The Nation June 24, 2015

Newspaper of the Year

EW I V RE T’ TO GE S R UD O T N B AGE A P 57 N OW E S ‘

National Assembly: Oyegun writes Saraki, Dogara on APC’s position •Senators yet to agree on caucus leaders

•Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

VOL. 10, NO. 3255 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

NEWS

Page 4

•www.thenationonlineng.net

TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

N150.00

P577 •INSIDE: COURT REJECTS KASHAMU’S PRAYER P5 SUICIDE BOMBER KILLS 10 P5

Cash crisis: Buhari vows to recover stolen billions U.S., others to support action

JOB HUNT AT THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

P

RESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari sent yesterday a notice to treasury looters in the Goodluck Jonathan administration – we are coming after you.

He vowed to recover billions of dollars stolen from the treasury.

Buhari spoke during his meeting - the first – with governors of the 36 states at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

He told them: “There are financial and administrative instructions in every government parastatal and agency. But all these thrown to What happened were the dogs in the in the second past. Honestly, problems Republic has our are great, but apparently we will do our to surhappened again, best mount them. and even worse, “The next but we will three months may be hard,

‘

restore sanity to the system

’ ‘$2.078b in Excess

Cont. on page 4

Crude Account’ From Nduka Chiejina, Abuja

T

HE cash in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) is $2.078 billion, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Mrs Anastasia Nwaobia, said yesterday.

Mrs Nwaobia, who addressed reporters WILL THE after the monthly Federation Account Allocation CHIBOK GIRLS Committee (FAAC) meetEVER ing in Abuja, said the RETURN?

?

Continued on page 4

•A crowd of job seekers in search of legislative aides jobs scrambling for legislators’ attention at the lobby of the National Assembly, Abuja...yesterday PHOTO: ABAYOMI FAYESE

3 •EFCC ARRAIGNS TWO FOR HACKING INTO ENTERPRISE BANK’S DATABASE P5 P53

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

2

NEWS

•From left: Senior Trade Development Manager, United Kingdom Trade & Investment (UKTI), Mr. Idowu Babalola; Director, Mr. Chris Maskell; Managing Director, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC)/Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Mr. Osagie Okunbor and SPDC's General Manager, Production, Mr. David Martin when the UKTI team visited SPDC Office in Lagos...on Monday.

Standing firm amid financial storm •How Lagos, Kano, Enugu, Bayelsa, Jigawa, Kaduna survive cash crunch

•Former Interim National Government (ING) Chairman, Chief Ernest Shonekan (second left) being greeted by Founder, Center for Values in Leadership (CVL), Prof, Pat Utomi at a colloquium in honor of Shonekan’s 79th birthday by CVL in Lagos...yesterday.

With them from right are: Shonekan’s wife, Margaret, former Common Wealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku and Deputy President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Chief Nike Akande.

PHOTO: MUYIWA HASSAN

Despite the cash crunch triggered by dwindling allocations from the Federation Account, some governments have been able to stay afloat with regular payment of salaries, even as other projects suffer, report MIKE ODIEGWU (Bayelsa), CHRIS ORJI (Enugu), ABDULGAFAR ALABELEWE (Kaduna), MIRIAM EKENE-OKORO (Lagos) and FRIDAY OTABOR (Edo).

T

•From left: Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Med-View Airline, Alhaji Muneer Bankole, Commissioner of Police, Airport Command, Mr. Taiwo Lakanu, the airline’s Deputy Managing Director/Chief Executive, Lookman Animashaun and Head of Operation, Capt. Godfree Ogbogu when Lakanu visited the airline's Corporate Headquarters on Olowu Street, Ikeja, PHOTO: ISAAC AYODELE Lagos...yesterday.

•General Manager, Regional Operations, MTN, Obinna Nweje presenting a cheque to one of the winners of houses in the ongoing MTN Trutalk Best 11 Promo, Ajuma Alheri in Port Harcourt, Rivers State...yesterday. With them is Senior Manager, Customer Relations, MTN, Asamine Anueyiagu.

HESE are not the best of times for civil servants across the 36 states of the federation. Many of them go home at the end of the month without salaries. No thanks to shrinking subventions from the Federation Account triggered by tumbling oil prices at the international market.

The handouts from the federal government have become inadequate for many states to pay workers and have extra to develop infrastructure and provide other social services.

In some states, contractors are moving equipment out of site after exhausting initial mobilisation fees without any hope to get more funds. The implementation of projects is now secondary to state governors’, whose primary headache is how to pay salaries.

Many state governors are applying belt-tightening measures to keep their governments running. The crippling economy forced the Federal Government to source loans to pay its workers.

The structural adjustments being embraced by some governors range from slashing of salaries and allowances of political appointees to the pruning of ministries.

Governors Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna), Umar Ganduja (Kano), Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo), Akinwunmi Ambode (Lagos) and Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), have either slashed their personal emoluments, or trimmed the size of their governments to keep afloat the tough economic situation.

Pushed to the wall, the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), yesterday, went cap-in-hand to President Muhammadu Buhari for a bailout. The NGF also armed itself with a ‘Plan B’ should the Federal Government decline its request. It (Federal Government) should pay what it owes the states.

At the end of yesterday’s parley with the governors, President Buhari named his deputy Prof Yemi Osinbajo as the chair of a committee to work out the possibility of a bailout for the states from the Excess Crude Account (ECA).

He also assured that the states will be reimbursed for the debts they incurred maintaining federal roads in their domains. But due process must be followed, the President added.

He had earlier described the nonpayment of salaries as a national disgrace.

However, in the face of the cash crunch, some states have managed to stand firm amid the raging financial storm. They have kept the contract they signed with the workers on regular payment of salaries.

Projects’ execution secondary in Bayelsa In Bayelsa, Governor Seriake Dickson was said to have given a clear directive that workers’ salaries must be paid first from whatever handout from the Federation Account before considering other financial obligations.

According to Information Commissioner for Information Dauseye Kikile, the governor employed prudence, accountability and transparency in application of resources and ensuring that workers were not shortchanged.

Dickson, he said, raised a Financial Management Committee chaired by his deputy, Rear Admiral John Jonah (rtd) and mandated it to carry out monthly review of government’s financial obligations and ensure that the basic ones are fulfilled.

Kikile said the salaries of workers are the first-line charge of the government. Other financial obligations, including project execution, according to him, are secondary.

The commissioner said: “It is our highest priority as a government. We don’t want to put the workers in a situation where they won’t be able to meet up with their domestic responsibilities.

“So, we make salaries the first-line charge. What we do is, once we get our receipt from the Federation Account, after all necessary deductions, we pay salaries. That is why we are witnessing a lull in our projects. It is a strategic management process put together by the governor.”

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

3

NEWS

‘

•Ambode

•Oshiomhole

•Badaru

Payment of salaries priority in Kaduna Before his ouster, former Kaduna State Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero explained how his government managed to pay salaries, despite the dwindling Federal Allocation.

In his valedictory speech, Yero said no worker on government payroll was being owed by his administration.

According to him, his government was faced with two options – to fund capital projects at the expense of salaries and recurrent expenditure, or to pay salaries and recurrent expenditure and forego capital projects.

He said: “I am a finance person, having understood that no bank will give you facility to pay salaries. But banks can give you facility to implement capital projects.

“So, we opted for payment of salaries and then restructuring ourselves to obtain loan from time to time up to the time that the state government will stabilise. “This is how we have been able to handle the issue of salaries and manage Kaduna State.”

Jigawa warehouses salaries Besides directing that all outstanding arrears of salaries be cleared, Governor Abubakar Badaru has also ordered the payment of June salary to all civil servants.

The Nation learnt that successive governments in the Northwestern state, has kept faith with regular salary payment since its creation in 1991.

Governor Badaru allegedly inherited more than N114 billion debt from his predecessor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, who left below N70 million in the state’s treasury.

While he held the forte, Lamido always saved for the rainy day. He was warehousing a month’s salary from the state’s allocation.

A source in the ministry of Finance, who pleaded for anonymity, told The Nation that “it is the state government policy to take at least one month of workers salary and allowances in advance from any federation allocation of every month”.

The source confirmed that the government has been paying salaries regularly.

“As far as I’m concerned, there is no other strategy more than reserving a month’s salary in advance from federal allocation whenever it comes. No matter what, the government would not tamper with the reserve. It is strictly for the payment of salaries in the coming month,” the source ex-

•Ugwanyi

You are also aware that due to the drop in allocation from Federal Government from N9 billion to N4 billion, the state government after payment of workers’ salaries has little or nothing left for execution of projects.

•Dickson

•Ganduje

plained.

The Chairman of the state chapter of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Usman Ya’u also corroborated the claim.

He said: “As far we are concerned, the government has been paying us our salaries as at when due. How they (government) did or doing it is not our concern.

“This has been the practice under the past administration. We are also happy when we got wind that the present government will maintain the policy. It is commendable that Governor Badaru has ordered the payment of our June salaries even before the end of the month.”

Enugu keeps faith with pact not to owe workers The payment of workers’ salaries is priority to the Enugu State government, even under the administration for former Governor Sullivan Chime, who allegedly reached an agreement with the workers’ union at inception in 2007 that no matter the economic situation, their salaries would not be withheld.

A source told The Nation that the government weighs side by side the projects at hand and the workers’ salaries before disbursing its monthly allocation.

It said the government blocked loopholes by eliminating ghost workers with the aid of labour unions.

“The government was also careful not to politicise the minimum wage issue. It paid the wage within the armbit of the law,” the source said.

The administration of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has adopted the policy of paying salaries on the 26th of every month.

Ugwuanyi told members of the Governing Council of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), who visited him that he will pay workers’ salaries as at when due despite the prevailing economic challenges.

Lagos survives with uncommon economic template Despite topping the list of debtor states with the highest debt profile, the Lagos State Government pays its workers without delay.

Immediate past Governor Babatunde Fashola explained how the state has been able to weather the storm despite the harsh economic realities. He told a gathering of professionals that his administration had anticipated the challenges and planned ahead of time.

Fashola told his audience that while some states owed staff salaries for several months, Lagos was insulated from such indebtedness because of the dedication and commitment of its team, which in the last eight years, worked assiduously to deliver to come up with uncommon economic template of running a mega city.

He said: “In contemporary times, Lagos, like all states, is not immune from the current economic realities of dwindling revenues, but by hard work and commitment, it is insulated from some of the consequences such as unpaid salaries of public servants.”

Fashola said the monthly IGR and allocation from the Federation Account was inadequate to meet the demands of the over 21 million residents in the Centre of Excellence.

He, however, said the government maintained a healthy reputation that gained investors’ confidence because it constantly met its financial obligations and loans repayment.

The fulfilled obligations as Fashola explained, include: payment of the first bond of N15 billion and the second bond of N50 billion. He assured the government will comfortably pay the next bond due to mature in 2017, because monthly provisions were put aside in the consolidated debt service account.

He said: “Another benefit is that Lagos has worked from a budget of under N20 billion in 1999 to a budget of under N300 billion in 2007, and it has grown to a budget of almost half a trillion naira in 2015.

“Lagos GDP is the largest of any of the 36 states and this is not to be taken for granted as a result of size alone.”

He expressed optimism that incumbent Governor Akinwunmi Ambode will improve upon the existing template to keep the state economy afloat.

Since he took the baton on May 29, Governor Akinwunmi has held series of meeting with heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) with the objective of finding ways to cut cost and reduce recurrent expenditure, all aimed at meeting up with staff salaries.

Kano conscious of workers’ welfare The state has no issue with the welfare of its workers. But it has asked the Federal Government to consider it in the bailout plans for states.

Its Information Commissioner Malam Muhammad Garba told The Nation yesterday, that the dwindling allocations from the Federation Ac-

‘

count was taking its toll on other government operations.

“The Federal Government should put the state (Kano) on the first list in whatever arrangements that are being made to bail out the states from financial quagmire,” Garba said.

According to him, Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, being a retired civil servant of high repute and a seasoned administrator, has been conscious of the welfare and well-being of civil servants.

Garba noted that Ganduje’s administration has made the issue of prompt payment of salaries of workers one of its priorities, as part of the continuity of policies of the immediate past administration.

His words: “You are aware that my governor, knowing the importance of civil servants, has ensured continuity in terms of prompt payment of salaries of workers. You are also aware that due to the drop in allocation from Federal Government from N9 billion to N4 billion, the state government after payment of workers’ salaries has little or nothing left for execution of projects.

“So, whatever bailout the Federal Government is planning, it should consider the fact that Kano is the largest in population; Kano remains the commercial nerve centre of the North; and in terms of employment of civil servants, Kano ranks the highest in the whole federation; and more so, you are aware of the financial challenges we are currently facing. So, we need such help more than any other state in the federation.

“I must also add that Governor Ganduje is conforming with all the agreement made with the NLC in terms of workers’ benefits and welfare and we are not denying them any of this privileges, benefits and incentives.”

Chairman of State Transition Committee, now Ganduje’s deputy, Prof.

Hafiz Abubakar, had on the eve of the governor’s inauguration, solicited for the people’s understanding by bracing for tough times considering the state’s sorry financial standing.

Prof. Hafiz, who described IGR base as pathetic when he presented a 495page report containing the activities of the state government between May 2011 and May 2015 to Dr. Ganduje, then as governor-elect, said the state “has a very huge challenge to contend with in terms of finances at the state and local government levels. The people should bear with us. We have already started the austerity journey.”

He said Kano state has about 143, 380 personnel and that additional 10, 000 youths and the recently enegaded 7,494 youths are yet to be reflected in the payroll with salary arrears amounting to N789 million.

The report of the committee also indicated that about N20 billion unpaid vouchers are awaiting attention at the Ministry of Finance, with N4.402 billion pension liabilities.

IGR to the rescue in Edo Despite the drop in allocations from the Federation Account, work has not stopped on some key projects. The Governor Adams Aliyu Oshiomholeled government relies on IGR to keep contractors on the sites. Such projects include: the Benin Central Hospital, Second East Circular Road, Upper Siluko Road and Okpella Road.

Besides, the government meets its obligations to workers, who are being paid as at when due.

Investigations showed that Oshiomhole has raised the IGR base, which stood at a paltry N300 million in 2008 to almost N2 billion. The "Comrade Governor" introduced a Progressive Tax System (PTS) and blocked all identified loopholes to fatten the state's earnings from internal sources.

On the average, the state earns N1.5 billion as monthly IGR, Chairman of the Internal Revenue Service (EIRS) Chief Oseni Elamah said.

The IGR peaked at N2 billion last year but a reform in the Pay As You Earn (PAYE)tax by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan saw the IGR dropping to N1.5 billion.

Oshiomhole had moved fast to cut cost on governance by stopping overhead allowances to commissioners and other political office holders when the drop in revenue began.

He also saved a lot in estacode by stopping travelling abroad with a retinue of aides, as well as barring his commissioners from attending and organising what he termed unnecessary seminars.

The governor also signed the Land Use Charge (LUC) into law, a development that has fetched the state more than N62 million.

The Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Louis Odion, told The Nation that the governor believed that the pay day is sacrosanct and consistent with the biblical injunction that a labourer deserves his/her wage even before the sweat on his or back dries up.

According to Odion, the governor insisted that workers' salaries and wages should be treated as high priority.

He said: "What I can tell you is that with the steep decline in oil revenue, we now get less than 50 per cent of what used to accrue to us normally.

"The real challenge is that whereas what we receive from Abuja has been more than halved, personnel costs in terms of salaries and wages and pension remain the same. Ordinarily, pension, salaries and wages gulp N4 billion.

"What we normally got from Abuja before this present crisis hovered around that figure. In the past, we applied our IGR in funding capital projects like building of schools, hospitals, providing water and so on. But with the shortfall, we have to fall back on our IGR to augment salaries and pension.

"Blocking of leakages has been ongoing since Comrade Oshiomhole came on board. That explains why the state has made a remarkable progress in the last six years.

"The governor abhors wastage like frivolous seminars or workshops and has had to invest massively in ICT to hunt down ghost workers.

"Two years ago, you would recall that we carried out an audit of the population of teachers. Part of the intention was to eliminate ghost workers.

"Of course, such reforms didn't go down well with entrenched interests who had been profiting from the fraud. But, Oshiomhole sees far. He believes for wage bill to be sustainable, it has to be clean."

EW I V T’

4

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

NEWS

•President Muhammadu Buhari (ninth right); Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo (ninth left) and governors after their meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja…yesterday.

Continued from page 1

but billions of dollars can be recovered, and we will do our best.”

The President explained that his administration had received firm assurances of cooperation from the United States and other countries on the recovery and repatriation of funds stolen from Nigeria.

He stated this at another forum – his meeting with Northern Traditional Rulers Council led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar - also yesterday.

The statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina quoted the president as saying: "In the next three months, our administration will be busy getting

Cash crisis: Buhari vows to recover stolen billions

F

President’s fund recovery drive: a stitch in time.

ACED with a virtually empty treasury, President Muhammadu Buhari has two options before him - plug the loopholes and embark on wholesale recovery of looted funds.

Already, Buhari has underlined his resolve to recover the nation’s fleeced assets.

He has talked about the possibility of retrieving billions of dollars, ostensibly carted away from various government accounts, either in the form of money laundering, the

those facts and the figures to help us recover our stolen funds in foreign countries.’’

Citing the report submitted by the Ahmed Joda-led transition committee, Buhari said many revenue-generating in-

ANALYSIS

By Simeon Ebulu, Group Business Editor

infamous subsidy scam through which huge government assets were transferred to bogus petroleum products importers, and through crude swap.

Other channels through which the stealing of state’s funds took root and the proceeds expropriated overseas, are waivers,

stitutions in the country have been compromised, leading to a weak economy.

Expressing surprise that the governors had tolerated the atrocities allegedly committed with the Excess Crude Ac-

the various incentives granted Federal government Revenue generating Agencies, such as the Customs and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), among several other agencies, as well as the lack of data of laden crude at the various oil export loading bays, terminals and jetties.

