-up that female saxophonist Yolanda Brown from the UK (her third appearance), Ace guitarist Kunle Ayo from SA (his second appearance), Jazz and Afro pop singer Judith Sephuma from SA (her second appearance) and Waje.

Other additions to year's event is the inclusion of the sax appeal weekend package at the Radisson Blu Anchorage Hotel from July 1st to 3rd where each evening will have snippets of live jazz from other friends of Mike Aremu jamming and guests having a fore taste of what to expect at grand finale, holding at the New Expo Centre, Eko hotel on Sunday evening.

According to Ayo sadare of Inspiro Communications, the media agency for the show, tickets are already near sold-out at Eko Hotel, Jazz Hole, KFC, The Hub-Palms, Lekki, and Radisson Blu outlets. The fees were put at N10,000 for Regulars, N20,000 VIP and corporate tables at N1 million and N500,000.

Sax Appeal 3 is also being supported

by Lagos State Government, LASAA, The Beat FM, Naija FM, Eko Hotel and Suites, Inspiro Productions, Avis, KFC, Event Secure, BHM GROUP and Radisson Blu Anchorage Hotel.

Entertainment

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

TELEVISION

BIG

43

CINEMA guide LAGOS

PICTURE Supported by: SILVERBIRD CINEMAS

Your Highness Genre: Comedy Fast Five Genre: Action/Adventure and Sequel Priest (3D) Genre: Suspense/Horror, Thriller and Adaptation Street Dance Genre: Action/Adventure, Art/Foreign, Drama and Musical/Performing Arts Thor Genre: Action/Adventure and Adaptation

PORT-HARCOURT

DStv E! Schedule 06:00: 25 Hottest Hollywood Cougar Tales 07:50: 10 Most Compelling Mama Dramas 08:40: Forbes Top 20 Celebrity Cash Couples 09:30: E! News 10:00: Girls Of The Playboy Mansion 10:25: Holly's World 10:50: Keeping Up With The Kardashians 11:15: Forbes 15 Hot Hollywood Moms 12:15: E! News 12:45: Kendra 13:15: Kourtney & KhloŽ Take Miami 15:20: E! News 15:50: Kourtney & KhloŽ Take Miami 19:00: E! News 19:30: Kourtney & KhloŽ Take Miami 22:30: Holly's World 23:00: E! News 23:30: Dr. 90210 00:30: 10 Most Compelling Mama Dramas 01:30: Sexiest Cover Girls 02:25: Dr. 90210 03:20: Extreme Hollywood 04:15: Billionaire Crime Scenes: Was It Murder?

05:10: Addicted To Pills E! Investigates

RADIO Wazobia FM 95.1 SUNDAY(EVENING) 12/09/2010 6-7 Hi Life with Femi 7-8 Street Yarn 8 - 10 9ja Sense 10 - 12 Take Am PROGRAMME (Yaw's Schedule) MONDAY - FRIDAY 6:30AM Make Una Wake up 6:45AM Word from Abada and Blue Boat 7:30AM Sports Yarn 8AM - 8:15AM World Tori 8:15 - 9AM Music, Gist...

9:00 AM Top Tori for Town 9:30 News (short, short tori) 9:30 - 10AM Tori for Town Continues

A reason to celebrate crime

I

F you are looking for a film that will keep you jolting from your seat from start to finish, then Fast & Furious 5 is your best bet. Starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges, this action/adventure sequel leaves you breathless for 130 minutes.

Since Brian O'Conner and Mia Toretto broke Dom Toretto out of custody, they've blown across many borders to elude authorities.

Now backed into a corner in Rio de Janeiro, they must pull one last job in order to gain their freedom.

As they assemble their elite team

of top racers, the unlikely allies know their only shot of getting out for good means confronting the corrupt businessman who wants them dead.

Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker), a former cop on the run, and Mia (Jordana Brewster), a car thief, rescue former con Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) from police custody.

While Mia is Dominic's (Dom) sister, Brian is in love with her.

Soon, all three are declared wanted by the police. Brian and Mia escape to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where Mia's former accomplice, Vince (Matt Schulze), offers them a daring job robbing expensive cars

from a moving train. As they need the money, Brian and Mia agree.

Evil is pitched against evil, and on the D-day, when they set out to loot the vault, Hobbs arrives and foils their plan, apprehending Mia, Dom, Brian and Vince. On their way to the airport, Hobbs' cavalcade comes under deadly fire from Reyes' men. While Hobbs' men are killed, Dom is able to get him out of there, unscathed. How Dom's team is able to complete their mission of stealing the $100 million forms the rest of the story.

What happens to Hobbs and Reyes is a revealing climax that makes the movie thick.

Ready: A stress-busting therapy

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ACKED with gimmick and all, Ready is an exciting easy watch that transports you to

a world that's dreamlike with dialogues are totally mass appealing. It's a film that lets you into its world without hesitation and gives you a thoroughly entertaining time during your twohour visit.

Starring Salman Khan, Asin, Arya Babbar, Sanjay Dutt, Zarine Khan, and Mahesh Manjrekar, this Hindi comedy explores the life of Prem (Salman Khan) who lives with his father (Mahesh Manjrekar) and two uncles (Manoj Joshi, Manoj Pahwa). Sanjana (Asin), an orphan, lands in India to be with her mamas (Sharat Saxena, Akhilendra Mishra), who are greedy and want to usurp her property. Prem, who falls in love with Sanjana, decides to teach

her mamas a lesson. Both the mamas, who are sworn enemies, want Sanjana to get married to their respective brothers-in-law, so that they can lay their hands on Sanjana's property. But Prem makes a fool of them by getting friendly with them and making his family pose as billionaires.

One of the uncles of Prem poses as the manager from the World Bank, who reveals to the mamas that Sanjana's father owed the bank millions of dollars. Either they sell their property or disown the girl.

Circumstances prompt the mamas to accept Prem as the prospective husband of Sanjana. But Prem's game plan gets exposed on his wedding day. there is no doubt that the characters make the film Ready is boisterous, crazy, wacky, irrational, comic book type, totally makebelieve with a full dose of songs and dances.

On the whole, the film prides itself with super music, gags and gimmicks aplenty. Indeed, Ready is a stress-busting therapy that makes you smile, laugh and break into guffaws in those two hours.

Ghetto Dreams Genre: Drama Running Sucker Punch Genre: Action/Adventure and Science Fiction/Fantasy Wrecked Genre: Thriller Just Go With It Genre: Comedy and Romance No Strings Attached Genre:Comedy and Romance HOP Genre: Comedy, Kids/Family, Animation and Holiday Red Riding Hood Genre: Romance, Suspense/Horror and Adaptation

ABUJA True Grit Genre:Action/Adventure, Western, Adaptation and Remake Rango Genre:Action/Adventure and Animation Tango With Me Genre: Drama and Romance Thor Genre: Action/Adventure and Adaptation Fast Five Genre: Action/Adventure and Sequel Tommorow When the War Began Genre: Action Adventure Drama Ghetto Dreams Genre: Drama Sucker Punch Genre: Action/Adventure and Science Fiction/Fantasy No Strings Attached Genre:Comedy and Romance Just Go With It Genre: Comedy and Romance Bent Arrows Genre: Drama and suspense

44

Entertainment

Megga 9'9 debunks death rumour

“

Kunle Akinrinade

F

AST rising Juju music star, Abel Dosunmu popularly known as Megga 9'9 has denied rumour making the rounds that he is dead.

The Ilaro, Ogun State born crooner explained that he is hale and hearty contrary to reports in a section of the media and social networking sites.

He said:”It's indeed sad that some people could peddle such a wicked lie against me. Some people even posted my 'obituary' on the Facebook while I have been inundated with calls by well wishers to confirm the veracity of the story. For the avoidance of doubt, I am still alive and nothing is wrong with me. I want to tell my numerous fans to disregard the story because it's nothing but falsehood by people who can best be described as enemies of progress.”

“My family members were worried to the extent that my mother nearly went into a shock following the rate at which the rumour was spreading like a wildfire,” he added.

In the mean time, Dosunmu disclosed that the video work of his latest album entitled 'Thanksgiving' is due for release while work on his new album has just begun.

“While the horrible story was being peddled by faceless people in town I was actually on location where the shoot of the video flick of my latest album was going on.”

“Besides, I am currently in the studio working on my next album which will be entitled 'Victory at Last'. The album no doubt will be the best thing to happen to the Nigerian music scene and it's schedule for release in the first quarter of 2012.”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Buga to thrill in Texas

B

UGA crooner, Jesse King who recently concluded works on his latest album entitled Rooted is warming up to thrill fans and lovers of music in far away Houston, Texas.

The event which is billed to take place at the Rose Garden Hall, 10800-10Wilcrest drive at Bissonet Houston, Texas on July 1 and 2, •L-R: Susan Bash, Emem Isong, Chioma Chukwuka and Uche Jumbo 2011 will feature special performance from top gyration master simply known as Melodious Melloh.

Jesse King, who in recent times has been absent on the Nigerian ILVERBIRD Gallery, Ahmadu could not have enough of the long producer and the cast of the movie music scene due to tour and concert who took a bow after a resounding in major parts of Europe, ensured Bello way, Victoria Island, on list of stars on ground. that he finished work on his third applause from the audience.

June 20, 2011, played host to a The roll call of stars in album which he promised to drop number of filmmakers, actors, Guests were taken through attendance included; Monalisa earnestly. actresses and movie buffs who had Chinda, Emem Isong, Joseph several crescendos of fun and Information from the camp of come to be part of the premiere of laughter as the romantic comedy Benjamin, Uche Jumbo, Nse IkpeWinstar Records, the artiste's label, the star studded movie entitled Kiss and Tell came up on the screen. also reveals that the Buga crooner is Etim, Lilian Bach, Susan Bash, Kiss and Tell.

Executive producer of the movie, Julius Agwu, Fred Amata, Sam finally set to launch his third Monalisa Chinda, and producer The premiere which started at Dede, Adaora Ukoh, Kalu album. It was gathered that the about 4pm with a red carpet event Ikeagwu, and a whole lot of others. Emem Isong were all smiles after album entitled Rooted includes a at the Atrium of the Silverbird At about 8pm, guests moved into the movie, as the standing ovation hit single featuring the talented and applause they got after the Cinemas lasted for about four the hall for the premiere proper.

Project Fame West Africa, Yetunde movie signaled to them that they hours as against the two hours Orijah, popularly known as Omo Comedian and radio presenter Ibadan. did a good job. planned for it. This was not Yaw, who was the anchor of the Speaking on the album, Bolaji surprising though, as the large Kiss and Tell features A-list event, came on stage and Bakare, Creative Director, Winstar number of paparazzi on ground introduced the executive producer, Nollywood actors like Desmond Elliot, who also directed the movie, Records, disclosed that plans are underway to host a high-profile Monalisa Chinda, Nse Ikpe-Etim, album launch party where fans will Uche Jombo, Joseph Benjamin, be treated to scintillating Bhaira Mcwizu, Darlene Benson performances by the artiste. and others. It will start showing in Bakare affirms, “This new sound Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt and is something that will blow the other parts of the country from July minds of music fans away. We are 18. not leaving any stone unturned to NITED States based release a top quality job that would In Kiss and Tell, Iyke (Joseph Nigeria born Hip Hop/R inspire and entertain music lovers.”

Benjamin), the ultimate player in & B and Ragga artiste, the game of women, runs Blue Chinedu Ejiogu, who goes by the Quest with his friend, Bernard moniker Jimmy Sugarcane, last (Desmond Elliot); their friendship, weekend performed alongside however, does not apply to their Ikechukwu at 100 Igbos USA inc. company. Iyke, who prides himself as the ultimate player per 2nd annual African Diaspora •Sugarcane excellence however meets his International dialogue in Atlanta, match, perhaps more than he GA at Renaissance Concourse, •Buga bargained for, in Delphine Atlanta Airport Hotel, Atlanta, (Monalisa Chinda), a divorce GA. lawyer who is a divorcee herself.

Jimmy sugarcane, who released Iyke is about to lose a bet, a an album in Nigeria recently titled controlling shares of Blue Quest.

Larimo which contains tracks like He has to win or lose all.

Asunder, Foriko, Larimo and many

Flakes from Kiss and Tell premiere

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Jimmy Sugarcane jams with Ikechukwu in U.S

U

more, it was said, put up a stellar performance that got guests screaming and asking for more.

An engineer by profession, whose love for music spurred him to release the album, Sugarcane is married to an American and has children.

EWLY elected president of According to his manager, Mr the prestigious Ikeja Olabanji Adelana, the songster Country Club, Adewale who already has two albums to his Osomo Esq, is the next on the list of credit will storm Nigeria soon to honourees of the monthly Ojez promote his works.

Elders Forum. The celebration,

N

•Megga 9'9

Here comes Jomix!

U

P and coming music star Joseph Ayantade, popularly known as Jomix, is working tirelessly in his bid to take the music industry by storm.

Jomix combines very well his native Yoruba culture proverbs and anecdotes with English language to come up with a unique ideal blend of what he calls 'FOLK POP'.

The Folk Pop artiste who started his musical career in 2006 has two singles to his credit, Foribe and Labule, which are receiving massive airplay in different radio

Adeyeni Adeyemo

stations across the country.

Having completed his degree in Mass Communication from Olabisi Onabanjo University, AgoIwoye, he is currently a Masters Degree student of the department of communication and language arts in University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

The young talented artiste says he does not believe in dropping out of school to make music and his music is influenced by situations and his environment.

O'jez honours Osomo of Ikeja Country Club usually with pomp and ceremony, comes up this Sunday, June 26, at the celebrity restaurant and entertainment centre, O'jez, National Stadium.

As it is customary to the event, Osomo and his friends, associates and family members will be showered, amidst winning and dinning, with highlife music as performed by veterans of the genre such as Fatai Rolling Dollar and Alaba Pedro with backing of the Ever Green Band owned by Chief Femi Esho. Anchor of the night, Nollywood star, Ejike Asiegbu, would be on hand to receive Osomo and his group. Asiegbu had promised guests that it would be a night of fun come Sunday. “The Forum committee had met to finalise plans on how to make Sunday a memorable one for Mr. Osomo and all guests that would be attending the event.”

Chief Executive Officer of O'jez,

Chief Joseph Odobeatu in a statement described Osomo as a good natured man with great leadership qualities, one of which, according to Odobeatu, was the reason the celebrant y was elected to lead the Ikeja Country Club.

“We at O'jez are hereby celebrating this cool and collected leader, one of Nigeria's finest lawyers at this month's O'jez Entertainment Forum.”

The Forum which started about a decade ago had played host to eminent Nigerians such as Toyin Subair, Patrick Dolye, Presidential candidate Dele Momodu, Prof.

Wole Soyinka and flutist Tee Mac, among many others.

On hand to add to the spice of the evening will be comedy by ace stand up comics like MC Shakara, Emeka Smith, Elenu, Mr. Patrick as well as the jokes by the compere of the day, Nollywood comedy actor, Charles Inojie.

FROM THE CAMPUS PAGE 46

THE NATION SUNDAY, JUNE 26, 2011

Nwankwo Kanu

Nku hails competitive 100m race F

ORMER national and African sprints queen, Mercy Nku has hailed the ‘very competitive’ 100m race which saw the duo of Egwero Ogho-Oghene and Blessing Okagbare emerge Nigeria’s 2011 fastest man and woman respectively by the narrowest of margins.

Egwero pipped three-time champion,Obinna Metu to the gold by 100th of a second,the same margin of victory Okagbare used to emerge the 100m queen for the third consecutive time.

‘This has been one of the very competitive 100m races in the history of the championships.It required a photo-finish to determine who actually won and this is a great credit to the championships.I am happy the championships isgradually getting back to its original competitive best when we used to have the likes of Mary Onyali ,Chioma Ajunwa and Tina Iheagwan used to fight it out for the 100m title in the 1990s and of course my own time when Endurance Ojokolo and my humble self used to be the cynosure of all eyes’, began Nku,the greatest sprinter in the history of Cross River state.

Nku who won a record four gold medals at the second African Junior Champioships in Bouake,Cote D’Ivoire in1995,a

feat no Nigeria has not equaled believes the atmosphere created at the U.J Esuene stadium aided the classic 100 races on Thursday.

‘I think the atmosphere at the stadium played a huge role in what we saw and this is a great thumbs up to my Governor, Senator Liyel Imoke who has ensured that the All Nigeria Open returns to its original standard. I am proud of what I have seen here and I believe the state’s continued sponsorship of the championships will make it one the world governing body for the sport,the International Association of Athletics Federations will be proud of and use as a model for several African countries’,further said Nku,the 1999 All Africa Games 100m champion.

Nku ,who won four national athletes including the 100m gold in 2002 s convinced the only way the championships can go is up and believes the leadership of the Athletic Federation of Nigeria, the owner of the event should be commended.

“We shouldn’t take it away from the AFN under the leadership of chief Solomon Ogba. They have really done well so far with the technical organization of the event. The Cross River state provided a perfect atmosphere and venue and the AFN backed it up with a great organisation,” she said.

NFSC AWARDS

Ladipo inaugurates nomination committee •As Globacom , IGI, others back awards

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With Prof. Emmanuel Ojeme

HE President General of the Nigeria Football Supporters club, Rafiu Ladipo has inaugurated a 7-man nomination committee for the Nigeria Football Supporters Club (NFSC) awards at its headquarters on Thursday.

The committee has been charged with the responsibility of determining the nominees for the various categories of the awards. Each category would have three nominees from where the winner will be chosen.

Members of the committee include Peter Rufai, Kunle Solaja, Blessing Nwosu, Mike Mayaki, Ijeoma, Kayode Tijani and Felix Awogu.

Ladipo noted that members of the nomination committee were chosen on the premise that they were men and women of integrity.

Ladipo said: “We belief that when the committee is through with its task, they would have

By Stella Bamawo drawn a credible list of nominees for each category that Nigerians will be proud of.”

Meanwhile, Globacom Limited has partnered with the Nigeria Football Supporters club to ensure that the award is a success.

The telecommunication company will sponsor the awards for the next five years with a sum of N100m and a brand new car for the winner of the ‘Footballer of the year award’. In the same vein, IGI has indicated interest to support the awards for the next five years. Also the Unity Kapital Insurance has also indicated interest. While various state governments such as Edo, Imo, Abia, Rivers, Ondo, Delta and Akwa Ibom have all promised to assist in organizing a befitting event for Nigerian footballers just as the chief of army staff has also helped out in reaching to various sponsors.

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•Nku

Ghana/Nigeria rivalry will motivate us –Technical crew

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HE technical crew of the Nigeria U-23 national team popularly dubbed Dream Team V has informed SportingLife exclusively that the intense rivalry between the country and Ghana will be the main motivation to thrash Ghana when the two West African neighbours clash today in the 1st leg of the All African Games Qualifier at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City.

The Assistant Coach of the team, Stanley Eguma disclosed that the technical crew of the country’s U-23 team was aware of the ploy of the Black Meteors of Ghana to throw everything into the match so as to put spanner in the involvement of Nigeria at the football event of the All African Games slated for September in Mozambique.

He stated that the latest move of the Ghanaians was not a surprise to him and to any of the technical crew owing to the fact that the President John

From Tunde Liadi, Owerri Attah Mills inspired country had already exited in most competitions they participated in including the U-17, U-20 and the Olympic Games and that the All African Games was their only last resort hence the desire by them to give everything in their armoury for it.

“Yes we are aware of the intense rivalry between Nigeria and Ghana and that is why we are working round the corner to ensure that we do not leave any stone unturned in our bid to beat them well so that the second leg will be mere formality. We have been in camp ever since we played against Tanzania. Some of the invited players have also come in to join the ones in camp like Chrisantus, Jonathan Okafor, Odion Ighalo and others. At the end of the day we should be able to present a very formidable and presentable team to beat them.”

AHEAD NATIONAL SPORTS FESTIVAL

Fashola bids contingents farewell today

OME days ago, one of Nigeria’s high impact and quality footballers exited gloriously from the game.

He retired after many years of successful exploits and achievements with his footprints solidly in the history of football. During his illustrious career, he showed a unique style of play for club and country. This paper attempts to highlight the features of this football icon and related issues.

Kanu Nwankwo, an Ohanaeze, from Imo State started his football career with local clubs in Imo State. He participated in FIFA’s age-grade football competition and that brought him to limelight. But it was after this tournament which took place in 1993 or so, that his silky and languid style of play caught the attention of the world. He subsequently featured for Nigeria in 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, where he helped the Nigerian Olympic team to eliminate the mighty teams from Argentina and Brazil to win the Olympic Gold medal, for the first time in the soccer event.

Then, the big clubs followed and rushed to enlist him.

The popular Ajax Football Club helped to further sharpen his skills and develop his game. Kanu Nwankwo, standing at over six feet, won Trophies with his Ajax FC. He subsequently attracted the attention of Inter Milan of Italy where his heart problem was discovered at the medicals. This was to be a sad moment in his career but being the Nwachukwu that he is, he survived the heart operation and returned to the game successfully He had played for Arsenal FC, West Brom FC and Portsmouth FC where he led the team to FA Cup victory.

At the national level, he remained a loyal member of the Super Eagles and rose to become the captain the team. He played for Nigeria in Africa Cup of Nations and World Cup tournament as well as international friendless.

Kanu is a gentleman and kind hearted. He has used his earned income to set up the Kanu Nwanwo Foundation which is helping children with heart ailments to get relief.

This project is growing to become a hospital in Nigeria.

Kanu Nwanuwo’s style of play is majestic, showing commanding control of the ball, calmness of nerves in rounding up midfielders and defenders, a strategy of play that saw the Nigerian team through many difficult battles on the field of play. Kanu Nwankwo is one of Nigeria’s living football legends. He is happily married. I congratulate you for your successful and illustrious career. The scandals of European football never smeared you. You are indeed an icon, confirmed by the twice award as African Footballer of the year.

The challenge of sports scientist is to break down the intricate skills of Kanu in order to teach the fundamentals to children. This also applies to Austin Jay Jay Okocha, two of Nigeria’s most skillful artists in the soccer field.

Playing professional football gives fame and fortune.

Some players get carried away by it. But I think, Kanu Nwankwo, does not belong to this group. I wish to suggest to him to return his hair style to normal. The plaited style does not fit his Africanness. Secondly, he should spend two or three years on formal education to fully prepare him for leadership roles in Nigeria. This also applies to the horde of retired footballers and athletes whose professional sports careers disable their formal education and training. Congratulations Kanu Nwankwo, Papilo!

•As Kada 2009 athletes gets reward

L

AGOS State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), will today bid the state’s contingent to the National Sports Festival (NSF) slated to kick-start in PortHarcourt, the Rivers State Capital, next week farewell.

NationSport gathered that though the team of athletes will be departing on Monday, June 27, the Governor will officially send forth a total of 590 contingents at the Mobolaji Johnson Sports Centre, Row Park, Yaba.

Also at the weekend, athletes that represented the state at the 2009 Kaduna National Sports Festival got their rewards as earlier promised by the state government.

According to officials of the Lagos State Sports Council, a total of 604 athletes and

By Innocent Amomoh officials have been rewarded based on the medals won as earlier directed by the governor. Accounts were opened at Zenith Bank PLC for all the beneficiaries and the Automated Teller Machine (ATM), card given to each of them to access the accounts.

The state government recently released the sum of Twenty Seven Million Naira as reward for the athletes who made the state proud in the last edition.

Addressing the Athletes at the presentation ceremony, the Chairman of the council, Agboola Dabiri charged the athletes to remain as good ambassadors of the state, adding that Lagos is going to Port-Harcourt to excel in the forth coming sports festival.

•Kanu

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Perspective

47

Jonathan Goodluck’s Transformational Agenda Preamble:

I

T is gladdening to read of a president thinking about transforming Nigeria. I believe that this is not the first time that political leaders have bamboozled citizens with their usual favourite leadership cliché or jargons chosen at their whims and caprices from their lexicon. While it can be argued that it is better for any leader to declare his leadership style, from the outset, so that his followers will know the expected direction of his administration, appropriating or adopting a leadership style confines a leader to model the way according the proponents of exemplary leadership model-Barry Posner & James Kouzes (authors of ‘The Leadership Challenge’). It is of wisdom to state that transformational leadership main objective as originally propounded by James MacGregor Burns was to inspire followers with vision and passion; in the process the latter themselves are transformed. In a way, transformational leadership, as a model, can be defined as a process involving dynamic influential interactions between leaders and followers, expecting a mutual outcome, within a giving context. The mutual outcome normally results in change(s) to the status quo which invariably energizes followers with the end result of developing them to leaders. Simply and squarely put, leaders that will drive transformational agenda must be courageous to challenge the status quo, be visionary, passionate and proactive to interact with followers to bring about the envisioned innovative change. It must be stressed that that change must uplift the followers-their levels must change in tangible ways that can be felt, seen, touched and embraced!

Wisdom of Nehemiah in the Age of Dr Jonathan: At this juncture, I will like to draw an analogy from the Biblical Nehemiah, a man that was a servant to a king who was burdened to go back to rebuild the ruins of the ancient Jerusalem. Mr President, you need to accept the fact that Nigeria is presently in ruins; we are blessed with abundant resources yet many Nigerians are living below poverty line. Nehemiah pursued his assignment with catholic zeal and zest. There is a particular reference that I will want Mr President to emulate in the leadership style of Nehemiah in driving his transformation agenda. Before, I go further, I like to remind, Dr Jonathan Goodluck that our dear erstwhile President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua (of blessed memory) while reading his inauguration address on 29th May 2007 declared inter alia to the whole world that he would be a servant leader. It was unfortunate that his health compounded the content and context of his traits as a leader and could not really allowed us to fairly assess properly how he performed as a servant leader. I doubt if he would pass if empirically assessed. However, there are some good points that still stand today, by and large for Yar’Adua. These are upholding the rule of law and the Niger Delta amnesty issue.

