June 24, 2013

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

N1b lost in SPDC pipeline closure NEWS

•JTF arrests eight suspects Page 58

Taraba governor ‘wants to return home’ NEWS

Page 4

•No green light yet from doctors

www.thenationonlineng.net

VOL. 8, NO. 2526 MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

N150.00

•Former Military President Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (fourth left), Asiwaju Tinubu (fifth left), his wife Senator Oluremi (fourth right), AVM Hamza Abdulahi (second left), Mr. Seyi Tinubu (third left), Chief Bisi Akande (third right), Gen. Halilu Akilu (second right), former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Alhaji Yayale Ahmed (behind Tinubu) and others during a visit to Tinubu’s home in Lagos to condole with him on the death of his mother Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji...yesterday SEE ALSO PAGES 10-12 PHOTO: MUYIWA HASSAN

Lessons of Tinubu’s mum’s life, by clerics T

Boko Haram: Troops to watch mountains From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

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ACED with threats from Boko Haram to overrun Borno State, the Defence Headquarters has directed the Special Force to keep an eye on Mandara, Mountains.

Gwoza and 1 Kirawa Hills are to be under surveillance.

Gwoza and Bama towns are under air and mobile patrol, The Nation learnt yesterday.

The Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ibrahim Ola Sa’ad, has sent an eight-man team to Borno State for on-the-spot assessment of the special operation and alleged fresh threats from Boko Haram.

Boko Haram, according to reports, has regrouped for reprisContinued on page 4

•Admiral Ibrahim

AFAWA Balewa Square (TBS) - the biggest host of landmark events in Lagos that is named after the first premier of the North – was throbbing yesterday with crowds.

There were many politicians, who mixed freely with dignitaries from all walks of life as well as ordinary folks.

By Leke Salaudeen and Musa Odoshimokhe

But the ceremony was no political rally; it was the eighth-day prayer for the late Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji.

The mother of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, died at 96 on June 15.

Her remains were buried the following day.

The President of Ghana, John Mahama, sent a delegation. There were Islamic scholars from Senegal.

The programme kicked off with prayers and recitation from the Qur’an by Muslim clerics.

Continued on page 4

UK plans £3,000 visa bond for Nigerians, others Govt to reject policy 26 Nigerians on death row in China, Indonesia

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•Cameron

RITAIN is planning to ask visitors from Nigeria and five other countries whose nationals are deemed to pose a “high risk” of immigration abuse to provide a 3,000 pounds (about N750,000) bond before they can enter the country.

Home Secretary Theresa May said the David Cameron administration is serious about cutting immigration and abuses of the system.

The Sunday Times said from November, a pilot scheme would target visitors from Nigeria, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Pakistan and India.

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When we are communicated, we will react appropriately. I don’t believe so. That policy will be highly discriminatory Yusuf Alli and Sanni Onogu, Abuja

Visitors aged 18 and over would be forced to hand over £3,000 ($4,600, 3,500 euros) from November for a sixmonth visit visa.

They will forfeit the money if they overstay in Britain after their visa has expired.

’

The Federal Government last night said although it had not received any communication to that effect, such a policy, if implemented, would be discriminatory.

Foreign Affairs Minister Olugbenga Ashiru said: “We have not received any communication from the British Government on this policy. I cannot

comment on it now.

“When we are communicated, we will react appropriately. I don’t believe so. That policy will be highly discriminatory. “ Initially, the scheme will target hundreds of visitors, but the plan is to extend it to several thousands, according to the broadsheet’s front-page report.

The populist United Kingdom Independence Party has been encroaching on the Conservatives’ traditional core vote in recent months.

Continued on page 4

•MANDELA IN CRITICAL CONDITION P60•NIMASA SERVES ORDER ON NLNG P5

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

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NEWS

Aviation’s •Chairman, Transcorp Plc Tony Elumelu (second right); President/CEO Obinna Ufudo (second left), Company Secretary Chinedu Eze (right) and Director, Olorogun O'tega Emerhor, during the company’s 7th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Abuja... on Friday.

To the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), justice is being done in the aviation sector. But those at the receiving end of the deals gone awry disagree.

Many deals with concessionaires are opaque.

OLUKOREDE YISHAU sheds light on the manoeuvrings in the industry.

T •From left: Media Consultant, Panasonic Nigeria Mr. John Woma (left), promoter, Oanaseru Nigeria Limited Mr. Suraj Rupani, Head, Marketing Team, Middle East and Africa, Air Conditioner Group Mr. Hiro Hiyama and Sales Manager, Africa Region West, Mr. Kota Mochizuki at the launch of ecovavi-Built-in Automatic Voltage Switcher Air-conditioners in Lagos.

PHOTO: BOLA OMILABU

•From left: Chief Inspector, Sterling Bank Plc Mr. Abiodun Aderoju (left), Chief Inspector, Stanbic, IBTC Bank Plc Alhaji Abass Alhassan and Executive Director, Operation, Bank of Industry (BoI) Alhaji Muhammed Alkali at the 24th Quarterly PHOTO: BOLA OMILABU General Meeting of the Comittee of Chief Inspectors of Banks in Nigeria in Lagos.

• From left: Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation Kayode Opeifa, founder and Chief Consultant, PTOE UK Limited Mr. Scidhar Utarra and Transport Engineer/ Lecturer, Mr. Arthur Daniliantis, at the closing ceremony of a one-week workshop on Traffic Signalisation, Synchronisation on Road Safety and Hi-Tech Traffic Management Systems by the Lagos State Ministry of Transport in Lagos... at the weekend.

HEY started as good deals.

The government felt it should limit its involvement in infrastructural development and management. It looked around for men and firms with fat purses. Deals were signed. Parties appeared happy.

But following a change of government, the music changed. The dancesteps changed too. In the long run, arbitration panels and the courts were thrown into the mix.

This is the tale of some of the concessions in the aviation sector entered into by past governments, which, to the reigning federal administration, were anything but transparent. The legal tussles are revealing the deals entered into on behalf of Nigerians in ‘secret’ places, with little details known to the public.

What the tussles have exposed are not pretty. What is ahead as the court battles continue may even be worse.

Any moment from now, the Court of Appeal will hear the case filed three days ago by AIC Limited, which is owned by former presidential aspirant and business mogul Chief Harry Akande. This battle has been on for years.

The case centres around a parcel of land awarded to AIC during the despotic regime of the late Gen. Sani Abacha, whose administration’s transparency and accountability records are still being questioned years after his death.

The controversial deal was sealed on February 17, 1998. AIC won a 50year concession to build a hotel on 11.654 hectares of land at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.

The late Gen. Abacha died before AIC could start work on the site.

When former President Olusegun Obasanjo took over, his administration reviewed many of the late dictator’s deals. It found a lot of discrepancies. This affected the AIC deal. The concession was cancelled, compelling FAAN in May 2002 to write AIC/Hilton to vacate the land citing irregularities in the concession process and concerns about the proposed height of the hotel.

FAAN added that the land allocated for the project was meant for the expansion of the international terminal and apron, under the airport’s master plan.

AIC, in a court document, said it was about starting construction

•A rowdy scene at the disputed land last January

when FAAN asked it out of the land.

It said: “AIC Limited was put in possession and was on the verge of commencing construction work when the plaintiff (FAAN) threatened to terminate the lease and take possession of the land.”

It added that the development led to a case, in which Justice Regina Nwodo of the Federal High Court granted an injunction on February 18, 2002 restraining FAAN from disturbing AIC on the land pending the reference of the dispute to an arbitrator for determination.

Since then, it has been in and out of the arbitration tribunal and the courts. On January 13, hell almost broke out on the land. FAAN said AIC attempted to take possession of the land. The company denied the allegation. statement by FAAN reads: “On January 13, 2013, AIC Limited, in an unprecedented act of brigandage by a private investor on government property, forcefully took possession of part of MMA’s land with the help of armed policemen and hired thugs thereby causing a security breach at the airport. Again on January 24, 2013 thugs hired by the company physically assaulted top officials of FAAN who went to inspect the site of the incident of January 14, causing bodily harm to some of them.”

AIC’s case at the Court of Appeal follows a June 19 judgment of the Federal High Court in Lagos favouring FAAN. The AIC filed two different cases at the Federal High Court on the dispute. FAAN filed one at the same court, following the decision of the arbitral tribunal headed by the late Justice Kayode Eso asking FAAN to pay $48, 124, 000 as damages to AIC on June 1, 2010.

Justice Ibrahim Buba held that the arbitral tribunal went outside its jurisdiction in rendering the final award between the parties on June 1, 2010.

He set aside the decision.

FAAN’s General Manager, Corporate Communications Yakubu Dati said: “By this judgment, the parcel of land in question has become free for massive infrastructural development at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, under the aerotropolis project, including an ultramodern hotel complex, a multi-storey car park and other related projects, designed to expand fa-

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THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

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NEWS

‘good’ deals gone bad

•Akande

cilities at the airport.”

But AIC said FAAN misinterpreted the judgment. Son of the firm’s promoter, Niyi Akande, said the Federal High Court ruling did not return the land to FAAN but only set aside the award of the Arbitration Court.

Akande, who is AIC’s General Manager, Administration and Business Development, said at the weekend: “We are at the Appeal Court right now to file an appeal against the ruling and to seek an injunction restraining FAAN from taking any action on our land.”

So, the battle is far from over.

FAAN is also battling Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL).

Incidentally, the deal responsible for this battle was entered into by the Obasanjo administration, which cancelled the AIC deal.

Last week, FAAN pulled down billboards on a contentious hotel project being handled by BiCourtney. There is also a dispute over the General Aviation Terminal (GAT), which Bi-Courtney said should belong to it by virtue of its contract on the MM2 Airport.

On Saturday, FAAN and BiCourtney accused each other of employing thugs to perpetrate illegality in and around the Ikeja Airport.

Dati said said: “We woke up this Saturday (two days ago) to discover that our property has been invaded by hoodlums, who decided to mount billboards.

“Thugs and hoodlums hired by BiCourtney Aviation Services Limited, operators of the MMA Domestic Terminal 2 (MMA 2) concession, caused a brief breach of the peace around the terminal when they forcefully replaced the advertisement flex removed by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria.

“That is why we mobilised to recover the property and sanitise the whole environment. As you can see now, we have cleaned up the whole place and sanity has been restored.

Only two weeks ago, we ordered that nobody should place any advertisement around the airport until, such persons clear with FAAN, the manager of the entire airport. We would not allow this, and security agencies will wake up and do the needful.

How can a tenant claim to be more powerful than the landlord, this is unacceptable.”

•Uriesi

‘

By this judgment, the parcel of land in question has become free for massive infrastructural development at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, under the aerotropolis project, including an ultramodern hotel complex, a multi-storey car park and other related projects, designed to expand facilities at the airport

Bi-Courtney denied the allegation of engaging thugs, saying it was FAAN that engaged 60 thugs to assault workers of the aviation services company.

TS spokesperson Steve Omolale-Ajulo said: “For the second time in two weeks, officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) vandalised the advert billboards placed by BiCourtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL) on the hotel project at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA2) on Saturday.

“Besides, the agency’s officials with about 60 hired thugs invaded the premises of MMA2, where they assaulted the workers, damaged a video camera and seized many handsets belonging to the workers.

“They swooped on the billboard barely 15 minutes after it was reinstalled and vandalised it before taking it away in a van.

“They had earlier vandalised the same advert billboards on the hotel project and another on the pedestrian bridge on Thursday, June 6, this year, despite a subsisting court order by Justice Stephen Adah of the Federal High Court, Ikeja Division, given on November 15, 2011.

“But on Saturday, the FAAN officials stormed the site of the hotel project in several vans, buses and a fire truck and once again pulled down the billboards, causing heavy traffic jam on Airport Road.

“Angry that the action was being recorded on video camera and mobile phones, FAAN’s officials and their hired thugs pursued BASL’s workers they suspected were doing so into the premises of MMA2 and

I

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beat them up while attempting to seize their cameras and phones.

“In the process, many of our workers were seriously injured, while a video camera belonging to BASL’s Communications Department was seized from the cameraman, damaged and taken away on the excuse that he was recording the vandalism of the billboards.

“They moved from the gate to the Cargo Shed of MMA2, where they assaulted many of the workers, who trooped out to witness FAAN’s show of shame, injuring them in the process.”

This latest dispute is an off-shoot of Bi-Courtney and FAAN’s disagreement on the MMA2 Four-Star Hotel and Conference Centre leasehold.

FAAN revoked the firm’s leasehold interest on the Hotel and Conference Centre at the airport, a decision the firm is challenging in court.

Dati said Bi-Courtney was fond of obtaining arbitrary injunctions against its opponents. He accused the firm of obtaining injunctions without the presence of FAAN’s legal representatives. He added that the property under construction now belongs to FAAN as the former did not keep to the agreement on the project.

On the forceful removal of the billboards, Dati said: “The exercise to remove all illegal advertisements at all airports was informed by the fact that the companies that have advert concession with FAAN have all refused to honour the terms of agreement for the concession, and in defiance, have continued to collect money from third party companies for advert placement without paying FAAN its

due. The exercise will continue nationwide, to plug any such loophole in the revenue generation and collection of FAAN, to help in truly making the Authority more self-sustaining.”

Head of Litigation of Bi-Courtney Limited, Tola Oshobi, however, said: “I want to say that we do need any permission from FAAN to place billboards. The matter has already been settled by Justice Stephen Jonah Adah of the Federal High Court, Ikeja Division, in November 2011. By virtue of the concession agreement we have with FAAN and the lease agreement on the hotel project, we do not require any permission from the agency or any other government agency to place adverts on both the bridge and our ongoing hotel/conference centre projects. Justice Adah had granted the relief we sought in the suit we instituted against FAAN and its Managing Director in the Federal High Court.

“Therefore, it is uncharitable for FAAN to group our advert billboards as one of the illegal billboards in the airport environment and consequently vandalise it. It is the highest degree of lawlessness by a government agency to bring heavily armed policemen while vandalising our billboards despite a court order; without any prior notice.”

Another concessionaire which fell out of favour with FAAN is Maevis Nigeria. The firm entered into a concessionary agreement with FAAN on October 31, 2007 for the supply of Airport Operations Management System (AOMS) to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, Mallam Aminu Kano Airport and the Port Harcourt Airport.

HE contract was to last for 10 years and renewable every five years subject to satisfactory performance.

Five years into the agreement on February 24, 2011, FAAN terminated the agreement, saying it had lost N17 billion due to Maevis’ alleged incompetence and replaced the firm with Societe International Telecommunication Aeronautiques (SITA).

SITA, an international communications and IT company which specialises in providing data information and airport operations management systems (AOMS) for both

airlines and airports in several countries worldwide, operates in some other African airports in Cairo, Addis Ababa, Cape Town, Nairobi and Morocco.

Maevis sought refuge in the court, where it accused FAAN of forcefully chasing its men out of the airports. It said it had committed over N5 billion into the project. Justice Buba last Monday asked SITA to pay Maevis N5 billion. He also invalidated SITA’s contract with FAAN. A source told The Nation that the end of this battle is not in sight, as FAAN is determined to ensure Maevis, which it believes is incompetent, does not return to the airport.

Another legal tussle is in the offing, the source hinted.

FAAN said its battles are in national interest, adding that individual’s or a firm’s interest should not be allowed to take priority over the country’s future. It said except Maevis, Bi-Courtney and AIC, whose concession processes were not transparent, other concessionaires enjoy cordial relationship with the agency.

FAAN is not complaining about other concessionaires such as Emanpop Limited, Things Remembered, ASL, Blue Lodge, NAHCO, SAHCOL, Gabfon, Double 4, Caverton, OAS, Evergreen, Dominion and Executive Jets.

New concessionaires are also being wooed. FAAN’s Managing Director George Uriesi said the authority planned to build an Independent Power (IPP) plant to generate electricity for Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.

Uriesi said the project would be financed under a public-private partnership arrangement. The plant, he said, would be powered by gas, adding that it would assist in addressing the shortfall in electricity supply to the airport.

Some Chinese investors, he said, would soon start constructing new international terminals in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano.

Uriesi said FAAN had worked out a new template to attract private investors into the aviation sector.

“We have also convinced the Federal Government on how the investments will be funded within six months of signing any concession agreement,’’ he said.

He said standard facilities would be provided at airports across the country to enable them improve their service and meet international standard.

For the disputed concessions, the judiciary, which FAAN says it believes in, will have the final stay.

When that will be is better left to the Bench.

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•Bi-Courtney chair Dr. Wale Babalakin

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THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

NEWS I want to go home, ailing Taraba governor tells doctors

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•Suntai (second right) with (from right) Mr. Mark Useni, Mr. Peter Abel Diah and Mr. Rebo Usman in New York, United States...last week

Lessons of Tinubu’s mum’s life, by clerics Who is who at the event

Continued from page 1

In his lecture, the Executive Secretary of the Muslim Ummah of Southwest of Nigeria (MUSWEN), Prof. Daud Noibi, reminded the audience that the purpose of Allah in creating us is to serve Him. It is only when we have obeyed Allah’s injunction that we can be rewarded in the hereafter.

Noibi described life as a dream.” It is when we die that we wake up from our dream.

When we wake up we regret failing to do what we were supposed to do,” he said.

He observed that human beings attached so much importance to pleasure of this life whereas Allah has promised better comfort for the righteous in the hereafter.

Noibi advised political leaders to ensure that education of our children is rooted in fear of Allah, saying the fear of Allah is the beginning of wisdom.

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IGNITARIES at the occasion include Ghana President John Dramani Mahama represented by former Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr. Dan Abodakpi; General Shawad AbdurRahman and wife from Liberia; Alafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi; Onimoru of ImoruIjebu Oba Muniru Bashorun; Olu of Afowowa Oba Olatunji Hamzat; Grandson of Shiekh Cisse, Sheikh Bayi from Senegal; Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) National Chairman Chief Bisi Akande; Governors of Lagos Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola; Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (Osun); Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo) Comrade Adams Oshiomhole (Edo); Governor Rochas Okorocha (Imo); Senator Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun); former Governors of Ogun Aremo Olusegun Osoba; Achike Udenwa (Imo); Prince Audu Abubakar (Kogi); Chief John Odigie-Oyegun (Edo); Otunba Niyi Adebayo (Ekiti); Obong Victor Attah (Akwa Ibom); Alhaji Lateef Jakande (Lagos); Senator Chris Ngige (Anambra); Chief Demola Seriki; Senator Hassan Fasinro; Lagos State Deputy

He described the late Alhaja Mogaji as a religious woman who brought up her children by inculcating Islamic virtues in them.

Sheikh Habeeb Abdullahi,

Governor Mrs Adejoke Orelope; her Osun and Ekiti states counterparts Mrs Grace LaoyeTomori and Prof Modupe Adelabu; wives of Governors – Alhaja Sherifat Aregbesola and Mrs Florence Ajimobi; former Judge of World Court Justice Bola Ajibola; former Punch Chairman Chief Ajibola Ogunsola; an essayist Prof Adebayo Williams; Chairman, Dangote Group of Companies Alhaji Aliko Dangote; Mallam Lawan Shuaibu; Chief Tom Ikimi; General Alani Akinrinade; former Head of Service of the Federation Alhaji Yayale Ahmed; Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Ondo State Governorship candidate Mr Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN); wife of former Cross River Governor Mrs Onari Duke; Lawal Keita; ACN National Legal Adviser Dr Muiz Banire; ACN chieftain Chief Audu Ogbeh; ACN National Publicity Secretary Alhaji Lai Muhammed; former Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commi Mallam

Principal of Morcas Arabic Institute, Lagos, said a good believer is someone who is good in character, good to his fellow human beings and who always prepares for death.

Continued on page 60

He said: “There is nothing in this life. Accumulation of wealth is misleading many of us. All this earthly materials will not lead us anywhere.

Continued on page 60

Boko Haram: Troops to watch mountains

Continued from page 1

als against the Special Force and Multi-National Task Force(MNTF), which destabilised the sect’s base in 10 local government areas.

The regrouping of the sect members led to the killing of more than 16 people in the last one week in Borno and Yobe states. Eight teachers and stu-

dents in a boarding secondary school in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital.

The Defence Headquarters, which is monitoring the resurgence of the sect, is said to have dispatched an eight-man team to Borno for stock-taking.

Boko Haram fighters have been driven away from Northern Borno, but military chief have got intelligence reports that

they may regroup. “We are not taking things for granted,” a source said, adding: “What they are trying to do is to shift base to Gwoza in Southern Borno(a district, with less exposure to insurgency) and Bama in Borno Central District. We are trying to curtail the insurgents in these two towns.

I think there is no cause for alarm because the Special Force

has regained most parts of the trouble spots in Borno.

“What the insurgents are doing now is to relocate to towns with difficult terrain but we are up to the task.”

A brief on Borno State’s website gave an insight into the new base of the insurgents on Mandara mountains.

The brief says: “The Mandara Continued on page 60

FTER about eight months in German and United States hospitals, ailing Taraba State Governor Danbaba Danfulani Suntai, is eager to return home.

The governor, who survived an air crash in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, last October – he was the pilot - has told his doctors to allow him return home, Taraba State officials who visited him said yesterday.

They spoke to our reporter in Jalingo.

Suntai sustained multiple injuries, and was initially flown to Germany from where he was taken to the United States.

The officials, however, added that doctors, particularly the physiotherapist handling Suntai, advised that it would be unwise to fly him back now.

They urged him to stay a little more and get “full recovery” before returning to continue with his job.

They also reportedly advised against receiving too many visitors who are also warned against discussing politics with him.

It was gathered that contrary to claims, the ailing governor was never taken to the John Hopkins University Hospital in the United States. Suntai has been receiving physiotherapy/ treatment at a clinic residence in New York since leaving the German Hospital in Hannover in March.

From Fanen Ihyongo, Jalingo

The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of Taraba State Specialist Hospital, who is also the governor’s physician, Prof.

Zakari Yusuf Aliyu, had suggested that Suntai be evacuated from the German hospital to the U.S.’ John Hopkins because, according to him, it has better medical gadgets to treat the governor’s ailments.

Aliyu said Suntai was suffering from “spinal cord persistent” and “closed head injury” which made him have “expressive and receptive alphasia”.

A member of the Taraba State House of Assembly and a friend to the Suntai family, Hon. Mark Useni, told The Nation that Suntai had recovered and was looking good when he was with him a few days ago.

“The governor has recovered and even said he is tired of the environment there. His return is only being delayed on the advice of his doctors,” Useni said.

Useni, along with a former Deputy Speaker of the Taraba Assembly, Hon. Abel Peter Diah, and the Commissioner for Water Resources, Mr. Rebo

Usman, who visited the ailing governor in New York, returned at the weekend.

On whether the governor could walk, read and talk, Useni said: “I cannot lie to you. We spent a long time with the governor, Continued on page 60

Britain plans £3,000 visa bond for Nigerians, others Continued from page 1

Cameron wants annual net migration down below 100,000 by 2015.

“This is the next step in making sure our immigration system is more selective, bringing down net migration from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands while still welcoming the brightest and the best to Britain,” May was quoted as saying.

“In the long run, we’re interested in a system of bonds that deters overstaying and recovers costs if a foreign national has used our public services.”

A Home Office official said the six countries highlighted were those with “the most significant risk of abuse”.

Critics have warned that the move could backfire, with other governments retaliating and asking British visitors to pay

bonds before they are allowed into their countries.

They also say it would be impractical because it would require a new bureaucracy to enforce it.

Twenty-six Nigerian convicts are on death row in China and Indonesia and may be executed soon.

Deputy Chief of Mission in the Nigerian Embassy in China, Ambassador Patrick Olusola Onadipe, told reporters in Beijing that 366 Nigerians are in Chinese jails, mostly for drug trafficking.

Of the 366 in jail in China alone, Onadipe said 120 of them are awaiting trial.

The envoy said four of those sentenced to death are in China while the remaining 22 are in Indonesia.

According to him, those on death row were convicted mostly for drug trafficking.

Onadipe said: “It is those who are bringing drugs that are really in the majority, and the trend is worrisome.

“We have four Nigerians on death row in China. In Indonesia, there are 22 on death row.

So, it is really a trend that needs to be looked into.”

Onadipe said the embassy is coping with traffic from Nigeria to China.

He added: “But I hope we will not be overwhelmed because a lot of Nigerians coming here have no business here, if I have to be very frank. This is because when they come they are misinformed.

“A lot of them probably think they will get jobs here. But Continued on page 60

ADVERT HOTLINES: 08023006969, 08052592524 NEWSROOM: LAGOS – 01-8962807, ABUJA – 07028105302 COMPLAINTS: 01-8930678

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

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NEWS Lagos ACN slams PDP, Presidency over NGF crisis

Jega to unveil INEC’s 2015 plan Wednesday T HE Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, will on Wednesday unveil the commission’s Strategic Plan for 2015 elections and other programmes.

As a prelude to the presentation, a retreat was held for top directors and administrative secretaries of the commission at the weekend in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital. It was a closed-door session where the commission’s strategic plans on 2015 polls and other issues were ratified.

It was learnt that political parties and civil society organisations were allowed to make input into the plan.

According to findings, the Strategic Plan is expected to cov-

From Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

er 2012 to 2016.

A source, who spoke in confidence, said: “INEC chairman will on Wednesday unveil the Strategic Plan through a public presentation. Before INEC arrived at the final copy, the draft was made available to critical stakeholders.

“The Uyo meeting was called to keep all directors and administrative secretaries abreast of the final copy of the Strategic Plan.

“In the plan, which will run from 2012 to 2016, the 2015 elections fall within that cycle. As the implementers of the plan,

the retreat was also organised for the directors and administrative secretaries to enable them know the expectations of INEC management and how they can come up with ‘doable actions’.

“The objectives of the Strategic Plan are to put a sound management in place, conduct credible and unassailable elections in 2015 and make INEC the best Electoral Management Body (EMB) in Africa.

“With the plan, we hope INEC will be on a sound footing to organise free and fair elections. We decided to roll over the policy over an election cycle to 2016 to prove that the vi-

sion of the present management is to have a sustainable EMB for the nation.”

The Chief Press Secretary to INEC chairman Mr Kayode Idowu confirmed the development to The Nation.

He said: “All relevant stakeholders, such as the National Assembly and civil society organisations (CSOs), have made input into the Strategic Plan.

“The target is to achieve the vision of the commission to become the best EMB in Africa.”

Although the Strategic Plan was kept under wraps at press time, Prof Jega had hinted of the contents when he received a delegation of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems in 2012 with 2015 poll as a priority.

Jega said: “We are picking

T •Jega

up for 2015. We have done a strategic plan as well as the reorganisation as we move towards the general elections in 2015.

Hopefully, by the first week of December, we will have a stakeholders’ meeting to validate the strategic plan. This is because we are looking forward to being the best in Africa.”

Don seeks 20-year break on new states •From left: Project Manager, Qlichy.com, Tosin Adefeko; Brand Ambassador, Qlichy.com, Funke Akindele-Oloyede; and Marketing Partner, Qlichy.com, Bayo Idowu, at the unveiling of Funke Akindele-Oloyede as Qlichy.com Brand Ambassador in Lagos... at the weekend

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie and Sampson Unamka

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PROFESSOR of African History, Prof Rufus Taiwo Akinyele, has recommended a 20-year moratorium on state creation to enable Nigerians live in harmony.

Akinyele made the recommendation in his inaugural lecture at the University of Lagos (UNILAG).

He noted that proper implementation of the Federal Character principle, power sharing, purposeful leadership and prayers would assuage the misgivings of minority groups.

Speaking on the topic: Lines and Space in Human Affairs: Minorities and Marginals,” Prof Akinyele, who is of the Department of History and Strategic Studies of the university, said the agitation for creation of states, based on ethnic differences, started in the early 1900s.

He said the creation of more states has not solved the problems of minority groups.

On the contrary, the don said it has only increased it with the late Head of State, Gen. Sanni Abacha, who added six to Nigeria’s 30 in 1996 from 55 requests.

Prof Akinyele noted that based on research findings on such agitations over the years, the creation of more states would only waste the nation’s resources and satisfy some people’s yearnings for power and positions.

According to him, the yearnings for more states will worsen inter-state boundary disputes.

$20m debt: NIMASA serves detention order on NLNG vessels

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HE Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) yesterday served a detention notice on all vessels belonging to the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) vessels following alleged refusal of the NLNG to pay a $20 million debt.

But the NLNG management described NIMASA’s action as a flagrant disregard of an injunction of a Federal High Court in Lagos on June 18.

The NLNG said it had paid the controversial $20 million debt into a dedicated account of NIMASA while it is seeking judicial clarity.

Astatement in Abuja by NIMASA’s Deputy Director/Head, Public Relations, Mr. Isichei Osamgbi, said the agency took the action following an alleged refusal of the NLNG to abide by the outcome of a negotiated settlement between the two parties.

The statement said: “NIMASA has, in its enforcement of Nigerian laws, served detention notices/orders on vessels belonging to/chartered by the NLNG. “This course of action was forced on NIMASA by the NLNG’s subsequent refusal or/and failure to abide by the outcome of the negotiated settlement arrived at through the mediation process it willingly instigated and subscribed to, after reaching an agreement with NIMASA on its outstanding debt and paying US$20 million from it and its continued flagrant disregard for Nigerian laws.

“Contrary to NLNG’s position, NIMASA is not aware of any court order against it or any suit brought by NLNG against NIMASA.

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

“By its action, the NLNG has trivialised the mediation process and the position of the Federal Government of Nigeria, whose Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) owns and holds 49 per cent of the shares in NLNG and which endorsed the agreement that NLNG should pay its taxes/levies and observe all its obligations under the laws of Nigeria in which it is operating.”

There were indications last night that the NIMASA management decided to detain NLNG vessels after consultations with the Presidency.

NIMASA’s Director-General, Mr. Ziakede Akpobolokemi, yesterday joined President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja on a trip to Cameroon.

A source added: “The government is determined to pursue the NIMASA/NLNG case to its logical conclusion through the courts. The outcome of government’s mediation effort, which was deemed to be not more than a slap on NLNG’s wrist, was spurned by the NLNG. “The NNPC, which represents Nigeria on the board of the NLNG, said at the weekend that it was unaware of any board meeting where the decision to go to court and challenge the mediation ruling.

“As things stand, the NLNG has not sued NIMASA because of a provision in NIMASA’s law that requires anyone suing the agency to give a 30-day notice.”

But the NLNG in a statement through its General Manager, External Relations, Kudo Eresia-Eke, faulted NIMASA’s action.

ACF: Clark dividing Nigeria with ethnic, religious sentiments

From Tony Akowe, Kaduna

•Clark

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THE Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) yesterday denied urging northern voters not to vote for other candidates except those from the region in the 2015 general elections.

The forum said it was against what it called the seem-

ing ethnic and religious sentiments of Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, which could divide the nation.

In a statement yesterday by its spokesman, Anthony Sani, ACF said it has always made it clear that it does not encourage politics of religion and ethnocentrism.

The forum explained that North’s candidates are free to solicit for votes from any part of the country.

ACF also said it is against starting the campaigns for the 2015 elections now because it might derail the government.

According to the forum, this is the same position of Presi-

dent Goodluck Jonathan and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The forum’s Chairman, Alhaji Aliko Mohammed, reportedly said northerners would only vote for candidates from the region in the 2015 polls.

The statement said: “I know the chairman as a patriot, a nationalist and a democrat. He would not say or do anything that can cause havoc to the unity, stability, harmony and peace of Nigeria.

“He knows that a president who is elected by only a section of the country cannot reasona-

bly be expected to bring Nigerians together and help them live up their synergistic potential. That is to say, a president cannot preside over a divided people and expects to succeed.

“This explains why our chairman has encouraged exchanges of visits among sister organisations and fora across the nation, in furtherance of the spirit of dialogue, which is needed to dispel misconceptions and break barriers and build bridges to enhance the unity and stability of not only the North but also the whole country. This is because the

strength and unity of the country come with trust and confidence as well as with a social contract.

“Therefore, it would be uncharitable for anybody to interpret the remarks by the chairman to mean all northern voters must vote for only northern candidates, and all southern voters must vote only southern candidates in 2015.

“This is because the chairman is in the know of the trite that such approach to politics can divide the country along regional lines, which contradicts what he stands for and promote: a united, strong Nigeria that is socially diverse, economically empowered and politically active...”

HE Lagos State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has lambasted the Presidency and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for allegedly sowing and sustaining the crisis in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF).

The party said the PDP and the Presidency under Dr Goodluck Jonathan, are creating doubts on the minds of Nigerians on their faith in democracy, by their “noxious actions”.

It noted that they have “leveraged this to gain undue advantage over Nigerians since 1999”.

In a statement by its Publicity Secretary Joe Igbokwe, ACN noted that the PDP and the Presidency created the crisis in the NGF. The party said the audacious manner they are going to sustain this crisis “...are enough to warn Nigerians that those that benefitted greatly from our fight against militarism are not ready to depart from the paths of illegality and unconstitutionality”.

It said: “By now, Nigerians are all aware of the undue interest shown by the PDP and the Presidency to annex the NGF for their selfserving purposes before the NGF election. Such desperation found meaning in the orchestrated campaign of calumny the Presidency and the PDP launched against the Chairman of NGF, Rivers State Governor Chibuike Amaechi, over the unfounded speculation that he was eyeing the Vice Presidency.

“Further signs of this inordinate desire to conquer and annex the NGF were the hasty formation of a PDP Governors’ Forum, threats against governors suspected not to harbour positive interest of the PDP and the Presidency’s agenda, deployment of carrot to woo governors to support the takeover of the NGF, among other means...”

‘PDP’ll follow electoral law, constitution in 2015’ From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

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HE former Acting National Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Abubakar Baraje, at the weekend said the party would adhere to the electoral law and the party’s constitution in the choice of its 2015 presidential candidate.

PDP’s Board of Trustees (BOT) Chairman Chief Tony Anenih had called for an automatic ticket for President Goodluck Jonathan for the 2015 presidential poll. But Baraje addressed reporters in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, after the graduation of pupils of Baraje Centre for Arabic and Islamic Studies.

He said: “...We are in a democratic country and the name of the party is Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). People are entitled to their opinions, aren’t they? So, people are only expressing their views. But like I said, the constitution of the party is also very clear in this area.

It’s not only the constitution of the party, but the electoral law is also very clear about what to do to come up with their candidates.”

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

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NEWS CJN to address world judges’ conference From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

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HE Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mariam Aloma Mukhtar, is among the distinguished judges selected to address this year’s World Association of Jurists’ (WAJ) conference.

The event, scheduled between today and Thursday, holds in Jerusalem and TelAviv, Israel.

Speakers are invited to share their knowledge and expertise in global economy and the rule of law.

The conference will be attended by chief justices, judges, attorneys, law professors, government officials and other legal professionals.

Media aide to the CJN, Ahuraka Yusuf Isah, said Justice Mukhtar, who at the weekend, left an official function in Pretoria, South Africa, for Israel, was accompanied by Justice Walter Onnoghen and the Chief Registrar, Supreme Court, Sunday Olorundahunsi.

The WJA was formed in 1963, in response to an international outcry for a free and open forum where judges, lawyers, law professors and other professionals from around the world can work to raise public support for the institutions that govern and enforce the administration of international law.

As a non-government organisation (NGO), with special consultative status at the United Nations Economic and Social Council, WAJ aims at promoting the rule of law as the path towards world peace or a “world ruled by law, not force.”

Commissioner decries erection of cables in drainage

1,500 refugees fled to Cameroon, says Envoy T HE Nigerian Ambassador to Cameroon, Amb. Hadiza Mustapha, has said 1,500 refugees have fled from Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states to the northern part of Cameroon, following the state of emergency declared by President Goodluck Jonathan last month.

Speaking with reporters in her office in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, she denied media reports that the refugees were over 3,000.

According to her, 1,500 as confirmed by the UN Refugee Commission and the Cameroonian authorities is the correct figure.

Amb. Mustapha said the cooperation between both countries has checked the activities of Boko Haram insurgents and that the Cameroonian government has granted the refugees unlimited stay until the situation normalises in their states.

Said she: “What I have seen in the media is over 3,000 refugees in the northern part of

Cameroon. But when we asked the authorities there, we were told they are 1,500 and the UN Refugee Commission is taking care of them.

“What is also good, which is an indication of a good relationship, is that unlike in some countries that they will give the refugees just a few days or weeks or months to leave their territories, once there is normalisation in those areas, because these are people, who have come in as a result of the operations going on, the authorities have told us that our compatriots are here, the UN system is looking after them, and they have not given us a deadline to get them back to Nigeria.

“We will visit the North after this summit and also get in touch with the Nigerian authorities handling the mat-

ter. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is in touch with us and we have given it this information. So the situation is under control.

“There is a saying that you cannot choose your neighbours, but you share the good and bad with them.”

Amb. Mustapha went on: “They have also given us a lot of support. Sometimes we have even had exchange of suspected persons. As you rightly noted, this is possible because of the peace that exists between us.

“A lot of things are possible because both countries’ security agencies are co-operating. In fact, they have exchanged a lot of visits and meetings. We have to firm up the cooperation by going beyond just Nigeria and Cameroon and making it multi-lateral because as you know, there is also Chad Republic.

Nigeria about to exit polio, says NPHCDA boss

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ESPITE the recent report of polio cases in the country, the Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Ado Mohammed, has said Nigeria is about eliminating polio.

Twenty-five polio cases have been reported in Yobe and Borno states since January this year. A situation, which has been attributed to the security situation in both states.

But Dr. Mohammed, who spoke at the weekend in Abuja, at a send-off for the pioneer photographer and cameraman of the agency,

From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

Mr. Niyi Ayegboyin, noted that case counts had reduced by over 50 per cent, adding that only Type One, which was mild, had been circulating, while Type Two and Three, which were more dangerous, had not been circulating in the last six months in the country.

He said: “Let me correct the misconception. In the last seven months, we have had 25 cases. When you compare this to where we were last year, and with the statement by the Independent Monitoring Board, the Federal Government has

been hailed for its efforts and leadership. Government has reduced polio spread by 50 per cent.

“In the opening statement of the board, it was said that at no point in time has so much been achieved and they have commended the task force. Most cases this year are coming; almost 70 per cent of the cases, from Yobe and Borno states as a result of insecurity.”

Dr. Mohammed stressed that government was working towards ensuring that the country was rid of the disease.

The Executive Director, NPHCDA, added: “Type

One is within 15 local governments of the 774 councils. Population immunity has improved from 55 per cent to over 85 per cent in the endemic areas. So, we are about exiting polio.

With the current leadership the task force is providing, and with the programme coordination that Nigeria has imbibed, it will stop the transmission. World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have acknowledged that. Other partners in terms of this movement have also acknowledged that fact.”

NNPC pledges to manage acquired Shell assets tions are domiciled.

He said by partnering the

By Miriam Ekene-Okoro

L

AGOS State Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, at the weekend decried the indiscriminate laying of cables in drainage channels in Apapa.

Bello, who frowned at the trend during an inspection tour of drainage channels in the Apapa axis to ascertain the level of construction, dredging and clearing work, said the development was obstructing free flow of storm water, thereby resulting in hardship for the residents.

He urged owners of such cables to remove them within 24 hours, failure which government would carry out the removal.

Bello said the state government is determined to improve on its de-flooding record of previous years when Lagos was hailed by NIMET for ensuring a flood-free state.

He said government would ensure that the residents were safe during and after the rainy season.

From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

“There is a border between Nigeria and Chad and between Cameroon and Chad.

Secondly, we have signed a trans-border security agreement with Cameroon. This is a very good document. It is a good achievement because in that document we have agreed to exchange information, do joint operation and help each other to deport suspected criminals.

“It is not for terrorism alone, it is for other trans-national or trans-border criminal activities. This has also contributed to a lot of economic and political relations.”

According to her, four million Nigerians living in Cameroon are well- behaved, hard working, law- abiding and contributing to the advancement of the nation’s economy.

On the reported harassment of Nigerians by the Cameroon gendarmes, Amb. Mustapha said while this was true in the past, there has been

From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

•Mrs. Alison-Madueke

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HE Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiary, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), have expressed readiness to run some of the assets and oil mining leases transferred to them by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, an engineer,

said this at the weekend after the board meeting of the NNPC/NPDC in Warri, Delta State.

NNPC’s Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Tumini Green, spoke in a statement yesterday.

She quoted Mr. Yakubu as saying that the corporation with its flagship company, NPDC, is repositioning to ensure that its acquired assets remain productive to boost the revenue inflow to the Nigerian economy.

“With the divestment of Shell, NPDC is the top and only option for indigenous participation that will replace companies, such as SPDC and other companies that want to divest their equities. “Therefore, NPDC has taken over this obligation of value addition as the

flagship operator of the upstream business of NNPC. NPDC is the gateway of capacity development and capability development of the upstream activities in Nigeria,” Yakubu said.

He said the activities of the NNPC/NPDC in Warri have made NPDC the highest local producer of gas and this has met Federal Government’s aspiration in power generation, stressing that with the new status, NPDC remains the biggest indigenous gas supplier in Africa.

Yakubu noted that as a socially- responsible corporation, the NNPC/NPDC would step up its activities in the area of providing social amenities, such as classroom blocks, educational scholarship, health facilities, roads and water to communities where its opera-

tiers of government in providing basic amenities to oil bearing communities, a conducive environment that would guarantee smooth operations of the acquired assets would be provided, adding that the NNPC/NPDC would touch the lives of Nigerians in many positive ways.

According to him, the assurances from the Warri communities indicate that the coming of the NPDC to the communities would sustain community development efforts in line with international best practices.

He said through the support and vision of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, the NNPC/NPDC took over the management of some OMLs in a bid to meet the target of producing 250,000 barrels of crude per day in 2015 by NPDC.

•President Jonathan

great improvement in the relations between the Nigerian community and its host authorities.

’43,400 PHCN workers cleared for severance cash’

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ORTY-THREE thousand four hundred workers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) are eligible for severance benefit, the Ministry of Power has said.

The Special Assistant on Media and Communication to the Minister of Power, Mrs. Kande Daniel, said this yesterday in Lagos.

“The committee, headed by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Power, Amb. Godknows Igali, has cleared over 43,400 workers for the payment of the benefits.”

She said this figure constituted nearly 93 per cent of the total workforce of PHCN. Mrs. Daniel said the committee was still working on the records of the remaining workers to clarify issues.

She said the committee hailed the workers for their patience and cooperation.

“The Implementation Committee for the Settlement of Entitlements of Workers of PHCN has praised the high level of cooperation of the workers.

“Their records have passed biometrics test and they have been issued benefit statements showing their expected terminal benefits, Mrs. Daniel said.”

ACCA launches careers portal

By Precious Igbonwelundu

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HE Association of Chartered and Certified Accountants (ACCA) has launched its website, a careers portal for Nigeria.

The purpose is to attract local employers to its website, thereby providing job opportunities for its members and students.

The Head of ACCA Nigeria, Mrs. Toyin Ademola, said the portal was developed following global demand for curriculum vitae (CVs) on ACCA by employers.

She said although the careers portal had existed for other countries before now, the high unemployment rate in Nigeria instigated the creation of the country’s portal.

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

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NEWS ABUAD programmes get 100 per cent accreditation

Fayemi: Ekiti’ll provide food for Southwest next year

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KITI State Governor Kayode Fayemi has said the state will supply poultry and agricultural products to Southwest markets by the end of next year.

He spoke at the weekend during a tour of eight projects initiated by his administration under the Youth Commercial Agriculture Development (YCAD) programme.

Fayemi said the administration’s vision of making Ekiti the food basket of the Southwest was not a tall dream.

He said the state would also generate 50 per cent of its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from agriculture by next year.

The governor has always said Ekiti could generate at least N1 billion daily from the supply of food products

P

From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

to half the population of Lagos State.

He said: “Our promises in respect of the agricultural potentials of this administration are already coming to fruition.”

Fayemi visited fish farms in Efon, the YCAD Nursery point at Igede, the cassava plantation in Iyemero and the Farmer’s Academy at Isan-Ekiti, among others.

He said: “The inability of markets around the state to absorb YCAD products is proof that the state’s vision to become the food hub of the Southwest is being realised sooner than expected.”

Fayemi said the govern-

ment would work towards expanding available markets and creating new ones to accommodate the produce of young farmers.

He expressed satisfaction that YCAD participants were ready to move from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture.

During his visit to the Efon YCAD Fish Farm, Fayemi said his earlier visit to a privately-owned fish farm of about 275 ponds, which produces 30 tonnes of fish daily, combined with the output of youths in the YCAD programme, have proved that the state is achieving its “Modernising Agriculture” agenda.

He said the government limited crops cultivated under the YCAD programme to

who was the party’s rallying point when George was away.

“It is even more nauseating when we recall the 2003 governorship elections, when the PDP won all states of the Southwest but Lagos, where he has been calling the shots in the last 14 years or so. The loss was majorly due to his half-hearted commitment to the party’s course. He does not really want the party to win any election, so that he would remain the numero uno and continue to corner the goodies meant for members.

“Having been tactically rejected because of his personality albatross at the recent PDP National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held in Abuja, where he desperately sought to move a motion for the passing of a vote-of-confidence in the President, his next move is to usurp the functions of the Southwest Caretaker Committee by calling an illegal meeting of his ilk.

“The question now is: in what capacity is he doing this, since the caretaker committee has the responsibility of preparing for the congress?

It is only the caretaker committee constituted by the National Working Committee (NWC) that can summon its members and extend its hand of fellowship to other leaders and bodies it deems fit to put heads together to ensure a hitch-free congress.

“The Yoruba are decent people, who will not give any position of responsibility to questionable characters, more so when the reason for their personality cum political deficit has to do with financial impropriety and corrupt practices.

“If George was not allowed to move the motion at the NEC meeting because of moral deficit, it will be an insult to the sensibilities of the Yoruba if he is allowed to lay claim to the party’s leadership in the Southwest.

“More so, we know his relationship with Adamawa State Governor Murtala Nyako. They have been holding nocturnal meetings in Lagos and Yola in recent times.