The government should address crude oil theft and illegal bunkering. The cases of bursting crude pipeline to scoop both reContinued on page 58

count (ECA) since 2011, the President promised to tackle the issue decisively.

For him, the days of impunity, lack of accountability, and fiscal recklessness in the management of national resources

National Assembly: Oyegun writes Saraki, Dogara on APC’s position N

ATIONAL Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Chief John Odigie-Oyegun yesterday wrote to Senate President Bukola Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara, stating the party's position on principal officers for the eighth National Assembly.

The letter to Saraki, reads: "Please find below for your necessary action names of principal officers approved by the party, after excessive consultations for the 8th Senate as follows: Senator Ahmed Lawan(Majority Leader)-North-East; Prof. Sola Adey-

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

eye( Chief Whip)--South-West; Sen. George Akume (Deputy Majority Leader)---North-Central; and Sen. Abu Ibrahim(Deputy Chief Whip)--North-West.

A similar letter to the Speaker says: "Please find below for your necessary action names of principal officers approved by the party after extensive consultations for the eighth House of Representatives as follows: Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila (House Leader) South-West; Hon. Alhassan Ado

Doguwa(Deputy House Leader)---North-West; Hon. M. T. Monguno(Chief Whip)--North-East; and Hon. Pally Iriase(Deputy Chief Whip)--South-South. This comes with the assurances of my highest regards."

A source said: "The APC leadership is ready to assert the supremacy of the party and enforce party discipline.

"The only honourable path is for the President of the Senate and the Speaker to respect the party's wish by accommodating those aggrieved over their election. We need to heal

wounds and ensure a sustainable reconciliation.

"If we do not reconcile, the Eighth National Assembly will not be able to stabilise. We cannot afford to derail this new administration.

"Unless there is another agenda at play, the new National Assembly leaders should make peace with their colleagues by adopting the party's lists.

"The party has a say in the choice of principal officers.

This was the case in the First, Second, Third and Fourth Republics."

are over. Systemic leakages will be stopped, he added.

The President said payment of national revenue into any account other than the Federation Account is an abuse of the Constitution, adding that

F

A

PEACE meeting summoned yesterday by Senate President Bukola Saraki ended abruptly.

Some of the All Progressives Congress (APC) senators who attended the meeting almost exchanged blows, it was learnt.

Saraki had announced before the end of plenary that APC Senators would meet after the session.

The meeting, was to resolve the crisis over the remaining Senate positions, including Senate Leader, Deputy Senate Leader, Chief Whip and Deputy Chief Whip.

The meeting, which began

Why I am probing Amaechi, by Wike

R

IVERS State Governor Nyesom Wike, has explained the probe of the Rotimi Amaechi administration.

He said the essence of the probe was to throw light on some areas.The governor insisted that it was not meant to witch-hunt anybody.

Wike yesterday said in Abuja that the recommendation of the probe panel would determine the cause of action to be taken against Amaechi.

He, however, did not rule out handing over the findings to anti-graft agencies.

He said: “The essence of the judicial commission does not have to do with witchhaunting anybody, but to understand things we could not have understood.

From Yomi Odunuga, Abuja

“ If he had worked with the transition committee we set up, the committee would have asked one or two questions. No transition committee was set up by government (Amaechi’s administration).

“It is only our state that never had any transition committee. We set up our own transition committee. It made every communication;.it wrote. They did not cooperate with it.”

Wike also claimed that his predecessor was only trying to use the media to divert attention from the probe panel.

His words: “He (Amaechi) said he would use all constitutional and legal means. The commission is not an uncon-

stitutional commission. It is a constitutional and legal commission.

“Nobody has been indicted. We only ask them to look into matters and ask one or two questions.”

Wike recalled that his predecessor also set up probe panels and was never accused of witch-hunting.

The governor also debunked the report making the rounds that he was handed a handover note. He said: “Let us start from the national level. When Jonathan was leaving, did he just handover just the villa?. Did he not handover the whole government structure;. from one ministry to the other?.”

Wike said the permanent secretary of the Government House never gave him a hanContinued on page 58

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

stewardship to Rivers people, we will reiterate the facts.

“Alleged non- submission of handover notes. There is no truth in this as all commissioners and heads of MDAs submitted their handover notes to the Secretary to the State Government who forwarded same to the Head of the State Civil Service as it is appropriate.

“Governor Amaechi also directed the Deputy Governor of

Rivers State Engr. Tele Ikuru, to be the liaison between the outgoing administration and the incoming one. Engr. Ikuru, as Deputy Chairman of the state Executive Governor and second man in government, had all facts necessary to brief the incoming administration.

“He also had unfettered access to Government House and to every commissioner and head of Ministry Department or Agency.”

The statement added: “Out of

the roads completed, some of these were federal roads for which the Rivers State Government was owed N108billion. Mr. Wike as Minister of State for Education was among those who prevented former President Goodluck Jonathan from paying the Rivers State Government back these funds.

“It is on record that other states like Akwa Ibom and Abia received repayment for the federal roads they constructed. As at Continued on page 58

Continued on page 58

APC Senators yet to agree on caucus leaders

Amaechi left handover notes, says ex-Commissioner ORMER Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi yesterday said he and his commissioners left handover notes, contrary to Governor Nyesom Wike’s claim.

He also said he did not incur N150billion debt on roads.

Instead, he said the Federal Government owes the state N108billion for completed federal roads.

The ex-governor, in a statement in Abuja by his former Commissioner for Information, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, said he did not sell off the state’s power plants.

He said the state only sold 70 per cent of its equity in the power plants to investors.

He said the sale of the equity in the power generating assets’ company was captured as income in the 2014 Appropriation Law. The statement said: “On Monday, June 22, Mr. Nyesom Wike, briefed the media and made numerous allegations. These allegations are the same ones that Mr. Wike set up a commission of inquiry to investigate. However, in keeping with Rt. Hon Chibuike Amaechi’s commitment to good governance and to transparent and accountable

what he heard was going on in many agencies and corporations, particularly the NNPC, was clearly illegal.

On the refund of monies spent on federal projects by state governments, the President assured the governors that the Federal Government will pay, but insisted that due process must be followed.

He promised special assistance for the three North Eastern states badly affected by the Boko Haram insurgency.

Buhari also said that a comprehensive statement on the economic and financial situation inherited by his administration will be made available within the next four weeks.

From Onyedi Ojiabor and Sanni Onogu, Abuja

around 2 pm, had 40 APC Senators.

The parley, which went into a closed door session after a welcome address by Saraki, later erupted into a shouting match between the two opposing camps in the APC. The Senator Ahmed Lawan Senate Unity Forum accused Saraki of attempting to impose principal officers on the caucus.

It insisted that the leadership of the party should be allowed to decide who should occupy Continued on page 58

‘$2.078b left in Excess Crude Account’ Continued from page 1

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has not refunded the $1.48 billion it was directed to refund to the nation’s coffers as recommended after the forensic audit of the alleged missing cash from the Federation Account.

The meeting was attended by the permanent secretaries of the states and the acting Accountant General of the Federation.

She attributed the delay in this month’s FAAC meeting to the transition of power in many states of the federation which has made many states not to form executive councils.

She added that the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) also exited on the June 12 while Directors and Accountants in the AGF’s office Continued on page 58

ADVERT HOTLINES •Wike

08023006969, 08052592524

THE NATION WENESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

5

NEWS N1.9b Ebola Fund: ICPC interrogates perm sect, others

Court refuses Kashamu’s application to jail NDLEA chairman

J

USTICE Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday refused to commit the Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Ahmed Giade, to prison.

He said the committal proceedings initiated by Senator Buruji Kashamu, who the NDLEA is seeking to extradite to the United States to face drug-related charges, had become academic.

He said a similar application was decided by another judge of the court, Justice Okon Abang.

Justice Abang had barred the NDLEA from giving effect to a warrant of arrest for Kashamu.

PDP to Buhari: no to excuses From Gbade Ogunwale, Assistant Editor, Abuja

T

HE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described as “evasive, diversionary and preemptive”, the present government’s “pile up of excuses” for possible failure in delivering on its campaign promises to Nigerians.

The party was reacting to statements by President Muhammadu Buhari that the last PDP-led administration left an empty treasury.

In a statement yesterday by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, the party said Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) were privy to the nation’s dwindling economy.

According to the PDP, the economic crisis was triggered by global economic downturn occasioned by fall in international oil prices, even before the start of the last electioneering campaigns.

The party accused Buhari and the APC of choosing to deceive Nigerians with bogus promises, only to now resort to excuses after using the promises to secure power at the centre.

The PDP said it noted with dismay Buhari’s statement on Monday that Nigerians should not expect much from his first 100 days in office.

The statement said such claims only underlined the fact that the present administration was really not equipped to face the challenges of governance.

The PDP said: “While we restate our resolve to engage only in credible and issue-based opposition, we want the President and the APC to note that their plea for patience from Nigerians does not arise, because abinitio, there has not been no indication that they are actually serious and determined to deliver on their campaign promises upon which they rode to power.

“Of course, Nigerians are willing to support and cooperate with the President, but we are worried that the pictures emerging from his Presidency and his party do not in any way inspire hope in the citizenry, especially as they have continued to show that theirs is ostensibly a matter of obtaining power by false pretenses.”

By Joseph Jibueze

He nullified the provisional warrant of arrest secured by the NDLEA against Kashamu.

Justice Abang also declared that until the judgment of the court against extradition was appealed against and set aside by the Court of Appeal, no extradition proceedings could commence against Kashamu.

The judge held that the provisional warrant of arrest was obtained without jurisdiction as the attention of the judge who signed it was not drawn to the existing order barring NDLEA and the AGF from taking any steps in the extradition process.

The court declared the proceedings before the Abuja Court a nullity.

Yesterday, Justice Buba said the order must be complied with until set aside by a superior court.

The judge also dismissed a preliminary objection filed by the NDLEA, saying from the processes before him, he was satisfied that the defendants were properly served.

The judge went on to determine the merit of the contempt application, and held that since Justice Abang had previously ruled on a similar case, the instant suit had become an academic exercise and unnecessary.

“There should be no overzealous conduct from either

of the parties. Government agencies must abide by the rule of law to avoid anarchy.

“They (AGF and NDLEA chairman) should be of good behaviour until their appeal is determined “No matter how aggrieved, they should abide by the order of court until there is a counter order from a superior court.

“For the avoidance of doubt, orders of Justice Abang are still subsisting and must be complied with,” Justice Buba held.

Kashamu, through his lawyer, Ajibola Oluyede, in the committal application, said Justice Abang, on January 6, last year, restrained security agencies from arresting Kashamu in respect of allegations contained in a petition dated December 18, 2009.

Oluyede claimed that the alleged contemnors wilfully and deliberately violated the judgment and court order under the pretense of responding to a request for Kashamu’s extradition made by the US government regarding allegations of the applicant’s complicity in narcotic offences committed in the US in 1994, a matter which Kashamu said had been decided by a British Court in 2003.

He accused Giade of plotting to pre-empt the judicial process by deploying about 50 armed NDLEA officials, pursuant to the verbal in-

struction of the AGF, to invade Kashamu’s home around 4am on May 23.

The AGF had appealed against earlier orders made

by Justice Buba and Justice Abang barring security agencies from arresting or extraditing Senator Kashamu over drug charges in the United States.

Justice Buba had, on June 8, barred the NDLEA from extraditing Kashamu, and held that the respondents shall not in the face of the court’s subsisting judgments/orders and pending suit enforce the May 25 warrant of arrest or arraign Kashamu based on the extradition process filed on May 28.

But in the appeal filed on the AGF’s behalf by Chief Emeka Ngige (SAN), the appellant said Justice Buba ought to have dismissed Kashamu’s suit as an abuse of court process.

It said the court had no supervisory jurisdiction over another Federal High Court of coordinate jurisdiction hearing extradition proceedings duly commenced before it.

Besides, it said the court cannot fetter the hands of security or prosecuting agencies in the lawful discharge of their functions.

According to the AGF, Justice Buba’s order was made without jurisdiction and sought to shield a fugitive from facing a duly initiated

From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

H •Kashamu

extradition.

Justice Abang, on May 27, held that Kashamu should not be abducted, kidnapped or unlawfully arrested and taken to America by force to face criminal charges without the respondents following the provisions of Extradition Act 2004.

The AGF, in the appeal against the ruling, said Justice Abang based his judgment on assumptions and speculations which were not permitted in judicial proceedings.

Besides, the appellant said Kashamu’s claims as formulated in his originating processes do not fall within the ambit of the provisions of Chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution.

“There is a presumption that the State as represented by 1st -12th Respondents cannot engage in criminal activities such as ‘abduction’ or ‘kidnapping’ of her citizens which formed the kernel of the applicant’s case,” the appellant said.

•From left: National Programme Officer, UN Women, Adekemi Ndieli; I-G Solomon Arase; Police Gender Adviser, AC Bisi Kolawole and Executive Director, CLEEN Foundation, Kemi Okenyodo, during the stakeholders consultative meeting on improving PHOTO: NAN police response to sexual and gender based violence and gender mainstreaming in Abuja ... yesterday.

H

OUSE of Representatives’ All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers from the Southsouth yesterday rejected the proposed leadership appointments sent to the National Working Committee of the party by a group in the House.

Speaking at a news conference at the National Assembly, Leader of Southsouth APC Caucus Pally Iriase said as members of the Loyalist Group, they were not consulted over the appointments. Iriase was at the briefing with two members, Peter Akpatason and Aisowierem Patrick.

The statement with the title: ‘Rejection of the proposed leadership appointments by the Southsouth Caucus of the APC members in the House

Southsouth Reps Caucus kicks against leadership position From Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

of Representatives’, reads: “It has come to our notice that a proposal purportedly emanating from the Loyalists Group of the House of Representatives had been sent to the NWC of APC wherein the Southsouth is said to be allotted the position of deputy Chief Whip.

“Our immediate reaction is to repudiate the fraudulent and insensitive proposal.

“We are members of the Loyalists Group and to the best of our knowledge, no proposal for the zoning of

Principal Officers was discussed and agreed to by any member of the Southsouth in the Loyalists Group. Unilateral and self-serving proposal by a few members cannot be said to have come from the group.

“The proposal is insensitive to the extent that the Southsouth is being denied at least a substantive office while concentrating the substantive Principal Offices in the zones already favoured in the House of Representatives.

“We reject a proposal that purports to zone House Leader to Southwest in addi-

tion to Deputy Speaker and Chief Whip to Northeast in addition to the position of the Speaker already held.

“We reject the proposal and hereby call the Speaker to be mindful of the principle of Federal Character which is contained in the Constitution which he swore to uphold and defend.

“Finally, it must be noted that it is this insensitive and selfish behaviour that led to the unfortunate debacle in National Assembly on June 9 and we posit that APC must learn to have an inclusive government, so that Nigeria can move forward in peace.”

EADS may roll in the Ministry of Health over the management of the N1.9billion Ebola Fund, it was learnt yesterday.

Already, the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Linus Awute, and other key figures in the ministry were grilled for hours on Monday over the Ebola spending by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC).

The officers are to report back at a later date with necessary documents to show how the N1.9 billion released to the ministry was disbursed.

A source at the commission confirmed the interrogation of the Permanent Secretary and some Directors, which lasted for hours.

The source, who pleaded anonimity, said head would roll in the ministry given the information at the commission’s disposal.

Dana crash: 23 families seek compensation

By Joseph Jibueze

T

WENTY-three families of the Dana Air plane crash victims have applied to the Federal High Court in Lagos to amend their compensation claims from the airline.

On June 3, 2012, Dana Air’s McDonnell Douglas MD-83 operating as Flight 992 crashed into a two-story building at Iju Railway, Ishaga, a Lagos suburb, killing all 153 people on board.

Justice Mohammed Idris has fixed October 21 to hear the case against Dana Airlines and the Estate of Pilot Peter Simon Waxtan brought by the families.

The judge had earlier ruled on four applications by the plaintiffs, granting all the reliefs sought.

The plaintiffs, among others, prayed for an order directing Dana to pay them the statutory advance payment of $30,000.00 in full or the outstanding due advance payment.

They sought interest on the sum at the rate of 21 percent per annum from July 4, 2012, the 30th day after the air crash and the date on which the payments ought to have been made, until the date of the court’s order and at the rate of 10 percent per annum from the day the order was made till the sums are fully paid.

They also sought the costs of the applications assessed at US$10,000.00 each.

The applications were filed on the families’ behalf by a consortium of lawyers, Aviation Attorney Group, led

by Oba Nsugbe, (QC, SAN) of Pump Court Chambers.

The consortium also includes Dr. Babatunde Ajibade (SAN) who is the Managing Partner of the firm of SPA Ajibade & Co; Ajibola Dalley of GRF Dalley & Partners and their foreign colleagues Jim Morris and Rebecca Smith - both of Irwin Mitchell Solicitors in the United Kingdom.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

6

NEWS

158 police patrol vehicles to replace military checkpoints

From Faith Yahaya, Abuja

•Arase

I

NSPECTOR-General of Police Solomon Arase said yesterday that he would deploy 158 patrol vehicles to fill the vacuum that the removal of military checkpoints will create.

The move followed President Muhammadu Buhari’s order on Monday for the immediate removal of military checkpoints.

Arase, however, requested for the collaboration of community members to fill the vacuum because his officers were not enough.

The IGP spoke in Abuja yesterday at a Stakeholders Consultative Meeting on Improving Police Response to Sexual and Gender-Based Violence and Gender Mainstreaming.

He said: “We are set to take over the highway and that is why I am deploying about 158 additional vehicles to the safer highway to take over the spaces that they (military) have just vacated.

“But that does not mean that we are not still going to have collaboration with the mili-

tary. I had deployed 350 earlier. I am deploying 158 to add to that one so that we will be able to dominate the highway.”