Dear Mr President, you have 4 years which when broken down is 48 months or 208 weeks translating to 1461 days (sic).

Meditating on some portions of Chapter 5 of the book of Nehemiah, my heart was drawn to some issues that Mr President must be passionate, practical, pragmatic and proactive about without delay. Time is running out! In Chapter 5, Nehemiah, who later became the governor of the people, challenged the nobles and leaders who were oppressing and afflicting their fellow citizens.

In book of Nehemiah, Chapter 5:7-9, it is stated: “After serious thought, I rebuked the nobles and rulers...So I called a great assembly against them. And I said to them...Now indeed, will you even sell your brethren?

Or should they be sold to us?” Then they were silenced and found nothing to say.

Then I said, “What you are doing is not good.

Should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies?”

This is the real situation in Nigeria. We need a President who will have enough resolve or spine to call the bluff off some callous elites who are so greedy that Nigeria

•Jonathan

By John Ekundayo

can roast so far they are richer in the process.

I am not a religious zealot but I know that my country Nigeria is mostly made up of people of two religions (almost 95% of the nation’s population): Islam and Christianity. I read your encounter with journalists the last time you were in USA in which you declared that the proportion of Muslims to Christians in Nigeria is 50:50. Some may differ but I defer to your stand, Mr President, you are not far from the truth. In the light of this, as a balance, I will like to quote from what Abubakar Siddique, the first Caliph, leader of the Muslim community after the transition of the referred Prophet Mohammed stated in his inaugural speech: “I have been chosen to rule over you, though I am not the best amongst you. Help me if I am right; correct me if I am wrong. The weak among you will be strong until I have attained for him his due…and the strong among you will be weak until I have made him give what he owes...”

From the foregoing, it cannot be overemphasized that we need a President who will vigorously fight corruption putting his own life online to redeem our battered image locally and internationally. Presently, we are “fighting” this virus with kid gloves while it spreading with the speed of light all over the fabric of our nation. Corruption is everywhere; followers and leaders are involved! One can argue that during former President Obasanjo’s era, he was accused of being selective in his war against corruption; nevertheless he made some people to face the music. One notable good deed by Obasanjo (I am not his fan), his administration established two institutions to fight corruption. No government before his own institutionalized the fight against corruption.

Mr President, I will plead with you to adequately empower and equipped EFFCC and ICPC especially by giving them free hand to operate. I read in the paper, as the time of writing this piece that you were under pressure to ‘intervene’ in the judicial process indicting the former speaker and his

deputy. If it is true, please, do not hearken; let the law take its course. Enough is enough of these dealers in the garb of leaders rampaging and routing our land while throwing decency and decorum to the wind. Is this not the same Honourable Dimeji Bankole who passed through one of the finest and best universities in the worldHarvard? He was even mentioned before he became the speaker that he was an influential member of the ‘Integrity Group’ in the house? Where is that so called integrity group in the House of Representatives today? I doubt its existence.

Agenda Setting To Cripple Corruption: Overhauling EFCC Subsequently, I will opine that there is need for change in the leadership of EFCC if your transformational agenda will succeed very well. Corruption is like a cancer killing Nigeria and Nigerians gradually; even President Barrack Obama was passionate in pleading with you recently when you visit the White House to do more in fighting this hydra-headed monster! Virtually, all nations on earth have Nigerians living in them-legally and illegally. It is a truism that many cases of Nigerians in Diaspora are but for survival strategies while there are more than enough resources at home to go round for everyone! Tips of the iceberg: After May 29th, how many former governors are undergoing trial? It is only the case of the erstwhile Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives we are reading about. Where are the others? Walking freely all over the land some of them even having the effrontery or temerity to be lobbying for ministerial positions! Are we really serious as a nation? I even read in the newspapers that about two of former governors left the shores of Nigeria a day or so before 29th May 2011. Were not the security agencies aware of this development? What was the role of EFCC and ICPC in this regard? This is time for followers to ask pertinent questions requiring urgent responses if our nation must not pass through what some North African and Middle Eastern

“This is the real situation in Nigeria. We need a President who will have enough resolve or spine to call the bluff off some callous elites who are so greedy that Nigeria can roast so far they are richer in the process”

countries have gone through and some of them are still wallowing in the imbroglio that may consume their leaders and possibly their nations.

Opportunity To Address Poverty: Mr President, I was one of your friends on Facebook and I gave a thumb up for your write-up declaring your formal intention to run for the office of the president sometimes in 2010. I read the story, Mr President, of how you could not afford a bag to put your books in while you swam through a river to go to school (sic). Definitely, there are still people in such a situation like that today not only in Oloibiri, but in Numan, Aliade, Baga, Sabongida-Ora, Igboho, Biliri, Takum, Ikot Epkene, Ode-Ekiti, Umunede, Nnewi, etc. What are the practical, pragmatic and proactive steps your transformational leadership will take to address poverty that people will perceive have a human heart of kindness and compassion? Are there going to be a provision to care of the senior citizens throughout the length and breadth of our nation? I have been living in Singapore and Malaysia for 6 years now, and I could see that people from age 65 and above are classified as senior citizens and they are given concessions for some public services like transportation (at times they pay 50%). How about education: can the nation afford to cushion the crunch on parents paying for the tertiary education of their wards by having bursary award for students in this category? Can the Federal Government make funds accessible (could be a loan) to pursue higher degrees (Master degrees and Doctorates) both in local and overseas universities so that no Nigerian is denied education because he or she cannot pay for it?

Creating Jobs: Proactive Agricultural Development As A Way Out Going back to Nehemiah’s time, virtually everyone was engaged in building the wall, carrying away the rubbles and restoring order to the nation. The citizens need to be mobilized. There is the need for your government to proactively create jobs! Personally, I see Agriculture as a way out. It is unfortunate that the Federal Government and most of the states government avoid practical agriculture like a plague. It is obvious that both federal and state governments annually vote money for agricultural development which callously end up in distribution of fertilizer, loans to ‘farmers’, building dams, etc. These activites, in most cases, have no direct bearing on the lives of farmers or citizens in Okenne, Wukari, Idanre, Otukpo, Baga, Yenogoa, Kabba, Ayangba, Nguru, etc. There must be proactive ways to reach these farmers. Is it not possible to initiate modern day farm settlements in each state of the federation where mass number of youths can be gainfully and productively employed? The merits are numerous: Food Production, Employment Creation, Income Generation and Foreign Exchange Earning. A stitch in time can save nine. I have posted messages like this on your Facebook but I found them deleted, possibly by your agents: it is good that this in public domain.

Conclusion: Mr President, I want to appreciate you and your assistants (leadership team) taking time to read this and setting down to work. Nigerians are yearning and longing to witness the real transformation; not just words and words, promises and promises; there must be passionate, pragmatic and proactive steps taken to deliver this nation from ruins and rubbles she has been subjected to. The wounds on Nigeria and Nigerians are in the words of governor Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos State self inflicted which only, according to him, only leaders with bold resolve can attempt to heal. You can start somewhere and leave an indelible and memorable mark; yours could even be a benchmark, Dr Jonathan Ebele Goodluck!

Feedback is welcome from readers: jmo.ekundayo@gmail.com John M. O. Ekundayo, a leadership researcher/political commentator, who resides in Malaysia, South East Asia

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

48

DIS GENERATION

Have Your Say M

ANY find it gravely disturbing that the nation’s police headquarters could be easily penetrated by any group in order to perpetrate a crime of such magnitude, as was the case penultimate Thursday at the Louis Edet House, Abuja.

In view of this, respondents to the question on the issue posit that security agencies in the country should be more active in matters pertaining to security. The challenge to the security agencies, they say, is for them to fish out the sponsors and perpetrators of the reprehensible act. They equally call on government to ensure that all that encourages social justice should be accorded prime concern.

We need more security in the country. When this is happening where we call security headquarters, it means all other places are not safe.

Ojo Emmanuel, Ibadan, Oyo State.

The security agencies must rise up to the challenge.

Boko Haram cannot hold Nigeria to ransom.

Afolayan Olaniyi, Okeigbo, Ondo State.

The FG should put in place a security measure where all entry points to all the state capitals and FCT will be monitored by powerful CCTV cameras. It will go a long way to stop the senseless bombing.

Egbim Bishop Chukwuma, Enugu State.

I heard people saying that government should negotiate with these terrorists.

But I suggest we take it like the US would have taken it by unleashing terror on them to compensate for the so many lives they had taken, since they are inhuman.

Gwomson Dauda, Jos, Plateau State.

Security in Nigeria, particularly all agencies that are responsible for protecting life and property, should be strengthened. Secondly, the federal government should dialogue with Boko Haram. If the activities of the Niger delta have been checked through dialogue, government should do the something because the issue has gone beyond Borno State. It is better to jaw jaw than to war war.

Isiaka Ibrahim, Iree, Osun State.

I think things are getting worse and we are all sleeping with one eye open. It is obvious there is little or nothing being done by the Nigerian police. My advice is that we all should be security-conscious and let’s always pay attention to little details.

Abdulwahab Nafisat, Ibadan, Oyo State.

I think terrorism, especially the recent bombings, cannot and has never been stopped using conventional methods. I suggest that the

Following the sucide bomb blast of the police headquarters in Abuja, what can be done to stop the spate of bombing in the country? rity chiefs should stop running their agencies on the pages of newspapers. The governments should address poverty, alienation of the masses.

Elimihele Friday, Dutse, Jigawa State.

Nigerian government should fund and modernise aspects of crime prevention and detection to aide security agencies in curbing terrorism which is today’s number one global headache.

Solomon Luka, Jos, Plateau State.

In 1967, Ojukwu told us at Orlu as Biafra’s Military Academy cadets that in the next 40 years, the NORTH would continue to kill us.

Was he right or wrong?

Francis Obeten, Calabar, Cross River State.

We are in a state of emergency and a security summit is imperative. The reality is that our security apparatus is too amateurish. Let’s recruit core professionals to handle our security.

Toyin Akilo, Ido-Ekiti, Ekiti State.

What can be done to stop the spate of bombing is to let Nigerians sit at a table and discuss how we want to be governed. Any approach short of that will continue to result in more disaffection.

Segun Akinyode, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

The Federal Government of Nigeria should employ the services of FBI and CIA to solve this problem.

Comrade Mazi Owoblo, Asaga Arochukwu, Abia State.

Bombing and crimes can be stopped if the high-level of crass incompetences, nepotism, corruption, greed, unpatriotism, non-professionalism, inept leadership, unholy collaboration, sadism and negative attitudes in the Nigerian police are blocked and total overhaul effected.

Samuel Ezema, Nsukka, Enugu State.

Nigeria’s security apparatus has long been compromised. Let the government give just a name of any criminal caught and prosecuted since the bombing of Dele Giwa, poisoning of MKO Abiola, killing of Bola Ige and other high class murders. Who manned the gate at police HQTs last week?

Joe Brown, Ibadan, Oyo State.

My suggestion is that the 19 Northern state governors should hold a meeting and plead with the Emirs, Imams pastors, and the past Nigerian presidents and Heads of States in the Northern States to preach peace to their people, especially the Boko Haram group.

Mr. Sunday Joseph, Kogi State.

Many bombing, Kidnapping or whatever it is called will still emerge. Nigeria is due for talk. Call it any name; whether it is Sovereign National Conference.

The numerous challenges facing our nation need to be discussed for us to move forward. The gap between the rich and the poor is too wide.

Our rulers should do what is RIGHT.

• Police IG, Ringim

Hamis F.A Balogun, Akure, Ondo State.

The only solution in my own opinion is for government to create Terrorist Department in all our security agencies, like HOMELAND SECURITY in the USA whose main objective will be to fight and curb terrorists wherever they are.

Tijani Jeleel, Olayemi, Ibadan, Oyo State.

This is the worst thing to have happened to the force in recent times. It further confirms the porous security state of Nigeria. Boko Haram, as well as their sponsors, is evil and should not be spared.

Udeme Afia, Abuja.

The Boko Haram who claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing said they were an Islamic sect on Jihad. It is like the government is afraid to face the situation squarely. Let the National Assembly enact a bill for capital punishment immediately. In the main time the Sultan of Sokoto who is the head of Muslims in Nigeria should be able to call the Boko Haram to order. If Boko is Haram, they should know that bombing is more Haramous. J. Gimbason, Kaduna State.

I wish to say that the terror groups in Nigeria have infiltrated the military, police and our intelligence agency. The government should look inwards. President Shagari battled with Maitatsine and succeeded because he looked for solutions from within. Unfortunately, we still have the “sacred cow” mentality — that’s what will consume us all, unless of course we turn a new leaf and truly say “enough is enough”.

Ishaya C. Tapgol, Jos, Plateau State.

The government should declare a state of emergency in the state harbouring these bombers and the military should be involved now that

the police are not spared in the menace.

Barr Olajide Olawole, Ilesa, Osun State.

National security matters must be viewed seriously and concerned authorities must move from the realm of crying over spilt milk to proactive intelligence gathering so as to spare the nation future embarrassment and waste.

Hon. Ejiogu. O. Charles, Okigwe, Imo. State.

Nigerians should stop heaping all the bomb blasts on the dreaded Boko Haram.

Let the law be seen to be supreme and not for the poor.

The police should fish out who the real culprits are.

Biyi Ogundele, Ore, Ondo State.

The IGP was reckless and did not act as an intelligence officer by letting out his war strategy to his enemy. He told the public that the days of the Boko Haram were numbered. The security agencies have failed woefully. So let’s enter into dialogue with them.

Umar Sanda, Biu, Borno State.

If the only obvious excuse of the Boko Haram is that they detest Western Education for which Nigerians up North are no longer entitled to life, let a referendum be conducted so that those who keyed into their unjust terror can join them to form their Boko Haram Republic so that they won’t waste innocent lives while propagating their idiocy. But our President, bombs are killing many regularly in the North, and fear of same is killing many gradually down South.

When has FEAR become dividends of democracy?

Lanre Elyon, Ife North, Osun State.

Suicide bombing is a nihilistic, anti-establishment idea that has just diffused into the Nigerian geo-political space. Our security forces should be pro-active instead of being reactive. Our secu-

Government should identify the group concerned and engage them in a meaningful dialogue, while the security arrangement in the country is re-examined. In addition, government should try as much as possible to better the lots of the people to forestall entrenching violence as the only means of compelling (it) government to listen.

Ikpechukwu Ogbonnaya, Ubahu, Enugu State.

In a country where those in power hold on to it without responsibilities, and those who are oppressed suffer it without redress, there is bound to be problem. The only way out is social justice and employment.

Abdullahi Musa, Lafia, Nasarawa State.

The Boko Haram operation in Nigeria is not in the hands of small men. It is being backed by influential Northern Nigerians.

Ekolibo Ochu, Makurdi, Benue State.

The truth is that government is the cause of all this problem. How many people were publicly tried and punished? Those that masterminded this bomb blast should be publicly tried and punished no matter who they are.

Ude Okoye, Aba, Abia State.

Suicide bombing and Boko Haram phenomena are the effects of the political leaders’ recalcitrance to face the stark reality of socio-economic growth and development in real terms. Let’s stop playing the ostrich, let the country be restructured into true federalism.

Polycarp Onwubiko, Awka, Anambra State.

The blast was an indictment on the IGP and his men.

They should be punished for being so negligent. If they could be so lax about their own security, how will they take that of the entire nation seriously?

Kingsly, Edo, Benue State.

Continue on page 52

By Jennifer Ehidiamen 08054503875 (Sms only)

Want to start up a business? Get your idea funded!

“W

E should not be afraid of failure but see it as opportunity to do better.”

I was speaking recently to a young entrepreneur who started his first company during his NYSC is presently partnering with other entrepreneurs to launch a digital marketing company launching in three different African countries in three weeks.

Drawing from his experience of starting up a company from scratch in a rather harsh economy (as Nigeria’s), this young entrepreneur says youth can reach their dream: •If they can create new opportunities (most people often think opportunities always have to come knocking on their door- sometimes we need to step out of our comfort zone or oppressive zone to create the environment that will allow us thrive).

•If they don’t think they can make million the first day (our over-ambitiousness often makes us think we have to start out with a huge budget and hit millions afterwards).

•It doesn’t take money to start a business; it takes your mind (the priority is set at- Idea, people then money).

•If you have idea and you refuse to go out and mix with the right people that can project you, then the idea is as good as no idea!

(People, the right people are great resource to a new business venture.)

•If you know your onions, life is interesting.

The entrepreneur studied Business Education but today is an expert in digital marketing. On the idea that Nigeria has a harsh economy he said it’s a flimsy excuse youth give...

We eat, recharge our phones, buy latest designers wears etc and yet say the economy is harsh?

“The economy might be harsh but that’s not a factor not to start something.”

Meanwhile, if you are a young budding entrepreneur with a business proposal that needs investment from N50k to N200k, send mail to jackobzn@yahoo.com for an opportunity to pitch your idea and get funded! An example is a true-life story of a National Diploma graduate that had no employment for 2 years. He gave a proposal a month ago that he needed N250k to start a Cyber Café.

Today, he has a cafe with 10 computers and 2 play stations. He also employed an attendant. He makes over five thousand-naira daily.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Arts Extra

49

Ile-Ife in the throes of cultural celebration The premises of the National Museums and Monuments, Ile-Ife, Osun State, was agog on June 16th, when children gathered to celebrate the International Day of the African Child organized by the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC). Edozie Udeze was there

•Atilogwu dancers who graced the occasion

•Children in their traditional wears at the occasion

T

HE ancient town of Ile-Ife in Osun State was agog with cultural festivities penultimate Thursday when children from far and near gathered to celebrate this year’s International Day of the African Child. The children, drawn from many primary and secondary schools in Osun State were in high spirits as they smarted out in their traditional attires. The idea was to let the kids feel good in their local dresses in order to show the world that the day truly belonged to African children.

The event, put together by the Ile-Ife office of the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC) in conjunction with the Institute of Cultural Studies, Obafemi Awolowo University was meant to imbue, induct and inculcate in the children the value inherent in and the total beauty of African culture. This was why the theme of the celebration was anchored on: Belonging, Being and Become, so as to highlight children’s interest in the understanding and appreciation of Black and African peoples’ cultural heritage, traditions and customs.

As early as 9 a.m children had begun to converge for the event.

International Day of the African Child is celebrated to honour the memory, courage and determination of thousands of black school children who took to the streets in 1976 in a march more than half a mile long, to protest the inferior quality of education in South Africa.

“The children equally used the occasion to demand their right to be taught in their own languages in Soweto, South Africa,” so said Alhaji Tajudeen Okusi, the head of CBAAC office in Ile-Ife. In that protest, hundreds of young boys and girls were shot down, some killed while others were maimed for life. The protest grew in leaps and bounds and lasted for two

“It is not always that you have the privilege to be so close to an Oba,” so said Ifeoluwa whose exuberance was almost infectious. “He is our father and we must hail him,” she said further as she galloped away to join her mates on their way to the stage to display their bata dance steps” weeks during which the South African government pulled all known strings to stifle the march, all to no avail.

To honour this big and bold protest, 16th of every June has been declared as the International Day of the African Child by the African Union (AU). “Indeed the day draws world attention to the living conditions of African children – their education, their interest in what is their own, their love for their traditional values and so on,” Okusi further declared, “This forum intends to provide an enabling atmosphere for the agitation of the rights; enumeration and provision of solutions to challenges facing African Children.”

This was why the programme was conducted in Yoruba language and the children truly found themselves in familiar terrain. Chairman of the occasion and traditional ruler of Iremo in Ile-Ife, Oba S.F. Omisakin advised the kids to be of good cheer. “You have to obey your parents. You have to love who you are and what is your own,” he said to them amid cheers and smiles from the children.

The Oba offered prayer on their behalf, saying, “You will never meet bad luck in your lives.

You will live to be good and useful to this society,” to which they all chorused ‘ase’. Even then, the oba reminded them that ‘ase’ (amen) is said at the end of every

prayer so that Olodumare will bless his own people. The kids were really excited as they chanted ‘ase’, almost non-stop.

Then the chant of kabeyesi o reverberated in the hall. It was the turn of the children to show appreciation to the traditional ruler who took time out to be with them and shower them with fatherly love and attention. “It is not always that you have the privilege to be so close to an Oba,” so said Ifeoluwa whose exuberance was almost infectious. “He is our father and we must hail him,” she said further as she galloped away to join her mates on their way to

the stage to display their bata dance steps.

The atmosphere was filled with the innocent voices of kids who sang and danced joyously to the provocative beatings of the Bata drummers. Each school came with their best dancers to outshine the other. However it was clear that the preparations for the shows penetrated the inner-bearings of the children because they all danced out their hearts. As they did so, the elders cheered and nodded their heads in appreciation. When it was time for the atilogwu dance, many people stood on their toes, while some could not hold back their excitement. In fact, the hall came more alive as the atilogwu dancers held the stage spellbound with their stage crafts and artistry.

Atilogwu is mainly an Igbo dance, but the kids, cutting across all tribes in Nigeria, did it in such a way that it no longer sounded or appeared exclusively an Igbo affair. That, indeed showed that culture is also a unifying factor and people can adapt ways and means order than their own for a more effective, and stronger soci-

ety.

Other programmes like fork dance, drama sketches, oral chanting, art exhibition, quiz competition took place. Both the quiz and essay writing were done in Yoruba language to draw the kids closer to their own environment.

On display were some art works of Jimi Solanke who was not only present, but identified with the kids while the event lasted. His art works dwelt essentially on traditional issues of Yoruba origins. Also on display was the painting of Akinyade Israel of Abike Obawole School. His work had in the background an expansive school compound where students were engaged in different activities. He took time to spell out all the sporting facilities and what the students were engaged in. It is a fascinating work that drew applause from the audience.

In the end, winners were given awards while new talents in various cultural activities were discovered. Okusi said it was in line with the goals of CBAAC to celebrate children and indeed make them have sense of belonging.

Poetry

L

EAVE me alone, now, Alice Leave me to my devices, now.

Stay away from me, home-breaker Let me be, you scandalous scoundrel For I need my peace in solitude A lonely heart I am, so troubled.

Now, how can I be happy?

If you were in my shoes How would you feel?

Barely a year after marriage, Trouble and rumble come tumbling All over me Prompting my jewel to leave Not abandoning me though But I am alone, in voluntary soli-

Melody to Alice

By Edozie Udeze

tude All alone to mourn and fret This loneliness as the year draws close Oh! Leave me alone, Alice, your Presence tends to weaken my heart.

Yet, I shall await her return, The return of my jewel For in this loneliness, breaking in the Wheel of the mid-day pulse

I await the sweet fragrance Of her perfume… Her early Morning smiles Her giddy, infectious ego, strangling…

And stampeding me to feverish frenzy.

All defining her youthful delicate womanhood As she fills my heart unto the fullest Like a flashing star in the recesses of the night And I know my woman will soon be back!

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Arts & Life

50

SUNNY SIDE

Cartoons

By Olubanwo Fagbemi deewalebf@yahoo.com 08060343214 (SMS only)

POLITICKLE

MJ: Until a successor

THE GReggs

WEEKS after the June 25, 2009 death of pop megastar Michael Jackson of cardiac arrest at his rented mansion in Los Angeles while he rehearsed for a series of London concerts designed to revive a career shattered by bizarre events as an adult and acquittal on charges of molesting a 13-year-old boy, the writer – a keen fan – wrote: If a replacement (for MJ) must emerge, however long it takes – years, decades, centuries even – the writer believes the new one must share some of the Weird One’s circumstances, for in emulation of big-selling predecessors Bing Crosby, the Beatles and Elvis Presley as well as black progenitors Chuck Berry, Nat King Cole, Ray Charles and Sammy Davis Jnr, he must undergo stiff artistic and commercial tests.

First, he should be born with uncommon ability to entertain – the whole package of singing, dancing, songwriting and playing of instruments. It must also be apparent early on, say before the age of 10.

But since means and circumstances differ, perhaps such a one may be excused in this regard.

It may help to launch with a group – family or otherwise. This criterion may, however, be sidestepped, for a variety of paths may lead in the same direction. If he starts with a group, he should, in his teens or early 20s, outgrow the set and embark on an unprecedented solo career replete with original and broken records. He could then shatter concepts, unleash standards and grip global culture with such tenacity as to eternally mesmerise.

He will, nonetheless, need to demonstrate neurotic work drive and evidence of inherited eccentricity to compare to the late pop king. He will amass wealth, to be sure, but also expect to lose much off it via litigation, bad deals and poor judgment. In latter years will come challenges of opposition to style, method and lifestyle – ingredients required to adequately fire character in the kiln of the entertainment world.

CHEEK BY JOWL

OH, LIFE!

On the second anniversary of MJ’s demise, the writer notes: For natural singing and entertainment ability, the youthful musicians Usher, Chris Brown, Ne-Yo and Justin Timberlake have each staked a claim to MJ’s throne. Influential and best-selling artiste Kanye West and female pop star counterparts Rihanna and Beyonce also consistently betray the Michael Jackson influence in song and dance moves.

Whether any of them will eventually sell over 750 million records as MJ and challenge the stranglehold of digital culture and talent shows on popular music is subject to debate. In the years to follow, all will be judged by competing portfolios of successful singles, classic albums, mesmeric stage performance and sheer fan appeal.