We are also aware of his flirtation with former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his plans to take three names to

Ladoja is forgiven, says Adedibu’s widow From Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

•Ladoja

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IDOW of the strongman of Ibadan politics, Alhaja Bose Adedibu, yesterday said the family has forgiven former Governor Rashidi Ladoja’s “sins” against the late Chief Lamidi Adedibu.

Speaking with reporters after the weekly prayer session of the Oluyole Muslim Community, she described the disagreement between her husband and Ladoja as “the handiwork of the devil”.

Alhaja Adedibu said the devil created a wide gulf in the once “bosom relationship be-

T

•Governor tours agricultural projects cocoa, cassava and oil palm to help participants access the markets and sustain a base for the products.

Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources Mr. Jide Arowosafe said the government has grown over 1,150 hectares of cassava in Iyemero and other parts of the state in the first phase of its cassava revolution, adding that 2,000 hectares were being prepared for the next planting season.

Arowosafe said the government has 18 nursery points, where over 20,000 cocoa seedlings are raised for sale to farmers. He said products of the hybrid nurseries, which should be harvested after two years, would be sold at N15 each.

The commissioner said the

Call Bode George to order, group urges Jonathan, Tukur RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan and the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, have been urged to call the former Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Chief Olabode George, to order.

A group, the Forum for Equity and Justice (FEJ), yesterday condemned “George’s attempt to usurp the functions of the Zonal Working Committee (ZWC) and the Zonal Executive Committee (ZEC) by calling an illegal meeting of some so-called party leaders to share positions zoned to the Southwest”.

In a statement by its National Co-ordinator, Mr. Enitan Ayelabowo, FEJ said George’s role as a member of the PDP’s BoT is advisory.

The statement reads: “We have noticed the way George has been carrying himself since he came out of prison.

He has been running around to put himself in the forefront of Yoruba and Nigerian politics, breaching the law and protocol by side-tracking Alhaji Shuaibu Oyedokun,

By Adegunle Olugbamila

tween father and son”.

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) earlier described Ladoja’s presence at the fifth memorial prayer for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain as a mockery of the deceased.

But Alhaja Adedibu said Ladoja’s presence should not be construed as such.

She said it showed that Ladoja has a conscience, “which every good man must possess”.

The widow said: “I was surprised to see all the big wigs at the event, not only Ladoja, so I wonder why people are making an issue out of his presence.

Besides, I thank them all for the honour. It shows the family that there are still people who believe that even in death, Baba deserves their respect.

“None of them would have fought one other. Ladoja was a

businessman when my husband brought him into politics and he is still a businessman.

Alhaji Adedibu also ensured that Ladoja became the Mogaji of his family to have an opportunity to be crowned the Olubadan of Ibadan some day.

“Ladoja is a nice person and I thank God he has gotten a change of heart. I thank God that the devil has been put to shame, though it is painful that Baba is no more.

“The family has no grudge against Ladoja. His wife, Alhaja Mutiat, is my sister. The two families are very close. To err is human and to forgive is divine.”

Alhaja Adedibu attributed the large turn out at her husband’s fifth memorial prayer on June 12 as proof that people still respect him.

She said: “Baba cuts across all political divide. He was a man of the masses and a philanthropist par excellence.”

him, out of which one, and most likely, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, will be endorsed.

“We urge President Jonathan and Tukur to intervene and save us from the consequences of George’s albatross and indiscretion, especially given the events of the recent past. It is imperative for all well-meaning leaders and elders of the party to call him to order to avoid another round of controversies.”

•Fayemi

government would subsidise the product from N60 to N15.

He said 10,000 oil palm and teak were being raised in nurseries and would soon be available for sale to farmers.

Arowosafe said the Fayemi administration was determined to achieve its vision for agriculture next year.

The governor was accompanied on the tour by the Chief of Staff, Mr. Yemi Adaramodu; Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation Tayo Ekundayo; Commissioner for Integration and Intergovernmental Affairs Funminiyi Afuye; Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Tourism Chief Ronke Okusanya; Commissioner for Local Government Affairs Paul Omotoso; Special Adviser to the Governor on Political Matters Ayodele Jinadu and the Special Adviser, Government House and Protocol, Mrs. Kehinde Daramola.

HE National Universities’ Commission (NUC) has fully accredited 12 programmes in the Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD).

ABUAD kicked off academic activities on January 4, 2010.

The university’s Director of Public Affairs, Tunde Olofintila, quoted a letter by NUC dated June 17, which granted full accreditation to the programmes.

They are: Accounting; Banking and Finance; Business Administration; Basic Medical Sciences; Anatomy; Physiology; the College of Law; Biochemistry; Human Biology; Microbiology; Economics; Media and Communication Studies; Tourism and Events Management.

Two programmes - Nutrition and Dietetics and Computer Science – were granted interim accreditation.

ABUAD Founder/Chancellor Aaare Afe Babalola (SAN) said: “Today, many universities around run most of their programmes with interim accreditation. For us to have full accreditation of 12 of the 14 programmes presented for accreditation, with the remaining two given interim accreditation, speaks volumes of the university’s efforts to reform education.”

Babalola said his vision is to produce self-reliant leaders and achievers in every facet of human endeavour.

8

THE NATION MONDAY JUNE 24, 2013

NEWS Oyo to pay N1.2b compensation in two weeks HE Oyo State Gov-

ACN’ll sweep 2014, 2015 polls, says Aregbesola SUN State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has said the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) will win all elective positions at the 2014 and 2015 polls.

The governor, flanked by his deputy, Mrs. Titi LaoyeTomori, and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr. Akintunde Adegboye, who stood in for the Speaker, Hon. Najeem Salaam, spoke at the fourth edition of the Ogbeni Till Day Break, live programme aired on the television and radio from 8pm on Friday to 5am on Saturday.

He said “whoever raises his head outside the ACN will be defeated”.

The programme created an opportunity for people to interact with the governor and ask him questions.

Aregbesola said his administration’s objective was to improve the standard of living through the implementation of people-oriented policies and programmes.

Thanking the people for supporting his administration, he dispelled the rumour that the state’s debt profile had risen to N300 billion.

Explaining that no state aiming to be successful can operate within the ambit of its resources, Aregbesola said any serious government should learn to invest in the people, who in turn would develop their environment.

Criticising those peddling the rumour, he said: “I think what should be important to us is how the state’s resources are deployed.”

The governor said the rumour was aimed at destabilising the state’s progress.

He said the state’s monthly allocation from the Federation Account and its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) could not finance the development going on in the state, so his administration obtained some bonds from the capital market.

Aregbesola said: “There is nowhere in the world where borrowing or taking a loan is a taboo. Advanced nations also borrow money to execute projects. Any government that wants to succeed may need to borrow money for the execution of projects.

“The issue is not about debt, but what we are doing with the money. We queried the immediate-past administration because it sourced a short-term loan to finance

T

ernment will, in two weeks, compensate people whose properties were affected by the ongoing dualisation of roads across the state.

In a statement at the weekend, the Commissioner for Lands and Housing, Mr.

O

Bimbo Kolade, said N1,214,737,340.46 would be paid to 1,304 people affected by the projects.

He said the claimants’ documents have been verified, adding that the compensation would be paid in two phases.

Alaafin urges Ajimobi to enforce environmental laws From Bode Durojaiye, Oyo

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•Aregbesola...on Saturday.

Our governor is God-sent, says party stalwart, Osogbo chiefs

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SUN State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has been described as “a rare gift sent by God to give the people a new lease of life”.

This is the view of a stalwart of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Ilesa East, Mr. Michael Ashaolu, who spoke in Ilesa at the registration of amputees to benefit from the free artificial limbs to be provided by the Eni Aponle Foundation.

Ashaolu, who is the founder of the foundation, said he was motivated to support the less privileged because of the governor’s “unique style of governance” and the amazing projects of his administration.

Urging the people to support Aregbesola’s “visionary administration”, Ashaolu said the artificial limbs would be provided by his foundation in collaboration with some foreign partners and the Osun State Ministry of Youths, Sports and Special Needs.

He said measurement of the limbs of beneficiaries begins tomorrow at the Foundation Hall, Ido-Ijesa, and ends on Friday.

Also at the weekend, traditional chiefs in Osogbo, the state capital, hailed Aregbesola for improving the aesthetics of the ancient town.

The chiefs include the Ajaguna; the From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

long term projects which had no social benefit to the people. The effect of that loan was debilitating and suffocating.

“Banks are well structured and it will be hard or almost impossible to manipulate the process and procedure of getting loans from their system.

We should also know that no serious bank will give you a loan above 50 per cent of what you are worth.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other monetary agencies are monitoring their operations and if Osun

From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

Akogun, Chief Gabriel Oparanti; the Otun Ajagun, Chief Sule Agbola; the Eesa, Chief Bolarinwa Popoola; the Olonga, Chief Nasiru Odelola; the Iyalode, Chief Bakare Adeola; the Baale Gbonmi, Chief Alake Kolade; the Babakekere, Chief Aliu Sonibare and Chief Sule Olanipekun, among others.

The chiefs, led by the Ajaguna, who is second-in-command to the Ataoja, spoke with reporters at the Ataoja’s palace in Osogbo.

Ajaguna said: “Since Osun’s creation in 1991, it remained sadly underdeveloped until the emergence of the Aregbesola administration.

The powerful cerebral endowment, passion, vision and tireless energy with which Aregbesola has been executing the well thought out Six Integral Action Plan of his administration are gradually turning Osun into a modern, progressive and economically viable state.”

He said the quality of roads built by the administration could be compared to those in developed countries.

The chief hailed the governor’s efforts to restore Osogbo to its former status as the third commercial hub in the Southwest through the establishment of the multi-billion naira Ayegbaju Market and the Aje International Market. Both are almost completed.

is in debt, it would be listed among states in debt. We are also paying workers’ salary without stress. We paid May salary even when the Federal Allocation for April had not been paid.

“Those peddling the rumour are liars and enemies of the people and the state. Our debt profile is far below N30 billion.”

Debunking the rumour that he once slapped his deputy, Aregbesola said: “I have never beaten anybody in my life. In fact, I do not beat my children, let alone beat any other person. More so, the deputy governor is older than I am, so how can I beat an elderly

person.

“I do not have any quarrel with my deputy and I cannot have any with her because I chose her; no one chose her for me. I chose her because I knew I could work with her.

So, no differences exist between us.”

Mrs. Laoye-Tomori also debunked the rumour, saying she has a cordial relationship with Aregbesola.

On the crisis rocking the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), Aregbesola said: “Let the NGF take care of itself. The forum is a voluntary one and it is not compulsory that every governor must be a member.”

HE Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III, has urged the state government to enforce laws, regulations and policies on environmental health.

He said this would prevent epidemics and instill healthy living habits among the people.

The monarch spoke at the weekend while hosting the Commissioner for Environment and Habitats, Mr. Lowo Obisesan.

Oba Adeyemi hailed Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s environmental health programmes, saying such initiatives could only come from a focused and progressive minded governor.

He said: “One of the most disturbing aspects of our cities and towns is their unhygienic conditions. Our people turn culverts, waterways and drains into refuse dumps. They display their wares, including edible products, in the filthy environment, with the attendant swarm of houseflies.

“Our people always appear gorgeous by putting on fine clothes, shoes and jewellery, but unfortunately they do not take care of their environment. They only appear neat and decent on the surface. With these worrisome developments, what do you expect the impression of foreigners to be about our people?

“It took the likes of Governor Babatunde Fashola, who displayed exceptional courage, to clean up 60 to 70 per cent of Lagos State and turn it into a modern city.

“Today, this feat is being replicated by the God-given and dynamic governor of Oyo State. Sadly, past administrations, both at the state and local government levels, did not pay attention to environmental matters, let alone tackle them, until the present administration came on board.”

Oba Adeyemi urged the people to support the Ajimobi administration’s transformation agenda aimed at creating an environment that the Yoruba would be proud of.

The commissioner, who was in Oyo town to open a conference of environmental health officers from the 33 local governments, extolled the Alaafin’s “exemplary leadership qualities” and support for the state government.

He said: “I am highly impressed that I cannot see a single sheet of paper or any dirt whatsoever in and around a palace this big. This is laudable and I am delighted by your sincerity of purpose towards the success of this administration.”

Peculiar needs’ll determine community projects, says Amosun

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GUN State Governor Ibikunle Amosun has assured traditional rulers that the peculiar needs of each community will be considered in the execution of projects.

He said this was in line with his administration’s belief in participatory governance, adding that the advise of royal fathers would help the government implement people-oriented programmes.

Amosun spoke while hosting the Council of Obas from Ijebu East Local Government.

He told them to send him a list of two roads they want the government to rehabilitate/build in their areas as soon as possible.

The governor said: “The

government will heartily support any local government that embarks on projects that are a necessity to their communities.”

He hailed the traditional rulers for initiating the meeting and assured them that the activities of the government will reflect it’s five cardinal programmes.

Amosun said the 15 model schools under construction across the state would be eguipped with Information Technology (IT) gadgets.

He said: “We are paying much premium on technical education as well as health, water, agriculture, ecology and commerce.”

The Chairman of the council, Oba Michael Olusegun, thanked the governor for granting them audience.

First memorial thanksgiving for Fayemi’s mum

F

RIENDS, family, top government officials and well-wishers yesterday joined Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi and his siblings at St. Martins Catholic Church, IsanEkiti, for a thanksgiving service commemorating the first memorial anniversary of the governor’s mother, Madam Dorcas Fayemi.

Fayemi said he misses his mother greatly.

He said his consolation was her values of “faithful-

ness, integrity and compassion for the people” as well as her legacies.

The governor said these values have continued to drive his pursuit for a better Ekiti.

The governor’s wife, Erelu Bisi, said the deceased lived an exemplary life, adding that her “wise counsel and guidance” were sorely missed.

In his sermon, the Catholic Bishop of Ekiti, Most Rev. Felix Ajakaye, urged people to celebrate their departed ones.

He said people who made

“good landmarks” in their families and the society would always be remembered.

Urging parents to bring up their children in the fear of God, the bishop praised the deceased for training her children to be responsible citizens, adding that one of them has entrenched good governance in the state.

Hailing Fayemi for making the family proud, he urged him not to relent in actualising his transformation agenda for the state.

•From right: Fayemi; Erelu Bisi and the governor’s sister, Mrs. Titilayo Babarinde... yesterday.

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

9

NEWS ‘Alhaja Mogaji was a model’ THE Leadership of Mainland Independent Group (MIG) has commiserated with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the death of his mother, Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji.

Speaking in Lagos, the Chairman of the group, Kayode Aransiola, described her death as “a monumental loss to Nigerians and Lagosians in particular”. According to him, “ Alhaja Mogaji was “ an icon who fought for the promotion of good governance and human dignity”.

The Coordinator of the group, Alhaji Ibrahim Alao Megida, said: “ We take solace in the legacies she left behind which the opposition Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu represents.”

He said the late Alhaja Mogaji “ would be remembered as a philantropist who felt for the poor”, adding that, she was “a fearless activist who sacrificed personal comfort for the less privileged”.Megida admonished Nigerians “to emulate the selfless service of the Iyaloja-General, who stood on the side of the masses during the June 12 struggle”.

NDLEA arrests 128 drugs suspects in Kogi THE Kogi State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) arrested 128 suspected dealers of hard drugs and seized 4,179 kg of drugs in the last six months.

Alhaji Idris Bello, the NDLEA State Commander, spoke yesterday in Lokoja.

He said 16 vehicles conveying hard drugs were also impounded within the same period.

Bello said 25 suspects were tried and convicted for various drug offences, while 25 others were rehabilitated by the agency.

He said his command had put some strategies in place to check drug trafficking in the state, saying: “For us, we remain poised and unrelenting in our effort to rid our society of illicit drugs’ trafficking and abuse.”

NEMA distributes materials in Kano, Kaduna THE National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) yesterday distributed food items and building materials to seven communities in Kano and Kaduna states.

NEMA Northwest Zonal Coordinator Alhaji Musa Ilallah presented the items to the Kano and Kaduna states’ governments.

He said the items were meant for the victims of the recent attack by unknown gunmen in Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna State and victims of the recent windstorm in Rano and Sumaila, Kano State.

Receiving the items on behalf of the Kaduna State government, Mr Ishaku Makama, the Executive Secretary of the State Emergency Agency (SEMA), commended NEMA for the donation.

Oil thieves cause multiple spills in Bayelsa

A

CTIVITIES of oil thieves have left Kalaba community in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State flooded with crude oil.

Residents yesterday reported five oil spill points on Agip’s oil pipeline in the area.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered that three of the spill points were discharging oil into the environment; the remaining two were discharging a mixture of crude and gas.

Residents attributed the frequent spills in the area to the activities of oil thieves, who often burst pipelines to steal oil.

A community leader in Kalaba, Mr Roman Olukali,

told NAN yesterday that the community had particularly experienced frequent oil spills caused by oil thieves in the last two years.

He said the menace could have been checked if Agip had taken the community into confidence and collaborated with the people in efforts to safeguard the oil pipelines.

Olukali alleged that the company failed to relate with the community, adding that this led to the people’s failure to report strange movements around the pipelines.

“We are really disturbed about the effect of these spills and on our own; we want to cooperate with Agip to solve the problem but Agip does not want to come

here and reason with us.

“Sometimes, when they come here to fix the leaks, they do not even tell us, and they often leave the area before we know that they have been around,’’ he added.

The Youth President of Kalaba community, Mr Joel Joel, bemoaned the incessant oil spills in the neighbourhood. “‘These incessant oil spills in our environment is affecting us negatively, both in terms of the impact on the environment and our means of livelihood and the kind of negative publicity it attracts for our community.

“We are not happy at all; and I have warned at a meeting we held sometime ago that we will not spare any-

one in the community, caught or found to be responsible for any oil spill in this environment,’’ Joel said.

Mr Adeyinka Adewumi, the Head of the National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) in Port Harcourt, confirmed that Agip had shut down operations in the area since March due to oil theft.

Agip, in a statement, said it authorised the suspension of its operations in the area on March 22 and subsequently declared a “Force Majeure’’ on its oil output from the facilities on March 23.

“Force Majeure’’ is a legal notice that absolves an oil firm of liabilities for failure to meet supply obligations

to crude buyers due to circumstances beyond the firm’s control.

“Agip confirms that during the night between March 21 and 22, the company had declared ‘Force Majeure’ and ordered the closure of its onshore activities in the swamp area located in Bayelsa.

“The decision was made due to the intensified illegal bunkering, consisting in the sabotage of pipelines and the theft of crude oil, which recently reached unsustainable levels regarding personal safety and damage to the environment,’’ the statement said.

It said the firm produced about 40,000 barrels of crude oil daily from the shut facilities.

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THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

NEWS EIGHTH-DAY PRAYER FOR ALHAJA ABIBATU MOGAJI AT TAFAWA BALEWA SQUARE (TBS), LAGOS

•From left: Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Lagos Deputy Governor Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, Ekiti State Deputy Governor Prof. Modupe Adelabu and Osun State Deputy Governor Mrs. Grace Titilayo-Tomori

•Businessmen Alhaji Rasaq Okoya and Chief Samuel Adedoyin

•The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi

•Senator Chris Ngige, former Head of Service of the Federation Alhaji Yayale Ahmed and Gen. Shawad AbdurRahman form Liberia

•Senator Hassan Fasinro and Speaker Lagos House of Assembly Speaker Adeyemi Ikuforiji

•Industrialist Alhaji Dangote, former Kogi State Governor Abubakar Audu and Mallam Nuhu Ribadu

•From left: Former governors Achike Udenwa (Imo); Aremo Olusegun Osoba (Ogun) and Obong Victor Attah (Akwa Ibom

•Lagos Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs Ademorin Kuye, Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Lagos State, Dr. Idiat Oluranti Adebule and Alhaja Qudrah Dada

•Gen. Alani Akinrinade (left) and Dr. Amos Akingba

•Wife of former Cross River State Governor Donald Duke, Onari and Prince Lagos Commissioner for Water Front, Prince Adesegun Oniru

•Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosu

•Otunba Niyi Adebayo

•Lagos White Cap Chief Olaseni Lamina and foremost dramatist Chief Jimoh Aliu

•Lanre Rasak and former Lagos Commissioner for Housing Mr Dele Onabokun

•Wife of Osun State Governor Mrs Sherifat Aregbesola and Oyo State Governors’ wife Mrs. Florence Ajimobi

•House of Representatives member Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) chieftain, ChiefTom Ikimi.

PHOTOS: SOLOMON ADEOLA, OMOSEHIN MOSES , DAVID ADEJO AND MUYIWA HASSAN

THE NATION MONDAY JUNE 24, 2013

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NEWS EIGHTH-DAY PRAYER FOR ALHAJA ABIBATU MOGAGI AT TAFAWA BALEWA SQUARE (TBS) LAGOS

•Governors (from right) Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (Osun); Comrade Adams Oshiomhole (Edo); Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo); a guest and Owelle Rochas Okorocha (Imo).

•Lagos State Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (left) and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu

•From left: Senators ‘Jide Omoworare; Domingo Obende; ‘Bunmi Adetunmbi, ‘Gbenga Ashafa; Pius Ewherido; ‘Gbenga Kaka; Akin Odunsi, Robert Boroffice, ‘Femi Lanlehin and ‘Femi Ojudu.

•Chief Emeka Anyaoku (left) and Chief Bisi Akande

•From right: Alhaji Sakariyahu Babalola, Mrs Modupe Oguntade and Mrs Sade Okoya

•Prince Tajudeen Olusi (left) and Oba Olatunji Hamzat

•Bolaji Muse-Ariyoh and wife Sarah

•A cross-section of monarchs

•A cross-section of clerics

•PHOTOS: SOLOMON ADEOLA, DAVID ADEJO, OMOSEHIN MOSES AND MUYIWA HASSAN

•Oba Muniru Bashorun

•Former Lagos State Deputy Governor Princess Adebisi Sarah Sosan

•Otunba Bushira Alebiosu

•House of Representatives •Lagos lawmaker Ladi Balogun •Alhaji Babatunde Balogun member James Faleke

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

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NEWS EIGHTH-DAY PRAYER FOR ALHAJA ABIBATU MOGAJI AT TAFAWA BALEWA SQUARE (TBS) LAGOS

•From left: Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Hon Wale Oshun and Dr. Bunmi Omosehindemi

•Chief Ayo Adebanjo and Mrs. Folasade Tinubu-Ojo

•Dr. Muiz Banire

•Former Lagos State Governor Alhaji Lateef Jakande (left) and Senator Annie Okonkwo

•House of Representatives member Alhaji Yakubu Balogun

•Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye

•Mrs. Abbah Folawiyo (left) and Chief Oprah Benson

•Chief Uche Momah (left) and Chris Ekwilo

•Olori Muyibat Oyefusi

•Mrs Derin Osoba

•Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora (right) Chief Kareem Daramola

•Chief Ajibola Ogunsola (left) and Prof. Adebayo Williams

•Senator Aisha al-Hassan (left) and Senator Nenadi Usman

•Founder, Rhesus Solution Initiative, Mrs Funmilayo Banire (left) and Mrs Ramota Akinola-Hassan

•Former Minister of Commerce and Industry, Chief Nike Akande •Guest speakers, Prof. Daud Noibi (left) and Sheikh Habeebulahi Adam

•Cardinal James Odunmbaku (left) and Olorunfunmi Basorun

•Arabel CEO, Hajia Shareefah Andu

PHOTOS: SOLOMON ADEOLA, OMOSEHIN MOSES, DAVID ADEJO AND MUYIWA HASSAN

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

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THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

14 USEFUL PHONE NUMBERS ON ANY EMERGENCY

Council endorsed the useful phone numbers submitted by the security agents for easy access in case of any emergency.

Accordingly, the general public may easily contact KAROTA for: Breakdown of Vehicle(s), Traffic Congestion, Accidents, and Illegal/Wrong Parking on – 08091626747. Similarly, the State Police Command could be contacted on – 08032419754, 08123821575. In addition, the State Fire Service can also be contacted on – 07051246833, 08191778888.

103RD KANO STATE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING Today Wednesday 19th June, 2013 (10th Sha’aban, 1434AH) the Kano State Executive Council held its one hundred and third (103rd) sitting presided over by Governor Engr. Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, FNSE. The day was “eve” to the rescheduled date (13th June – 20th June) the entire Kano State Government was to go on retreat to Abuja where top functionaries will convene to recapitulate, reassess, redress, etc. the performance of the incumbent administration.

Postponement of the trip to Abuja on retreat by the State’s top Government functionaries was necessitated by the need for the entire Cabinet to be present along with the citizenry in Kano State while His Royal Highness the Emir of Kano celebrated his “Golden Jubilee” on the throne of Traditional Rulership of Kano (1963 – 2013).

The fifty (50) years meritoriously and eventfully spent by His Royal Highness the Emir of Kano, Alhaji, Dr. Ado Bayero was prayerfully celebrated in jubilation as heralded with a colourful durbar witnessed by many National and International dignitaries/celebrities, generality of which paid sincere tribute to the entire Kano Emirate in respect of the tenets and good leadership of the Emir and prayed for more years on the throne in good health for him (Alhaji Dr. Ado Bayero).

Importantly, the Kano State Government (i.e. the Cabinet, Permanent Secretaries, Directors, etc.) has to proceed on retreat, as a worthwhile undertaking, to Abuja scheduled for 20th – 24th June, 2013.

Retreats, as cited in the Communiqué released/issued at the end of the 2nd retreat for Political Office holders, top Government functionaries and Directors held at Nicon Luxury Hotel, Abuja (7th – 10th December, 2012), are important undertakings because they strengthen the existing synergy and common focus among the various categories of the leadership within the service hierarchy as a means of improving service delivery.

Relentlessly, forty-five (45) memoranda were submitted by eight (8) MDAs for deliberation by Council of which twenty-eight (28) were approved for execution with an expenditure of One Billion, Three hundred and Four Million, Nine Hundred and One Thousand, Nine Hundred and Eighty Two Naira, Eighty Five Kobo (N1,304,901,982.85) covering twenty five (25) projects. Thus: 1. OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY GOVERNOR / HON. COMMISSIONER FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS This Office submitted eleven (10) memoranda for deliberation by Council. Five (5) of them were approved for execution as follows: a. Presentation of Proposal Submitted by the House Numbering and Street Naming Committee for Data Capturing and Production of Identification Cards for Kano State Residents:Council recalled the setting up of House Numbering and Street Naming Committee and the release of over N300 million for the implementation of the program, which is aimed at identifying places and people living within the area. Government is aware that some part of the metropolis have no street names nor house numbering. And even where they exist they are hardly known or utilized by the citizenry because location signage may not be available or identifiable. For this, locating houses/streets is becoming a frustrating venture and a painful exercise. Street addresses are, therefore, critical information for administrative, emergency response, research and security purposes. Since the beginning of the program citizens have been responding favorable by cooperating with the enumerators and Government officials in charge of the program. Thus, when completed the program will transform the metropolis into a modern city where houses and streets could easily be identified like in any developed nations.

The contents of this memorandum presented the results of the critical appraisal of the proposal submitted by the Office of the Deputy Governor/Hon. Commissioner for Local Governments as mandated by the State Executive Council.

The thirteen (13) – items proposal was critically studied consequent upon which the followings were identified; • A legal framework need to be created with an enabling Institutional framework to give legitimacy to the policy decision with devolution of responsibility to an entity to be entrusted with implementation of Kano State residents registration and ID Card issuance to conform with the following policy objectives: i. To provide data bank that would be a reliable and comprehensive source of information to assist Government in decision making/processing in all Public Policy Issues pertaining to residents and their social distinctions. ii. The identification card(s) should be for everybody and include blood group and thumb print (which do not change with age). iii. That the Residents ID Card should be for the purpose of “Stands for”; as an index for determining the resources required for formulation and implementation of Government policy programmes. iv. To enhance the ability of Government for better planning of Services and their requirements in Education, Health, Water, Security, Environment, Housing, Transportation and other Sectors. The essence is to enable Government to be in a well – informed position all the time to plan and execute precisely as affects the human factor.

So, Office of the Deputy Governor/Hon. Commissioner for Local Governments recommended to Council to consider and approve the following; • That legislation be enacted for the establishment of Kano State Resident Registration Agency with specific functions and structures to carry out the policy considering its objectives listed (i. – iii) above.

• That a study of the Lagos State Agency be undertaken with a view to share their experiences.

Council appreciated the presentation and approved contents, therefore, as well as directed the Attorney General/Honorable Commissioner Ministry of Justice to prepare a draft Law establishing the Kano State Resident Registration Agency according to the details presented. c. Presentation of Request for Funds for the Establishment of the Remaining 27 Micro Finance Banks in the State:This Government policy towards the eradication/alleviation of poverty amongst its teeming population led to numerous strategies, such as the establishment of skill acquisition institutions and that of opening Microfinance Banks. The setting up of these Banks was based on the premise that financial services play vital role in the economic growth and development of any society. Microfinance Banks provide services that have direct impact on the downtrodden citizens whose financial request or requirement may not be considered by the normal banking sector. These Banks provide needed financial help as they specialize in providing small-loan and other banking services to individuals and communities having limited or no access to financial assistance

for their economic advancement. Thus, the facilities provided by these Banks enable individuals/communities to develop small businesses thereby stimulating their potentialities.

This explains the reasons behind the preparation and submission of this memorandum, which was a request for the second phase of the establishment of Microfinance Banks in the remaining 27 Local Government Councils in the State. The first phase witnessed the establishment of 27 Banks. In the said communication, Council was informed of the fact that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has granted approval in principle for the establishment of the remaining twentyseven (27) Microfinance Banks in Kano State with all the necessary statutory need of the requirements completed. With this approval each of the 44 Local Government Areas will have Microfinance Bank to service the credit, savings as well as currency and cash disbursement of the local communities.

Following this approval, Council instructed/mandated the 27 Local Government Councils concerned to speed up completion of construction/ renovation of suitable office accommodation of their respective Microfinance Banks premises based on the specifications provided by the apex (Central) Bank of Nigeria. Details were presented for consideration by Council.

Essentially, each of the concerned 27 Local Government Councils is expected to expend a contributory sum of N10,507,037.04 to total up to the aggregate sum of N283,690,000.00, which was requested for release

by Council to enable final establishment of the remaining 27 Microfinance Banks in the State.

Council noted, considered the request and approved the release of the sum of N283,690,000.00 as equally contributed funds from the 27 remaining Local Government Councils to procure and install IT equipment, furniture and electricity generating sets for the remaining 27 Microfinance Banks. d. Presentation of the 4th Progress Report from the Kano State Committee on House Numbering and Street Naming:Office of the Deputy Governor/Hon. Commissioner for Local Governments presented the fourth (4th) periodically submitted progress report from the Committee on House Numbering and Street Naming.

The report contains progress achieved so far, challenges and associated requests to facilitate further progress in the exercise. The fourth (4th) progress report was summarized into nine (9) items climaxing at; i. 301,488 number of houses/land were enumerated in the eight (8) metropolitan LGCAs. ii. 29,619 uncompleted houses were enumerated. iii. 37,405 vacant plots were enumerated.

Eight (8) challenges were itemized by the Committee which tantamount to the following eight (8) prayers for Council’s consideration and approval; • Release of the sum of N15,060,415.17 to the eight (8) metropolitan LGCAs as 2nd payment for the cost of producing the remaining folders and forms for the exercise based on disaggregated profile as contained in the report.

• Release of the requested sum of N308,053,950.00 to the main Committee to produce House Numbering Plates.

• Payment of N1,342,000.00 to NETCLICK CONSULTANTS for software development.

• Direct the Ministry for Local Governments to present a design for Office accommodation for the House Numbering and Street Naming units at respective Local Government Levels.

• Release of N5,000,000.00 to the main Committee for publicity.

• Release of the sum of N5,040,000.00 as allowances for the eight (8) LGCAs sub – Committees.

• Release of the sum of N510,000.00 as allowances for members of the main Committee.

• Release of the sum of N312,000.00 as operational funds for three (3) months to the main Committee.

The request was considered credible as Council granted approval for the release of the requested aggregate sum of N335,318,365.17 to the Ministry for Local Governments to facilitate the prayers listed above in respect of the House Numbering and Street Naming exercise in the eight (8) metropolitan LGCAs. e. Presentation of Official Solution for Support from the National Resources Development Fund:Contents of this memorandum tacitly notified Council that, Kano State Government made submission to the Presidency for support from the National Resources Development Fund under the Presidency seeking for intervention in the initial sum of N45,870,000,000.00.

Kano State submission was raised to include ecological problems bedevilling the State and environmental degradations. But, the tradition of qualifying for access to the fund requires that State Governments have to defend their submissions before the Commission which ultimately recommends to the President what to be given to which State after due verification.

Importantly, Kano State Government was slated to make its formal presentation to the RMAF Commission on Tuesday 25th June, 2013 as per the Power Point already produced.

As such, the Deputy Governor/Hon. Commissioner for Local Governments requested for mandate by Council to represent Kano State in making the presentation on the stated date accompanied by the Honorable Commissioners for Agriculture, Planning and Budget, Environment and Water Resources who may contribute and add credence to presentations under the respective spheres of their Ministries whenever the need arises.

Financial implications of the trip was assessed and estimated to the aggregate sum of N1,030,000.00 which was requested for release by Council to enable the undertaking of the trip. Approval was granted by Council for the release of requested sum of N1,030,000.00 to the Office of the Deputy Governor/Hon. Commissioner for Local Governments to enable him along with the earmarked team of Commissioners undertake the important trip referred to in this submission.

2. MINISTRY OF HEALTH Two (2) memoranda were submitted for deliberation by Council from the Ministry of Health. Both were approved for execution as follows: a. Presentation of Request for Funds for the Procurement and Allocation of Three (3) Peugeot Model Ambulance Vehicles for Use by State Owned Hospitals:The Honorable Commissioner, Ministry of Health applauded Council for the approval granted for the procurement and allocation of ten (10)

Rabi’u Musa Kwankawaso

Toyota Standard Emergency Response Ambulance vehicles dedicated for use by the Kwankwasiyya Medical Outreach Health Delivery Services, which are put to earnest and appreciated use by the citizenry.

The Ministry of Health has identified Ambulance Services as among the fundamental requirements for the Health Sector improvement/ transformation. Need for the allocation of more Ambulance vehicles for use at the State owned hospitals has been established and Council was requested to grant approval for the release of funds to enable procurement and allocation of three (3) Peugeot Model Ambulances for use in the State owned hospitals.

Council noted, considered and approved the release of the sum of N15,800,000.00 to the Office of the Secretary to the State Government to procure and allocate two (2) units of Peugeot Model Ambulance vehicles at the rate of N7,900,000.00 (VAT inclusive) each to the Ministry of Health for use at the State owned hospitals. b. Presentation of Request for Funds for the General Repairs/ Renovation Works at the Maternity Wing of Muhammad Abdullahi Wase Specialist Hospital:In appreciation of the concern and attention accorded to the general requirements for the total transformation of the health sector in Kano State, particularly the health care delivery system/facilities, the Ministry of Health requested Council, through contents of this memorandum, to approve the release of the sum of N61,755,780.02 to facilitate the general repairs/renovation of the female/maternity complex at the Muhammad Abdullahi Wase Specialist Hospital.

Considering the relevance of the request and congruence of the projects with the policy of the present administration to provide qualitatively for the Health Care Delivery System in the State, Council approved the release of the requested sum of N61,755,780.02 to the Ministry of Health to enable the execution of the referred projects at Muhammad Abdullahi Wase Specialist Hospital.

3. MINISTRY OF WOMEN AFFAIRS AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT This Ministry submitted three (3) memoranda for deliberation by Council. Only one of them was acknowledged. Thus: a. Presentation of Information Memorandum (IM) on Proceedings and Resolutions of the National Council on Women Affairs and Social Development at its 13th Meeting Held in Lokoja, Kogi State (2nd – 7th June, 2013):Contents of this memorandum maintain that the National Council on Women Affairs and Social Development is the second highest decision making body on matters relating to Women, Children and people with special needs and the theme for this year’s meeting was “Environmental Degradation: A Challenge to Sustainable Development and Empowerment of Women and the Vulnerable Groups”.

The Kano State delegation at the meeting tabled/presented three (3) memoranda, which were deliberated upon and considered favourably.

The memoranda were presented for consideration by Council as each was titled thus: i.

Memorandum on Upgrading of Kano Reformatory Center at Kiru to the Level of a Reformatory Institution. ii. Memorandum on the achievements recorded by the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development. iii. Memorandum on the achievements recorded by Kwankwaso administration from 2011 to 2012.

Relevant excerpts from the three (3) referred memoranda were presented to Council along with the possibility of aligning the State Emergency Relief Agency and the Directorate of Youths Empowerment to the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.

Council appreciatively acknowledged the presentation.

4. OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY TO THE STATE GOVERNMENT Eighteen (18) memoranda were submitted on behalf of some MDAs from the Office of the Secretary to the State Government. Ten (10) of them were approved for execution as follows: a. Request for Funds to Procure and Allocate One Unit Each of Honda Pilot Jeep and Toyota Hiace 18– seater Bus to the Office of the Special Adviser, Protocol Directorate:Contents of this memorandum maintain that this request was already approved for execution what remains is approval for the release of the sum of N19,400,000.00 by Council to enable the Office of the Secretary to the State Government process the procurement and allocation of the two (2) vehicles to the Office of the Special Adviser, Protocol Directorate as follows: i.

One unit of Toyota Hiace 18 – Seater Bus N7,500,000.00 ii. One unit of Honda Pilot Jeep N11,900,000.00 TOTAL N19,400,000.00 Council approved as requested in compliance to the request presented. b. Request for Funds to Procure and Allocate Two (2) Vehicles to the Office of the Kano Government Printer:Office of the Secretary to the State Government submitted a request for funds to procure and allocate two (2) vehicles to the Office of the Kano Government Printer for the use of the Managing Director and the Corporation Officials in their shuttles.

Council noted, considered and approved the release of the sum of N7,500,000.00 to the Office of the Secretary to the State Government to procure and allocate one (1) unit of Toyota Hiace 18 – Seater Bus to the Office of the Kano Government Printer to ease the transportation needs of the organization. c. Request for Funds to Sponsor three Additional Number of French Teachers for a One (1) Month French Language Training in France Slated for 1st – 26th July, 2013:The Kano Senior Secondary School Management Board (KSSSMB) intimated Government on the commendable resolve of the Nigerian Association of French Teachers (NAFT) to sponsor two (2) Kano State Indigenous French Teachers for a one (1) Month French Language Training in France (1st – 26th July, 2013).

To supplement the gesture, the KSSSMB as endorsed by the Office of the Secretary to the State Government, requested for the release of the sum of N3,487,260.00 to sponsor three (3) additional number of Kano State Indigenous French Teachers to the two (2) sponsored by NAFT program.

Credibility of the request prompted Council to approve the release of the requested sum of N3,487,260.00 to the Office of the Secretary to the State Government for onward payment to the KSSSMB to sponsor the three (3) additional number of Kano State Indigenous French Teachers for the one (1) month training in France.

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THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013 d. Presentation of Return of Unused Funds by Kano Drainage Committee and Request for Funds to Execute Yet Another Project:Office of the Secretary to the State Government declared, on behalf of the Kano Drainage Committee, the return of the sum of N595,200.00 to Government Treasury after successfully executing the approved projects on clearing blocked drainage along Kofar Nassarawa to Kasuwar Rimi Road. Details on the scope of works executed at the aggregate cost of N595,940.00 were presented to Council for consideration.

Nevertheless, the Committee requested for the release of the sum of N1,424,150.00 to enable it cover the works required for the remaining length of the blocked drainage in order to complete the clearing exercise whose scope was presented for consideration by Council.

Council noted, considered and approved the release of the requested sum of N1,424,150.00 to the Office of the Secretary to the State Government for onward payment to the State Drainage Committee to enable completion of the stated project. e. Presentation of a Letter of Goodwill and Request for Assistance by the Kano State Butchers Association:The Chairman Kano State Community Reorientation Council submitted a letter of goodwill from the Office of the Chairman Kano State Kwankwasiyya Butchers Association, through the Office of the Secretary to the State Government for consideration by Council.

The Association applauds the present administration under the capable leadership of the second incumbency of Governor Engr. Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, FNSE over its tremendous achievements in two (2) years spanning areas such as Education, Health, Water Supply, Environmental Sanitation, Women and Youth Empowerment – of which 10,000 butchers benefitted while another 10,000 await to benefit from the gesture.

Relatedly, the Kano State Kwankwasiyya Butchers Association fervently appealed to the Government for assistance in providing the following: i.

A serviceable vehicle ii.

Office accommodation iii.

Office furniture etc.

Council noted, considered and approved the release of the sum of N7,500,000.00 to the Office of the Secretary to the State Government to procure and allocate one unit (1) of Toyota Hiace 18 – Seater Bus in respect of the Kano State Kwankwasiyya Butchers Association. f. Request for Funds to Enable Some Honourable Members of the State House of Assembly Undertake a Trip to Indonesia for a Workshop: Thirteen (13) Honourable Members plus the Clerk/Permanent Secretary of the Kano State House of Assembly were identified to attend a workshop in Indonesia designed to look into different Legislative environments in the Kano State and Indonesian Parliaments as well as to efficiently enhance the Inherent Legal process including preparatory work, process transparency and normative constitutional constituency.

Decidedly, seven (7) days were recommended for consideration by Council at the total cost of N22,591,744.00, which was requested for release to the Office of the Secretary to the State Government to enable the thirteen (13) Honourable Members plus Clerk/Permanent Secretary of the State House of Assembly attend the stated workshop in Indonesia for seven (7) days. Approval was granted as requested. h. Presentation of Report on the Outcome of the Ramat International Under – 16 Soccer Tournament held (13th – 20th February, 2013):The Ministry of Information, Internal Affairs, Youths, Sports and Culture communicated, through the Office of the Secretary to the State Government, intimating Government that the Kano State contingent that participated in the 33rd edition of the Ramat International Under – 16 Soccer Tournament held on 13th – 20th February, 2013 won the first position. This feat qualified the team to represent Nigeria at the International Youth Soccer Festival slated for 27th July – 23rd August in Oslo, Norway. Compliments were extended to the present administration under the 2nd incumbency of Governor Engr. Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, FNSE for its unwavering support towards sports – especially Soccer by the Youth Sports Federation of Nigeria.

The presentation was appreciatively acknowledged by Council. i.

Request for Funds to Sponsor the Year 2013 Students’ Peace Summit and Swearing in Ceremony of National Association of Kano State Students (NAKSS):Financial assistance was sought from Government, through the Office of the Secretary to the State Government, by the National Association of Kano State Students (NAKSS) to enable the conduct of the activities mentioned above. Details were presented to Council for consideration.

Council noted, considered and approved the release of the sum of N8,760,000.00 to the Office of the Secretary to the State Government for onward payment to the National Association of Kano State Students (NAKSS) as assistance for sponsoring the Peace Summit 2013 and the Swearing in Ceremony of the new leadership of the NAKSS. j.

Request for Funds to procure and Allocate Operational Vehicle to the Office of the State Coordinator, Afforestation Project:The nature of official functions at the Office of the State Coordinator, Afforestation Project compelled the Senior Official request for the allocation of a serviceable vehicle to enable the conduct of his official duties smoothly.

The request was considered credible as Council approved the release of the sum of N6,950,000.00 to the Office of the Secretary to the State Government to enable the purchase and allocation of one (1) unit of Toyota Hilux Double Cabin Pick Up vehicle to the Office of the Kano State Coordinator Afforestation Project.

5.

MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND BUDGET

a. Presentation on the State and Local Government Reform Project (SLOGOR), a World Bank Assisted Project:Contents of this memorandum concertedly notified Council of a Letter routed through the Office of the Honourable Commissioner, Ministry of Planning and Budget from the World Bank Office Abuja. The Letter introduces a new project tagged; “The State and Local Government Reform Project (SLOGOR).” Based on discussions held already a letter conveying Kano State interest in the project was communicated to them.

Essentially, the whole thing is about Capacity Building relative to Accountability and Transparency.

• Objectives of the project The main objectives of the project are to better Public Sector Governance Reform, Budget Management as well as improve credibility of the budget. It also intends to reform External Audit and Security System in the Public Sector Service Delivery.

• Target Institutions The Reform Project targets areas such as Finance, Budget Process, Auditing, Internal Revenue Generation and Governance generally.

The World Bank Project covers Anambra, Cross River, Osun, Jigawa, Kano and Yobe States and has earmarked the sum of 77Million US Dollars for the six (6) States.

• Expectation from each of the six (6) States i. Set up a composition of the key implementation structure for the State including; ** The State Project Steering Committee. ** Project Technical Committee and Project Coordinating Unit.

Notably, a team of Officials from the National Planning Commission/ World Bank/EU is expected to visit the States between 10th – 12th June, 2013 to ascertain level of preparation for the take – off of the project.

As such, the following were presented for consideration and approval

by Council; i.

Usage of the Former Office of EU Project, which has winded up as the Secretariat of the new project. ii. The list of the proposed eleven (11) – Members Steering Committee on the implementation of the SLOGOR. iii. The list of the proposed thirteen (13) – Member Technical Committee on the implementation of SLOGOR. Council acknowledged the presentation in appreciation and approved the composition of the list of SLOGOR Steering Committee and directed the Secretary to the State Government to formally inaugurate them

after which their Chairman inaugurates the Technical Committee.

6. MINISTRY OF WORKS, HOUSING AND TRANSPORT The Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport submitted six (6) memoranda for deliberation by Council. All were approved for execution as follows: a. Request for Funds to Enable the Construction of Covered – Lined Drains Using Concrete Rings and Laying of Garden Interlocking Tiles in Some Wards within Kano Municipal LGCA:The Honourable Commissioner, Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport concertedly notified Council, through contents of this memorandum, of the erstwhile deplorable and poor sanitary conditions prevailing in most settlements/communities within the ancient city of Kano. This continues to be of concern as the problem is identified to be mostly associated with the existing drainage system. Such is normally left open and allows passage of “Night Soil” freely across most of the residential areas/houses due to inadequate provision of toilet facilities.

Again, the drainage system provides excellent breeding grounds for mosquitoes and other serious disease carrying vectors including rodents, flies, etc.