The police chief, who admitted that the officers to man the highway are inadequate, said: “You can never have enough, but that is why we are appealing to Nigerians for community partnership because it is the in-thing globally.

“We are going to hold a summit where we will talk to non-stakeholders to assist us in trying to cover the security space. The men we have

cannot cover the whole space.

No police anywhere ever covers the whole space and have a complete dominance of the security space.

“The issue is that when you want to dominate the security space, it is how you strategically deploy your resources that matters. The most important thing is to give Nigerians that psychological reassurance that there is police presence everywhere.

“The citizens also have a function to perform in internal security management. It is not just the police business,

it is a collective thing.”

Arase said he would set up a technical platform that would address gender-based violence.

“We have been trying to see how to put a technical platform in place because we discovered that we lack the capacity to deal with issues whenever it involves gender.

“If you go to police stations and meet police officer at the desk, some of the questions they ask when it has to do with gender-based offences sometimes could be very embarrassing. I approached a foundation

and asked them to help us set up a technical platform, where the contact between somebody who is abused is outside the purview of the police stations.

“What we intend to achieve is to ensure that the platform is connected to all the major hospitals in all the country and all the gender-based societies that we have. In case there is any complaint, instead of having to go to the police station, you can use that platform and there are officers who are being trained.

Once the complaint hits the platform, we will easily respond,” the police chief explained.

He added that the men who will be in charge of the platform will be well-trained.

INEC to clear backlog of promotions, says Jega •‘Commission’s reforms must be sustained’ From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

I

NDEPENDENT National Commission (INEC) Chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega has promised to clear accumulated promotions before his tenure ends this month.

After serving out a five-year term, the INEC boss vowed not to continue in the post, even if he is offered a second term.

Jega, who spoke yesterday in a statement issued by the commission in Abuja after a retreat for Administrative Secretaries and Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs), ruled out the prospect of any “automatic promotion”.

The INEC chairman, in what seemed like a valedictory message, warned against reverting the gains of the commission.

The idea of appointing returning officers outside the commission, he said, must be sustained against what was obtained in the past, where Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) and Electoral Officers (EOs) returned election results.

Jega explained that the current process has brought about “remarkable improvement”, arguing that the stress on RECs and EOs during elections was too much to accommodate the additional task of announcing the outcome of elections.

He said: “The strain is too much. They are not superhuman and they will make mistakes.”

The INEC boss said states, which did not create or activate Registration Area Centres (RACs) during the last general elections, would be directed to account for their inability.

He expressed delight that most of the returning officers appointed by the commission in the 2011 and 2015 general elections were above board.

Jega added that the retreat made suggestions, which when implemented by the next commission, would remarkably improve the electoral process.

From left: Centre for Value in Leadership (CVL) board member Dr. Ifeoma Pat Utomi; Dr. Doyin Abiola; Iya Oge of Lagos Chief Mrs Opral Benson and Managing Director, Pinnacle Medical Services Dr. Maymunah Kadiri, cutting a cake to mark International Widows Day in Lagos ...yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

NLC: Ajaero, Aremu ’re impostors From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

A

YUBA Wabba’s faction of Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday said the activities of “Comrades Joe Ajaero and Issa Aremu are tantamount to impersonating the congress leadership”.

In a statement yesterday, the factional congress president, Wabba, claimed that the Ajaero and Aremu lost their elections on March 14.

He said: “While we had restrained the National Secretariat from publishing a disclaimer in the hope that commonsense and sanity will eventually prevail on our comrades to stop this delusion, it has become clear to us and the entire labour movement that Comrades Ajaero and Aremu are determined to continue in their criminal enterprise of impersonation as President and Deputy President of NLC.” Wabba said it was for the same reason that Aremu had continued to issue statements purportedly on behalf of NLC and claiming to be its Deputy President.

He added that one of such statements, which was allegedly given wide publicity in four newspapers on Monday, contended that the decision of the National Assembly to voluntarily cut its budget from N150 billion to N120 billion was “too token and not far-reaching enough.”

The NLC boss noted that though the congress could not stop officials of their associations from commenting on national issues, no affiliate industrial union or their officers must issue statements in the name of the entire workers.

He added that to do that, such affiliate must be mandated by NLC. “For the avoidance of doubt, on the issue of the budget of the National Assembly, which Aremu was reported to have issued a statement, we have since communicated our intention for constructively engage with the leadership of the National Assembly and are awaiting its response for a forum, where we intend to further unfold our agenda.

“We will similarly engage Mr. President on a range of national and labour specific issues, when we get to have an audience with him.

“As the foremost labour centre in Nigeria, we hold dear the principle and value of dialogue and engagement and will not be flippant as to irresponsibly hurl threats at our democratically constituted authorities, even before engaging them,” Wabba said.

Babalakin, others explain why govt can’t fund projects

E

XPERTS yesterday advised the government to genuinely encourage Public Private Partnership (PPP) and the rule of law to increase the pace of the nation’s development.

This submission was made at the Fourth Akindelano Legal Practitioners (ALP) seminar series, at the Oriental Hotel in Lagos.

Participants at the event expressed fears that the country might remain impoverished and stagnated unless government’s regulatory bodies stop acting as competitors with private business concerns.

Examining major commercial, legal and practical issues facing Nigerian businesses, the experts noted insecurity and inconsistent government policies as part of the problem.

They urged government to look for alternative finance mechanism by partnering the private sector, rather than relying on banks for loans.

Speakers at the gathering included Chairman, BiCourtney, Dr. Wale Babalakin (SAN) as well as Director General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Aminu Diko.

Babalakin, who spoke on the “Suitability of PPP in the Nigerian Terrain”, said the

By Precious Igbonwelundu

country’s total revenue in the last three years equalled its total expenditure.

Reiterating that the Federal Government was bankrupt, Babalakin stated that funds spent on capital projects were borrowed.

According to him, the greatest challenges facing the country were ignorance and malicious refusal to understand, urging the government to uphold the rule of law.

He said: “Nigeria is not a rich country. In the last three years, Nigeria’s total revenue has been equal to its total expenditure. So, money spent on capital projects is being borrowed. The government is bankrupt; so it will never be able to fund major projects. No federal road has been completed in less than 10 years.

“At the opening of the Murtala Muhammed Airport Two (MMA2) in May, 2007, I said the greatest challenges we faced were ignorance, malicious refusal to understand and malice. The government failed to honour the agreement on MMA2 from day one and started competing with us.

“The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), a regulatory body, was also act-

ing as an operator. Government closed the General Aviation Terminal, but a new minister opened it for competition, thereby reducing our revenue.

“We went for arbitration and they ruled in our favour.

We went to court, fighting about six parties, and won all the cases. The Federal High Court, Abuja, awarded damages of N132 billion to us, but the government is yet to pay or honour the agreement. We were stopped from building a hotel and conference centre at the airport for no reason, but the ban was raised two weeks ago. One of the things keeping us going at MMA2 is a set of lawyers who have been fighting passionately.

“The case of the Lagos/ Ibadan Expressway is worse. I had a meeting with the former President, Goodluck Jonathan, on a Friday and he told me to go ahead with the project. But the project was stopped on the following Tuesday.

“It’s time to stop pretending and start upholding the rule of law. If PPPs are not encouraged, the country will remain impoverished and continue to move at a very slow pace.”

For Diko, who spoke on “Attracting finance for PPP Projects in a globally competitive market,” insecurity, incon-

sistent government policies, disrespect for the rule of law and incapacity of supervising government agencies, were the four major challenges facing effective private sector participation in economic development.

Blaming the government for myriads of litigations arising from PPPs, Diko said they emanated as a result of failure to honour concession agreements.

In his keynote address, Chairman, Altra Capital Ltd, United Kingdom, John Davies explained why banks are not lending.

He said the single most important thing that sponsors must do to be taken seriously by the financial world “is to prepare very high quality business plans which come from using experienced advisers”.

At the event were the Managing Director, Investment Banking, United Capital Plc, Wale Shonibare; the Co-Head, Infrastructure Finance at Rand Merchant Bank, Nigeria, Ato Gyasi; Managing Director, Travant Capital Partners, Sanyade Okoli; Country Manager, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Nigeria Ms Eme Essien, and the Managing Director of Infrastructure Bank Plc, Adekunle Oyinloye and others.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

7

NEWS Lagos APC berates PDP

T

•GOVERNORS ALL: (From left) Mr Akinwunmi Ambode (Lagos), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara) and Mallam Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo (Gombe) during the President’s meeting with governors at the State House, Abuja...yesterday.

HE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State yesterday berated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for asking Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to probe his predecessor, Babatunde Fashola.

It said the PDP lacked the moral latitude to make such a call. The party said the renewal of the ruling party’s mandate on April 11 was evidence that Lagosians wanted continuity.

The APC reminded the PDP that it was the mismanagement of the economy under its watch that made Nigerians reject it at the polls.

In a statement, the party’s spokesman, Joe Igbokwe, said no amount of mudslinging will warm the PDP into the hearts of residents, who have pitched their tent with the APC since 2009.

“For a party that believes in hauling hollow, laughable and tendentious gossip to stay alive, the PDP in Lagos seems to have accepted the fact that it is an irredeemable bad product,” Igbokwe said.

He said the call for Fashola’s probe by the PDP was not only unfortunate but mischievous.

The statement reads: “Lagos PDP’s call for Governor Ambode to probe former Governor Fashola for some inchoate and laughable reasons shows that Lagos PDP has lost it and is on a journey of self derision and ridicule.

“We are not surprised that Lagos PDP continues to demonstrate traits that show it as a jesting group that has no meaningful thing to contribute to the growth and progress of Lagos.

"The fact is that for 16 years, we have taught the PDP a huge lesson in politics and leadership but it keeps playing the ostrich, thinking Lagosians are fools that will fall for its gimmicks. This is why the PDP has been failing and will continue to fail in Lagos.”

Jonathan owes firms N600b

Jonathan left $30b, says ex-minister T

F

ORMER Minister/Deputy Chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC) Abubakar Olanrewaju Sulaiman yesterday said ex-President Goodluck Jonathan left $30billion in the nation’s treasury, contrary to President Muhammadu Buhari’s claim.

He said this was in addition to the US$2 billion in the Excess Crude Account as at May 29.

He said the amount would have been higher, if not for the governors’ insistence on sharing the fund.

Sulaiman, who said this in a statement in Abuja, said Jonathan must not be criminalised and painted as a plunderer.

He described Buhari’s claim as “unscientific and unfair”.

The former minister said: “The Jonathan administration left behind $30billion in

From Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

its Foreign Reserve. So, how does the question of an empty treasury arrive?

“In the Excess Crude Account, we left behind US$2billion as at May 29.

And the sum would have been higher if not for the governors’ insistence on sharing it.

“The government can’t tell us that there is no Excess Crude Account (ECA), Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) or are we saying the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and related agencies had not in the last one month been generating revenue?

“Until they are able to prove they had no receipts from these agencies in the last one month then Nigerians can now buy into Mr. President’s claims of an empty treasury.”

Continuing, the former

minister recalled that under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, Nigeria was rated the largest economy in Africa and 26th largest in the world, querying how come such a government would leave behind an empty treasury.

Sulaiman, who was a member of the Transition Committee of the Federal Government, insisted that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration acted responsibly in managing state funds.

He added: “Money made by government is meant to be spent, and the past administration did responsibly.

Every government, even in the so-called western world, including the United States, which today remains one of the largest debtor nations in the world, government operates on deficit.

“Is it not on record that President Obama inherited

US$3 trillion debt, a collapsed banking sector and mortgage industry, yet he never raised any alarm.

None of these has happened in Nigeria under Jonathan.

“Under Jonathan, Nigeria became the largest African economy and 26th in the world amid deadly security challenges and dwindling international prices of oil. De spite all these, the Federal Government never owed salaries.

“Upon inception of Jonathan’s administration, it is on record that the price of oil at the global stage was over $100 per barrel and at the close of the administration, it dropped to $46.

“Yet, there wasn’t a collapse of government and federal civil servants were paid as at when due.”

He said it was a “disgrace that Nigeria cannot pay salaries of its workforce”.

Allegation of corruption against me baseless, says Babatope

A

PEOPLES Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees (BoT) member and Chairman, Governing Council, Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, yesterday dismissed the corruption allegation against him and the Rector, Dr. Kudirat Ladipo.

Describing the allegation that Mrs. Ladipo gave him N75 million as a deliberate attempt to malign him, the former Transport Minister said the allegation was malicious and mischievous.

He added that he would reflect on the damage to his reputation in his memoir.

Babatope said the allegation was spurious, wondering why some elements could think that he could suddenly indulge in corruption, which he had shunned in the last 72 years.

He told reporters in Lagos that his lawyers have also taken up the matter.

By Emmanuel Oladesu

Babatope said: “The allegation that the rector gave me N75 million was baseless.

“What do I want to do with N75 million? My law firm is taking up the matter.

“I am 72. I have served the country as a minister and in other capacities. No one born of woman can prove any allegation of corruption against me.

“I was trained by our great leader, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. He taught me to be contented and avoid corruption.”

The Chairman of the Governing Council said the council was satisfied with the achievements of the rector in the last two years, especially in the areas of human capital and infrastructural development.

The former minister lamented the campaign of cal-

umny against the rector, saying that it was a deliberate attempt to divert her attention and bring her down through falsehood and character assassination.

Babatope added: “The petitions against her are not new. The inspector-general of police, head of service of the federation, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and the Governing Council have investigated the allegations.

“The petitions are frivolous, spurious, provoked by vendetta to fan the embers of parochialism.

“The petitioner has continued to deepen his evil conceptions and fabrications, based on shameless and blatant lies.”

The rector also denied the allegations, saying that she had made transparency and accountability her watchword.

She said: “I served Ya-

From Franca Ochigbo, Abuja

HE President, Federation of Construction Industry (FOCI), Solomon Ogunbusola, said yesterday that the Goodluck Jonathan administration owed construction companies N600billion.

Some of the construction companies are Julius Berger N90billion, SCC (N70billion), Setraco N80billion.

Ogunbusola spoke at FOCI’s 59th annual general meeting in Abuja, pointing out that the nation’s construction industries are in bad shape.

He said: “The nation’s construction industries iare not finding it easy at all. They are all working below 30 per cent.

Most of the construction companies have closed.

“Without the construction industries, government cannot make any significant improvement.

“Recently, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) came up with the idea of publishing the names of debtors, I think it should be looked at holistically, if these companies are genuinely owed by government, it should be left alone, because by the time the names of these companies are published, the public begin to look at them negatively.”

Saraki appoints Galaudu, Olaniyonu as aides From Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor and Sanni Onogu, Abuja

S

ENATE President Bukola Saraki yesterday approved the appointment of Senator Isa Galaudu as his Chief of Staff.

He also announced the appointment of former Ogun State Commissioner for Information Yusuph Olaniyonu as his Special Adviser on Media.

Deputy Clerk to the National Assembly Dr. Benedict Effeturi in a statement in Abuja said the appointments take immediate effect.

Senator Galaudu, according to the statement, represented Kebbi North Senatorial Zone in the Seventh Senate. He was elected senator in 2011.

Olaniyonu was before his appointment the Chairman, Editorial Board of Thisday. He is a graduate of the University of Lagos.

These are the first appointments made by Saraki after his election as Senate President on June 9.

Buhari reaffirms support for Middle East peace From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja •Babatope

batech as a teacher for 22 years before my appointment. “ I saw my appointment as a divine call to serve to improve the infrastructural development of the college and move the great institution forward.

“I have been running around soliciting for funds to develop the school. I met abandoned projects.

“We have improved the IGR and we have been able to sustain the projects through the IGR.”

P

RESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said Nigeria will continue to support all efforts to ensure peaceful resolution of the Middle East conflict.

Speaking at an audience with the outgoing Palestinian Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr Montaser Abuzaid, Buhari reaffirmed Nigeria’s support for the Palestinian cause.

Buhari, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, noted that Nigeria recognised the State of Palestine 31 years ago as he assured Ambassador Abuzaid that his administration will maintain and strengthen bilateral ties with Palestine.

The President wished the outgoing ambassador well in his future assignments.

Abuzaid extended the goodwill of Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas to Nigeria and congratulated the President on his assumption of office after a peaceful transition.

He appealed for more support from the Federal Government for Palestinian investors, particularly in the area construction and provision of critical infrastructure.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

8

NEWS Five held for ‘stealing goats’

‘I’m prepared to vacate throne’ From Damisi Ojo, Akure

From Damisi Ojo and Leke Akeredolu, Akure

T

HE Regent of Akungba-Akoko in Akoko South West Local Government Area of Ondo State, Princess Toyin Omosowon, yesterday denied that she has installed herself as the Alale of Akungba-Akoko.

She described herself as a reluctant regent and called on the kingmakers to begin the process of selecting a traditional ruler.

According to her, she was prepared to vacate the throne immediately a substantive monarch is installed.

The regent said she was tired of the throne, considering the sad developments she had experienced since her installation in 2013.

She said she was not responsible for the town not having a traditional ruler.

Omosowon said: “As a princess I know the implication of the situation we have found ourselves in Akungba-Akoko.

“I had on several occasions called for the installation of a traditional ruler, but no response from the kingmakers.”

The regent emphasised that she was not an impediment to the installation of a monarch in the town.

Her words: “I am tired of the throne and I have said this several times.

“I want to return to my family in Lagos. I have on several occasions told the kingmakers and chiefs to help me out.

“I am ready to join my family and face my business.”

Alale’s stool became vacant 10 years ago and efforts to install a new monarch have always failed.

‘No hand in student’s death’

A

KAKA Community (Gold City) in Remo North Local Government Area of Ogun State has denied involvement in the gruesome ritual killing of a female student of Sapade Polytechnic.