In the meantime, the world awaits the trial in September of the late singer’s personal physician, Dr Conrad Murray, on the criminal charge of involuntary manslaughter in giving MJ the powerful anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid. Joe Jackson, the singer’s much-maligned father, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the doctor. Jackson Snr claimed Murray should never have given his son the drug and was too slow to call for medical help when MJ stopped breathing.

The suit also stated that Murray failed to inform paramedics that the late singer had been given propofol, among other claims. The singer’s sister LaToya also said her brother was murdered for his valuable catalog of music while mother, Katherine, said MJ told her he feared for his life as the end approached.

As is prevalent with stars that depart prematurely, it didn’t take long for a series of controversial psychic events and sightings of the late singer to emerge. Or for reports of suspected use of a body double in rehearsals in place of the evidently suffering star to emanate. For a 50 year-old MJ rumoured to suffer from skin disease, dreadful spider bite, requirement for a lung transplant and addiction to drugs as well as nervous exhaustion and cosmetic surgery complications, the turn of events was typical.

Until conclusion of Conrad’s trial and determination of the circumstance of death, the Michael Jackson phenomenon will remain in discourse, and speculation on the identity of his successor long after.

Jokes Jamaican Wish A boy and his father from the hinterland of Jamaica were visiting America for the first time.

The first time they went to a shopping mall, they were amazed by almost everything they saw, but especially two shiny, silver walls that could move apart and then slide back together again.

The boy asked, “Ah whahdat, daddy?”

The father (having never seen an elevator) responded, “Son, minevah see notting so inna mi life! Mi nuh know what it is!”

While the boy and his father watched with amazement, an overweight old lady in a wheelchair rolled up to the moving walls and pressed a button. The walls opened and the lady rolled between them into a small room. The walls closed and the boy and his father watched the small circular numbers above the walls light up sequentially.

They continued to watch until it reached the last number and then the numbers

SUDOKU

began to light in the reverse order. Finally the walls opened up again and a gorgeous 19-year-old woman with a voluptuous figure stepped out.

The father, not taking his eyes off the young woman, said quietly to his son, “Bwoy... Go get yuh moddah!”

First Wedding Take A little boy was attending his first wedding. After the service, his cousin asked him, “How many women can a man marry?”

“Sixteen,” the boy responded.

His cousin was amazed that he had an answer so quickly. “How do you know that?”

“Easy,” the little boy said. “All you have to do is add it up, because as they say, 4 better, 4 worse, 4 richer, 4 poorer.”

QUOTE You can cage the singer but not the song.

—Harry Belafonte •Culled from the Internet

1ST STEP IN SOLVING PUZZLE: (312) Look at the 3 middle horizontal (DEF) 3x3 boxes. The right box has 1 in cell Fi, while the middle box has its 1 in cell Ed. The left box must, therefore, have its own 1 in row D, where there are 2 vacant spaces — cells Da

PUZZLE 312

A B C D E F G H I a

c

d

e

f

and Dc. But, since column c already has a 1 in cell Ic, the only space available to accommodate 1 in the left box is ceell Da. Reasoning along these lines, try and fill in all the other vacant cells.

Solution on SATURDAY. Happy Puzzling!

SOLUTION TO PUZZLE 311

2 3 9 7 5 4 6 6 3 1 9 7 1 2 5 8 9 3 4 1 5 b

26/6/2011

g

h

4 3 2 1 6 i

1 6 3 2 4 9 5 6 7

5 9 4 8 6 7 3 2 1

6 7 2 5 3 1 9 8 4

8 5 1 7 2 4 6 9 3

4 2 6 9 5 3 1 7 8

9 3 7 6 1 8 2 4 5

7 4 5 3 9 6 8 1 2

3 1 9 4 8 2 7 5 6

2 6 8 1 7 5 4 3 9

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

51

Young Nation

with

Olaitan Akisanya 08056745268 SMS only

Hello children, Hope you are all enjoying yourselves. Do you know that today is International Day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking? Do try to abstain from using hard drugs

WORD WHEEL

Birthdays

This is an open-ended puzzle. How many words of three or more letters each including the letter at the centre of the wheel can you make from this diagram? We’ve found 18 including one nineletter word. Can you do better?

WORD SEARCH

Illicit drugs

R

•Okikioluwa Taiwo and Okikiola Kehinde Edu celebrated their first birthday on June 18, at the Vantage Beach Hotel and Resort, Lekki Tourism Zone, Lagos

•Olive Leaf Charity Foundation (OLCF), Humanity Family Foundation for Peace and development (HUFFPED) and Children Emergency Relief Foundation (CERF) under the umbrella of Joint ACCORD recently organised a Children’s day celebration

ECREATIONAL drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal. Also, it may overlap with other uses, such as medicinal (including self medication), performance enhancement, and entheogenic (spiritual).

In many countries worldwide, the illegal drug trade is thought to be directly linked to violent crimes such as murder; this is especially true in third world countries, but is also an issue for many developed countries worldwide.

Drugs commonly considered capable of recreational use include alcohol and tobacco, and marijuana.

There have been many movements calling for the legalization of recreational drugs (most notably cannabis). Examples of such movements are the Worldwide Marijuana March, Hemp Day, and 4/20.

Several movements which call for the legalization of drugs, not from an argument of their safety, but rather from an argument that this issue should be considered a medical one and not a criminal one, also exist, primarily in North America. One such organization is the Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP). In Nigeria, there is the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) which checks the abuse of these drugs.

Find some drugs below

•Prince Toluwase Moyinoluwa Ayebasan clocked one year recently

Send in your stories, poems, articles, games, puzzles, riddles and jokes to sundaynation@yahoo.com

ALCOHOL BARBITURATES COCAINE ECSTASY

HEROIN LSD MARIJUANA METHAMPHETAMINE

MORPHINE OPIUM TEMAZEPAM TOBACCO

52

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Life

The bereavement

I

T was about half past ten in the morning. This morning almost everything she knew to be consistent in her life had changed. The thought of food had not crossed her mind all day, speaking honestly nothing had.

Thinking about this morning, she tried to grasp how the day had taken such a downward spiral.

Her day had begun like any other; she woke begrudgingly, shocked herself to life with an ice cold shower, a ritual she believed she would never get accustomed to yet would never tire of. She clothed herself in the uniform that she –perhaps too often- referred to as the devils trademark; a long ankle length navy blue skirt that swept across the floor, acting as both a shield to the little breeze she was privileged to and a sponge to the blazing sunshine.

Afterwards she recited her morning prayers; an action driven by faith rather than routine, it was one of the few things in her life that she did not do solely out of habit. Though young, she knew that this custom, unlike many others she practiced would follow her when she left this house. While praying, her father had made a discovery that would to some extent restructure his entire life.

A knock on the door interrupted her, but knowing the nature of her parents this could easily have been some sort of test-trap; a devout Muslim is never distracted during prayer and anything short of this title was unacceptable. She chose to ignore the disturbance. Her sense of self preservation outweighed her curiosity -a rare occurrence in her inquisitive life.

As if not waiting for a response, the door creaked open slowly, revealing the wasted looking face of her father. “No school today,” he said in a fragile whisper.

Instantly, elation coursed through her, it appeared there could be nothing done to prevent the

Entry by Akorede Amosun, The British School of Lome, Togo

corners of her lips from curling into a smile.

Glancing at her two sisters, one a year older and the other a year younger, it was tragically obvious that they too felt the same. Relief and expectation might as well have been inscribed on their foreheads.

“My mum’s dead, we have to bury her,” he finished.

“My mum’s dead, we have to bury her”?! The

words echoed in her head.

It was as if he led her up a ladder only to rip it from underneath. He must have known, even subconsciously, the upsetting nature of his words. He turned away silently and left both the room and the girls in a state of shock.

She would never again congregate with cousins, aunts and uncles, to spending ‘quality time’ with her grandmother. She would never again have to spend hours of her Saturday in the stuffy old room laughing endlessly among relatives. And she would never again be overwhelmed with a series of commands and tasks in a language fairly unfamiliar to her. Yes, her grandmother was dead and she felt indifferent.

It was not that she did not know how she was meant to feel; even the most unobservant person could deduce the mood of

Many thanks to our amazing readers who send in their comments. If you are passionate about writing exciting short stories, you can send two copies of your writing samples to pearlohai@yahoo.com. Winning entries will be published once every month.

N.B: Each entry must have a minimum of 800 words and a maximum of 1000 words. Credit will be given to each writer for every story published.

Continue from page 48 Injustices must be discouraged and more employment should be provided for our teeming youths irrespective of who is who and borders must be secured against its present poorest nature.

A. Musa, Maiduguri, Borno State.

Very shocking and disheartening and much more when the president, police authority and some media quickly concluded it was suicide bombing. Nigerians love life and we don’t have that in us. But if it is a suicide attempt, then the authorities should be more concerned about our borders, especially up North and also about foreigners who have made it into the country from Niger, Sudan, Chad and the likes. There should be Special Task Force against Boko Haram.

Adelabu Kunle, Ikorodu, Lagos State.

To stop the spate of bombing in the country, let’s start by stopping all these hackings at the leaves and branches of the TREE of evil. Let’s go for the roots of the TREE. It’s simple if we are bold and committed deep down.

Fidel, Calabar, Cross River State.

Boko Haram’s bombing is a clear case of terrorism and the FG shouldn’t negotiate wit such evil perpetrators.

Covert surveillance can hep.

Philip Ruben I., Umyu, Katsina State.

You negotiate with the suspected groups, such as Boko Haram sect of Islamic religion and militant groups in the Niger Delta region in order to stem the tide of the waves. Again, the presidency can convene a sovereign national conference in order to appeal to the aggrieved ethnic nationalities.

Mudashiru Adijat Omolola,

Have Your Say Following the sucide bomb blast of the police headquarters in Abuja, what can be done to stop the spate of bombing in the country?

Federal Polytechnic Ede, Osun State.

Nigeria is a secular state. The Federal Government should not favour any religion. Religious fanaticism will not get anyone to heaven. And because one’s freedom stops where another person’s begins, the activities of any negative and illegal group like Boko Haram should be regulated.

The FG is a weakling. The spate of bombing, kidnapping and ethnic militancy will stop when the FG is decisive. Finally, the police should purge itself of corruption and strive to redeem its battered image.

Ayoola Odusanya, Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State.

The recent bomb explosion at the police headquarters has exposed the level of insecurity in our dear country. It is here in Nigeria I have seen that human life is cheaper than the life of chickens. The act is totally condemnable and our security should be redefined to meet the challenges.

Comrade Olanrewaju Ishowo, Ilorin, Kwara State.

Can there be peace if there is no love? Can there be unity in this country considering the glaring poverty among Nigerians? If these issues remain unresolved, Nigeria is sitting on atomic bomb.

Kola Akinwande, Kano State.

Government should be more proactive in intelligence security than the conventional reactive approach. The police, SSS should be overhauled right from IGP. The military should be more involved in strategic intelligence. A more robust security unit in the office of NSA should be built for new security challenges.

Inyangmme US, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

Killing them will not end it.

Catching the sponsors, no matter how highly-placed and prosecuting same will. Again, quality education must be provided the North. No educated or informed mind will do these evils. But education without employment is zero. CORRUPTION MUST GO! Lucius Kungmi, Jos, Plateau State.

Nigeria’s security operatives should identify, arrest and prosecute the leaders, the followers, and the sponsors of Boko Haram. Government must not negotiate with Boko Haram, as doing so will make this and other criminal elements more vicious and more audacious.

Obinna Chukwu, Ishiagu, Ebonyi State.

The latest suicide bombing at the Police headquarters, Abuja, portrays

the house. It was melancholy and glum, like a foggy winters day in a secluded little farm. As if she had stepped into a silent movie from the theatre of the absurd.

The atmosphere in her room unaided was enough to set this scene – in mourning.

Without bothering to change out of their uniforms, she and her sisters hurried down the stairs and into her grandmother’s room to join their parents.

Looking at the corpse it was clear there was something different about her grandmother.

It was not the fact that she had been propped up, well positioned and powdered. Although to her such things seemed extremely pointless. What could a dead person possibly do with nice clothes, combed hair and a pretty face?

Still stunned with silence, her father led them towards the body. His breath was heavy as if he had just finished wrestling with a cow, perhaps he was holding back tears....a strong emotion. Facing the corpse, he said with a strained breath “It is time to say goodbye to grandma”.

Seconds dragged longer than ever before and it felt like she had been there for an eternity. No, today was unlike any other predictable day in her life.

This event was unlike any other memorable one. She was fairly certain that this experience was one she would never forget.

rity are over. All agencies of government should be engaged now that there is a big challenge to life and property. There is a large army of retired Armed Forces personnel and Police who live amongst the locals who could be organised through the Legions, Retired Armed Forces and Police organisations, Civil Service Clubs and other organs.

High Chief (Major) ABO Olawoyin (rtd).

us as a failing state. It requires serious surgical attention by all the security agencies. The government should never contemplate negotiating with the Boko Haram and the government should never equate them with the Niger Delta militants. The day this government negotiates with Boko Haram will be the end of this country.

Ernest Okafor, Enugu State.

It’s no longer surprising to us because Nigeria is a country where everything is possible. Tragedy is something that the citizens are gradually getting used to. I believe the bomb blast is a wake-up slap to all the security agents in Nigeria.

Nigerians should just keep watching, hoping and praying because nobody knows who is next.

Kelvin Chidozie Elendu, PHC, Rivers State.

The Federal Government needs to give order to police to finish those senseless Boko Haram. The police require power to declare operation fire for fire against Boko Haram so that they can leave the North finally.

Adama Reuben, Abuja.

Nigerian government should reason with the alleged bomb planters and have a dialogue with them. Confrontation will only make the situation worst. Measures adopted by the federal government to quell the menace of Niger Delta should be replicated if the government is serious about having a peaceful, united and prosperous nation.

Isiaq Olayiwola, Ilorin, Kwara State.

Precedents have been made in the past with the negotiation with OPC, Egbesu and the Niger Delta militants. Government should also negotiate with Boko Haram. We all know where Pa Federick Fasehun and Gani Adams are living today.

Chief Femi Akeju, Oshodi/Isolo, Lagos State.

My training as a soldier tells me that SECURITY requires money, observation, devotion, dedication and total commitment on the part of all, especially those charged with the responsibility of security. The days of paying lip services to secu-

It is a big disappointment that such things happen in our country.

Mr President should focus on our borders because that is where the problem is coming from.

Aduba Anyeh, Bayelsa State.

Continue on The Nation website: www.thenationonlineng.net, Click on Sunday Magazine, then Have Your Say

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

53

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

54

CLEEN Foundation calls for skill acquisition to curb crime EBERE WABARA

O8055001948

ewabara@yahoo.com

For Mike Awoyinfa, Festus Eriye & other wordsmiths

T

HE Nation of June 21 circulated two headline solecisms: “Customs intercept $110,060 at Lagos Port” Get it right: Customs intercepts.

“Seven die in Ibadan road crash” The road did not crash! A rewrite: Seven die in auto/vehicular crash on Ibadan road.

Last week’s edition of this medium equally disseminated two headline goofs: “Mulikat AdeolaAkande’s consolation gig” Truth in defence of freedom: consolatory gig. ‘Consolation’ is a noun while ‘consolatory’ is an adjective.

“Why are matured ladies still single?” Where are the bridegrooms? Mature (not matured) ladies are choosy!

“In actual fact (which one is not actual?), the Nigerian police has (have) constituted itself (themselves) into a terror gang, perhaps because of the protracted military rule.” One of these days we may get to read ‘factual fact’!

“He does not bother them that about six kilometers (kilometres) to (from) their station….”

“During the electioneering campaign that ushered in the present regime, many stories were bandied about.” Strike out ‘campaign’ in the interest of tautology-free writing.

“They are therefore teaching in the so-called satellite campuses of sister universities or in evening classes to supplement their wages.” Get it right: on (not in) campuses.

“Senate President David Mark, in response to a question, has (had) jokingly said.…”

“Armed robbers paid him a non-courtesy call at about 7.30 p.m.” Back to the basics: either at 7.30 p.m. or about 7.30 p.m., depending on the level of exactitude.

By the way, do bandits pay courtesy calls?

“As it was remarked sometimes (sometime) ago….” “…at least not in any way that the day had given him any hint of what the day had in stock (store) for him.”

“It is make belief” This way: make-believe. “…it cuts in from the next street whether along the very busy New AbaUmuahia Road or at the outskirts of the city.” Travelogue: on the outskirts of the city.

“The sweet look of the

cards do (does) not give any inkling of a country nearly three decades old.”

Wordsmiths call it error of attraction.

“Beside the African Union dastardly act which shocked and outraged the Nigerian society….” There is a world of difference between ‘beside’ and ‘besides’ (which applies here).

“In fact, a dangerous development such as cultism should not be treated with a kid’s glove.” Get it right: kid gloves.

“The impression I was given was that IBB had morbid fear of the wild, wild west, and would never cross the River Niger again, talk less (let alone) coming to Lagos.”

“Anything to create a reasonably safe distance between us and the military administrator’s siren was alright.” Current form: all right, if you subscribe to formal (Standard) English. ‘Alright’ is an unacceptable spelling except in the US. “The NLC’s protest march to the National Assembly brought some reassurance to the strong vocal resistance to what understandably is viewed as betrayal by the legislators.” Contextually, I assert that ‘protest’ is clearly redundant here.

“He has indeed made remarkable damages on earth with a little help from

its inhabitants.” ‘Damage’ is uncountable except in legal reparations.

“But rather than see the move as an affront against (to) the military....”

“What this therefore calls is (are) clear-cut criteria for determining who goes and who is retained at the end of the pruning exercise.” What is the function of ‘exercise’ here? And this: criterion (singular); criteria (plural).

“If each civil servant had at least a two-bedroom house in Abuja, very few Nigerians could have raised any eyebrow on the furniture allowance for lawmakers as was done.”

Our mandate, their meal ticket: raise eyebrows (fixed expression). “...and that money spent on the comfort of the executive and legislative members of government does not extend into (to) the pockets of civil servants or other members of the civil society.”

“When it did, it was time to head to (for) the hanger for a heavy check, sometimes called a D check.” “…Lagos Chamber of C o m m e r c e President…receiving momentos as....” Till eternity: mementos.

“Merger of Japan’s three banks elicit reactions” Why the noun phrase-verb disagreement? Another error of attraction.

Appreciation AST Sunday, June 19, I celebrated my birthday and Father’s Day in a unique and pomp style beginning with thanksgiving service at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Omilani, Ijesha, Lagos.

Thereafter, my elder brother, Chijioke, played host to my family after which we retired to my Aguda, Surulere, home for the last lap.

Let me thank the following colleagues and friends of mine for their thoughtful and laudatory messages: Egbon Mike Awoyinfa, Lekan Otufodunrin, Festus Eriye, Ignatius Orisewezie, Kunle Oyatomi, Fidelis Ebu, Olopade Moses Olugbade, Muyiwa Akintunde, Eddy Odivwri (my Urhobo ‘cousin’), John Atale, Josiah Emerole, Olisa Egbunike, Tunde Aremu, delectable Rose Moses, Nseobong OkonEkong, Dimeji Kayode-

L

Adedeji, Tunde Ipinmisho, Kola Ogunshote, Oludare Mayowa, Olayinka Agboola, Kolawole Olabisi, Lara OwoeyeWise, Azuh Arinze, Hope Eghagha, Michael Adande, Emma Ndukwe, Tunde Babalola, Charles Ikoabasi and Ayo Ashaolu.

I appreciate you all the most now for this profuse affection—true friends of mine. May God prosper all of us and grant us longevity. If your name is not here, consider yourself an acquaintance of this columnist henceforth except if you are curiously not on facebook! At the corporate level, I take my hat off to Stanbic IBTC Pension, my inimitable pension managers, for wishing me well, too. Fond memories arise from noble remembrance and edifying words. I never knew that some relationships could be inexplicably shallow!

P

ROMOTING good moral behaviour and skill acquisition training have been identified as a major recipe for engaging youths in communities ravaged by crime and criminality.

The Programme Officer, Youth Against Crime, CLEEN Foundation, Onyinye Onyemobu, made this known in interview with The Nation last week at an interactive Forum on Youth Against Crime for secondary schools held at Expressway Secondary school, in Ajegunle, Lagos.

The programme tagged: Building the Youths Today For Leadership Tomorrow had representatives from Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Lagos State School Improvement Team, (LASSIT), Lagos State Ministry of Education with over 150 students drawn from schools such as Adeola Senior Secondary school, Olodi Apapa Secondary school, Oluwa Memorial Senior Secondary School, Ojora Memorial Secondary School, Reservation and Mokaya Senior Secondary school, Lagos.

By Adeola Ogunlade According to her, the various intervention programmes of the government and civil societies in reducing crime can be further strengthened when efforts are made toward actively engaging young people, most especially violent prone areas in productive and profitable ventures.

She said that 42% of Nigeria’s population is below the age of 15 and another 55% between the ages of 15 and 49, and there are the most vulnerable groups who can easily be influenced positively or negatively by the environment and circumstances of life they are strongly predisposed to.

Onyemobu cited a research conducted in 2005 by the Foundation that Mushin and Ajegunle rank the highest in all forms of crime and fear of violence in Lagos, thus young people can only say no crime when they are morally and economically empowered.

She noted that over 200 students have benefited from the Foundation joint partnership

programme on youth empowerment since 2006 have been equipped in various areas such as barbing salon, ICT training, vulcanizing, mechanic, carpentry works, tailoring, catering and other vocation that already have potentials.

Onyemobu said, “gaps in training and skills acquisition, moral education, family, unity and general social cohesion will impede health development of young people at this phase of life”.

She continued, “prevailing circumstances of youths in any society determine the level of inner energy with which they would confront life and its challenges as they grow to become adults.

In his words, the Managing Director, Talk Village International, Stephen Oguntoyinbo, who spoke on the theme Developing Your Leadership Potentials Through Community Development implored the students to engage in the process of community changes at all levels from the street corner to the board room.

Safety and Security Alert!

How to gather effective intelligence for National Security

T

HE recent spate of terrorist activities calls for strategic security measures. We need to apply, first effective intelligence gathering, second, strategic counterintelligence and threat analysis; third, national defense intelligence strategy.

What is Intelligence?

The term intelligence is often mistaken for information.

It is a form of information, which has inbuilt added value by analysis and evaluation. Intelligence is a refined, analysed and evaluated data gathered through either overt or clandestine means or both by sorting and ranking them in accordance with respective degree of importance to relevant security issues or problems under scrutiny and scientifically analyse those information to identify ones that can assist in decisionmaking process.

Scopes of Intelligence In line with British, "intelligence is about secrets, not mysteries". Intelligence as a: • Process, allows for collection of raw data and separate the useful.

• Structure, agencies and institutions are charged with the responsibility of intelligence sourcing by a number of factors. Such as overlapping aspects, assessment mechanisms, central control, coordination and accountability and intelligence community.

• Product, information is refined, ready to use by consumers. Corporate individuals also ask for strategic intelligence for decision-making and security.

Types of Intelligence include these: • Security Intelligence is the police function meant to protect a nation against internal threats.

• Criminal Intelligence provides evidence in support of prosecution of suspects.

• National Intelligence, involves effective management of national security by inte-

gration within national strategic mechanisms beyond unilateral competences.

• Foreign intelligence allows a nation to have strategic information about activities and the extent constituting threats to her security and counter measures.

• Strategic Intelligence are potentials, vulnerabilities and intentions of foreign countries by developing analytical framework through strategic goals, doctrines & concepts.

• Tactical Intelligence involves delegation of responsibility among intelligence personnel by leadership for short term agenda.

• Counter-intelligence are measures to contradict an alien intelligence activities.

Sources of Intelligence are • Special agents & public.

• Governments & treaties.

• Media & communication technologies, • Unclassified government documents, • Internet & Institutions.

Intelligence Gathering is a process of accumulating information through several methods of producing intelligence.

Regulations for Intelligence Gathering are technical and non-technical: • Technical forms include SIGNIT, IMINT and MASINT. • Non-technical intelligence is HUMINT and OSINT. Ways of Gathering Intelligence • Espionage, art of covert collection of information through human sources to filch valuable information from enemy targets.

• Black bag operations, clandestine ways of entry into the information services of any target.

• Interrogation, questions to suspects to aid intelligence collection.

• Radio Stations, NS and OWVL helps to pass or transmit recorded messages without having to stay on air. " Steganography, writing and sending information in a hid-

den way.

• Cryptography, overt art and process of writing in secret characters.

• Concealment, devices to hide vital information/materials while they look ordinary.

• Diversion Safe, device left open to disguise while concealing information materials.

• Eavesdropping, someone secretly listening to private conversation/ discussion.

• Surveillance, act of watching people or objects by human, electronic gadgets and technology through biometric and natural methods.

• Pseudo Operations, adopted by state to locate and break into the insurgent areas • Political Meetings, intelligence are collected through "Straw men".

• Honey pots, emotional attachment to targets for intelligence task using internal and external methods or both.

• Walk-ins, information voluntarily released but subjected to scrutiny and analysis.

In conclusion, government agencies and security professionals are to be loyal to our dear country by investing profitably into effective intelligence gathering. Intelligent products are to be carefully collated, analysed and disseminated while scientific tools be adopted through certified professionals. Government should also be pragmatic with criminal justice system.

Next week I shall elucidate on counterintelligence and threat analysis in antiterrorism program and defense strategy requirements.

Please, send comments, responses and security challenges by sms or email to the undersigned.