Other unwholesome human activities are known to further escalate the problem, which prompted the Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport to identify six (6) locations in eight (8) wards within Kano Municipal LGCA for the execution of the required projects presented above. Details on the scope of works required were presented for consideration by Council for which the Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport requested for the release of the aggregate sum of N265,930,763.15 by Council to execute.

The request was considered relevant as Council approved the release of the requested sum of N265,930,763.15 to the Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport to enable the execution of the project mentioned above. b. Presentation of Request for Funds for the Take – Off of Kano State Driving Institute at Wara – Tallawa Along Zaria Road:The Honourable Commissioner, Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport politely reminded Council, through contents of this memorandum, of its approval granted for the release of funds for the take–off of the Driving Institute via Executive Council Extract NO. SSCA/ CA/EX/10/302 in which the Contract for the supply of furniture and installation of other learning facilities was awarded to Emirates Project Ltd. at the cost of N34,907,825.70.

The Company accepted the contract and actually commenced the supply and installations of the stipulated facilities, but observed that the price quoted for the two (2) simulators (i.e. N656,100.00 = N328,050.00 x 2) was wrong. A correction was effected and presented for consideration by Council. Thus: SN i. ii. iii. iv. v.

Cost price for Easy New 2010 26 “Screen Simulator” Cost price 6,680.00 US Dollars N1,055,440.00 Shipment 3,625.00 US Dollars N572,750.00 Installations 1,425.00 US Dollars N225,150.00 Insurance 125.00 US Dollars N19,750.00 Total 11,855.00 US Dollars N1,873,090.00

The correct price per one (1) Simulator is 11,855 US Dollars (equivalent to N1,873,090.00) making the cost for two (2) to be 23,710 US Dollars (equivalent to N3,746,180.00), which was requested for release by Council to enable the procurement and installation of the two (2) Simulators at the Driving Institute at Wara – Tallawa along Zaria Road. Council approved as requested since the Contract has already been awarded only amendments need to be effected. c. Presentation of Update and Review of the Contract Awarded for the Construction of Covered Sewage Conduit/Road Along Jakara – Kwarin Gogau River:Contents of this memorandum reminded Council of its approval for the award of the Contract mentioned above at the contract sum of N8,700,602,557.50. This was welcomed by the entire citizenry in Kano State especially the Community of the nearest vicinity to the site in question irrespective of the cost of the project. Succour and lasting solution to the pathetic and lamentable loss of lives and properties were hopefully brought to glaring view of the good people of Kano State.

Nevertheless, professionalism and concerned prudence guides performance in service delivery by this administration, which gingered the Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport to technically reappraise the initial concept for the entire project for an alternative equally applicable concept at a lower cost (from rectangular to circular crosssection). This was achieved details of which were presented for consideration by Council. A new equally feasible lower cost to the sum of N5,564,487,900.20 was arrived at with a total saving of N3,136,114,657.30 when compared to the original contract sum awarded at the sum of N8,700,602,557.50.

Jubilating, Council acknowledged the presentation and congratulated the good people of Kano State over realization of the monetary saving, which could be deployed to other meaningful endeavours for the benefit of the people of the State. d. Request for Funds to Enable the Continuation of the Construction of 2 – Bedrooms Prototype Housing Units for the Resettlement of Flood Victims at Token Village, Warawa LGCA:Provision of opportunities and access to decent housing/infrastructural facilities for use by the citizenry in Kano State is among the laudable cardinal resolutions of the present administration in Kano State under the capable leadership of the second incumbency of Governor Engr.

Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, FNSE. The laudable policy is celebrated and heralded tangibly by approvals granted for the execution of the following, but a few housing projects: i.

Sale of GP Houses to their occupants. ii. Construction and sale of commercial housing units at Kwankwasiyya, Bandirawo and Amana Cities. iii. Construction and distribution of 2 – Bedroom prototype housing units at Kunchi, Makoda, Warawa and Kwankwaso Towns.

As such, the Honourable Commissioner, Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport tacitly reminded Council of its approval granted for the construction of 586 two–Bedroom prototype housing units via Executive Council Extract NO. SSCA/CA/EX10/1/246. So far, 70 housing units were constructed to 100% completion level and were already allocated to the flood victims in the 2012 flood disaster at Token Village in Warawa LGCA under phase I of the project. This warrants for the need to continue with the program with the construction of 100 more prototype housing units at the aggregate sum of N75,334,240.00 with each costing N753,342.40.

The Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport requested for the release of the sum of N75,334,240.00 to enable the construction of 100 more two– bedroom prototype housing units for distribution to more flood victims.

Approval was granted as requested by Council considering credibility of the project and its congruence with the housing policy of the present administration. e. Request for Funds to Enable the Execution of Road Maintenance Works Within Kano Metropolis by KARMA:Since inception, this administration has established new parastatals such as the Kano Road Traffic Agency (KAROTA), Kano Roads Maintenance Agency (KARMA), Kano State Primary Healthcare Management Board, etc. to reinvigorate the public service and provide service to the community. Kano Roads Maintenance Agency (KARMA) was established with the sole purpose to maintaining roads in Kano State, especially in the metropolis.

So far, the Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport acknowledged the efforts of the administration in the provision of machineries and equipment worth millions of Naira to support the performance and function of the Agency. A few weeks ago, the sum of N90 million was released to the Agency to execute roads maintenance within the metropolis. The contents of this memorandum informed Council of the

progress achieved by KARMA especially on the repairs and general renovation of fifteen (15) selected roads in the metropolis. Details were submitted for consideration by Council.

Progressively, the Honorable Commissioner, Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport requested Council to approve the release of the sum of N263,500,000.00 to enable KARMA undertake the followings: i.

Continuation of road maintenance N100,000,000.00 ii. Repairs of abandoned machines N20,000,000.00 iii. Purchase of new machines N143,500,000.00 Total N263,500,000.00.

Council noted, considered the request and approved the release of the sum of N50,000,000.00 to the Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport to enable KARMA continue with the good work started on road maintenance in the metropolis. f. Request for Funds to Enable Take – Off of the Established “Waste to Wealth Program (LEDA JARI)” at Zaura – Babba, Ungogo LGCA:Provision of skill acquisition and general empowerment opportunities for youths of both genders is among the cardinal preoccupation of the incumbent administration in Kano State. Many celebrated established examples abound in the State of which the program cited above is among. Others efforts could been seen through the establishment of skills acquired institutes such as the Institutes of Fisheries, Institute of Poultry, Livestock Institute, Hotels and Hospitality Institute and the Lafia Jari Program. These facilities were established to make the teeming youths self-reliant and employed.

In any case, the “Waste to Wealth Program (LEDA JARI)” is yet to take–off due to the requirements of certain necessary facilities consequent upon which the Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport assessed the scope of works required at the aggregate cost of N21,297,560.70, which was requested for release by Council to enable the followings: i.

Renovation and construction N6,452,600.00 ii. Supply/installation of 33KVA electricity transformer and some internal electricity fittings, perimeter and motor control center, construction/reticulation of motorized water borehole N3,252,262.50 iii. Drawings/bill of quantities N11,592,698.20 Total N21,297,560.70.

The request was considered credible as Council approved the release of the requested sum of N21,297,560.70 to the Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport to enable the execution of the stated projects so as to facilitate the immediate take–off of the “Waste to Wealth Program (LEDA JARI)” at Zaura – Babba, Ungogo Local Government Council Area to engage youths for their and State economic progress.

7.

OFFICE OF THE HEAD OF CIVIL SERVICE

Presentation of the Proposal for the Establishment of Kano Pensioners Multi – Purpose Cooperative Society:The Head of Civil Service reminded Council of instructions issued to him at its sitting of Wednesday 22nd May, 2013 to appraise a proposal for the establishment of Kano Pensioners Multi–Purpose Cooperative Society.

The proposal was dutifully appraised, which yielded the following findings/recommendations; i.

The proposal was conceived so as to provide a platform for promoting the socio – economic well–being of pensioners who served in the State Public Service (State and Local Government). ii. The Kano State Pension Fund Trustees (KSPFT) based on its enabling Law has the latitude to invest its funds into legitimate businesses including share – holding. iii. The Cooperative Society could be registered with the State Ministry of Commerce, Industry, Cooperatives and Tourism being the relevant organ vested with such powers as enshrined under CAP 33, Laws of Kano State of Nigeria, 1991.

So, Council was requested to consider and approve the following four (4) prayers: • The establishment of Kano State Pensioners Multi – Purpose Cooperative Society in line with the provision of CAP 33, Laws of Kano State of Nigeria, 1991.

• The setting up of a care – taker Committee to be drawn from the Pension Union and KSPFT, while the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, Cooperatives and Tourism is to provide a Secretary to the Committee.

• The investment of 51% equity share – holding into the Cooperative Society by the Kano State Pension Fund Trustees, which should be recovered within a period of three (3) years through gradual acquisition of such shares by members of the Society.

• The release of N10,000,000.00 as seed fund for the Kano Pensioners Multi – Purpose Cooperative Society.

Council appreciatively acknowledged the presentation and approved the execution of the four (4) prayers listed above.

8. MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES Presentation of Proposal and Request for Funds for the Procurement and Distribution of Post Training Packages to the 2nd Batch of Graduating Trainees at Kano Fisheries Institute Bagauda:The Hon. Commissioner, Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources concertedly informed the attentive Council, through contents of this memorandum that, training for the 2nd batch of students at Kano Fisheries Institute Bagauda will end next week.

A total of 400 participants were successfully trained on general fish farming, fish production and Hatchery Management, fish preservation techniques and packaging, fish Agribusiness and Kwankwasiyya Logic and Philosophy.

So, the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources sought for approval by Council for the release of the sum of N43,898,000.00 to enable the procurement and distribution of post training packages to the 400 trainees and provide for other logistics. Details were presented for consideration by Council.

Council noted, considered and approved the release of the trimmed down sum of N40,000,000.00 to the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources to enable authorities at the Fisheries Institute Bagauda execute the stated purposes – especially procurement and distribution of post training packages to the graduating participants which agrees with the empowerment policy of the present administration.

UPDATE ON ACTIVITIES OF THE 103RD EXCO SITTING 1.

GRADUATION CEREMONY OF 1000 WOMEN FROM POULTRY AND FISHERIES INSTITUTE BAGAUDA Council acknowledged the successful graduation of 1000 Women who were trained on Poultry and Fisheries farming selected across the 44 Local Government Areas in the State. Council wishes them success and prosperity in their future undertakings.

2. DFID SUPPORT ON AIR FORCE PILOTING IN THE STATE Council acknowledged with appreciation the continued support of the DFID Group towards Social and Economic development of the State.

Council welcomed the support DFID is extending on the State policy of training and encouraging youths to join pilot profession.

3. CELEBRATION OF THE 83rd BIRTHDAY & 50th GOLDEN JUBILEE ANNIVERSARY OF THE EMIR OF KANO ALH. (DR.) ADO ABDULLAHI BAYERO Council witnessed with delight the successful celebration of the 83rd birthday and the Golden Jubilee (50th) anniversary of His Highness Alh. Dr. Ado Abdullahi Bayero on throne as the Emir of Kano. Council wishes him better health.

4. PRESENTATION OF AWARDS Council witnessed presentation of awards received by the State participants at the 6th African Arts & Crafts Expo (AFAC) through the History and Culture Bureau, which was held in Abuja on 6th – 15th June, 2013.

Signed: Hon. Commissioner, Information, Internal Affairs, Youth, Sports & Culture, Kano State

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THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

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THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

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COMMENTARY FROM OTHER LANDS

EDITORIALS

Brazil’s protests

Needless impasse • Crisis in the FAAC would have been avoided if all cards had been put on the table

T

HE Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) is in recent time riddled with avoidable turbulence. The toga of rancour in the assemblage of 36 states’ commissioners of finance and officials of the Federal Government has been unduly overheating the polity. Sometime ago, commissioners from the states staged a walkout on Yerima Ngama, Minister of State for Finance, over unresolved differences in revenue sharing, including the delay in the distribution of arrears of N160billion outstanding monies since February.

Mr Timothy Udah, Chairman of Forum of Commissioners of Finance of Nigeria (FCFN) puts it succinctly after the walkout: “We are aggrieved over the nonimplementation of decisions and resolutions taken at FAAC plenary sessions in the past. The most recent was the one held in May, 2013, which by all implication still remained inconclusive. As the arrears of February remain unpaid, we are yet to be briefed and no clue is given…”

We deprecate a situation where the Federal Government will treat the component states as worthless appendages. The essence of the stipulation that FAAC should meet monthly is to allow the federal and state governments, through their commissioners of finance, consider and share revenue accruals to the three tiers of government. Why should FAAC refuse to implement resolutions reached at such meeting? Nigeria is not a unitary but a

constitutionally guaranteed federal entity where the component units have outlined duties and responsibilities to perform. It is ultra vires the powers of the Federal Government to arbitrarily determine when to give the states their legal shares from the consolidated revenue account that belongs to the entire country.

Although the matter is reportedly being resolved, we consider as lawless the delay or outright denial of revenue-sharing rights of the states. The states are not beholden to the Federal Government, and as such should not be treated as mere subordinates whose rights can be trampled upon with impunity. It is unfathomable that the said February agreement was reneged upon. This is the second time that the commissioners, for incongruous reasons by the Federal Government, would be compelled to stage a walkout at FAAC meetings.

We are aware that issues have been raised over the correct amount that the nation generates because the states usually do not get carried along in such matters. What they know of, especially on oil export, is what the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) unilaterally declares, without any means of verifying its figures. The same applies to other money-spinning areas of the economy.

Under such circumstances, it would be difficult to believe assertions that a shortfall in government revenue is delaying

arrears owed the states. Who determines when there is a shortfall? The decision of whether or not a shortfall occurs should be that of two parties as against the current practice of one. Despite this anomalous situation, the Federal Government still, surprisingly, pretends to be operating an ideal federation.

It is sad that the Federal Government is using the FAAC to fight its battle in the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF). Unfortunately, this is not done in the collective interest of the nation but merely to satisfy the interest of President Goodluck Jonathan. But the president should note that he is not above the law, and as such should not play politics with what is due to the states.

‘Although the matter is reportedly being resolved, we consider as lawless the delay or outright denial of revenuesharing rights of the states.

The states are not beholden to the Federal Government, and as such should not be treated as mere subordinates whose rights can be trampled upon with impunity. It is unfathomable that the said February agreement was reneged upon’

Sleaze incorporated?

•Minister’s claim on N58bn unremitted revenue is shocking; it should be probed

N

IGERIANS are no doubt familiar with the dysfunction in their government, the paralysis of its institutions and the criminal impunity that is commonplace; what continues to be confounding is the sheer novelty of every act.

That is the context in which to view the latest heist allegedly perpetrated by banks and their agents in the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), said to cost the nation a fortune in unremitted revenue.

A memo from the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala alerted the nation to the humongous heist. The memo accused some unnamed revenue –generating agencies of the Federal Gov-

‘We do not accept closing of the agencies’ accounts as a fitting punishment for the crimes, which the minister herself seems persuaded, could range from criminal collusion, abuse of public trust to outright heist.

In the circumstance, the measure seems to us as only a necessary first step. We expect the roles of the executives of the agencies and the colluding banks to be determined. Those who broke the law for personal gains deserve appropriate punishment...’

ernment of colluding with some banks to withhold monies which ought to have been remitted to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF), contrary to what the law prescribes. The minister puts the amount involved as N58 billion.

More worrisome, according to the minister, is that the practice has persisted despite the efforts of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to get the agencies and the affected banks to do the right thing. The minister would further charge that the affected agencies and banks have resorted to all manner of legal subterfuge to ensure that the monies are not remitted to the coffers of the Federal Government.

Okonjo-Iweala gave June 17 deadline after which the Office of the AccountantGeneral of the Federation will close the accounts of agencies involved in this practice in all banks. To underscore the resolve of the finance ministry, the memo concluded that the “process of systematic closure will continue until all monies that should be in the Consolidated Revenue Fund are retrieved.”

The memo obviously raises troubling questions. The first is that the ministry is convinced that relevant laws have been broken. The second is that the practice has persisted in spite of attempts by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to bring the matter to the attention of the offenders for remediation.

The third is an alleged ploy by the banks, through their lawyers, to frustrate the transfer of the funds into the nation’s

coffers.

We consider the development unfortunate: a case of impunity writ large.

To us, the pertinent issue is whether the infractions could have taken place had the relevant institutions done their work as they ought to. No less worrisome is the suggestion that the infractions somehow escaped the eyes of the examiners – the auditors. We dare to ask: what is the role of the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation in all of these? Who authorised the opening of the accounts in question? Was it done with the knowledge of their boards or those of their executive management?

Did the affected agencies obtain the mandate of the Accountant-General of the Federation before the accounts were opened? And the banks – were the rules of account opening for public institutions adhered to scrupulously?

We do not accept closing of the agencies’ accounts as a fitting punishment for the crimes, which the minister herself seems persuaded, could range from criminal collusion, abuse of public trust to outright heist. In the circumstance, the measure seems to us as only a necessary first step. We expect the roles of the executives of the agencies and the colluding banks to be determined.

Those who broke the law for personal gains deserve appropriate punishment; the same applies to those who were negligent in the performance of their duties. That is the only way to curb the festering culture of impunity.

• The country’s 20 cent revolution shows the fantasy is over VERYONE is struggling to understand Brazil’s occasionally violent street protests, the country’s biggest in two decades.

Although sparked by a 20 cent increase in bus fares, they are not, at heart, about economic issues: incomes and employment remain high. Nor are they political, a tropical version of the Arab spring or Turkish protests.

President Dilma Rousseff remains popular, for now.

Rather they have formed out of a leaderless social movement, fed by Twitter and Facebook, that expresses a diffuse set of grievances, from corruption and public misspending to the cost of living. This is also in tune with a perhaps more worrying investor zeitgeist: one which suggests the Brazilian model may have reached its limit.

Brazil has enjoyed a spectacular 10-year run of economic growth, thanks to the commodity boom and steroid-like injections of consumer credit. Some 30m people, who have risen out of poverty as a result, can now buy consumer goods like never before. But social changes elsewhere have not kept up with the demands of this newly entitled, if still precarious, middle class. The result is a disconnect: between the bad old’ Brazil that Brazilians are told they have left behind, and the glorious new one the government says they live in.

For example, cultivating Brazil’s global image by spending $12bn on football stadiums for the 2014 World Cup is all very well. But not when life for the majority is so hard. They pay developed world taxes for still shoddy developing world public services. Overcrowded buses and thick traffic make the daily commute an expensive and time-consuming grind. Government corruption is rife. The disconnect is especially large when it comes to unreformed institutions, such as the police. Their thuggery against protesters really set national indignation alight.

This disquiet that “new Brazil” may be little changed from the “old Brazil” is not unique.

All over South America, citizens are fed up with being told how good things are. In prosperous Chile, it is over outrageous university bills and lack of social mobility.

In more revolutionary Argentina, it is over a government that is out of touch and riddled with corruption but piously declares otherwise.

All these social protests cut across the political spectrum; no leader is immune. In many ways, they are akin to growing concern in financial markets about emerging markets as a whole. Both are warnings that the political salad days and easy money of the past decade may be drawing to a close.

– Financial Times

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TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief • Editor Gbenga Omotoso •Chairman, Editorial Board Sam Omatseye •General Editor Kunle Fagbemi •Editor, Online Lekan Otufodunrin •Managing Editor Northern Operation Yusuf Alli •Managing Editor Waheed Odusile

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•Deputy Editor Lawal Ogienagbon

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THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

CARTOON & LETTERS

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IR: In Nigeria, the culture of impunity continues to assume frightening dimensions. We have enshrined mediocrity and selfishness as a nation.

Those privileged to occupy one position of trust or the other have seized such opportunities to glorify absurdities. Some practices hitherto considered as alien to our system of governance and even to our lifestyles have become the fads nowadays. These practices have crept into our system of governance eroding values.

Particularly, state governors have since constituted themselves as purveyors of financial recklessness and perhaps scandals. I have always argued that state governors remain one of the biggest challenges to development.

Their Excellencies have unarguably become clogs in the wheel of

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Governors, private jets and states’ treasuries progress. They have become so powerful and utterly influential that they decide whatever goes on in their domain. Governors control so much money that some of them now buy jets as toys. Clearly most of the governors are competing when it comes to the class of jets.

Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State in October 7, 2012 acquired a Bombardier Global 5000 jet for the state government. The

jet was said to have been bought at the sum of $45.7 million (N7.4 billion). In 2012, the state’s Embracer Legacy 600 jet was traded off to the Cross River state government. Recall that in 2005, former governor of the state, Sir Peter Odili bought two aircrafts, one an air ambulance and the other a private jet. The aircrafts were procured in the name of Rivers State government.

In June 2011, the Akwa Ibom State government bought a $45 million

jet. The state-of- the- art aircraft was manufactured in 2011.

Former governor of Delta State, James Onanefe Ibori was also enmeshed in a private jet case. Elsewhere in Bauchi State, former Governor Alhaji Ahmed Muazu acquired aircraft for N3 billion.

Taraba State governor Danbaba Suntai also crashed the stateowned Cessna 28 aircraft into a farm near the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)

FCT minister and his traducers

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IR: I have watched with considerable concern nay disdain the smear campaign of calumny targeted against the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Mohammed with respect to the attempt to extort money from him by a Kaduna-based publisher under dubious circumstances.

Since the controversy, which started with the desperate attempt by this publisher to extort money from the minister, ostensibly to forgo the publication of a book the former claimed to writing on the latter, Nigerians have been waiting expectantly that with time, the whole brouhaha would come to an end.

From all intents and purposes, what this publisher did smacks of unprofessionalism, a backhanded attempt to coerce the minister into parting with huge sums of public money to ‘settle’ him. From whichever angle the issue is viewed from, it is morally and ethically indefensible.

As a former journalist himself, the minister is conversant with the ethics of the profession, one of which expressly forbids extortion by journalists. And that is why he has decided to attack the virus of this ungodly game by refusing to settle his heckler, a commendable act that should be emulated by other public officials that have been helplessly fleeced by conmen masquerading as journalists.

No doubt, some people would have preferred the minister settling this extortionist silently without raising an uproar, but methinks that is a defeatist way of reasoning. It takes a lot of guts to do what the minister has done. As a matter of fact, somebody has to muster courage, the same way the he did, to stand up this dangerous practice that is fast depleting our national treasury and ravaging the media profession once and for all. For this singular act, he deserves commendation and not condemnation.

Contrary to what some spoilsports are saying, the minister scored the bulls’ eye by reporting

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the matter to the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), the umbrella body of all media practitioners. The point must once again be orchestrated that it is unprofessional to hide under the canopy of journalism to perpetrate acts that are detrimental or inimical to the interest of the highly revered profession.

Agreed, journalists are to hold public officials accountable to the people, but it should be done within the confines of the ethics of the profession.

Those troubling the minister should profit from the lessons of history. Publishing gladiators and worse propagandists have passed

through this land in the past. They had left the people nay government officials traumatized. When they spoke, acted or wrote, it was to trample on or to offend the sensibilities of Nigerians. Some even boasted, like this publisher is currently doing, that no power could render them irrelevant. But when denouement came like a whirlwind, they were all swept into the dustbin of history. So history is like gallows, it hangs those who ignore its poignant lesson.

• Ray Edmund Oche Bwari, Abuja.

depot in Yola, the Adamawa State capital recently.

Besides the purchase of these aircrafts, most state governments have embarked on the construction of airports and airstrips. Even some states that are battling with road challenges have gone on to construct private airstrips.

What is the justification for such humongous expenditures on jets when the people battle with penury and poverty? In states where majority of the people are feeding from hand to mouth and where living daily has been an uphill task, wasting millions of dollars in private aircrafts is rather unwise, selfish and uncalled for.

This kind of scenario tells what happens with our treasuries. How people who have access to our funds appropriate monies. It is clear that our treasuries are ‘loose’. The age-long question about the relevance and otherwise efficiency of the states’ Houses of Assembly comes into play here. What was the input of the states’ Houses of Assembly when these jets were purchased?

This gross misplacement of priorities show how our governors spend monies perhaps to suit their jamborees, merry go round, et al.

The purchase of jets by states at this time is unfathomable. We must curb the impunity before it becomes a natural order.

• Stanley Ibeku, Africa Regional Centre for information Science, University of Ibadan.

FERMA and Osun’s federal roads

IR: On Thursday June 20, the House of Representatives committee on works visited Governor Rauf Aregbesola in his office in Osogbo. The week before, the governor turned the sod on the dualisation of Gbongan-Akoda road and the planned interchange at Gbongan.

However, to my chagrin, I saw FERMA signboards on various spots on the road and the evidence of the patch-patch job the Federal Ministry of Works pretends to be doing on this road.

This to me does not make sense.

Osun State got the licence to

rehabilitate the road under former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola who could only complete the project halfway from Osogbo to Akoda, leaving the other half a death-trap. Concerned with the condition of this important road, Governor Aregbesola decided to fix it from the meagre resources of the state. What is expected of any decent government is to commend Aregbesola and support him in every way possible.

This road has failed and it is evident patchwork can no longer work. Even with the patching, a ride on this road is always dangerous and

bumpy, the greatest danger being the narrowness of the road and its inability to cope with the volume of traffic on it.

Everyday, vehicles from opposing sides run into each other while trying to avoid the bad portions leading to avoidable accidents occasioning deaths and injuries.

It is therefore shocking to see FERMA still pretending to be patching this road. FERMA is hereby advised not to waste scarce funds patching a road that is being scraped in preparation for a brand new dual carriage way. It is foolish, unreasonable and insensitive.

There are sleuths of federal roads scattered in Osun State that have become impassable. A good example is the Osogbo-IlobuOgbomoso Road where at least a quarter of Osogbo residents are quartered. There are federal roads in Ilesa, Ife, Iwo, Ede, Ejigbo and so on begging for attention. Please, FERMA, go to these bad roads and not on a road being reconstructed

by Governor Aregbesola on behalf of the good people of the state.

There is no room for bad politics here.

• Mike Opatola, Osogbo, Osun State

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THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

COMMENTS

23 states in the dreamland

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HY is Nigeria being entrapped about 2015 elections when in 2013 hardly had good performance impact manifest in the life of the masses? Rather than focus on genuine transformation of a declining nation, the struggle now is about retaining power at all cost.

Although President Goodluck Jonathan is yet to declare if he would be running or not for the second term, but he wants to capture 23 states. It is hard to understand what gives the audacity to think that a burdened political platform could survive when it is working more on self-disintegration. It is even more dispiriting seeing those not working to fulfill their campaign promises to the level that could encourage people to retain their confidence but are heard just bragging to win the votes that were never cast in their favour.

At the ruling People’s Democratic Party’s National Executive Council meeting last week, the president was reported to have recalled that the PDP was once in control of more than 23 states, but regretted that the party had lost some of those states. But he never revealed how some of those states were purportedly declared won in the past. Rather, he challenged party members to ensure that the number of states to be won in 2015 did not go below the present 23. What a dream!

For a party that has been meshed in internal crisis for a while now and has nothing to show for its 14 years in control of the nation’s affairs, this ought not to be a season for cheap talks. Would it not have been prudent to seek why indeed it never won 23 states in reality? Must the party not seek for the heart of fidelity to query its Board of Trustees Chairman Tony Anenih for boasting to fix victory for the party just the same way it has been winning before? It is as if they could not see Nigerians growing to the level of rising in perseverance to protect their votes. To think rigging will favour the party again must be working in ignorance of the mind and state of the people being misruled.

We have hardly heard any of the presidents produced by the PDP in the last 14 years being apprehensive with the inflationary trend in country. Or any of them compassionate about poverty in the blessed land of milk and honey. They always pretend that all is well as if they are waiting until people start eating from the dustbins (apology to Umaru Dikko).

In the PDP of today, diverse conflicts are splitting the party.

There is the contention of divide-and-rule against the North.

In South-West, the party keeps degenerating as the zone is sidelined by those in power. Even in South-South, tension keeps building up as Jonathan is not considered as the best of

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HE excitement written on the faces of the crowd that trooped out to witness the unveiling of the road was euphoric. That indeed was one of the hallmarks of the ingenuity of the current Lagos State government headed by Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN). His total commitment to the comfort of Lagosians has never been in doubt. This is why the new LekkiIkoyi link Bridge while it was being declared open last week excited motorists and residents alike. People stood in clusters of groups, staring at the awesomeness of the bridge. To them, it was a huge phenomenal developmental stride for the state.

Governor Fashola last Wednesday formally opened the bridge with the primary objective that it would help to decongest traffic on the Victoria Island – Ikoyi axis of the Lagos metropolis. What impressed people most was the innovative idea behind the link bridge. Its modernity in terms of concept also surprised many people who could not as yet understand its workability.

Until Governor Fashola introduced this idea of a cable bridge, no one in Lagos or Nigeria as a whole had the faintest idea that it could work here. The bridge, besides being a link to decongest a busy highway, has something like a rope that helps to move a car or vehicle faster.

This way, there is no room for a traffic jam or traffic buildup that will in anyway affect or hinder vehicular movement on the road.

In it, the cars are attached to an endless moving cable by means of adjustable grip. This grip usually passes through a slot or leeway on the roadway, helping a car to move faster and easier. It is a perceptive concept to help ease traffic, more so where many other modern and in-

‘A cable bridge works like a locomotive train in many ways. It is the rope that grips a car to make it increase its speed. Since there is the tendency to have traffic gridlock on such a link bridge or junction, the application of the cable adds more value to the system’

them that can continue to rule on their behalf. Afterall, the ordinary East-West road project has remained a contending issue.

Poor performance of the party is evident across the nation.

Largely, struggling for power is destroying the structure.

What we mainly see is that corruption is at an all time high just as insecurity is like having air in the open sky.

Mending the self-torn umbrella is now the challenge that even the leadership could not handle since the leaders are the source of the tribulations. Satisfying self interest above serving the people has resulted in administrative cluelessness.

This might be why more and more of the politicians are struggling to take over power. If President Jonathan can come out today to say he will not run for the presidency in 2015, the wild wind engulfing the party will go down.

But the truth is that many Nigerians are fed up with the infractions in PDP, with many becoming battle ready to vote out the party in 2015 if there could be an alternative. People are indeed waiting for a more credible political platform to emerge. And this is why the challenge for the opposition is to convince the people that they have better contenders than the failed ruling party.

To move the nation forward therefore would not be through restriction to picking a president from a particular ethnic or tribal zone. Neither would it be ruling in 23 states. Afterall, no region in the country would claim not to have tasted the sweetness of national power, except that hardly had any ended with much viable benefits to their own people.

What committed Nigerians are interested in are efficient and dedicated leadership, transparency, accountability and impactful governance.

FEEDBACK Re: A nation beyond paper-growtheconomy Soji, if one may ask, what type of body chemistry runs through our once shoeless Otuoke man? Is he trying to say from his personal experience where the shoe pinches the masses in Nigeria where life is dull, dry and drab almost to the point of psychosis? Let millions of Okupes and Abatis continue to massage Oga’s ego and even praise his inanities.

One thing is clear: PDP has reached its bus stop come 2013.

Soji Oloketuyi, Igbemo-Ekiti Help me tell Senator Ike Ekweremadu to be bold and raise the issue of fiscal federalism in the Senate house, because that is the only solution left to solve Nigeria’s intercontinental mess we found ourselves today. From KC, Egbaland To me, PDP has no vision. It has no direction, no manifestoes or even a constitution that governs its activities. What the party seems to use in running its affairs is the will of anyone of its members that occupy Aso Rock. When Obasanjo was in the saddle, it was difficult to separate his decisions from the laws governing the PDP. Today, the party is ever ready to crush any of its member that dreams of indicting interest to contest for the presidency because it is Mr.

Jonathan’s exclusive birthright which the party must enforce at all costs. If you are in doubt, ask Rotimi Amaechi.

From O. Ifeanyichukwu, Abuja Nigeria is a nation at perpetual risk for survival from the notorious practice of ant-trust journalism by ACN storytellers like you. Nigeria is a nation beyond paper-growth OYES unsustainable employment generation you are celebrating.

Being a progressive is not just being loquacious. That is the bitter truth. 234803740982 Mr. Soji, you wrote very well. Good governance is the answer for economic growth. From Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia Soji, let Dr. Doyin Okupe stop crying the wolf where there is none. Rather he would concentrate on how he will lead PDP marauders in mending their already tattered and fetish umbrella come 2015. From Magaji, Warri, Delta State Let Akpabio and Jonathan know that we are no numskull.

They shall not win election in 2015, no matter the threat from people like Asari. I am from Imo and from day one I never voted for Jonathan; I voted for Buhari. Please tell them that this country will split if Jonathan wins – which I know shall not be possible. 2348038643922.

To insist on extracting formal commitment or endorsement before election other than nomination form (or impeachment) amounts to democratic irresponsibility. So also, if anyone willingly made a commitment but reneged without explanation, needless to say he who celebrates benefitting from a fraudulent process is worse than Satan and doom awaits him.

What a disaster! The country is under the firm grip of those morally and religiously bankrupt. Let us work hard to reverse the trend while we seek for divine intervention. From James.

Soji, come out to contest as president. Nobody from Yoruba will dare it. Ebele is still the outstanding candidate. Mind your comments on issues. 23448165124180 May God destroy dictators and enemies of progressive Nigeria. From Salman Farisi Opinion poll will reveal that GEJ doesn’t enjoy the support of true southerners as he has been ascribed. Now in desperation, Amaechi has been suspended. What would these hawks not do? Shame on them. From Prince Godwin Thank you Mr. Omotunde for your well expressed view.

Nothing can happen without God’s awareness. He will allow anything evil to happen so as to teach us a lesson in goodness. We are learning from PDP’s machinations as the party is pushing on to 2015 to lose power which they have not utilised well since 1999. Maybe God now wants change in power for Nigeria’s real transformation. The way He will do it will not be the way of man. From Tony PDP is unconscious sicklier with endemic sickle cell running the blood capillaries. It is humble to accept that defeat is from God and not from mankind. From Musa

Understanding Fashola’s cable bridge

By Ikem Okeke novative ideas had failed in the past. And so considering the fast growing population of people on the LekkiIkoyi-Victoria Island – Ajah axis, what the state government has done has proved how fast it can think and work to meet the yearnings of the people.

Although it will take a little while for motorists to come to terms with this noble idea, it remains to be seen how people can even circumvent this laudable project.

A cable bridge works like a locomotive train in many ways. It is the rope that grips a car to make it increase its speed. Since there is the tendency to have traffic gridlock on such a link bridge or junction, the application of the cable adds more value to the system.

The governor even made it clear while opening the road.

Not only that he promised that it would help to save more travel time for motorist, going into Lekki now will become a delightful drive. For the avoidance of doubts, the Ozumba Mbadiwe axis of Victoria Island will now be decongested. Any one who follows that route to Ajah or Lekki or thereabout, does so out of choice.

The beauty of it all is that traffic will be lighter henceforth. It will even be much better when the state government completes the Third Roundabout through the Admiralty way to provide another choice and access to commuters from Ajah into the Mainland area of the city. In other words, with functional large network of modern roads and the proper application by road users, Fashola is telling Lagosians that it is time to sit up and be counted among modern and civilized people.

This is a fast growing world in terms of technology.

And cable bridges which are often linked to congested cities have been in use in technologically – advanced societies long before now. And because Fashola has seen it all, he has been to many cities akin to Lagos, it is easier for him to replicate the good examples he has seen in those places.

Remarkably, link bridges abhor heavy trucks. It does not function well when big lorries disturb it too often. Its beauty lies in free flow of traffic where traffic laws are

not in abeyance.

Owing to this and more, the governor has promptly banned Okada, commercial buses, tricycles and others from the road. This is to avoid a mess of the new experiment which is geared towards the lofty benefits of a civilized environment. This banning of Okada and their ilk is in line with the ideals and concept of a link cable bridge.

While Governor Fashola has been commended by a couple of people for his foresight in doing this, it is also advisable for him to shift attention to some other knotty traffic-prone places in the state. For example, the AmuwoOdofin axis of the state needs such a lift. The state government can also facilitate another project in that line to ease vehicular congestion on those roads.

The 1.358 kilometre link bridge built by Julius Berger, obviously serves as an eye-opener to people who never saw anything good in the state. A cable bridge in many ways shows an automated form of vehicular movement.

Typical examples can be found in many parts of Mexico and Brazil, especially Sao Paolo which is one of the most developed cities in South America.

It shows a government in action; a place where action also speaks louder than words. No one can take it away from Fashola. Here is a governor who knows how and where to apply tax payers’ money for the proper transformation of the state. And he knows that when more of such of link and cable bridges go round the state, people will no longer spend more productive hours on the road everyday.

• Okeke writes from Lagos

‘Remarkably, link bridges abhor heavy trucks. It does not function well when big lorries disturb it too often. Its beauty lies in free flow of traffic where traffic laws are not in abeyance’

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

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COMMENTS

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VERY revealing but stunning scenario played out last week when officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) met with their counterparts of the National Population Commission, (NPC). INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega had asked NPC chairman, Eze Festus Odimegwu to officially release to him some certified data from the commission to aid them in the planned constituency delimitation exercise. But he must have got the shocker of his life, when he was told that, the NPC had no officially certified data for all the localities in the country as some of the enumeration areas do not exist in reality.

Hear Odimegwu: “The enumeration centers we have, some of them do not exist in reality, some politicians bought them the way you will want to register voters and some people will buy voters’ cards in order to have an advantage” According to the NPC chairman, these people bought the enumeration areas and raised the number from about “250 to 500 and if you later count and discover that the population is 10, they will say no, but we gave you 500, you have to raise it to that number we gave you”.

These disclosures are not only weighty but very revealing and sensitive. They are no doubt, at the root of the high wire controversy that trailed our past attempts at national head count. In the past 30 years or so, all the censuses held in this country were embroiled in intense controversy as the various sections of the country fiercely disputed their outcome. The two last ones held in 1991 and 2006 were no less contentious. But while that of 1991 posted a figure of 88.9 million people with a projected growth rate of 2.9 per cent, the 2006 census came out with a figure of 140 million people.

Even before the 2006 headcount, intense bickering arose regarding the proposal to

‘But the NPC must weed out the bad eggs in its midst that had aided and abetted these high profile fraud. At no time in the life of this country than now is the imperative of a reliable population census more compelling’

Emeka OMEIHE 08121971199 email: EmekaOmeihe@yahoo.com

Odimegwu’s fake census data include the twin issues of ethnicity and religion in the questionnaires that will form part of the data to be furnished by individuals. The whole idea was to generate the statistics of the various ethnic and religious groups in this country given claims and counter claims regarding their relative strengths. And for a country that is still grappling with debilitating problems of development, the availability of these data will no doubt be of veritable aid for planning purposes. Despite the obvious benefits from these vital statistics, their inclusion was still highly disputed. The North threatened to mobilize its people to work against the exercise should these two indices appear in the questionnaire. There was equally a counter threat from the South-east to boycott the exercise if they were not included.

And when eventually the NPC did not include them, some groups moved round the South-east campaigning against the headcount.

This in part, accounted for the poor posting of that zone to the overall population figure.

There was also the issue of state of origin as against that of domicile. It was vigorously canvassed that given the pattern of migration especially to urban centres in search of greener pastures, there was the need to add up indigenes of states counted outside to the total population of their home states. It was argued that in view of the unresolved issue of residency, states needed to have an idea of their entire population to enable them plan properly since their indigenes will ultimately have to rely for services provided by their home states. This was not adopted.

However, the headcount went on and posted a figure that has at best, remained a

matter of disputation. Its outcome did not depart substantially from the pattern that had characterized previous attempts further fuelling feelings that there is more to these figures than ordinarily meets the eyes. The revelations by Odimegwu only confirms the wildly held view that our previous attempts at reliable head count had along been heavily manipulated to gain advantage and cannot be relied upon. The desperation to falsify population figures should not be surprising given the crucial role vital statistics play not only in national planning but in the sharing of our national resources. Apart from its use as one of the indices for revenue sharing, it also constitutes a key factor in determining representation into the national legislature.

It was in furtherance of this role that the INEC had to approach the NPC for the release of some certified data to aid it in its planned constituency delimitation exercise only to be told that previous population censuses were heavily compromised. Sadly, it is the same manipulated data that has been used to arrive at the subsisting constituencies. It is also the same spurious data that is considered in revenue sharing. We can now better appreciate the fate of sections of this country that have expectedly been shortchanged through fake enumeration areas.

Ironically, since that very embarrassing disclosure, much attention has not been drawn to that national disgrace such that it may soon be swept under the carpet in the typical Nigerian fashion. But that must not be allowed to happen given the centrality of accurate population data to the good health of any nation. It is good a thing Odimegwu

summoned the courage to expose a festering cankerworm that has been at the root of nation’s fictitious census figures. It is also very refreshing that we have now been let into the main source of that fraud. Before now, the major sources of population fraud had largely been in the areas of double counting and counting of people in absentia. It has never been envisaged that politicians bought enumeration areas that never existed in reality and posted results for them. It is a similitude of the writing of election results after elections that have no semblance with the actual number of votes cast at the ballot box. It is fraud of unmitigated proportion that has been allowed to fester for quite some time. Given the way political affairs have been handled in this country, it may not surprise anyone to hazard a guess as to which sections of the country have mostly taken undue advantage of this malfeasance.

It is thus not sufficient for the NPC chairman to have identified these fraudulent practices. He must proceed beyond these to plug all loopholes that were hitherto exploited by politicians to sabotage the realization of a credible headcount. The heuristic value of his revelations is that we can only rely on existing census figures at a very great risk. He must therefore work very assiduously to give this nation a census that can be relied upon. Thus, the proposed constituency delimitation by the INEC is already encumbered by the very fact that the population data that should aid the exercise cannot be relied upon. Putting it to use in the impending exercise will amount to double jeopardy as it will further perpetuate extant inequities between sections and groups.

The idea of both commissions working in tandem to produce the digital photography of the country and give us a reliable census by 2016 is most welcome. But the NPC must weed out the bad eggs in its midst that had aided and abetted these high profile fraud. At no time in the life of this country than now is the imperative of a reliable population census more compelling.

For once, we must ensure that the figures we post bear close semblance with extant facts on the ground. We can no longer afford to manipulate the actual population of this country because of the political advantage higher figures confer on constituent units without subjecting our collective fate to mortal harm.

Can Odimegwu do the magic without being frustrated by the powerful forces that sabotaged previous attempts? Only time will tell.

OPINION FROM THE OTHER LAND ODERN India is, in many ways, a success. Its claim to be the world’s largest democracy is not hollow.

Its media is vibrant and free; Indians buy more newspapers every day than any other nation. Since independence in 1947, life expectancy at birth has more than doubled, to 66 years from 32, and per-capita income (adjusted for inflation) has grown fivefold In recent decades, reforms pushed up the country’s once sluggish growth rate to around eight percent per year, before it fell back a couple of percentage points over the last two years. For years, India’s economic growth rate ranked second among the world’s large economies, after China, which it has consistently trailed by at least one percentage point.

The hope that India might overtake China one day in economic growth now seems a distant one. But that comparison is not what should worry Indians most. The far greater gap between India and China is in the provision of essential public services — a failing that depresses living standards and is a persistent drag on growth.

Inequality is high in both countries, but China has done far more than India to raise life expectancy, expand general education and secure health care for its people. India has elite schools of varying degrees of excellence for the privileged, but among all Indians seven or older, nearly one in every five males and one in every three females are illiterate. And most schools are of low quality; less than half the children can divide 20 by 5, even after four years of schooling.

India may be the world’s largest producer of generic medicine, but its health care system is an unregulated mess. The poor have to rely on low-quality — and sometimes exploitative — private medical care, because there isn’t enough decent public care. While China devotes 2.7 percent of its gross domestic product to government spending on health care, India allots 1.2 percent.

India’s underperformance can be traced to a failure to learn from the examples of so-called Asian economic development, in which rapid expansion of human capability is both a goal in itself and an integral element in achieving rapid growth.

Japan pioneered that approach, starting after the Meiji Resto-

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‘India may be the world’s largest producer of generic medicine, but its health care system is an unregulated mess. The poor have to rely on lowquality — and sometimes exploitative — private medical care, because there isn’t enough decent public care’

Why India trails China: Lessons for emerging economies

By Amartya Sen ration in 1868, when it resolved to achieve a fully literate society within a few decades. As Kido Takayoshi, a leader of that reform, explained: “Our people are no different from the Americans or Europeans of today; it is all a matter of education or lack of education.” Through investments in education and health care, Japan simultaneously enhanced living standards and labor productivity — the government collaborating with the market.

Despite the catastrophe of Japan’s war years, the lessons of its development experience remained and were followed, in the postwar period, by South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and other economies in East Asia. China, which during the Mao era made advances in land reform and basic education and health care, embarked on market reforms in the early 1980s; its huge success changed the shape of the world economy.

India has paid inadequate attention to these lessons. -2Is there a conundrum here that democratic India has done worse than China in educating its citizens and improving their health? Perhaps, but the puzzle need not be a brainteaser.

Democratic participation, free expression and rule of law are largely realities in India, and still largely aspirations in China.

India has not had a famine since independence, while China had the largest famine in recorded history, from 1958 to 1961, when Mao’s disastrous Great Leap Forward killed some 30 million people. Nevertheless, using democratic means to remedy endemic problems — chronic undernourishment, a disorganized medical system or dysfunctional school systems — demands sustained deliberation, political engagement, media coverage, popular pressure. In short, more democratic process, not less.

In China, decision making takes place at the top. The country’s leaders are skeptical, if not hostile, with regard to the value of multiparty democracy, but they have been strongly committed to eliminating hunger, illiteracy and medical neglect, and that is enormously to their credit.

There are inevitable fragilities in a nondemocratic system because mistakes are hard to correct. Dissent is dangerous.

There is little recourse for victims of injustice. Edicts like the one-child policy can be very harsh. Still, China’s present leaders have used the basic approach of accelerating develop-

ment by expanding human capability with great decisiveness and skill.