In a statement by Samuel Obasa (Chairman), Oye Adetayo (Secretary) and Oyedele Ogunwale (Treasurer), the Akaka Development Council (ADC) described the reports linking the community to the crime as embarrassing, provocative, untrue, professionally wrong, scandalous and malicious.

The ADC said: “Our attention has been drawn to reports linking the murder at Oposo Community to Akaka, Remo. We say that such heinous crime cannot happen in our community, the food basket of Ogun State, a progressive town that boasts of many sons and daughters who are professors, lawyers, doctors, pharmacists, top police officers, religious leaders, engineers, captains of industry, and several other professionals and top businessmen.”

A

60-YEAR-OLD man, Ogunmola Kayode, was yesterday paraded with his sons, and two others for allegedly stealing and slaughtering goats in Akure, the Ondo State capital.

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) also paraded Kehinde and Taiwo Ogunmola(20), Stephen Isaac (22) and Ifenyin Okonkwo(21).

NSCDC spokesman Kayode Balogun said the suspects were arrested at Fadeyi Street, Oshinle quarters, Akure at 5:30am with 13 slaughtered goats.

Balogun said 10 of the goats were pregnant and one was in labour.

He said the suspects would be charged to court after investigation.

•Ekiti State Deputy Governor Kolapo Olusola greeting party loyalists and supporters at a rally organised in Ikere-Ekiti to mark the one year electoral victory of Governor Ayodele Fayose. With him are Afolabi Ojuawo (left) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman in the local government, Toba Ogunmusanmi.

‘Review fire service law’

By Oziegbe Okoeki

Ikere: Selection didn’t follow due process, says kingmaker

A

KINGMAKER yesterday said Jimi Adu, the Ogoga-elect of Ikere in Ekiti State, was not duly chosen.

The Sapetu of Ikere, High Chief Michael Adu Shittu, who is the head of the kingmakers, is calling for a fresh exercise.

Shittu insisted that the selection of a king through Ifa Oracle and the extant procedure by the Ikere Local Government Council must be strictly adhered to.

The Sapetu, who is also the Ogoga’s second-incommand, described Adu’s purported selection by a section of kingmakers as “wishy washy”.

He said the local government secretary was not supposed to write a letter, declaring the seat vacant.

The traditional chief said the right to write the letter declaring the royal seat vacant belongs to the secretary of the traditional committee and not the local government secretary.

Shittu said: “Due process must be followed. The purported selection was a

•Royal families produce court papers on candidate’s origin From Odunayo Ogunmola, Ado Ekiti

wishy-washy process because the secretary to the local government was not supposed to write a letter declaring the seat vacant.

“The person vested with that power is the secretary of the traditional committee and those who conducted the last exercise did not pass through the Akapinsa.

“Due process must be followed and a fresh selection exercise must be carried out.”

Also yesterday, the princes and princesses of Ikere Kingdom, otherwise known as the Omo Owas, insisted that Adu did not belong to any of the royal families and could not be king.

They produced a court document showing that Adu is from Olute Compound in Okekere Quarters and not from Uro Quar-

ters, where all the Ikere royal families are located.

Addressing reporters at the Ogoga palace on behalf of the royal families, Prince Aderemi Adedara claimed that Adu hailed from Okekere Quarters, which does not produce kingship candidates.

Aderemi said a statement of claim in a suit filed

by Adewale Adu (Jimi’s elder brother) on behalf of other members of Gabriel Adu Alagbado’s Family of Okekere proved the true origin of the kingship candidate.

He provided particulars of a case - matter between the Adu family and Enoch Adewumi about a land at Imope, Sawmill area of the town.

Attached to the court statement of claim was a survey plan on the disputed land.

The statement of claim reads: “The land in dis-

pute forms part of large piece of land which has from time immemorial belonged to (the) Adu Alagbado family of the plaintiff’s Alagbado House, Olute Compound, Okekere, Ikere Ekiti.”

Aderemi maintained that (Jimi) Adu is not from any of the royal families in Ikere, describing an alleged attempt to impose him as the monarch as a “violation of the town’s tradition”, which is capable of causing chaos and anarchy.

He said: “We cannot allow anybody gatecrash the throne of our forefathers and we have said that the man purportedly selected is not from Uro, he is from Okekere as this court document filed by his brother has shown.

“The Omo Owas will continue to pursue their case with civility and we will not be provoked. We will not allow somebody who does not have royal blood to mount the throne but we will continue to maintain peace.”

Tribunal chair’s retirement stalls Ladoja’s petition

P

RE-HEARING of the petition by Senator Rashidi Ladoja against Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s victory was stalled yesterday by the retirement of the tribunal chairman, Justice F. C. Obieze.

A member of the threeman panel, Justice Muhammad Karaye, told lawyers and litigants who attended the pre-trial at Oyo State High Court 21, Iyaganku Quarters, Ibadan, the state capital, that Justice Obieze has retired having attained the mandatory 65 years.

He said a new chairman would arrive in the state before the next hearing date.

He was joined by his fellow

From Bisi Oladele and Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

panellist, Justice J. E. Ikede.

Justice Karaye thereafter adjourned pre-hearing till June 29.

Ladoja, who was the governorship candidate of Accord, claimed that the April 11 governorship election was rigged in favour of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Justice Karaye said the tribunal could not sit without the panel’s chairman as stipulated in the Electoral Act. But APC’s counsel Oluwarotimi Akeredolu argued that the Act empowers tribunals to continue sitting pending the appointment of another chairman.

Justice Ikede differed with him, citing paragraph 24 of the Act which he said forbids the panel to sit without the chairman.

Paragraph 24 of the Electoral Act 2010 (As Amended) reads: “If the chairman of the tribunal or presiding justice of the court has not arrived at the appointed time for hearing or at the time to which the hearing has been postponed, the hearing shall, by reason of that fact, stand adjourned to the following day and so from day to day.”

In his ruling, Justice Muhammad Karaye said:”. The chairman of this tribunal has proceeded on retirement and that will stall our hearing today till Monday, June

29.

“We have informed the house of what happened. We cannot go on with the case due to the chairman’s absence. If you want us to put it on record we will do that.

“The new chairman will arrive before the end of this week and the pre-trial will commence properly on Monday.”

Representing the petitioners (Ladoja and Accord) were Chief Richard Ogunwole and nine others. Ajimobi was represented by Wole Olanipekun and five others lawyers.

The APC team was led by Akeredolu and Babatunde Aiku. They were supported by 19 other lawyers.

T

HE Lagos State House of Assembly has called on the government to upgrade fire fighting equipment and also review the state fire service law of 1972.

This was part of the resolution at plenary yesterday when the issue of the death of a firefighter, Olumide Ogunubi, was raised by Segun Olulade (Epe 2) The House also called on the government to investigate the cause of death.

Olulade said the firefighter was attached to Ikotun Fire Service station and that he died while trying to save a well digger.

“If it is not well investigated, it would affect the morale of firefighters in the state and in the country. He died in active service. We should call on the government to upgrade the fire equipment and update the Fire Service Law of 1972,” he said.

According to Olulade, Olumide went to attend to an emergency and the belt he used to tie himself to the well cut off, leading to his untimely death.

Gbolahan Yishawu (Eti Osa 1) said the state does not have safety laws and that most firefighters work with obsolete equipment.

"We need a health and safety law in the state. We should wait for the investigation to know if it was the equipment that was bad.

The Chief Whip, Rotimi Abiru, said the incident was not a fire and that equipment should be well defined, adding that the House should condole with the family of the deceased.

Bisi Yusuf (Alimosho 1) said the government should provide water so that residents would stop digging wells.

Rotimi Olowo (Shomolu 1) said the government, Ministry of Physical and Urban Planning and Ministry of Water Resources should ensure that Lagosians have access to water.

Speaker Mudashiru Obasa constituted an ad-hoc committee headed by the Deputy Chief-Whip, Omotayo Oduntan, to investigate the matter. Other members are Saka Solaja, Sola Giwa, Rotimi Olowo and Funmilayo Tejuosho.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

9

NEWS Cross River: no military bombardment in Calabar

Delta Assembly approves N10b loan for Okowa From Okungbowa Aiwerie, Asaba

T

T

HE Delta State House of Assembly has approved Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s request for the restructuring of existing loan facilities.

The Legislature approved the N10 billion loan from Zenith Bank Plc. In a letter yesterday to the Assembly, Okowa reminded the House of Assembly that during its inauguration on May 29, his administration met a huge bank and capital market debt of about N96.62 billion with a scheduled monthly repayment of N4.6 billion.

The governor said there was another monthly repayment of Delta State Infrastructure Development Bond of N50 billion obtained by the former administration in 2011.

He said the state had reached an unsustainable level of indebtedness, which was worsened by declining oil prices and low receipts from the Federation Account.

Okowa noted that in a bid to free the resources for other development purposes, his administration resorted to restructuring existing loan facilities.

The governor said the restructuring of the existing facility and obtaining N10 billion loan was consented to in principle, subject to the approval of the House of Assembly.

According to him, the new approach would mitigate the harsh impact of the liquidity crisis in the state, reduce the time lag in the payment of salaries, pensions and overhead costs and ensure the takeoff of some key projects.

Okowa said the letter was meant to solicit the Assembly’s approval, adding that he would be glad to have its urgent consideration.

The request was approved following a motion by Majority Leader Tim Owhefere and seconded by Samuel Mariere, representing Ughelli North I. The motion was unanimously adopted.

•From right: Dr Teresa Pounds, Director of Pharmacy Practice, ResidencyProgramme and Clinical Pharmacy Manager at Atlanta Medical Centre in Atlanta, Georgia, the United States of America (U.S.); Olumide Akintayo, President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) and Dr Christian C. Amah, Chief Medical Director, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), at the maiden international workshop on Pharmacotherapy at the Senior Staff Cafeteria, UNTH, Enugu.

Pirates kill ASP, three others in Rivers

S

EA pirates yesterday killed an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and three other marine policemen on patrol in Rivers State.

The incident happened near the Abonnema Jetty in Port Harcourt, the state capi-

From Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt

tal.

It was learnt that 24 sea pirates in four speed boats ambushed the policemen at 3p.m.

The hoodlums were said to

have suddenly opened fire, killing the policemen.

The residents scampered for safety to avoid being hit by stray bullets.

One of the five occupants of the police patrol boat, who survived the attack, was said to have jumped into the deep

river and swam to safety.

Police spokesman, Muhammad Kidaya Ahmad, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), confirmed the incident.

He said details of the killings were still sketchy at press time last night.

Wike, PDP oppose permission for Peterside, APC to inspect election materials

R

IVERS State Governor Nyesom Wike and his party, his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have opposed the permission granted the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate in the last governorship election, Dakuku Peterside, to inspect the materials used for the election.

APC and Peterside filed a petition at the state’s Governorship Election Tribunal, challenging the declaration of Wike as winner.

They said the election was marred by irregularity. The party and its candidate applied for permission to inspect materials used in the election, as required under the Electoral Act. The court granted the request on June 11.

Dissatisfied with the permission, Wike and the PDP urged the tribunal to set

From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

aside the ex parte order for the inspection of the electoral materials, particularly the voters’ register and card reader machines.

They argued, in a motion on June 16, that allowing APC and Peterside to examine card reader machines and voters’ register would allow them to make copies and store their contents electronically.

They argued that this could compromise the secrecy of the ballot.

Wike and PDP added that the permission could pose security concerns because the materials have “highly sensitive security information containing the biometric data of all registered voters in Nigeria”.

In a supporting affidavit, Rivers PDP Legal Ad-

viser Benjamin Eke averred that the tribunal’s order on June 11 “is couched in broad general terms, which may extend to” the following: “Enabling the petitioners to pass the original ballot papers, voters’ register and other polling documents through their electronic devices for the purpose of capturing the data on them by computer scanning, copying and computer imaging for storage in retrieval systems which will then be taken away by the petitioners; and “Enabling the petitioners to maintain a private electronic data base of sensitive electoral records, including fingerprints of registered voters and thereby compromise public security as well as the confidentiality of the voters.”

“The information on the voters register and the 1st

respondent respondent’s (INEC’s) data base, including the card reader machines, are highly sensitive security information containing the biometric data of all registered voters in Nigeria.”

They added: “That these polling documents, taken together with the voters’ accreditation register and ballot papers used at the election, will compromise the secrecy of the ballot and expose the identity of individual voters and the candidates they voted for at the governors.”

Wike and PDP argued that the permission granted APC and Peterside on June 11 was unknown to “the Electoral Act and First Schedule thereto”.

The defendant said he was not put on notice or given an opportunity to be heard before the order of inspection was made.

Monarch denies fraud in Mobil’s N1.3b oil spill fund

T

•Okowa

HE paramount ruler of Ibeno in Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Owong Effiong Achianga, has dismissed the allegation of fraud levelled against him in the disbursement of ExxonMobil’s N1.3 billion oil spill palliative fund.

The fund was meant to cushion the effect of the oil spill in the area.

The monarch said the allegation was “completely

From Uyoatta Eshiet, Uyo

false and baseless”.

Achianga, who spoke yesterday in Ibeno, described the allegation as a blackmail to disparage his office.

He said the allegation was the handiwork of mischief makers and non-indigenes of Ibeno.

Reports in the local media accused the monarch of mismanaging the funds.

But Achinaga said funds

accruing to the area over an oil spill were always managed by a consultant to address the pressing needs of the affected communities.

He said: “Mobil does not pay cash to people.

According to him, the recent palliative fund was paid to E&T Consultant, with the mandate to expend the cash on social infrastructure, including education and similar projects.

The monarch dismissed a report that restive youths in

his domain were spoiling for war over the alleged mismanagement of the funds.

Achianga said he had attracted jobs and scholarship to over 60 Ibeno youths.

The monarch called for peaceful environment for further development to thrive in his domain.

He urged Governor Udom Emmanuel to revisit the abandoned Eket-Ibeno road, adding that its completion was one of his pre-election promises.

HERE is no military expedition or bombardment in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, the government said yesterday.

Christian Ita, the chief press secretary to Governor Ben Ayade, said the report of a bombardment in Calabar was “unfounded and untrue, fabricated by twisted minds for devious purposes”.

In a statement in Calabar, the spokesman said there was no basis for such incident.

He said: “There is no military raid going on in Calabar.

There has been no bomb attack in the state capital. The only military expedition that took place sometime last week was an operation undertaken by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) to flush out criminals on the Cross River/ Akwa Ibom waterways, which is far removed from towns and civilian population.”

Ita added that the military exercise only lasted a day.

He said: “As long as we cannot dissuade or prevent anybody from pursuing any course they deem fit, they should leave Cross River State out of their clandestine campaign and look elsewhere.

All pictures purportedly showing places that were bombed were all simulated; they are products of photoshop.”

Workers’ salaries are our priority, says Dickson From Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

T

HE Bayelsa State Government has said it has been paying its workers, despite the dwindling revenue allocations from the Federation Account.

Governor Seriake Dickson was said to have given a directive that workers’ salaries should be paid first, after each monthly allocation, before settling other financial obligations.

Information Commissioner Dauseye Kikile said the governor applied prudence, accountability and transparency to manage the state’s resources and ensured that workers were not short-changed.

He said Dickson constituted a Financial Management Committee, chaired by Deputy Governor John Jonah, and mandated it to carry out monthly review of government’s financial obligations and ensure that the basic ones are fulfilled.

Kikile said workers’ salaries were the first-line charge of the government, adding that other financial obligations, such as project execution, were secondary.

He said: “It is our highest priority as a government. We don’t want to put the workers in a situation where they won’t be able to meet up with their family obligations.

“So, we make salaries the first-line charge. What we do is that once we get our receipt from the Federation Account, after all necessary deductions, we then pay salaries. That is why we are witnessing a lull in our projects. It is a strategic management process put together by the governor.”

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

10

CITYBEATS T Residents of 14 flats in Mushin

CITYBEATS LINE: 09091178827

HE twin three-storey buildings stand out on Palm Avenue, Mushin, Lagos. Houses 73/75 are opposite the Mushin Local Government secretariat; they contain 14 flats, a warehouse, offices and shops.

There is a school - New Vine International Schools - behind the buildings.

Yesterday, the occupants were thrown out by policemen from Zone D and Olosan Police Station in Mushin, waving a court order.

The properties of some who were not around were flung out; others still had theirs locked in their apartments with no access to them.

The buildings painted in brown and cream, The Nation learnt, has been a subject of litigation for over 60 years.

Among the occupants are a newly married couple who moved in barely a month ago; a nursing mother whose daughter is about a month old; a warehouse owner, printing press and a school proprietor.

Also, the buildings house LG Electronics shop, Starcomms, DSTV, Visafone offices, a Cocacola mini depot, a mini-mart and the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) House of Glory parish.

The sheriff spray-painted the court order number and date of eviction on various parts of the building. It reads: “ID/331/76 POSSESSION TAKEN TODAY 23/ 06/15 BY COURT ORDER.” The occupants were seen struggling to get trucks and vehicles to move their belongings.

No fewer than 10 trucks were seen taken away the properties.

The distraught occupants wailed and rained abuses on the sheriff.

They said they were not informed.

New Vine International Schools’ pupils who were billed to write examinations could not do so. Pupils, who were in school before the eviction, were sent home.

The Proprietor, Mr Augustine Ekezie, who was informed of the incident by the head teacher quickly sent text messages to the pupils’ parents and guardians. He urged them not to allow their kids to come to school, apologising for the inconvenience.

Ekezie promised to intimate them of plans to relocate the school.

He told The Nation that he is making arrangement with a nearby church to take the school

•Mr Idowu... yesterday

•The twin three-storey building... yesterday

•Mr Ude... yesterday

•Some of the occupants looking distraught

L

•Idowu’s boarding pass

•‘This is annoying, illegal’ •Owner: we followed due process

By Tajudeen Adebanjo, Olawale Balogun and Angela Abu

there.