By: Mr. Timilehin Ajayi (Safety and Security Consultant) E-mail: timilehinajayi@yahoo.com 08095683454.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2010

Issues

55

A tale of two parliaments R

ECENT revelation of how our federal legislators have been running down our economy through fixing of personal allowances for themselves has been nothing but atrocious. The issue though had always been discussed albeit without cold facts while few of the legislators who cared to respond refused to say how much they actually earned. What has brought the issue back to limelight is the allegation of corruption levelled by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against the immediate past speaker of the just ended House of Representatives (Dimeji Bankole) and ‘others at large’, in connection with bank loans collected by the House under Bankole’s watch to the tune of N10billion.

The details and purport of the loan had become a source of embarrassment in the twilights of the 6th Session of the National Assembly (NASS).It seems, from the reports in the media, that from January 2010, the Reps of the now extinct 6th Session approved/accepted increase of their quarterly ‘allowance’ for ‘running cost’ from N22million to N42million for each ‘ordinary’ member (that comes to N14million monthly). This was made to at least close the yawning gap between what they collected and what their principal officers got, which was much more and a source of discontent by majority of the members.

In a manner of speaking, the ‘genesis’ that led to this ‘revelation’ was the enhanced allowance approved by the Reps for themselves. Rep Tambuwal (who is now the speaker of the House)reportedly told the House in one of its now notorious ‘Executive’ Sessions of the “restiveness of members and the possible crisis that may erupt in the House because of the issue of enhanced allowances that members have been clamouring for.” I had said a few weeks ago that it was this effort to sustain ambrosia for our Reps that led to this burst bubble.

By the way, it would be reasonable to assume that their senior colleagues in the Senate earn much more than that sum in allow-

By Obo Effanga

ances.

There is no doubt that our legislators are saddled with very important tasks, the principal one being the making of “laws for the peace, order and good government of the federation and any part thereof.” Certainly no one will expect such tasks to come with runof-the-mill salary or allowances. But to fix such outrageous allowance as we have seen here is scandalous.

While pondering over this, I stumbled upon an interesting piece of information about the Indian parliament. For emphasis, India is the world’s largest democracy. The news report (dated August 2010) showed public resentment against the members of parliament (MPs) for increasing their allowances, which the cabinet approved anyway. The summary of the increase were as follows: monthly salary increased from Rupees 16,000 to Rupees 50,000; daily sitting allowance from R1000 to R2000; monthly constituency allowance (that allowance ehn?) from R20,000 to R40,000 and office expenses from R20,000 to R40,000. The report said the MPs (from this increase I can call them money doublers) were still angry with the Cabinet for not approving the increase of the monthly salary to R80,001 as recommended by the appropriate committee of Parliament. Some even referred to Cabinet’s decision as “an insult to Parliament.”

Let us do a little calculation and reasoning together here to see what this whole sum amounts to each month for each Indian MP. Let us even assume that the Indian Parliament sits 30 days in a month (which is not the case), their monthly allowance for daily sitting would come to R60,000. If we add that to all the other ‘enhanced’ payments (salaries and allowance) for the month, it could only come to R190,000 per MP. Hold your horses though, that amount in Nigeria’s Naira will translate to N660,741.26. Hello!

You must wonder what the Indian public means by such complaint. Is that all they can pay to their MPs? Could that explain why

•David Mark that country’s MPs are not as ‘hard-working’ and ‘respectable’ as their Nigerian counterparts who are so respectable that they go by such hollow epithets as ‘Distinguished Senator’ and ‘Right Honourable’? I mean we know what mettle our Nigerian lawmakers are made of so we spoil them (or allow them to spoil themselves) at the expense of our economy by splashing a whopping N14million each month in allowances only on the least paid federal parliamentarian. We are not even talking about their salaries here or the fact that at the end of every four years, we pay them a tidy ‘severance allowance’ for a job ‘well

done’, even when some of them return to the National Assembly term after term and collect the severance pay over and again.

At the rate Nigeria’s pampered federal legislators are paid, each of them can afford to employ several Indian MPs as their legislative aides and pay them more than they currently earn in India or ever could dream of. Yet, Nigeria’s democracy and economy is still struggling, when compared with India’s.

As the 7th National Assembly begins, that enhanced allowances must still be running. I don’t see these new members, as beneficiaries’ voting to reverse this windfall. In fact, if they have their ways, they would love to sweeten the honey or money pot, as their predecessors did, unless they are a new breed of Nigerians with a different thinking.

I daresay that some of these new members were drawn to the National Assembly in the first place by the evidence of stupendous transformation in the personal circumstances of their predecessors by merely attaining the position of ‘right honourable’ members and ‘distinguished’ senators. If in doubt, ask those who failed to retain their seats and find out why some of them are so bitter at their losses.

In plain words, are we merely inaugurating the 7th Session of Nigeria’s National Assembly or this is the making of our 7th mega-millionaire politicians’ club? Oh, in fairness to our legislators, they are not alone in having their fangs on our national wealth.

Those in the executive arm of government (elected and non-elected) are equally involved in this “authority stealing,” as Fela would say.

This is the time to tell our over-pampered politicos that our economy can no longer sustain their ambrosia and they must urgently cut their bloated salaries and allowances.

•Effanga is of the School of Global Studies University of Sussex, United Kingdom

Before we kill the Police D

AILY Sun on Monday June 20 2011 reports and I quote: Barely one week after seven policemen were killed by gunmen in separate incidents in Rivers State, another policeman was killed while one escaped death by the whiskers in Port Harcourt at the weekend.

Taken in tandem with the ghastly bomb blast at the Police HQ last week, and the brazen, unprovoked attack that same day on a police station in Katsina, I don’t need a diploma in criminology to tell me that the wide criminal fraternity has declared war on the Nigeria Police. My five good senses also tell me that this is a very dangerous trend that must be stopped now before it consumes everyone with it.

Criminals are always at war with society. But the mindless and regular execution of police personnel is suggestive of a grand plot. Someone, some people, some interests are on a mission: to rubbish the Nigeria Police beyond repair. They want, by extension also, to demoralize the government and people by engineering a climate of fear. They might yet achieve their aim, unless the wider society wakes up to the dire implications of allowing of destroying the morale and professional pride of its crime fighting agency.

The police, naturally, are in the forefront of the fight against crime. They are expected to bear the brunt of the struggle. Atypically, police officers have always lost their lives on active service either through accidents or the willful actions of violent criminals. However, a trend emerged since the late nineties when dare devil robbers started targeting policemen for elimination to make good their escape plans. Suddenly, in the new millennium, police patrols on routine duties came

By Pita Okute

under increasing attacks by armed bandits.

Since then, a veritable state of war has ensued between the police and criminals. The casualty figures of murdered policemen have continued to rise. Eight a week in one state alone, according to the news report cited at the beginning of this article.

Nowhere else in the modern world have criminals run amok killing law enforcement agents at will as they now do in our dear land. This unseemly development has not been given the attention it deserves. If criminals maim and kill policemen at will and without repercussion, then public confidence in the police is seriously at risk. The criminal gangs and their sponsors are the only citizens who can applaud this frightful development.

Half the trick of law enforcement, we are told, is the fear of detection and prosecution. Take that away and the criminal justice system collapses like a sand house with serious consequences for all and sundry.

Sadly, the Nigerian society is headed in this direction via the unabated killing of policemen. Sadder still, is our seeming inability to come to grips with the dangers. The general impression in the public mind is that the problem is strictly a police affair for the police authorities to deal with at their convenience and capability. It goes beyond that, surely.

Public apathy to the travails of the police is a flow back from the general attitude of Nigerians to issues of law enforcement.

The public input in the matrix of law and order is minimal to say the least. This situation is acutely responsible for the seeming

inefficiency of the Nigerian security system.

We must begin to make amends NOW, before criminals take over the land and terminate our corporate existence. We must make every effort to understand why Nigerians rarely find it worth their while to patronize the established police-public information channels.

The laws of the land recognize varieties of incriminating circumstances, such as guilt by association. People also talk of “accomplices before” and “after the fact.” We are all unwitting accomplices to the continuing murder of policeman through lack of will to assist meaningfully in the war against crime.

Many Nigerians, the elite more especially, are criminally negligent of their patriotic duty to help the police in maintaining the security of lives and property. Tragically, our most creative impulse is to build spiral perimeter fencing around their private homes.

We neglect the most basic intelligence procedures to our peril as as many wealthy citizens have found out with great regret.

The criminals who rob and kidnap us and kill policemen at will are not from outer space. They live among us. They are our neighbours, kinsmen and fellow worshippers in churches and mosques. Why then is it so difficult to report on their nefarious activities? The reason is our criminal indifference.

There was a time in this country when it was unheard of to poke a finger in the face of a uniformed cop. Alas, we now live in an era when policemen are gunned down on streets and no one is outraged! If the inspector general of police would publish the police casualty figures in the last ten years at least, and he really should, it would be quite obvious

that we are dealing with a social cleansing campaign against the police. The palpable danger, if this situation persists, is that public fear and hysteria could lead to fascist tendencies on the part of government. And no one can tell where that may lead us.

It behooves us then to act with dispatch and rally around our beleaguered police.

This is not the time to talk about corruption in the police force, though that is an issue that may never go away. Indeed, our sincere efforts to at cooperating with the police can help reduce the level of police corruption. To this end, the police authorities must go the extra distance in opening up their lines of communication and interactions with the public.

The weekly Police Diary radio programme should be duplicated in all the states with the police public relations officers in the states coming out every week to interact with audiences on the state radio network. Citizens should be encouraged to have at least, three police hotlines on their cell phones: DPO. State Command and Federal. When people come to the station or have any official business with them, the police officers should insist that they take down the hotline numbers on their sets.

Often, people hear the numbers reeled out but cannot take action to record them. This should not be so at all.

Additionally, the police authorities should liaise with the telecoms service providers to make the police hot lines toll free.

This should boost the willingness of citizens to pick up their cell phones whenever they observe criminals activities.

Okute writes from Abuja

56

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

57

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, JUNE 26, 2011

Much ado about Islamic banking

The rash of criticisms notwithstanding, proponents of the Islamic banking model in the country are convinced that it is a welcomed development owing to its socio-economic benefits, reports Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf

I

F the announcement by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last Monday that it had granted approval in principle to Jaiz Bank International Plc to commence the operation of the first Islamic bank in the country anytime soon is anything to go by, then it may be correct to say that Islamic banking is already a fait accompli.

Perhaps, as a manifestation of the apex bank’s commitment to its “new found love”, it subsequently issued a revised guideline on non-interest banking as well as prescribed a capital base requirement of N10 and N5 billion for all prospective Islamic banks applying for national and regional licences respectively in the country on Wednesday.

ABC of Islamic banking

But what really is Islamic banking all about?

Dr. Abdullateef Adegbite, the Secretary General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), a man who should know better, gave a bird’s eye view of the pros and cons involved in Islamic banking at a public forum earlier this month.

The event was at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies’ colloquium on Islamic banking in Lagos, where the NSCIA scribe spoke on the challenges and prospects.

According to Adegbite, “As most of us know, Islamic banking and finance is based on the principles of Shari’ah, and this notwithstanding, its application and benefits do not discriminate between Muslims and non-Muslims. In fact, its ethical and transparent nature, its simplicity, and its emphasis on fairness and accountability, etc endear it to many.

“Three most distinguishing factors that make Islamic finance unique from the conventional system are: (a) Prohibition of Riba (interest) in all its forms; (b) Risk-sharing; (c) Assetbacked. The last factor eliminates speculation, extreme uncertainty, etc in financing and encourages growth of the real economy – this made it (Islamic Banking & Finance) more resilient during the world economic meltdown!

“Islamic Banking and Finance has become very popular and widely accepted as a reliable financial system that has been integrated into the global financial system. For over three decades it has appeared on the world scene as an active player.”

Global acceptance

Islamic banking and finance practice according to Adegbite, who was a former Attorney General of the old Western region: “Is no longer limited to the Arab and the Muslim worlds but has spread to the Far East, Asia, Europe, America and Africa. It is estimated that there are more than 200 non-interest financial institutions operating in about 75 countries across the globe.

“Global financial institutions offering Islamic Banking services include HSBC, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Barclays Capital and ABN Amro. These institutions are leveraging on their skills, resources, expertise and access to capital to drive the Islamic finance industry to higher levels.

“There are also other local/regional banks especially in the GCC countries which have started to expand their operations across their borders into other countries. These include AlRajhi Bank of Saudi Arabia, Dubai Islamic Bank, Kuwait Finance House, and Al Baraka Group.

In Africa, the countries that have embraced Islamic Banking include South Africa, Egypt,

•Sanusi

•Adegbite

•Moghalu

Senegal, Gambia, Niger, Kenya, Tanzania, Algeria, Tunisia, and Benin Republic.”

sues standards governing accounting, auditing, corporate governance and capital adequacy for the industry. Similarly the IFSB is an international body headquartered in Malaysia with more than 150 members including the IMF, IDB, World Bank for International Settlements, Central Banks, market players and professional firms.

The body issues Standards and Guidelines on risk management, capital adequacy, corporate governance, etc.

In Nigeria, as part of the ongoing reforms of the banking industry, the Central Bank (CBN) has abolished the Universal Banking Model (of the one-size-fit-all minimum capital of N25bn introduced in 2005) and released new guidelines for different categories of conventional banks as well as that of the Non-interest Banking (NIB) or Islamic banking.

has greeted what many proponents of this new scheme described as a “welcomed addition” to the country’s financial system.

Evidence that the new CBN’s baby did not gained wide acceptance emerged on Wednesday at a public forum in Lagos, with many of those averse to it raising their voices above the din, in apparent show of discomfiture.

The event was at a seminar orgainsed by the Apostles in The Market Place (AiMP), where the CBN’s Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability (FSS), Dr. Kingsley Moghalu, had a hectic time trying to convince the aggrieved parties on the propriety of the idea of Islamic banking.

Moghalu who spoke on the theme: ‘Re-Purposing Non-interest Banking in Nigeria’, emphasised that Islamic banking and other forms of non-interest banking were part of effort by the apex bank to stimulate financial inclusion in the country.

Non-interest banking is not new banking model he said, adding: “It is a form of banking under specialised banking model. The reason for an expert advisory council in the guideline is because of the nature of non-interest banking under the principle of Islamic commercial jurisdiction. All banks that are Islamic banks have that type of council. So the regulator in this context felt the need to have a council that advises it on the compliance of the products that those banks will issue with the principle of Islamic commercial jurisdiction.

“I will like to very clearly assure Nigerians that non-interest banking is part of our plans to increase the inclusion into the financial sector, people who have stayed out of the financial system for various reasons. There is no agenda; it is simply finance and not religion. I want to further assure Nigerians very clearly that noninterest bank application is welcomed at the CBN”, he further explained.

But the Chief Executive Officer, Pharez Consulting, Mr. Eghes Eyieyen, who spoke earlier argued matter-of-factly that the introduction of Islamic banking was against the provisions in Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA).

Raising a poser, Eyieyen said: “What is the

Market size

Though it is said to constitute less than five per cent of the global financial market, the Islamic banking and finance market was growing between 15-20 per cent before the world economic recession of 2008 and thereafter at an average of 15 per cent p.a. In the last four decades, the system has evolved from a small niche visible only in Islamic countries to a profitable, dynamic and resilient competitor at an international level.

The size of Islamic banks around the world was estimated to be close to US $850 billion at the end of 2008. While Islamic banking remains the main component of the Islamic financial system, the other elements, such as Takaful (Islamic Insurance), Mutual Funds and Sukuk (Islamic bonds and financial certificates), have witnessed strong global growth, too.

According to a reliable estimate, the Islamic financial industry now amounts to over US $1 trillion and projected to hit $1.6tr by 2012. Given its fast-growing nature the industry is estimated to double in size in less than a decade – other things being equal.

Regulation

Although there are still challenges regarding uniform regulation of Islamic banking and finance, a lot has been achieved by countries that have been in the forefront such as Bahrain, Malaysia, UK, as well as other organizations purposely established to help regulate and standardize Islamic finance practice.

Malaysia has been developing the necessary infrastructure to support the legal and regulatory framework for Islamic finance industry since the 80’s. The Islamic Banking Act was enacted in 1983 and Takaful Act in 1984. The UK (FSA) has also reviewed some of its statutes to accommodate Islamic Finance since 2003.

The industry has also developed self regulatory bodies such as the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Finance Institutions (AAOIFI), the Islamic Financial Service Board (IFSB), International Islamic Financial Markets (IIFM) and International Islamic Rating Agency (IIRA) among others.

The AAOIFI which is based in Bahrain is-

Benefits/opportunities

The basic principle of Islamic banking is the sharing of profit and loss as opposed to charging of usury (interest). For example, when it comes to the profit from the financing of a project, the financier and the beneficiary share the actual or net profit/loss rather than throwing the risk burden only to the entrepreneur.

To many financial pundits, Islamic banking and finance has many benefits and opportunities for the entire population of Nigeria, including Muslims and non-Muslim faithful alike.

Some of these include ethical, transparent, non-discriminatory financial offering, high potential market size with Muslims making up over 50 per cent of the population of the 155million population.

Besides, it is capable of encouraging the large unbanked and informal sector, estimated to contribute at least 55 per cent to the country’s GDP, just as it has the potential to offer over 30% return on equity.

Citing a recent IMF study, Adegbite recalled that the global body revealed that Islamic banks performed better in 2008 in terms of profitability, credit and asset growth compared to most of the conventional banks worldwide.

Arguments against Islamic banking

Laudable as this initiative may seems, the irony, however, is that a barrage of criticisms

•Continued on page 58

58

Business

•Continued from page 57

inordinate drive and ambition behind the introduction of Islamic banking? To me, it seems as if the CBN is in a hurry to introduce it and why does the CBN think it is going to be a major driver of financial inclusion?

It is not about religion, it is about the law and professionalism. Why has the CBN not given such passion and priority to the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN)? You cannot use a small provision in the BOFIA that gives you the power to regulate, to now begin to legislate.”

Echoing the same views, an Associate Professor of Law and Security Studies, Babcock University, Dr. Bankole Sodipo, also argued that the CBN Act and BOFIA, in issuing out regulation on non-interest banking, did not support Islamic banking, saying that the banking sector regulator must ensure that the National Assembly legislate on the form of non-interest banking.

“The way forward is to look at the BOFIA and ensure that the move is in line with the Act. On the Advisory Council, there is no way they can delegate the decision making of the body to another body because the National Assembly doesn’t give them that power. The law does not regulate that form of banking because it shut some people out. You don’t give what you don’t have and so you cannot give out what is not your own. What it means is that the CBN wants to introduce a form of banking through the backdoor”, Sodipo argued.

Another group that has vehemently opposed the introduction of Islamic banking is members of the Christian community.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Much ado about Islamic banking One of these critics, the Anglican Bishop of Enugu, Rt. Rev. Emmanuel Chukwuma who spoke to newsmen in Enugu recently, also warned the CBN not to approve the establishment of the bank, insisting that the emergence of a religious bank would pose serious threat to the unity of the country.

Chukwuma, the bishops and the Primate of the Anglican Church, Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, had rejected Islamic bank after their meeting recently, saying that they did so because of its “religious connotation.”

The bishops also argued that the CBN was not constitutionally empowered to establish an Islamic bank, pointing out that the bank would contravene the CBN Act. Bishop Chukwuma disclosed that the Anglican Church would embark on a protest if the apex bank ignores its position on the issue, warning that they would equally pass a vote of no confidence on CBN if it approves the bank.

He insisted that there was no need to establish an Islamic bank in a multi-religious country like Nigeria, saying that the coming of the bank would only cause confusion in the country.

“Nigeria is not an Islamic country. Islamic bank is unconstitutional because it is not in the CBN Act. We reject the establishment of the bank. It has religious connotation. The Senate and House of Representatives should not pass the bill,” he said.

A case for Islamic banking

Despite the welter of criticisms

against the Islamic banking, its promoters are unfazed by this development, as they believe that it is an idea whose time has come.

According too Adegbite: “Countries all over the world are falling over themselves to establish the banking product. Nigeria therefore cannot be an exception. Indeed as we aspire to be among the twenty leading Economies of the world, we need to equip our financial system adequately by providing the facilities which the extremely mobile world investors would require anytime and anywhere, they find themselves in the conduct of their businesses.”

Expatiating, he said: “Indeed, such is the status of Nigeria in the world that she must not lag behind in financial creativity and must avail itself of all opportunities the global financial system has to offer. In Population, Nigeria is sixth largest Muslim Country in the World coming after Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Egypt. Such a leading Muslim nation cannot rightly carry on without Islamic Banking System for her teaming Muslim population, and a good number of nonMuslim Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike who desire to have access to non-interest banking.

“In as much as the Islamic banking system envisaged for Nigeria would be non-discriminatory, making its facilities open to and available to all Nigerians regardless of faith, the institution would be legal and constitutional. It should be emphasized that the pioneer non-interest

Bank which Jaiz International Plc is poised to establish in Nigeria as soon as it receives a banking licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria, may be Islamic in concept and nature, it is certainly not a closed shop, available to Muslims only.

“Rather it would be a bank owned by Muslims and non-Muslims; its customers will also be drawn from all sectors of the community regardless of faith”, Adegbite submitted.

Apparently throwing its weight behind the new policy regime, CBN said the new phase of reforms will positively impact on the provisions and requirement of Islamic banking, and ultimately hasten the progress of that arm of banking.

Mohammed Abdullahi, spokesperson for the CBN, shed more light on this while clearing the air on insinuations that Islamic banking was an agenda of Sanusi-led CBN. “This policy has been on for about three years and has been approved in principle for some time now. I can recall that Jaiz International Bank Plc has been given approval in principle to operate as an Islamic Bank. All that the Central Bank is waiting for them to do is to mobilise their capital base of N25 billion required for operations in the Nigerian banking system”, he recalled.

He also noted that under the current reforms, banks have been falling in line with the CBN requirement, adding that the recent announcement on the categorisation of Nigerian banks for bank specific solutions

will boost Islamic banking operations.

“I believe that Islamic banking or zero interest banking would fare very well under that arrangement and it is possible that they may not be required to raise exactly ¦ 25 billion before they can start operating. Islamic banking and the Central Bank are trying to introduce a supervisory framework for easy supervision,” he said.

He added that the CBN will rely much on the success and experience of the Negara of Malaysia. “They have gone far in the operations of Islamic banking and I believe we have a lot to learn from them, and we hope to use their experience to develop our own locally. As soon as that is done, everything would become clearer. Islamic banking has been provided for in the Banks Act and Approval-inPrinciple has already been given during Soludo’s time,” he said.

Apart from Jaiz International, he also revealed that BankPHB was also given approval in principle to operate Islamic banking, and has been operating the system for some time now.

Bank PHB offers the classic Bank PHB interest free account. A statement on the bank’s website said, “This product is designed for Muslim faithful desiring banking services without compromising their religious beliefs.”

Considering the raging controversy over the propriety or otherwise of Islamic banking, this may not be the end of this tempestuous episode.

Photo News

•L-R: Chief Executive, South Africa Institute of Tax Practitioners, Mr. Stiuan Klue; immediate Past President Nigerian Institute of Taxation, Prince Rasaq Kunle Quadri and President of the Institute, Mr. John Femi Jegede at the meeting of Presidents of Taxation Institutes and Heads of Revenue Agencies in Africa during the inauguration of Association of African Tax PHOTO: BADE DARAMOLA Institutes, in Lagos recently

•L-R: Managing Director, Labio Scientific Centre, Mr. Biodun Olabanji; Chairman Planning Committee, Mr. Olayinka Afolayan; Guest Speaker, Mr Folajimi Salami, Chairman Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group (PMG) of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Mr. Samuel Olaniyi Folorunso at the Quality Managers Committee workshop organised by PMG of MAN House, Ikeja, recently

•L-R: National President, AMORC in Nigeria, Dr. Kenneth Idiodi and Chairman of the occasion, Justice Ikpeme, at the public lecture/seminar organised by the organisation recently

L-R: The FCT Permanent Secretary Dr. Biodun Nathaniel Olorunfemi presenting a gift to the Head of Trade Mission of ROC (TAIWAN) Mr. Fu-Tien Lin during the latter's to the Permanent Secretary's office in Abuja…Thursday

PHOTO: BADE DARAMOLA

PHOTO: BADE DARAMOLA

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Business

59

‘Lagos accounts for 60% growth in Nigeria’ Mr. Joe Igbokwe is the General Manager, Lagos State Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Agency (LASIMRA), an agency saddled with the responsibility of regulating the construction of underground facilities within Lagos and its environs. In this interview with Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf, he speaks on the prospects and challenges in the state 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567 1234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567

Given the peculiar risks involved in your job, what precautions do you take to safeguard the lives of your workers?

Yes, there are peculiar risks ELL us about your agency?