The case for combating debilitating inequality in India is not only a matter of social justice. Unlike India, China did not miss the huge lesson of Asian economic development, about the economic returns that come from bettering human lives, especially at the bottom of the socioeconomic pyramid. India’s growth and its earnings from exports have tended to depend narrowly on a few sectors, like information technology, pharmaceuticals and specialized auto parts, many of which rely on the role of highly trained personnel from the well-educated classes. For India to match China in its range of manufacturing capacity — its ability to produce gadgets of almost every kind, with increasing use of technology and better quality control — it needs a better-educated and healthier labor force at all levels of society. What it needs most is more knowledge and public discussion about the nature and the huge extent of inequality and its damaging consequences, including for economic growth.

•Culled from The New York Times. July 19, 2013.

Amartya Sen, a Nobel laureate, is a professor of economics and philosophy at Harvard. He is the author, with Jean Drèze, of “An

‘For India to match China in its range of manufacturing capacity — its ability to produce gadgets of almost every kind, with increasing use of technology and better quality control — it needs a better-educated and healthier labor force at all levels of society. What it needs most is more knowledge and public discussion about the nature and the huge extent of inequality and its damaging consequences, including for economic growth’

25

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net

JOBS

Need a job? Try make-up artistry News Briefing Ports fee collection tears groups apart THE move by the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) to resume the collection of transaction fees granted it by the Federal Government at the ports may suffer another setback unless the council carries along stakeholders, The Nation has learnt.

- Page 26

Banking literacy guidelines coming

PLANS are underway to release the financial literacy frameworks in September this year to increase the customers’ knowledge and participation in banking activities, it was learnt.

- Page 26

Insurers fret over life annuity hijack INSURANCE operators are becoming more agitated over fears that Pension Fund Operators (PFOs) will grab another major chunk of their business - the life annuity business.

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

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

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

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

- Minister of Information, Labaran Maku

THE CEO

‘Why govt must intervene in financial markets’ - P. 27

- P. 37

‘Why pilots, others flout aviation regulations’

N

ONCHALANCE a n d reliance on executive fiat are some of the reasons pilots and other operators flout civil aviation regulations with impunity, The Nation has learnt.

Experts in the industry, who made this known, agreed on the need for the regulatory agencies to stamp their feet to end the reign of impunity in the sector to guard against a return to the era of air mishaps in the country.

Non-compliance of pilots to file the mandatory flight plan and submission of passenger manifest before any flight approval is granted have become the order of the day in recent times involving highly placed individuals in the country.

Regulator of the industry, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is worried by this development and has summoned a meeting with and general aviation operators to seek solutions to the problem, which it has described as unusual.

NCAA Acting DirectorGeneral, Mr Joyce Daniel Nkemakolam, described the failure to comply with aviation

• NCAA summons operators

By Kevin Osa-Okunbor

regulation as a serious infraction by pilots, blaming this on the culture of people taking things for granted.

He described the disregard for rules by pilots as an unhealthy development for the sector, insisting that the NCAA will continue to insist that pilots obey the rules of civil aviation.

“The NCAA has observed this development as unusual.

It is a case of pilots just taking things for granted. What does it take a pilot to simply comply with the rules of filing a flight plan and submitting the manifest of passengers before the aircraft takes off?

“Such disrespect for the rules is not healthy for the civil aviation industry, because failure to declare the passenger manifest and file a flight plan could be considered a serious infraction with security implications. We have called for a meeting with all scheduled and general aviation operators to review the situation, and we insist pilots must do what is right,”

Govt to panel: find solution to system collapse

T

HE Federal Government has directed the 13-mem ber panel investigating the cause of the frequent system collapses that have resulted in blackouts to find lasting solution to the problem.

The panel chaired by a retired Director of Electrical Inspectorate Services, Fatai Olapade, an engineer, among other terms of reference, is to review all the system collapses that have occurred from January to date. It is to determine their causes.

The panel was also directed to review the performance and effectiveness of the grid’s protection system in the period under review and suggest measures to strengthen the protection mechanism, consider any other system collapse related issues and complete its assignment in two weeks.

Since the beginning of last month, the frequency with which the system collapses occur has become embarrassing.

Sometimes, it would be total, resulting in nationwide blackout. Some of the incidents were said to have been caused by rainstorm, but most of the time they were caused by technical and human errors, it was learnt.

The Minister of Power, Prof.

Chinedu Nebo, during the inauguration of the panel, highlighted how worrisome the government felt about the problem.

He said: “The high rate of system collapses in recent times, which has given rise to

By Emeka Ugwuanyi

more than 15 times in the last five months calls for a critical look. The technical investigative panel is, therefore, being constituted to investigate the causes of these collapses and proffer solutions aimed at forestalling future occurrences.

Though a technical investigative panel, it is expected that the committee will also address human lapses where found.”

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Ambassador Godknows Igali, also noted that the constitution of the panel was necessitated by an unsavoury trend of system collapses in the recent past.

Nebo said: “This event is aimed at putting in place measures to mitigate against the constant system collapses we have been experiencing.

“The ministry is poised to addressing issues leading to the delivery of safe and reliable supply of electricity, which will be rich in both quantity and quality.

“The supply of electricity is on a real-time basis because power is used at the same time of generation. Thus, the load demand must always match the generation output.”

Whenever this equilibrium in supply and demand cannot be maintained, the resultant effect is frequency fluctuations, which could culminate in system instability.

he said.

General Manager, Air Traffic Control Operations, Nigeria Airspace Management Authority (NAMA), Mr Chuks John Onyegiri, said regulations are breached in the country because certain persons feel they could always hide under the cover of executive connections to get away with infractions in the aviation industry, which is safetydriven.

He added: “With (the) security issues in the country now, NAMA needs to know who is on board. It is purely on security and safety issues.

Nothing is wrong if the pilot does what is expected of him by giving the name of passengers on board. But, some pilots think they could flout the regulations by using

executive connection.”

Coordinating spokesman of Aviation Agencies, Mr Yakubu Dati, said the relevant aviation agencies should sanction any airline and the pilot that violates safety procedures in the country. He noted that the pilots and airline operators have become used to taking things for granted.

On the wave of controversies that greeted the grounding of the aircraft allegedly belonging to Rivers State Government in Port Harcourt, for airspace violation and the AOS Helicopter that was supposed to fly Edo State Governor to Awka from Benin, the NCAA boss said there was no political interference on the matter.

Spokesman of Nigeria

Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Mr Supo Atobatele, adduced noncompliance with civil aviation regulation by pilots as the main reason for willful flouting of regulators’ regulations.

He said: “The pilot of the helicopter should be held responsible for his failure to comply with a mandatory operational directive issued

by NAMA since April that all pilots must submit a flight plan and file passenger manifest before any flight. It has no political undertone at all, but purely an aviation matter bordering on rules and regulation.”

Onyegiri said the pilot should be blamed for the incident because he failed to comply with simple instructions.

Dati said it is mandatory for the pilot to have the safety requirements.

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

26

BUSINESS NEWS Flight Schedule MONDAY - FRIDAY

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

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

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

LAGOS – KADUNA Aero 08.00 Chanchangi 10.00 Arik 10.00 Arik 15.10

08.30 09.10 11.50 12.45 13.40 15.20 16.30 16.40

rates flat Ports fee collection tears groups Interbank on maturing bills apart T T HE move by the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) to resume the collection of transaction fees granted it by the Federal Government at the ports may suffer another setback unless the council carries along stakeholders, The Nation has learnt.

Investigation revealed that the feud between the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and the CRFFN over the mode of collecting and sharing the fees is yet to be resolved.

The charges approved by the government then, include, N1.50 per kilometre for air cargo, N1,000 per 20 ft container, N2,000 per 40 ft container, N500 per car/jeep, N1,000 per truck or 20ft equivalent, N2,000 per truck or 40ft equivalent, N3.50 per tonnes for general cargo and N1.00 per tonnes for dry bulk cargo.

ANLCA members mainly generate the money. Sources, however, said it has directed its members not to pay except the interest of the association is represented in the council.

The customs agents, it was learnt, are also demanding to know the amount that would

By Oluwakemi Dauda

accrue to them before they would lend their support.

At a meeting held by the executives of the group, it was gathered that ANLCA resolved to frustrate efforts to collect the fees except it is shared based on their own formula.

ANLCA, sources said, is proposing 60/40 formula because it has the highest number of members at the ports. The National President of the group, Prince Olayiwola Shittu, said it was high time the association got a good percentage from the revenue it collects for the government.

He said the association still maintains its earlier position on

‘ANLCA members mainly generate the money. Sources, however, said it has directed its members not to pay except the interest of the association is represented in the council’

the collection of the controversial transaction fees, which tore the Council apart last year.

He said ANLCA is not responsible for the woes of the council, insisting that its members must take a centre stage in the activities of the council.

“I have told them that if the situation that presented itself that time happens again, we will still maintain the same position. We are the generators.

We are the ones that are going to pay, yet some people want to collect the money and spend it. It is not acceptable. The condition we gave was that they should go back to where we stopped and they have accepted.

“Which means that the CRFFN today must be populated by custom agents like you and I. Yes, we are all federation of freight forwarders, but what is your specialty? Are you the seller of satchet water, transporter, or ship chandler? Why must the money come from only custom agents? It does not make sense. How many other departments of CRFFN have been recognised,” he asked.

Shittu urged the council to take a cue from India where the role of custom brokers is recognised as one of the revenue spinnerrs for the country.

08.50 12.40 14.10 17.20 12.15 12.45

Cocoa output to increase by 40%

09.10 11.00 11.10 16.20

C

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

2.

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

08.40 08.40 14.55 15.10 17.40

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LAGOS – WARRI 08.15 11.50 11.55 14.55

09.1 12.50 12.55 15.55

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

08.50 09.45 14.00 15.45 19.55

LAGOS – OWERRI 07.20 14.00 16.30

08.30 15.10 17.40

1. Arik 2. Arik 3. Arik

LAGOS – MAIDUGURI 1. IRS 11.15 13.15 2. Arik 15.50 18.00 LAGOS – ILORIN 1. Overland 07.15 2. Arik (M/T/TH/F) 17.30

08.00 18.00

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

HE interbank lending rates ended last week unchanged at an average of 11.33 per cent, as maturing treasury bills and anticipated flows of public funds kept the market from tightening.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) repaid about N160 billion ($990 million) last Thursday in matured open market operation debt notes, swelling liquidity.

“The cost of borrowing in the market had gone to an average of 14 per cent for overnight in the week because of shortage of funds, but dropped on Friday after the cash flow from matured bills and expectation of budget allocation,” one dealer said.

Dealers said the market opened with a cash balance of about N76.65 billion on Friday, compared with N136 billion a week earlier.

The secured Open Buy back (OBB) was unchanged at 11 per cent, 100 basis points lower than the CBN’s benchmark interest rate.

Both overnight placement and call money closed at 11.5 per cent apiece, same level last week.

Traders said rates will drop to around 10.25 per cent for overnight this week by the time cash from the May budget allocation to government agencies hits the market.

The Federal Government distributed N620.7 billion in May revenues to its three tiers of government - federal, state and local, but bankers said half of the amount is expected to hit the money market today, helping to provide liquidity support for the banking sector.

•From left: Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Olusegun Aganga; President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Chief Kola Jamodu; and Managing Director, Nigerian Breweries, Mr Nicholas Vervelde, during the presentation of the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan, in Lagos.

Banking literacy guidelines coming

P

LANS are underway to re lease the financial literacy frameworks in September this year to increase the customers’ knowledge and participation in banking activities, it was learnt.

Sources close to CBN said the frameworks, which formed an integral part of the financial inclusion strategies introduced last year to bring more people into savings net, would soon be implemented.

It was also gathered that commercial banks, microfinance institutions, mobile money operators, among others, are going to play significant roles in the execution of the guidelines.

Confirming the development, the CBN’s spokesman, Mr Ugochukwu Okoroafor, said the framework is one of the initiatives on the radar of the banking watchdog.

He said the guidelines are of utmost importance to the apex bank since they would help in making more people understand and access banking services.

He said apex bank has created a consumer protection department to cater for the needs of depositors, adding that the financial lit-

By Akinola Ajibade

eracy frameworks would compliment such efforts.

He said: “It is true that financial literacy frameworks will soon be released. We created a consumer protection department to help fight for depositors whose rights have been trampled upon. The next thing is to create a conducive environment to facilitate the growth of customers by making them literate on issues relating to banking transactions. This is where the issue of financial literacy frameworks comes in.”

Noting that the level of financial illiteracy in the country is very high, he said many people do not know how to prepare and present bankable projects to secure loans.

Besides, he said they do not also know how to open accounts, write cheques, request for loans or overdrafts, operate Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), use Point of Sale(PoS) terminals among other electronic payment channels.

He said the level of financial inclusion is very low in the rural areas because many do not have bank accounts. The frameworks, he said, would address these issues when they are eventually implemented.

The CBN introduced financial inclusion programme following the discovery that about 70 per cent of the 160million people do not have bank accounts. The World Bank in a report also noted that Nigeria had the highest number of people that do not have access to banking services.

‘It is true that financial literacy frameworks will soon be released. We created a consumer protection department to help fight for depositors whose rights have been trampled upon. The next thing is to create a conducive environment to facilitate the growth of customers by making them literate on issues relating to banking transactions’

OCOA output by farmers in the country may rise by as much as 40 per cent at the end of the light-crop season in August on favourable weather, an industry group said.

The cocoa harvest is forecast to be as much as 35,000 metric tons compared with 25,000 tons last year, Robo Adhuze, spokesman for the Cocoa Association of Nigeria, told Bloomberg by phone in Akure. Early rains and sunshine are expected to boost production, he said.

“The rain is stable, which helped to reduce fungi diseases,” he said.

“Farmers have seen a good light crop with bean weight of 270 to 290 grams, compared with 220 grams last year.”

Nigeria’s cocoa year is divided into two harvests. The main-crop season begins in October and ends in January, while the light-crop season, the smaller of the two, usually begins in April and ends in June. The start and end dates of the two seasons may vary each year depending on the weather.

The mid-crop may last longer this year because of the early rains, Adhuze said. “By the end of August farmers may enter the main crop harvest and if the rains remain favourable, output for the main crop may reach 300,000 to 320,000 tons from 250,000 last year,” he said.

A warning by the nation’s meteorological agency for heavy rains in the second half of this year “has prompted farmers to equip their farms with chemicals against pests and diseases,” to manage the situation, he said.

Many cocoa farms were submerged in water last year, leading to high humidity and destruction of crops by black pod, a fungal disease, Adhuze said.

Nigeria ranks behind Ivory Coast, Ghana and Indonesia as the world’s largest cocoa producer, according to the London-based International Cocoa Organisation.

Cocoa exports are the biggest foreign-currency earner after oil for Nigeria, Africa’s leading crude producer and most populous nation, according to figures published by the government.

27

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

THE CEO The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Bankers’ Committee established the Nigerian Incentivebased Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) to help farmers get concessionary loans. In this interview with DANIEL ESSIET, Country Head, Solidaridad – Nigeria – an international Dutch development organisation, Alex Gbenga Akinbo, urges government to resuscitate stateowned agricultural development banks to make loans available to farmers.

W

HY is the financial system reform so important to agriculture?

The answer is simple. There is no farming without money. Money for farming not only means access to credit, but also access to other financial products and services. Providing credit access to farmers enables them to insure against risk, enabling them to save. Every farmer who wants to expand needs finance. It is still difficult for farmers to get credit because farming is considered a high risk activity. The importance of improving farmers’ access to financial services cannot be underestimated. Traditional financial institutions come with strings attached, taking away successful investment in small-scale sustainable farming.

The rural poor have no easy access to loans and grants from commercial banks or financial structures because they lack collaterals and modern business plans. Providing sustainable financial services for agriculture continues to be a challenge in spite of millions of naira being spent to strengthen financial institutions to serve the sector. We need reforms because agriculture still receives a small share of total formal credit.

We need a rollback of reforms and a return to active government’s intervention, including the resurrection of state-owned agricultural development banks and the reintroduction of interest rate ceilings on agricultural loans. No considerable success has been achieved by some microfinance institutions (MFIs) in providing sustainable microfinance services that contribute to resolving the agriculture credit problem, especially the rural poor. The banks limit their operations to areas with high population densities and farm loans usually represent a small share of their loan portfolios. The government needs to intervene in the financial market to induce financial institutions to increase the supply of and reduce the interest rates for agricultural loans. Special cheap lines of credit need to be provided to lenders, incentives given to open rural branches, and agricultural development banks created to serve the sector when banks and cooperatives fail to meet lending targets.

Financing agricultural research remains a challenge for international organisations, governments, the private sector, and other development partners. Have we made progress in these areas?

Agricultural research and development (R&D) is primarily funded by the governments and donors. Overall investment levels remain below the levels required to sustain viable agricultural R&D programmes that address current and future priorities.

Mobilising domestic political support for agriculture, especially for agricultural R&D, has been difficult. One reason for this is the inherently long time lag between investing in research and attaining tangible benefits.

How do we address this?

The government should emphasise agricultural research and innovation for development.

What sort of changes have you seen during this year in the agriculture sector?

Looking at the past government’s policies in agriculture; Nigeria’s agricultural policy framework has gone through a number of evolutionary processes and fundamental changes that reflected in a historical perspective, the changing character of agricultural development problems and the roles, which different segments of the society were expected to play in tackling these problems.

But in the main, the form and direction of agricultural policy were dictated by the philosophical stance of the government on the content of agricultural development and the role of the government in the development process. Succinctly put, one of the major constraints to agricultural policy effectiveness was that of policy instability. Over the years, the rate of turnover in agricultural policies had been high, with many policies formulated and scrapped in rapid succession. Again, this problem could be partly ascribed to political instability as every successive government tended to jettison most of its predecessor’s policies and programmes in the erroneous belief that a new government could only justify its existence or make

‘Why govt must intervene in financial markets’

• Akinbo

Profile •Qualifications

B. Sc (Agricultural Extension Services), M.Sc. (Agronomy)

•Previous Positions

Teacher, Administrator, Agronomist, Warehouse manager, Export manager, Oil palm Estate manager, Facilitator and Cocoa programme manager.

•Present Position

Country Programme Manager of Solidaridad-Nigeria.

•Experience

Over 28 years

its mark by adopting entirely new policies and programmes.

How has this affected cocoa?

The cocoa sector is fully liberalised and has no central coordination. Agricultural exten-

sion is very weak in most cocoa producing states. Farmers receive uncoordinated support from some states. The Nigerian Cocoa Development Committee (NCDC), populated by deputy chief executives of the 14

‘The government needs to intervene in the financial market to induce financial institutions to increase the supply of and reduce the interest rates for agricultural loans. Special cheap lines of credit need to be provided to lenders, incentives given to open rural branches, and agricultural development banks created to serve the sector when banks and cooperatives fail to meet lending targets’

cocoa producing states, tried to stimulate the sector; they started well but the sector has become moribund. At the moment, the national research institutes seem to have limited resources to spread best practices in cocoa production, but this role has been augmented by Sustainable Tree Crops Programme (STCP), which has been active in Nigeria and has gained good reputation for supporting farmers to improve their yields.

Aside from STCP, few other development initiatives have significant presence in the sector.

What is the way out?

Existing knowledge and experience of voluntary standards in cocoa (and other agricultural crops) is very low, so extensive advocacy and capacity building activities will require increasing the acceptance of norms for sustainable production and trade. Multinational cocoa and indigenous exporting trading companies in Nigeria may be the best channels into the cocoa sector transformation. The new agricultural policy of the Federal Government will herald a new policy direction through new policy strategies that will lay the foundation for sustained improvement in agricultural productivity and output. For example, the Cocoa Transformation Agenda of the Federal Govern•Continued on page 28

28

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

THE CEO

‘Why govt must intervene in financial markets’ •Continued from page 27

ment addresses a holistic array of challenges confronting the cocoa sector. The agenda would help to boost cocoa quality output through strategic interventions in the production, processing, storage and marketing of the beans. This will enhance the objective of building the technical capacity of the farmers and providing basic input needs of the small scale farmers in the upstream and downstream productivity for higher income, job and wealth creation and household food security.

How far has Nigeria gone with regards to expanding cocoa production?

As regards cocoa expansion, one has to look back to memory lane after the Nigerian cocoa economy witnessed a dramatic change, which was after the dissolution of the cocoa board in 1996. The liberalisation of the cocoa sector without a regulatory body resulted in sharp decline in cocoa production and the quality of cocoa beans. One of the objectives of resuscitating the cocoa sector is increasing cocoa production and farmers’ income and divercifi-cation of foreign exchange earnings. Therefore, cocoa intensification and rehabilitation is being advocated. This would not lead to wanton destruction of the forest and environmental degradation. Currently, Nigeria is the fourth largest world producer of cocoa and much can be done to change the position.

What are the challenges the country is facing in this direction?

The Nigerian cocoa sector is characterised by three major unsatisfactory conditions: very low yield of cocoa beans, poor quality and repressive labour issues. The av-

erage yield of 300-400kg per hectare compares unfavourably with the potential of up to 1000kg under good management and well over 1,500kg in new emerging cocoa agro systems in new emerging countries. These deplorable situations have been attributed to a number of factors, dominant among which are the following.

The production system is characterised by small holder producers with average holdings of less than three hectares. This makes professionalisation uneconomical. In addition, the nature of cocoa production does not easily lend itself to mechanisation or technological innovations. The farmers are typically illiterate. This makes training and adoption of new farming skills difficult. They have low agronomic skills, agro-inputs and the government extension services are grossly inadequate. Most of the trees are old and poor variety. The majority of the small scale farmers have not benefitted much from recent research on higher yielding varieties. Many of the farmers are largely dependent on the cocoa economy for survival, and replacement of the old trees with the new varieties has to be slow. There is increasing concern about biodiversity and food security in the cocoa communities. Efforts to increase cocoa production through expansion will lead to increasing deforestation and poor environmental stewardship. On the other hand, the monoculture production of cocoa coupled with low yield could give rise to abandonment of cocoa farms or conversion of the farms to more profitable crops.

Social issues around poor labour relation between the farm owners and farm workers, inappropriate use of children in hazardous farm

‘Looking at the past government policies in agriculture; Nigeria’s agricultural policy framework has gone through a number of evolutionary processes and fundamental changes that reflected in a historical perspective, the changing character of agricultural development problems and the roles, which different segments of the society were expected to play in tackling these problems’

• Akinbo

work are in practice in cocoa communities. There is also the issue of discrimination against women in terms of equal pay for work done.

However, sustainable production practices through certification have the potential of tackling several of the above constraints.

In spite of research and awareness creation programmes, the agriculture sector is lagging behind.

What do you think is responsible for this?

Nigeria faces a lot of problems with regard to cocoa production.

First is the land tenure system. Land still belongs to communities despite the Federal Government’s Land Use Act that stipulates that land belongs to the government.

Many serious or genuine farmers have no land to expand their cocoa farms. There is also the problem of low productivity as a result of depletion of soil fertility orchestrated by serious soil erosion, flooding and lack of appropriate fertiliser to augment the deficiencies. Attack and infestation by pests (insects and diseases), can cause loss of about 30-70 per cent of cocoa yield. Poor rural infrastructural facilities good roads, water, light and recreational facilities to encourage young farmers to stay on the farm, is another factor. Others include poor access to credit facilities and unavailable input and where available, not at the reach of farmers, poor regulatory bodies to control the manufacture and importation of banned chemicals. This leads to serious effect on the environment and ill-health of the users and consumers of cocoa products.

Concerns have been expressed on negative reports in the media about the use of child labour in cocoa production. What is the situation now?

Child labour, if I may be right, I think is work that exploits a child by preventing him/her from realising his future potential. Child labour may appear in different forms but what we are emphasising is the worst form of child labour - which means as the work, which by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of a child. It has been defined to include all forms of slavery, child trafficking, child soldiers, commercial sexual exploitation, hazardous jobs and using him for illicit activities. Although it is not well pronounced in the agricultural sector, eliminating these worst forms of child labour should be a major concern to all. Solidaridad has recorded substantial success in using the platform of certification to address some of these issues.

You worked with the Cocoa Producers Alliance (COPAL) to spearhead a campaign for increased cocoa consumption in the sub-region. What have you achieved?

In the cocoa value-chain, we are involved in building the capacity of farmers through improved agronomical practices and to attain sustainable cocoa production, so that processors can have access to certified cocoa beans. This we achieved by encouraging processors to bring their cocoa producers together as farmer groups and we can help train them on sustainable production. Solidaridad had just trained over 62 Multi-trex (cocoa processor) staff, lead farmers and youths from Oyo, Ogun and Ondo states on sustainable practices and certification. Similar support would be extended to other cocoa processors in the country.

Due to growth limitations in cocoa supply in West Africa, the world market has diversified cocoa origins, considering logical sourcing alternatives. What does it portend for the sub region?

Of course other emerging cocoa producing countries such as Indo-

• Akinbo

‘Of course other emerging cocoa producing countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia that are doing cocoa intensification would push West Africa back, unless there is serious intervention that would transform the cocoa sector’ nesia and Malaysia that are doing cocoa intensification would push West Africa back, unless there is serious intervention that would transform the cocoa sector.

The keys to food security are climate stabilisation, population stabilisation, dramatic rises in water productivity, soil conservation and afforestation. Are these issues going to determine our future?

Food security is a concept that sees the sustenance of food for man.

The survival of man on earth depends solely on continuous food production with adequate security measures. But the ranging ecological fires such as massive erosion, deforestation, burning, leaching, pollution, increasing population pressure and desert encroachment with resultant low food production has drawn more attention to food security. In an environment where the system of food supply is not organised, hunger and famine will be rampant and frequent, leading to social, economic and political unrest. Take for example, the fall of General Niemeri of former Sudan – “the bread riot’’ led to his fall and attendant crises. For future stability, food supply throughout the year is a necessity for all groups of human beings. Therefore, there is need for the government’s intervention in terms of suitable policy measures and financing of research organisations for innovations on new production systems and minimising ecological disasters that would guarantee continuous food production without side effects on the producers, consumers and the environment.

People are migrating from one agricultural field to another. How adversely does it affect our agricultural field? What do you think is the reason behind it?

People see agriculture today as not sustainable because of the dwindling income from it and because it cannot meet their livelihood needs.

The teeming youths are not interested in agriculture due to the absence of most social amenities, such as electricity, roads, pipe borne water, recreational facilities, health facilities, etc. These amenities, if available in rural communities, will induce unemployed younger ones to be engaged in agriculture and remain in farming communities. Price fluctuations in agricultural commodities, especially in cocoa which is major export earning, is a major factor that discourages the youth from cocoa farming. Lack of intra-family succession is gradually leading to a decline in cocoa production, as this leads to farm fragmentation after the death of family head and focus is given to pursuit of ‘better professions.’ The resultant effect is low crop production that cannot meet the need of the populace and food security problems.

What is the mission of Solidaridad in Nigeria?

Solidaridad is a Dutch international development organisation with over 30 years experience in sustainable value chain development. Solidaridad West Africa, has its regional expertise centre in Accra, Ghana and head office in Utrecht, Netherlands. The Nigeria office was opened in December 2010, but became operational in January 2011. Solidaridad’s mission is to support the sustainable and economic development of farmers and workers in West Africa and indeed Nigeria, and the sustainable environmental development of their production systems and the trade channels.

29

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

I NSURANCE

I

Insurers fret over life annuity hijack

NSURANCE operators are becoming more agitated over fears that Pension Fund Operators (PFOs) will grab another major chunk of their business - the life annuity business.

To avert this, they have begun lobbying at the National Assembly on the proposed Pension Reform Act of 2013, a replacement for the Pension Reform Act 2004, which, they believe, will determine their fate on the issue of having to leave life annuity funds with PFAs. At a forum in Lagos, insurers expressed fears as they deliberated on how to tackle the problem.

On their mind is that another major cut is rearing its head in their business going by previous businesses that have been taken over from them by other sectors.

In 1999, they lost health insurance; in 2004, they lost pension and lost the control of Workmen’s Compensation in 2010.

Going by this, the industry has lost three critical classes of insurance business in 10 years. The PFAs have become a major threat to them.

They alleged that some PFAs in their desperation to continue to manage Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holders’ pension savings run down life annuity products and their providers, an allegation the PFOs have debunked.

Section 4 of the Pension Reform Act provides that upon retirement an employee is entitled to two options, you either take the programme withdrawal, which allows your Pension Fund Administrator to continue to manage your fund until you exit the system or you take an annuity.

Life annuity, as prescribed by the pension law, is a contract between the annuitant and a life insurer for the payment of agreed amounts of money at agreed intervals to the annuitant.

The annuitant transfers part or all of the balance in his RSA to the life insurer as consideration for him to receive given amounts over a given period of time at agreed intervals.

Programme Withdrawal pays pension over an expected life span and is sold by PFOs While annuity pays pension for life and can be purchased from a life insurance company licensed by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), with monthly or quarterly payments making it a regular income.

It is noteworthy that whereas the PFOs have started programmed withdrawal since 2005, the insurance companies only started annu-

ity programme in 2010.

Also, where a retiree chooses life annuity, he negotiates with the life insurer based on his Retirement Savings Account balance projected to the date of retirement and gets an Annuity Provisional Agreement from the insurer, which he submits to his Pension Fund Administration (PFA).

Within seven days of receiving retiree’s application, the PFA seeks approval from PenCom to transfer the agreed premium to the insurer, attaching a copy of the provisional agreement. PenCom is required to forward copies of approval to PFA/PFC and NAICOM and within seven days of receiving approval, PFA must instruct PFC to a issue cheque for the premium in favour of the insurance company.

Upon receiving the cheque from PFC, the insurer must within seven days notify the proposed annuitant of such cheque and the latter and his insurer jointly must execute an annuity contract within 21 days from the date of receiving payment. The insurer then forwards schedule of policies written to NAICOM not later than 30 days of the execution.

The balance in his RSA having been transferred to the life assurer, the retirees gets monthly annuity/pension from the insurance company.

Most importantly, life annuity payment under contributory pension is guaranteed for a minimum of 10 years in case of death, but the retiree is free to go for a higher guaranteed period with monthly annuity not less than half of his monthly emoluments at retirement.

In 2006, the NAICOM and the National Pension Commission (PenCom) collaborated on regulation of Annuity under Section 4.1 (B) of the PRA 2004 for giving effect to the provisions of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2004 as it relates to Life Annuity It states: “A holder of retirement savings upon retirement shall utilise the balance standing to the credit of his retirement savings account for annuity for life,, purchased from a life insurance company licensed by NAICOM with monthly or quarterly payments.”

Former President of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), Mr Sunny Adeda, appealed to insurance practitioners out of the fear of losing out on the pension reform act to take marketing of annuity to the people very seriously.

Adeda made the call at a conference in Lagos.

• Commissioner for Insurance, Fola Daniel

• Acting DG, PenCom, Chinelo AnohuAmazu

He said insurance companies are not marketing annuity as they ought to and the pension operators are taking advantage of the fact that they know when the retirees are retiring and offer them better terms before insurers even know they have retired.

“There are few companies that are taking the annuity business seriously and there is the need for an interrvention. A lot of people do not know the difference between programme withdrawal and annuity products.

Adeda noted that a few companies are making money from the annuity scheme, but there’s the need for others to also take a advantage of it.

“What we need to do is to intensively mull a lot of campaigns. As it is, we are not doing anything. And this is why PFAs can say there’s no need for the money to go to the insurance company. They want the money to remain with them. We need to rise as an industry and address this problem.

“Today, they are processing the pension reform act for amendment and we need to put ourselves together to lobby because if we don’t make a concerted deliberate effort, we will lose the business. And when we lose it, we start crying. That was how we lost the Workmen Compensation. It left us before we started crying,” he said.

We must have people who are looking at this issue daily so that as the process is going, its being monitored to ensure that our interest is not jeopardised.

Director-General, Nigeria Insurers Associa-

tion (NIA), Mr Thomas Olorunda, assured his colleagues that the Pension Reform Act 2004 is being amended.

He said: “We got wind of it and we have made our submission and we are following up on it.

“One of the things we address in our submission is the issue of having to leave life annuity funds with custodians.

“In our submission, we made it very clear that life annuity is different from programme withdrawal because how you deal with them, how you manage the funds relating to them are practically different,” he said.

He noted that insurers must have influence and flexibility to manage life annuity funds without necessarily having to warehouse it with the pension custodians.

The DG further said NIA has designed a publicity programme for annuity in English and Pidgin, which is coming on the radio in the six geo-political region of the country before the end of the month.

He noted that the programme will run for at least three months and the association believes it will educate the people on why they should choose annuity.

He, however, called on underwriters and brokers to join in the sensitisation.

“I enjoin the Nigeria Council of Registered Insurers Brokers (NCRIB), who are buoyant to do something in publicity because we need to pump it into the mind of the people.”

Lost adjusters to Govt: Build more forensic labs

T

HE President, Institute of Loss Adjusters of Nigeria (ILAN), Mr Lebi Omoboyowa, has called on the Federal Government to build more forensic laboratories in the country.

According to him, a situation where only one science laboratory exists in Nigeria affects the quality of work of forensic experts in arriving at accurate judgments following investigations.

Omoboyowa, who spoke in Lagos, said there is only one forensic laboratory in the country and it is the Science Laboratory at Oshodi, Lagos.

He noted that in advanced countries, there are other forensic laboratories, such as accounting, engineering and others.

He said apart from their own professional knowhow, they also consult the forensic experts.

On the promotion of professionalism among loss adjusters, Omoboyowa said ILAN members have begun to improve themselves by going for local and international trainings while they also network with their professional colleague.

He noted that the idea of holding meetings in the underwriters’ office has gone.

“Adjusters must have their own office and necessary equipment so that at the end, an accurate result is produced without time being wasted.

“I believe that we will surmount all the challenges before us and boost the image of this industry,” he said.

He added: “The objectives of the institute is to establish and sustain a professional body of practising loss adjusters in Nigeria and engage in activities that will ensure the general welfare and well-being of insurance loss adjusters and to take necessary actions for the advancement of education in the field of loss adjusting in Nigeria.

“It is being pursued by establishing and maintaining institutions, libraries, schools, and recreation centres for the succour, assistance or education of its members, and the public in Nigeria in loss adjusting.

“It also includes applying the funds of the institute in the purchase of proprietary or other interests and the establishment of projects the proceeds of which shall be appropriated wholly and entirely for charitable purposes and public wellbeing of Loss Adjusters in Nigeria.”

He said as part of their code of conduct, a loss adjuster must not accept nor give secret commission in connection with his profession, must not accept any part of the profits or the professional work of a solicitor or any commission or bonus thereon, nor shall he be actively engaged in any firm of insurance broking, insurance agency or underwriting; shall not directly or indirectly accept from

Flood insurance misconceptions: Facts you should know

F

• Omoboyowa an auctioneer, broker or agent, any part or proportion of any remuneration commission or bonus on the charges payable to such auctioneer, broker or agent.

“A loss adjuster must not participate in any benefit from the sale of salvage, the loss on which he will adjust or has adjusted and a loss adjuster who has been instructed by one insurer and ascertains that any other insurers also cover other interests in the same loss, must not make contact with the other Insurers with a view to seeking their instructions to act in connection with the loss.”

LOOD insurance is one of the most misun derstood types of insurance coverage. Here are facts to clear up some of the most common misconceptions about coverage through the National Flood Insurance Programme.

No flood coverage under home insurance Many people still assume standard renters and home insurance covers floods, says Larry Case, executive vice president of the Missouri Association of Insurance Agents. But you must purchase a separate flood insurance policy to protect your home and belongings from flood damage.

Most flood insurance is provided through the National Flood Insurance Program, administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. You can buy federal flood insurance from companies and agents certified to sell it if your community participates in the National Flood Insurance Programme.

Coverage limited in basements The distinctions can be tricky, so read the policy for details. Some structural elements in the basement are covered, such as central air conditioners, foundation walls, electrical outlets, furnaces and hot water heaters. However, carpeting and floor tile are not covered.

Some appliances in the basement are covered, such as washers and dryers, portable air conditioners and freezers. But refrigerators are not covered. Most personal belongings, including furniture, clothing and electronic equipment are not covered when they’re in the basement.

Building and contents insurance required A standard home insurance policy automatically covers personal belongings up to a certain percentage of the home’s insured value. With flood insurance, you must purchase contents coverage as well as building coverage to get both.

• Tips by insure.com

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

30

EQUITIES

NASD to start trading on unlisted securities July 2

NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 21- 06-13

I

NVESTORS who are interested in buying and selling equities of unquoted companies such as MTN Nigeria Limited, West African Milk Company (Wamco), Fan Milk Plc, Nigerian Bottling Company and Citibank Nigeria among others, will have a more organised and transparent trading platform to trade their shares on July 2 with the commencement of operations of the NASD. Formerly known as the National Association of Securities Dealers, NASD Plc is a registered over-the-counter (OTC) trading platform for unquoted securities including equities and bonds.

NASD is owned by several investment and financial institutions as well as strategic investors. The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) holds 6.86 per cent equity stake in the NASD, which is registered by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an organised trading platform for unlisted securities.

At a press briefing at the weekend, managing director, NASD Plc, Mr. Bola Ajomale, said arrangements had been concluded for the formal launching of market on July 1 while trading will commence on July 2, 2013.

He said the emergence of

By Taofik Salako

NASD will give investors the opportunity to buy and sell unquoted securities in an organised and transparent market, which will enhance the liquidity of shares not listed on the NSE. According to him, all investment instruments approved by SEC could be traded on its platform including shares of unlisted multinational companies.

“We will open up with equities and bonds many of which are currently being traded on the black or grey market in the first phase,” Ajomale said.

He added after the initial formative period, the NASD will move to trading on commercial papers and other complex instruments such as derivatives and options.

He pointed out that as an OTC markt, the NASD would not have a trading floor like traditional Exchange but rather trading will be done through the internet and a hosted platform leased from the NSE.” He added that the company had developed an integrated market system made up of the Central Securities Clearing System, six settlement banks and some registrars to

ensure smooth operations while 40 brokers have been registered to trade on the market.

“Our vision is to create a market that is accessible throughout West Africa. We intend to become the hub of first call for capital formation in West Africa and we are guided by the principles of Integrity, Performance and transparency in all our dealings with every point of contact- be they investors, issuers, regulators business partners and especially your good selves,” Ajomale said.

He enthused that NASD would fuel economic growth in the West African sub-region by developing and operating active markets that adhere to the highest standards of performance and principles of integrity while also creating value for its stakeholders and the investing public.

According to him, by offering more liquidity in investment instruments to the Nigerian capital market, NASD will play a crucial role in the ability of Nigeria to sustain a real growth rate of above 7.0 per cent per annum and ensure that desired capital intensive projects can get cheaper and faster access to funding.

On the modus operandi or trading, Ajomale said that there would be no circuit breaker on pricing of equities as they would be priced based on performance and available information in the market.

NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 21- 06-13

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

31

MONEY LINK

‘Private sector ahead on pension fund contributions’

T

HE private sector is well ahead of the public sector in pension fund contributions, FBN Capital report has revealed.

The report indicated that the private sector contributes about 60 per cent of the N3.4 trillion pension assets under the management of Pension Fund Administrators

Stories by Collins Nweze

(PFAs).

The research firm said data released by the National Pension Commission (PenCom) showed that as at end of March 2013 (when pension assets were N3 trillion), the private sector contributed N1.8

trillion to the scheme. Also, the public sector’s contribution from ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of the federal and some state governments, was N1.2 trillion. This, it said, is a marked change from its composition in 2004 when the Act kicked off.

FBN Capital said the increase to

N3.4 trillion as at the end of May 2013 was largely due to the filing in of 12 states into the contributory pension scheme, although only six states had collected and remitted contributions in compliance with the provisions of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2004.

It said the number of registered

contributors has grown to 5.5 million with an average monthly contribution of N30 billion.

“Given that only seven per cent of the nation’s 80 million workforce has joined the scheme, there exists a huge potential for growth in the coming years,” it said.

Sterling Bank’s N12.5b rights issue opens today

A

PPLICATION list for the N12.5 billion rights issue of Sterling Bank Plc opens today, paving the way for shareholders to increase their shares in the high-return bank.

The opening of application list followed the completion of all preoffer processes including final completion board meeting by the board of Sterling Bank and other professional parties as well as approvals by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and the shareholders of the bank.

Sterling Bank is raising N12.5 billion through a rights issue of about 5.889 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N2.12 per share. The lender had traded at a high of N3.05 at the stock market. The shares have been pre-allotted on the basis of three new ordinary shares of 50 kobo each for every eight ordinary shares of 50 kobo each held as at May 20, 2013. Application list will run till July 31, 2014.

The net proceeds of the rights issue, estimated at N12.13 billion, would be used to finance branch expansion, infrastructure upgrade in support of automated and cashless payment, enhance information technology and additional working capital.

About 35 per cent of the net proceeds, estimated at N4.24 billion, would be used for branch expansion; 15 per cent of the funds estimated at N1.82 billion would be used for infrastructure upgrade, 10 per cent of the funds equivalent to N1.21 billion would be used for information technology while 40 per cent, estimated at N4.85 billion, would be added to the working capital.

Managing Director, Sterling Bank, Mr Yemi Adeola, said the rights issue would enhance the capital base of the bank and enable it to create additional values for shareholders.

Given the fact that Sterling Bank is one of the few financial institutions that have not raised new equity funds in the past seven years,

the top flight banker said the current fund raising would enhance the performance of the company and returns to shareholders.

“If with the modest capital that we have, we were able to stabilise the bank, deliver consistently better returns to shareholders and build up to become the a top tier bank, imagine what we would do with more capital. Our shareholders have no reason whatsoever not to be excited in participating in the rights issue.

You can’t regret it,” Adeola assured.

He noted that the rights issue marked the beginning of the bank’s capital raising plan, which is meant to put the bank on stronger footing and further position it to compete effectively.

S

Skye Bank to train exporters, importers

KYE Bank Plc will periodically organise capacity building workshops and other training programmes for its international trade customers.

The training, according to a statement from the lender, is on how traders can conduct their businesses and ensure proper documentation of trade requirements.

Head of International Operations of the bank, Mr Ade Busari, who disclosed this, said in addition to organising periodic workshops for

He said the bank plans to raise $80 million through the rights issue and $120 million through private placement to shore up the lender’s tier one capital.

Mr Adeola pointed out that the bank is embarking on additional capitalisation because size has become very key and relevant in the banking industry and the bank needs to open more branches and put in place enabling infrastructure for its unique retail banking franchise.

He added that additional working capital would enable the bank to expand the scope of its corporate banking business, noting that the lender is currently limited by the single obligor limit, which is a function of available.

the businessmen, the bank would continue to train all account officers in the various branch locations on trends in foreign trade requirements for onward transmission to the exporters and importers.

He said the bank, which has would continue to ensure that its customers’ ‘Forms M’ are not rejected by inspection agents, which has the implication of delaying

transactions.

“We will continue to ensure that our customers know what they need at every stage and what they are supposed to do to make their business easy, convenient and fast,”he said.

Busari said the bank had organised a forum each in Lagos and Ibadan for importers and exporters to explain trade issues, documentation

Amount N

Rate %

M/Date

3-Year 5-Year 5-Year

35m 35m 35m

11.039 12.23 13.19

19-05-2014 18-05-2016 19-05-2016

WHOLESALE DUTCH AUCTION SYSTEM Amount Amount Offered ($) Demanded ($) 350m 150m 350m 138m 350m 113m

MANAGED FUNDS Initial Current Quotation Price Market N8250.00 5495.33 N1000.00 N552.20

NIDF NESF

OBB Rate Call Rate

Price Loss 2754.67 447.80

INTERBANK RATES 7.9-10% 10-11%

PRIMARY MARKET AUCTION (T-BILLS) Tenor 91-Day 182-Day 1-Year

Amount 30m 46.7m 50m

Rate % 10.96 9.62 12.34

Date 28-04-2012 “ 14-04-2012

GAINERS AS AT 21-06-13

SYMBOL MAYBAKER WAPIC NEIMETH IKEJAHOTEL UBCAP ABCTRANS TRANSCORP NPFMCRFBK NAHCO SKYEBANK

O/PRICE

C/PRICE

2.11 0.92 1.21 0.78 1.20 0.90 1.15 1.08 6.62 4.66

2.32 1.00 1.30 0.82 1.26 0.93 1.18 1.10 6.70 4.71

CHANGE 0.21 0.08 0.09 0.04 0.06 0.03 0.03 0.02 0.08 0.05

EXHANGE RATE 6-03-12 Currency

Year Start Offer

Current Before

C u r r e n t CUV Start After %

NGN USD NGN GBP NGN EUR

147.6000 239.4810 212.4997

149.7100 244.0123 207.9023

150.7100 245.6422 209.2910

-2.11 -2.57 -1.51

154.0000

154.3000

-3.04

153.0000

155.5000

-2.30

154.0000

156.0000

-1.96

NIGERIA INTER BANK (S/N) 149.7450 (S/N) Bureau de Change 152.0000 (S/N) Parallel Market 153.0000

ASHAKACEM PORTPAINT ETERNA LIVESTOCK COSTAIN UNILEVER UTC UNITYBANK FBNH NEM

O/PRICE 26.50 4.70 3.34 5.98 1.55 61.00 0.70 0.64 18.35 0.79

C/PRICE 23.85 4.23 3.01 5.39 1.42 56.12 0.65 0.60 17.30 0.76

DISCOUNT WINDOW Feb. ’11

July ’11

July ’12

MPR

6.50%

6.50%

12%

Standing Lending Rate ,, Deposit Rate ,, Liquidity Ratio Cash Return Rate Inflation Rate

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 1.00% 12.10%

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 2.00% 12.10%

9.50% 5.50% 30.00% 2.00% 11.8%

CHANGE 2.65 0.47 0.33 0.59 0.13 4.88 0.05 0.04 1.05 0.03

NIBOR Tenor 7 Days 30 Days 60 Days 150 Days

Rate (Previous) 4 Mar, 2012 9.0417 9.6667 11.2917 12.1250

Amount Sold ($) 150m 138m 113m

Rate (Currency) 6, Mar, 2012 10.17% 11.46% 11.96% 12.54%

Movement

Exchange Rate (N) 155.2 155.8 155.7

Date 2-7-12 27-6-12 22-6-12

CAPITAL MARKET INDEX

NSE CAP Index

27-10-11 N6.5236tr 20,607.37

28-10-11 N6.617tr 20,903.16

% Change -1.44% -1.44%

MEMORANDUM QUOTATIONS Name

LOSERS AS AT 21-06-13

SYMBOL

requirements, as well as providing solutions to some of their perceived misgivings and uncertainties concerning international trade.