Ekezie described the incident as unfortunate, saying: “It was like a dream because we had our regular school activities yesterday (Monday) and then suddenly on our way here today (Tuesday), the Head Teacher called me that policemen were at the school premises and wanted to lock the premises, saying that everybody should vacate the building because it is going to be occupied by a new owner.

“I hurried down to find everything just as he said. Next thing was to put a call through to the landlady whom I had just paid rent to few days ago, her number was not reachable and I also sent someone to her but she was nowhere to be found. The pupils had to go back home after I sent a text message to their parents informing them about our next step. The next step I am taking now is to beg a church nearby to allow me put my stuff in their building for the moment before I could fix myself up.”

Police chief orders hoodlums’ arrest AGOS State Police Commissioner Kayode Aderanti has ordered Area ‘B’ Apapa Commander Nim Anene, an Assistant Commissioner (ACP), to arrest hoodlums who operate during traffic gridlock on Apapa-Oshodi expressway, Mile 2 and Ijora.

He also urged him to decongest traffic with the new power motorcycles given to the command.

Commissioning the five motorcycles code-named Police Bravo One to Police Bravo Five yesterday, Aderanti praised Anene’s creative idea in crime fighting.

This, he said, would go a long way in reducing the menace of hoodlums who take advantage of traffic gridlock to rob motorists.

“With these power machines, you will chase robbers and make sure you arrest them to face the wrath of the law,” he said.

Aderanti enjoined other area commanders to emulate Anene.

“The hoodlums’ menace has come to the level where they should be shown that the command is still in control and no hoodlum should be allowed to disturb the

•Ekezie (left) and the school’s head teacher

By Ebele Boniface

peace of road users in Lagos,” he said.

Earlier, Anene told Aderanti that the use of motorcycles because imperative when his officers found it difficult to penetrate the traffic to get to where the hoodlums were operating.

At times, he said, it took hours with vehicles to get to the spot, but with motorcycles, things would be different.

•Aderanti

F

A parent, who asked not to be named, said she was surprised when she called “to come and carry my children; it is not fair; where do they expect them to go, where do they expect them to carry their load to.”

The nursing mother told The Nation that her husband was on his way, saying the whole scenario was annoying and shocking.

“We just moved in not up to two months and we paid six months rent. I just had my baby a month ago. Sincerely, I don’t know what to do now,” the mother of three said.

The printer, Mr Joseph Ude said the police swooped on them as if they were criminals.

Ude said: “You should have seen the number of police that came here with guns and asked that everyone should evacuate this place. They said the place, based on a court ruling, has been awarded to a new owner. You can see peoples’ properties scattered everywhere.

“I have a printing machine that cannot be lifted except you use crane and there are three of them in there and they said I have to

Horticulturist charged for stabbing man with OR allegedly stabbing a Shonubi, granted him bail broken bottle Adenike man with a broken bottle, a in the sum of N10, 000 with a surety

29-year-old horticulturist, Ola Obafunso, was on Monday charged before an Abule-Egba, Lagos.

The accused, who lives at Adijat Lawal Street, Onikanga in Ayobo, a Lagos suburb, is facing a charge of assault occasioning harm.

The prosecution said the offence was committed on June 14 at a beer parlour at Landlord Street, Ayobo.

Insp. Racheal Williams told the court that an argument ensued between the accused and the complainant, Richard Martins, over a mobile phone.

“Out of anger, the accused hit the complainant with a bottle on his neck and he started bleeding.

“If not for the intervention of the people there who rushed him to the hospital, he would have bled to death,” she said.

The offence, according to her, contravenes Section 171.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the section prescribes three-year for assault occasioning harm.

The accused pleaded not guilty.

Ruling on the bail application of the accused, the Magistrate, Mrs

in like sum.

She adjourned the case till September 14.

Man docked for alleged theftof 22-year-old unemployed, turkey, sausage Emeka Ifyjerike, was yester-

A

day charged before a Badagry Chief Magistrate’s Court in Lagos for allegedly stealing a carton of turkey and some sausage valued at N9,500.

The accused, whose address is unknown, is facing a charge of stealing.

The prosecutor, Inspector Innocent Uko told the court that the accused committed the offence on June 7 at about 4pm at Olowololowo Market at Morogbo area of Badagry.

Uko said the accused stole the carton of turkey and sausage from the complainant, Mrs Bola Osan at her shop.

“The accused went to the shop and when he noticed that no one was

there, he took a carton of turkey and some sausage from the shop.

“Before he could run away with it, the complainant saw him and he was caught with the help of some people,” he said.

Uko noted that the offence contravened Section 285.

Counsel to the accused, Mr Ayo Makun, pleaded with the court to grant him bail on liberal terms.

In his ruling, the Magistrate, Mr Abiodun Etti, granted the accused bail in the sum of N20, 000 with a surety, who must provide evidence of tax payment to the Lagos State Government.

Further hearing in the case has been fixed for August 12.

11

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

CITYBEATS

CITYBEATS LINE: 09091178827

thrown out without notice

•Some of the thrown out properties

•Some occupants with their properties on the road... yesterday

•The nursing mother and her baby... yesterday

renegotiate with the owner as the case may be. The main problem here is how I would move my machine and I personally feel that things ought not to be this way, they should have given us notification either by pasting it on the wall, or creating awareness that a new owner is taking possession and at what time, so that we would know what to do about it.

“The whole thing is just too embarrassing; in this democratic era when the government is not military, these people (policemen) just came and took the laws into their hands, as if we are not citizens, it is not fair. Even if the court had given an order that the new owner should come and take over, they should have passed the information across, no they did not, they just came to evict us.”

Another occupant, Mr Fatai

I was in Abuja when I was in‘ formed that policemen and some boys came to evict people here.

They said they came from the court, so the first thing I did was to put a call to the landlady, up till now, she has not shown up

’

Idowu, hurriedly took a flight from Abuja when he learnt that his properties have been thrown out on the road.

“I am a resident of this house, my landlady is Mrs Olusoga; I have been living in this house for over 10 years. There was a simi-

Three docked for ‘raping’ teenager

T

•A vehicle conveying some an occupant’s properties

•A school girl

•Son of one of the occupants

HREE men have been arraigned before an Abule Egba Magistrates’ Court in Lagos for allegedly raping a 19- year-old girl.

The accused are Ogundimu Iliyas, 25, a plumber who lives at 12 Salau Street, Iju; Kehinde Aderinoye, 25, an aluminium apprentice, and Ganiyu Habeeb, a welder. Aderinoye and Habeeb reside at 8, Folorunso St, Iju Ishaga, a Lagos suburb.

The suspects who are facing a two- count charge of conspiracy and rape, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Magistrate Adenike Shonubi granted them N500,000 bail with two sureties in the like sum.

Shonubi also ordered them to pay N50,000 each into the registrar’s account as part of the bail conditions.

The prosecutor, Inspector Rachael Williams told the court that the offences were committed on June 17 at 8, Folorunso St, Iju at around 9:30am.

Williams said that the victim was asked to come for an important discussion by the first accused, and when she got there, she met the other two accused in the room.

“The victim and the three accused live in the same area and they all know themselves, so the victim did not have an idea on what they planned for her.

“When she got there, she met the three accused listening to music and before she knew what was happening, they had locked the door and threw her on the bed.

“She shouted for help but the volume of the music was too high that no one in the compound heard her.

“It was after they had raped and threw her out of the room that her cry attracted the neighbours,” she said.

Williams said that the offence contravened Sections 258(1) and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

The magistrate adjourned the case till July 10.

lar occurrence in 2005 and the landlady was able to settle the issue and she still maintained the ownership; I paid N400,000. I was in Abuja when I was informed that policemen and some boys came to evict people here. They said they came from the court, so

the first thing I did was to put a call to the landlady, up till now, she has not shown up.

“I called my wife who was at the shop to go to the house only to see my things on the street. The Olusoga family said they have handed the house over to the Oteniya family in 2005 and they (Oteniya) authorised us with receipts. We still continued to pay to the new owners.

“What hurts is that I had to take the next available flight from Abuja to Lagos because I don’t know where to take my belongings to, they are just out here on the streets, this is very annoying because we were not duly notified.

I want to implore Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to intervene in this matter. We can’t just allow this lawless action to go unpunished.”

The plaintiff, Mr Bamgboye, who said the houses are his fa-

Two arraigned for alleged kidnapping, N3.6m theft

T

WO men, Emmanuel Okenze, 42, and Christopher Oshoba, 38, appeared before an Ebute Meta Chief Magistrate’s Court, Lagos, for allegedly kidnapping one Olamilekan Ogunbiyi and stealing N3.6 million.

The duo, who were into Visa procurement, appeared on a seven-count charge of conspiracy, unlawful detention, stealing, obtaining under false pretext, and concealing relevant documents and information.

When the charges were read to them, the accused, however, entered a plea of not guilty.

The Prosecutor, Cyril Ejiofor, from the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba, said that duo committed the offences sometimes in August 2013, at 5, Bajulaiye Road, Bariga.

Ejiofor told the court that the duo obtained the sum of N3.6 million from one

Otunba Abayomi Oguniyi for the procurement of a Romanian visa for his son, Olamilekan.

He said that while the complainant thought his son was in Romania, the duo unlawfully detained Olamilekan, against his wish.

He said that each time the accused were contacted, the duo concealed and refused to provide relevant information about the whereabouts of Olamilekan.

Ejiofor said that the offences contravened Sections 98, 115, 269, 312 (1) (a) (3), 285, 413, and 409 of the Criminal Laws.

Chief Magistrate O.I. Adelaja, granted each of the accused N500,000 bail, with two sureties each in like sum, who must be gainfully employed and resident in Lagos.

The case was adjourned till July 22.

thers, claimed that he went through all legal processes before evicting the occupants.

The case, he said, had been on for years.

“As law abiding families, we went through all legal processes and you are seeing the effects today. I don’t trust the other families because my father bought this land. If I had giving them notification by 2pm yesterday the other families would have gone to court to get an injunction preventing me from evicting the occupants.

That is why it was impossible to give them a notice. I gave them a fair treatment by also asking the supervisors of the church to notify their members that they are occupying the place illegally and if the church were just, they should have pre-informed the other occupants of the court judgement,” he said.

Woman, 50, arrested over laptop, TV ‘theft’

A

50-YEAR-old woman, Bukola Awolu, has appeared before an Ebute Meta Chief Magistrate’s Court, Lagos, for allegedly breaking into an apartment and stealing valuables including a laptop valued at N168, 000.

Awolu, a trader, who resides in Oyo State, is facing a twocount charge of stealing and break-in.

The Prosecutor, Inspector Feddy Asu, told the court that the offences were committed on Feb. 26 at No. 36, Niger St., off Odaliki Street, Ebute Meta.

Asu alleged that the woman broke into the apartment of one Mr Rasaki Obafemi and made away with an LG flat screen TV and a laptop all valued at N168, 000.

He noted that the offences contravened Sections 285 and 305(b).

The accused pleaded not guilty.

Magistrate E.O. Ogunkanmi granted the accused N50, 000 bail with two sureties in the like sum.

12

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

13

14

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

Life

15

The Midweek Magazine E-mail:- ozoluauhakheme@yahoo.com

Text only: 08023058761 and 08112662687

Ogidi Day: Feasting for economic growth

– PAGE 18

Triple celebrations for monarch – PAGE 47

• Prof Ogunlana

‘I am not going to give up that easily’ – PAGE 48

‘Lessons life has taught me at 79’ SEE STORY ON PAGE 16

16

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

The Midweek Magazine

E-mail:- ozoluauhakheme@yahoo.com

Sir Ebenezer Olarenwaju Ogunlana is accomplished in many regards. While living in the heart of Lagos in the early 40s, Ogunlana, a professor of pharmacy, loved music and sang to his soul’s pleasure. Like the rise of a music crescendo, he grew in his profession and passsion - singing. Rising from a choirboy at age seven to a knight and classical church music icon, he also became a former Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile-Ife, a Knight of Charles Wesley (KWC) and Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON). Ogunlana celebrated his 51st wedding anniversary and qualification as a pharmacist with the unveiling of a memoir titled: Reflections and Challenges in Time and Tides in Lagos. In this chat with EVELYN OSAGIE, he shares his experiences in his profession, marriage and music.

• Sir Ogunlana (left) and his wife, Lady Aderemi and Prof Akin Mabogunje at the anniversary

‘Lessons life has taught me at 79’ At 79, lessons life has taught me

L

IFE has taught me ‘never to say fail’; to keep pushing; and surrender everything to God. Everybody has a specific purpose in life. The way you fulfil that purpose depends on your attitude to life. At 79 years, I am overflowing with thankfulness to God. I have no regrets. I’d do it all over again – the music, my profession and marriage. I wouldn’t want to change anything. From a choir boy, I became a choirmaster for many years and later received the prestigious Knight of Charles Wesley (KWC) award. As a pharmacist, I rose to become a professor; three times Dean of Pharmacy and chairman, Committee of Deans for one year before I became Deputy Vice Chancellor and retired at 52. I am also grateful to God for how my three children have turned out.

My growing up I came from a stock of four brothers. I am an irony of fate. My father died when I was only one year and two months old. And unfortunately, this is one of the ironies in my life. My mother raised us and did not remarry, despite all the vicissitudes of life. I am a product of perseverance and determination. And having been so privileged, I owe it, in whatever I do, to reflect determination, consideration and responsibility to others.

Growing up was made easy for me; my mother was a school teacher and the only child of her parents. My grandparents were very helpful to us. They took responsibilities that made us. While my mother taught, my grandmother prepared the meals and the house, and my grandfather, a tailor, would make our clothes. Consequently, that convergence of activities provided comfort for me.

My grandfather was a very strict disciplinarian – I remem-

ber him with his white hair and white attire - whereas my mother was helpful and adorable but firm, irrevocable and didn’t spare us. And so, we grew up in an environment where we cannot help but be disciplined.

After my father died, my mother had to go back to school.

She had an Ordinary Teachers Certificate; and my grandfather provided the facilities that got her the Higher National Certificate.

My journey into 51 years of marriage Where do I start from? To sustain a relationship you have to accept each other. Today, my wife agrees with me and accepts when I say something. She has seen by experience that whatever decision I take ends better. But initially, it was not the case. Sometimes, I felt alone because nobody understands why I was taking a particular step. But as we grew together, all that change.

I knew my wife in 1957 in Britain where she was sent for Midwifery from the University College, Ibadan, where she

‘I am an irony of fate. My father died when I was only one year and two months old. And unfortunately, this is one of the ironies in my life. My mother raised us and did not remarry, despite all the vicissitudes of life...My grandparents were very helpful to us.

They took responsibilities that made us...I am a product of perseverance and determination’

trained as a nurse. Aderemi was very composed, friendly and not flamboyant. I was in Birmingham in England for my A Levels. There, the relationship developed before 1964 when we tied the knot. Our first date was during a dance by African students to commemorate Ghana Independence in March 6, 1957, at the town hall in Birmingham. I had asked her to the dance which she did, and that was the beginning our love.

Our first child is over 40.

Interestingly, I had another girlfriend, who left me heart broken. I remember it vividly. She was a nurse in Britain who I had been with me for two years before meeting my wife. She was insisting that we got married; and I told her my primary objective is to finish up successfully before I can consider marriage. So, she wrote to me in Nottingham, breaking off with me. I came by bus to Birmingham to meet her; and told her that it was two weeks to my examination; but sent me away, saying she didn’t want to see me anymore. So I went back heart broken. Even though I liked her, I was able to bear the pain.

Having suffered such heart break, I thought it wise to steer clear of Nigerian ladies. I got a scholarship from the university and I came home to visit my mother. She and my friends softened my mind and encourage me. I went back to Nottingham and didn’t see her again until seven years after, and by then, I was married. But I must tell you, it wasn’t easy sustaining our relationship back then.

My tips on sustaining relationships The secret ingredient that would keep your marriage is transparency, fervency in prayer and faith that it would work out. Young couples should learn from their beginning, be slow to understand, respond adequately to the problems that •Continued on Page 17

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

17

The Midweek Magazine

E-mail:- ozoluauhakheme@yahoo.com

‘Why NGOs fail’

F

OR Michael Oluwabukola Nelson, advocacy goes beyond an active verbal support for a cause.

The executive director of the Dreams Project for Africa, formerly known as the African Democratic Dreams project, is set to promote social equality among all people and encourage young people to embrace and participate in nation-building programmes and democratic avenues for change.

Speaking with our reporter, in an online forum, Nelson said many NGOs in the country miss the mark because they fail to engage the common people.

“This is where most other NGO’s (or advocacy group) fail. When you tackle issues without bringing those who would benefit from the issues into an understanding of the problem they are facing, you are likely to fail.

“So Dream Project for Africa ensures first that those whom the programmes are designed for are fully aware of the essence of the programme”, Nelson said.

On Dream Project for Africa focus, Nelson said the NGO uses a unique approach which starts by creating awareness about the issue of focus and engaging the common people who daily experience the social burden brought upon them by corruption and neglect in government.

•Nelson

By Hannah Ojo

ADVOCACY Nelson, who encouraged interested youths to register on the ‘social benefit’ page of the foundation’s website, bemoan the fact corruption in Nigeria’s institution of higher learning, saying it hinders collaboration with schools in the scheme of awarding scholarship to indigent student which the organisation is set to pur-

sue.

However, he said the only areas the NGO would partner with colleges is to verify student status and GPA as this would be some of the yardsticks used in measuring eligibility for the scholarship.

On the research the organisation has been involved with, the University of Texas trained strategic analyst said, the research conducted on the Nigerian education system gives strong indication that government is not serious about bringing the educational standards to meet up with that of developed countries.

“In a recent video I mentioned that the Ministry of education has had 8 Ministers in six years. The spate of incessant strikes without payment of damages to students whose time is wasted is appalling”, he lamented.