There are challenges, involved in the line of work we I’m the pioneer General especially if you require do. Sometimes, we come under Manager of the Lagos State permit to pass through the attack of Area Boys. And then if it becomes too much, we Infrastructure Maintenance and the houses of prominent get enforcement. Although we Regulatory Agency. We took off fully in people, especially in haven’t had cases of people 2006. But the law setting up the agency Victoria Island and Ikoyi, suffering any form of disability. was gazetted in 2005 and I have been the you have to write series God has been kind to us. But we General Manager since inception. We of letters and all that. have a robust welfare package manage underground facilities. Just like Sometimes, even ‘Area for our staff. We take care of you are seeing buildings on the surface, Boys’ will stand on the them and we are also interested there are so many things underground way. But we have to in their families and they are such as power cables and fibre for mobilise and go. And happy. Our philosophy is that telecommuincations. The Global System some how, things are if you take care of your workers, for Mobile Communications (GSM) is working out because we they will take care of the working because there is something have been able to create business. That has been our powering it. You also have water pipes, sanity in Lagos and put control the method and process here and gas pipes, petrol pipes and so on. Before under that has paid off more or less. you dig and lay anything on the ground, activities of most of these operators, Facility management is still whether laying of pipes or any equipment telecoms an emerging area in the at all on the ground in Lagos, you have to including the Power management spectrum. Do your come to LASIMRA for approval to do such Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Water men have to go through any things. particular training to prepare In other words you carry out Corporation of Nigeria, gas companies, among them for this onerous task? environmental impact assessment?

Our team of experts have (Cuts in) Yes...You have to come here others.

In fact, there is no been trained and retrained on and tell us what you want to do. Our monitoring and evaluation. experts will now go out and do the where you work in Lagos Every permit we issue, you have environmental impact assessment and if now that we don’t know to write a report if you are the we ‘re satisfied, we let the structure take because we have a team one that went to do the off, because it’s all for the growth and that moves out everyday assessment. And we act based development of Lagos State. Before we in the three senatorial on our report and if there is any came on board, it was more or less an all zones. Moreso, we also problem, you will be the one to comers affair, people just go and were have informants such as riders and answer. As such, the officer in doing all kinds of things on the streets of okada question should be able to tell Lagos; roads were torn with reckless residents, who serve as •Igbokwe us what he saw there. We go to abandon just like that without permit. But whistleblowers and who see things for ourselves. Our job thankfully, we have been able to put that report to us when they under control now. Even if you are digging notice anything fishy “Our job is so tedious that you can be called up is so tedious that you can be called up anytime of the day just three metres, we have to check the anywhere, especially in traffic situation, check if it’s going to affect their areas. They alert us anytime of the day even as late as 12 midnight. even as late as 12 midnight. For the movement of vehicles, is it going to whenever there is illegal For instance, the governor may be in US, and instance, the governor may be in US, and call to tell you cause erosion, is it important, must you activity going on and we do it, is there any alternative way to do pay them for this. We call to tell you someone is cutting the road in someone is cutting the road in that? These are things we consider before have also been able to Ikoyi. You have to move to the spot there and Ikoyi. You have to move to the revenue for spot there and then to be able to we grant permit and of course, you have raise assess the situation. Without to pay fees for these. And you know Lagos government. We have then to be able to assess the situation ” substantial these training, it would have accounts for 60 per cent growth in Nigeria made presently. Besides, this is where 80 per cent progress. are going to put the thing back in shape; been impossible to do this job. Even as I’m of the nation’s industry are based, little The fact is, if you cut a road, and you that’s what we worry about. Yes, you must talking to you now, some of our staff are on a wonder that there are lots of activities don’t put it back, you are inviting flood put facilities, but it must have to be in an week-long training to equip and prepare going on in Lagos. and flood is the number one enemy of the organised fashion because we believe that them for the challenges of the job.

What are some of the challenges you road, you don’t just come and tell us that in a dynamic economy like Lagos, you The organised private sector (OPS) has have to contend with and how have you you just want to open a section of the road, have to support the technology that goes continued to battle the challenge of incessant addressed them? the most important thing to us is how you with it, and that’s the price we are paying. power cuts. As a facility management company, how have you been able to get around this challenge?

Yes it is true, inadequate supply of power is a problem everywhere. We are not an exception. Here, our light must not go off even for one minute. We have two big generators, which serves us on a 24-hour bases. The same thing telecoms operators tell us too, they expend alot on generating their source of power. In fact, every base station has two generators and they put security there 24 hours because some unscrupulous elements out there go and steal their diesel. So, this sort of shoot up the cost of operation on the long run. I can tell you today that if we provide power today the cost of everything including services will reduce drastically. As such, Nigerian government must be responsive to this challenge.

Lagos State tried to do something, but the Federal Government sabotaged the process.

But right now, there is one project going on on the Island, precisely at the Island local government. There is a power house, with about 13 -15 mewgawatts, designed to power very critical sectors of the economy. We also have a power that is tagged ‘Energy City’ in Badagry. We are no longer waiting for the FedeaL Government because they may never make it. The tarriffs of the telcoms are high today because the cost of doing business in •L-R: Executive Assistant Manager, Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, Mr. Tunde Orungbeja, Country Representative, UNICEF, Dr. Suomi Sakai, Nigeria is very high, but we will get there, in and Executive Secretary, MTN Foundation, Ms. Nonny Ugboma, at a partnership forum, organised by UNICEF to chart a way forward for the the fulness of time.

Nigerian Child, in Lekki, recently

THE EXECUTIVE

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NATION ON SUNDAY 60 THE JUNE 26, 2011

Business

‘We have enough experience on market dynamics’ Flour Mills’ choice pick in investment and products range, have continued to pay off with its enviable returns, exemplified by the huge profits recorded by nearly all of its subsidiaries, reports SIMEON EBULU, Deputy Business Editor

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LOUR Mills of Nigeria Plc, has continued to leverage on its group structure and its numerous production lines to remain a key player in the production of household consumables, as well as cement for the housing and construction sectors. It churns out an array of products that have stood the test of time.

Its Chairman, George. S. Coumantaros, said: “Over the past 10 years, the Flour Mills Group of companies has become highly diversified and has been able to create a comprehensive portfolio of quality products which is focused on food production, agro-allied, cement, packaging, logistics and infrastructural support services.”

He said the firm recorded a turnover of N157 billion in 2010 which constitutes an increase of 6.5 per cent over that of 2009. He put the Profit Before Taxation in the review period at N19.3 billion, compared to the N3.6 billion recorded a year before, while Profit After Tax rose significantly from N2.5 billion to in 2009 to N13.4 billion in the review period.

Coumantaros, attributed result to organic growth in the company’s core business of flour milling, coupled with significant production efficiencies, as well as the relative stability of the exchange rates.

Group formation The Group is made up of Northern Nigeria Flour Mills Plc (NNFM), Kano; United Cement Company of Nigeria Limited (UNICEM); Golden Pasta Company Limited, Golden Noodles Company Limited, Niger Mills Company Limited and Apapa Bulk Terminal Limited.

Coumantaros, said each segment has contributed to the fortunes of the parent company. NNFM in which Flour Mills has 52 per cent stake, posted a turnover of N10.2 billion in 2010, which is equivalent of about 15 per cent increase over the figure realized in the corresponding period of 2009.

He stated that Profit Before Taxation (PBT), went up to N632.2 million in the review period from N309.5 million the year before.

Also, Golden Pasta Company (GPC), a wholly owned subsidiary

DUE DILIGENCE

•GMD, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, Dr. Emmanuel Ukpabi,

of Flour Mills, recorded a turnover of N18.3 billion, translating to a growth of 26 per cent in 2010, as against the 14.5 per cent recorded a year before. This entity contributed N2.4 billion in PBT. The chairman, explained that the addition was realized, largely by increases in volume and “relentless focus on cost reduction.”

Another of the subsidiaries, Golden Noodles Company Limited, he disclosed, is still in its infancy, as it is barely two years old in operation.

As Coumantaros puts it: “Golden Noodles Company Limited is wholly owned subsidiary of Four Mills which entered the market in March, 2009. We have tested the ground and have gained useful experience which will help us react more positively to market dynamics in the coming years.”

Niger Mills Company Limited

Flour Mills has virtual ownership of this entity with 99 per cent equity stake holding. The chairman, said NMC achieved a turnover of N7.8 billion in the review period, as against N6.3 billion in 2009. He said the firm posted an impressive Profit Before Tax of N494 million in 2010, over and above the loss of N108 million recorded a year earlier, a feat Coumantaros attributed to the rigorous cost discipline and financial management exhibited by the operators.

Nigerian Bag Manufacturing Company Plc (BAGCO) BAGCO is owned 70 per cent by FMN. The firm posted a turnover of N10.4 billion in the review period, as against N10.3 billion in the earlier period. Also, it recorded PBT of N1.3 billion in the period under consideration, which the chairman, remarked as “encouraging improvement” from the N396.7 million recorded in 2009.

Dividend and Capitalisation The chairman, said, the board, based on the

Association cries foul over faking of products

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S a way of ensuring the consistent supply of quality and affordable lubricant brands in Nigeria and consolidating on the thriving lubricant industry, brand owners, under the auspices of Lubricant Producers Association of Nigeria (LUBAN) meet recently and rose with a strong resolve to checkmate the activities of producers and marketers of forged and adulterated lubricants in Nigeria.

In a meeting of the association, held at their national secretariat in Lagos, the forum agreed to live up to the challenge of substandard

lubricants been sold in the Nigerian markets. The house was informed that some illegal mushroom blenders of lubricants are in the habit of using the factory of some recognized blenders, who act as third party blenders to churn out substandard products into the market. Mr. Babalola Oyeyemi of Ammasco International Limited, producers of quality lubricants in Nigeria, advised members of LUPAN to be active to the call and take part in the driving committee drawn from the stakeholders’ forum. He re-iterated the commitment of his organization to stamping out the menace of fake products that is capable of negatively impacting on

the dignity of authentic blenders. He went further to highlight the disadvantages of such products to the engines of vehicles; stating that it will be both religiously and ethically wrong to fold their hands and watch dubious people cheat unsuspecting consumers.

Based on the above, it was agreed that a formidable group should be constituted to lead a vanguard that will lead a vanguard which will fight against the unethical practice. It was also agreed that the fight will commence from those directly involved and taken to the doorsteps of blending plants found culpable in the crime. Other issues discussed in the meeting are the best ways to further their brand presence in Nigeria and other African nations.

“impressive result and in order to fulfill our shareholders’ expectations,” has proposed “ an all-time record dividend payment of N3.416 billion,” equivalent of N2.00 per ordinary share of 50 kobo payable net of withholding tax in the review period.

He stated that the board has decided to strengthen the firm’s capital base and improve the health of the company’s balance sheet by ploughing back part of its earnings, amounting to N85.42 million, to fortify and leverage its financials, adding that sum will be capitalized by transfer from the General Reserve.

Bonus Coumantaros, also announced a bonus issue of ‘one’ new ordinary share of 50 kobo for every 10 ordinary shares of 50 kobo held by shareholders.

Human Resources Coumantaros, said a competence-base selection process has been adopted by the Group in its talent resourcing procedure backed by a recently established competences profile of all jobs.

“Skills improvement, coaching and mentoring are on a continuous and needs basis to match challenges of new technology, changes in systems and new products,” adding that the company’s multiskill training centre, is readily available to prepare multi-skilled workmen for the optimum use of human capital.

He stated that a new Graduate Trainee Scheme has commenced with the employment of young graduates of various disciplines. The trainees are currently undergoing structured modular training to prepare them for future roles in our company, the chairman stated.

Business Diary

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

VOL 1 NO. 019

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E think we should side with the opposites of consumers this time. If for nothing else we need to appreciate the initiative and guts of investors. So much is put into the process of decision making for maximum returns than build one factory for the manufacture of noodles. What happens to those money-spinning real estate opportunities in Nigeria, Dubai, London, etc? Nigerians are responsible investment, beyond profit, especially when it comes to the production of consumer goods/products. The options open to the group of individuals that invests in the production of noodles (in Nigeria market) are legion. Plenty of Nigerian money bags would rather invest in quick return investment options with immediate for the rapid development in cities such as Accra, London, Dubai etc., as a result of their investment in real estate.

With such investment one is sure of optimal returns in real sense. The fear of revocation of CofOs does not arise, rents are paid promptly without default, the entire system is hugely rewarding.

Beyond the financial reward, such investments are sure store of wealth for the owners. Far from government probe in the guise of EFCC or ICPC and the likes, such investments are protected from scrutiny by the host government that constantly looks at the bottomline for their economies. So when you begin to consider the wealth of a nation from the stand point of macroeconomic growth indicators, such protective economies post enviable results. They come across as countries on steady growth. Who cares if Swiss Banks keep monies stolen from most third world countries? By the time you are computing the GDP of a country like Ghana, for instance, where is the place of Foreign Direct Investment -FDI - (from Nigeria/Nigerians whether stolen or legally acquired).

The opposite of the investment opportunities stated above is the REAL COST of such investment decisions, to the origination countries of nationals that would rather be selfish in their investment decisions for whatever reason. The capital flight occasioned by such decisions resonates in international growth ranking to the disadvantage of the home-countries. By the time wealth of nations is being considered for various purposes of international ranking (including diplomatic influence on global issues and events), such transfer-earnings for the host countries are not recorded as such. Na wa!

So, for us at MC&A DIGEST, we appreciate those Nigerians who, by their direct and /or indirect involvement, have caused the establishment of manufacturing concerns in this economy. They have stimulated macro and micro economic growth, provided employment and strengthened the nation's economy for international competition. We consider them as having made the right choice between opportunity cost and real cost. They are making a remarkable sacrifice for nation-building.

Therefore, it is imperative that such investments are properly managed for the good of one and all.

For the purpose of this discourse, we shall concern ourselves with products and brands requiring of professional brands management. The primary objective for this write-up is to bring to fore thos professional imperatives that are key and basic for successful and profitable brands management that have been grossly compromised in today's environment. We are committed to setting the right agenda for new entrants into brands management profession, on the one hand, and to remind old professionals of those professional imperatives that are compromised in modern day practice, of grave consequences.

We once asked on this page WHO MANAGES YOUR BRAND? The reason for that question was to stimulate employers of brand managers towards proper consideration of the options open to them in the process of engaging related consultants. Remember we have mentioned somewhere above, that the overall objective for the special consideration is to care for the good of one and all, by carefully considering those professional practices that will complement the efforts of

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LEST WE FORGET: Advertising 101

investors towards building a better (consumer environment). How else can we be of help if we do not point out the danger spots to avoid wastages/failures on the part of investors?

For this reason, we shall ex-ray the ideal ADVERTISING AGENCY (as brand management consultants are commonly referred in this environment). The classification is on its own an abuse because it does not carefully indicate who the brands manager is. But we shall leave that for discussion in the future.

A large number of players in the brands management market today are mere business men. They neither have the prerequisite nor professional experience to so-practice. Due to the liberal nature of the highly intellectual profession, it is being abused by infiltrators (which is one of the many troubles practitioners have to deal with, in their relationship with Advertising Practitioner Council of Nigeria (APCON) and Advertising Agency Association of Nigeria (AAAN). These bunch of untrained service providers seem to enjoy absolute freedom to run rough-shod, compromising the ethics and principles of the profession. They anchor on the simple task of media buying, running there-on to make all kinds of compromises that questions the efficacy or relevance of brands management practitioners. True professionals are looking forward to that day when the regulatory associations and government institutions will help sanitise the industry.

To appreciate the havoc caused by these people, let's look at the crucial areas of an ideal brand management team, in relation to effective brands management, as follows;

THE CREATIVE PROCESS the professionals appreciate the importance of taking the client's brief through a strategic session designed to critically consider every little detail including the give-brand's world, its market, its target audience, et al. The strategic inquest also includes studying the activities of competition, with a view to identifying the given brand's market potentials, through the scientific and revealing SWOT analysis.

After this stage of brand investigation, the process moves towards agreeing the creative session where strategic direction is taken. This stage is largely determined by the successful conclusion of the brand investigation with findings tested against the background of scientific methods. The results are verifiable by any independent enquirer because the method is universal.

By the time the creative direction is derived from the strategic planning, the ideal agency is ready to go further into interpreting the findings into words and pictures which are generally referred to as adverts. Simple as the creative process is narrated, my colleagues in the profession knows a whole lot of work requiring of intellectual and professional challenges and competence has been compressed in there, for the purpose of this discourse.

In a nutshell, the final creative products in reaction to any given brief must be good enough to properly position the given brand, create the desired brand image for such brand, address the needs of the target market, effectively connect with the target market, to elicit trial and re-purchase action.

(To continue next week)

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Business

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IGERIA is once more on the path of greasing the success story of being a leading space nation in Africa as Federal government has said the launch of the 32 million pound two satellites, NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X is due for July 7, next month in Yasny , Russia .

Seidu Mohammed, Director General of the National Space research and Development Agency (NARSDA) disclosed this in Abuja at a press conference of the launch

NigeriaSat-2 set for launch in July From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja of the nation’s third and fourth satellites code NIGERIASAT-2 and NIGERIASAT-X. Mohammed also revealed that the two spacecrafts- NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat –X and their launch vehicles scheduled for 8.am Nigerian time on Thursday

July 7, have been adequately insured at the 18 percent of the total cost in line with the global practice, and all is set for the launch.

He explained that the Nigeriasat-2 is a high resolution satellite with a 2.5m GSD in the panchromatic channel, and it is an improvement on NigeriSat-1 which had a resolution of 32m

While explaining that NigeriaSat-X is the ingenuity of our engineers who have undergone training in the design and building of satellites the Dg said the NigeriaSat-X is depicts Nigeria’s first efforts at developing satellites and will be launched alongside NigeriaSat-2.

He said the launch of the two satellites will be a special gift of President Goodluck Jonathan to Nigerians and it is also a demonstration of avowed

commitment of the federal government towards improving the lives of every citizen through space application.

The two spacecrafts according to him will be launched using the Dnepr launch vehicle which has launched over fifty five satellites successfully in the orbit on various missions. The Dnepr draws its customers from all over the world which include Canada, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, among others.

Airtel boost customer service with MAMO

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L-R: Permanent Secretary, Civil Service Commission, Ambassador Abdulkadir Musa and Chairman Civil Service Commission, Ambassador Ahmed Al Gazali during the capacity building workshop in Abuja recently

Commission builds capacity of public servants

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HE Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) has set out to measure performance, output of public servants within an agreed framework of planned goals, standard and competency requirement, by setting targets for public servants.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Civil Service Commission, Amb. Abdulkadir Musa disclosed this during the Civil Service Commissions Preparatory Workshop on Introducing Performance Contract in the Nigeria Civil Service, with the theme ‘The challenges of Public Administration’, in Abuja recently.

He said, “The Nigerian Public Service must fashion its home grown reform system and adapt where necessary some of the practices tested in other economies which could assist the service grow and deliver efficient service.

“That is why performance management is necessary, it is a process of getting better results through understanding and managing performance of workers within and agreed framework of planned goals, standards and competency requirement.

From: Franca Ochigbo, Abuja “It is about workers doing the right thing by clarifying their goals.

Its primary characteristic is that of planned process with core elements of agreement, measurement of output compared with expected objectives, feedback, positive reinforcement and dialogue.”

Expatiating, Musa said: “The performance management can be implemented through a process of contract agreement, like expectation in the form of role profile, sets out role requirements in terms of key results areas, and determines the competency required for effective performance.

“The role profile provides the basis for agreeing on objectives, methods of measuring performance, assessing the level of competence reached, describes what individuals are expected to do, and indicates what support and input they will receive from their managers or principals.

“The contract clearly defines the objectives through a crystal clear description of something that has to be accomplished by the role

holder. This helps in the management of expectation as well as a reference point for performance review.

“In establishing objectives, this could be in the form of on-going role or work objectives, targets, tasks/ projects or behavioral expectations within a competency framework,” he stressed.

Musa maintained that set objectives must be specifically clear and unambiguous.

Each objective should be measurable in terms of quantity, quality, money and immediate objective must relevant to the goals of the organizations and individual goals should align with those of corporate goals. They must be time bounds as roles and targets must be accomplished within frame.

Speaking, the Chairman Federal Civil Service Commission, Amb. Ahmed Al Gazali said for Nigeria to get it right in the civil service they must go back to look for those who sincerely know how best to deal with planning, organizing, staffing, directing, cocoordinating, reporting and budgeting of the bureaucracy.

IRTEL Networks has launched My Airtel, My Offer, an innovative service that enables customers customise the service that they receive from Airtel. A bespoke service, My Airtel, My Offer, otherwise known as MAMO, is customised for the unique needs of every subscribers taking into account that every individual has different communication needs.

Airtel introduced MAMO to a large gathering of representatives from the media and the consumer trade at the Banquet Hall of Lagos Sheraton Hotel and Towers. Mr. Deepak Srivastava, Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of Airtel Nigeria, said “My Airtel, My Offer is a segmented offer that is uniquely designed based on a clear understanding of our customers’ usage, changing behaviour and preferences. It is designed to give customers access to the latest value enhancing offers that suit their specific needs.”

Strivastava said the introduction of MAMO “is yet another proof of Airtel’s unwavering commitment to introducing to the market

innovative, relevant, and customercentric solutions.”

MAMO complements the existing offers of the network and aids customers.

The operation of MAMO is very simple, according to Mr. George Andah, Marketing Director of Airtel.

Customers access MAMO by simply dialling 141. The service is free, so new as well as existing customers only need to dial 141 and listen to the voice prompt that leads the customer to make his choice. There are neither short codes nor any technical terms.

What does MAMO offer? Andah said, “My Airtel, My Offer is a service that gives you the freedom to choose.

It caters for SMS offers, special rates, Internet bundles, bonus on recharges as well as weekend offers.”

Airtel Nigeria officials said the idea behind MAMO is the recognition that “different customers have different needs”.

MAMO seeks to help every customer seek the best offering for his specific needs at any given period within the array of offerings on the Airtel Network. It offers instant fulfilment with each dial of 141 to make or change the offering.

L-R: Marketing Director, Airtel Nigeria, George Andah, Wangi Mba-Uzuokwu, Exective Director/Chief Operating Officer, Deepak Srivastava and Mr. Wole Abu at consumer trade forum organised by Airtel at the Banquet Hall of Lagos Sheraton Hotel and Towers over the weekend

HP, others launch summer splash promo

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P and Intel have announced an exciting offer to the consumers, a one month ‘Summer Splash’ Campaign that affords consumers a 60 day internet connection from Airtel and a chance to win 3 fantastic prizes including a Grand prize of all expenses paid weekend, with every purchase of elected HP Intel based notebooks.

The campaign which runs through June till July the 10th 2011 is based on a purchase of an HP

By Abolaji Adebayo Intel based Pavilion DM4-1150ea entertainment notebook, HP Intel based Pavilion DV6-3301ei Entertainment notebook, or HP Intel Based Pavilion G6-1053ei notebook where consumers will get a free 60 day internet connection from Airtel, an instant gift, and be entered into a raffle draw that will be held after the promotion.

The prizes include an allexpense paid weekend to the safari

in Nairobi Kenya; an all-expense paid weekend in Accra, Ghana; and a $1,000 gift voucher.

The Summer Splash campaign is a collaboration with HP, Intel, Airtel and Microsoft. Eleven HP retail partners, across Lagos, Abuja, and Delta state, will participate in the promotion. The HPs Retail Account Manager, Womiloju Olabanji said, “We would like our consumers to know that we appreciate the support they have been giving us all through the years,

and that is why we want to thank them through this campaign.”

The HP Pavilion DM4-1150ea is an entertainment notebook PC that is surprisingly slim (2.5cm) and unbelievable light (2kg) making it easy for consumers take with them everywhere they go.

The Pavilion has WIFI and optional WAN capability Intel West Africa Regional Business Development Director, Stanley Muoneke stated that Intel was committed to facilitating the

convergence of computing and connectivity and in driving broad benefits for consumers through collaboration with partners.

According to Femi Babajide, Intel West Africa Market Development Manager the HP Intel Pavilion range of computers allow consumers enjoy comfortable all day computing, which allows them to get more work done without spending too much time searching for an outlet to charge the PC.

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News

Bombings: Security alert in Abuja

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BUJA today is like a town under siege.

No thanks to sustained attacks on the city by criminal deviants and misguided religious bigots who have come to see the once serene and secured Centre of Unity as a place to make criminal statements to back their selfish, unrealistic and untenable demands.

Since the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) ‘deflowered’ the city on October 1, 2010, bomb throwing has become a household name ever since. Although many residents had thought it was a one off thing and that the security agencies would rise up to the challenge to prevent a repeat occurrence, but this belief has been wide off the mark as members of the Boko Haram Islamic sect has since latched onto the seeming relaxed and free atmosphere of the city to unleash mayhem.

Following the October 1 twin bomb blasts apparently meant to scuttle the nation’s 50th Independence Anniversary by MEND, the use of bombs to terrorise has since increased in intensity and spread.

Apart from such episodes in Jos, Maiduguri, Suleja, Kano, Kaduna and Bauchi, those that have penetrated the heart of Abuja have kept everybody wondering: “What is really happening?” Not minding the heavy security and 24-hour surveillance of the city by security agents, the messengers of death and destruction still set off an explosive in Zuba on the eve of the presidential inauguration on May 29. It was the same day that an army barrack was hit in Bauchi.

But the attacks that have caused much damage and panic in Abuja so far are the Independence Anniversary, the Mogadishu Barracks (popularly called Abacha Barracks) and Police Headquarters blasts where no less than 50 people lost their lives.

The bombing of the Force Headquarters has heightened the security consciousness of Abuja residents who are now at a loss as to what to make of the situation. With the hunter being hunted, who then is safe, residents are wont to ask. Apart from the fact that everybody is now watching their backs, the bombings have, no doubt, begun to take its toll on the plethora of social activities in the town, a situation that is gradually changing the face of one of the most beautiful cities in Africa.

The increased security surveillance of the city which has become a common future was heightened following the Force Headquarters blast. Fully armed soldiers have virtually taken over the roads leading in and out of the city from Suleja in Niger State to Abaji (Abuja’s border with Kogi State) and up to Masaka in Nasarawa State. Three of the four lane highways are usually blocked with heavy logs permitting only one vehicle to pass at a time. The military personnel, who were in their camouflage outfits with bullet proof vests, were seen conducting stop and search on vehicles, while some were patrolling roads on foot.