He advised the customers to always come to the bank to make enquiries on issues that they are not conversant with, noting that the bank would always avail them of all necessary information they require to succeed in their business.

DATA BANK

FGN BONDS Tenor

• Adeola

ARM AGGRESSIVE GROWTH KAKAWA GUARANTEED STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE INVE AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND LOTUS CAPITAL HALAL BGL SAPPHIRE FUND BGL NUBIAN FUND FBN MONEY MARKET FUND FBN FIXED INCOME FUND NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL DEB. PARAMOUNT EQUITY FUND CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST CENTRE-POINT UNIT TRUST STANBIC IBTC NIG EQUITY • ARM AGGRESSIVE

Offer Price

Bid Price

9.17 1.00 139.16 165.11 0.80 1.16 1.16 100.00 1,000.00 1,817.23 14.39 1.39 1.87 12,214.81

9.08 1.00 139.16 163.93 0.78 1.16 1.15 100.00 1,000.00 1,808.06 13.69 1.33 1.80 11,854.08

• KAKAWA GUARANTEED • STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE • AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUNDARM AGGRESSIVE • OPEN BUY BACK

Bank P/Court

Previous 04 July, 2012

Current 07, Aug, 2012

8.5000 8.0833

8.5000 8.0833

Movement

32

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

ISSUES Two months ago, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) launched the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) scheme. But with the poor telecoms services in the country, which has the made use of more than one mobile phone to become imperative, some subscribers say the introduction of MNP is almost meaningless. However, NCC operators and stakeholders insist it is the best thing to happen to the sector, writes LUCAS AJANAKU.

Does Nigeria need mobile number portability?

N

ASIRU Abdullahi, a native of Kofa Daribi, Katsina State, runs a small kiosk in Abule Odu, a Lagos suburb. He sells biscuits a nd other confectioneries to pupils of some private secondary schools in the neighbourhood.

Barely able to speak the English language, Nasiru uses two mobile phones.

Each of these is dual subscriber identification module (SIM) mobile phone. With four global system for mobile (GSM) communication operators in the country, this implies that he subscribes to all the operators.

He is not aware that (MNP) has been introduced by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) but when he was told and educated, through an interpreter, about the scheme, he said it is a good idea.

“That is very good, especailly as it allows me to still retain my number. But is coming a little too late. Which of the operators will I now port to when in actual fact I am already on their network? So, to me, it is a good thing but it is like medicine after death,” Nasiru said.

Stakeholders’ perspectives Chief Executive Officer, Prostar Global Energy, Hyacinth Udemba, runs a business that has offices in Lagos, Abuja and other parts of the country. Since one advantage of the introduction of the GSM technology in the country is that it has destroyed the fetters erected by distance, he supervises his business across the country using his mobile phones. Clutching three of them, he said: “It is important to understand why people carry more than one mobile phone in the first place. One is because the network is not resilient enough to withstand the surge in voice traffic. So,

‘

It is important to understand why people carry more than one mobile phone in the first place. One is because the network is not resilient enough to withstand the surge in voice traffic. So, if one network is not doing well, I will try the other. Another reason people use more than one mobile phone is because of the freebies offered by the operators, which come in form of highly discounted end user tariff or even free ‘credit’

if one network is not doing well, I will try the other. Another reason people use more than one mobile phone is because of the freebies offered by the operators, which come in form of highly discounted end user tariff or even free ‘credit.’ Therefore, I scarcely could optimise the use of all the phones. Asking me to port and probably bundle myself to one mobile number is like putting my eggs in one basket.”

According to him, the fundamental issue the NCC and the operators must address is that of service quality. The operators, he said, should be encouraged to plough back a substantial part of the profit they make in the country instead of repatriating the money.

“Let the operators invest more on making the network more resilient. Though they did not meet any infrastructure on ground, the Federal Government granted them a lot of incentives to start the business. They have

’

stabilised over time, so they should give their customers quality services. It is not about MNP,” he said.

A computer engineer, Felix Momodebe, said what the NCC ought to have done at the beginning was to make the SIM its property, sell to the subscribers and give them opportunity to choose which operator they intend to patronise. According to him, the regulator lost an opportunity to get certain basic things in place because of the ectasy that greeted the launch of GSM in the country. “It would have been like the metre, which the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) gives. It is the property of the power octopus but you pay for it. Then, registration of SIM cards too ought to have commenced immediately at the point of SIM purchase. It is strange that a tool, as important as a SIM, could be sold out without getting down the details of the person that is buying it,” he said.

According to him, the MNP scheme is good but it is too late. “Are yo now asking me to dump the mobile phones and SIMs that I have been associated with? For those just buying SIMs, MNP may be good for them but for those of us that got connected more than 10 years ago, it is Herculean,” he added.

But the Managing Director, Teledon Group, Dr Emmanuel Ekuwem, disagrees.

According to him, MNP is the best thing to happen to telecoms sector. He said the fact that people already carry more than one mobile phone does not change the situation. “Variety is the spice of life. Options and choices are the aroma of life. When the only operator in the country was NITEL, one had to wait for two years to get a line and the company just offered anything in the name of services to the subscriber. With the liberalisation of the sector , you have choices to make and with the advent of MNP, the freedom is now complete,” he said.

According to him, the cost element should be taken into consideration when making a choice of keeping more than one mobile phone. He said if a susbcriber uses a dual SIM phone and it gets bad or it is stolen, it is double loss to that subscriber.

“If the hardware develops software problem, you will inevitably lose valuables on the two lines. If it is stolen, you would have lost two SIM cards at once with all the data stored on it,” Ekuwem, who was former president, Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) said.

He added that the advantage of one SIM, one phone cannot be overemphasised as it allows for flexibility, choice and comfort.

Regulators’ view Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Ex•Continued on page 33

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

33

ISSUES

Does Nigeria need mobile number portability?

•Continued from page 32 ecutive Officer, NCC, Dr Eugene Juwah, said MNP is synonymous with total freedom to the subscribers. He said MNP introduction is in furtherance of the commission’s vision of providing not only access to telecoms services to Nigerians at affordable cost, but also to continue to provide the required stimulus and appropriate environment for the introduction of innovative services that will impact on quality of telecommunication service delivery.

According to Juwah, MNP has been identified as one service that could further deepen the competition in the telecoms market. He added that with the growing reliance and dependency on mobile communications for everyday socio-economic interactions, it has made the initiative an imperative.

“The vision of the commission is not only to provide access to telecoms services to Nigerians at affordable cost but to also continue to provide the required stimulus and appropriate environment for the introduction of innovative services that will impact on quality telecoms service delivery.

“Our mobile subscriber numbers have become our identity and in most cases, we are required to provide our mobile (telephone) numbers while filling out forms in opening bank accounts, making hotel and airline bookings.

“With the launch of MNP, consumers of telecoms services will no longer need to acquire new numbers in order to move from one network service provider to another.

They will simply take their numbers along with them to any network of their choice.

The power and freedom of choice will, henceforth, rest with the consumer. If a consumer is dissatisfied with the quality of services being provided by a service provider, she/he can simply port out of that network to any network of his/her choice without losing his/her subscriber number,” he said.

According to him, with the launch of MNP, there will be no need for customers to engage in the usually painful exercise of trying to commit phone numbers to memory, neither will they need to frequently change complimentary cards, billboards, letterheads and other corporate documents.

He added that MNP will revolutionise the way calls are being routed since the National Destination Codes (NDC), that is, the network prefix such as 0802, 0803, 0805, 0809 usually identified with operators will no longer play the role of unique identifier. He added that preparatory to the implementation of MNP, NCC adopted the ‘All Call Query (ACQ)’ option for routing calls and short message service (SMS) in line with international best practice.

Operators’ stand All the operators said MNP is good for their business. According to them, it will deepen competition in the industry.

The Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya, said the firm is excited about the launch of the scheme in the country, adding that it was the first operator to call for its introduction. Ogunsanya said before the launch of the scheme, his firm had invested $1.5 billion on network upgrade to ensure that it remained resilient to any surge in subscriber numbers.

The telos Director, Regulatory Affairs and Special Projects, Osondu Nwokoro, said the

•Goschen

•Ogunsanya

•Jameel

•Evans

‘With the launch of MNP, there will be no need for customers to engage in the usually painful exercise of trying to commit phone numbers to memory, neither will they need to frequently change complimentary cards, billboards, letterheads and other corporate documents’ •Juwah

subscribers are the ultimate winners in MNP. According to him, the scheme will allow operators to invest massively in infrastrcuture, thereby supporting the growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Besides,he said there will also be inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). He added that it will also free the regulator of the burden of monitoring service quality as the sector will automatically become selfregulatory.

Globacom said it’s a new dawn in the telecoms industry. Its official, Olyinka Olafimihan, said the telco welcomes MNP, adding that is the game changer in the industry. Though Group Chief Operating Officer of the firm, Mohammed Jameel, said investment of about $2 billion, which it signed with ZTE and Huawei to upgrade its infrastructure in the country, is merely coincidental to the launch of MNP, it is, nonetheless, a welcome development as such investment will upgrade end user ex-

perience on the network.

The Chief Executive Officer, MTN, Brett Goschen, said having recorded resoundung success in other parts of the world where it has its foothold, the telco had trained customer care attendants to assist its new subscribers.

Its Customer Services Executive, Akinwale Goodluck, believes MNP has a future in the country. According to him, the regulator introduced the scheme because it is confident that the operators had put requisite infrastructure in place. “We are excited about MNP. As a leading operator and given our experience in other markets, we fully embrace it. It has done well in tems of operation and interconnect clearing house,” he said.

The Chief Executive Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Steven Evans, said the telco had prepared for the MNP. According to him, what is of utmost importance to the firm is the experience of users on its network. He commended the NCC for introducing the scheme, which he said had engendered the growth of the telco’s subscriber base. He said several thousands of subscribers have ported unto its network. “MNP, to us is a success,” he said, adding that its subscriber base hovers around 16 million.

Its Chief Commercial Officer, Wael Ammar, recently said about 50 per cent of the ported lines did port into Etisalat network.

“Etisalat (is) taking a huge lead with almost 50 per cent of ported numbers coming its way. This revelation was made after collating the successfully ported numbers at the end of the sixth week of the launch of the scheme and shows that Etisalat had almost 50 per cent of ported numbers so far,” he was quoted to have said in a statement.

“I can tell you that Etisalat Nigeria has gained almost 50 per cent of the total figure of ported numbers so far. This is a clear indication that consumers have made their choice based on current realities on ground.

We set out early in our business to ensure that we developed products and services that suit the lifestyle of all our target customers. We have also ensured that we have a reliable network to accommodate existing and new customers and these efforts have been recognised by the NCC and other stakeholders in the telecoms industry,” he added.

Director, Public Affairs, NCC, Tony Ojobo, said the agency has not released any figure because of ongoing regiistration of subscriber identification module (SIM) cards. He said any operator that is making any claim was free to do so, adding that it was all in the spirit of competition.

Ojobo, in a telephone interview, said the MNP scheme was beginning to make the desired impact as the engine of competition has been revved up. According to him, MNP is not all about the number of subscribers that take advantage of the initiatve, but the freedom it gives the subscribers and the fact that it keeps the operators on their toes.

Chief Operating Officer, Interconnect Clearing House Nigeria Limited, Uche Onwudiwe, said the firm, which is the clearing house for all the ported lines, has not released data to operators but to the NCC. It added that it has forwarded data collated so far to the NCC. Goodluck agrees with Ojobo that MNP is not all about the number of subscribers that actually port, but the fact that such a window of opportunity exists for them.

He argued that considering the size of the customers of the telco in the country, it will be too premature to ascertain the impact of the scheme on its network. Beyond that, he said superior service quality will determine where the subscriber will pitch his tent.

But as the MNP chess game continues to play, factors such as the length of time it takes to complete one cycle of porting (48 hours), the fact that the subscriber would have to be subjected to another round of SIM card registration in this age of interconnectivity and the requirement that subscribers must exhaust all the airtime on SIM before porting, are disincentives to porting. Added to these ‘stringent’ requiremnets is that once a subscriber ports, such a subscriber must remain on the recipient’s network for three months (90 days) even if the recipeint network suffered a premeditated attack hours after a successful porting process.

Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs, Etisalat, said these requirements are benchmarked against international best practices.

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

34

EQUITIES WATCH

Email: taofad2000@yahoo.co.uk

With historic prices setting up several stocks for price correction and thinning out underlying returns, the search for high yield may be to switch to relatively low-priced stocks. TAOFIK SALAKO highlights the variables that may put Vitafoam Nigeria into consideration in portfolio rebalancing

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Is it time to move to Vitafoam?

MID the excitement in the stock market, Vitafoam Nigeria has been a less enthusiastic stock. While the stock market recorded average full-year return of 35.4 per cent in 2012, Vitafoam Nigeria posted impressive return of -27.67 per cent. Even with the recent bearishness at the market, average year-to-date return for the market opens today at 29.86 per cent while Vitafoam opens with a below-average return of 18.85 per cent. The pricing trend has even been exciting this year. Vitafoam's share price has seen continuous depreciation in recent years, in spite of somewhat impressive unbroken dividend yields. The company's price ceiling caved in from a high of N7.50 in 2010 to N6.75 in 2011. Its highest price in the past two years has been N5.54. In key value measure, Vitafoam has been underperforming the entire stock market.

Aligning the fundamentals Vitafoam has struggled with sluggish sales and high interest expense in recent years.

Audited report and accounts of the leading foam manufacturing company for the year ended September 30, 2012 had shown that it remained under extreme pressures from its lopsided loan-dominated finance structure.

With 52 per cent increase in interest expense to N542 million in 2012, net earnings distributable to shareholders slipped to N557 million, forcing the company to retain its cash payout of 30 kobo per share for the third consecutive year. However, probable future dividend outlook trailed the marginal de-

cline in earnings per share. While the company bridged marginal decline in sales with relatively substantial reduction in cost of sales to boost gross profit by 18 per cent, finance charges muffled the gain and threw pre and post-tax profits into the negative.

Debt-to-equity ratio remained above 100 per cent. The balance sheet structure partly reflected in the declines in profit margin and returns, although these remained marginal.

Vitafoam's profit and loss items tended largely towards the negative in 2012 as the company struggled with sluggish sales and fast-paced finance costs. While it mitigated weak sales by reducing related costs of sales, margins and returns were depressed by the stifling midline, directly related to huge increase in finance costs. Gross profit margin improved from 30 per cent to 35.5 per cent.

However, pre-tax profit margin slipped from 5.7 per cent to 5.6 per cent. Return on total assets declined from N8.9 per cent to 7.8 per cent while return on equity dropped from 20.2 per cent to 18.1 per cent.

Total sales stood at N14.48 billion in 2012, a slight decrease from N14.52 billion recorded in 2011. Cost of sales meanwhile, dropped by 8.2 per cent from N10.17 billion to N9.34 billion, lifting up gross profit by 18 per cent from N4.35 billion to N5.14 billion. Total operating expenses increased by 16 per cent from N3.35 billion to N3.91 billion. Administrative expenses rose from N2.51 billion to N2.96 billion while distributive costs increased from N840.1 million to N945.2 million.

With 51.7 per cent in interest expenses from N357 million in 2011 to N542 million in 2012 and substantial decline in non-core business incomes, profit before tax dipped slightly by 1.2 per cent from N824 million to N813 million. After taxes, profit distributable to shareholders also slipped by 1.8 per cent from N567 million to N557 million. Earnings per share took cue from net profit after tax at 67.9 kobo in 2012 as against 69.1 kobo in 2011. Net assets per share improved from N3.42 to N3.76, an increase of about 10 per cent.

The company retained its cash dividend per share of 30 kobo for the third consecutive year, earmarking N246 million for distribution to shareholders. Dividend cover however, weakened slightly to 2.27 times as against 2.3 times in previous year. With dividend yield of around eight per cent, the cash payout represented substantial returns for discerning investors, who had taken positions ahead of the earnings release.

Emerging outlook But emerging operational performance in the current business year indicates considerable improvements in the earnings outlook. Interim report for the second quarter ended March 31, 2013 showed that turnover rose by 15.3 per cent while pre and post-tax profits grew by 21 per cent and 17 per cent.

Six-month sales stood at N8.79 billion in 2013 as against N7.62 billion in corresponding period of 2012. Gross profit rose by 15.6 per cent from N2.28 billion to N2.63 bil-

•Chief Samuel Bolarinde, Vitafoam Nigeria

chairman,

lion. Operating profit stood at N834.8 million in 2013 compared with N674.4 million in 2012, representing an increase of 24 per cent. Profit before tax increased from N484.1 million to N585.3 million. After taxes, net profit improved from N348.7 million in second quarter of previous year to N407.9 million in the comparable period of the ongoing year.

The underlying fundamentals indicated stronger outlook for the company, which rubbed off positively on the prospective yield of the company. While gross profit margin was steady at 29.92 per cent, operating profit margin improved from 8.8 per cent in 2012 to 9.5 per cent in 2013. Profit before tax margin also firmed up to 6.66 per cent in 2013 compared with 6.35 per cent in 2012.

Earnings per share closed the first six months of the ongoing year at 50 kobo in contrast with 43 kobo recorded in comparable period o 2012. The basic earnings outlook underlines above-average return for the company. With the opening price of N4.35 today, earnings yield stands at 11.49 per cent now compared with 9.89 per cent relative to the previous year's figure. Besides, the last dividend payout of 30 kobo implies a dividend yield of 6.9 per cent against the current price. Net assets per share stands at N3.98, showing slim gap between the six-month net assets and the current market price.

With average dividend yields for several stocks below five per cent and earnings substantially diluted by high share prices, Vitafoam appears to present good opportunity to lock in values against the overall market downtrend.

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

35

MONEY MARKET REPORT

CBN’s intervention strengthens Naira

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HE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN's) market intervention and dollar inflows from the twice-weekly Wholesale Dutch Auction System (WDAS) helped the naira to regain its positive outlook last week. Consequently, last Friday the Naira gained 0.9 per cent to N159.65 per dollar, putting last week's gains at 1.9 per cent.

The banking watchdog sells dollars at auctions on Mondays and Wednesdays to boost the Naira and had last week alone, offered and sold $600 million at auctions. It has offered and sold the same volume over the last three auctions to support the naira.

Although the naira breached CBN's three per cent above N155 to a dollar target a fortnight ago, analysts insist the CBN is positioned to stabilise the currency within the three per cent band either side of N155 to a dollar in the short term.

The Debt Management Office (DMO) raised N20.8 billion this month through three offerings, which were re-openings: four per cent Federal Government of Nigeria April 2015 bond, 15.1 per cent April 2017 bond and 10 per cent July 2030 bond.

Currency Analyst at Ecobank Nigeria, Olakunle Ezun said although the market demand matched the supply, the pricing reflected investor's "wait and see attitude" on the naira short term outlook. The stop rates were 12.25 per cent, 13 per cent and 13.5 per cent respectively.

•Naira notes

KYC deadline The CBN extended Know Your Customer (KYC) deadline for Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs) from April 30 2013 to December 31, 2013.

Its Acting Director, Financial Policy and Regulation, A.O Ikem advised DNFBPs that have not registered with Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUML) to do so before the deadline ends, failing which they would not be allowed to operate such accounts. The CBN said the extension is meant to address some of the challenges encountered

by SCUML as a result of the number of persons seeking to enjoy late compliance.

The CBN had earlier issued a circular, mandating DNFBPs on the need to provide additional KYC requirements to their banks and Other Financial Institutions (OFIs). It said compliance is in line with international best practice against adverse developments resulting from money laundering and financing of terrorism globally.

NDIC The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Bank Guarantee Fund of Poland in a move seen as helping both bodies share ideas on regulation.

NDIC said the move is in line with the mission of the International Association of Deposit Insurers (IADI) to share knowledge and experience in deposit insurance and areas of compliance with core principles of effective deposit insurance practice among its affiliates globally.

The MoU was signed at the end of the NDIC's working visit to the Bank of Guarantee Fund of Poland on capacity building, information and experience sharing in key operational areas.

The statement named such areas to include early warning system, failure resolution, establishment of target fund ratio and implementation of a single customer view system.

The NDIC delegates comprised the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Umaru Ibrahim and the Executive Director of Operations, Prince Aghatise Erediauwa.

It said both bodies are members of International Association of Deposit Insurers (IADI) and the President of the Management Board of BGF, Poland, Jerzy Pruski is the current Chair of the Executive Council and President of IADI.

NIBSS The vision of Nigeria being among the top 20 economies in the world providing efficient e-payment services by the year 2020 will be achieved, the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) has said.

NIBSS Executive Director, Business Development, Chritabel Onyejekwe disclosed this at the 13th Card , ATM & Mobile Expo held in Lagos. She said the cash-less banking initiative has recorded huge success and has been able to drastically reduce banks' operational costs significantly.

By Collins Nweze

She said NIBSS in collaboration with the CBN, banks and other international partners are committed to the journey of transformation for the e-payment industry via cash-less economy. He said all the parties agree that a lot of work needs to be done at the grassroots.

She said, SIBS International, a Portuguese firm has been supporting NIBSS in achieving the cash-less objective.

CITN The Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) has elected Mark Anthony Chidolue Dike as its new President. He replaces Asiwaju John Femi Sunday Jegede, his predecessor. Dike was elected at the 21st Annual General Meeting of the Institute.

A statement signed by CITN Head, Corporate Services, Gbolahan Bilewu, said other elected officers of Council included Teju Somorin as Vice President; C. I. Ede, Deputy Vice President and Adesina Adedayo who returned unopposed as the Treasurer.

Dike, the Director of Tax Policy in the Federal Inland Revenue Service, is a seasoned tax administrator and chartered accountant. He obtained a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree in Economics from the University of Ife, (now Obafemi Awolowo University) Ile-Ife, Oyo State.

IFC The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has estimated that the bankable need for private health institutions within the country is currently worth $3 billion. The global lender also said in a statement that with an available leveraged funding potential of about $1 billion that could be tapped for investment into health.

This is according to a new Study by the IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, which is partnering with the Federal Ministry of Health and James Daniel Consulting to organize the Nigerian Healthcare Infrastructure Investment Summit holding this month in the country.

"This summit targets the private sector in healthcare and aims to showcase the best practices of what works within the private health sector in Nigeria and other countries. The IFC will also be launching her maiden edition of the study, Nigeria Health Market Studies, which details investment opportunities within the Nigerian health sector and how to create value for Nigerian patients

through private sector investment.

CIBN/FITC The Chartered institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) will be partnering with Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC) to improve the competency level among bank's staff.

In a statement, CIBN said such move would help in bridging skills gaps in the banking and finance industry. The exercise is coming after stakeholders' engagement with the FITC led by CIBN' President/ Chairman of Council, Segun Aina.

He noted that the engagement was part of familiarisation and bridge-building efforts to dialogue with major stakeholders in the sector.

He observed that the industry was so large and replete with many value adding opportunities such that there was room for the each of the two organiSations to make its own impact without any hindrance. He called for collaboration and cooperation between the CIBN and FITC in areas of common goals and interest.

Investment Actis, a private-equity company, will lead investment of as much as $1.5 billion in African commercial property to meet rising demand from international companies targeting a growing middle class, Bloomberg report had said.

"We are seeing a shift in interest from South African brands to European retailers" seeking opportunities in fast-growing economies such as Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya, Kevin Teeroovengadum, director of Actis' sub-Saharan Africa real estate unit, said.

Actis, which is based in London, plans to invest in projects including shopping centers, office towers and industrial parks that will come to fruition over the next five years, Teeroovengadum said. The company will use the proceeds of its second African real estate fund that raised $280 million in October, while the rest of the investment will come from commercial partners and loans.

Africa's economy, excluding Libya and Somalia, is forecast to expand 4.5 per cent in 2013 and 5.2 per cent next year amid a rise in oil and mining projects and direct investment from foreign companies, according to the Tunis-based African Development Bank's annual outlook. Nigeria, the continent's most populous country, grew 6.6 percent in the first quarter while South Africa, the continent's biggest economy, expanded by an annualized 0.9 percent.

Actis has raised about $1.4 billion across seven Africa funds since 2003, according to data compiled

by Bloomberg. The company is also pursuing deals in South America and Southeast Asia in sectors including energy and technology.

‘Though the market demand matched the supply, the pricing reflected investor's "wait and see attitude" on the naira short term outlook. The stop rates were 12.25 per cent, 13 per cent and 13.5 per cent ’

Bank to bank report Mainstreet Bank Limited released its group financial result for the year ended 31 December 2012, which saw the bank's profit before tax (PAT) hitting N24.1 billion during the period.

The lender is one of the bridge banks that emerged on August 5, 2011 following the takeover by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) of the defunct Afribank Plc and its subsequent recapitalisation and ownership by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).

A statement issued by the bank said the result rekindled hope across the industry especially amongst customers, financial analysts and investors who had expressed mixed feelings on the ability of AMCON to stabilise the nation's financial system after taking over some banks under the bridge model.

"The declared result, showed a marked improvement in all key financial indices especially given the bank's loss position of N4.4 billion within the five-month period it operated as at December 2011. The figures from the result also show that the bank grew its gross earnings to N47.9 billion within the period under review," it said.

United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has been named the best bank in support of agriculture in the country. In a statement, the bank said it got the recognition following its contribution to the growth of the agricultural sector and value addition to the economy.

UBA clinched the award at the maiden edition of BusinessDay Annual Banking Awards, which held recently in Lagos.

According to statistics, UBA tops the Central Bank of Nigeria's (CBN's) list of lenders to the agricultural sector. By 2012 financial year end, the lender had channeled seven per cent of its N687 billion loan book to agriculture. This is the highest exposure of any bank in Nigeria and invariably places the bank as one of the strongest supporters of agriculture in Nigeria.

Divisional Head, Consumer Banking, UBA Plc, Mr. Ilesanmi Owoeye, received the award on behalf of the bank.

Diamond Bank said it had broken a new campaign to claim its position as one of the leading financial institutions in Nigeria. In a statement, the bank said the launch follows a successful brand refresh in November 2012 where the brand saw changes in its colours moving away from the monosyllabic greys and dark tones to more vibrant colours. It said the motive was to make the brand more approachable in line with its positioning as one of the leading retail bank in Nigeria.

Diamond Bank's new media campaign "you need a new bank," reminds customers of the power of choice especially when it comes to choosing a bank. As customers are becoming more discerning of banking products and services, the bank is putting a stake in the ground- armed with a portfolio of products and technology to produce faster and more efficient services, the question becomes ''why do you stay with a bank that does not meet your needs?" said Ayona Trimnell, the bank's Head Corporate Communications.

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

36

DUE DILIGENCE

MRS Oil Nigeria: Losing fuel

M

RS Oil Nigeria Plc’s high financial leverage continued to compound its sluggish business performance, underlining a complex situation that has, in recent years, continuously decimated the profitability and returns of the petroleum-marketing company.

Audited report and accounts of MRS for the year ended December 31, 2012 showed that the company remained under extreme pressures from its dependence on bank loans, the resultant high interest expense and less-than-optimal turnover.

While turnover grew by 11.5 per cent, an increase of 163 per cent in interest expenses overran the profit and loss accounts, leading to declines of 73 per cent and 67 per cent in profits before and after tax respectively. The worsening bottomline passed on to shareholders, with further reduction in cash dividend by about 67 per cent.

However, one-third reduction in outstanding loans relieved the edgy balance sheet position. While total assets dropped by about 24 per cent, total liabilities declined by 32 per cent, leaving the company in better financing position. Modest improvement in working capital and lower gearing ratio underlined a commendable balance sheet restructuring, although it still remained substantially susceptible.

Financing structure

Total balance sheet size stood at N55.6 billion in 2012, indicating a

By Taofik Salako

drop of 23.5 per cent from N72.7 billion recorded in 2011. Balance sheet size was depressed mainly by 32 per cent decline in current assets from N49 billion to N33.2 billion. Long-term assets had slipped from N23.7 billion to N22.4 billion.

Meanwhile, total liabilities also dropped by 32 per cent from N53.71 billion to N36.54 billion.

Current liabilities had declined by 36 per cent from N46.76 billion to N30.1 billion, reflecting similar decline in bank loans from N21 billion in 2011 to N13.46 billion in 2012. While the paid up share capital remained unchanged at N127 million, some 254 million ordinary shares of 50 kobo each, total equity funds inched up from N18.99 billion to N19.05 billion.

The decline in loans and current liabilities and the stability of the equity funds mixed into better financing structure. Debt-to-equity ratio improved from 111 per cent in 2011 to 71 per cent in 2012. The proportion of equity funds to total assets also improved from 26 per cent to 34 per cent.

Efficiency

MRS undertook major staff downsizing in 2012 as average number of employees nearly halved from 203 persons in 2011 to 109 persons in 2012. Staff costs declined correspondingly from N1.53 billion to N812.7 million. Average staff cost per employee dropped slightly from N7.51 million to N7.46 million. Notwithstanding the restructuring, staff performance and productivity as well as general cost efficiency were relatively weak. Average contribution of each employee to the bottomline halved from N6.96 million in 2011 to N3.48 million in 2012. Without the huge interest expenses, other costs were still slightly higher. Cost of sales and operating expenses amounted to 99.2 per cent of turnover in 2012 as against 98.8 per cent in 2011.

Profitability

•Bissohong

MRS suffered considerable decline in profitability in 2012 with both outward profit and loss figures and underlying indices crashing to new lows. Average pre-tax

profit per unit of sales dwindled from N2 in 2011 to 50 kobo in 2012 just as average return on each unit of N100 assets slumped from N1.90 to 70 kobo. The negative bottomline performance was mainly orchestrated by significant increase in interest expenses, which overwhelmed the headroom created by modest growth in sales. Total turnover rose by 11.5 per cent from N71.49 billion to N79.73 billion.

Top-line performance was driven largely by about 20 per cent increase in premium motor spirit from N49.15 billion to N58.92 billion. Total turnover was moderated by substantial declines in automotive gas oil, which dropped from N7.28 billion to N6.28 billion and dual purpose kerosene, which dropped from N2.54 billion to N1.71 billion.

With 14.5 per cent increase in cost of sales from N64.67 billion to N74.02 billion, gross profit dropped by 16.3 per cent from N6.82 billion to N5.71 billion. Total operating expenses however decreased by 15.6 per cent from N5.98 billion to N5.05 billion.

Non-core business income was almost flat at N1.07 billion compared with N1.09 billion in previous year. Finance expenses jumped by 163 per cent to N1.36 billion as against N517 million in previous year, laying the foundation for significant declines in pre and post tax profits. Profit before tax slumped to a low of N379 million in 2012 compared with N1.41 billion in 2011 while profit after tax dropped from N616 million to N205 million.

Underlying fundamentals of the company were generally on the downtrend. Gross profit margin dropped from 9.5 per cent to 7.2 per cent. Profit before tax margin slipped to 0.5 per cent as against 2.0 per cent. Return on total assets dropped from 1.9 per cent to 0.7 per cent while return on equity dwindled to 1.1 per cent compared with 3.2 per cent recorded in previous year.

The low profit performance depressed actual dividend payouts and the sustainability of even such payouts. With basic earnings per share dropping from N2.43 to 81 kobo, the company reduced dividend by the same margin. Gross dividend dropped from N178 million to N59 million, representing

Fiscal Year Ended December 31 Nmillion

2012 12 months

% change

2011 12 months

Profit and Loss Statement Main Business Segment Total turnover Cost of sales Gross profit Operating expenses Interest and other incomes Finance expenses Pre-tax profit(loss) Post-tax profit (loss) Basic earnings per share(kobo) Gross dividend (Nm) Cash dividend per share (kobo) Net Assets per share (kobo)

58,923 79,727 74,015 5,712 5,047 1,072 1,358 379 205 81 59 23.34 7,502

19.9 11.5 14.5 -16.3 -15.6 -1.7 162.7 -73.2 -66.7 -66.7 -66.6 -66.6 0.3

49,151 71,491 64,668 6,823 5,983 1,091 517 1,413 616 243 178 70 7,476

Balance Sheet Assets: Fixed assets Total long term assets Trade debtors Current assets Total assets Liabilities: Trade creditors Bank loans Current liabilities Long-term liabilities Total liabilities Equity Funds Share capital Total Equity Funds

22,014 22,398 3,441 33,197 55,596

-5.0 -5.5 26.4 -32.3 -23.5

23,173 23,699 2,722 49,001 72,700

8,436 13,460 30,085 6,457 36,542

62.3 -35.9 -35.7 -7.1 -32.0

5,199 21,004 46,760 6,951 53,711

127 19,054

0.0 0.3

127 18,989

2008

2009

2010

a dividend per share of 23.34 kobo for the 2012 business year as against 70 kobo paid for the 2011 business year. Dividend cover also dimmed from 1.94 times in 2011 to 1.37 times in 2012. Net assets per share was flat at N75.02 in 2012 as against N74.76 in 2011.

Liquidity

The liquidity position of the company meanwhile improved considerably during the period. Current ratio, which fundamentally indicates the ability of the company to meet emerging financing obligations, improved from 1.05 times in 2011 to 1.10 times in 2012. The proportion of working capital to total turnover also improved from 3.1 per cent to 3.9 per cent. Debtors/ creditors ratio stood at 41 per cent in 2012 as against 52 per cent in 2011.

Governance and structures

Formerly known as Chevron Oil Nigeria Plc, MRS Oil Nigeria is owned by about 24,000 shareholders. One of the major downstream oil companies, MRS Africa Holdings Limited (Bermuda) holds 60 per cent majority equity stake in MRS Oil Nigeria while ZSL holds 7.71 per cent equity stake. Sundry

2011

2012

Nigerian individuals and institutions hold the remaining 32.3 per cent equities. While the board has remained stable, the management of the company has seen many chief executives in recent period.

Alhaji Sayyu Dantata, who doubles as the Chief Executive for MRS Oil Group, still chairs the board of MRS Oil Nigeria.

Meanwhile, Mr Paul Bissohong was appointed the acting managing director following successive resignations of Mr Shardhashis Prasad and Mallam Musa Yahya.

Analyst’s opinion

The latest earnings report further underlines the need for a thorough review of not only marketing and financing strategies but also the long-term business growth strategy. While it made commendable effort to reduce short-term indebtedness, the company needs to still undertake substantial deleverage.

Besides, it needs to develop a sustainable sales growth and cost management strategies to stabilise earnings and break the chequered trend that has marked the performance curve over the years. The overall performance outlook raises the urgency of a deeper restructuring.

Fiscal Year Ended December 31

2012 %

2011 %

Financing structure Equity funds/Total assets Long-term liabilities/Total assets Current liabilities/Total assets Debt/Equity ratio

34.3 11.6 54.1 70.6

26.1 9.6 64.3 110.6

Profitability Gross profit margin Pre-tax profit margin Return on total assets Return on equity Dividend cover (times)

7.2 0.5 0.7 1.1 1.37

9.5 2.0 1.9 3.2 1.94

Efficiency Pre-tax profit per employee (Nm) Staff cost per employee (Nm) Cost of sales, operating exp/Turnover

3.48 7.46 99.2

6.96 7.51 98.8

Liquidity Current ratio Working capital/Turnover Debtors/Creditors

1.10 3.9 40.8

1.05 3.1 52.4

JOBS THE NATION

Website:- http://www.thenationonlineng.com

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

37

• Make-up artiste at work (inset: Make-up tools).

Need a job? Try make-up artistry For the unemployed with certain skills, make-up artistry is worth trying.

The sector, experts say, has a lot to offer the unemployed. AKINOLA AJIBADE highlights the job potentials.

W

HAT is make-up artistry? Is it worth venturing into? How profitable is it? Can it provide jobs for the teeming unemployed youth? These are some of the questions on the minds of people. Certainly, opportunties abound in make-up artistry. Make-up artistry is all about making people beautiful and presentable.

Until now, make-up artists were more popular in the film and television industry. Now, following the expansion of businesses and the need to grow brands, companies are compelled to engage make-up artists. There is an upsurge in people working as make-up artists.

According to experts, make-up artistry has a lot of job potentials. They said countries, such as, the United States and Britain, boast of millions of make-up artists,

adding that there is a market for them. They said Nigeria with a population of over 160 million is in a better position to promote good ideas through make-up artists.

The Managing Director, Rank and Stuss Enterprises, Mr Akeem Alaka, said there is a good market for make-up artists in Nigeria. He advised the unemployed to veer into it. The firm is into production of designer T-Shirts and entertainment. Alaka said the initiative is broad, and has the capacity to create job opportunities for people. He said job descriptions of make-up artists are enormous, adding that people have a lot to choose from.

He said: “Once you are trained and prepared for the job of a make-up artist, you have a number of employment opportunities. You need a certificate or diploma in cosmetology and aesthetics. That is the standard all over the world. Once you can apply

what you are trained for, you will get jobs.

There are different categories of make-up jobs. They include retail make-up stores; makeup counter in large store; special events( wedding, promos, award shows) salons and spas; theatre and other live dramatic events; photography studio; magazine photo shots; runway fashion shows; television sets, film sets and freelance.

“A runway television show is about making up for men and women that catwalk for honour. The eyelids, lipsticks, shoes, clothings must properly be arranged to bring out good shape. In the area of theatre and other dramatic events, there is the need to provide costumes for people based on the roles assigned to them. For instance, somebody acting as a rich man or warlord must be given make-ups that suit those roles.”

He said mascots depict certain characteris-

tics, adding that some people are trained in that area. He said wedding, promotions, and award shows, are events that require the services of make-up artists. According to him, there are certain characters in soap operas and drama series that must be packaged by make-up artists.

“The emotional and climatic conditions must be considered when making up some characters in a play or film. Therefore, there is the need to understand some basic elements of the trade, The fee also varies depending on the job given to makeup artists. It is worthwhile venture because it provides a reasonable income for people,” he said.

He said make-up artists get recommendations as long as they are doing their jobs •Continued on page 38

38

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

JOBS

Need a job? Try make-up artistry •Continued from page 37

well, adding that people appreciate good jobs.

Also, a lecturer at Yaba College of Technology, Mr Raheem Afolabi, said art breathes and speaks, explaining that works of arts are produced to pass message across to an audience. He said people patronise arts based on their qualities, arguing that make-up artists who do their jobs well would get clients and referrals.

Afolabi said there are opportunities in the make-up artistry, advising people to tap into them.

He said make-up artists can start from the scratch, and rise to the level they want if they are committed.

“You can start at a store, salon or spa to gain real-world experience, hone your technique and build a good portfolio. Thereafter, you can move into more specialised areas by working for television stations, photo studio or small magazine. You can work as a freelancer and make money.

For people who are enterprising, they can make a lot of money as make-up artists. What is important is creativity and good understanding of the needs of your cli-

ents,” he said.

Afolabi said there are different avenues of getting jobs, stressing that people need to showcase their products before they can get buyers for them.

“There are various ways of getting or sourcing for make-up jobs.

One can view online make-up artist jobs; volunteer your services to attract people’s attention; do make up for friends and family and ask them to refer you to people that need such services; take your portfolio in a boutique, salon or other retailer; and search Craiglist and other job boards for film and television projects especially in cities,” he said.

The expert urged make-up artists to do their jobs well and be personable to get more offers, stressing that high-profile clients will recommend or refer artists that execute good jobs.

The Managing Director, First Books Limited, Dr Dan Obidiegwu, said unemployment was a major problem worldwide.

He said the governments have tried to find lasting solutions to the issue but to no avail. He said unfolding events have shown that governments alone cannot

• Minister of Labour, Chukwemeka Wogu

meet the employment needs of their people. He said it has become imperative for people to create jobs for themselves and earn a living, arguing that there are lots of ideas to choose from.

Obidiegwu, who was Chief Executive Officer, Longman Nigeria Plc, urged stakeholders to pro-

• NLC President, Abdulwaheed Omar

vide a proactive approach to employment problems. He said people should irrespective of their backgrounds, have the ability to create jobs.

He urged people to acquire skills that can make them compete favourably in the labour market, adding that knowledge

determines what people earn.

He said people who want to work on their own would face initial challenges, but noted that perserveance is required of them. He said people can plan well when they have their own jobs.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

T • Rev. Richards

Ayo Richards is Chams chair

HE Board of Directors of Chams Plc has appointed the Very Rev Ayo Richards as its Chairman.

He succeeds Prof Adebayo Akinde who was Chairman for eight years. Akinde is now the Archbishop of Lagos Diocese of The Church of Nigeria – Anglican Communion.

Richards, who was presented

to Chams shareholders at the 29th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos, joined the company in 2009.

An Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Richards is a banker and management consultant.

He has over 20 years experience in banking.

He was Managing Director and Chief Executive of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) Gambia, Deputy General Manager at Access Bank and was the pioneer Chief Executive Officer of Stallion Home Savings & Loan Ltd, among others.

Richards is the Managing

Consultant of Shepherds Consult Limited- a firm with specialty in corporate restructuring, tax consultancy, financial training and Change Management.

Others appointed to the board are Prof Oladapo Afolabi, don, management consultant and entrepreneur, and Dr. Evans Woherem, pioneer Chairman of Interswitch and Director of Nigeria Interbank Settlement Systems (NIBSS).

CAREER MANAGEMENT

Putting more energy behind your job hunting “M

Y job hunt is stuck in the mud.

I know I need to fix it, but I’m feeling overwhelmed and I’ve got no energy left. I’ve tried everything, and nothing seems to work.” Does this sound like you or what you feel now?

The simple truth is: Hunting for a job can be tiring, demoralising, and frustrating for people who have internalised their inability to find work as a sign of personal failure. Confidence and selfimage suffer. Not to mention the economic embarrassment. As that happens, it becomes increasingly difficult to present the optimistic, energetic “can do” persona that employers seek.

We all hear the longer you are out of work, the harder it is to get work. One of the reasons for this is that employers are looking for you, Mr/Ms. Jobhunter not to be jaded, tired, and “down.” And, they fear that the longer you are out of work, the more likely it is you won’t have the vim and vigour they seek.

How can you put more energy to your flagging job hunting campaign?

There are things you can do to energise your job hunt. Below are my suggestions.

This list is hardly exhaustive, but it’s a good start:

Remember getting a job is a job

Treat it with the same sense of professionalism that you would bring to any employ-

By Olu Oyeniran

ment. Show up on time every day. And, at the end of the day, don’t feel guilty about packing the work up, and transitioning to “personal” or “family” mode. As with any job, it’s important to maintain a healthy work/life balance.

Recognise and confront your self-imposed roadblocks Are you frozen in place by fear of possible future failure? Many people have experienced so much rejection that they are afraid to have any more piled on. Such feelings are real, and they need to be acknowledged.

Sometimes inaction can be psychological defence mechanism. It’s important, however, to understand that inaction is a certain road to the status quo. Try to move forward every day – even if you only do one or two small “baby step” things that can help to build up your self-confidence.

Break out of your isolation Figure out who are the members of your support system – your family, friends, other job hunters you meet at networking groups, members of your church or synagogue and so on. Talk to them regularly.

Tell them what you’ve been up to, what seems to be working, and what seems to be frustrating you. Make them part of your team. Ask for their feedback and advice.

Help them to help you by creating a context of “us” instead of “me.” And of course: seek a good job hunting coach who can understand and relate to you, and provide both guidance and the occasional “kick in the pants” when it’s called for.

Balance your job hunting activities You can’t be everywhere, all the time.

Strive to create a balance over the course of a week or two in a cycle. If you think of your search for work as a job hunt, then imagine each tool or tactic as one arrow in your quiver. You need a variety of arrows including: informational interviewing; attending professional meetings and seminars; social networking utilising LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter; writing your blog, and so on.

However, important online activity has become, remember that social networks are but the means to the end of building personal relationships. Nurture your relationships both in the real and virtual worlds.

Stay focused and use your time wisely People who work out of their homes often say that one of the biggest challenges they face is managing their time. It’s easy to be distracted by kids, pets, housework, TV, internet, computer games, and so much else!

Organise your day and week in advance.

Create an hourly schedule and stick to it by setting alarms on your computer calendar or wherever they will best be seen and heard.

Practise, practise, and practise some more Rehearse your elevator speech out loud and prepare answers to interview questions that you can anticipate. For example, don’t allow yourself to be flummoxed by opening queries like, ”Tell me about yourself.” Did you know Larry Bird, one of the greatest basketball players of all time, shot 1,000 baskets EVERY DAY! He was great because he understood the need for constant repetition and skill building.

Maintain your mental and physical health Eat healthy. Exercise at least three times each week. If it’s been a while since you exercised with any regularity, start slow and gradually build yourself back up. Get those endorphins flowing and you will look better, have more energy, and feel better about yourself.

•Oyeniran is Lead Consultant, EkiniConsult & Associates. He can be reached on Jobsearchhow.com.ng Tel 08083843230 (SMS Only).

39

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

International Business

Stock gains melt away as US bond yields hit 22-month high

S

TOCKS in the United States erased early gains at the weekend as rising interest rates continued to spook market participants, Globe and Mail, reports.

The US benchmark 10-year Treasury yield rose above the 2.50 per cent level , the highest since August 2011.

The Canadian dollar continued to pile up losses amid data showing a disappointing read on retail sales and tame inflation, falling 0.75 of a cent to 95.65 cents US, its lowest level since late November, 2011.

USand Canadian indexes had started out positive. But gains had melted away by late morning, adding to big losses since Wednesday when Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank will slow down its bond purchases this year and complete them by the end of 2014 – sooner than many observers had expected.

New York’s Dow Jones industrials was off 24 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 14,733 and the Nasdaq was down 20 points to 3,344.4 while the S&P 500

index was off five points to 1,582.

In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index was down 17 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 11,951.