He added that the organisation is embarking on two projects namely “How Effective is Buhari Campaign”, the essence of which is to keep a close watch on government activities that negate the expectations of the people.

“We offer a three-month measurement of the effectiveness of all levels of government. And our facts are based on submissions of common people. This helps us achieve validity in the eyes of our publics,” Nelson said.

The other project is “End of Sexual Harassment and Bribery in Nigerian Colleges” campaign, which comprise online meeting and events, which helps participants to

break geographical barriers.

On the sustainability plan for the Dream project for Africa, Nelson disclosed that over N2.5 million has been invested already. “The money invested so far has been privately raised from personal savings of less than 5 individuals who believe in a great Nigeria, but we have begun to reach out for public support from organizations and good hearted Nigerians. We are seeking cash donations from individuals both locally and in the international community to help sustain our projects”.

He however, added that in its drive to raise funds, the organization is careful not to be lured into groups or interests that might want to taint their goals. “We have launched a “Go Fund Me” campaign for our “End of Sexual Harassment and Bribery” project and we’re getting some responses; however, we are nowhere close to the $100,000 target for the project. We still need a lot of support.

We understand that it takes a great deal of trust for people to donate to such causes such as as this especially at a time when there are lots of organizations defrauding good-hearted people by luring them to insincere projects. Dream Project for Africa however believes in the goodness of humanity and the assurance that God Almighty who has put such noble cause in the hearts of a group of men and women to restore the glory of Nigeria would as well have provisions in place to sustain the project,”,”Nelson said.

‘Lessons life has taught me at 79’ •Continued from Page 16

may beseech them initially and find ways of overcoming them. 51 years on, our marriage is all-evolving.

In 1957, after she finished the first part of her midwifery, she went to Gateshead, Britain and I stayed back; and these places were far apart. And by the time she finished at Gateshead and had to return home; I had to move to Nottingham.

That was the most trying times in our relationship. Sincerely, it was difficult. The sustenance of relationship back then was a matter of trust, and give and take. But if you like somebody and believe in him/her, you’d have no doubt than to sustain the relationship.

My 51-year journey into the world of pharmacy I have been a pharmacist in Nigeria since 1964. I took the oath of pharmacy, first, in Britain in 1963, and came to Nigeria and took it in January in 1964. And June 12 of that same year, I got married. I didn’t know the date would come to mean something else to Nigerians. So, both my marriage and my marriage to pharmacy are 51 years old (laughs).

Some say my life can be split into two – pharmacy and marriage. That was why I decided to unveil my book on my sojourn as a pharmacist, which I titled: Reflections and Challenges in Time and Tides during my marriage anniversary celebration on June 12. The tribulations and vicissitudes that I faced in life informed the title of the book.

My becoming a pharmacist was inspired by an incident in my post-secondary school days. My being a pharmacist was not for lucrative venture; but purposeful use of service that ensures that people get well using the right drugs.

When I was in secondary school, I was going to do Classics in the University of Ibadan, but I fell ill in the mid-1955. I had Hepatitis and was taken to the General Hospital in Lagos. And it was there that I experienced the need for being a pharmacist. One of those nights, a man with Cerebral Palsy almost set the place ablaze. The doctors had prescribed drugs for him, but the hospital didn’t have them. I left the hospital determined that I was going to be a pharmacist, to contribute to humanity. I didn’t have the qualification; but I got books from British Council Centre and went to Britain to do my A ‘levels.

So, I specialised in quality control and quality assurance of drugs. However, interestingly, I discouraged my daughter, who is now a High Court Judge, from studying pharmacy.

Even though she was determined to study pharmacy, I saw she was not good in science subjects - biology and chemistry - and good in the arts. I knew what it was when I started studying physics; and so I discouraged her and look how it turned out.

Pharmacy before and now The pharmacy profession has positively metamorphosed.

It is a pity that most Nigerians don’t know the worth of a pharmacist. The pharmacist now recognises the problems of an individual and the disease. It recognises the way and manner we can combat diseases – what we call the pharmaceutical care. It is better to catch them young. The end of school training is just the beginning of training. The pharmacist should be one that is continually growing. Students of pharmacists must continually train ythemselves. Teachers of pharmacy must ensure the materials in their environment would be such that can develop others.

My journey into academia I would sum up my journey in the academia as turbulence;

• Sir Demola Aladekomo; Prof Mabogunje; Sir Ogunlana and his wife; Olorunsogo of Ife, Oba Kayode Omisore and Toba of IleIfe, Oba Jide Awojodu displaying the book at the event

but God’s grace saw me through. I would say I was fortunate: I became a professor before I was 40. The secret was believing in God. I prayed for guidance at every point in my life and He helped to bear those moments, stoically. During my time, the politics of Ife was very bad. However, politics or no politics, my stand has always been stay with the profession and focus on your work. Despite all the challenges, I enjoyed the academia because I rose in the ranks: I grew from Head of Department to Dean to Chairman, Committee of Deans to Deputy Vice Chancellor back again to Dean and then I bowed out in October 1988 to give the young professors room to grow.

But it was not just a bed of roses: at each point in life there were trying times; but I maintained the spirit of determination and perseverance. For instance, in 1971, I applied for the post of Senior Lecturer twice and at both times, I drove back to the Ibadan campus of the University of Ife sad with tears in my eyes. And the third time, it was advertised, I insisted I won’t apply. Ten days after it closed, I got a letter that I have been appointed Senior Lecturer.

Also, when the university advertised professorship in 1974, knowing I might have the same difficulties, I didn’t want to apply. Until Funke, a cousin of my wife, visited a day before the closing date, a Friday, and insisted that I apply. She said she just left somebody’s chambers where they were discussing the politics of Ife, which, as I’ve said, was bad at the time. So, I applied and submitted alongside three of my publications. But my mind was not there because the politics of Ife. Six months after, I was asked to submit three of my publications and citation within 48 hours by the Vice Chancellor’s office. I was supervising a conference at the time; but thanks to two women librarians I did. Soon,

‘Music comes naturally. The place of music in my life is invigorating, mood-lifting and pleasure. If I am perplexed or sad, I’d just sing a song, it would disappear. My love for music kept me all these years. When I sing, I see the music go and I go with it’

events turned in 1975; there was a change of government and the removal of the Vice Chancellor (VC) and a new one was appointed. It was that VC, as I was told, that saw my records and to cut the story short, I went for interview in December 1975 and by January 26, 1976, I was appointed professor.

My journey into the world of music Music comes naturally. The place of music in my life is invigorating, mood-lifting and pleasure. If I am perplexed or sad, I’d just sing a song, it would disappear. My love for music kept me all these years. When I sing, I see the music go and I go with it.

Music helps me to focus. It brightens the mind for knowledge. In my 79 years of existence, I have 72 years of experience in music.

I became a choir boy at age seven and have remained a choir man at age 79 (laughs). In church then, I had to stand on the kneelers to be seen. I still sing; and continued to challenge myself on how to do it better. I sang at my book’s unveiling.

As a pharmacist, I sustained my singing habit no matter what the odds were. I was a choirmaster in 1991 before I became President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria in 1994. I came back again as a choirmaster in 2004. In 2001, I was the first individual to be knighted the Knight of Charles Wesley (KWC), a musical award; and was Vice President of the Association of Church Music.

But I was forced to retire from music in 2005 after a stroke attack. In November 2004, while I was conducting the choir during a Sunday service, I felt something funny. Apparently, I had a stroke. I was flown abroad and due to prayers, in less than 12 days, I was free and could use my hand. But so as not to put pressure on it again by February of 2005, I officially left the choir.

But I still sing.

Development of Classical music in Nigeria Classical music in Nigeria is being developed very well.

There is adequate provision for it which was why I went to the MUSON Centre. I am a member of the Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON). And the MUSON Centre built by its members. I have seats in Agip Hall which I contributed for. It cannot die. Although is music of 17th century, it remains melodious to the ears. In the future, Classical music would grow on its own as it has always done. We are learning more on the environment which makes music sound sweeter.

18

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

The Midweek Magazine

E-mail:- ozoluauhakheme@yahoo.com

• Maj Gen Jemibewon (rtd) and his wife leading a group to pay homage to Oba Sule

PHOTO: OZOLUA UHAKHEME

Undaunted by the many challenges they face, the people of Ogidi in Ijumu Council Area of Kogi State have remained resolute, using the yearly Ogidi Day celebration as platform for socio-economic growth, Assistant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME, reports

D

ESPITE the poor state of the 12kilometre road that leads to the serene community of Ogidi in Ijumu local government council area of Kogi State, thousands of guests arrived at the rocky settlement much earlier than expected. The hosts led by the Ologidi of Ogidi, Oba Rabiu Oladimeji Sule and National President Ogidi Development Union Mr. Tunde Ipinmisho were fully at home and prepared for the big annual feast. Large size banners and posters tied to strategic places welcome every guest to the community with a strong message: One people, One purpose.

And the purpose is to galvanise the people in promoting socio-economic development in the community, especially education.

At intervals, several gun shots broke the rhythms of cultural troupes’ drumbeats that resonate in a community hemmed by several hills. Last Saturday morning, those shots symbolically heralded the opening of the festival that attracted guests from far and near including foreign tourists.

Community Hall ground, venue of the Ogidi Day 2015 celebration was literarily overran by guests, performing troupes, artists and dancers who added colours to this year’s feast- a multipurpose event that encompasses new yam festival, cultural exhibition, free medical checks, live drawing session and development mobilisation.

An all-female troupe, Adunni Nefetiti set the tone for the day’s event with a soulful and dramatic presentation, which was followed by homage to Ologidi. Expectedly, different groups including Ogidi Development Union branches across the country took turns to pay homage to the Ologidi.

Guests that attended the event included Kogi State Deputy Governor, Mr Abayomi Awoniyi, who represented Governor Captain Idris Wada; Major General David Jemibewon (retired) and his wife, Modupe; Senator Dina Melaye; Dr Dayo Olagunju, Chief Nike Okundaye; Olojudo of IdoOsun, Oba Adedapo Aderemi and other top traditional rulers from neighbouring communities. Groups and individuals such as Ronke Bello led UK-based NGO, Ripple made handsome donations to the community.

Captain Wada said that beyond the excitement that the new yam celebration symbolises, the people of Ogidi deserve com-

• A performance of Sango at the event by Nike Theatre troupe.

PHOTO: OZOLUA UHAKHEME

Ogidi Day: Feasting for economic growth FESTIVAL

mendation for sustaining their heritage and putting the beauty of the culture of its people on the global map adding that the new yam evokes life and renewal.

The governor who was represented by his deputy, Abayomi Awoniyi said that through such initiative the people of Ogidi have not only complimented the tourism objectives of the state government, but have gone steps ahead in promoting the state as the best and most diverse tourist destination in Nigeria. “Government will ensure that Ogidi and other communities who attract tourists to our state continue to receive appropriate institutional support and recognition not only by enhancing the necessary infrastructure in their localities but by enlisting them in the official calendar of government’s activities. As you may be aware this administration has already initiated and sustained the annual cultural carnival where our cultural resources across the state are generously exhibited,” he said.

He acknowledged the contributions of Chief (Mrs) Nike Okundaye who built a

high profile of achievement in the preservation, projection and the presentation of the culture of Ogidi people.

Continuing, he said: “I must say that the Ogidi community again stands out in this regard, because as you may be aware, this administration has carried out rehabilitation of many public schools across the state in demonstration of its commitment to restoring glory to public schools in the state.

Schools that have benefited from this programme include; St Augustine’s College, Kabba, Abdul Azeez Memorial School, Okene, Government Secondary school, Dekina, St Charles College, Ankpa, and Holy Rosary College, Idah among others. I therefore, commend the Ogidi community for using the opportunities presented by this programme to raise funds for the rehabilitation of your schools.”

The initiative, he said, is a commendable demonstration of understanding, bearing in mind the hard realities of government’s limitation in responding to the various

needs of the populace. He added that in many respect, the people of Ogidi are showing good examples that should be emulated by other communities.

Melaye pledged to continue to support the community saying Okun people are the most deprived ethnic group in the state. “but that story will soon change and very soon we shall occupy Lugard House at Lokoja. Roads and water supply will be my carddinal projects and dits a battle of no retreat, no surrender. In 4 yearstime, Ogidi will not be forgotten.

National President, Ogidi Development Union, Mr. Tunde Ipinmisho said the Ogidi day celebration is fast gaining ground among cultural festivals in the country, but noted that many people in Ogidi are yet to realise its socio-economic relevance. He stated that the annual event is not meant to put food on people’s table but to attract national and global attention to the rich cultural heritage of Ogidi.

•Continued on Page 47

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

19

COMMENTARY EDITORIALS

LETTER

Unconscionable pay •Let our lawmakers shed weight considerably. What they earn is indefensible

I

N these austere times, the management of the National Assembly will pay a whopping N9bn as allowances to the recently inaugurated lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives. Going by the package released for the political office holders by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the Senate President will earn N5.5 million yearly; his deputy, N5.1 million while other senators earn N5 million. In the House of Representatives, the Speaker earns N4.3 million; his deputy, N4.2 million while other members earn N4 million annually.

They also collect, upfront, 300 percent of their salaries as housing allowance, 300 percent as vehicle allowance and 250 percent as furniture allowance. Thus, a senator would collect N 6m as accommodation allowance, an-

‘It is even obscene that our legislators will be earning this much in a country where people who work for eight hours a day and five or six days in a week earn N18,000 as minimum wage. Even then, about 18 states of the federation have not been able to pay their workers’ salaries for more than six months!’

other N6m as vehicle allowance and N4.5m as furniture allowance. As if these are not enough, the legislators would be paid N506,000 as wardrobe allowance. All of these would be paid into the legislators’ bank accounts this week.

Yet, it has not always been like this.

In the First Republic, our lawmakers did the job part-time. If we say it was not costly because we ran a parliamentary system of government then, the Second Republic was another example. It has turned out that what we saw as corruption in the Second Republic was a child’s play compared with what obtain in our legislative chambers these days in the name of salaries and allowances. Indeed, there was never a time when our lawmakers’ pay has become as contentious as it is now, apparently because the present legislators have decided to corner more than the owner could ignore. And it started very early in the day in 1999, when the then National Assembly members awarded themselves about N5m each as furniture allowance.

Yet, if we consider job evaluation and performance, the legislators are by far overpaid. Apart from the official emoluments, they arrange for themselves foreign trips which are nothing but jamborees solely for the collection of estacode. Even some of them do go about their businesses when they should be at their chambers making laws.

They claim that their salaries are official, but their pay packet is overloaded

with sundry allowances! And there are more avenues for cornering extra monies, like overnight functions, committee assignments, the fraudulent constituency allowance and other spurious claims that we do not know about.

Our legislators’ allowances are outrageous and out of tune with the country’s economic realities. Law making is not designed for milking a country dry.

After all, there are lawmakers in other parts of the world like the UK and USA where lawmakers travel by rail or bus and live in moderate apartments. It is even obscene that our legislators will be earning this much in a country where people who work for eight hours a day and five or six days in a week earn N18,000 as minimum wage. Even then, about 18 states of the federation have not been able to pay their workers’ salaries for more than six months! The point is, wages and allowances should be a function of responsibility and economic realities.

Nigerians must rise against these extravagant pay that our legislators collect. We expected Labour to have voiced opposition to this a long time ago; however that it is doing so now, when workers in about 18 states of the federation have not been paid salaries, in some cases for six months, is nonetheless welcome. The colossal wastage of public funds by only 469 out of 160 million Nigerians must stop forthwith. Those who are supposed to be the people’s representatives should not live like oil sheikhs in a country where majority of the people live on less than $2 a day.

Military rascality • Our soldiers should learn how to deal with the civil populace OTHING in many of our military personnel’s conducts has shown that that important institution has realised that the country is now under a democracy. And our reasons for saying this are legendary: an unidentified soldier in Kaduna State recently shot a truck driver, Abdul Saminu, who was conveying potatoes from Zaria to Kaduna for reportedly not yielding to his demand for N200 bribe. Saminu’s counter-offer of a bribe of N100 reportedly infuriated the trigger-happy soldier. Though the truck driver was lucky to have escaped with mere bullet wounds, it is high time these military men were lectured on civil-military relations.

Also, residents of Omoyele Street in the Majidun area of Ikorodu, Lagos State, were reportedly dehumanised and dislodged by soldiers and officers of the Nigerian Navy sent there eight months ago to combat vandalisation of oil pipelines in the community. Apart from initial impounding of thousands of litres of petrol and arrest of culprits, the men in uniform reportedly seized about 20 houses on the street and closed shops under the guise of securing the area.

Normalcy may elude the place for long except there is a quick official intervention.

Two empirical cases of military brutality to the people of Majidun area will suffice: The first: Iyanu Chioma, a mother of three, gave a graphic picture of how her family members were compelled to relocate to Ogolonto area after the armed men ejected them from their house:

N

“This suffering is too much. Imagine my mother-in-law, my husband, my children and I living in one room. Feeding has been very difficult for us since we were sent out of our house in Omoyele. Those soldiers are now living in our house. My children cannot go to school again because there is no money. My husband is a commercial boat operator, while my motherin-law had a shop, where she used to sell drinks. The military men closed the shop and also stopped my husband from operating on the river.”

The second: Ola Omoyele painted a pathetic scenario of how they were dehumanised by the military men: “They told us to leave. I could only pick a few of my property… The most annoying thing is that some elders on the street were also sent out. They should please allow us to move back to our houses.”

The military’s reaction to the allegations

by Colonel Mustapha Anka of the 81 Division, was rather tepid: “Our officers are only there for anti-vandal operation. The residents are free to engage in lawful activities.”