These procedures have led to heavy traffic gridlocks on roads in and around Abuja.

The Federal Government was said to have deployed men of the Nigerian Army to strategic locations in the capital city to boost security and by deterring the explosives bearers and throwers.

Going by the directive, fierce looking armed soldiers surfaced as early as 7am last Thursday in most parts of the city such as the Central Business District (CBD), Olusegun Obasanjo Way and Area 11 Garki, with road blocks to boot.

Some of the soldiers were equally stationed at the entrance of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) mega station searching vehicles coming in for refuelling.

The soldiers also erected a road block in front of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) headquarters and the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) headquarters all in Area 11, while men of the Nigerian Police Force were also seen at the vicinity of the Nigerian Defence College (formerly known as the War College) where they helped to control traffic.

Complementing the police and the army are members of the State Security Service (SSS), and the Nigeria Security and Civil De-

S

•Scene of the bomb blast at the Police Headquarter, Abuja

fence Corps (NSCDC). For instance, the headquarters of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party had a detachment of men of the SSS stationed at its gate during the week, a development its Chief Security Officer (CSO) Chris Udoaka described as “proactive security measures.”

The security arrangements covered all the satellite towns of the FCT, including Zuba, Gwagwalada, Kubwa, Mpape, Kuje, Bwari, Nyanyan and Mararaba.

Major hotels in Abuja, such as Transcorp, Sheraton and Nicon Luxury have also engaged the services of the police anti-bomb squads at their entrances. All vehicles going into

the hotels are not only screened with metal detecting devices but have their boots searched before gaining entrance.

The search being conducted on vehicles has, however, caused worry and uneasiness for Abuja residents and visitors alike.

The Permanent Secretary, FCT Ministry, Dr Biodun Olorunfemi, had ordered security agencies to conduct stop and search of vehicles plying Abuja roads after inspecting the scene of the police headquarters explosion.

The security agents have also intensified its surveillance of places of worship,

National unity is possible with present constitution, says Kukah

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HE newly appointed Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Rev. Fr. Matthew Hassan Kukah said yesterday that it will be difficult for the country to achieve national unity with the present Nigerian constitution and blamed the pervading ethnic and religious sentiments in the country on the many years of military dictatorship.

Speaking at the 3rd session of the 18th Synod of the Kaduna Diocese of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Kukah said that the nation’s problem does not lie in perceived conflicts between Muslims and Christians, but the failure to insist on fairness, justice and to hold leaders accountable to the people.

He noted that the process of transition from dictatorship to democracy was insulting, saying that as far as he was concerned, there was no transition in the country, saying “I always make Nigerians to understand that we never had a transition in this country. We woke up and we were told that General Sani Abacha was dead, that was how we got the

From Tony Akowe, Kaduna

transition. Although we are all jumping around and saying that we are in Democracy.

“The first step that we should have known that we are not in a democracy was when the military ended and we ended up with an Army General as the President. That was very sad. I am not talking about President Olusegun Obasanjo being a bad or good man, which is not the issue.

But it is so glaring that the military rule has not gone…

“When a country is coming out of a military or civilian dictatorship, there is a way people behave. So all our convulsion, whether we call them ethnicity battering or religion, unfortunately, religion has now become a prisoner, they are products of dictatorship. Every obsession now is being treaded under religion”.

The clergyman argued that for democracy to be truly entrenched in the society, the living standard of the people must significantly improve, adding that the problem with Nigeria is the limited capacity of the Nigerian state to do what a state is

supposed to do, especially the protection of the citizens and provision of basic infrastructures.

He noted: “The resources are being conscripted and we are foolishly allowing ourselves to be conscripted by the criminals and weak state to do things that are not supposed to be done. So the notion that the entire convulsion, commotions are traceable to a conflict between Christians and Muslims just doesn’t make sense.

“And people must also be sincere and committed enough to draw the line because I don’t think any church is receiving money for the welfare or the condition of the citizens, but we must have the courage to ask ourselves how is it that all the areas that we are suffering most in Nigeria are the areas where money is being sunk into.

“The vote for security, none of us know half of it, yet there is no security, most of our money go into PHCN, yet we don’t have electricity, money goes into railway, yet we don’t have the railways.

For me, these are moral questions.”

including mosques on Fridays and churches on Sundays. The men of the antibomb squad of the police are now familiar faces at entrances of major churches on Sundays.

Even the markets and parks are not left out leaving one with the impression that something sinister was about to occur going by the serious and feverish looks on the faces of the security personnel.

A top source disclosed that the army reinforcements became necessary so as not to be caught napping next time around.

He said the soldiers were drafted to the streets following security reports that the Boko Haram sect has plans to detonate more bombs in the city.

On his part, the Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Raphael Isa, said the joint police and military exercise was routine and aimed at checking security threats.

The FCT Police Command spokesperson, Jimoh Moshood, a Superintendent of Police (SP), said the exercise was conducted occasionally if crimes occurred or as measures to combat criminal tendencies. He said all security agencies were involved in the exercise.

Motorists have, however, taken the inconveniences with equanimity in view of the security implications of the exercise.

They believe the delay is good if it would help curb further bomb blasts and loss of lives and properties. “It is a good thing even though it comes with a lot of inconveniences. If it is a price we have to pay to sustain security and our democracy, so be it. But I hope it ends soon so that people will continue with their lives,” says Moses Yohanna, a truck driver.

Another taxi driver lauded the security situation in Abuja saying, “Yes they are everywhere but they do not obstruct traffic like they did immediately after the attack on the police building. If it will end all the trouble, I think it is a good step to take.”

Although many fun seekers have not let up in their activities, it was apparent that most people now move around under a fog of fear in their faces. For instance, at one of the five star hotels in Abuja last week, visitors and guests alike took to their heels when a car leaving the premises of the hotel caught fire with heavy smoke bellowing from its bonnet.

Today, Abuja is gradually becoming a city where you expect the worst. It is suddenly turning to a Gestapo state with security agents breathing down everybody’s throat. The question most residents seem to be asking is: “When is the security siege going to be over?”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan is set to present new directives for the Niger Delta Amnesty Programme, Special Adviser to the President on Amnesty Programme, Hon. Kingsley Kuku disclosed yesterday.

The new vision would be unveiled at a presidential peace dinner at a yet-to-be fixed date as two years of the programme is celebrated, he said.

Twenty thousand, one hundred and ninety-two Niger Delta youths accepted the offer of amnesty by October 4, 2009 before another batch of 6,166 youths was added in the second and final batch.

Taking stock of the programme and the depth of its impact on the people in the past two years, the Federal Government said the programme has been the most effective tool employed by any government in addressing critical national issue.

In a statement by Henry Ugbolue, Head, Media and Communications, Amnesty Office, Kuku noted that, looking back, the amnesty proclamation was the sincerest, boldest and most profound effort by any Federal Government of Nigeria since 1960 to address the agitation for fairness, equity and development in the oil-bearing Niger Delta.

While paying tributes to Late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and President Jonathan for the proclamation, Kuku pointed out that as a result of the proclamation and the successful management of the post-amnesty programme, peace, safety, security and sustainable development have returned to the Niger Delta.

Kuku explained that where Nigeria is today would be better appreciated if effort is made to remember what the situation was prior

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Jonathan to present new vision for Amnesty Programme From Dele Anofi, Abuja

to the proclamation of amnesty for militant agitators in the Niger Delta.

He cited the improvement of the economy and the remarkable improvement in the investment inflow to the up-stream sub-sector that had virtually crippled the economy before the proclamation.

It reads in part: "In pursuance of the demobilization and reintegration man-

dates of the Programme, a total of 15,434 ex-agitators have between June 2010 and May 2011 passed through non-violence transformational training programme at the Demobilisation Camp in Obubra, Cross Rivers State.

"Of this demobilized number, 5,000 have been placed in formal education and vocational training centres within the country and offshore.

"More of the transformed ex-combatants will be placed in reintegration centres in the coming weeks and months.

"Given that the Niger Delta Amnesty Programme has made remarkable impact since the proclamation two years ago, the Amnesty Office under Hon. Kuku will on October 4th 2011, commemorate the second anniversary of the effective

commencement of the Amnesty Programme with a number of events that would further underscore and communicate President Goodluck Jonathan's vision for the Niger Delta.

"The planned activities include a world press conference, town hall meeting with the Amnesty Programme's critical stake holders as well as a presidential peace dinner which will be hosted by President Goodluck Jonathan".

L-R: Vice President, Forever Living Products, Africa Operations, Gary Shreeves, Mr. Tony Attah and wife, Oma with Founder and chairman, FLP International, Rex Maughan and President, FLP International, Gregg Maughan as the Attahs receive the plaque for emerging 4th topmost distributor in Africa at the FLP African Rally in Cape Town, South Africa, recently.

Taraba PDP protests ministerial nomination

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HE Peoples Demo cratic Party (PDP) in Taraba Sstate has petitioned against the nomination of immediate past Minister of Water Resources, Mr. Obadiah

From Fanen Ihyongo, Jalingo

Ando for another ministerial position in the Federal Executive Cabinet.

The petition, addressed to the PDP National Chair-

man, was signed by the three geopolitical zonal chairmen and their secretaries: Peter Bartage and Irmiya Dazang (Chairman and Secretary, Northern Zone), Idris Ishaku and

‘Residents of Fed. Govt estates must comply AGOS State Govern with environmental laws’ ment has expressed

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concern over the uncooperative attitude of Federal Government Institutions, especially Federal Housing Estates in complying with the efficient refuse management policy of the state government.

Lagos Deputy Governor, Hon. Adejoke Orelope Adefulire stated this during the monitoring of the monthly environmental sanitation programme at Mosan Okunola Local Council Development Area as part of the state government effort to improve on the state of the environment.

While deploring the poor state of drainage and waste disposal system at Gowon Federal Housing

Estate, Abesan, Hon Orelope regretted that despite that the PSP waste Management System introduced by the state government to tackle the menace of refuse, Federal Government agencies in Lagos, especially Federal Housing Estates, still refused to patronise PSP operators in disposing their wastes.

Rather than managing their waste through efficient PSP method, the Deputy Governor noted that most of the Federal Institutions still patronise cart pushers who end up dumping refuse in drainage channel and canals, causing flooding any time it rains.

“You have come to live in Lagos and we have open our hands to accommodate you and you can only assist us by ensuring that you obey our laws regardless of your status or class, our laws are no respecter of persons”, she said.

While inspecting some drainage facilities within the local government, the Deputy Governor said the Fashola administration was worried about the persistent flooding in the State during the raining seasons, noting that the major cause of flooding is the persistent dumping of refuse in the drainage, which in turn obstructs the free flow of water that spreads to the highways.

Awalu Tella (Chairman and Secretary, Central Zone) and Ande Katin and Danladi Yatso (Chairman and Secretary, Southern Zone).

The petitioners said: “we are echoing the feelings of hundreds of thousands of PDP loyal members and the overwhelming majority of Taraba people, who are terribly upset with Ando’s nomination, but lack the channel to express their disappointment”.

The Nation gathered that Governor Danbaba Suntai had sent a list of 11 nominees, which did not include Ando’s name. But his name allegedly got included on the list because of the influence of the Chairman of Presidential Advisory Council (PAC) Gen. TY Danjuma (rtd). The petitioners said they have no grouse with the governor’s nominees because they are party loyalists, but wouldn’t accept Ando’s nomination for any ministerial or ambassadorial position because of the

latter’s anti-party activities.

The petition reads in part: “The reason is obvious: Obadiah Ando has been a member of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). He is not known to have made any contributions to the success of the ruling PDP. “So, what are we rewarding him for? If his appointment is confirmed, what message are we sending to the multitude of party faithful; that one can reap without sowing?

“That party loyalty, hard work and commitment do not matter in the yardstick for reward? Or does the governor’s view not matter?”.

Before the petition, the former minister was accused of working against the success of the PDP in the April general elections. The ruling party alleged that Ando assisted the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governorship candidate, Sen. Danlami Ikenya against the re-election of Governor Suntai.

Crisis looms in Ogun between rival transport unions From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta MAJOR crisis is loom ing in Ogun between members of the Amalgamated Commercial Motorcycle Owners and Riders Association of Nigeria [ACOMORAN] and a splinter group, the Empowerment Freedom of Okada Riders Association (EFOR) over alleged incessant harassment of the later by the former.

EFOR Chairman in Ogun state, Mr Rasheed Azeez, at the weekend said his members have been subjected to “frequent harassment and intimidation” by ACOMORAN faction of the Okada riders’ union and called on relevant authority to call ACOMORAN boss, Alh. Adebayo Apelogun, and his group to order.

In a petition to the state Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, Azeez alleged that several motorcycles of EFOR members were seized across the 20 local governments in the State for failing to buy ACOMORAN’s operational tickets.

He asked the Governor to prevail on leadership the of ACOMORAN and his boys to desist from further threatening of members of EFOR with guns and charms or compelling them to buy ticket to “forestall a break of law and order in Ogun.”

But reacting, Apelogun told The Nation that ACOMORAN remains the only legal and recognized motorcycle riders union in Ogun by the state government and the Federal Ministry of Transportation. He noted that though the Ogun State House of Assembly had asked both parties to suspnd union matters temporarily, he said until EFOR is registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission [CAC], it is technically speaking a non existence association.

In his reaction, the state Police Command warned that it would not condone any act of hooliganism from ACOMORAN or any splinter group as it reiterated its commitment to provide adequate security to all.

The Command recalled that one Mr. Saula Ogunjohun was killed while seven persons were arrested last week, in SaboSagamu, when a group called COMOA launched attack on okada riders in a bid to hijack leadership of ACOMORAN executives.

Speaking through the image maker, Mr Olumuyiwa Adejobi, it said the State House of Assembly and the Government were looking into “these security-threatening issues,” saying, “pending any decision or action of the State Government members of these transport unions are warned to maintain the status quo.”

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Foreign

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SUICIDE car bomber killed at least 20 people, and possibly as many as 35, in an attack at a hospital in a remote district of eastern Afghanistan yesterday that damaged its maternity ward, officials said.

Estimates of the casualties, which included patients and medical staff, varied widely in chaotic scenes outside the hospital in the remote Azra district of eastern Logar province, which is just south of Kabul.

Dozens more were wounded in one of the worst attacks this year.

Deen Mohammad Darwish, a spokesman for the Logar provincial government, said as many as 35 people were killed, although Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry put the death toll at 20. Some reports put the death toll as high as 60.

The widely varying estimates of the number of killed and wounded in the bombing in the mountainous Azra district of Logar province, some 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Kabul, reflect the chaos that frequently follows such an attack.

The Afghan Health Ministry initially said in a statement that some 60 people were killed and 120 wounded. But at a later news conference, ministry official Abdullah Fahim told reporters those figures were wrong, and said new information put the toll at between 13 and 25 killed and 50 wounded.

Din Mohammad Darwesh, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said 25 people were killed and more than 40 wounded in the blast. The different tolls could not be immediately reconciled.

The bomber drove up to the medical clinic in an SUV, and clinic guards tried to prevent him from entering the center’s compound, said Mohammad Zaref Nayebkhail, the provincial health director. “The driver didn’t stop and he entered the compound and reached the main building of the health center, where the truck detonated,” Nayebkhail said.

The force of the blast caused

About 20 killed in suicide bombing in east Afghanistan the building housing the 10-bed clinic to collapse, trapping at least 15 people underneath the rubble.

People were frantically scouring the rubble in search of bodies and survivors, he said.

Nayebkhail said the clinic had recently been expanded to meet the health needs of the far-flung district’s population. An emergency response team of nurses, doctors and other provincial officials was to fly by helicopter to the area to help search for survivors in the rubble of the remote clinic, he said.

“The exact target is still not clear,” Interior minister deputy spokesman Najib Nikzad said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied responsibility and said the Islamist insurgents never attack hospitals.

President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack in which he said “tens of civilians” were killed.

The United Nations said the maternity ward was hit in the bombing.

“This is a despicable attack against civilians who were seeking medical care, as well as visiting family members and health workers,” Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. chief in Afghanistan, said in a statement.

Tensions have flared over civilian casualties, with insurgents and the Afghan government alike criticizing NATO-led forces for killing innocent Afghans while hunting for militants.

United Nations figures however show that insurgents are responsible for three-quarters of civilian deaths.

Military and civilian casualties hit record levels in 2010, the most violent year of the war since U.S.backed Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001.

This year is following a similar trend, with violence growing across Afghanistan since the

Taliban announced a spring offensive at the beginning of May. U.S. commanders had already said they expected a rise in attacks as insurgents hit back after U.S. and NATO forces made gains during operations in the Taliban heartland in the south over the past 18 months.

The United Nations said two weeks ago that May had been the deadliest month for civilians since it began compiling statistics four years ago.

It said it had documented 368 “conflict-related” civilian deaths, 82 percent of them caused by insurgents.

The latest violence comes as seven areas across the country prepare to take over security responsibilities from the NATO-led Interna-

work also operate extensively in the area.

Late Friday, another blast — this one caused by a bicycle rigged with explosives — ripped through a bazaar in the Khanabad district of Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 10 people, including a police officer.

At least 24 people were wounded in the attack, according to an Interior Ministry statement.

Also, NATO said an alliance service member was killed in an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan Saturday. NATO did not release any other details about the death.

The death brings to 47 the number of NATO service members killed in June and more than 200 killed this year.

•Pope Benedict XVI is greeted by Fra’ Matthew Festing, the 79th Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military AFP PHOTO / HO / OSSERVATORE Order of Malta, during a private audience at the Vatican yesterday.

ROMANO

Israeli soldier marks 5th year in Hamas captivity

Ex-Egypt trade minister sentenced for embezzlement

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AZA Strip militants vowed yesterday that an Israeli soldier captured five years ago would not “see the light” until Palestinian prisoners held by Israel were released.

In Israel, some 400 supporters of Sgt. Gilad Schalit gathered at the border crossing where he was seized by gunmen linked to Gaza’s ruling Hamas movement on June 25, 2006.

They waved Israeli flags emblazoned with his profile and demanded the government do more to secure his release. A relative read a letter from Schalit’s grandfather faulting the state for failing to bring the 24-year-old home.

Schalit, a tank crewman, was taken captive after militants tunneled under the Israeli border, killed two soldiers at a border post and dragged him bleeding into Gaza.

Hamas’ threat to continue holding him until its demands are met was delivered in a 39-second video uploaded Saturday to the group’s website.

There has been no sign of life from Schalit in nearly two years.

Earlier this week, Hamas rebuffed an appeal from the International Committee of the Red Cross to

tional Security Assistance Force (ISAF) fighting an increasingly unpopular war that has dragged on for 10 years.

That will coincide with the start in July of a gradual drawdown of U.S. troops. U.S. and NATO troops plan to hand over security responsibility for all of Afghanistan by the end of 2014, although critics warn the handover date is premature.

While most of the ISAF gains have been in Taliban strongholds in the south, the insurgency in eastern provinces like Logar and Kunar near the border with Pakistan is much more fragmented.

Taliban fighters often slip across the border from safe havens in Pakistan’s largely lawless northwest but other groups like the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani net-

•Israel, Kerem Shalom : Israeli youth wearing masks of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit take part in a rally marking the 5th anniversary of his captivity by Gaza-based militants near the southern Kibbutz of Kerem AFP PHOTO/DAVID BUIMOVITCH Shalom yesterday.

prove Schalit was still alive.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu retaliated by saying Palestinian prisoners would be stripped of access to higher education and other unspecified privileges.

Years of talks on a prisoner exchange, mediated by Egypt and Germany, repeatedly have sputtered.

Hamas has insisted that Israel release hundreds of Palestinian militants, including the masterminds of attacks that killed dozens of Israelis. Israeli officials

have balked, arguing that releasing the men would put more Israelis in danger.

In the northern Gaza town of Jabaliya, an event was organized by families of some of the estimated 7,500 Palestinian prisoners incarcerated in Israeli jails.

Palestinian families sat with the pictures of their imprisoned sons emblazoned on birthday cakes. Number candles shaped like numbers were planted on the cakes, signifying the 12 to 22 years the men had spent in Israeli prisons.

ORMER Egyptian trade and industry minister, Rashid Mohammed Rashid was sentenced in absentia yesterday to five years in prison for embezzlement of public funds, state news agency Mena reported.

Rashid, who is the subject of an international search warrant, was also ordered to pay a fine of more than nine million Egyptian pounds (over a million euros).

Cairo’s criminal court found Rashid guilty of embezzling funds from the export development fund.

Several businessmen and officials of Hosni Mubarak’s regime, which was toppled Feb-

ruary 11 by a popular uprising, are under investigation for embezzlement and corruption.

Uprooting corruption was and remains one of the central demands of the activists who pushed for Mubarak’s departure.

Mubarak alongside his sons Alaa and Gamal is set to face trial on August 3 on charges of corruption and of ordering the killing of protesters during the uprising in January and February that toppled the veteran leader.

Former Egyptian finance minister, Yussef Boutros Ghali was sentenced to 30 years in prison in absentia on corruption charges on June 4.

11 dead in attack on South Sudan town

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SOUTHERN Sudanese official says 11 people have died after a militia group allegedly allied to the northern government attacked a southern town.

Domenic Deng, the commissioner of Twic county, said Saturday that eight members of the militia and three Southern Sudanese soldiers died in a morning attack on Turalei.

Turalei hosts thousands of people who had been displaced

from their homes in the contested north and south region of Abyei following attacks by Sudan’s army.

Violence has increased in the regions contested by north and South Sudan ahead of the South’s independence next month.

Col. Philip Aguer, a military spokesman for the southern army, said the attacks are part of a plan by the north to take over oil rich areas in the south before it gains independence.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Foreign

Militants raid Pakistan police station; 10 killed

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I L I T A N T S attacked a police station in northwest Pakistan yesterday, killing 10 officers and sparking an hourslong standoff that included a suicide bombing and two other explosions, authorities said.

The assault is one of a slew in recent weeks involving teams of armed insurgents targeting security forces as violence has surged in Pakistan since the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden elsewhere in the country’s northwest.

Such attacks — one of which led to an 18-hour standoff at a naval base in the southern city of Karachi in May — underscore the vulnerability of Pakistan’s security establishment, which is reeling from the humiliation of being unable to detect the unilateral U.S. takeout of the al-Qaida chief on May 2.

Yesterday’s assault targeted the station in Kolachi, an area in Dera Ismail Khan district, police official Salahuddin Khan said. TV footage showed black-clad security squads armed with rifles scrambling into positions around the station, amid reports some of the militants were on the roof.

Some two dozen police officers were believed to be trapped inside.

“We can only hear exchanges of fire,” Salahuddin Khan said.

“We don’t know what is going on inside.”

Between seven and 20 attackers — some wearing suicide vests and others armed with grenades and guns — were involved, according to local intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because their agency prohibits them from talking to media on the record.

Three explosions rocked the building in quick succession, setting

off plumes of smoke into the sky. Police official Javed Khan said the first blast was caused by a suicide bomber who blew himself up when an armored vehicle tried to enter the compound.

At least 10 police officers died, and five were wounded, regional police chief Imtiaz Shah said.

Because the police station is located in a residential neighborhood, the security forces responding to the attack were trying to proceed cautiously to avoid any civilian casualties, the intelligence officials said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but it bore striking similarities to others

claimed by the Pakistani Taliban and affiliated militants. Such attacks have occurred not just in the country’s northwest, which has borne the brunt of Taliban violence, but also in cities elsewhere in the country.

In 2009, militants attacked the army’s headquarters in Rawalpindi, sparking a 22-hour standoff that left nine attackers and 14 others dead.

During last month’s attack at the naval base, militants destroyed two U.S.-supplied surveillance aircraft and killed at least five navy officers, two paramilitary rangers and three firefighters.

NY marriage vote emboldens Paris Gay Pride march

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ENS of thousands of people are marching in an annual Gay Pride parade in Paris, with many hailing New York’s legalization of gay marriage and demanding that France follow suit.

Marchers dressed in drag, bras or striped sailor outfits danced and paraded yesterday under a sea of rainbow-colored flags and to thumping techno beats on slow-moving truck beds that became moveable dance floors.

Many trumpeted New York’s decision Friday to become the sixth and largest U.S. state to legalize gay marriage. France’s legislature rejected a similar effort this month.

Elsewhere in Europe, Russian police detained 14 gay rights activists trying to hold an unsanctioned rally in St. Petersburg to demand equal rights — a sign that resistance remains high to gay rights in many parts of the world.

•Germany, Berlin: Participants make their way to the Brandenburg Gate during Berlin’s annual Christopher Street Day (CSD) parade yesterday. Gays and lesbians all around the world celebrate the Christopher Street Day (CSD) gay and lesbian pride parade, arguably the most important date in their AFP PHOTO / JOHN MACDOUGALL calendar.

WACC calls for freedom of expression and peaceful reforms in Syria

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HE World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) calls for an end to violence in Syria and for respect and tolerance for peaceful freedom of expression. WACC hopes reform steps will lead to inclusive participation of all parts of society in decision making processes.

“At the recent pre-assembly seminar of the WACC Middle East region, WACC members highlighted the importance of freedom of expression in creating inclusive, democratic societies. We are therefore urging the Syrian government to respect the right to freedom of expres-

sion of the people of Syria”, says WACC General Secretary, Rev. Karin Achtelstetter. She also appealed to all parties to seek peaceful resolutions.