Investors have got used to central banks flooding the financial markets with stimulus since the 2008 financial collapse and subsequent recession.

The Fed’s purchase of $85-billion a month in bonds has kept long-term rates low and also helped fuel a strong rally on stock markets, with the exception of the resource-weighted TSX where mining stocks in particular have lost ground amid a sluggish global recovery.

Nonetheless, the Fed thinks that economic data is strong enough to allow it to let up on its bond buying program.

The prospect that the policy will be unwound sooner than many investors thought prompted big moves late Wednesday and Thursday with the Dow shedding well over 500 points, but still leaving the blue chip

index up about 12.5 per cent year to date.

The TSX has fallen about 400 points in the past two sessions, leaving the main Canadian index down 3.75 per cent so far this year.

However, an easing of stimulus by the U.S. central bank hasn’t been the only worry as traders were also concerned about the latest indication of a slowing Chinese economy.

HSBC said Thursday that the preliminary version of its monthly purchasing managers index for China’s manufacturing sector fell to a ninemonth low of 48.3 in June, down from 49.6 in May. Numbers below 50 indicate a contraction in the manufacturing sector.

Interest sensitive stocks led advances on the TSX. Markets have anticipated for weeks now that the Fed would cut back on its bond purchases, which had the effect of boosting the dollar and bond yields and punishing stocks in sectors such as utilities, pipelines, REITs

and telcos.

The yield on the U.S. benchmark 10-year bond hovered around 2.45 per cent Friday morning, up from about 2.25 per cent before Bernanke made his announcement Wednesday afternoon. The yield was as low as 1.6 per cent in early May. The TSX telecom sector gained almost two per cent with Telus ahead 61 cents to $34.07.

The utilities component improved by 1.1 per cent and Atlantic Power ran up 14 cents to $7.04.

The financial sector was up 0.7 per cent as TD Bank climbed $1.21 to $81.84.

The tech sector was slightly higher with BlackBerry up 12 cents to $14.57 at the end of a volatile week for the stock.

Elsewhere, shares in Wi-LAN Inc. jumped 49 cents or 11.5 per cent to $4.74 after it said Thursday after the close that it has renewed its licensing agreement with Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Under the agreement, Wi-LAN grants Samsung a licence to its patents for wireless products such as handsets, tablets and laptops, and for networking infrastructure equipment.

Resource stocks weakened during the morning while commodity futures were mixed after sustaining a severe mauling. Prices fell heavily Thursday, partly because of demand concerns that arose from the Chinese data but also because a higher U.S. dollar.

A higher US dollar pressures commodities because a stronger greenback makes it more expensive for holders of other currencies to buy oil and metals, which are dollar-denominated.

The gold sector inched up 0.17 per cent as August gold climbed $6.20 to $1,292.40 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange after tumbling $88 to a 2 1/2 year low. Iamgold lost eight cents to $4.55.

China steps back from severe cash crunch

C

HINA pulled back from the brink of a severe cash crunch at the weekend , with money rates falling after reports that the People’s Bank of China, the central bank, had acted to alleviate market stresses, Globe and Mail, reports.

Nevertheless, interbank conditions remained tight and analysts said the PBoC would continue its hard line of recent days to compel financial institutions to pare back their leverage.

Local media reported that the central bank had provided targeted cash injections to the country’s biggest banks after the interbank market almost froze on Thursday, though there was no official announcement of any special provisions.

One bond trader told the Financial Times that the PBoC had given verbal instructions to major banks to resume lending to each other, in order to get the interbank market working again.

The seven-day bond repurchase rate, a key measure of liquidity, fell 227 basis points to 8.5 per cent, indicating that the threat of an acute financial crisis had significantly re-

ceded.

But short-term lending rates remained roughly double their normal level - high enough to cause serious pain for over-leveraged financial institutions. The central bank has steadfastly refused to conduct any large-scale, system-wide cash injections over the past week despite calls for help from lenders.

The Shanghai Composite Index, the country’s main stock index, fell nearly 1 per cent in the morning trading session, adding to its seven per cent tumble over the past two weeks.

“We maintain our view that the monetary policy stance will remain tight, at least until the second-quarter GDP release on July 15,” said Zhang Zhiwei, an economist with Nomura Securities.

“We believe that recent action by the PBoC reflects the government’s determination to take aggressive action to contain financial risks,” he added.

Overall credit has grown by about 22-23 per cent in China this year, up from 20 per cent in 2012, after a surge in “shadow” lending by trust companies and banks through off-balance-sheet vehicles.

France to seek ban on Amazon bundled discounts

F

RANCE’S Socialist government aims to introduce a law preventing online retailer Amazon.com Incorporated from offering both discounts and free delivery for books in France, the culture minister said, arguing this amounts to unfair competition, Globe and Mail, reports.

Aurelie Filippetti said the government was looking for the right time to introduce a ban on the practice, which book sellers say threatens their business model by allowing Amazon to undercut their prices.

The Netflix sign on is shown on an iPad in Encinitas, California, April 19, 2013. Netflix Inc reported on April 22, 2013 a first-quarter profit that beat Wall Street expectations as the dominant video rental service added new streaming subscribers in the United States.

“I’m in favour of ending the possibility of offering both free delivery and a five-per-cent discount,” she told BFM news television on Friday. “We need a law, so we’re going to find a legislative window to introduce one.”

Amazon in France declined to comment.

Filippetti’s remark underscored tensions between the French government and U.S. online firms such as Amazon and Google Inc., which have been criticised for paying too little to the creators of cultural or news content.

France, like other European countries, bans retailers from discounting books more than five per cent from a sale price set by the publisher. This is to prevent small sellers from being crushed by giant retailers that can absorb bigger discounts.

Guillaume Husson, spokesman for the SLF book retailers’ union, said Amazon’s practice of bundling a five-per-cent discount with free delivery amounted to selling books at a loss, which was impossible for traditional book sellers of any size.

“Today, the competition is unfair... No other book retailer, whether a small or large book or even a chain, can allow itself to lose that much money,” he said, referring to Amazon’s alleged losses on free delivery.

The SLF union had sued Amazon for unfair competition before a French court, and the case was still being reviewed, he added.

•Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel during the International Economic Forum meeting at St. Petersburg ... at the weekend.

Rosneft to boost oil flows to China in $270b deal R RUSSIA’S OAO Rosneft has agreed to double oil supplies China, in a deal it valued at $270-billion (U.S.) at the weekend , as the Kremlin energy champion shifts its focus to Asia from saturated and crisis-hit European markets, Globe and Mail, reports.

Rosneft will supply China with 300,000 barrels per day over 25 years starting in the second half of the decade, on top of the 300,000 bpd it already ships to the world’s largest energy consumer.

“The estimated value of the deal is $270-billion,” Rosneft’s boss Igor Sechin, a powerful ally of President Vladimir Putin, told reporters in what would be one of the biggest supply deals in the history of Russia, the world’s top oil producer.

The speed of change in Russian export patterns has been dramatic – switching huge volumes from Europe in only five years.

Russia first started supplying

C

China by railway and then by a new pipeline while opening a Pacific port, Kozmino, in 2009.

Together with supplies to Kozmino, it is already exporting around 750,000 barrels per day to Asia, or 17 per cent of its overall exports of 4.4 million bpd.

Europe by contrast has lost out. A decline in deliveries in the past few years partially contributed to Russian Urals crude oil often trading at a premium to benchmark dated Brent.

Analysts have expressed doubts Rosneft could quickly and significantly boost supplies to China from depleted fields in West Siberia, the historic homeland of Soviet and Russian oil production.

A source familiar with the deal said the new agreement with China was timed to tie in with the launch of new streams of East Siberian crude

to avoid big redirection of existing flows and allow time to expand export infrastructure.

Rosneft and oil pipeline monopoly Transneft have already secured $25billion from China in 2009 in upfront payments by pre-selling oil in order to accumulate cash to finance growth and new construction projects.

Rosneft’s debt burden has spiked this year after it acquired Anglo-Russian producer TNK-BP in a $55-billion cash-and-stock deal, the largest in Russian corporate history, and became the world’s largest publicly listed oil firm.

Industry sources have told Reuters Rosneft may secure up to $30-billion in prepayment from China as part of the new deal.

That could even double, business daily Vedomosti said on Friday.

On Thursday, Putin said Rosneft’s deal with China would be worth $60billion. Vedomosti said Putin was referring to an advance payment that Rosneft would receive.

Canada’s inflation edges higher

ANADA’S inflation rate edged up to 0.7 per cent last month driven primarily by a surge in natural gas and food prices, Globe and Mail, reports.

It was just shy of the zero point one per cent to the one per-cent that most economists were predicting.

Higher natural gas prices pushed the increase from April’s extremely low rate of 0.4 per cent.

Transportation costs fell 0.5 per

cent, with prices for new cars and gasoline both in decline. Prices for gasoline fell 1.5 per cent, milder than the six-per-cent decline in April.

Natural gas prices surged 15.4 per cent in the 12 months to May and food saw a 1.5-per-cent price jump.

Fresh vegetables and baked goods were the biggest driver of that number, but prices for fresh fruit and meat were also on the rise,

although not as steeply as in April.

Prices for alcohol and tobacco advanced 2.5 per cent during the month.

Alcohol saw a 2.1-per-cent price increase with beer leading the charge.

Housing costs, driven largely by the rise in natural gas prices, rose 1.3 per cent despite the fact that mortgage interest costs declined 4.1 per cent.

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

40

Africa Business

Angola’s president's son to chair $5b SWF T A

NGOLA has appointed one of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos' sons to chair its $5 billion Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), a move likely to raise further questions about transparency and nepotism in Africa's second-biggest oil producer, Reuters reports.

Angola launched the fund in October to invest in domestic and overseas assets by funnelling oil wealth into infrastructure, hotels and other projects to diversify its economy outside the energy industry.

Analysts welcomed the move at the time, saying it could help Angola protect itself from oil price shocks by cutting the state's dependence on crude revenues, which represent around 45 percent of output.

However, the appointment of

Jose Filomeno dos Santos to the fund's board drew criticism from opposition parties and civil society activists. His promotion to lead the fund is likely to be met with a similar response.

President dos Santos, who has been in power for 33 years and last year secured a new five-year term, has long been accused of avoiding public scrutiny, doing too little to fight corruption and mismanaging revenues.

The fund also said the government had approved its much-delayed investment policy, which was initially due to be announced by the end of March.

"The approved policy, along with our commitment to ac-

countability and transparency, will ensure that we make the best and most considered investments that support the country's long-term economic future," Jose Filomeno dos Santos said in a statement.

The fund said half of its investments would be in cash, developed market equities and bonds issued by sovereign agencies, supranational institutions, investment grade companies and financial institutions.

The remainder will be in highyield emerging market assets.

Its first focus will be on the hotel sector in Africa, while it will also commit 7.5 per cent of the funds to social projects to improve access to education, healthcare and energy, it added.

HE Kenyan shilling weakened at the weekend as importers bought dollars to meet end-month payments for their supplies, while shares broke a two-session rally, Reuters, reports.

The shilling was posted at 85.85/95 to the dollar by the 1300 GMT market close, weaker than Thursday's close of 85.65/85.

The currency has weakened 1.2 per cent since east Africa's biggest economy proposed to introduce a capital gains tax last Thursday.

That move coincided with a broad sell-off of emerging market assets over the US Federal Reserve's hints that it will soon end its bond-buying stimulus programme.

The shilling is still 0.5 per cent stronger so far this year.

"Towards end-month we're going to have more demand than supply as importers come in to buy dollars," said a trader at one commercial bank.

However, traders said the cen-

S

•Uganda's portion of the River Nile, to be converted into a hydro power dam by Chinese firm, Sinohydro Group Limited.

Annan warns against impact of conflicts on natural resources

F

ORMER United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called on governments to stamp out corruption and foreign companies to stop undermining the needs of the communities in which they operate, Reuters reports.

The Chair of the Africa Progress Panel (APP) has urged the United Nations (UN) Security Council to play an important role in ending the plunder of minerals and other natural resources that perpetuate violent conflict, particularly in Africa.

Speaking via videolink from Geneva, Kofi Annan dismissed the notion that natural resources are a curse and urged the Council’s open

A

debate on conflict and natural resources to focus on how the latter can contribute to higher human development and reduce inequity.

It was a firm rebuke from the former Secretary-General.

"Let us remember, natural resources do not cause war. Violent conflict happens when national institutions are too weak to contain political, ethnic or religious tensions within a peaceful national dialogue.

But the competition for natural resources can often amplify and accelerate conflict, tearing apart the already weakened fabric of such fragile states, or raise the stakes in latent conflicts between neighbouring

countries," says Annan.

While calling on governments to stamp out corruption, he had fighting words for foreign companies who undermine the needs of the communities in which they operate.

"When foreign investors make extensive use of offshore companies, shell companies and tax havens, they weaken disclosure standards and undermine the efforts of reformers in Africa to promote transparency. Such practices also facilitate tax evasion and, in some countries, corruption, draining Africa of revenues that should be deployed against poverty and vulnerability,” he added.

Kenyan shilling dips tral bank could intervene to sell dollars if the shilling fell past the 86.00 support level.

“We may see the shilling break the 86.00 level," said Bank of Africa in a daily note.

“However, the Central Bank is expected to remain vigilant should the shilling's depreciation gather unusual pace."

In stocks, the main NSE-20 share index lost 0.1 per cent to 4,706.80 points, dragged lower by profit-taking on market heavyweights.

Equity Bank, the country's largest by assets, dropped 3.7 per cent to 32.50 shillings, while mobile phone services company Safaricom shed 2.2 per cent to 6.75 shillings.

The two stocks accounted for 70 per cent of Friday's traded volume.

In the debt market, bonds worth 3.9 billion shillings ($45.5 million) were traded, up from 1.9 billion shillings on Thursday.

South Africa stocks fall

OUTH African stocks fell for a third straight session in line with other emerging markets at the weekend as the global selloff of riskier assets sparked by the United States’ Federal Reserve's stimulus withdrawal plan gathered pace, Reuters reports.

The spot gold price also remained under pressure as bullion's status as an inflation hedge has been undermined by the looming end of ‘easy money’.

Gold XPT was on track for its biggest weekly drop in almost two years and earlier on Friday hit its lowest since September 2010 at 1,268.89 an ounce. That helped to pull down bullion producers such as Gold Fields which fell 3.65 percent to 53.33 rand.

Wage talks in the gold sector are due to kick off in early July and it remains unclear if the militant Association of Mineworkers and

Construction Union (AMCU), which represents 17 per cent of the industry's workers, will take part.

"What is pulling down our market today is the gold stocks, it is the price and the AMCU uncertainty," said Christie Viljoen, an economist at NKC Independent Economists.

The gold index fell about two percent. The benchmark Top-40 index dropped 1.5 per cent to close at 34 670.34, while the broader Allshare index declined 1.31 per cent to 39 016.62.

Leading world shares, bonds and commodities staged a modest recovery on Friday after recent sharp falls but emerging markets generally remained under stress as the flight from risk turned into a stampede. The Top40 index has now lost over eight per cent since it reached a life high on May 31.

Uganda okays Chinese firm for dam

U

GANDA has signed a contract granting China's Sinohydro Group Limited a tender to build a large hydropower dam on the Nile River at a price of $1.65 billion, government sources said, reviving a project stalled for years by a lack of money, Reuters reports.

Construction of the 600-megawatt Karuma dam in the east African country is expected to start about two weeks after the signing of the contract, the sources said.

Last week, Uganda said China had provided credit worth $500 million to help pay for construction of the Karuma dam.

China, as elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa, has rapidly expanded its investment in Uganda in recent years.

"The project will cost $1.65 billion and will entail both developing the dam and a transmission line to evacuate the power from the generation site to the distribution network," one of the sources, who declined to be named, told Reuters.

"The signing took place this morning and Synohydro was represented by the company's Chairman, Mr Zhang Yunli while the government was represented by the Attorney-General, Peter Nyombi and Energy Minister, Irene Muloni."

Uganda is banking on Karuma to generate cheap, sufficient power to meet fast-growing energy needs and support an economy eyeing double-digit growth rates once crude oil production starts as anticipated in 2017.

Insurgency threatens Mozambique's push for investors

N economic take-off in Mozambique driven by bumper coal and gas discoveries two decades after the end of a civil war is facing disruption from disgruntled former guerrillas who feel they have not benefited from the post-conflict dividend, reports Reuters.

A public threat by the ex-rebel Renamo opposition party to paralyse central rail and road links has put the Frelimo government on alert and alarmed diplomats and investors.

A slide back into the kind of all-out war that crippled the former Portuguese southern African colony between 1975 and

1992 looks unlikely. Nevertheless, Mozambique's rebirth as an attractive tourism and investment destination could lose some of its momentum after armed attacks in the last two months blamed on Renamo.

T h e r a i d s i n c e n t r al S o f al a province killed at least 11 soldiers and police and 3 civilians and came after Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama returned with his civil war comrades to the Gorongosa jungle base where they operated in the 1980s.

"It does bring back all those fears of the war," said Joseph Hanlon, a senior lecturer at Britain's Open University and an

expert on Mozambique.

Renamo, which signed a peace pact in 1992 with its former Marxist foe Frelimo, denied that it carried out a raid on an arms depot on Monday that killed seven soldiers but on Wednesday, it threatened to paralyse the main road through Sofala and the railway carrying coal exports to port.

There was no evidence by late Thursday that it had carried out the threat. Witness reports from Chimoio and Dondo on the Beira corridor railroad link indicated no immediate disruption.

"Everything here is absolutely tranquil. It is a normal day,"

Arnaldo Neves, Director of Production for Portuguese construction company Mota-Engil which is rehabilitating the railroad, told Reuters from Dondo railway terminal in Sofala.

Mozambican state railways spokesman Alves Cumbe said operations were continuing as normal on Thursday.

The Sena line to Beira port is used mainly by Brazil's Vale and London-listed Rio Tinto, which are among companies that have been developing Mozambique's coal deposits and offshore gas fields.

Vale, which is investing $4 billion in its Moatize coal mines

near Tete and is the main user of the Sena line, declined to comment.

President Armando Guebuza's government said it was taking the Renamo threat seriously but i nsi st ed i t w ou l d k eep t he country's strategic transport corridors open. Officials declined to detail specific measures taken to counter Renamo actions.

Renamo had claimed an earlier attack that killed four policemen in Sofala in April.

Hanlon said Dhlakama and his fighters, which some estimates put at around 1 000-strong, could certainly create a security problem for the government army.

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MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

POLITICS THE NATION

E-mail:- politics@thenationonlineng.net

Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU examines the mid-term report of the Jonathan Administration within the context of growing public disillusionment about the ailing economy, soaring poverty and infrastructure decay across the country.

Does Jonathan deserve pass mark?

P

RE-EMPTING the judgment of the people, President Goodluck Jonathan hurriedly scored himself high, when he laid before them the mid-term report of his ‘Transformation Agenda’, in Abuja, the Federal Capaital Territory (FCT), two weeks ago. He emphasised that democracy was on course, urging Nigerians to assess his score card outside the prism of partisan politics.

In two years time, things would be better, the President assured.

The executive summary of the self-adulating report, which is 58 pages, unveiled an administration that has buried itself in idealistic yearnings. Not only has the government sought to score cheap points, even in the critical sectors, it also listed unverifiable achievements and exaggerated the feats recorded in other areas. The report conflicted with the National Assembly’s assessment of the budget performance, which it observed, has been very poor. Neither has the “improved economy”, as claimed by the Presidential Economic Team, impacted positively on the citizens, who still wallow in abject poverty, squalour and misery.

President Jonathan drew attention to what he called a “model of leadership”. He claimed that he has advanced democratic culture by delivering its dividends to the people. He also submitted that he has expanded the civil space by allowing freedom of expression to thrive. According to the report, the President hosted the civil society to a retreat to express its opinion on the proposed constitution review. Describing the move as unprecedented, the report said that the forum gave the over 300 groups the opportunity to vote on a number of national issues.

However, that posture conflicted with the President’s earlier remarks that a Sovereign National Conference (SNC), which is being vigorously agitated for by other stakeholders, is a no-go area. Analysts view this as an attempt to draw the wool on the eyes of Nigerians, contending that a piecemeal constitution amendment, may not resolve the national question the way a national conference would attempt to do.

The administration also projected its respect for checks and balances among the three organs of government. The report noted that President Jonathan has fostered national stability by strengthening the independence of the legislature, executive and judiciary. It claimed that the National Assembly has now become a more vibrant legislature, which has come up with a more assertive legislative practice.

To observers, this is commendable, although the President would have scored a fuller mark, had he not ignored the resolutions of the National Assembly last year January, when he was advised by the two Houses, to quickly rescind his decision on the embarrassing fuel price hike, which triggered mass demonstrations across the country. The elder statesman, Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN), observed that the President would have exploited the escape route.

President Jonathan alluded to what he described as “electoral progress”. He attributed the sanity to the adequate funding and autonomy enjoyed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chaired

by Prof. Attahiru Jega. “The country witnessed the most credible elections in 2011”, said the report. The President also said that electoral violence has reduced. These remarks are debatable. Many election observers agree that there was an improvement.

But the Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reforms (CODER) disagreed. Its Coordinator, Mr. Ayo Opadokun, observed that the crusade for the sanctity of the ballot box is an unfinished business. “There are still some unresolved issues. INEC is not totally independent. It is not appointed by a neutral body. We don’t have tribunals for trying electoral fraud. Unless the report of the Uwais Panel is fully implemented, electoral sanity cannot be fully guaranteed”, he said.

•Dr. Jonathan

• Vice President Namadi Sambo

• Dr Okonjo-Iweala

• Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, PDP National Chairman

‘The executive summary of the self-adulating report, which is 58 pages, unveiled an administration that has buried itself in idealistic yearnings. Not only has the government sought to score cheap points, even in the critical sectors it also listed unverifiable achievements and exaggerated the feats recorded in other areas. The report conflicted with the National Assembly’s assessment of the budget performance, which it observed, has been very poor’ Also, the government rationalised that it has maintained equity, fairness and balance in the distribution of the federal appointments. Many stakeholders have objected to the claim. According to the Afenifere and Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), the distribution is lopsided to the detriment of the Southwest geo-political zone. Also, the government claimed that “confidence is building in each geo-political zone that it does not matter where the President comes from”.

This assertion is false. Although merit, standard, and sound pedigree should form the basis for recruiting Nigerians for the highest office, the reverse is the case. Ahead of 2015, ethnic bigots have invaded the media, calling for either the retention power in a certain zone or power shift to a particular zone. This may have been induced by the

perception that the Presidency is weak. Observers also attribute the struggle to the neglect of the inexplicable rotational principle in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The Presidency is not a uniting factor in the highly populous and complex heterogeneous nation-state. Rather, it is a divisive force. Although former President Olusegun Obasanjo could not be described as a democrat, or a leader who mustered the strength to resolve the national question, his Presidency rose above ethnic sentiment. His successors have not mirrored this singular quality. Recently, ethnic voices from the Niger Delta have been clashing with their Northern counterparts over the soul of the Presidency. Mujaheed Dokubo-Asari, claiming to be expressing the view of the devastated

coastal communities, spat fire on behalf of Dr. Jonathan, warning that there would be no oil to finance the country beyond 2015, if the Southsouth does not retain the Presidency. The Presidential Adviser on Niger Delta Affairs, Comrade Kingsley Kuku, had echoed the same sentiment, threatening fire and brimstone. Perhaps, it was in response to the opinion of the Northern leaders, including Alhaji Tanko Yakassai and Alhaji Lawal Kaita, which instantly elicited a fierce response from the elder statesman of Ijaw origin, Senator Edwin Clark.

How has the government also tame corruption? The report pointed out that certain strategies have been adopted to nip it in the bud. These strategies, to observers, are laudable. But they are incomplete. Recently, the former Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) President, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), observed that the war against graft is slow and not yielding adequate results. He pointed that the court processes are still slow. Also, some lawyers have pointed out that the anti-graft bodies and courts are after those culprits who steal tubers of yam and fowls, leaving those who cart away millions from the public treasury.

On security, the report did not award any imaginary pass mark. “Insurgency is being contained and will soon be a thing of the past”, said the report. It is evident that the government has failed woefully in this area, more than any other. However, it is noteworthy that the Federal Government is really not relenting in its efforts. Security is multi-dimensional. At the state level, the governor, who is the chief security officer, is impotent. He lacks the power of control over the police. If the Boko Haram insurgency is politically motivated, then, only a political solution can end it. Also, many believe that, if insecurity continues to permeate the trembling polity, it will take its toll on all sectors.

Perhaps, the most controversial aspect of the report is the score card on the economy.

It is a sensitive sector requiring expert’s searchlight. Government acknowledged that it inherited a number of challenges, which the transformation agenda was designed to address. They include unemployment and poverty, food insecurity, poor infrastructure, high inflation, and rising domestic debt. Others are high recurrent expenditure, falling reserves, housing deficits and inability to diversify the economy.

The Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of Economy, Dr. Ngozi OkonjoEweala, painted a glossy picture of a performing economy. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP), she explained, is one of the fastest growing in the world at 6.5 percent. Inflation has come down to 9.1 percent and external reserves have rising to 48.4 billion dollar. The Sovereign Wealth Fund, which has generated quarrel between the President and 36 governors, is in place, cost of governance is reducing, national debt is declining and petroleum subsidy payment regime is also in place. In addition, trade is booming and investors are competing to be in Nigeria.

Rail, waterways, aviation, roads, electricity and other sectoral reforms are on course.

To observers, the minister has reeled out theoretical facts and imaginary indices, which ultimately paled into fable and propaganda.

“Where are the roads?”, asked ARG chieftain, Kunle Famoriyo, who added: “Have they dome Lagos-Ibadan Expressway? Have they done Shagamu-Ore Road? Do we now have regular electricity supply? There is no evidence of governance yet”. Before the release of the mid-term report, Afenifere chieftain Pa Rueben Fasoranti lamented that the ship of state may hit the rock. He said the soaring unemployment, infrastructure decay, corruption, especially the pension scam, and misuse of public funds portend danger for the country’s future. “The only thing they are doing is that they are preparing for the 2015 elections. There is no governance”, he added.

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POLITICS Hon. Yakubu Dogara represents Bogoro/Dass/Tafawa Balewa Constituency in the House of Representatives. He told DELE ANOFI that the new Impreachment Bill will check the excesses of the President, if enacted into law.

No going back on Impeachment Bill, says lawmaker

T

HE impeachment your Bill removes the judiciary from the process of impeaching the President. What is the intent of the bill?

The reason why four of us sat and made the proposal is because we looked at the culture of impunity in this country, and I must say that examples abound. For example, the annual budget laws are made to be implemented. In a democracy, if laws won’t be implemented, there are processes to get them repealed or amended. But in most cases, laws are not implemented in this country and nobody tells you why.

The budget is a case in point. If you set an examination and score 35 percent, based on the marking scheme and other parameters, it is a failure.

We have never had a situation where the National Assemly passes the budget and the Executive refuses to sign and we override the President. The budget proposal has always been based on envelope system. At the end, it is only 25 to 30 percent that is achieved. That is not democracy.

Look at the case of Public Procurement Act, Section 1, talks about the National Council on Procurement, which is the first thing the law establishes, but the executive abandoned that section. The executive, however, found it convenient to respect the part B of the law, to set up the Bureau for Public Procurement, whereas it is the Council that is supposed to constitute that agency and employ the staff but they refused . The reason being that if it is set up, it deprives the Federal Executive Council from sitting as a contact awarding body, since they want to determine who gets what.

If part A of that law is bad, then part B is also bad as well. But why do you think the executive will sit down and determine what part of the law to obey? Because there is no consequence attached to it and nothing will happen. Look at the issue of fuel subsidy, to every democrat, the question will be that, is there any law that authorises the President to remove subsidy?

Was there a law?

There was no law that authorises him to remove subsidy. There is none.

So, as a democrat, on what would you hinge your action? As a matter of fact, there is a law that prohibits the Presi-

dent from removing subsidy, but the argument we heard from government was that there is no going back. I don’t think there is any civilised democracy in the world where you hear the executive shouting that there is no going back on any policy. Everything is meant to be driven by consensus. What could be responsible for anybody to think that there won’t be any consequence for breaking the law? This is because, if it were a true democracy we are running, the question would have been that there is this law and the Attorney General is there to get the legislature to repeal it to pave the way for subsidy removal.

Do you consider this as a breach?

There are catalogues of other breaches that I will not enumerate here, but our thinking in crafting this bill was, why should there be the culture of impunity?

And let me refer to what Lord Acton said that “power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely”. The corruption we are witnessing in Nigeria today is as a result of concentration of powers in the hands of few individuals and without appropriate checks.

The entire goal of our retributive system of justice is to ensure deterrence. If armed robbers are executed, it is because they want to deter people from committing robbery. So, what is there in the constitution that will deter the executive - the President and the Vice President from committing obvious breaches of the constitution? The only thing you find in the constitution is the provision for removal from office or impeachment.

Is the provision self-defeating?

That is why every successive Nigerian President violates the constitution at will. As a matter of fact, if I were the President, there is nothing in the whole constitution that stops me from being a dictator. I can become a dictator knowing that the National Assembly, based on the provisions of the constitution, cannot remove me. Why? The powers of impeachment under Section 143 is

• Yakubu given to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, through the panel of seven that he will constitute. We all know what will happen. When the National Assembly, a body of 469 members by 2/3 majority has passed a resolution to say that an office holder has committed an impeachable offense, the CJN is called upon to constitute the panel , at the end of the day, whatever they say, the courts cannot query it, the National Assembly cannot debate it. So, if I were the President, I will just give the CJN the seven names, because he is my appointee. After that houses or mansions will be bought for them, they will be bribed and the story goes on.

In fact, they won’t even put people of ‘unquestionable integrity’ that the constitution specifies. If I were the President, I can almost bet 100 percent, that utilizing the provisions of the constitution, nobody can remove me.

With this amendment, are you not giving the legislature absolute power to impeach the President at will?

There is no civilized democracy out there, where impeachment is not a political process. It is completely a political process handle by politicians. If the President commits an offense, and you require the intervention of the judiciary, there is the proposal that after his impeachment, if he has committed a crime, he should nonetheless be prosecuted.

However, it is against the principles of our law for the person to be tried twice by the same institution, that is, the judiciary on same allegations.

That is why, if you look at the history of impeachment from Alexander Hamilton, one of the American founding fathers, he encapsulated these points in his arguments. He postulated that, let the politicians determine what constitute an impeachable offense and then give the Senate the powers to remove the person, and then, the courts can now try, if the person has committed a crime.

That separates the body that accuses, which is the House of Representatives from the one that will impeach and prosecute. Impeachment in our proposal does not amount to removal from office. The House will first indict by impeachment only, then the matter will be entirely referred to the Senate and then the CJN will come to the Senate and preside over a hearing. This is because the major defect of that section is that it failed to provide for fair hearing.

That is the practice everywhere, we are not being ingenues about it.

Is the bill targetingPresident Jonathan?

Those who think that we are targeting President Goodluck Jonathan may not have listened to the debate, because the goal of a legislation cannot be an individual and so, it is even very wicked to claim that we are targeting the President. We supported and campaigned for him seriously. After all, Jonathan will not be President forever. Moreover, we are dealing with the constitution and if it is altered in that regard it is going to be there for couple of years and who-

‘Our allegiance is to the people of Nigeria not the PDP; we are moved by our conciseness and whatever is right and will advance this democracy that is what we will do.

We are not here to engage in figure worship or to interpret our world just around the narrow prism of some god-fathers but to do what is just based on our conscience and what the majority of people of this country want’

ever is the president will meet that.

The bill was proposed by four of us who are all members of the PDP and we are guided by the fact that we have not done anything against the PDP but the question is whether it is right within this circumstance to introduce it. Remember, we did not take any oath of allegiance to the PDP, the oath we took was to serve the country. So, it doesn’t matter if it is contentious but as long as it can better our democracy and better the lives of those who elected us, so be it.

But we hear that the party is considering suspending you...

I have also heard that, but, I think it will amount to a joke carried too far because we are protected by an Act of Parliament, which says that: “on account of what you have said on the floor of the House; no disciplinary measures or court actions can be initiated against you”. It is a big joke and I don’t think anybody in his right senses, whether it is the chairman of the party or a national leader, will ever contemplate suspending members of his party because of the position they have taken on matters that will strengthen our democracy. And in any case, disciplinary procedures are there. Before disciplinary action can be taken against me, I have to be given fair hearing and no one has summoned any of us.

As a loyal party member, won’t you consider withdrawing the bill for peace to reign?

Our allegiance is to the people of Nigeria not the PDP; we are moved by our conciseness and whatever is right and will advance this democracy that is what we will do. We are not here to engage in figure worship or to interpret our world just around the narrow prism of some god-fathers but to do what is just based on our conscience and what the majority of people of this country want. So, as as far as we are concerned, there is no issue here whatsoever and I guess it is because the presidency or the people in PDP have realized that there is nothing in this bill to cause the kind of apprehension or trepidation that we are seeing, that is why they are quiete, otherwise, by now, they would have summoned us.

Ekwunife : Zoning will not shape Anambra poll Anambra State governorship aspirant Hon. Uche Ekwunife spoke with NWANOSIKE ONU on her plans for the state and other partisan issues.

• Ekwunife

Y

OUR posters are in all parts of Anambra State. What is actually happening?

Essentially, what you saw is true and that is what I am doing. I officially want to use this medium to declare my ambition to serve Anambra State in the capacity as an executive governor. This is also to tell my brothers and sisters in Anambra State that I am contesting for that position in the 2014 election.

I also wish to state that I am not just coming out to join the bandwagon of those who say that they are contesting, but I am fully prepared and ready to contest as a person who is contesting to win by the special grace of God. How would you cope with the leadership crisis in the APGA? I know you are talking about the

disagreements in our party. This is normal in any political organisation and it is an ingredient of democratic process. In politics, there are bound to be litigations and there could also be controversies. Though APGA is a minority party in Nigeria , it is however the leading and majority party in Anambra State .

I am sure that you are aware of the court matters about APGA leadership and what the Enugu Appeal Court said about the High Court judgment against Sir Victor Umeh.

Going by that, Victor Umeh is still recognised as the National Chairman of APGA. We still have issues at the High Court and Supreme Court over the matter, but at the moment Victor Umeh remains the National Chairman of APGA and that is where I belong, unless something else happens legally.

Besides, the Appeal Court position on the matter remains substantive until it is reverted. Even if we have any other position at the High Court level, the Appeal Court remains supreme and Higher until a higher court takes any new position on the matter. So, he is still the National Chairman of APGA. You are from Anaocha local government area and you have an ambition to replace Governor Peter Obi who is also from the same council

area. How does that sound?

Anambra State is unique. Our people are highly politically aware and cannot be misled. What the people of Anambra State want is good governance, irrespective of where the person comes from. I wish to make it known to you that zoning is not the issue in Anambra State.

There has never been a time Anambra State agreed on zoning or a zoning formula. It is only when Anambra people come together, through any manner to say this is what we want and which of the senatorial districts would start, then, we will address it and it will take off from there. Even those who are saying that it is their turn had contested with other zones, so it goes to no issues. By the way, George Bush Snr became President of the United States of America . Later his son became President of America and later another son became governor of a state. Though, I share the same view with a cross section of Anambra State people, but this is democracy and people are entitled to their own views and opinions. However, Anambra State people want good governance, selfless service and somebody that will carry them along and they do not care where the governor comes from. It is even better that we have good governance

than trying to respect zoning and get a governor who only become one because they said that is the turn of his or her area and he could not deliver.

Even in the constitution of Nigeria as amended, it does not recognize zoning of any political or elective office. The only area you may look at what you are talking about is in the area of federal character and not zoning.

It has been alleged that you are in accord with an oil magnet in APGA to become his running mate. How true is this?

I cannot be spending all my time and resources, draining energy, creating all the awareness across the state in the name of becoming a deputy governor. I wish to reiterate that I have what and all that it takes to manage the affairs of Anambra State creditably. Anybody telling you that I am going to become a running mate to anybody or deputy to any body is not saying the truth. I have heard it before, and I see those stories as rumours and they do not hold water. I want to make it clear that I am running to win and I have the belief in God that I will win the election. I have been in the Federal House of Representatives for almost eight years, how do you think that all those experience and knowledge

that I have acquired is for me to become a deputy governor? So, I wish to use this medium to disabuse the minds of Anambra people and indeed Nigerians, that, I have no such plans of becoming any body’s running mate or deputy governor. I am running for the governorship seat of Anambra State and I have the support of all Anambra people to provide quality service to my people through good governance, transparency and provision of social security for all and sundry.

In the last governorship election, you left PDP for PPA in 2010. Later, you joined APGA to contest 2011 National Assembly election with the APGA crisis, people feel that you may return to PDP...

I have no intention to join the PDP at anytime. I am a member of APGA and the party is dear to us and to me in particular. When you look at our party, you will discover that the party has done well in our state. This is through the instrumentality of Governor Peter Obi. He has done so well and that is to the credit of APGA as a party. That is also the testimony that we are using as APGA. So, we in APGA shall build on the foundation that he has laid to better Anambra State. So, there is no point going to the PDP when the APGA led government has done well.

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THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

52 CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

RASAQ

FARO I formerly known and addressed as Miss Faro, Rodiat Ololade, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Abdur-Raheem, Rodiat Ololade.

All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

IJAGBUYIRO I formerly known and addressed as Bambe Folasade Ijagbuyiro, now wish to be addressed as Helen Folasade Adebisi. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OYEWOLE I formerly known and addressed as Miss Oyewole Ayotunbo Temitope, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Ajeigbe Ayotunde Temitope. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OYELEYE I formerly known and addressed as Miss Oyeleye, Kehinde Basirat, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Aka, Kehinde Basirat. All former documents remain valid. Ogun State Teaching Service Commission and general public please take note.

ONWUZURUIKE I formerly known and addressed as Miss Onwuzuruike, Chiaka Mercy, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Madu Chiaka Mercy. All former documents remain valid. Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Imo State, NYSC and general public please take note.

OKORIE I formerly known and addressed as Miss Okorie, Jane Ginika, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Obieze Jane Joseph. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

AJAYI I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ajayi, Yemisi Elizabeth, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Akinboboye Yemisi Elizabeth. All former documents remain valid.

Ekiti State Universal Basic Education and general public please take note.

ADEJUWON I formerly known and addressed as Miss Olajumoke Aina Adejuwon, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Ajayi, Olajumoke Aina. All former documents remain valid. Ido-Osi Local govt. and general public please take note.

ADEDOYIN I formerly known and addressed as Miss Adebisi Oluwabusayo Adedoyin, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Adebisi Oluwabusayo Awonusi. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

FRANCIS I formerly known and addressed as Miss Francis Catherine, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Johnson Catherine. All former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public please take note.

AJENIFUJA I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ajenifuja Funke Mercy, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Awoyeriju, Funke Mercy. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

CORRECTION OF NAME I,Oguntayo, Ayowumi Kudirat. My name was erroneously written as Oguntayo Kudi Bolaji by WAEC May/June 2011, Center no. 4302524, Exam no.

040 Center NameNadadah Comprehensive College, Inisha, Osun State Polytechnic, Iree and and general public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, Boladale Okikiola Riliwan is the same person as Riliwan Boladale Okikiola. All documents bearing the above names remain valid. Osun State Polytechnic, Iree and general public please take note.

ATOTILETO I formerly known and addressed as Miss Atotileto, Olabisi Mary, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Ajiboye, Olabisi Mary. All former documents remain valid. Osun State Polytechnic, Iree and general public please take note.

OPLA I formerly known and addressed as Miss Celina Ibor Opla, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Celin Okon Eworo. All former documents remain valid. Cross Rivers State University of Technology and general public please take note.

ILOEJE I formerly known and addressed as Miss Iloeje Ifeyinwa Philomena, now wish to be known as Mrs Atuchukwu Ifeyinwa Philomena.

All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

AYOBOLU I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ayobolu Odunayo Oladoyin, now wish to be known as Mrs Adegorite Odunayo Oladoyin. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

OLUKOYA I formerly known and addressed as Miss Olukoya Gbemisola Sidikat, now wish to be known as Mrs. Onifade Gbemisola Sidikat. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

OKOYE I formerly known and addressed as Miss Okoye Chinyere Victory, now wish to be known as Mrs. Nwosu Chinyere Victory. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Rasaq Wukiyat Titilayo, now wish to be known and addressed as Aloba Wukiyat Titilayo Rasaq. All former documents remain valid.General public please take note.

ADEBOYEJO

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Adeboyejo, Adetola Eniitan, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Adeboyejo-Faparusi Mosimiloluwa Adetola. All former documents remain valid. UNAD, Broken Shackles Limited and general public please take note.

MUSA

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Musa, Temitope Marian, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Aluko Temitope Marian. All former documents remain valid, general public take note.

OWOLABI

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Owolabi, Mistura Abiodun, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Fatomide, Mistura Abiodun. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ISAAC

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ejiro Ruth Isaac, now wish to be known as Mrs. Ejiro Ruth Faturoti. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, Miss Oside Jennifer Amaka and Oside Jennifer Ndidiamaka are one and the same person, now wish to be known as Mrs. Okpere Jennifer Amaka. All documents bearing the above names remain valid. General public should please take note.

LAWAL

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Lawal Aminat Titilayo, now wish to be known as Mrs. Ayinla Aminat Titilayo. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

BIOBAKU

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Biobaku, Mojisola Hamidat, now wish to be known as Mrs. Ogunfolaji Mojisola Hamidat. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

ODOGBO

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Odogbo, Orezime Veronica, now wish to be known as Mrs. Oyerinde, Orezime Veronica. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

AKINGBADE

I formerly known and addressed as Akingbade, Dare Oladotun Samuel, now wish to be known as Olayemi Dare Oladotun Samuel.

All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

AKINSOLA

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Akinsola, Shadiat Abiola, now wish to be known as Mrs. Hodonu, Shadiat Abiola. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

IORNYAGH

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Felicia Nyihom Iornyagh, now wish to be known as Mrs. Felicia Nyihom Linus Anyor Yaki. All former documents remain valid.

Dangote Cement Company, Gboko and general public please take note.

BENJAMIN

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Mary Ann Benjamin, now wish to be known as Mrs. Mary Ann Adenuga. All former documents remain valid. B.S.U., Makurdi, UBA Plc. and general public please take note.

TAIWO

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Taiwo, Oluranti Funke, now wish to be known as Mrs. Areo, Oluranti Funke. All former documents remain valid. Kwara State Polytechnic, NYSC and general public please take note.

ODUNTAN

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Oduntan, Adewunmi Risqat, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Rahman, Adewunmi Risqat. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

AMANZE

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Amanze, Kelechi Stella, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Nwankwo, Kelechi Stella. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

MAFO

I formerly known and addressed as Mrs. Mafo, Gladys Onome, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Adelabu, Gladys Onome. All former documents remain valid.

Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Lagos State University and general public please take note.

ELEM

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Elem Blessing Ojii, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Ibemgbo Habeebah Ojii. All former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public please take note.

UKEMENAM

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Marther Obiajulum Ukemenam, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Martha Obiajulum Nwaozo. All former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

PETERS

MARTINS

AMAH I formerly known and addressed as Miss.

AMAH OPHELIA CHIKODINAKA, now wish to be known as Mrs. BEDFORD OPHELIA CHIKODINAKA. All former documents remain valid general public please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME NWAOKOLO LINDA OGUGUA and LAURETTA LINDA NWAOKOLO refers to one and the same person. Now wish to be known as Mrs. LINDA ARIBIBIA BAMSON. All former documents remain valid general public please take note.

ADUAKA I, formerly known and addressed MISS. ADUAKA IJEOMA UCHENNA now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. ONYEGBUNA IJEOMA UCHENNA. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ALIBOR I, formerly known and addressed MISS. LILIAN AKPEVWEOGHENE ALIBOR now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. LILIAN AKPEVWEOGHENE OSIOBE. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Eme Whiteley Iton, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Eme Whiteley Johnson. All former documents remain valid. 50 Etta Agbor Road, Calabar, Cross River State and general public please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Peters, Mauton Modupe, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Mauton Modupe Peters Adeyemi.

All former documents remain valid.

Health Service Commission and general public please take note.

ADEDOKUN

I formerly known and addressed as Victoria Yetunde Martins, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Victoria Giwa Daramola. All former documents remain valid.

VICMART and general public please take note.

ALAMUTU

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Adeola Medinat Adedokun, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Adeola Medinat AdedokunAfolayan. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Alamutu Kehinde Nimota, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Ibrahim Kehinde Nimota. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

OLATOKE

I formerly known and addressed as Miss. UKAGWU CHIOMA NWAKUBA, now wish to be known as Mrs. AKOMAS CHIOMA AMAECHI. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Olatoke, Rukayat, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Abidoye Rukayat. All former documents remain valid. Federal Polytechnic, Offa, NYSC, NECO and general public please take note.

ATUEGBE I formerly known and addressed as Miss Atuegbe Edith Sandra, now wish to be known as Mrs. Owan Edith Ebagbota. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

UZOAMAKA I formerly known and addressed as Miss Chilaka Augustina Uzoamaka, now wish to be known as Mrs. Kalu Augustina Uzoamaka.

All former documents remain valid.

Federal Medical Center, Umuahia, Abia State, School of Midwifery Marchara Umuahia, School of Nursing, Umuahai and general public please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, Olowodagba Sidi O. is the same person as Olowolagba Sidikat Odunayo. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, Lawal Ajoke Saidat. is the same person as Lawal Saidat Ajoke. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

IGBOKWE

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Joy Amarachi Igbokwe, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Joy Amarachi Oyedokun. All former documents remain valid. First Bank Plc., American Embassy, RSUT and general public please take note.

IJALANA

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ijalana Aanuoluwa Rebecca, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Osaloni Aanuoluwa Rebecca. All former documents remain valid.

Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo and general public please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I,Victor Oluwatobi Esan is the same person as Victor Oluwatobi Adewumi. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

JIMOH

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Jimoh Oluwafunmike Oluwakemisola, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Olowookere Oluwafunmike Oluwakemisola.