We condemn the conduct of the military in both situations. Quite a few other inhuman conducts, sometimes on the roads, have been unleashed on civilians and the earlier such is stopped, the better. The trigger-happy soldier in Kaduna must be fished out and duly punished for his criminal conduct. In Majidun, the military personnel were deployed to restore law and order and not to harass law-abiding citizens. Sadly, the fact that it takes months before the plight of the Majidun

people was reported shows a failure on the part of civil society groups in the country. Most of them now see their platforms as a means of making cheap fortune.

The occupation of others’ properties by soldiers without justifiable reason is illegal and this could not have been part of the brief given to the soldiers when they were drafted to Majidun. If the soldiers have reasons to believe that hoodlums and criminals still use the place as base, they should use all lawful means to flush them out. And, that, indeed, is what we expected the military authorities to say instead of trying to paint the picture that there is no truth in the allegations made by the displaced residents. We call on the military authorities to ensure that the soldiers are withdrawn from the place as soon as normalcy is restored there.

‘We condemn the conduct of the military in both situations.

Quite a few other inhuman conducts, sometimes on the roads, have been unleashed on civilians and the earlier such is stopped, the better.

The trigger-happy soldier in Kaduna must be fished out and duly punished for his criminal conduct’

N/Delta militants need a new approach

S

IR: The anecdotal portrayal of Greek mythologist and substantiated by an Urhobo adage, posits that, “When a hunter of antelopes, rabbits and porcupines, fortuitously comes across an elephant in the forest, he must change his gait and bullets.”

Oil was discovered at Oloibiri in present day Bayelsa State in 1956, but became commercialized in 1958. Ever since its commercialization, the people of the Niger Delta have been treated with scorn by the powers that be. In response, the people of the Niger Delta have adopted multidimensional strategies aimed at drawing successive government’s attention to its deplorable plight.

The Federal Government as it were, made the economic strangulation of the Niger Delta the fundamental objective and the directive principle of state policy. It refused to recognize the universally acknowledged principles of sharing in oil producing nations which is that the man who owns the land owns what is on it, beneath it and above it. We are allocated, suffocated and spoon-fed with the laughable miniscule 13 percent or is it the hanging but laughable 25% derivation formula. Is this fair?

Why are the genuine efforts of the Niger Delta martyrs like Isaac Adaka Jasper Boro, Ken SaroWiwa and the Ogoni nine, Monday Obotaire, Raymond Pemu, Victor Atiri and the submissions of the Niger Delta representatives to the National Confab not reflected in the Federal Government’s oil policies on the Niger Delta?

However, is pipeline vandalisation the way out? Is divide and rule being adopted and finetuned by the federal government the way forward? And, is the Niger Delta Masterplan the road map to our long sought after Eldora do?

Recently, a group of Urhobo youths claimed responsibility for the March 22, bombings of Nigeria Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, oil pipelines in Ekiugbo, Ughelli Local Government Area. The group said that the aim was to give vent to their demand for pipeline surveillance contract.

The English playwright Alexander Pope in his Essay on Man said “let the ends of things disjoin, it is the whole world that suffers.” We admonish our Niger Delta militants to appreciate that President Muhammadu Buhari has just come on-board. We ask and pray that he should be given time to spell-out and actualize his road map and strategies for the Niger Delta. We call for intellectual militancy, which is the civilized and co-ordinated presentation of our complaints and grouses through discussions, peaceful protest, court actions, and non-violent diplomatic, global and political channels.

The new administration must be given some time to carry out its projected plans for the Niger Delta and Nigeria in its entirety. Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) once said “a civilization which develops only on its material side, and not in corresponding measure on its mental and spiritual side, is like a vessel with a defective steering gear.” We hope Niger Delta militants and other militants in Nigeria will heed the voice of reason.

• Chief Bobson Gbinije Warri, Delta State

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

• Executive Director (Finance & Administration) Ade Odunewu

•Deputy Editor Lawal Ogienagbon

•Advert Manager Robinson Osirike

•Deputy Editor (News) Adeniyi Adesina

• Gen. Manager (Training and Development) Soji Omotunde •General Manager (Abuja Press) Kehinde Olowu •AGM (PH Press) Tunde Olasogba

•IT Manager Bolarinwa Meekness •Deputy Editor (Nation’s Capital) •Press Manager Yomi Odunuga Udensi Chikaodi •Group Political Editor Emmanuel Oladesu •Legal Counsel John Unachukwu •Group Business Editor Simeon Ebulu • Manager (Admin) Folake Adeoye •Group Sports Editor Ade Ojeikere •Acting Manager (sales) •Editorial Page Editor Olaribigbe Bello Sanya Oni

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

20

CARTOON & LETTERS

S

IR: With the way Lagos PDP is going, it is doomed to failure as it seems not to have grasped the rudiments of productive politics in its desperation to grab power for furthering their well known looting tendency. For a party that believes in hauling hollow, laughable and tendentious gossip to stay alive, the PDP in Lagos seems to have accepted the fact that it is an irredeemably bad product.

Lagos PDP’s call for Governor Ambode to probe former Governor Fashola for some inchoate and laughable reasons shows that Lagos PDP has lost it and is in a journey of self derision and ridicule. We not surprised that Lagos PDP continues to demonstrate traits that show it as a jesting group that has no meaningful thing to contribute to the growth and progress of Lagos.

As laughable and childish as PDP’s latest rant is, we dare say that we are not in the culture of dignifying confused thoughts of a cabal that is yet to live down their continued horrible fate in the hands of Lagosians.

With the historical defeat of the PDP

EDITOR’S MAIL BAG SEND TYPEWRITTEN, DOUBLE SPACED AND SIGNED CONTRIBUTIONS, LETTERS AND REJOINDERS OF NOT MORE THAN 800 WORDS TO THE EDITOR, THE NATION, 27B, FATAI ATERE ROAD, MATORI, LAGOS. E-mail: views@thenationonlineng.net

Lagos PDP’s childish rants from the centre where they ran Nigeria to total bankruptcy and near collapse even with very bounteous oil earning, it is not difficult to locate why Lagos PDP is hit by a gale of total confusion that finds expression in the inchoate and disoriented ranting it spews out these days as press statements.

The achievements in Lagos in the past 16 years of progressive politics need no repetition here. Lagosians know them and feel them. Nigerians know these and trumpet it but the woeful losers in Lagos PDP have chosen self denial in the vain thoughts that this will help their inordinate desire to corner power in Lagos when they have shown com-

plete failure in the 16 years they have misused and abused power in Nigeria.

We would have though that Lagos PDP would, for once, be moved by moral imperatives to demand that President Muhammadu Buhari probe and punish the perpetrators of what is becoming the most horrifying economic crime done to Nigeria by the PDP mandarins especially in the past 16 years. They are not, rather they are asking Governor Ambode to ‘probe’ the poster regime for productive and accountable governance in this republic.

What a party?

We want to assist the Lagos PDP get their acts together. The party is a

bad product and must do away with their unproductive and corrupt leaders for it to mount any credible opposition to APC. We extend this magnanimous advice given that we, in Lagos APC, believes a viable opposition will help point out areas of deficiencies in the governance of Lagos but this has been missed in PDP’s laughable penchant to bandy puerile gossip, innuendoes, rumours and all forms of inchoate demands in the name of opposition.

Even as we know that the PDP is doomed nationally, as a result of its 16 years unrestrained megalomania, we want to let Lagos PDP know that its fate will get worse in Lagos, as the APC government in the state

Jumbo pay: Pity our legislators

S

IR: Almost a year ago, I was at the residence of a Senator who had come home to commission some of his constituency projects. I was in his house to invite him to an outreach programme to educate the general public on the immense health benefits inherent in brushing their teeth before going to bed. On getting to his there, I was asked by one of his personal assistants to pick a number, so they could call on me when it’s my turn.

I was told the last number was 426, so I was supposed to pick the 427 th number. From my later enquiry, the 426 people I had met there were all there to collect their ramadhan/sallah gift, discuss their financial problems and collect their

share of the national cake. Hence, the reason why the assistants to the senator, who had thought that I had also come for the same reason, insisted that I follow due process by picking the next available number.

This is the reality of getting elected into political office in Nigeria.

People expect you to come home and share money.

The legislature has come under intense criticism over their take home pay and huge budgetary allocation at a time the country is passing through hard times. Some of the allowances the lawmakers are entitled to include, Personal Assistance (25% of basic salary), Vehicle Maintenance (75% of basic salary), Leave Allowance (10% of Basic sal-

ary), Gratuity (300% of basic salary), Car Allowance (400% of basic) among other allowances like furniture and newspaper allowances etc. Most of these allowances have been there since our return to democracy in 1999. What is however new is the general condemnation and criticism that this has generated in the recent days as if Nigerians weren’t aware that Senators and members of the House of Representative of the 5 th , 6 th and 7 th Assembly also received these outrageous allowances and budgetary allocation.

Like Oliver Twist, our legislators will continue to ask for money to enable them have more than enough to share to their

people, since this is the only way they can retain their seats. We need to change our mentality of placing our financial burden on the shoulders of the legislators before asking them to cut down on their pay.

Our attitude is the reason why lawmakers and indeed all political office holders usually go to the length of dipping their hands into the national treasury just to have enough money to share. So, before we ask for a slash in salary, allowances and budgetary allocation to lawmakers, are we also ready to stop demanding Ramadhan, Sallah, Easter and Christmas gifts from them?

• Hussain Obaro, Ilorin, Kwara State

perfects its acts of bettering Lagosians for the good of all Lagosians and the economic benefit of Nigeria.

• Joe Igbokwe, Publicity Secretary, Lagos APC.

Still on Osun and Ben Bruce IR: I am surprised how people think in this country.

When foreign nations give aids to Nigeria, does it mean they do not have poor people in their society. So what is wrong with Ben Bruce donating his allowance to Osun workers?

Definitely seven months salary arrears is scandalous. Governor Rauf Aregbesola should tell us exactly what led to this because it goes beyond oil price fall. I cannot be convinced that seven months federal allocation put together cannot pay at least one month workers salary. It is perhaps this burden that informs Ben Bruce’s metaphor.

We should, in our comment, address the financial mismanagement that is the bane of Osun State and all other states in similar circumstances. Not whether the donation is to Osun or Bayelsa.

It’s Ben Bruce choice where he spends his money. It’s also the prerogative of Osun workers to either accept or reject the offer. Economics of hunger does not care where the succour comes.

Let’s rather place the problem in proper perspective which is the madness that characterises the management of state economies by governors. I have no interest in which party does what but whether what is done is right or wrong.

S

• Etokowo Owoh Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

21

COMMENTS

Our Girls; Educare Trust@21; President Buhari: We need a ‘Youth Centre’ in every ward, Pls

O

UR Girls are still missing since April 15 2014. We pray for their safe return.

A lesson from recent history about Educare Trust@21. From the late Tony 70s my family was a Marinho member of The Group, a social association of 30 families bringing up a generation of children in Ibadan spearheaded by the vision and uniting strands of Dr Funso Onafowokan and Dr Dele Fawole. Back in 1994, we smarted under the terrorism and coming darkness of the then one week old Abacha Regime- ‘a change’.

The exodus abroad which had started under Babangida as an economic refugee tide had become a flood with the addition of security refugees. The Abacha change motivated some additional members of the Group to get together in my sitting room every evening for six weeks. There we X-rayed the economic, agricultural, health and other problems associated with a maximum military regime. Having brainstormed on the low quality of everything including education in Nigeria under the military, we offered a raft of solutions. We wrote down nothing and remembered everything as we went ‘underground’ to implement various strategies for the survival of the citizens. In education it was decided to ‘do something’ to ‘change’ education. An NGO was needed as ‘Change Agent’ and Dr Toyosi, a distinguished private medical practitioner, agreed to be chairman only if I agreed to become the secretary. So 21 years ago, in 1994, a number of people held the inaugural meeting of the founding members and Educare Trust was born at the Department of Agricultural Biology, University of Ibadan on Thursday October 20, 1994. At that meeting, Professor Ayo Banjo generously pointed us in the right direction by saying that we should deal more with the foundation level of education than the tertiary education. Others at the first meeting included Dr Bayo Banjo, Engineer Palmer, Dr Mike Aken’Ova, Dr Dele Fawole and myself and Dr Raymond Zard who has remained the major pillar of support.

T

HE National Assembly is back to work after a twoweek recess the members embarked upon shortly after the 8th Assembly was inaugurated on June 9. Immediately after the inauguration, the elections of the principal officers for both the Upper and Lower houses of the assembly took place amidst controversies. While the controversy surrounding the election of Yakubu Dogara as the Speaker of the House of Representatives and his deputy seems to have abated, that of the Senate President and his deputy continued to generate acrimony in the polity. Not even the behind-the-scene moves to find a workable solution to the impasse have yielded any fruitful result.

The process through which Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu emerged as Senate President and Deputy Senate President respectively, have been faulted by the leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC. However, what seems to have compounded the problem is the coming on board of Ekweremadu as Deputy Senate President. The bone of contention is that the ‘selection’ of Ekweremadu, as Deputy Senate President may have given the party to which he belongs, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, an undue and probably, undeserved advantage in the emerging politics of change which the APC, as the ruling party at the centre, is desirous to enthrone in the country.

The PDP had monopolised power at the centre for 16 years, beginning from the advent of the Fourth Republic in 1999. It held on to power until barely one month ago, specifi-

Educare Trust’s first project was fixing the leaking roof of a primary school, Salvation Army Primary School, Yemetu, Ibadan at N360. Since then, the Trust has spent over N60m of its members’ funds and countless hours playing both grassroots on-hands and leadership roles in uplifting members of society showing that much can be achieved with little provided the will is strong.

After a couple of years of visiting schools for programmes and projects, the absence of a youth-friendly, edutainment (ET) centre in Nigeria was obvious as was the need to help fill the ‘ignorance gap’ about non-school subject material. At the time the National Museum at Alalubosa, Ibadan dealt only with the ancient and the ET centre was to complement it by being both Ancient and Modern -a change agent.

In 1997, the members set up The Educare Trust Youth Exhibition Centre (EYTC). It was in a space in Brick House, Bodija and the year’s rent was paid by Engineer Niran Fafowora.

Diana Johnson recruited our first employee, a bright young man Daniel Henshaw. On the principle that ‘a picture is worth 1,000 words’, the centre was equipped using material sourced from The Smithsonian and Welcome museums and exhibitions in the USA and UK; Thus a poster and wall chart exhibition was setup with education wall charts, display picture cards, Native American craft pieces, display boards, two aquaria and the first computer available to the youth in Ibadan and donated by Tunji Adepeju, brother of the late Kunle Adepeju killed by a stray bullet in front of Queens Hall UI back in 1971 when I was in UI. The ETYC targeted children, young adults, teachers and parents. It was to challenge their minds to learn and exchange ideas and ‘eliminate ignorance’. The exhibition centre is multi-focal, multidisciplinary and multi-ethnic to expose children and adults to their surroundings as well as the universe.

Since it was opened, the Educare Trust Exhibition Centre has been an ignored and neglected TEMPLATE begging for individual, groups, communities, government, YOU and corporate bodies to use the huge available resources and, especially in CSR, to replicate in every ward, in Nigeria in different sizes. This will keep youth occupied and educated in non-text book subjects and life-skills. So far, most of the millions of Nigerians visiting or aware of Educare Trust

and YOU have not taken up the ‘Challenge To Change The Educational Opportunities’ and spread the word and so millions are suffering ignorance and become prone to youth restiveness.

On January 2nd, 1999 the centre was relocated to space in Goshen Building run by Mrs Toyin Marinho, Coca-Cola, Ibadan. After 10 years it moved to Our Lady of Apostles Secondary School Odo-Ona in 2010 for two years. Then Educare Trust was offered a Youth Centre built by PZ Cussons Foundation at N10.5m and we had to find the land which we eventually got from the Akala Government and the C of O followed under the Ajimobi Government.

As Buhari, governors and other stakeholders ponder on solutions to youth restiveness and crime and plan for the changes in education, we offer a suggestion that ‘The Time of the Youth Centre’ as a powerful tool to change and empower the youth nationwide is NOW. All Nigeria’s 16,400 wards must have a Youth Centre, small or big, built by collective effort. You want a Youth Centre in your neighbourhood, don’t you? Replicate the success of Educare Trust@21.

• To be continued

‘As Buhari, governors and other stakeholders ponder on solutions to youth restiveness and crime and plan for the changes in education, we offer a suggestion that ‘The Time of the Youth Centre’ as a powerful tool to change and empower the youth nationwide is NOW. All Nigeria’s 16,400 wards must have a Youth Centre, small or big, built by collective effort’

APC, softly, softly cally, on May 29, when it vacated the scene after it was ignominiously upstaged in the presidential election held on March 28. What the APC cannot understand is why Ekweremadu who had served for eight years in the same position was able to stage a comeback with ease under the new dispensation as Deputy Senate President. To many political observers, it means that nothing has really changed.

All through the years the PDP was in control at the centre, the party never gave any chance to anybody outside its fold to taste power or even come near it at all. Also, they never pretended to run an inclusive or national government. It was a winner-takes-all type of arrangement throughout its period of power domination. This is probably why, to the APC and its teeming supporters, the present arrangement in the Senate appears not only to be absurd, but also quite unacceptable.

The unfolding scenario has, so far, put the APC in a quandary. Though the party had had to grudgingly accept what it could not change after a lot of fuss in the wake of the happenings in the senate, now, the party’s anticipated panacea for achieving lasting peace has met a brick wall. In its attempt to resolve the logjam in the Senate, the APC had proposed that Ahmad Lawan, its anointed candidate for the post of Senate President and George Akume, his deputy, who had both

‘The current development in the National Assembly should provide the necessary opportunity and ammunition for the leadership of the APC to review and appraise its strategies, more so now that they have transformed from being in opposition to being the ruling party’

lost out in the race, should become Chief Whip and Deputy Chief Whip respectively. But this has not gone down well with Saraki and his group who are sceptical that having the two rivals to the coveted Senate seat being so conspicuous in the Senate could pose a real danger of a deliberate ambush by those in the leadership of the party who are opposed to the present arrangement in the Upper House.