At the same time WACC has joined in a call for a day of fasting and prayers for peace by the Council of Bishops of the Christian Churches of Damascus, Syria. In a statement issued by the Council which was convened at the invitation of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate, the Bishops are urging on Christians and other Syrian citizens to join in fasting and prayers, today June 23, at the Holy Cross Church of the Greek Ortho-

dox in Kassa’s area, Damascus.

“Today and more than ever before, we refer to prayer and fasting for the sake of safety of Syria, the country of tolerance and coexistence”, says the Bishops.

The Council of Bishops also condemned “Foreign interference in Syria” and asked the Syrian citizens to be united. “Our hope is that Syria will overcome this crisis and find itself in a better shape which may protect it from any danger that might threaten its existence, or divide it, or lead its citizens to seek refuge into other countries”, said the Bishops in their statement.

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Michelle Obama visits Africa a second time South Africans were in a hospitable mood last week as the First Lady of the United State of America paid their country a courtesy visit. Rita Ohai

•Michelle, her kids, Graca Machel-Mandela and staff at the Nelson Mandela Museum

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ALIA, who enters her teenage years when she turns 13 next month, and Sasha, her 10-year-old sibling, have been two steps behind First Lady Michelle Obama on practically all her stops in Southern Africa this week.

It has given both the American and African media a long look at the sisters whose private lives their parents have tried to keep private.

When they moved into the White House, the Obamas asked the news media to keep a respectful distance from the girls and refrain from photographing them at school, at weekend soccer games or at times when they weren’t with their parents. The White House even objected to coverage of their daughters at official events in the White House.

However, there was no such restriction on Mrs. Obama’s goodwill visit to Africa, which began Monday night when her plane, dubbed “Brightstar,” landed on a chilly night at Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria, the capital of South Africa.

President Zuma who was out of the country for the first day of Mrs Obama’s second solo trip abroad returned on Monday night and refused to meet the American First Lady. Aides said he was “not available” to meet her.

Instead, he arranged for Corrective Services Minister, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to greet her on her arrival in Pretoria on Monday night, and one of his three wives, Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma, to meet her briefly on Tuesday.

“Even when the President is in South Africa, he is not on holiday and cannot meet anybody at any time because he has a schedule.”

Clayson Monyela, spokesman for South Africa’s Foreign Office, said that since Mrs Obama is not a head of state or cabinet minister, there was no onus on Mr Zuma to meet her.

“It’s totally wrong to suggest this is a snub,” he said. “If Mr Zuma or the In-

ternational Relations Minister were in the country they would have met her. We recognise this is a historic visit and that’s why she has been welcomed by senior cabinet ministers.”

The visit, however, coincides with a cooling in relations between South Africa and the United States. Last week, President Jacob Zuma issued a sharp riposte to an appeal by Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, to African leaders to help remove Libya’s Col Muammar Gaddafi.

Michelle Obama who is on a weeklong visit to South Africa and Botswana to promote youth leadership, education, health and wellness met with 76 young female leaders from around SubSaharan Africa. The emotional address was delivered at Soweto’s historic Regina Mundi Church, a center of South Africa’s antiapartheid movement.

They met living heroes of the movement against South Africa’s system of racial separation, including Mandela himself, who spent 27 years in prison for conspiring to abolish apartheid.

Although Mr. Mandela has not been seen in public since he spent several days in hospital in January after suffering from a respiratory disease, he was seen smiling with the First Lady during the visit.

Former Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu was seen exercising with Michelle and her kids after which they met Mandela’s wife, Graca Machel, and Antoinette Sithole, whose 13-year-old brother, Hector Pieterson, became a symbol of the fight against apartheid when he was gunned down by police in the black township of Soweto in June 1976 as students protested peacefully against the white government.

Malia and Sasha painted and played dancing games with children at several other stops. At a day-care center in the Johannesburg shantytown of Zandspruit, they and their mother took turns reading Dr. Seuss’ “The Cat in the Hat” to a group of 3- and 6-

year-olds. Many people were surprised to hear the girls’ voices; they almost never talk aloud in public.

Both read their parts with gusto.

Mrs. Obama acknowledged that her daughters are on the world stage this week.

“It’s a balance, but our priority will always be protecting their privacy,” she said in an interview on Thursday. “It won’t be often that you see them reading ‘The Cat in the Hat,’ but I think this was an important exception for them.”

Aides say that there’s been no change in policy toward media treatment of the girls and that Mrs. Obama remains determined to help them have as normal a childhood as possible.

Malia and Sasha have listened intently as researchers explained Mandela’s personal writings and as guides led them around museums that explored painful chapters in South Africa’s past as a country that separated its blacks and whites. And as if to say, “Stick with me,” they stayed close to two cousins who traveled with the family, Leslie and Avery Robinson, 15 and 19, respectively. The Robinsons live in Oregon with their father, Craig, who is Michelle’s brother. Unlike their cousins, the Robinson siblings aren’t growing up in a fishbowl.

Kristina Schake, Mrs. Obama’s communications director, said the First Lady wanted her girls on the trip with her because she didn’t want them to miss out on a remarkable experience because of who they are. She also knew her daughters could handle a full week in the media glare because they are poised, polite and smart.

“This was a unique week,” Schake said.

Other places the Rosa Parks Library, the Apartheid Museum, the U.S. Embassy and the Hector Peterson Museum. Hector Peterson was the first person to be killed at the 1976 Soweto uprising in South Africa.

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Living Faith

By David Oyedepo

The virtue of divine corrections

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Worship

OD does not only speak to us, He also speaks to correct us. God corrects us when we misinterpret His direction or misunderstand His plan and are open for His correc-

tion.

God furnishes and decorates us not only through His principles, but through His reproofs, corrections and instructions.

Unfortunately, many people are only committed to the principles, ignoring corrections. As a result, they end up victims of frustrations.

The scriptures have a four-fold ministry: it gives doctrine, reproofs, corrections and instructions (2Timothy 3:16-17). When we talk about divine guidance, we are talking about the plan, the reproofs that come along the way, the corrections that are released to you and the instructions that you must follow. God’s doctrine unfolds His plan, His reproof charges us for taking a dangerous step, His correction sets us on the right path to go and His instructions guide us in every step we are taking.

Why we need correction: There are things that you like to do on your own, but the end of that road is death (Proverbs 14:18). That is why you and I need to be open to God’s corrections. Many destinies have been crashed as a result of people going on a wrong route. They have lost the vitality of life because they went off course! Some have remained adamant! God does not waste His time speaking to someone who will not be corrected. That is why He only corrects those who are willing.

God does not waste His Words; He speaks to those who will value them. Since there is no error-proof man in the world, all we need to do is to open up for His corrections, and He will always be there to make it happen.

Man will always need correction because he is liable to misinterpretations and errors. Somebody once asked me, “Have you ever been wrong?” I replied, “I think I have been more wrong than I have been right, but God helps me not to stay with my wrong. He corrects me most of the time at the eleventh hour, so everybody will know this boy is stupid.” I am a beneficiary of divine corrections. I don’t know where I would have been without God’s corrections. I always accept His corrections.

When I was being taken to inspect the piece of land upon which our ministry base is now built, I fought the people all the way there, because it was located right in the jungle. I said to them, “No it can’t be here, let’s turn back!” But the person who rode with me said, “Let’s go on sir, we will soon be there.”

However, we drove on.

When we got there, for formality sake I said, “Okay, let’s give thanks to God for all the efforts thus far.” We joined our hands together to give Him thanks and God said to me, “This is the place!” I was the one making all the noise on the way there, but I said to the people, “God just spoke to me now that this is the place.” Everybody smiled!

Do you know why He corrected me? He knew that I won’t pretend not to have heard Him. He also knew I would obey Him. God delights in speaking to those who will obey Him. Until you are ready to be corrected, you are not a candidate for His glory. If you are too big to be corrected by God, then you are finished!

Qualification for divine correction: The principal factor that qualifies you and me for divine correction is meekness. You must be tender in heart in your walk with God. He must recognize that He has an unimpeded access to putting you right, no matter how far you have gone on the wrong track.

God’s Word says: The meek will he guide in judgement: and the meek will he teach his way (Psalm 25:9). To access divine correction, you need to be meek. You also commit every step you are about to take to God. Many don’t know what they stand to benefit from His corrections. That is why they want to pose like men of their words. Such men are not meek; they are proud.

Their attitudes show that they are incorrigible. When God sees that you are not meek, He won’t correct you! I want you to be open to divine correction.

Friend, the grace to remain meek for divine correction is available, if you are born again. You get born again by confessing your sins and accepting Jesus as the Lord of your life. You can be born again now, as you say this prayer: Lord Jesus, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me my sins. Cleanse me with Your precious Blood. Deliver me from sin and satan to serve the Living God. From today, I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Thank You for saving me! Now I know I am born again!

I invite you to come and fellowship with us at the Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, the covenant home of Winners.

Our midweek services hold on Wednesdays between 6 and 8 p.m. We have four services on Sundays. The first one holds between 6.30 and 8.15 a.m., the second between 8.25 a.m. and 10.10 a.m., the third between 10.20 a.m. and 12.05 p.m. and the fourth between 12.15 and 2.00 p.m. God bless you as you come!

Every exploit in life is a product of knowledge. For further reading, please get my books — In Pursuit Of Vision and Understanding Divine Direction.

I know this teaching has blessed you. Write and share your testimony with me through: BISHOP DAVID OYEDEPO, Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, P.M.B. 21688, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria; or call 7747546-8; or E-mail: bishop@davidoyedepoministries.org

INTERVIEW

‘We need God’s intervention , human efforts have failed us’ Prophet Ekong Ituen, the President/Founder of Christ Deliverance Ministries, Ketu, Lagos. In this interview with Edozie Udeze, he spoke on his recent predictions, the state of the nation and the way forward

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SIR, congrats on your recent predictions Oh that is good, it gives me much joy that God has honoured what he said through me, I am happy to be his mouth piece but all glory should go to him because according to the Bible, no man can do these except God is with him. I thank God Almighty for the enablement and grace upon me but it should be noted that right from my early stage in ministry, I have by the special grace of God predicted a lot of things that came to pass, you can go through records and media then you will discover the reality and authenticity of my predictions. For instance, God told me early this year to tell Nigerians what will be the outcome of April polls and I did that accurately because whenever God said anything to me it is always a done deal. Today you can see that Goodluck Jonathan has won, AlaoAkala and Ikedi Ohakim have been defeated as earlier predicted, I can assure you that every other prediction will come to pass because God is not a liar.

What is your spiritual insight on the country?

You are meeting me well because am just back from a prayer/fasting programme where I sought the face of God concerning our nation, am glad to tell you that God has spoken again and I will tell you now without fear of controversy.

There will be a new state for Southeast geopolitical zone before the expiration of this tenure/administration but there will be a serious disagreement on where the state capital will be located. Senator David Mark, the Senate President may not have it easy this time around. I have seen a

• Ituen

lot of trials and persecution awaiting him, he should pray against political embarrassment or impeachment.

Former President Obasanjo is playing his last days in politics, I urge him to retire from active politics because he will be messed up by his party. He should pray against political humiliation, he will find it difficult to retain his seat as PDP Chairman Board of Trustees, PDP will experience a serious leadership crisis that will shake the foundation of the party. The newly elected Governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi may not end well as he will have a serious problem with his party, he should

be careful of sycophants and betrayers around him that will make him to take wrong decisions and step on toes of those that helped him to power.

How do you assess the security situation presently?

Honestly, we need God in this area because it is God that watches over the city (Psalm 127:1) but you could remember that before now I predicted and published in the media. I said in the area of security that things will get worse, there is no solution to bomb blast yet, I just pray we don’t get to the level of Iraq and Afghanistan, there will be many political assassinations while kidnapping will be on the increase but

we can reverse all these through prayers. This was exactly what I predicted because that was what God told me. To answer your question, I know government has tried a lot to put an end to this but as a priest of God I advise federal government to include prayers in every approach to the above. We need God’s intervention because from the look of things human efforts have failed. The security challenges in the country need divine intervention than ever before, the solution lies in prayers. I urge the federal government to invite men and women of God who are spirit filled with spiritual endowment to a solemn assembly as intercessors for intercessory and fervent prayers, with this I have a strong conviction that God will deliver our country from evil machination of the devil and his human agent but it is advisable for all hands to be on deck to save the nation from embarrassment and disintegration.

Your advice to President Jonathan?

Spiritually speaking, Goodluck Jonathan is one of the few Nigerians who have the interest of this country at heart, he actually wants to move this country forward. God sent him to Nigerians and Nigerians irrespective of tribes and religion voted him to power, I urge him not to be distracted or discouraged by some unscrupulous elements who are bent on destroying this country but let him be courageous to do the good work God has committed into his hands and know he will certainly succeed because God is always with him.

NEWS

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ENERAL overseer of St Emmanuel Spiritual Church of Christ, International(C&S), Apostle John Agboire, was last Sunday conferred with a doctorate degree for his contributions to the advancement of the gospel.

Rev (Dr) Femi Onifade of Christ High Commission, Lagos, who conferred the title, described Agboire as an exemplary preacher whose conduct is a refreshing reminder of quintessential selfless service.

He said the award was just a token of appreciation for ‘’all the souls you have won to Christ and all the lives you have touched for good.”

He urged him not to relent but re-fire for greater ex-

Clerics bag doctorate degrees

By Segun Odunewu

ploits in the vineyard of God, pointing out that there were still many lands to conquer for the kingdom. ‘’The Lord has not started with you. What you have done is nothing compared to what lies ahead. This(award) is just to remind you that for every soul you touch henceforth, there will be reward on earth and in heaven,’’ Onifade further charged.

The ceremony was attended by dignitaries from different walks of life Resident Pastor of the church, Prophet Tunde Alabi (Awoko

Jesu), was also conferred with doctorate degree in theology.

Onifade called for perseverance in the service of God.

Kutigi Anglican Diocese inaugurates board

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HE Diocese of Kutigi, A n g l i c a n Communion in Niger state will today inaugurate’a 48 member Diocesan board members.

The Bishop of the diocese Rt Rev Jeremiah Kolo in a statement issued to newsmen in Minna yesterday said the appointments are for a synod year.

According to Kolo 48 members of the diocese are

Jide Orintunsin Minna penciled down for the board that would be inaugurated today (June 26, 2011) at St. Paul Anglican Church Fazhi, in Edati local government area of the state.

The statement added that the inauguration which would be presided over by the Bishop of the diocese will also commission and ordain non-stipendiary deacons.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Worship

20 inmates graduate, ready for release

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WENTY prisoners last week graduated from a pre-release empowerment training scheme organised by the Prison Fellowship of Nigeria in collaboration with The Nigerian Prisons Service, Covenant University, Ota and Small & Medium Enterprises Development (SMEDAN) at Medium Security Prison, Kirikiri Lagos.

The year-long scheme christened Life Recovery prerelease Empowerment Programme (aka Onesimus Project) featured vocational courses aimed at preparing the inmates for reintegration into the society.

Executive Director of Prison Fellowship of Nigeria, Barr Benson Ngozi Iwuagwu said the initiative is geared to-

TREM dedicates cathedral at 30

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HE 30th anniversary of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM) holds from June 28 to July 3.

Part of activities marking the milestone is dedication of the Church National and International Headquarters, Cathedral of His Glory, on Saturday 2ndJuly 2011.

The dedication holds by 10:00 am at the Gbagada Express Way, Anthony Oke, Lagos, International headquarters of the church.

There will also be the International Women Prayer Conference on Thursday 30th June by 9:00 am, according to a release signed last week by Bishop Peace Okonkwo, chairperson of the dedication committee.

Business Summit for men and anniversary thanksgiving service on Sunday 3rd July are also lined up for the event.

Guest speakers include Pastor Enoch Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Dr. Abel Damina of Power Chapel International, Uyo; Rev. Mrs. Chichi Bismark from Zimbabwe and Pastor Taiwo Odukoya of Fountain of Life Ministry, Lagos, among others.

wards transformation and restoration of inmates in the country.

He bemoaned the many deprivations suffered by prisoners across Nigeria, saying the project is an attempt to ‘’reform, rehabilitate and reintegrate the already bruised and near broken minds due to the excruciating and castrating criminal justice system.’’

He disclosed that over 63 inmates had undergone various trainings since the project commenced in 2009. 43 of them, he added, have since graduated.

“This project has given life, hope and courage to our inmate’ students, their zeal for life has been rekindled and their sense of self esteem restored,” Iwuagwu stated.

He however regretted that three graduates of the scheme have been re-arrested by authorities, vowing that despite such hiccups the project will continue to succeed.

The project, he said, is to provide a platform for the inmates to run their businesses

on a profitable and sustainable scale.

The event also witnessed the matriculation of 22 fresh inmates into the scheme who were advised by Mr. Levi Anyikwa, representative of SMEDAN Chairman, to be of good cheers.

He said though they were down, they shouldn’t consider themselves out.

Chairman of Prison Fellowship Board, Apostle E.C Jibuike, urged well meaning Nigerians to join the Onesimus project to give hope to the inmates.

He said several prisoners would be of benefit to the society with a little assistance from well-meaning citizens.

Why Africa is underdeveloped,

by Adefarasin

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ENIOR Pastor of House on the Rock Church, Pastor Paul Adefarasin, has attributed the backwardness of the African nations to generational witchcrafts and idolatry.

He said years after evangelisation of the continent, it is sad many still remain held down by witches and idols.

Adefarasin stated that Christians are not left out of the curse of idolatry, saying many of them nurse evil intentions towards their neighbours.

Adefarasin spoke last Wednesday during a conference tagged Church Together packaged to help Christians

and gospel ministers understand their roles in nation building.

The conference held in Lagos.

Adefarasin said: ‘’The reason why Africa is backward is not far-fetched. We have a history of witchcraft and idolatry which has continued this today. ‘’Even many Christians are involved. They won’t bow to an idol but they think ill of their next neighbours and have evil intentions. ‘’We cannot grow until we have stopped this trend’’.

Cleric condemns bombing

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HE founder of Prayer Mountain Ministries International, Onipanu, Lagos has condemned in no small terms the recent bombing of the Police Headquarters in Abuja. Pastor Battola said the action is very wicked and unpatriotic. He called on the security agents to do all possible to unravel the mystery behind the dastardly act and deal with the perpetrators of this inhuman act accordingly.

The cleric disagreed with those calling for the removal of the Inspector General of Police. There is no need for such call yet since this matter is under investigation. We should await the outcome of the on-going investigation on the issue. For this reason, calling for the Inspector General’s removal is premature and uncalled for. The cleric said he prayed to God for the repose of the soul of the deceased and the family for the fortitude to bear the lose.

On the 7th inaugurated National Assembly, the pastor urged members of the House to be God fearing and to have the people’s welfare and condition in mind while exercising their duties. They should always pass laws that will be beneficial to the electorate and

must ensure that the masses enjoy the dividend of democracy as enshrined in the constitution. “You must make sure you make good use of the mandate given you by the electorate,” Pastor Battola admonished.

Church honours federal lawmaker

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MEMBER of the House of Representatives representing Agege Federal constituency, Hon. Solomon Adejare, was honoured last Sunday by the Decross Gospel Church, Agege for his commitments and support for God’s work.

The event which was part of the Church’s’ special service to mark Father’s day celebration took place at the church premises in Agege.

Adejare was among others like Evangelist Ebenezer Obey who received similar awards.

Thanking the church for counting him worthy for the award of ‘Pillar of the Vineyard’, he

By Oziegbe Okoeki

promised to do more.

The lawmaker who was a former member of the Lagos State House of Assembly used the occasion to call on fathers to live an exemplary life, even in the face of challenges, so as to give practical examples to their children.

Adejare noted that unless fathers lived by example the society would continue to be bedeviled by vices. “Fathers should do the right thing always even in the face of challenges”, Adejare said.

• L-R: Bro. Aramide Tola Noibi, Conference Public Relations Officer, Methodist Church Nigeria, with the Prelate Methodist Church Nigeria, Dr Sunday Ola Makinde, at the 2011 Annual Diocese of Lagos West, Methodist Church Nigeria during Festival of Songs at Opebi Circuit, Ikeja, Lagos recently

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Making Sense of Life with adeWale Adefuye

‘My smooth-talking brother, Aaron!’

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OSES, I want to thank you again for granting this no-holds-barred interview. How did it feel when you finally stepped on Egyptian soil after 40 years of exile?”

“Well, as you have probably read in The Book, the Big One spoke to Aaron, my brother, who met us at Mountain Sinai, a stone throw from where the bush had burned but was not consumed. It was pleasant to see Aaron again after such a long time; the meeting triggered a surge of childhood memories. Aaron, three years my senior, was raised in Goshen and never stepped out the Hebrew quarters until my royal upbringing gave him access to the palace. His oratory skill was evident from childhood. I remember when he first came with Miriam to the palace. He was fascinated with my toys and somehow persuaded my Egyptian Mom Two to get him a similar set of toys.

He spent long periods of time at the palace and this exposure helped his development in politics, philosophy and oration.

Aaron quickly brought me up to speed with events in Egypt: the new pharaoh was a known figure; he was still in touch with ‘the boys in the palace’; the Hebrews had been holding prayer congresses to be delivered from the tyranny of the Egyptians; an effective leadership structure had evolved along tribal lines and he, my brother, was a key player in the leadership formation. Gravelly, Aaron added how they had been meeting regularly to pray, discuss current affairs and measure the pulse of the grassroots.

Aaron’s political involvement and connection would prove useful in the divine agenda. He made all the necessary contacts, arranged meetings to secure the elders’ buy-in and ran a superb publicity blitz for the Liberation Campaign.

He was particularly in his element at the various meetings with the Hebrew elders as he matched his oration with the display of the supernatural signs God had given me – turning my staff into a serpent, making and unmaking my hand leprous, and changing water into blood. He became the mouthpiece of the Liberation.”

“But did he not later become an embarrassment in the matter of the golden calf and when, together with your sister, he criticised your biracial marriage?”

“I’m not going to make any excuses for him but it helps to keep the timing of the golden calf incident in context. It was a few months after we left Egypt, which was by itself a few months after my return from exile. In other words, Aaron was not long acquainted and deeply experienced in the ways of God. My brother had not developed strong spiritual muscles for the office he occupied. He was easily swayed.

His background in politics and philosophy did not help matters. He thought it was about pleasing the people, yielding to pressure instead of remaining focused on what God has said. That ‘voice of the people is the voice of God’ thing goes way, way back.”

“Oh, I see – we like to say it in Latin: vox populi, vox dei .

Seriously though, that’s a major difference between spiritual and political leadership. You were so mad at what you saw that you smashed the two plates of the Ten Commandments, thereby denying us the prospect of seeing God’s hand writing on God-hewed stones!”

“Well, what can I say to that? I was only away for 40 days; it was disheartening to discover that was enough time for the whole nation to get totally out of control! As I neared the camp and saw the calf and the people dancing lewdly, I went livid. How could Aaron have succumbed and let the people run wild, disgracing themselves before their enemies?

His explanation was even more stupefying: “I asked them to bring me their gold ornaments [which] I threw into the fire, and... well... this calf came out!” This incident made me understand in a very personal way what God did not say about Aaron during the Burning Bush encounter. I’d suggested to God to send someone else when He retorted rather ruefully, ‘I know [your brother], Aaron, is a good speaker.’ Spiritual leadership requires much more than eloquence of speech.”

“My generation needs to hear that. Nothing has changed.

You saw otherwise reasonable men and women bowing to a dumb calf, made of ornaments, attributing their deliverance from Egypt to it. Today, so-called learned men make a career out of riding hobbyhorses like the dehumanising calf of same-sex ‘marriage’. Idolatry is still on the rise. Ornaments are no longer melted; they are minted. Articulacy is the inthing and it matters not if what is hollered makes no sense.”

“In my days, I called out to the nation, “Everyone who is on the Lord’s side, come over here!” The Levites responded and in the process earned themselves the priesthood.” adeWale Adefuye, dean of LifeClass, can be reached at dean@lifeclassonline.org; 070 3002 3002 (sms only) Diary Sunday, 26 June, 9am; at: Winning Word Church, 16 Ahmadiya Street, off Abeokuta Expressway, Ojokoro, Lagos. theme: The Dignity of Manhood

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

News

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HE General Superintendent of Assemblies of God Church, Nigeria, Reverend Professor Paul Emeka has warned against spliting of Nigeria,saying the balkanization of the country along religious affiliation would be retroactive.

Speaking to newsmen shortlyafter his sermon at the annual revival summit of the church which took place

Assemblies of God cautions against spliting of Nigeria From Chris Oji, Enugu

at Okpoto in EbonyiState, Emeka insistedthat “God knows why he brought different ethnic nationalities together.

Emeka recalled that it

was God who prevented the former Eastern region from separating from Nigeria because he has a reason for brining us together. Said he: “ God knows the reason why he brought us together, even during the civil war when

R-L: A member of Justice Development and Peace Commission, Mrs. F.O Ogunnaike; her husband, Chief F.O Ogunnaike; Executive Chairman, Peacock Travels Limited, Chief Segun Phillips; his wife, Bunmi, during the investiture of friends of the commission at the St. Leo Catholic Church, PHOTO : ISAAC JIMOH AYODELE Ikeja, Lagos...recently

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HE wish of every parent is to bequeath to his or her ward sound and qualitative education, so as to become responsible citizen in the society.

While governments at all levels owe it a duty to provide enabling environment for teaching and learning of the pupils.

Unfortunately, the reverse is the case in some public primary schools in Oyo State , where situations are not only deplorable, but very pathetic.