All former documents remain valid.

Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps(NSCDC) and general public please take note.

AJAYI

I formerly known and addressed as Mr. Ajayi Nathaniel Bankole, now wish to be addressed as Mr. Ajayi Nathaniel Kolawole. All former documents remain valid.First Bank of Nigeria Plc. and general public please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I,Okiki Opeyemi OlawaleAderibole is the same person as Okiki Opeyemi Olawale. All former documents remain valid.

OANDO Plc., Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc., UBA Plc., Skye Bank Plc. and general public please take note.

UKAGWU

OBEGHE

I formerly known and addressed as Miss. OBEGHE MAJIRI. Now wish to be known as Mrs. MAJIRI NICHOLAS ESOR. All former documents remain valid general public please take note.

DAVID

I formerly known and addressed as Miss. GLADYS DAVID, now wish to be known as Mrs. GLADYS ADI NEWMAN. All former documents remain valid general public please take note.

IGBOKA

I formerly known and addressed as Miss. IGBOKA HEDWIG NGOZI, now wish to be known as Mrs. NGOZI HEDWIG UYANWUNE. All former documents remain valid general public please take note.

GONI

I formerly known and addressed as Miss.

Goni Brown Tamunonengiofori Lauretta. Now wish to be known as Mrs. Gwaza – David Sekegh Tamunonengiofori Lauretta. All former documents remain valid general public please take note.

IRUARO

I formerly known and addressed as Miss. IRUARO AZIBANATARAM, now wish to be known as Mrs. AZIBANATARAM DENISE BABATUNDE BRAIDE. All former documents remain valid general public please take note.

THELMA I formerly known and addressed as Miss. THELMA OBIANI AJIE, now wish to be known as Mrs. THELMA OBIANI BRIGGS. All former documents remain valid general public please take note.

UDEGBUNEM

AGWUNOBI

I formerly known and addressed as Miss. HAPPINESS NKEIRU AGWUNOBI, now wish to be known as Mrs. HAPPINESS NKEIRU IKECHUKWU IROKA. All former documents remain valid, general public please take note.

NGIANGIA

I formerly known and addressed as Miss. SOTONTEIBI NGIANGIA. Now wish to be known as Mrs. SOTONTEIBI BEULAH YEOKON. All former documents remain valid general public please take note.

AKALUGWU

NDUBUAKA

UZOWULU

I formerly known and addressed as Peter Adibi, now wish to be known as Sunday Dennis Essiet. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

FRANK

I formerly known and addressed as Miss. QUEENETH I. FRANK now wish to be known as Mrs. QUEENETH I. IROAGANACHI. All former documents remain valid general public please take note.

IHUNWAN

I formerly known and addressed as Miss. IHUNWAN STELLAMARRIS NGOZI, now wish to be known as M r s . A K P O J I S H E R I STELLAMARRIS NGOZI. All former documents remain valid FRSC. And the general public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS OGBODO NGOZI FRANCISCA now wish to be known and addressed as MRS OBI NGOZI FRANCISCA. All former documents remain valid. ESUT, NYSC and general public take note.

I,formerly known and addressed MISS. OKEREKE MERCY CHIOMA now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. NGANI MERCY BENEDICT. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS NGWU VICTORIA SOMUADINA now wish to be known and addressed as MRS UDE VICTORIA SOMUADINA. All former documents remain valid. IMT, NYSC and general public take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ozioko Chika.B, now wish to be known as Mrs Anigbo Chika.B. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

OGBODO

NGWU

CHKWU

We formerly known and addressed as CHUKWU as surname, now wish to be known and addressed as CHUKWUOTI as our surname. e.g former CHUKWU GIFT ONYEDIKA henceforth bears CHUKWUOTI GIFT ONYEDIKA. This also applies to other family members. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OSASONA

I formerly known and addressed as Miss. Osasona Dorcas Abimbola, now wish to be known as Mrs Kuye Dorcas Abimbola. All former documents remain valid general public please take note.

OMAMOGHO

I formerly known and addressed as Miss. Ifeabunike Ujunwa Abigail, now wish to be known as Mrs. Nziem Ujunwa Abigail.. All former documents remain valid. Fed. Poly Offa, NYSC and general public please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss. NWAGU OGOCHUKWU N. now wish to be known as Mrs. IWEKA OGOCHUKWU N. All former documents remain valid NYSC, and general public please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Uzowulu, Nkechinyelu Eugenia, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Nnadum Nkechinyelu Eugenia. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed MISS. GRACE SADATU OTOKUNRIN now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. GRACE SADATU AYODELE . All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

PAUL

IKHEAFE

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ndubuaka, Chidinma Eunice, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Akuta Chidinma Eunice. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

NWAFOR

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS NWAFOR MARY-ANN CHINYERE now wish to be known and addressed as MRS CHIMEZIE MARY-ANN CHINYERE. All former documents remain valid. UNTH Ituku Ozalla, Enugu, NLPC and general public take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Omamogho Juliet Comfort, now wish to be known as Omamogho Juliet Hannah. All former documents remain valid general public please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss. CHIOMA SANDRA PAUL, now wish to be known as Mrs. CHIOMA SANDRA KOYEJO. All former documents remain valid general public please take note.

NWAGU

ADIBI

OKOEGUALE

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Okoeguale Gloria Eghonghon, now wish to be known as Mrs. Anih Gloria Eghonghon. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

OGUNLEYE

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ogunleye Monsurat Titilayo, now wish to be known as Mrs Odumosu Monsurat Titilayo. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

DENNIS

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Eteng Tebe Dennis , now wish to be known as Mrs. Shiokwu TebeChukwu. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

EKHUEOROHAN

I, formerly known and addressed MISS. BLESSING A I M I E N R O V B I Y E EKHUEOROHAN now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. BLESSING AIMIENROVBIYE OBIESIA JOHN JAJA. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss. UDEGBUNEM JANE IFEYINWA now wish to be known as Mrs. EZENWATA JANE IFEYINWA. All former documents remain valid general public please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss. AKALUGWU SYLVIA OZOEMENA, now wish to be known as Mrs. IKECHUKWU SYLVIA OZOEMENA. All former documents remain valid general public please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ikheafe Joy Bukky, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. AsiborIribhogbe Joy Bukky. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ITON

IFEABUNIKE

ADESOYE

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Adesoye Christy Kehinde, now wish to be known as Adeniyi Christy Kehinde. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

AYADU

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS MAYEN GULBERT AYADU, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS MAYEN OSATARE IMAGUEZEGIE. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

KUMUN

I, formerly known and addressed as MS RITA AWASHIMA KUMUN, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS RITA AWASHIMA IORHEMBA. All former documents remain valid.

BENUE STATE UNIVERSITY and the General public should please take note.

FALEBITA

I formerly known and addressed as MRS FALEBITA ADEYEMI now wished to be known and addressed as MRS ADESINA ADEYEMI. All former documents remain valid.Aero Contractors Coy of Nig Ltd and the general public take note.

FALEBITA We formerly known and addressed as MASTER FALEBITA IYINOLUWA EMMANUEL and MISS FALEBITA IYANUOLUWA ESTHER now wished to be known and addressed as MASTER ADESINA IYINOLUWA EMMANUEL and MISS ADESINA IYANUOLUWA ESTHER respectively,all former documents remain valid,general public take note.

ADEYEMO

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Adeyemo Funmilola Olabisi, now wish to be known as Mrs Odashidiolu Funmilola Olabisi. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

AGBI

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Agbi Felicia, now wish to be known as Mrs Ukaegbu Felicia. All former documents remain valid.

Lagos State University, The Nigeria Police general public please take note.

OTOKUNRIN

OKEREKE

OZIOKO

ADENYE

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Adenye Adesola Abolade, now wish to be known as Mrs Agbi Adesola Abolade. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

AWOLESI

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Awolesi Temitope Ibiwunmi, now wish to be known as Mrs Babasanya Temitope Ibiwunmi. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

MOROLARI

I formerly known and addressed as Morolari Olusegun Matthew, now wish to be known as Adewole Olusegun Matthew. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OMOWAYE

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Omowaye Victoria Sheyi, now wish to be known as Mrs Adewole Victoria Oluwaseyi. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

EGHAGHARA

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Eghaghara Ufuoma Pauline, now wish to be known as Mrs Onyokoko Ufuoma Pauline. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

UDOH

I formerly known and addressed as Udoh Friday Serah, now wish to be known as Ntiense Bassey Serah. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

EWALEFOH

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ewalefoh Roselyn Omon, now wish to be known as Mrs Oyediran Roselyn Omon. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OJELABI

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Oluwaremilekun .E. Ojelabi, now wish to be known as Mrs Oluwaremilekun Ojelabi Agbesanmi. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

IBRAHIM

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ibrahim Shakirat Bukola, now wish to be known as Mrs. Adenekan, Shakirat Bukola. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

AGBODIKE

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Agbodike Adaobi Naomi, now wish to be known as Mrs Omopekun Adaobi Naomi. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

ADEYEMI

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Adeyemi Oluwatosin Oriyomi, now wish to be known as Mrs. Bello, Oluwatosin Oriyomi.

All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

ADVERT: Simply produce your marriage certificate or sworn affidavit for a change of name publication, with just N4,500. The payment can be made through - FIRST BANK of Nigeria Plc. Account number - 2017220392 Account Name - VINTAGE PRESS LIMITED Scan the details of your advert and teller to - gbengaodejide @yahoo.com or thenation.advert @hotmail.com.

For enquiry please contact: Gbenga on 08052720421, 08161675390, Emailgbengaodejide @yahoo.com or our offices nationwide. Note this! Change of name is now published every Sundays, all materials should reach us two days before publication.

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

53

CITYBEATS

CITYBEATS LINE: 07059022999

A

T 15, Sukurat Bashiru's ambition is to become a star newscaster, being an outstanding pupil. Sadly, she has become a "hot" feast for newscasters and other journalists because of her failing health. Her kidneys, medical analysis shows, are "badly damaged."

Her Ikire, Osun State-born father, Kabiru Bashiru, a vulcaniser, and mother, Busira, a petty trader, have "sold everything" in their frantic bid to make her live to fulfil her destiny.

But the more they sweat, the more the teenager's chances dim.

Emotions ran high on Saturday, when, at Ojota in Lagos, the President of Eko Lions Club, Rotimi Atanda, called out his lieutenants in a bid to save Sukurat’s life. It was at a media parley.

Looking helpless and despondent, Sukurat was brought to the venue from the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, where she had been on a N68,000-per-week dialysis to keep her alive.

A past president of the club, Oladosu Gidigbi, and its project director, Oluwadare Abimbola, nearly shouted themselves hoarse in the spirited bid to convince the privileged few in the country, including organisations and governments, contribute to ensuring that the girl lives a normal life.

"She needs N6.5 million for kidney transplant in India. Already, there are two volunteer kidney donors, though they are yet to be tested. On our part too, we have been able to raise about N800,000 from some kind-hearted individuals. But that is a negligible fraction of the bill. Nigerians must join hands with us to save the life of this girl," Atanda said, pointing at Sukurat.

"Please, help me tell Nigerians not to let me die in this pain. I have an ambition to fulfill here on earth; please, help me …" , Sukurat pleaded with impressive eloquence.

Then, her Senior Secondary (SS) class teacher at East City College, Aga, Ikorodu, a Lagos suburb, Mrs Titilope Adesanya, took over: "You can see why we in the school have been pleading with Nigerians to help her. She is very intelligent and outstanding among her mates. She has always told me she would like to become a newscaster. We must assist her to live this lofty dream."

The gaunt frame of her father says it all - her daughter's condition had pushed him to his wit's end. "I don't know where to run to now. Since December 2011 when the problem started, my mind has not known peace. We have spend over N2 million. I have sold everything I could lay my hands on. I am a hard-working man. From my sweat, I got cars

Dismissed LASTMA official held on ‘illegal’ duty

By Yinka Aderibigbe

A 40-year-old man, Muhammed Ayinla Ibrahim, who was dismissed from the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) in March for gross misconduct, was yesterday arrested at Mile 2 for illegal activities.

He had refused to collect his sack letter then, prompting the management sent it through DHL to his 17, Egan Road home in Igando, a Lagos suburb. But it was returned to the agency undelivered in April.

Following a tip-off from motorists, a unit provost of the agency, after surveillance, arrested Ibrahim with the agency's crested vest on alleged illegal duty.

Ibrahim, an Ogun State indigene, it was said, incited a mob against the provost's team before he was over-powered.

After the incident, Ibrahim signed and collected his dismissal letter.

After he was made to hand over the agency's kits in his possession, he was handed over to the police for investigations and further actions.

The agency has , therefore, warned residents of the state to be wary of anyone operating in mufti and report such people promptly to the agency for appropriate actions.

• Kabiru

• Sukurat ... on Saturday

• Busira

Will she die with her dream?

•Fear as kidney failure threatens teenager's life

By Dada Aladelokun, Assistant Editor

and property; all these are gone now. I have borrowed to a ridiculous extent. There is no helper anywhere except God and these people (members of Eko Lions Club.). They have been wonderful. Nigerians must help me on this girl," he pleaded.

Fighting tears, her mother said: "I want God to show Himself through Nigerians at this point," adding: "Since this trouble began over two years ago, I have lost sleep. Sukurat means much to us because she has shown a lot of promise as a serious child. Even if we can't feed now, we want her to live and get over these pains she is undergoing."

Explaining how it all began, Mrs Bashiru said: "It began like a bad dream. We just noticed that her legs got swollen and later, her face. What are these? We asked. No answer.

Then, we were prompted to seek an answer at hospitals where we were told that her kidneys have been damaged.

"It was a big shock to us all because she never smoked nor drank dangerous beverages. How did she come about kidney damage? This is a question that still confounds us.

But whatever it is, my daughter urgently needs help to live and I count on kind Nigerians to have pity on us."

Now, the embattled girl is back at LUTH with her pains, awaiting

succour. However, that Saturday, Atanda, on behalf of his club, pledged its readiness to henceforth, offset her weekly dialysis bill, while the search for money for the proposed transplant continues in earnest.

The club has appealed to Nigerians, corporate bodies, non-governmental organisations and government at all levels “to treat the girl’s case with despatch to save her from the claws of death." To raise the transplant bill from "cheerful givers across the world," the club, Atanda, announced, had opened "Eko Lions Club" account number 0009012447 with Union Bank. Will Sukurat have the opportunity to live to fulfill her aspiration? Time will tell.

Council tackles maternal, infant deaths

By Wale Adepoju

T

HE Chairman, Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos State, Comrade Ayodele Adewale, has said that there is no cause for fear of maternal and infant deaths in his domain. He stated that he had put machineries in place to put an end to such occurrences.

Adewale, who spoke to The Nation last Friday, said the death of any expectant mother or an infant, is unacceptable in his council area.

"As far as we are concerned in Amuwo Odofin, the death of any expectant mother is unacceptable. I mean, it must not happen here.

That is why we have prioritised Primary Health Care (PHC) delivery system to provide health services to residents in every nook and cranny of the local government area," he said, adding: "We have not only done the needful on our health care facilities across my domain; we have been relentless in encouraging our people to make use of them in their interest because health is wealth. When there is good health, people will be in the best position to contribute to developing their environment in conjunction with us."

He further said that the local government "now boasts good roads networks to ensure easy ac-

Mogaji: Group condoles Tinubu THE leadership of Mainland Independent Group (MIG) has condoled with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the passage of his mother, the President-General, Nigerian Market Men and Women, Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji.

The group's chairman, Hon Kayode Aransiola, described her death as "a monumental loss to Nigerians and Lagosians in particular."

The group added that "Alhaja Mogaji was an icon who fought for the promotion of good governance and human dignity while she lived."

Also, the group's coordinator, Alhaji Ibrahim Alao Megida, said: "We take solace in the legacies she left behind which the opposition leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu represents."

He noted that the late market leader "would be remembered as a philanthropist who felt for the poor", adding that, she was "a fearless activist who sacrificed personal comfort for the lessprivileged."

Megida admonished Nigerians "to emulate the selfless service of the Iyaloja-General who stood on the side of the masses during the June 12 struggle." "The best way we can honour her is to entrench good governance as it has been demonstrated in the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)-controlled states".

FUTA holds lecture •L-R: Adewale, Commissioner for Special Duty, Dr Wale Ahmed, First Lady Mrs Abimbola Fashola, Dr Idris and former Deputy Governor Mrs Sarah Sosan during the meeting at the council’s secretariat PHOTO: NIYI ADENIRAN

cess to the primary health care centres with drugs and other facilities in the area."

"We have engaged more doctors to discourage residents from patronising Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) whose practices are not standardised," he said.

He added that council was working with the Lagos State Traditional Medicine Board (LSTMB) to train the TBAs to be useful, adding, however, that they are to refer expectant mothers to appropriate facilities.

Ayodele revealed that the council is in partnership with the private sector and had also engaged volunteer workers to boost the council's health care manpower.

He said children less than 16 years and adults above 60 get free drugs, while others enjoy 10 per cent discount.

Just last Friday, the council hosted the Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris and other stakeholders at the Lagos West Two Senatorial District Town Hall Meeting on Maternal and Child Mortality Reduction (MCMR).

He scored his administration high on its performance, especially its efforts to have judiciously used the council's revenue in people's interest on all fronts, saying: “We are poised to serve our people better."

"This man (Adewale) is truly committed to developing this environment. He has touched every sphere of people's lives here. More of people like him are needed for grassroots development in this country," a resident, Mrs Adebola Samuel told The Nation on Friday.

THE sixth Annual Lecture of the School of Environmental Technology, Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), will hold on Thursday. Its theme is: "Knowledge Scientification in Nigeria's Tertiary Institutions: Implications for Arts and Technology.

A joint statement by the Dean, School of Environmental Technology, Prof Deji Ogunsemi and Chairman, Planning Committee of the event, Prof JAB Olujimi, yesterday, said it would hold at 11 am in the institution's Hilltop Auditorium.

Professor of Art History and Art Criticism, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Prof Ola Oloidi, the statement added, will be Guest Speaker.

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THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

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MOTORING THE NATION

MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

Website:- http://www.thenationonlineng.net

The fourth generation Range Rover is in a league of its own. As a passenger car, it is comfortable, spacious and swift; few cars offer such ‘substance’ and satisfaction at the wheel. TAJUDEEN ADEBANJO, who was at the Oriental Hotel, Lagos for its unveiling, reports.

•Range Rover

Coscharis unveils new Range Rover I

T is a well-known fact that the Range Rover is one of the best 4X4s in history. This time it is ready to represent its new model named L 405. The new car is revolutionary in many aspects. First of all, the L 405 is a luxury car and only then it is 4X4.

The fourth generation Range Rover has saved the weight of previous models, though not a light car, its weight is over 2.6 tonnes.

The L405 has received some innovations among which are lighter monocoque and new aluminium chassis arms. It has also received antiroll bars and active dampers; the front axle received new “low-hysteresis” air springs.

One should not forget that it is the Range Rover, so it didn’t avoid capability off road improvement. The L 405 received a ground clearance that is more than 300mm and 900mm wading depth, with all that it can tow up to 3500kg.

Three types of engine are available in the new model range: V6 turbodiesel, V8 petrol, and V8 turbodiesel.

Last Thursday, the new L405 Range Rover was launched in Lagos. Auto lovers braved the usual heavy traffic on Lekki-Epe Expressway to witness the unveiling of the fourth genera-

tion Range Rover.

According to the Coscharis Motors Group Managing Director Dr. Cosmas Maduka, the new Range Rover is another example of how Land Rover is taking the brand forward by thinking globally and targeting modern trends in automobile designing to meet specific regional expectations.

“Our brands,”Maduka said, are envisioned to remain market leaders in their segments and that is why we associate with them. This latest L405 is designed to break new market and sustain old customers by delivering stunning auto all terrain response performance while vividly demonstrating Land Rover’s cutting-edge engineering technologies and worldclass design excellence.

“Land Rover as a global responsible organisation in its drive about sustainability has set a new benchmark with the all-new Range Rover, the world’s first SUV with a revolutionary lightweight all-aluminium monocoque body structure. It is 39 per cent lighter than the outgoing model enabling total vehicle weight savings of up to 420kg.

“Therefore, Land Rover has put into consideration the conservative nature of its responsible customers and has created a vehicle which is environ-

mentally friendly and instantly recognisable as a Range Rover, but takes a significant step forward with a bold evolution of the model’s iconic contemporary design language.”

Maduka boasted that the Range Rover continues to occupy a unique position in the luxury car marketplace, offering an unrivalled combination of luxury, performance and allterrain ability.

Its predecessors, he noted, did so well that the Range Rover customers wanted it to remain but Land Rover as a company decided to make it even better.

“Our expectation is that with this new model, Land Rover will widen the Range Rover market share within Nigeria and globally. Our commitment is to remain relevant and foremost in the automobile sector despite what our competitors do.

“Coscharis will continue in the effort to be a pacesetter in the automobile business in Nigeria, setting standards others will be judged by and give value to our customers. We will not steer from this purpose rather we will nourish it and make it smoother.

We will strive to be more efficient and more dynamic. While others try to promise everything, we promise one, the most personal cherished customer care-value-for-money. This is

the story of Coscharis and this is what we offer,” he said.

The Range Rover’s shape is new, but it’s unmistakable. Thanks to all-aluminium construction it has shed the equivalent of four TMR writers, uses less fuel, is more capable off-road and has more space.

The last generation’s interior was not exactly spartan, but the L405 Range Rover is now right up there with Bentley and Rolls-Royce.

The Oxford leather is smooth and soft; there are real metal accents, proper wood veneers and minimal but high grade - plastic.

The interior is simpler and clearer there are less buttons than ever before.

With Range Rover’s ‘command’ driving position and 18-way electrically adjustable seats (including variable bolsters), there will be no complaints in terms of comfort.

Obviously, there are tonnes of room up front, but having liberated an extra 118mm in legroom for rear passengers (thanks to the new platform), the Vogue is now more limo-like than ever.

A button on the dash selects seat controls from which you can choose seat heating or cooling, as well as threemode ‘massagers’. (After a hard day in the trench, trundling home with your own personal masseuse is certainly a

perk.)

The back seats are electrically adjustable (four-way) to either avail more space for passengers, or more space for luggage. You can also opt for the Executive Class seating package which gives you two rear buckets to further cosset your cargo.

The top engine offering is the familiar supercharged V8 that develops 510 PS (you find these in R-edition Jags), but the more sensible might plump for either a 3.0 litre TDV6 or a 4.4 litre SDV8, which respectively develop 258 and 339 PS. All are driven through an eight-speed automatic. A diesel-hybrid model is on the cards for next year, targeting a CO2 emissions figure of just 169 grams per km.

In comparison, the 3.0 litre TDV6 emits 196 grams per km.

Wheelbase is up 40 mm to almost three metres; so is overall length, by 27 mm to nearly five metres. As a result, rear legroom improves by 118 mm. The roofline is 20 mm lower but ground clearance is 18 mm higher.

There is Dynamic Response lean control and continuously-variable damping to help users corner as flat as possible, electric power steering with Park Assist, Blind Spot Monitoring and Adaptive Cruise Control with emergency braking, among lots of others.

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THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

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NEWS Christ’s School, Ado-Ekiti is 80

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THE one-week programme of the 80th anniversary of Christ’s School, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, began yesterday with a thanksgiving organised by Lagos chapter of the school’s alumni association.

It took place at the Archbishop Vining Memorial Church Cathedral, GRA. Ikeja. A get-together was also held later at 48, Sobo Arobiodu Street, GRA. Ikeja.

Bauchi gets 16-man market committee From Austine Tsenzughul, Bauchi

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•From left: Prof Akin Oyebode of the Law Faculty, University of Lagos; Mr Femi Orebe, Chairman, Nigerite Limited; Mr. Adegboyega Adepitan of the 1963 set and Mr. Yemi Akeju, host and CEO, Ideas Communication Limited, during the 80th anniversary of Christ School, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State...yesterday

Army foils assassination attempt on ex-Offa council chair S OME military men in Offa, Kwara State, at the weekend foiled an assassination attempt on the former chairman of the local government, Prince Saheed Popoola.

Ten Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) thugs, who confessed to the attempt, allegedly waylaid the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) chieftain at a restaurant in the town.

Popoola said the hoodlums arrived the restaurant around 7pm on Friday, challenging anyone belonging to ACN to a fight.

P

The former council chief said the shooting sporadically into the air and brandishing other dangerous weapons like broken bottles.

Popoola said three of the hoodlums have been arrested and detained at the Police Command in Ilorin by a team of soldiers who had been placed on alert, following Popoola’s suspicion that he might be the next target of attacks.

Those arrested are Kabiru

Oluaye, Musiliu Olarinoye, and Lukman Ariwajoye.

Last Wednesday, some suspected PDP thugs had attacked and severely injured two ACN chieftains from Offa in their homes - Omooba Akorede and Murtala Taofeeq (Aroso). The incidents occurred at Isale Offa and Ita Erin, both in Offa.

Popoola said: “Following the incidents of Wednesday and the fact that we have long sus-

pected that PDP’s failure to gain support in Offa might make them to resort to underhand tactics, I had tipped off some security men, including soldiers stationed in Offa, about the activities of the PDP thugs. So, they asked me to lure them out by going to a joint. I told them it’s been long I visited joints/restaurants because of the security threats. But they said I should just come and they escorted me there in plain clothes.

NGF crisis: Jang faults Fashola’s suit

LATEAU State Governor Jonah Jang, claiming to have won the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) chairmanship election, has faulted the suit filed by Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola, challenging his claim.

The Plateau governor is urging the Abuja High Court to dismiss it on the grounds that the court lacks jurisdiction to hear it. He added that the suit is frivolous and that the plaintiff lacks the right to sue.

Jang’s position is contained in the notice of preliminary objection and statement of defence filed at the weekend on his behalf and Osaro Onaiwu (named as the third defendant).

Fashola is seeking, among others, an order restraining Jang from parading himself as NGF Chairman and an order restrain-

From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

ing Onaiwu from acting as the forum’s Sole Administrator on the grounds that Rivers State Governor Chibuike Amechi was validly re-elected as the forum’s Chairman.

Named as defendants are: Jang, Asissana Bayo Okauru (NGF’s Director-General), Onaiwu and the forum’s Registered Trustees.

Jang and Onaiwu, in their preliminary objection, urged the court to strike out the suit because Fashola lacked the locus standi to file it.

They also raised other grounds, including the following: •A writ of summons was not issued, in accordance with procedural due process.

•The High Court of the Fed-

eral Capital Territory lacks jurisdiction to entertain the plaintiff’s claims.

The defendants also argued that even if the plaintiff has locus standi, the issues raised in the suit are not justiceable “as they relate to a mere dispute as to political dignity”.

In challenging Fashola’s right to institute the suit, Jang and Onaiwu argued that since the Lagos governor did not claim to have contested the election for the NGF, he lacks the legal right to institute or sustain the action.

They argued that Amaechi, who Fashola claimed won the election, has not complained that his mandate has been usurped, and was equally not named a party to the suit.

Arguing that the court lacks jurisdiction, the duo contended

that any dispute within the NGF cannot be taken to an Abuja High Court by virtue of Part C of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), which stipulates that disputes should be resolved at the Federal High Court.

They contended that only the Supreme Court has the sole jurisdiction to adjudicate over disputes between state governments or state governments and Federal Government.

The defendants said the way the suit is couched - the Governor, Lagos State versus the Governor, Plateau State and others gives the impression of a dispute between Lagos and Plateau states, which automatically strips every court of jurisdiction, except the apex court, of the power to hear it.

Kano Immigration command repatriates 400 illegal aliens

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HE Kano State Command of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) yesterday repatriated 400 illegal immigrants arrested in Kano metropolis.

The State Comptroller of the NIS, Alhaji Hamisu Maishanu, told reporters that the mopping up of the illegal immigrants started on Friday and will end

today.

He said the command started the screening of immigrants and found 384 of them to be Nigeriens and 16 are Chadians.

He said they would be repatriated to their countries.

According to him, the NIS will not allow aliens to enter the country without proper documentation and data bank

because they are killing the economy.

Maishanu warned that any immigrant caught without relevant documents would be repatriated to his or her country without delay.

The Comptroller explained that the exercise would continue in line with the new leadership of the NIS, under Mr David Para-

dang, to flush out illegal immigrants from the country.

He said: “We will take the photographs and the bio-metric data of all those arrested so that we can identify them whenever they find their way back into the country.”

The NIS chief said the exercise would also be extended to the 44 local governments to rid Kano of illegal immigrants.

105 Sokoto indigenes depart for studies in Uganda

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HUNDRED and five Sokoto State indigenes at the weekend left the state for a post-graduate diploma programme in Education in Uganda.

They are members of the first batch of the 300 students who will study various programmes at the Islamic University, Uganda.

The students departed aboard an Arik Air chartered flight via the Sultan Abubakar III International Airport, Sokoto.

A statement in Sokoto by Abubakar Dangusau, the Special Assistant to the Governor on Press Affairs, said the students were among those spon-

From Adamu Suleiman, Sokoto

sored by the state government for post-graduate diploma and Master’s in Education at the foreign university.

The statement said: “This first batch of 105 students has NCE and other non-Education degrees holders who will first undergo the post-graduate diploma studies in Education.

“The remaining 195 students have both NCE and Education-related degrees and they are expected to leave Sokoto next December and meet the 105, who just left.

“They will together under-

go the Master’s degree studies in Education and they are expected to come complete their studies in 18 months and come back to Nigeria.”

The statement quoted Governor Aliyu Wamakko as urging the students to be good ambassadors of the state and Nigeria.

Group seeks probe of pension fund officer

By Miriam Ekene-Okoro

A

CIVIL society group, the Centre for Rights and Grassroots Initiative (CRGI), has urged the National Assembly to investigate and take disciplinary action against a senior officer of the Police Pension Fund Office in Lagos for allegedly breaching civil service rules.

The group alleged that the officer contravenes the constitution and civil service rules because he is a civil servant as well as a member of a political party in Ekiti State.

The group’s petition, by its Executive Director, Nelson Ekujumi, was addressed to the Chairmen of the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Public Petition.

HE Bauchi State Government has set up a 16-man committee to ensure that traders do not block major roads with their wares, the Commissioner for Special Duties, Bappa Azare, said at the weekend.

The State Intelligence Committee, among other recommendations, on May 20, called for the relocation of some markets to ensure free traffic flow and safety on the highways.

It noted that traders were blocking the roads with their wares, causing accidents and traffic hold-ups.

The development had compelled the House of Assembly to appropriate some fund in this year’s budget for the construction of bypasses as alternative routes to avoid deaths at the markets.

The committee’s chairman is Bappa Azare. It has four weeks to submit its report to the government, The Nation learnt yesterday.

Police warn vehicle owners

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HE Lagos State Police Command has warned owners of accidented and abandoned vehicles parked at the Ilupeju and Akinpelu Divisions to remove them or lose them to the public through auctions after 21 days of this publication.

They are: a Blue Mercedez Benz car, with registration number BM964GGE; a MercedezBenz190, EF542KSR; a Blue Starlet, CL479GGE; a Red Primera, BE979AKD; a Faragon bus, unregistered; a red Range Rover, unregistered; a Mitsubishi bus, unregistered; a Toyota Tacel,

CM401LND; a Peugeot 306, unregistered; a Ford Jeep, unregistered; an Opel Kadett, XJ662EKY; a blue Nissan Terrano Jeep, DP953LSR; a gold Toyota Camry, JQ454KJA and a commercial colour bus, XN450AGL.

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

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NEWS Sack us now, Edo NUT dares Oshiomhole From Osagie Otabor, Benin

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HE Edo State wing of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) has vowed not to report for duty today, despite the sack threat by the government.

The government has directed education inspectors to visit primary schools and take a roll call of teachers who report for duty.

Public primary schools have been shut since June 1 over implementation of the 27.5 per cent Teachers Special Allowance.

The government has started paying 17.5 per cent after an agreement with the teachers that the balance would be implemented when the state’s finances increase.

Governor Adams Oshiomhole last week approved the 27.5 per cent TSA for secondary school teachers, under the auspices of Academic Staff Union of Secondary School (ASUSS).

He said the NUT abused the agreement.

Oshiomhole said the teachers would be encouraged to stay away from work permanently and directed the Commissioner for Basic Education to discontinue the assessment for promotion exercise for primary school teachers.

He stated that the no-work-no-pay rule would be applied and promised to provide employment for those who wish to take advantage of the opening that would arise.

But the NUT State Secretary, Akin Adeojo, dared the governor to sack all the NUT members for embarking on the

Benin monarch marks birthday From Osagie Otabor, Benin

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HE Benin monarch, Oba Erediauwa, yesterday celebrated his birthday.

It was attended by leaders of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), led by Governor Adams Oshiomhole.

Crown Prince Eheneden Erediauwa represented the monarch at the dinner held at the palace grounds in Benin City.

Oshiomhole said Nigeria would reclaim its position in the comity of nations.

The governor said no one can stop Nigeria when it rises back to its feet, adding that the country’s history would not be complete without the contribution of Oba Erediauwa. He said there is no Nigeria without Edo State.

The Crown Prince thanked the audience for honouring his father’s invitation.

Court stops farmers’ eviction From Osagie Otabor, Benin

A

N Edo State High Court in Okada, headquarters of Ovia North East Local Government Area has granted an order restraining Okomu Oil Palm Company and Dr. Graham Hefer from forcefully evicting cocoa farmers, whose farms are located at the Okomu forest reserve.

Justice Urho Erameh also granted a restorative order of injunction against the defendants to set aside all their completed acts on the land in dispute, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.

The applicants, Hassan Tajudeen, Fatai Oyelaji, Ganiyu Eniola and C.O Osunlarin, filed the suit on behalf of themselves and the Yoruba Cocoa farmers in Area BC 10, Okomu Forest Reserve in Ovia South West Local Government Area.

Justice Erameh ruled that the applicants should enter an undertaking to pay N200, 000 in the event that the injunction fails and awarded N10, 000 as cost against the defendants.

JTF arrests eight for SPDC pipeline fire

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HE Joint Task Force (JTF), ‘Operation Pulo Shield’, has arrested eight suspects in connection with last Wednesday’s fire at the Trans Niger Pipeline of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State.

The fire has led to the shutdown of about 150,000 barrels of crude oil per day, following the closure of the 24" and 28" TNP. It was gathered that the Federal Government and the Joint Venture partners have lost about $75 million (N1.18 billion) as at yesterday evening.

SPDC blamed the incident on activities of illegal bunkering rings, although environmentalists said Shell’s contractors are using the fire to incinerate crude oil spill.

JTF Media Coordinator LtCol Onyema Nwachukwu said the suspects were arrested on the scene of the fire by operatives of 142 Battalion attached to the JTF’s Sector 2.

He said: “The troops who sighted the fire at about 1.30am on Wednesday mobilised to the scene where they found the suspects in two tug boats.

“During the interrogation, they claimed to be employees of Steve Integrated Technical Service and Sege Marine hired by Shell to fix broken pipelines in Bodo.”

The JTF spokesperson added that the suspects were facing preliminary interroga-

•Loss from pipeline closure hits over N1b Five illegal bunkerers arrested THE 3 Battalion of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Warri, Delta State, has arrested five persons suspected of owning and operating illegal crude oil refineries in riverside communities of Delta and Rivers states.

In an operation by the 3 Battalion of Sector 1, three suspects were arrested for allegedly running three illegal oil distillery camps in Opumani Gbekebor in Beneth Island of Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State and Agbede forest in Edo State.

JTF’s spokesperson Lt. Col Onyema Nwachukwu said in a statement that four metal tanks, 236 drums and 13 pumping machines at the illegal oil distillation sites were recovered during anti-bunkering operations.

“Five dug out pits used by the oil theft From Shola O’Neil, Regional Editor, Southsouth

tions at the Sector 2 headquarters in Port Harcourt before they would be handed over to prosecuting agencies.

Independent investigations showed that the suspects’ claims that they were hired to clean up crude oil spill in the area have brought a new dimension to the issue.

It was gathered that environmental activists are compiling documents to back up their claims.

“If it is true that the suspects are staff of companies

From Shola O’Neil, Port Harcourt

suspects to store stolen crude oil were also sealed up by the troops. The suspects are helping in preliminary investigations at the Headquarters 3 Battalion.

“During the operation, the troops also intercepted 27 open boats used by oil thieves to convey illegally distilled products along Chanomi West in Warri South West Local Government Area,” he added.

In a separate operation, JTF troops also arrested two suspects who specialise in vandalising oil pipelines along Kalamabo and Opukula Communities in Akuku Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State.

Fineface Shedrack and Solomon Doutimiti were allegedly hacking into Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) pipelines located in the community when they were nabbed.

employed for remediation of the spill site, it merely confirms what we have suspected all the while that there is more to it. We are already asking questions: ‘are they paid to incinerate the crude in order to wipe away traces of spill?’” a source said.

Crude oil spills in the Ogoni area of Rivers State is a major cause of tension between the management of Shell and the host communities.

Shell’s Managing Director Mutiu Sunmonu blamed the fire on crude oil spill.

He said: “This is another sad reminder of the tragic

consequences of crude oil theft. Unknown persons continued to reconnect illegal bunkering hoses at Bodo West even as our pipeline teams were removing crude theft points.

“It was, therefore, not surprising that the fire occurred from the continuing illegal bunkering even as a previous crude oil theft point was being repaired by the team.

“So far, there is practically no spill from this event as the oil is burning off. What is visible in the water is from an earlier oil spill which was also as a result of oil theft. The explosion also triggered a fire on a nearby barge,” he stated.

Rivers develops alternative to oil From Rosemary Nwisi, Port Harcourt

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HE Rivers State Government has said it is developing an alternative to oil.

The Commissioner for Health, Sampson T. Parker, broke the news in Australia when he led the delegation of Directors of the Integrated Medical Industries (IMI), a stateowned medical consumables factory, to test-run the power plant meant for the factory.

Parker said the Rotimi Amaechi-led administration is passionate about developing a different kind of economy that would compete with oil before he leaves office in 2015.

“Oil has been good to Nigeria and the Rivers people, but Governor Amaechi believes that the best way to sustain the state’s development is to develop an economy that is independent of oil.

“That is why the government has invested in manufacturing, farming, education and health and energy. We are already seeing the results as youth unemployment is reducing”.

He said the factory when completed would produce 1.3 billion syringes, 1 billion hypodermic needles, 105 million IV-giving-sets, 90 million liters of IV solution annually.

Police arrest bank manager after robbery From Okungbowa Aiwerie, Asaba

The police in Delta State have arrested a bank’s operations manager after a robbery attack by robbery suspects.

The manager, identified as Ogbemudia Godwin, is assisting in the investigation, the police have said.

The robbery left five persons injured.

Police spokesman Lucky Uyabeme said preliminary report indicates an insider connection in the robbery.

Uyabeme said the two keys to the bank vault that was supposed to be kept by two different senior staff were left with the operations manager who in turn left the strong room open.

The police said four bullet proof doors leading to the bank vaults were not tampered with.

Robbers at the weekend stormed a bank in Agbor, Ika South Local Government Area.

It was gathered that the robbers carted away an undisclosed amount both in foreign and local currencies after it blew-up the bank’s vault.

•Minister of State for Education Nyesom Wike (left) with the Rivers State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Felix Obuah (right) and the PDP Secretary, Walter Ibibia, at the ward sensitisation tour of Ikwerre Local Government Area at the Civic Centre, Elele ...yesterday.

PHOTO: BISI OLANIYI.

Itsekiri floor Ijaw in historic land tussle

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HE Ijaw people of Ogbe-Ijoh Kingdom in Warri, Delta State, have suffered a setback in a legal battle with their Itsekiri counterparts over the ownership of a parcel of land in the oil city.

A Warri High Court threw out their joinder application in the suit between the Itsekiri people of Okere Itsekiri community and the Delta State Government.

The involvement of the Ogbe-Ijoh people added a new dimension to the ownership of the 3.197 hectres of land on which the government is building a model

From Shola O’Neil, Port Harcourt

school.

Ogbe-Ijoh leaders, led by Dr. Clarkson Aribogha, applied to be joined in the suit as defendants claiming ownership of the same parcel of land.

In the application backed by a 20-paragraph affidavit, they claimed that the land was owned by Ewein, a powerful Ijaw patriarch and founder of Ogbe-Ijoh Kingdom, “at a time now beyond human memory.”

In their response, the Okere-Itsekiri people insisted that the Ijaw were only

seeking “to reap where they have not sown”, adding that in the history of the foundation of Warri kingdom there was nowhere the name of any Ijaw man named Ewein was mentioned.

Consequently, they (Itsekiri) prayed the court to strike out Ogbe-Ijoh’s application as was done by a Warri High Court dated July 9, 1964 and affirmed by the Supreme Court in SC/450/65.

Dismissing the application, Justice M. Mukoro said: “From the discussion so far based on legal principles, judicial authorities, fact before me is that this application for

joinder is a back-door attempt to revive an action laid to rest since July 1964.

“Any attempt to go against the ruling of the Warri High Court and its affirmation by the Supreme Court is tantamount to judicial rascality, recklessness and unconstitutional voyage.

Public policy demands that there shall be an end to litigation.

“I find merit in the opposition to the application for joinder. The application for joinder filed on November 27, last year, lacks merit and that being so it shall be dismissed. So be it.”

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

59

NEWS

Imo terminates N1.3b judicial contract

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MO State Governor Rochas Okorocha has terminated the N1.3billion contract for the construction of a seven-floor State Judiciary Headquarters awarded to Nutouch Global Ventures Limited, for alleged breach of contractual agreement.

A statement by the Commissioner for Lands, Survey, Housing and Urban Development, Uche Nwosu, said the contract, which was awarded to the company for N1.32 billion for the total office area of 15,000 square metre calculated at the rate of N88,000 per square metre, was agreed by both parties to be completed within 12

•Governor reneged on agreement, says contractor From Okodili Ndidi, Owerri

months.

But the contractor, Osita Okereke, debunked the allegation, insisting that it was the government that reneged on the contractual agreement, especially on the terms of payment.

He said of the 30 per cent mobilisation agreed with the government, his company received only 15 per cent.

But the commissioner said an initial N200 million was released to the company to enable it complete the foundation.

“Subsequently, the

contractor, upon his inability to actualise that level of job, requested for additional payment of N24 million with a promise to complete the foundation of the building but again failed to deliver”, he said.

Nwosu said the contract was terminated “because after collecting N224 million from the government, Okereke abandoned the building without completing the foundation as agreed”.

He added that an evaluation carried out by his ministry, which supervises the project, has shown that the contractor could not do a

job commensurate to the amount so far committed to the project, adding that government is considering taking a legal action against the company.

But Okereke alleged that his company had an undisclosed agreement with a government official before the contract began.

“The bone of contention is not the termination of the contract but this will expose the official.

“I will tell the truth to the Imo people. The truth is I am not afraid of losing the contract but heads will roll.”

44 UniUyo students face murder charge

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ORTY-FOUR students have been charged with murder and arson, following the June 12 protest which rocked the University of Uyo (UniUyo), Akwa Ibom State.

The students were brought to court by the police in eight Hilux Pick-Up vans amid tight security.

The students appeared before Magistrate Lawrence Udonwa on a five-count charge of arson and murder.

Magistrate Udonwa held that since the case involved murder and arson, the police should not have brought the suspects to his court.

He held that the law upon which the police acted was obsolete and out-dated.

The magistrate, however, ordered that the case be transferred to the High Court in Uyo. The parents of most of the students were in the court.

Most of them accused the police of not arresting the real perpetrators of the crime.

One of the mothers of the suspects told The Nation that her son was arrested while packing his luggage to leave the hostel.

The June 12 peaceful protest turned violent when police applied minimum force to end the riot.

The police threw several

Fed Govt to foot funeral bills of NANS officials

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HE Federal Government is to foot the funeral bills of five national execu tive officers of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) who died last week in an accident in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State on their way to Akwa Ibom State.

The NANS executives were on their way to the University of Uyo (UNIUYO) to mediate in the crisis that engulfed the university.

They died when the bus they were travelling in crashed into an oncoming truck.

Five people died and seven were injured.

The Minister of Education, Prof From Kazeem Ibrahym, Uyo

tear-gas canisters and shot sporadically to disperse the rioters.

A 200-level Zoology student, Kingsley Umoette, died.

After Umoette’s death, property worth millions of naira were destroyed by the protesting students.

Besides the school properties destroyed, individual properties were not spared.

The students and the police have been trading words over what led to the death.

A member of the Students’ Union Government, who pleaded not to be named, said a security agent shot the student.

From Ugochukwu Ugoji-Eke, Umuahia

Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufai, said the Federal Government has concluded plans to pay the funeral fees and the medical bills of the survivors.

Mrs. Rufai, who was in the state to ascertain the condition of the survivors, said she was happy with their recovery and extended the condolences of President Goodluck Jonathan to the families of the deceased.

A survivor, Benjamin Adekunle, thanked the President for his concern and assured him of their support at all times.

He said the killing angered the students who set ablaze the Vice Chancellor’s Office, Deputy Vice Chancellor’s Office (Academic) and Records Office.

Twelve vehicles, some of them owned by the university, were destroyed.

But the police said they could not explain what killed Umoette because his body was brought from the campus to the road where the police stood by the students during the protest.

Police spokesman Etim Dickson said: “You know we cannot enter the campus; we have to be outside.

“It was the protesting students who brought the body to us on the road and

it was collected from them.

“The mother of the deceased has come to us. She made a statement. The cause of the death we don’t know yet.

“What killed the boy from inside the school we don’t know?

“Also, about 45 other students coming from various institutions were arrested. Some of them came from Bida Polytechnic and we also have some from Madonna University.

“They only dropped the body on the road because they said they wanted to carry the body to the Government House and we told them ‘no; it is not their duty and we collected the body from them.”

Teenager found dead at block industry in Aba

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16-YEAR-OLD GIRL was found dead at the weekend at a block industry in Aba, Abia State.

The girl hawked groundnuts around Eziukwu road.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that her remains were dumped at a corner of the industry naked, with her underwear hanging on one of her legs and foam oozing out of her nose.