A case under review is four public primary schools in the Afijio Local Government area of the state.

They are Abojupa Community Primary school , Idi-Igba, and First Baptist Primary Schools I, II and III., Ilora.

Apart from the fact that most of the schools are not fit for human habitation, lack of facilities for conducive learning poses serious threats to future of the younger generations.

The Nation investigation revealed that Headmasters and Staff resume for work under shady trees as office.

Classrooms are dilapidated, while roofing sheets are as well blown off by heavy rainstorm, yet pupils are being taught inside them, regardless of the danger posed. Desks and benches are also grossly inadequate for the pupils.

The most pathetic of it all is that at the close of the schools, unknown persons would storm the classrooms at night and defecate in the classrooms.

The following day, both the pupils and their teaches would be busy for hours cleaning up the excreta, on the desks and benches, as well as the floors and walls of the classrooms.

Scores of pupils and their teachers were said to have contacted cholera due to pervading odor being breathe in, and ended up being admitted in hospitals for weeks.

Similarly, another pupils

the East wanted to separate, God said no, he hasa reason for bringing us together.”

The cleric however lamentedthat members of the dreaded Islamic sect,Boko Haram burnt Churches and forced many Christians to runaway from their homes.

The spiritual leader of Assemblies of God, Nigeria who had earlier in his sermon , told Christians to be conscious of the capture and the second coming of Jesus Christ, called on Nigerians to be prepared to meet the Lord at any time.

He also used the opportunity to assure President Good luck Jonathan that Christians were seriously backing him up with prayers.

On social insecurity, the head of the Assemblies of God Church in Nigeria disclosed that the ongoing insecurity problems confronting Nigeria were offshoot of past years of decadence, advising President Jonathan to believe that he would through God deliver the country out of the present bondage.

Learning with tears • Oyo Primary Schools turned latrines.

• Pupils learn in dilapidated classrooms • Headmasters, teachers use under the trees as offices.

• Ex-council chairman to the rescue.

Felicia Alabi, respectively

Top: A new block of classrooms constructed by ex-council chairman, Below : One of the dilapidated classrooms From Bode Durojaiye, Oyo

were reportedly knocked down by either commercial vehicles or motorcycles while trying to cross over the road to the nearby bush, whenever they want to defecate.

This is because the schools lack toilet facilities.

Disturbed by situation, the immediate past caretaker chairman of the local government, Mr. Tunji

Akinbiyi, ordered the construction of blocks of classrooms with toilet facilities to the schools, and others with similar situations.

Also, offices were built for staff, while new desks and benches provided to replace the termite-ridden ones.

Commenting on the gesture, Assistant Headmasters, First Baptist Primary Schools , II and III Ilora Messrs Joseph Egberinde, and

LAGOS

expressed appreciation for the timely intervention by the excouncil chairman.

They stated that the gesture would go a long way in “saving the dying souls of the pupils, who are daily exposed to danger due to dearth of facilities needed to mould their future”.

According to them, “besides the fact that a number of pupils and teaches who contacted cholera and admitted for weeks in hospitals(s), for inhaling the odour of excreta that defecated our classrooms by unknown people.

Headmasters, their assistants and even some staff stay under shady trees as their offices. It is indeed pathetic. But thank God, for using the exchairman to improve the situation.”

They in the meantime called on the government for potable water and burglary capable of preventing further abuse of the school’s classrooms.

Similarly, their counterparts at Abojupa Community Primary School , Idi-Igba, Mr. Emmanuel Oluokun, and Mrs. Mariam Famakinwa, spoke in the same vein.

They disclosed that in spite of the neglect, the school came second in the recent National Junior Science Quiz competition held in Abuja , the Federal Capital Territory .

They similarly expressed that “Nothing was done for the school by the immediate past administration. It is really demoralising and discouraging to be so treated, when it was glaring that the victory at the competition was the glory for the state.”

USAID partners NGO on election petition monitoring •Deploys 37 monitors

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HE 2011 Election Petitions Tribunals have been urged to give accelerated hearing to the petitions before them and do justice to all in the interest of peace, fairness, justice and stability of Nigeria’s democracy.

Rising from a two-day Election Petition Monitoring Capacity Building Workshop in Abuja organised by International Fund for Electoral Support (IFES) and the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), the participants decried a situation where some of the election petition cases of 2007 were still pending in courts.

A communiqué issued by the Centre for Social Justice at the end of the workshop decried the shortcomings of the 2007 election petitions proceedings and urged the monitors to take a keen interest in the proceedings and give accurate reports on what transpired at the end of the day.

The communiqué signed by the Lead Director, Mr. Eze Onyekpere also directed the 37 monitors who have since been deployed to the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory to watch the extent of compliance with the legal framework, the Nigerian constitution, the practise directory, the rules of court, code of conduct for judicial officers and all the extant rules.

According to the communiqué, the monitors who are mostly legal practitioners pledged to abide by the code of conduct for election petition monitors and to respect the rules of the courts.

Essentially, the workshop funded by USAID under its IFES programme was to “make the participants to understand the legal framework for election dispute resolution and to document the outcome of the monitoring in an analytical report.”

Glo/CNN African Voices features Ben Okri

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N line with the philosophy of the Glo/CNN African Voices to showcase successful and high-profile personalities who are shaping the African continent, the programme will this weekend feature world acclaimed poet and novelist, Ben Okri.

A statement from the Marketing Communications Department of Globacom said the Nigerian writer will be the star guest on the 30-minute show on Saturday at 9.30 a.m., with repeat broadcasts at 3.30 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. There will be further repeated at 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. on Sunday, at 10.30 a.m. and 6.30 p.m. on Monday, and at 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday.

The statement also indicated that a special arrangement has been made to air the edition again at 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday morning in order to give millions of viewers further opportunity to watch the programme.

“In this episode of Glo/CNN African Voices, Okri will discuss his approach to writing and take a look at his latest work, A Time for New Dreams,” Globacom stated.

Born in 1959 in Minna, northern Nigeria, to an Igbo mother and Urhobo father, Ben Okri was raised in the United Kingdom and Nigeria where he discovered a love of literature. He achieved international acclaim in 1991 with the award winning novel, The Famished Road.

Since he published his first novel, Flowers and Shadows in1980, Okri has risen to international acclaim, and he is often described as one of Africa’s greatest writers.

His best known work, The Famished Road, was awarded the 1991 Booker Prize. He has also won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Africa, the Aga Khan Prize for Fiction, and was given a Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum.

SOS intimates school children with the art of governance

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HE SOS Kidergaten/Hermann Gmeiner Primary School, in Okota, has for the umpteenth time, intimated primary school children with the art of governance through her biennial talent hunt competition.

The fifth edition of the competition held last Wednesday at the SOS Children’s Village Community hall, Isolo, witnessed school children and their parents being acquainted with “the dangers children face in our society when they lack effective and good governance knowledge” among others.

It recorded school children expressing themselves on what they know about: democracy, child’s right and protection policy and Nigerian child benefits from a democratic government.

They as well hit the fact that revenue sharing has not been equitable and afterwards called on Nigerian leaders to “remember the vulnerable and the children”.

While the competition tagged: “Democratic Government and the Nigerian Child” lasted, it featured choral performance, quiz, art and craft, spelling bee and recitation, with school children from over eight schools across the country in attendance.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY JUNE 26, 2011

Sport Extra

2011 ALL AFRICAN GAMES QUALIFIER

Nigeria spanks Ghana 3-1 N

IGERIA’s Dream Team came back from behind to record a 3 1 win over Ghana’s Meteors in the first leg of their 2011 All African Games football qualifier at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin yesterday.

The Nigerians dictated the pace from the start though the visitors did not lie low as they made series of incursions into the hosts’ vital area from the left flank.

However, with normal time already out and added time in its first minute, Nigeria fell behind. The hosts failed to deal decisively with a corner kick from their left flank. The corner kick, taken from the Ghanaians’ right was sent to the left and a header returned it into the penalty area for Rabiu Mohammed to slot in for 1 -0.

But on resumption from the break the Dream Team kept the dream of their fans that thronged the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium alive

By Tunde Liadi and Olusoji Olukayode in Benin when Nosa Igiebor hit the bull’s eye in the 50th minute to even scores 1 -1 sending the capacity filled arena into jubilation.

Not done, the Nigerians went all over their opponents, Nnamdi Oduamadi being the chief tormentor made incursions into the Meteor’s territory from both flanks causing the Ghanaians to commit blunders. And his effort would pay off in the 58th minute of play as he got his side a penalty after being brought down by Jonathan Mensah.

Nosa Igiebor stood up to take the kick and did justice to it by sending the ball beyond the Ghanaian keeper’s reach for his side’s second goal of the evening and their first leap into the lead in the 60th minute of the game..

And while the visitors were still trying to get back into the encounter, Nigerian players

broke loose on the right through Nosa Igiebor but the forward was brought down on that flank. The Meteors failed to deal with the resultant kick and the outcome was an Edet Ibok smasher from inside the 18 yard and Nigeria went up 3-1 leaving Ghana to continue the chase.

The Ghanaians did fight back, making series of penetrations into Nigeria’s

goal area and tasking goalkeeper, Dele Ajiboye in the process but the safe hands had answers at the tip of his fingers with vital saves as his reply to the rampaging visitors.

The game ended 3-1 and the Meteors will have to wait another day to repay their agelong rivals. Both teams will meet in two weeks time to slug it out in the second leg of the fixture.

SIASIA/OSAZE FEUD

NFF set to resolve rift Lesbianism wrong, says •Nosa Igiebor (scored brace against Ghana Meteors)

N

IGERIA Football Federation (NFF) has affirmed that the football house was taking its time to wade into the feud between Super Eagles’ chief coach Samson Siasia and one of his players, Osaze Odemwingie in order to really ascertain the root cause of the problem with conflicting reports here and there as regard the true story.

The technical Committee Chairman of the NFF, Barrister Christopher Green in a chat with NationSport reckoned that the bust up between the duo would need to be settled with caution in order for it not to cause disaffection in the Super Eagles and among Nigerians who are the keen watchers.

He disclosed that very soon when the NFF hears from

•Siasia

Falcons’ coach

From Tunde Liadi in Benin both parties concerned and what really transpired, then it won’t be difficult to go about reconciling the duo. “ NFF is not delaying as regard settling the feud between Osaze and Siasia.

We have heard and read many contradictory reports about what really went wrong with the coach and his player. We took this stand because the issue is a very delicate one and if it is not handled in such way it may cause disaffection in the team. I assure you very soon we will get to the root and then find a lasting solution to it. We don’t want to base it on what we read on the pages of the newspapers.”

N

IGERIA coach Eucharia Uche sparked controversy on the eve of the women's World Cup on Saturday by branding homosexuality as 'dirty'.

"Homosexuality is a dirty thing, spiritually and morally it is very, very wrong," Uche is quoted as saying in German daily Bild.

Although Uche says she has no proof that there are any gay players in the Super Falcons team, in the past she has brought in pentecostal priests to pray and offer her team guidance on the issue.

Before Uche took charge in 2009, players were reported to have been thrown out of the Nigerian side under suspicion of being lesbians, claim Bild.

Nigeria play France in the opening game of the women's World Cup on Sunday and Uche's words put her on a collision course with the sport's governing body FIFA, who want to use football to promote social and cultural understanding.

In a mission statement, FIFA says it wants to use the sport in 'overcoming social and cultural obstacles for women with the ultimate aim of improving women?s standing in society'.

At a FIFA press conference in Berlin, President Sepp Blatter said he had no knowledge of Nigeria players being cut from the team because of their

sexuality, while Tatjana Haenni, the head of women's competitions, has said she will speak to Uche.

"We have read the comments as well," she said.

"I think FIFA has a different point of view and clearly one is against any sort of discrimination, I think that says it all.

"We will talk to her about exactly what she said and when."

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CALABAR 2011 ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Osayomi, Metu take 200m gold as meet ends •Okagbare jumps to No. 12 on IAAF World List Sprinters,

O

L U D A M O L A Osayomi and Obinna Metu yesterday inside the main bowl of the UJ Esuene stadium in Calabar made up for their 100m gold medal loss by winning the half lap gold as the 65th All Nigeria/ Cross Rivers Athletics Championships came to a spectacular ,record breaking finish.

Osayomi, who lost the 100m gold by 100th of a second to defending champion, Blessing Okagbare despite coming into the championships as the fastest Nigerian woman so far this year at 10.99 seconds, ran 23.33 seconds to win the 200m ahead of USA-born Gloria Asunmu who ran 23.47, while Endurance Abinuwa of University of Texas in El Paso, UTEP, in the USA picked the bronze medal with 23.52. In the men's version, Metu (20.84) outran Ukoli Elvis (21.22) to win the gold. Metu was denied the opportunity of winning the 100m gold for the fourth consecutive time on the opening day of the championships by Egwero Ogho-Oghene who ran 10.34 to edge the defending also by 100th of a second.

Osayomi would later anchor the Nigeria 4x100m relay team made up of Gloria Asunmu, Blessing Okagbare, and Naomi Osazuwa to gold in the international relay races that climaxed the championships. Metu was also in the men's 4x100m team that also emerged victorious in a new season's best time.

Both Osayomi and Metu expressed happiness at their return to the podium as Nigeria champions two days after they lost the 100m gold.

“I am happy I won the

200m. I would have loved it more if Blessing (Okagbare) had run in this race”, she said and refuted claims that she lost the 100m gold because she was looking for Blessing towards the finish line.

“That is not true. I ran my race and wasn't looking at what Blessing was doing.

Anyway I have put the loss behind me and already looking forward to the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Daegu where I am the third Nigerian, nay African woman to make the 100m finals. My dream is to make the final again where winning a medal will now be the only focus”, she said and promised to retain her double sprints title at the 10th All Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique in September”.

Metu believes his best is yet to come and promised to work harder to ensure he makes an impact in Daegu and Maputo.

A new half marathon national record was set by Tokhe Christopher who ran 1:06.28 to erase the nine year old 1:10.43 record set by Umaru Mohammed in Brussels,Germany.

In some other events decided on the last day, Ajoke Odumosu made up for her loss in the 400m hurdles by claiming the 400m hurdles in a new personal season's best of 56.24. The University of South Alabama, USA graduate is the defending champion and national record holder.

Meanwhile, Beijing Olympics long jump bronze medalist, Blessing Okagbare returned to the national long jump pit to reclaim the title she voluntarily gave up last year with a national and African leading 6.78m which lifted her up to number 12 in the IAAF World top list.

We’re not aware of South Africa friendly — NFF

T

HE Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has asserted that the soccer duel between The Super Eagles and the Bafana Bafana of South Africa will only be played on the pages of newspapers as the football house was yet to be officially informed of such encounter.

The Chairman of the Technical Department of the NFF, Barrister Christopher Green made this known exclusively to NationSport in Benin while explaining that he took pain to talk about it so as to clear the air in some section of the media who have been feeding Nigerians with lies as regards the friendlies lined up for the country’s senior

From Tunde Liadi in Benin national team.

He stated that the only known friendly the team has to play was the forthcoming tie against the Black Stars of Ghana which is slated for Watford, England later in the year.

“I can confirm to you that the supposed friendly between Nigeria and Argentina is technically off. I will not like to give too many details for now. I also learnt we are playing against South Africa. They should go and play it now. We really don’t know anything about that and whoever that is fuelling that in the media should go and play it.The

friendly tie I am aware of is that of the one with Ghana and that has been confirmed and that is what I told a journalist when he called me and anything contrary to that does not emanate from the NFF.” Barr. Green stated.

The faceoff between Nigeria and Ghana has always been very fierce and the Black Stars have beaten Nigeria the last two occasions. It was 1-4 against Nigeria when they last met in London, England, while shortly after then the Super Eagles lost the Quarter final tie of the 2008 African Cup of Nations Championship to the Ghanaians.

It ended 2-1 in their favour while South Africa is yet to beat Nigeria in any competitive match before.

http://www.thenationonlineng.net

QUOTABLE “Governors must stop giving excuses and simply put necessary measures in place to implement the Minimum Wage Act in their respective states to avoid unnessary industrial mass crisis.”

SUNDAY, JUNE 26, 2011 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL. 5, NO. 1802

—NLC Vice-President, Comrade Issa Aremu, calling on governors to implement the approved N18,000 minimum wage for workers, in a statement last Friday

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HE election of Hon Aminu Tambuwal as Speaker of the House of Representatives raises two important but controversial questions. One is whether zoning is dead or dying in Nigeria’s power equation; and the other is whether it was wise for the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to have sided with Tambuwal against Hon Mulikat Adeola-Akande, the only Southwest and officially Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the post of Speaker. Zoning, whether in the PDP or any other political party, is neither dead nor dying, though the degree of adherence to it may vary from one politician to another, and from one party to another. What appears to be dying is the informal principle of rotation, particularly rotational presidency. Rotation should never be confused with zoning.

Rotation may have died in many developed countries, however, in one form or another, even in authoritarian or democratic governments, zoning still exists.

Since President Goodluck Jonathan brusquely brushed aside his party’s zoning arrangement and went on to win the presidential election in April, the North in particular has tried to sell the view that zoning is dead. And when the same president turned round during last week’s election of principal officers of the National Assembly to push the legislature to respect the party’s zoning arrangement, he was roundly condemned as a hypocrite for deploying the principle only when it suited him. The president, PDP executives and governors had, after rejigging the zoning arrangement disrupted by Jonathan’s election, backed the Southwest to pick the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives. If this effort failed, they warned ominously, the Southwest, an important component of the federation whose boisterous but often misunderstood politicking sometimes threatened the polity, could be alienated.

From 2015, except another grave threat to national stability arises, there is unlikely to be a consensus like we had in 1999 over who is qualified to stand for presidential election. The 1999 consensus arose not because the principle of rotation was widely accepted but because of the peculiar circumstances of the annulled June 12, 1993 elections. At the time, it was vaguely stated that the principle of rotation of power between the North and South would be the mechanism by which the polity would be stabilised. This was different from zoning, which was another word for federal character provided for in the constitution.

In fact, consequent upon the dynamics of April’s presidential election, it has become clear that whoever wishes to win any presidential election has to appreciate the electoral values of the zones, win three or four clearly, and split the rest.

There will be no rotation in 2015, and it will be useless for any zone, ethnic group or politician to expect to win the presidency on the basis of a consensus that even in the best of times existed only tenuously. But zoning will continue, and no party can hope to underestimate its role and significance in

Tambuwal, PDP and the Southwest

•Aminu Tambuwal

•Mulikat Adeola-Akande

our politics without hurting its chances of winning office. In addition, in spite of the best efforts of the political parties, there will always be the kind of hiccups and dislocations that led to the election of Tambuwal as Speaker. But rather than scuttle zoning entirely, they will only lead to a rejigging to restore some form of equilibrium. To the extent of this understanding of zoning and rotation, the election of Tambuwal from the Northwest, where the vice president comes from, does not threaten the polity in any significant way.

There is, however, no conceptual misunderstanding involved in the question of the wisdom or otherwise of the ACN backing Tambuwal against their own daughter. This potentially makes the issue a very testy one for the progressive party which swept the April polls in the region. This may explain why even Hon Mulikat herself has attributed her loss, in part, to betrayal. Some political and interest groups in the now seemingly marginalised zone are suggesting that the ACN would in the near future rue the option of backing an outsider against their own daughter. In the first instance, I think it is an exaggeration to suggest that Hon Mulikat, by virtue of being an indigene of the Southwest, automatically qualifies to be adopted as the preferred candidate by all, or at least the dominant, political parties in the zone. Second, notwithstanding her academic qualification and eloquence, there is nothing to prove that she has the character and ideological qualification to merit support from progressives, let alone be trusted to pursue and advance the core values and national objectives of the ACN. ACN’s support for Tambuwal was probably significant; but it was by no means indispensable. As many analysts have

posited, Tambuwal won not simply because he had support across parties but because there were other pertinent issues involved which were too strong to ignore. Hon Ajibola Muraina, the other aspirant from the Southwest keen on becoming Speaker, was seen as a stooge of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Hon Mulikat was also seen as a potential tool of the presidency. Anxious to retain their independence, and feeling insulted by any attempt to impose a Speaker on them, the legislators massively revolted and gave Tambuwal a landslide victory. It would not have mattered if the ACN gave consideration for Hon Mulikat’s ethnic origin.

The Southwest’s loss of the Speaker’s position may, however, still become a controversial and delicate matter for the ACN depending on how successfully the wounded Southwest PDP exploits it, and how inexpertly the ACN defends its unorthodox choice. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, suggested last week that his party had national rather than ethnic agenda in determining whom it supported in the House race. Consequently, he continued, ACN legislators voted for a candidate who would advance the party’s political agenda.

In any case, he deadpanned, the Southwest did not gain anything from an Obasanjo presidency and a Dimeji Bankole House of Representatives leadership.

Southwest PDP officials think Lai Mohammed’s argument is specious and an afterthought. And in a country where political sophistication, even among the Yoruba, leaves much to be desired, the ACN may be gambling with its public image, especially its oft-repeated claim to altruism. In fact newspapers favourably disposed to the PDP in the zone suggest that what pushed the ACN into the Tambuwal column is neither

The revival of Andy Uba

M

R Andy Uba spared nothing to become the representative of Anambra South senatorial district in the Nigerian Senate. He won by a comfortable margin, according to the result declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Now his political career, which had sunk under the weight of unscrupulous tactics and ruthlessly lawless affront to civilised values, is being revived. Judging by the welter of congratulatory messages in the newspapers, some of them offensively hyperbolic, the man who at a point was the sole troubler of Anambra State, is being canonised as a “dynamic leader” whose “wealth of experience in governance” will impact on his constituency and the nation.

It is of course a moot point whether Anambra South deserves Uba, in line with the popular maxim that a people deserve the government they get, but given his antecedents, particularly his contributions to the stigmatisation of Anambra during the Uba brothers’ reign of terror, it seems a paradox that they trust him to represent them in the upper legislative house in Abuja. Senator Uba is, of course, neither a doctor of medicine nor a doctor of philosophy; he had only contrived as a street-smart politician to stay long in the lower corridors of power during Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s turbulent years in office. It may therefore be safe to say that we are unlikely to have seminal or profound contributions from him in the Senate. Indeed, apart from his expertise as a backroom

wheeler-dealer in power, the best we may get from him are carefree homilies and, if he is inspired, misplaced aphorisms.

In a Freudian slip, one of the congratulatory adverts published in his favour gushed that Uba’s “exploits in the coming years will far outweigh his antecedents.”

What antecedents does the announcer have in mind – his qualifications or his troublesomeness? Anambra is doubtless not the only state to have more than a fair share of political tragicomedy, but its own drama will be doubly exciting as Uba takes his place beside Dr Chris Ngige (Anambra Central), two senators who between them brought Anambra to renown, one for erecting the unconscionable baalim of power, and the other for popular iconoclasm.

ideological altruism nor the pursuit of salient political goals but the narrow interest of defending its political gains against the feral disposition of a reinvigorated PDP. For the ACN, the more inconspicuous the PDP is, without a rallying point, the better for everyone.

Beyond what its opponents in the region say, it must also worry the party that it has found itself in the uncommonly strange and probably unhelpful position of joining forces with the scheming former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, to determine the leadership of the House. ACN’s and Babangida’s positions cannot by any stretch of the imagination be said to be coterminous, notwithstanding the impermanence of friends in politics and the permanence of interests. More than that, not only is Hon Mulikat no less ideological than Babangida, the ACN will do much more than vote for Tambuwal to convince the squirming Southwest that the new Speaker is better placed to advance the progressive party’s interest, ideologically or otherwise.

As I indicated in this place when I considered how the ACN hoped to project its opposition politics, one of the greatest and most urgent challenges before the party is selfdefinition. How does the party see itself? What values does it hope to project and be judged on? What principles would it hold very dear, for which it would neither temporize nor dissemble, nor seek for expediency to escape the gruelling sacrifices necessary to stamp the party in the hearts of the people? What is its social and democratic agenda? Does it want the zone to become a bastion of democracy where other parties can also thrive, or does it want a one-party zone?

It is possible that in supporting Tambuwal the party stuck to principles incomprehensible to the incurably romantic Southwest electorate, almost but not quite like Chief Obafemi Awolowo did in 1941 when together with others he supported Ernest Ikoli against Samuel Akinsanya (later the Odemo of Ishara) in a National Youth Movement (NYM) election to select candidate for the legislative council election of the following year. Other less noble calculations could also be involved.

I confess I am a little discomfited by some of the signals coming from ACN. Many of us have high hopes for the party, and we have turned to it after writing off the PDP. But seeing that the progressive party is an amalgam of strange bedfellows, it would require the most exacting discipline and the most intensive research and policy unit never before seen in the annals of this country for the party to live up to its billing as the main alternative to the ruling party. Does the party even have that ambition?

Amnesty for Boko Haram?

T

HERE are indications that the Federal Government might be thinking of amnesty for Boko Haram terrorists. This is not only in recognition of the role amnesty played in the pacification of the Niger Delta; it is also an acknowledgement of the government’s frustration and unpardonable incompetence in the face of crime. We must remind ourselves that Boko Haram is about religious intolerance, about arson, and about destroying government and any other institution that promotes and defends Western education. It is this extremist group with omnibus objectives that our government wants to negotiate with.

Well, while they are at it, could they also get ready to negotiate with and give amnesty to armed robbers, rapists, money launderers, road offenders, kidnappers and other criminals? Given Nigeria’s conventional wisdom, the United States should have given Osama bin Laden amnesty and negotiated with al-Qaeda.

*This piece was first published on June 12, 2011

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