The tray of groundnuts was kept on top of a nearby platform very close to where her body was dumped.

Some residents told NAN that the girl must have been strangled. They said her body was left naked to make it seem like a rape.

A man, who pleaded anonymity, said the girl received a call as she was selling groundnut to him around 8pm. on Friday and hurriedly dashed out to attend to her caller.

“I know her well. She was selling groundnut to me around 8 p.m, when she got a call. She told the person to be patient with her that she will

soon come to meet him.

“I jokingly told her she should make sure she sold the groundnuts to her caller. She laughed and hurriedly left to answer her supposed caller,” the source said.

Another source close to the victim’s family said that the family became apprehensive when they called her phone repeatedly around 9pm on the fateful date, but the phone was switched off.

They were, however, notified on Saturday morning that

the girl had been found dead on the premises of a block industry.

They said her brother-inlaw had to notify the police of the crime after residents on the street showed them her body.

The Police Area Commander in charge of Aba , Rabiu Dayi, described the incident as unfortunate.

The Commissioner of Police, Usman Abubakar, said an autopsy would be carried out.

“Nobody was there when it happened. Her body was

found dumped on a block industry premises and nobody can say exactly what caused her death.

“The foam coming from her nose could mean that she was strangled to death. It is only medical professionals who can tell us the cause of her death and that will be through autopsy.

“Whatever that could have led to her death would be unravelled as soon as the autopsy report is out,” Abubakar said

30 buses for Abia transport firm From Ugochukwu Ugoji-Eke, Umuahia

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BIA State Governor Theodore Orji has purchased 30 new mini buses for the state transport company, Abia Line Network Company.

Orji said the purchase of the buses is part of the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan in the transport sector.

Speaking in Umuahia while handing over the keys of the buses to the general manager of the company, Orji said he has never interfered in the affairs of the transport company, but in the event he decides to do that, it will be disastrous for the company

and its management.

Orji said: “It has always had one problem or the other to the extent that it was finding it difficult to pay its workers. Instead of it to improve upward, and it has been going downward. I want it to change this time around or...”

The governor explained that 10 more of the buses will be coming in very soon to increase the number to 40 buses, adding that it will help to reduce the unemployment rate in the state, as more drivers and their assistants will be engaged.

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THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

NEWS I want to go home, ailing Taraba governor tells doctors Continued from page 4

chatting. When we went outside and took photographs with him, he suggested that we should go to the Green House to conclude our discussions.

“While we were with him (Suntai), the Venezuelan Ambassador to Nigeria called him and they had a lengthy discussion on the telephone. If the governor is not well, what would he be telling the Venezuelan ambassador on the telephone for such a long time?

“Yet, while we were still with the governor, the chairman of the Taraba Muslim Pilgrim Board also called from Nigeria and they spoke,” Useni said.

Useni added that as they were chatting with the governor, a House of Representatives member representing Bali/Gassol Federal Constituency, Hon. Haruna Manu, also joined and took photographs with him.

Hon. Abel Peter Diah said their visit to Suntai was not official.

“When I saw the governor walking and talking well with us, I said in my heart that human beings are wicked – this is a man they are saying he is in a vegetable state.

“When we arrived, we were waiting for him on the ground floor. He came down from an elevator.

“He greeted all of us by name and even asked about those at home. So, I began to wonder – is this a dream?

“You wouldn’t believe that when we were discussing, he (Suntai) told us not to bother about what people say about him.”

Acting Governor Alhaji Garba Umar, who also recently saw his boss in the United States, said his condition had improved so fast,

contrary to what he (Umar) was told at home by Suntai’s opponents.

Garba said on BBC Hausa News service at the weekend, that he supported that Suntai should continue to stay in the United States for “complete recovery”.

It was gathered that Suntai’s residence in his village, Bali, has been renovated.

Besides, there are dresses emblazoned with the governor’s portrait – all in anticipation of his arrival.

It was gathered that Suntai has not been told that former Speaker Istifanus Haruna Gbana, his then deputy, and the majority leader, had been impeached.

Diah said even when the governor sought to know whether the House of Assembly under their leadership was cordial with his deputy (Garba Umar), he just answered in the affirmative –that “all is well”.

Suntai has also not been told that National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has set up a party panel to probe his health and office, and the matter and other sundry litigations against his prolong absence were

Lessons of Tinubu’s mum’s life, by clerics Continued from page 4

•Suntai

in court.

Senator Emmanuel Bwacha (Taraba South) also spoke to The Nation on telephone from New York at the weekend while with Suntai.

Bwacha said he was surprised that Suntai’s opponents were not God-fearing, in spite of God’s wonders on the Taraba governor.

“Let anyone say whatever he or she wants (on the governor’s health). I am with the governor now, but I don’t want to react to what people say because when they misinform the public and you are trying to say the true things, they say you are playing politics.

“But may God forgive them so that they can repent. They will soon see the governor returning hale and hearty,” Bwacha added.

Britain plans £3,000 visa bond for Continued from page 4 Nigerians, others when they get here, there is no job. So, they don’t want to return home.

“Unofficial population of Nigerians in China is about 25,000 and 90 per cent of this is in Gwang Dong Province.

“We don’t have the accurate figure. But there are over 12,000 Nigerians in Gwang Dong Province alone. What are they doing there?

“Less than 10 per cent of them

have visible means of income; others don’t. So, they resort to anti-social activities, like pushing drugs, doing 419, yahooyahoo, Internet fraud, armed robbery, rape and even murder.”

On what Nigeria can gain from the growth and development in China, Onadipe said: “Agriculture. This is because it would provide jobs for Nigerians...”

Those who want to die peacefully and escape the wrath of Allah on Judgment Day should prepare for it while on earth.

“Life is like planting a crop.

When it grows, you will harvest the crop and the plant will get dry.”

He said the late Alhaja Mogaji lived an exemplary life in the way of Allah. Besides, she was a philanthropist of note, Abdulahi remarked.

He admonished Asiwaju Tinubu to continue his philanthropic activities as a way of paying tribute to his mother.

Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola, in his vote of thanks expressed gratitude to Allah for the selfless life the late Alhaja Mogaji lived.

After the prayer, guests were treated to music from many musicians, including Fuji songster Wasiu Ayinde Marshal.

Former Military President Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, who ealier in the day visited TInubu at his Ikoyi home, sent a condolence letter.

He said: “I receive with grave shock the news of the peaceful passing on of your mother, Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, who has since been buried in accordance with Islamic injunction.”

“I first met you when you

accompanied her on one of her usual motherly visits to us at Dodan Barracks residence. She introduced you to me during the visit and since then we have managed to build cohesive friendship,” Gen. Babangida said.

He noted that the late Iyaloja-General was a powerful mobiliser because of her magnanimity in philanthropy.

This, Gen. Babangida said, earned the late Alhaja Mogaji the accolade and respect that accompanied her until her demise.

“She was a committed and successful business woman who was committed to the improvement of the lives of the downtrodden. Little wonder, therefore, that she was the President General of the Nigerian Market Women and Men. “She brought you up to be a well known, respected and admired leader who is committed to defend the fundamental rights of all the people.

“You are, therefore, roundly qualified to carry on her good deeds and works so as to keep alive the memory. It is our expectation that you will undauntedly continue to forge and build on her legacy of honesty, dedication, trust, mobilisation and building bridges to enhance unity for the good of the country.”

Gen. Babangida remarked that the records of service of

Tinubu to Lagos State and the country were pointers to the attribute he got from the late Alhaja Mogaji. “Your political ideas, structures and network are the evident fruit of her labour in nurturing, guiding and educating you so as to be useful to humanity.”

Mandela in critical condition

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RESIDENT Jacob Zuma and African National Congress (ANC) Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa visited Mr Mandela in hospital.

They were briefed by Mr Mandela’s medical team and told that the 94-year-old’s condition had ‘become critical over the past 24 hours’, but denied media reports that he had suffered a heart attack.

Mr Zuma said in a statement: ‘The doctors are doing everything possible to get his condition to improve and are ensuring that Madiba is welllooked after and is comfortable.

He is in good hands.

‘The doctors also dismissed the media reports that Madiba suffered cardiac arrest. There is no truth at all in that report.’

Mandela, who became South Africa’s first black president after the end of apartheid in 1994, was hospitalised on June 8 for what the government said was a recurring lung infection.

Previous statements have indicated that Mr Mandela’s health is improving.

Who is who at the event Continued from page 4

Nuhu Ribadu; former Common Wealth Secretary-General Chief Emeka Anyaoku; Secretary to the Lagos State Government (SSG) Dr Idiat Oluranti Adebule; her Osun State counterpart Alhaji Moshood Adeoti; Chief Ayo Adebanjo; Senators Ganiyu Solomon; Annie Okonkwo; ‘Gbenga Ashafa; Femi Lanlehin; Olabiyi Durojaiye; Ajayi Boroffice; Olorunnimbe Mamora; Babafemi Ojudu; Aisha Alassan; Namadi Usman and Oluremi Tinubu; Members, House of Representatives Hon Femi Gbajabiamila; Akeem Muniru; Abike Dabiri-Erewa; Yakubu Balogun; Speaker Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji; his Oyo State counterpart Alhaja Monsurat Sumonu; former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mrs Sarah Sosan; Chief Laolu Ajayi; Alhaji Kola Oseni; Otunba Gani Adams; ACN Lagos Chairman Otunba Dele Ajomale; Prof Ropo Sekoni; Chief Amos Akingba, Mrs. Moji Awa Ibrahim; Alhaja Fatima Bintu Tinubu; Olori Muhibat Oyefusi; Cardinal James Omolaja Odunmbaku; seasoned industrialist Alhaji Razak Akanni Okoya; ACN chieftain Prince Tajudeen Olusi; Lagos State Commissioner for Health Dr Jide Idris; Commissioner for the

Environment Tunji Bello; ACN Lagos State spokesman, Mr Joe Igbokwe; former Lagos State Finance Commissioner Mr Wale Edun; former Commissioner for Insformation and Strategy Dele Alake Chief Pius Akinyelure; Alhaji Moshood Tijani; Baba Adinni of Lagos Sheikh Afeez Abou; National Missioner, Ansar-UdDeen Society of Nigeria Sheikh AbdirRahman Ahmad; Executive Secretary, Muslim Ummah of South West (MUSWEN) Prof Daud Noibi; Mudir Markaz Sheikh Habeebulahi Adam; Chief Tafsir of Lagos Sheikh Tijani Gbajabiamila and Sheikh Mujitaba Giwa; Missioner, Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria Kano Branch Sheikh Muhydeen Ajani Bello; National Missioner NASFAT Alhaji Abdullahi Akinbode; White Cap Chiefs represented Oba Rilwan Akiolu; members of the State Executive Council; Waka queen Salawa Abeni; Hon Ramota Akinola-Hassan; Hon Abdoulbaq Ladi-Balogun; Hon Rafiquat Onabamiro; members of the Conference of Chairmen of Local Governments and Local Council Development Areas, Lagos State (CONFERENCE 57) were led by their Chairman, Hon Akeem Sulaiman and General Secretary Hon Hakeem Bamgbola; Founder, Rhesus Solution Initiative (RSI) Mrs

Olufunmilayo Banire; Hakeem Kosoko; Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy Hon Lateef Ibirogba; his Local Governments and Chieftaincy counterparts Ademorin Kuye; Comrade Kayode Opeifa (Transportation); Prince Adesegun Oniru (Waterfront); renowned industrialists Alhaji Sakariyahu Babalola; Prince Samuel Adedoyin and Alhaji Rasak Akanni Okoya and wife Sade; wife of Justice George Oguntade, Modupe; ACN chieftain Otunba Bushirah Alebiosu; Capt Dapo Williams; Otunba Gani Adams; Chief Chris Ekwilo; Mrs Moji Awa Ibrahim; Mrs Abah Folawiyo; Yeye Oge of Lagos Chief Oprah Benson; Bashorun Olorunfemi; ACN chieftain Chief Lanre Rasak; Hon Kolawole Taiwo; Mrs Cecilia Fashola; Mrs Derin Osoba; Mrs Toun Ajomale; Alhaja Ramdat Fehintola Okunola; Mrs Kemi Nelson; Mrs Abimbola Jakande; former Lagos Commissioner for Housing Hon Dele Onabokun; Folasade Tinubu-Ojo; Prince Rotimi Agunsoye; Lagos Commissioner for Special Duties Dr Wale Ahmed; Pa Abiodun Sunmola; former Lagos State Deputy Governor Rafiu Jafojo; Hon James Faleke; Hon Funmilayo Tejuoso; Hon Olawale Oshun; Dr Bunmi Omosehindemi

Boko Haram: Troops to watch mountains Continued from page 4

Mountain complex is situated at the southeastern part of the region. The rocks on the Mandara Mountain belong predominantly to the granite suite, the most widespread of which is a coarse granite composed of quartz and feldspar with little biotite. “ The area records the highest altitude in the Bomo region, attaining heights of between 9001200m above sea-level in the extreme south (Udo, 1970). The Gwoza and Kirawa hills are the most prominent hills that form part of the Mandara Mountains.”

The top source, confirmed that the CDS, Admiral Ibrahim Ola Sa’ad, had dispatched an eight-

man team to Borno State to take stock of the situation, including the alleged threats.

The source added: “In the last four days, the eight-man team sent by the CDS had been in Borno State for on-the-spot review of the special operation.

Members of the team started returning to Abuja on Sunday.

“Although the team will brief the CDS on Monday, preliminary reports confirmed that ‘there are skirmishes here and there but they are not as significant as we are being made to believe.”

Defence Headquarters spokesman Brig.-Gen. Chris Olukolade, said: “I know that our patrols are taking care of some of these threats.”

A source in Borno State Government said: “We are aware that there are issues in Bama, which has been a base of the insurgents.

The challenge the security agencies are having is that the people of Bama are not as co-operative as much as expected.

“Many people in Bama are afraid that they could be killed by the insurgents if they cooperate with security agencies.”

On the letters written to public officers and workers not to report in their offices, the government official said: “The insurgents do no even need to write letters; they have always threatened workers.

The letters are not new at all because the threats had been in place all along.”

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

61

FOREIGN NEWS

Kenya: 15 killed in grenade attack

Egyptian army ‘ready to intervene’

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HE army in Egypt has warned it will not allow the country to descend into “uncontrollable conflict”.

The comments by army chief Gen Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi came a week ahead of planned mass protests by opponents of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

He said the army was obliged to stop Egypt plunging into a “dark tunnel”.

The remarks are seen as one of the strongest interventions since the army handed over power to President Morsi last year.

At a meeting with soldiers on Sunday, Gen Sisi, who is also the country’s defence minister, said the army would “not remain silent as the country slides into uncontrollable conflict”.

“There is a state of division in the society, and the continuation of it is a danger to the Egyptian state.

“There must be consensus,” he stressed.

Gen Sisi also met the president on Sunday for what an army spokesman described as a “routine” consultation, according to Reuters news agency.

Gen Sisi’s comments come as Egypt’s secular groups plan mass rallies ahead of the 30 June anniversary of President Morsi coming to power.

The groups say they have gathered 13 million signatures on a petition calling for the Islamist leader to step down.

On Friday, thousands of Mr Morsi’s supporters marched across the country - in a show of support for the president.

The crowds chanted their allegiance, pre-empting the opposition demonstrations.

Mr Morsi’s first year in office has been marred by constant political unrest and a sink-

I

•Morsi

ing economy.

Many analysts say the instability and a continuing threat of violence have frightened away foreign investors and tourists.

Gunmen kill 10 tourists in Pakistan camp

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UNMEN burst into a hotel in northern Pakistan early yesterday, killing nine foreigners, the interior minister said.

The victims were six Ukrainians and three Chinese, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told parliament on Sunday.

He said a Chinese man managed to escape and is safe.

“The attackers abducted two local guides and demanded they take them to where some foreigners are staying to carry out the attack,” Khan said. “One (guide) was then killed, another escaped and has been detained by police for questioning.”

Earlier, officials said 10 foreigners had been killed.

Authorities said the death toll changed due to difficult communications and the area’s remote location.

SIOLO, Kenya At least 15 people were killed in a grenade attack yesterday in a remote village in northern Kenya where low-key clan clashes have displaced hundreds of people in the past week, the Kenya Red Cross and local officials said.

But the fighting, in which more than 20 villagers have been killed in the past two days in Mandera county, near the east African nation’s frontier with Ethiopia and Somalia, has marked an escalation in tension.

Residents say the political class in the area are using clan militia to jostle for top positions in the local administration and to settle old scores.

The epicenter of the fighting is located about 800 km from the capital Nairobi.

“The attackers fled towards Ethiopia but they are being pursued,” said Mandera county commissioner Michael Tailel, of the militia who attacked Joroqo village in Mandera county.

The Kenya Red Cross said on its Twitter feed that 15 people had been killed in the grenade attack and seven others were in critical condition.

Local media reported that Kenya’s Inspector General of police David Kimaiyo had summoned leaders from Mandera and the nearby Wajir county to record statements on

the attacks, saying the violence was politically instigated.

Although Kenya has sent in extra Kenyan security forces to the region in the past few weeks, the officers have struggled to keep peace due to the vast, harsh terrain in the region.

Residents in the remote area rely on vigilante groups for security. Many homesteads have weapons to deter invaders, while herders often carry guns

to protect their animals because there is barely any police presence.

The region is also awash with guns due to its proximity to unstable neighbors such as Somalia, where al Qaeda-linked militants have been fighting to topple the government.

Kenya’s north also borders Ethiopia, where the armed Oromo Liberation Front has made sporadic incursions into the country.

Al-Qaeda says European hostages are alive

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L-QAEDA’S North Africa branch says eight European hostages it is holding are alive.

In a statement on Twitter, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) said it would soon release a video of the captives.

Five of the hostages are said to be French, the nationalities of the others are not clear.

The statement came after rallies were held across France organised by families of four of the hostages.

The events in Paris, Saint-Cere, Nimes, Nantes and Orleans marked 1,000 days of their captivity.

“We would like to reassure the families and parents of the hostages of their children’s safety. We will soon, God willing, air a new video showing the five French hostages,” the statement said, reproduced on several jihadist websites.

It repeated previous statements by AQIM that the group would kill the hostages if France carried out any new military operations in North Africa.

France sent troops to Mali in January after al-Qaeda-linked militants threatened to over-run the capital, Bamako.

AQIM said it remained open to negotiations.

Thierry Dol, Daniel Larribe, Pierre Legrand and Marc Feret were kidnapped in Niger by militants in September 2010 in the town of Arlit while working for a French nuclear firm.

Sudan-South Sudan Growing Pains (1)

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AOH! Very much glad to be back into refreshingly focussing into your globe. I sincerely apologise for the fortnightlong hiatus occasioned by some inevitable circumstances. While we were away, a 64-year old moderate Islamic cleric, former top nuclear negotiator and a fella the West thought they could do business with, Hassan Rowhani, sneaked his way into the Iranian presidency through a credible but hotly contested election with 50.7 percentile success over five other contestants, mostly conservatives thereby succeeding ineligiblefor- re-election second-term President Mahmoud Ahmadinajed.

Also, the topsy-turvy mix dances of the idyllic and the macabre in Afghanistan continue to rattle our globe with once a positive signal smooth withdrawal of NATO troops; euphoric acceptability of local Afghan troops over the security affairs of their nation and a crescendo negativism of another Taliban bombing of Bagrain Air Force base killing American soldiers in its horrific and embarrassing wake.

Meanwhile, Turkey burns and soccer-loving Brazil joined in the league of mass protesting nations even as it hosts The Confederation Cup over a pedestrian but now largely uncontrollable protestation over what started simply as a relocation of fun seekers in a local green-themed city park.

However, our focus this week is on Sudan and her increasingly belligerent southern neighbour: South Sudan Amid pomp, pageantry and hope for a better future, the flag of South Sudan was raised over Juba, the rickety and dusty new capital on July 11, 2011.

The birth of a new baby always brings joy. So it was on that auspicious day when South Sudan was heralded into our Nations Unies as the 194th child of the august international body of sovereigns. Like a newborn, it must learn all the passages of rite: how to crawl, walk and mingle around its new found international

environment.

For a nation emerging out of the ravages of war and revolutionary feverish fervour, it is a tall order to not expect political insurgencies, instabilities, infallibilities and missteps to accompany its growth.

Our understanding of the history of spatial partitioning, be it local, regional or international, is bequeathed with and awashed by so much political chicanery, psychological intrigues of traumatic underpinnings , economic schism, Hobbesian dictates of nasty, brutish and shortness imperatives and of course a definitely subliminal and insatiable quest for a winner-takes-all dictates of greed and avarice. The bottom line is where do we go from here, the fear of the unknown.

Neighbours being forcefully separated from their historic and cultural comfort zones and lumped into terrains never charted; all in a somewhat albeit inelegant compromise and hand wrenching at attaining the ultimate goal of self determination.

The issues at stake are many and time takes its toll as the gladiators who shook hands at initial handing over ceremonies now get head locked in positions of intractable but forceful cohabitation. The twin big brothers of imperialism and neocolonialism are already waiting at the door to shepherd the new nation into manhood not necessarily out of love but what they can get out of the virgin land and more importantly swings into their political and ideological spheres. Make no mistake, it might not be the sixties again but it is still morning on creation days as far as these neocolonialist vampires are concerned.

Only last week a senior ultraconservative Israeli official was quoted that a Palestinian state hood quest is a mirage. Now talking about how intractable and difficult these issues of full statehood could be even after half a century for some will justify the fears and the concerns about spatial partitioning in the international arena.

Nigeria just ceded a chunk of its

Global Focus DAYO FAKUADE, Foreign Editor sms 08134230367

daborgu@gmail.com Bakassi territory to Cameroon under an International court agreement which most of our best international jurists could not agree as to the ingredients that facilitated such judgment even when our respectable internationally-acclaimed jurist His Excellency Bola Ajibola was a member of that august body and to their chagrin, that President Olusegun Obasanjo did not even as much as lift a finger to defend the rights of the Bakassi people to self-determination before leaving them high and dry wanderers and now unwanted sojourners in Cameroon.

We can go on and on but the Sudanese imbroglio makes an interesting though not unusual visitation in the international environment after all the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) came out of the umbilical cord of the Republic of Morocco willy-nilly in February 1976, yet things have not been easier among the two and the fall out has led to Morocco’s withdrawal from the African Union in protest of the continental body’s recognition of SADR. At any time in history, the adjudication of border management between neighbours will often inspire further adjudications at the international level, especially as new frontiers for disputations are brought into the fore of those involved in the arbitration process.

With all these at the background, our focus today, however, is on Sudan, the matriarch of its two year old South Sudan scion.

Lately, there have been allegations of violations of The Joint Cooperation Agreement which was signed by

the two heads of state on 09/27/2012 by the Republic of South Sudan government to wit: First, that following the signing of the comprehensive matrix for the implementation of the Agreement signed on March 12th 2013, South Sudan favours SELECTIVELY some of the agreements to the others with disrespect to timeliness of actualization and implementations.

Second, security arrangements agreed to at the Joint Political Military Mechanism (JPMM) held in Addis Ababa on March 8 th 2013 which calls for immediate withdrawal of forces by both countries are not being adhered to by7 South Sudan.

It should be noted that the Republic of Sudan had activated all border security mechanisms as agreed upon in accordance with the agreements; keeps no troops in South Sudan beyond the demarcated border line of 1/1/1956 and it has been generally observed that South Sudan lacks commitment to undertake the necessary work in the matrix especially within the framework of the UN Security Council resolution (2046).

SPLA forces of the Republic of South Sudan still occupy the territories of Sudan along the Al-bebnas station, Mahattat Bahr Al-Arab, Tumessaha Shamal, parts Bahar Abeiadh, Goada, Al-tashween, Samaha and Adham corridors as confirmed by the letter of the chief commander of UNISFA dated 15/05/2013.

It has also been noted that the Republic of South Sudan has severally refused trans border passages with impunity among governmental officials thereby breaking and frustrat-

ing attempts by the UNISFA chief commanders’ joint task force from passing on 04/27/2013 and 04/05/ 2013.

Thirdly, the position of the implementation of the Oil Agreement protocol remains shaky at best. South Sudan being a land locked country needs the support and technical assistance of Sudan to market its oil to the outside world.

China has currently cornered this market but nevertheless needs a rite of passage through Sudan’s ports.

South Sudan therefore needs to identify the zero line which will in turn set the requisite control points of the crossings for transfer of equipment, materials, and to facilitate the movement of individuals working ion oil fields.

Fourthly and more importantly, as a new country one of its growing pains will understandably include international spatial partitioning in a consistent , justifiable and equitable manner such that individual liberty and freedom is not violated according to pertinent international conventions.

South Sudan refused to attend the Joint Higher Committee for the Conditions of Citizens mutually agreed upon for 05/15/2013. This signifies lack of commitment to this very important matrix in the herculean task of nation building.

Lately, Sudan has been magnanimous in tenderly handling its new neighbor through various mechanisms. South Sudan expectedly is going through its teething and harrowing period of nation hood with expectations of faltering at some step of the way or other. There have been allegations of massive corruption in governance and just last week President Kir had to suspend two of his ministers on allegations of fraud.

South Sudan needs to get its priorities right, fulfill its international and bilateral obligations even as it climbs the ladder to becoming a respectable member of the international community with its concomitant growing pains.

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

62

NATION SPORT

EUROPEAN FOOTBALL...

Barcelona outcast Villa welcomes Neymar rivalry B ARCELONA striker David Villa has been widely expected to be the man to make way for the arrival of Neymar, but the Spain striker insists he welcomes the competition the Brazil star will bring.

Neymar, 21, signed for Barca in a reported $75.3 million (57 million euros) deal earlier this month and he has thrilled at the Confederations Cup, scoring three stunning goals to fire the hosts into the semifinals.

The former Santos star will be a key component of the Barcelona attack and his arrival has only posed further question marks over the future of Villa, who lost his starting place last season following a lengthy injury.

Last season, the forward started just 17 La Liga games and featured in a further 11 from the bench, scoring 10 goals.

But while Villa is tipped to leave, he is focused on a future with Barca that he hopes will see him line-up alongside Neymar.

"He is one of the best players in the world right now," Villa said, during a press conference ahead of Spain's final Confederations Cup group game against Nigeria in Fortaleza on Sunday.

"We've waited a long time to get him and it's a great pleasure to welcome a player like that to play in your country. He will make us happy."

Villa also predicted that former Barca coach Pep

Guardiola will prove a success when he succeeds Jupp Heynckes as manager of European club champions Bayern Munich next week.

Guardiola brought Villa to Barcelona from Valencia in 2010 and the pair tasted success in the league, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League before the former Spain midfielder stepped down from his post last year.

"He's a fabulous coach and you can tell that by the statistics since he started coaching," Villa said. "He'll be coaching the European champions, with marvellous players.

"If you look at last season, you have a sensational team and a sensational coach, so they're going to be very difficult rivals for any team."

•Neymar

Roma open talks with QPR’s goalkeeper Júlio César - report

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UEENS Park Rangers’ goalkeeper Júlio César has reportedly opened talks with Serie A side Roma.

The Brazil international, who has played all three games at the Confederations Cup, has been a target for several clubs since QPR's Premier League relegation was confirmed, including Arsenal and Milan.

But Roma look to have moved to the front of the queue as they have opened official negotiations with the 33-year-old, according to the Mirror.

New Roma coach Rudi Garcia is keen to bring the former Inter Milan stopper back to Italy and César is expected to enter in discussions

over a move next week.

Following Brazil’s 4-2 win over Italy on Saturday, César admitted he knows of the interest from the Giallorossi and is “happy” to have attracted their attention, as reported on Football Italia.

He told Rai Sport: "I do hear news every now and then, so I am happy about that interest. After everything that happened at Inter, my career has changed a great deal.

"I thank QPR, who were the only club who wanted me.

They gave me a great opportunity and I am still in the Seleçao thanks to them."

Cavani to decide future in July, says Napoli president De Laurentiis

T

HE Partenopei owner believes the future of their star striker will be decided when the 26-year-old comes back from the Confederations Cup for pre-season on July 20th Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis says Edinson Cavani will decide where he will be playing next season at the end of July, when the Uruguayan

returns for pre-season.

Cavani has been heavily linked to Chelsea, Real Madrid, and previously Manchester City, before their initial proposed player-plus-cash deal involving Edin Dzeko stalled, as Goal revealed.

The Uruguay international has scored over 100 goals for Napoli in his three seasons at the club, and De Laurentiis is

confident Cavani will not leave after the clause in his contract runs out.

"I don't think Cavani will leave on 10th August, when his buyout clause expires," De Laurentiis told Radio Rai. "I'm confident in him, because I consider him a real man. He won't make me a joke of me.

"Should Cavani want to leave, he will decide it after a long period of reflection. But by 20th July we will probably know everything about his future."

Cavani joined Napoli from Palermo in 2010 for •12 million, and has played 52 games for his country, scoring 14 goals.

Jese Rodriguez: Mourinho never gave me a chance

J

ESE Rodriguez has slammed Jose Mourinho for not giving him enough opportunities to shine at Real Madrid, claiming that he deserves a more prominent role.

The 20-year-old winger is considered one of los Blancos'

Mertens edges closer to Napoli move

D

•Cavani

RIES Mertens is on the verge of joining Napoli from PSV after finishing his medical with the Serie A runners' up.

The PSV winger is on the verge of becoming the Partenopei's first summer signing after passing a medical on Saturday Club president Aurelio De Laurentiis has set out to reinforce new coach Rafael Benitez's squad in order to challenge for honours next term.

And it now appears a formality that Mertens will become the club's first summer signing after the 26-year-old passed his medi-

cal examination with the Partenopei.

"Dries Mertens underwent medical tests for Napoli this [Saturday] morning. The Belgian winger landed at Capodichino airport and then was taken to Cerreto Sannita medical centre (Benevento)," a statement on the club's website read.

"The tests were passed and were carried out by Napoli medical staff."

Mertens is anticipated to put pen to paper on a five-year deal with his new club, with Napoli reportedly stumping up •9.5 million for the winger.

brightest prospects but, despite making 38 appearances and scoring 22 times for the reserves last season, did not turn out once for the senior team.

And Rodriguez believes that the Chelsea manager overlooked the club's youngsters during his three-year reign at the Bernabeu.

"Maybe last year club thought that they don't need to have more youth players and Mourinho thought he needed to sign players from outside the club," he told AS. "I think maybe I deserved more opportunities. Anyway this was what Mourinho thought and he isn't here now, so let's what will happen in the future and what the new coach thinks."

Rodriguez went on to say that he thoroughly enjoys the atmosphere at the Santiago Beranbeu and that he hopes to learn from the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo. "[Alberto] Toril, as with [Aitor] Karanka, has been instrumental in my career thanks to his work this sea-

son and has taught me a lot training with me every day.

"I have a very good relationship with all the first team players - Sergio Ramos, Iker Casillas, Alvaro Morata, Xabi Alonso. I've spent the most time with Ramos.

"I look up to Cristiano Ronaldo in the dressing room. It's impossible not to.

He's one of best players in the world and I have a lot to learn from him."

•Rodriguez

THE NATION MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

63

SPORT EXTRA CONFEDERATIONS CUP

Spain defeats Nigeria 3-0 N

IGERIA has been eliminated from the Confederations Cup following a 3-0 defeat to Spain in the final match of Group B. The African team needed to beat the reigning World and European champions to have any hope of qualifying for the semi-finals as Uruguay battered Tahiti 8-0.

Jordi Alba capped a brilliant Spainish attack to give the team an early the lead on the seventh minute, but Stepehen Keshi's men did not give in and battled to get into halftime just the one goal behind.

Nigeria missed a glorious chance to get back on level terms in the 54th minute, as Ahmed Musaab's cross found Ideye Brown at the back post,

but he was unable to convert into an empty net.

Fernando Torres came off the bench in the 62nd minute and took just two minutes to get his name on the scoresheet, heading home from Pedro's cross.

Alba raced onto David Villa's through ball late on to make it 3-0 to Vicente del Bosque's men.

AFN names 19 athletes for Russia Worlds

T

OP female star athlete, Blessing Okagbare and Ogho Oghene-Egwero top the list of 19 athletes the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) released on Sunday for the World athletics Championships in Russia.

The release signed by the federation's technical director Navy Captain Omatseye

Nesiama also said the list was provisional.

The athletes picked after national trials held at the UJ Esuene Stadium Calabar, include Men: Ogho-Oghene Egwero B standard- 100M (probation ) Noah Akwu B standard -400M (probation) Leoman Momoh B standard - 800M (probation) 4x400M

AIRTEL RISING STARS 3

Opening new doors for Nigerian youths

C

OMMUNICATION giant, Airtel has launched the season’s three of Airtel Rising Stars as a mark of continued support for the development of the Nigerian youth through football.

At a conference held at the Zen Garden, Ikeja, the Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya said the organisation is more committed like never before to contribute its quota in discovering budding talents for the future especially in the game of football.

He said: “Two years ago, Airtel Nigeria unveiled an ambitious soccer talent hunt programme the Airtel Rising Stars –with an overriding objective of identifying and nurturing budding soccer talents from the grassroots onto the national stage.

“It is important to note that the past two editions of ARS have produced exceptionally talented Nigerians as winners.

As you may recall, these winners were flown to South Africa for a one-week exclusive international football clinic at the prestigious Institute for Sports, Cape Town, South Africa, courtesy of Airtel Nigeria”.

He said for the fact that Football in Nigeria elicits passion, creates fun and encourages unity among our people, calls for the commitment by Airtel to be an integral part, adding that the association with football is intended to foster unity and reenforce national pride in Nigerians.

“The ARS tournament is also

our contribution to building and sustaining a rich pool of football talents for Nigerian national teams.

“There is no doubt that Nigeria is a power house not just in Africa but world football, especially in the underage categories. Our success stories in 1985, 1993, 1996 and 2007 bear witness to this. ARS is designed to help our collective effort to recapture those joyous Nigerian football moments of old and provide a credible platform for future successes,” he said.

He further informed that they also decided to give back to the local league by hosting a Coach-the-Coaches Clinic with Arsenal Football Club of England.

“Our partnership with the

Relay team, Noah Akwu, Abiola Onakoya, Isah Saliu, Tobi Ogunmola, and Gerald Odeka.

Women: Blessing Okagbare A standard, 100/200/long jump, Ajoke Odunmosu, A standard -400MH, Regina George , A standard - 400M, Gloria Asumu A standard 100M, Oluwakemi Adekoya , A standard, 400MH (Probation) and Omolara Omotosho B standard- 400M (Probation) others are, Josephine Ehigie , B standard400M (Probation), 8. Patience Okon,B standard 400M (Probation) Stephanie Kalu , B standard-100M (Probation) and Ugoma Ndu. B standard400MH (Probation) Women’s 4x100M relay team - Blessing Okagbare, Gloria Asumu,Peace Uko and Stephanie Kalu, 4x400M relay- Regina George, Omolara Omotosho, Patience Okon, Josephine Ehige and Bukola Agbokunlogo.

The following athletes close to the qualification mark were therefore given three weeks grace to qualify for their individual and team events.

They include, high jump, Doreen Amata, 100mh Ugonna Ndu, Triple JumpTosin Oke.110MH Selim Nurudeen, 400M and Abiola Onakoya and 4x100m men’s relay team.

Bauchi Polo tourney begins

T

HE Bauchi polo tournament began yesterday in Bauchi with 30 teams from across the country competing for 4 major triophies donated by individuals and corpoate bodies.

Bauchi polo club chairman, Alhaji abubakar Kari told NationSport at Bauchi polo ground that" the competition is an annual event that produce teams do come here to compete for trophies".

"And as you can see,the 30 teams are from all over Nigeria with each TEAM putting in their best.Each TEAM is made up of 4 players".

Among the 4 major trophies to be won, are the Emir of Bauchi cup,the Governor's Cup, Sarkin Fulanis C up and Tafawa Balewa' cup.

The competition which was

From Austine Tsenzughul in Bauchi fixed for Saturday 22, June 2013, could not be held due to a five hour torrential rain that rendered the field water logged.

In the opening game,played on Sunday and watched by thousands of polo lovers including Galadinman Bauchi Sruv. Ibrahin Jahun,who reoresent ed Emir of Bauchi Dr.Suleiman Adamu,Bauchi UnityBank beat Bauchi Gubi 5 goals to 3.

And Bauchi Gabasawa thrashed Bauchi Glo 11 goals to 2.1/2.

Meanwhile,the 7 Day comoetition which is a Day late,is expected to end in SaturdayJune 29,2913 with over 300 horses readied for the meet by various players.

WHO SAID WHAT

MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

VOL 8 NO 2,526

‘The overriding attitude of PDP leadership, the president, his cronies and so on is an open invitation to anarchy. For his party, his tottering crisis prone government and most unfortunately for Nigeria’

JUNAID MUHAMMED

C OMMENT & D EB ATE EBA

N

OTHING explains the primitive profile of our capitalist system more than the chasm between the rich and poor.

This is a cliché, but that is why it is a tragedy.

I see this tragedy more in the furtive rise of a new cadre of the young in the society.

I refer to the children of the very rich among us. They are disconnected from the soul of the society. Or shall I say they are engrafting a new soul on our society. I call it furtive because we see it and we seem not to see it.

They are those kids who attend the very elite schools in our midst. Those schools, especially those in Lagos and Abuja, cost a fortune per year. Parents spend millions of Naira per ward just to ensure that they enjoy the most rarified and snobbish of classrooms.

The classrooms are different. They are five star in quality, in facilities, ambience, in the accents of the English, even in the trajectory of their curriculum. They feed better at school, are chauffeured to and from school, and know no circle of friends except the vortex of snobbery that such an exclusive club offers.

On graduation, the parents cannot see any secondary school good enough for them except in the United Kingdom or the United States. They spend top dollars. When they are done with high school, the next step is to secure a place for them in some of American or British universities. But these children are still not British, neither are they American.

They are Nigerian. They spend their holidays here and circulate within the same circle of friends in the primary school in Ikoyi or Victoria Island.

But the father, a well-heeled man in the business and political high tower of society, knows that the son or daughter will return home. He has a job waiting, and the job is a tony one, in the banks, telecoms or oil sectors. Others enjoy the privilege of high political apprenticeships.

When they come they lord it over those who have sweated in the innards of Nigeria.

They understand what it means to suffer and to enjoy in Nigeria. They know what it means to be without electricity, to jump on danfo, to hunger, to hope against hope for school fee to be paid by a struggling uncle. If they are female, they understand the alienation of their bodies from their souls as they have to compromise their pride for lucre just to get by. Those who live in Mushin or in the creeks or on the crowded suburbs of the North understand the fears of living in the life of the average Nigerian.

But the new cadre of the young have no such experience. Yet they are placed in a position to rule over those who know the soci-

SAM OMATSEYE

IN TOUCH

intouchsam@yahoo.com 08054501081(sms only) •NMMA Columnist of the Year

Our artificial class

•Fashola ety. How will they decide what best product the average Nigerian should consume, what are the emergencies in education or in infrastructure or the heres and nows of political agitation?

While the kids are enjoying the high-profile education in the upscale suburbs and in the Western world, the young here are educating themselves in the crucible of underdevelopment. But the new cadre has now spawned another cadre. These are the ones who go through the normal school system from primary to secondary school and even to the university but think they want to belong. So they eke out the funds to secure a master’s degree abroad.

Others pursue their first degrees abroad.

But they know, too, that they don’t belong there. They belong here. But their parents are not so rich and connected. When they come back, they do not get any jobs. They are alienated from the society they left behind. They are immiserated. They are like the character in one of J.P. Clark’s poems

RIPPLES

HARDBALL

Red, amber or green?

I

LEARNED recently that Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan has enshrined a new template to monitor to progress of Delta State’s project and commissioners. They are used to know on a quarterly basis who is working and who is behind. If you score red, it means you are not performing, and your job is in danger. If you are amber, you are in a precarious position. If green, you are doing well. This is a simple way to work. I think other governors should follow this or create their own templates. It simplifies governance.

It is the traffic light of performance.

•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above

The N40b doppelganger, by Danny D. Dainty

CRY TO GOD–Cleric tells Nigerians

D

...No, they must cry to ABUJA!

who cannot go forward and cannot go back.

What created this class dilemma? It is our educational system. The parents do not want their children to suffer the inadequacies of the Nigerian education. But the same elite class impoverished and devastated that education system. Now they have left the education system to rot and decay.

I have had a chance to interact with some of the products from “abroad” and I find them so synthetic. I also see that they love Nigeria but different from the way a Mushin man loves Nigeria. These synthetic Nigerians live and breathe only in the tony part of the land, and when they travel it is either to Europe, Dubai or the United States. They don’t see Nigeria as a nation to save but a place to exploit. They see it as a place to tap and enjoy because that was how they were raised. Those who rise genuinely can understand the life of privilege from the context of the life of the deprived. Those are better able to handle our anomies.

When they organise events, they see only the world they know, the world of the privileged. Those who have lived in the United States know this experience, especially in the relations between the whites and blacks. The whites tend not to understand the peculiar sufferings and needs of the blacks, partly because those in power tend not to have experienced it except in the abstract. The whites go to white schools, worship in white churches and shop in the high-end stores. Over a decade ago when Jeff Bush, brother of President George W. Bush, was asked what he would do for the blacks, he said he had no plans for them. It generated firestorms of attacks and recriminations. I recall being asked by a white

woman to have dinner with her family in Colorado. She had two sons. She was happy I came because, according to her, her sons who were in their early twenties had never sat before at dinner with a black man.

But the society is making efforts to address this divide even among the rich like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. The Supreme Court ruled that affirmative action should factor in admissions into American top universities.

The reason was that if the whites and blacks schooled together and lived as roommates, they will understand the society better.

The best way we can attack this is by reviving our education. Indications show that the fruits are beginning to show, if slowly. The work going on in Lagos State public schools with standards rising is a potential antidote against the toxic trend of the emerging artificial class. The governor of example, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, is doing this with a blend of standards, testing, facilities and training. On the other end, the elimination of the house boy and house girl syndrome in Akwa Ibom State by Governor Godswill Akpabio are good signs. Some will take time to seed and flower like the leveling of classes with the tablet of revolution from Osun State and Ekiti State’s insistence on standards.

Our rich do not know the value of money other than personal comfort. They think like the privileged that are lampooned in Thorstein Veblen’s masterpiece of social xray, The Theory of the Leisure Class. He coined the phrase “conspicuous consumption” to mock the avoidable waste of resources for their egos. It is the attitude of throwing weddings and birthdays in Dubai and Spain that we have also transferred to education. Nothing is worth rescuing at home. We plunder the home front and take refuge abroad. The result is to alienate the many and plant the seed for a potential social unrest. The trend must stop as the bomb ticks.

EAR readers, Hardball has the rare privilege of bringing you a sneak preview of a blockbuster, unputdownable book by one of the richest and most illustrious Nigerian carpetbagger, ex-convict and manipulator, let’s call him Danny D. Dainty. Now, mind you this book (also to be made into a film) has not been written but Hardball through the instrumentality of a special device (patently his), read the book right there on Danny’s mind and here reviews it just for your pleasure dear reader. The first point to note is that Danny had trouble choosing a suitable title for his book. When he landed his megabucks (N40biggies) and he contemplated writing a book, the first title that came to his mind was: Capitalist Art: How to Mint Money From the Comfort of your Paris bedroom, surrounded by all the good things Paris can offer.

Danny boy loved the title but even his illiterate mind (literarily, that is) was able to figure out that that is damn too long if not tautological. No book ever had such a long title he told himself. He thought to himself, how about: How to Kill a Country and Squeeze the Balls of Smart Oil Multinationals. No, still long, he deleted it.

How about, The Poor Boy Who Took the World

by Storm or… He eventually settled for the above title (adopted as the title of this piece) which he believes has all the right elements – short, concise, adequately highfaluting and carries the cash tag.

The moving but doctored-to-suit- tale is a personal account of how Danny who was oil minister in a bumbling country ruled by a dumb dictator 15 years ago proved that you can make not one or two but 40 billion cash without as much as registering a proper company. It is a story of an extremely clever fellow who used the white people to determine the juiciest oil block of the time; it is the story of a master manipulator who corralled the small dictator and all involved in a 9 billion barrels crude oil worth of oil block and converted it to his own using a bogus company. The book regales readers with how he put some of the largest foreign oil firms through the hoops, baiting them into cleaning up the block at huge expense while he waited for them at the corner to clobber them with the malleable law courts of his country.

At the end stage of the epic drama when he had to go for the kill, he co-opted his country’s top-notchers including the chief

law officer who was his legal leg man in his earlier days. The soup made in a cauldron was ready indeed and Danny had a fill. A whopping $1.3 billion was extracted from desperate oil companies that wanted Danny’s phantom company which hijacked one of the richest oil blocks in the world for itself. It was a form of obtaining by false pretense (419) except that in this case, a valuable commodity changed hands but at a black market rate. The book ends with how the billion dollars was disbursed, who got what and how. Especially, how the monies made winding trips all over the world before returning to their owners in Danny’s jungle of a country. Danny tells us how he got $250 million which translates to an obscene 40 billion in his native currency. It is indeed a doppelganger, whatever that means.

Danny lives in France now (or on top of the world if you like) where he was convicted four years ago for laundering huge sums, corrupt proceeds from a political office. He lives large and boisterous, full of bonhomie. He ends the book mocking the very country of his which he raped and suggests that the government officials he had suborned are a greedy, stupid lot.

Published and printed by Vintage Press Limited. Corporate Office: 27B Fatai Atere Way, Matori, Lagos. P.M.B. 1025,Oshodi, Lagos.

Telephone: Switch Board: 01-8168361. Editor Daily:01-8962807, Marketing: 01-8155547 . Abuja Office: Plot 5, Nanka Close AMAC Commercial Complex, Wuse Zone 3, Abuja. Tel: 07028105302. Port Harcourt Office: 12/14, Njemanze Street, Mile 1, Diobu, PH. 08023595790 WEBSITE: www.thenationonlineng.net E-mail: info@thenationonlineng.net ISSN: 115-5302 Editor: GBENGA OMOTOSO