With these developments, it is now very clear that all is not well with the APC, the rainbow coalition of political interest groups that succeeded in ousting the behemoth PDP at the centre in the last election. The coalition was spear-headed by the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN. Other parties in the coalition were the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, the All Nigerian Peoples’ Party, ANPP and part of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA. There was also a splinter group of the PDP known as the New PDP, nPDP, which was put together by some disgruntled but ambitious members of the then-ruling PDP. The entrance of the nPDP with five serving PDP governors at that time as arrowheads, as well as a large number of PDP senators in tow, somehow, energised the coalition and completely altered the political equilibrium of the country.

It would be recalled that though the PDP had a sizeable number of heavyweights and moneybags including a good geographical spread, nevertheless, the party lost the last election because of the absence of internal democracy within its ranks. This was the biggest factor that instigated the large number of defections from the party before the elections. The major complaint was that the party had indulged in the imposition of candidates for elective offices nationwide. Unfortunately, just a few weeks after the new President,

Muhammadu Buhari, came to the saddle, the APC itself is embroiled in its first major test case as the ruling party.

Long before the National Assembly elections or selections took place, the APC had been engulfed in disagreements over who gets what. It is doubtful if any genuine move was, at any time, undertaken to harmonise all the contending interests in the party in order to forestall the ugly episode that later came to play in the affairs of the National Assembly. At any rate, the uproar that has greeted the elections at the National Assembly should not be allowed to destabilise the party.

In politics, there must be compromise and everybody must be carried along. Perhaps, if this had been done and/or carried out with sincerity of purpose, the mock elections conducted by the APC for the leadership positions in the National Assembly, which some of the members either boycotted or walked out of would not have been necessary.

And if it was done as a last resort, unfortunately, it did not produce any amicable end to the raging disagreement as probably envisaged by the proponents. As a matter of fact, the current sad episode could have been avoided altogether.

Politics is a game of wits and opportunities. Saraki and his supporters mainly from the PDP and a sprinkle of other senators only outwitted his opponents when he saw the golden opportunity to actualise his long-standing dream. It is his emergence as the Senate President that had a collateral effect on the election that took place in the Lower House. And since the President in his wisdom has declared the election of Saraki as constitutional but that the party’s decision could have been followed, what it means is that Buhari has tacitly endorsed the election of Saraki as Senate President.

Dele Agekameh Whichever way this development is viewed by the leadership of the APC, there is a lesson to be learnt.

The current development should provide the necessary opportunity and ammunition for the leadership of the APC to review and appraise its strategies, more so, now that they have transformed from being in opposition to being the ruling party.

It is certain that there are many contending groups and interests within the APC as a party. In the situation the party now finds itself, only wise counsel can help to douse the current tension that has the propensity to envelope the party and make nonsense of its hard-earned victory in the last election. The onus, therefore, is on the leadership of the party to properly harmonise the interests of the different groups under an acceptable formula that will ensure cohesion and lasting peace.

Above all, the principle of giveand-take should be allowed to prevail. The way and manner the APC navigates the current stormy waters, would possibly determine its survival as a ruling party.

For comments Text (only) to : 08058354382

22

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

COMMENTS ‘Re: 10 posers to NASS . Thank you Mr.Gbadegesin for the self-examining posers.

The NASS had the power and tactics to arrive at present remuneration . It was not copied along with the USA presidential system. Thus they should also have the common sense to review this bogus basic income . You can imagine Rep. Lasun who could not draft a single bill throughout the four years the 7th Assembly lasted suggesting that #150billion is not too much for the body. Is FIRS collecting appropriate tax at all from these ‘political contractors?’. How much did Mr. Moro and his consultants pay as tax from the revenue generated from that NIS recruitment? From Ladipo O .David .Gwagwalada’ •Buhari For Segun Gbedegesin Re: 10 posers for NASS. Good point. Keep it up sir. Anonymous I think Nigerian should ask our members these questions, let them give us the answers.

We need change. Anonymous ’10 posers for NASS’ God bless you. We need them on part time basis. Anonymous “10 posers for NASS” The long and short of the story is that: Only Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission should fix, regulate, review, remuneration of all the public office holders from the highest office of the President to the lowest office of the cleaner. Senators should never be allowed to fix remuneration for themselves or any other office. In fact, the senators’ offices should be expunged from the political system. House of Representatives to Executive is just adequate to run good governance in the system. Two (2) layers of governance. It will not only cut down cost but also remove bottle necks in the system. From Elder Gbadegesin Adeoye.

Sir, your ‘10 posers for NASS’ in The Nation was just like a mirror searching the minds of our legislators. The leadership should forward answers to the posers. May God bless you. Anonymous Dear Sir, your ’10 posers for NASS’ of Friday, June 19, 2015 refers. As long as reactionaries and ultraconservative elements are at the helm and dictating the pace in the National Assembly, I won’t be surprised if all of the posers are treated with scorn and spitefulness. I have started to be pessimistic since June 9. I pray that I’m disappointed over my view.

From Olu Ajayi, Abeokuta.

10 posers for NASS in your column made interesting reading. It is the best comment on change since. I pray you live long. Amen.

From Alhaji A Abubakar I just read your write-up now on the back page of The nation. May God Almighty continue to bless and use you for His glory and our Nation. From Noah O.A, Lagos.

Well done sir with your detailed thought provoking posers raised. I recommend a maximum of usa $150,000/per annum total pay for any nass member as opposed to $2,18m current pay. It has been too outrageous, that’s why the cover-up eversince.

Thanks. From Engr Jm Ajuwon (JP) We need a law that will not allow ex-political office holders like Senator David Mark to contest again. Anonymous Mr Gbadegesin, you are carrying “change” too far. ‘Change’ is for other people. It can never include modifying the salaries and allowances of NASS members. We need wardrobe allowance. Appearance shows who you are. We are Senators and Reps of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We need to dress well.

We have to recoup our investments. Do you know some of us sold choice properties in Maitama and Asokoro (Abuja), in Ikoyi, Banana Island and Lekki Phase I, in Lagos to fund our elections? Please, put your searchlight for ‘change’ elsewhere. Nigerians are happy with their legislators. You journalists should stop putting your nose in our pot of pepper soup! Anonymous The first step taken by our legislators does not portend good tidings. Any lawmaker that defies his party and align with conservative opposition cannot implement in good faith most of the points raised in your article. The evil alliance was to perpetuate the oppressive privileges. Sanity of the body depends on the sanity of the head. President Buhari on the long run may have to depend on the public to implement his programme through mass action backed by the civil society. From Tunde Bankole.

Re-10 posers for NASS. You did a very good job on your write-up. You hit them below the belt, in truth if they’ll listen. However, you

are expected Sir to do a - 10 poser request for both the Executive (Federal Government and states) as well as the Judiciary ( lower, high and the supreme court). We can then fully assess the government in the next four years.

Again, you are appreciated in the above writeup for your love for the masses and the downtrodden. From Lanre Oseni.

Thank you for your wonderful piece, but I want to say that National Assembly is not an agent of change, rather it is a watch dog of change, and that change should come from the presidency as a policy, and if the presidency thinks that National assembly’s cut in their remuneration is part of the Change he promised Nigerians then. Let the President write letter to the National Assembly requesting that their remunerations be cut, then Nigerians will know that really he who sends a child to carry a tortoise will give him water to wash his hands. From Nnanna, Enugu Sir, you’ve done very well in your today’s write-up in The Nation newspaper. More grease to your elbow. From Yakub Mustapha Ayinde President Buhari’s government stand discredited for accepting to work with Saraki and Dogara against the interest of the party and majority of Nigerians. Can we now say that Buhari would have accepted the PDP presidential candidacy if he was offered ? Those who doubted the sincerity of APC’s change slogan had been proven right. Mr President, is this the change we voted for? Certainly not.

From Alhaji Adeboye Lawal.

Thanks for the piece 1O posers for NASS if I may ask how long have you been sermonising. Sir it’s the foundation that is faulty. No amount of sermon will correct it.

However, for the NASS, those God want to kill, he first made deaf. They have invested to massively therefore they just have to recoup the capital cum interest and adjust for inflation and for unborn generation. Anonymous For Olatunji Dare You appeared to be blowing hot and cold in your “Re-thinking Nigerian political parties” piece of June 13. One major drawback to the country’s political system to date, is the muchtalked “a winner takes all” mentality still in operation here. Buhari’s refusal to impose the Senate president preferred by the ruling APC leadership on us like others before him did, is a welcome development and not a sign of weakness on his part. Godfatherism just has to be done away with in our political system for good. How legitimate the process by which Saraki/others emerged, and how qualified are they for the posts, should be considered more important than the party or region of their origin. Party decentralisation however seemingly attractive in our polity this time, shouldn’t take precedence over leadership by merit. Nigerians voted for APC in the interest of Nigerians, and not for APC and its leadership to toss us up and down the way they like. From Emmanuel Egwu, Of a truth, no constitution, however flawless or sacrosanct, can work in the country if the operators remain corrupt and would always want to govern according to the dictates of their temper, instead of leading by the rule of law. Conversely, an imperfect constitution such as ours could easily produce the best people-oriented government and for the advancement of the country, if the managers of the existing order would behave differently and lead by the rule of law. But this hasn’t been the case with us here. Our leaders, it’s common knowledge, would rather want to capitalise on the defects in the constitution to commit all manner of impunity against the people, besides the debilitating structural imbalances in the country, which all added, make the constitution amendments quite imperative. There are obviously so many inadequacies in the constitution as it stands today, that can’t be effectively dealt with without effecting the needed amendments first. Anony-

mous Democracy day observed on May 29 as an alternative to June 12 because June 12 gave birth to democracy few Nigerians are enjoying now. Senator Saraki emerged as Senate president in a controversial manner is very unfortunate and sad despite allegation of mismanagement of funds level led against him. It is unacceptable and a slap in the face of other senators. Anti-graft agencies are not doing enough to jail some politicians who empty the treasury. From Chika Nnorom.

For Tunji Adegboyega Re: Nigeria’s own ‘Rotten Parliament’? Did it take the Kaduna and Kano executives a month to slash their pay by 50 percent when they are ready to serve? No. With pays like the national, state assemblies and many state executives’ (except Kaduna and Kano) states), some governors would take jamboree to Mr President for ‘bail-out’. From which purse?

From Lanre Oseni.

Tunji, well done for your messages. Thank God we saw our president reading The Nation, so he too hears. Please all these Anambra emergency millionaire politicians are still patrolling with armed escorts. Check where the Ubahs, the Offors are going in the villages you would think it is Buhari that is passing.

From Innocent, Nnewi.

It is change deferred. The new leadership of the National Assembly has shown it is not different from the PDP. Anonymous.

Tunji, should our legislators be clothed by us at all? If we get houses for them, they should furnish the houses themselves. Above all, they should become part time. From Pastor Remi.

There is no explanation from the leadership of the National Assembly that Nigerians expect other than that the jumbo pay be cut in the interest of majority of Nigerians who are in abject poverty. At the country’s age, Nigerians should not be living from hand to mouth; the country should not be without infrastructural development. It is uncalled-for that our legislators should be collecting such jumbo pay. Nigerians should come out to condemn this. From Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia, Abia State.

I was a member of the then Ondo State House of Assembly in the Second Republic.

My monthly salary and allowances inclusive was under N2,000. No oversight function; no constituency projects. Ajasin showed good example. The present salaries and allowances of all legislators in Nigeria should be reduced by 75 percent and there should be no constituency project and oversight functions. Hon Bode Thomas Babatola, Efon Local Government, Efon Alaaye, Ekiti State.

In Nigeria today, one of the most guarded secrets is the total emoluments of our legislators. They disagree along party lines, but they never disagree to the extent that any of them would spill the beans on their total take home pay. Just last week, they almost brought the roof down on the whole nation in their quest for the leadership of the National Assembly. This week they are all united and speaking with one voice when it came to raping the nation’s treasury and robbing the common man. From Simon Oladapo, Ogbomoso.

It is very unfortunate that those that our legislators are the same people causing abnormalities in the country over their personal aggrandizement. How on earth can a civil servant who has not received his or her N18,000 salary per month be happy when a law maker is taking over half a million naira for wardrobe allowance? Is this sweet melody to the ears? It is very painful that our leaders are still living in the past, contrary to the change they all clamoured for. If by now the leadership of the National

• Saraki Assembly is still helpless, I think serious prayer is needed. From Hamza Ozi Momoh, Apapa, Lagos.

For Ambassador Fafowora I appreciate your write-up, “Reducing the cost of governance”. Our problem is our legislators in the green and red chambers. I pray that Buhari would achieve the change that all Nigerians require. He should cut his own pay and erase all other allowances, cars, aides, ministers, etc. Workers who are 60 years and above should retire in all the ministries, corporations, the judiciary, etc. Then, cut down the number of workers in all the establishments; pay them up to start jobs on their own. Look at Osun, workers in the civil service only consume over 70 percent of the federal allocation to the state. Pity Ogbeni Aregbesola dearly! Let the old hands go; then employ new hands , create farm settlements and give loans to new graduates to start own jobs. Our legislators should not block Buhari.

Nigerians are watching them. I wish Nigerians the best of luck. Anonymous.

It is necessary for President Buhari to cut the pay of political appointees; he should also reduce the number of ministries to save cost for development. What we need now is developmental infrastructure and not ’stomach infrastructure’. From Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia, Abia State.

Sir, your analysis is analytical and to the point. Our problem is deep-rooted and part of it abundantly provided in the very edition of The Nation in which your brilliant article was published. Sir, turn your mind to pages 2, 3 and 6, and see mindboggling scandals. A nation that allows such scandals go unpunished cannot record meaningful progress. For instance, the RMAFC and the Speaker of the House of Representatives did not see anything wrong in billions of naira allocation to the lawmakers when most of the states owe months of unpaid salaries. Buhari cannot solve these problems; we are definitely heading towards a class revolution. It can only be delayed for some time as this ruling class is incapable of reforming itself. From Tunde Bankole.

“Reducing the cost of governance in Nigeria” is a very good piece. But to do that will involve a silent revolution of all the citizens in case the National Assembly refuses to reduce its outrageous allowances and forget wardrobe allowance and constituency projects, etc.

Thank you. From Wale Adeoye.

Thanks sincerely for your article. Your concern for the less privileged, especially public service salary earners is worthy of note.

It is however expected, sir, that people of your caliber will continue to mount pressure on the new government to make matters affecting the common people of utmost interest. From Gboyega Roberts, Akure, Ondo State.

Well done for your well researched suggestions/advice. God bless you.

Anonymous.

God bless you for this piece. To deal with reality, a good citizen needs to be worried about the situation of our state. Equally, Nigeria’s leaders need a rethink on this change of attitude expected from them, by reducing their outrageous and expensive allowances and others. They should perform their functions with a high sense of honour and exhibit the highest level of professional excellence in all their official engagements without being extravagant. The functions of law makers should be on part time as was done in the past.

Ninety-five percent of the people who were born the same way as our leaders are wallowing in poverty simply because they are not among the ruling class. Mr President should deal with this matter urgently. From Amidu Saheed, Ifo, Ogun State.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

25

BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net

Chemstar expands to Turkey, Ghana

By Daniel Adeleye

P

AINT manufacturers, Chemstar Paint Industry, said it has extended its operations to Ghana and Turkey.

Its Group Managing Director, Remi Awode, made this known during the firm’s yearly GMD/ CE Annual Merit Awards at its premises in Alagbado, a Lagos suburb.

He also said the firm would take its products to other parts of Africa and become a pan-African brand.

He said the quality of the products of the firm has made it the choice of both corporate and individual customers in the country and abroad.

He noted that the company started 20 years ago from a room and parlour with just two workers, adding that the company has grown, producing over 27 brands of paints with over 1,000 workers.

“We have taken the business to Ghana and Turkey. We are not resting on our oars as we intend to become a preferred pan-African brand.

“I have passion for the industry. I studied Industrial Chemistry and I worked with a paints company for about two years, where I developed interest in paints production. I love what I’m doing here. The company is also blessed with well-qualified and motivated staff. So we work as one big family,” he said.

He lauded the workers for their commitment, hard work and dedication to duty, adding that without these qualities, the firm would not have gone this far.

Awode said some workers excelled in the last financial year. The awards came in categories: Category One was for staff members who served for 10 years.

Fifteen staff smiled home with LED TV sets, chest-sized refrigerator and cash prizes.

Category Two has two staff members who served for 15 years. They went home with a DVD home-theatre system, an LED TV set, a refrigerator and cash prizes.

Commercial banks are not manufacturing-friendly as their interest rates are usually very high; therefore, commercial banks remain a major challenge to the sector. Even the Bank of Industry’s (BoI) framework, which pegs interest rate at nine per cent, only finances machinery acquisition; it does not cater for working capital.

-MAN President, Dr Frank Jacobs

Unilever’s N43b tender offer closes tomorrow

T

HE ongoing tender offer by Unilever Overseas Holdings, the United kingdom-based foreign core investor in Unilever Nigeria, for the purchase of shareholdings of the minority shareholders in Unilever Nigeria closes tomorrow.

In a transaction initially valued at N43 billion or £144.5 million, Unilever Overseas Holdings is seeking to increase its equity stake in the Nigerian company from 50.04 per cent up to a maximum of 75 per cent by buying additional shares from minority shareholders. The tender offer seeks to acquire about 942.42 million ordinary shares in Unilever Nigeria at a price of N45.50 per share in cash.

Unilever Nigeria’s share price rose by 1.11 per cent on Monday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to equal the offer price of N45.50 per share.

The tender offer, which was scheduled initially to close on Wednesday, June 10, was ex-

By Taofik Salako

tended tillThursday, June 25.

The parties to the tender offer said the extension was to give shareholders ample opportunity to consider the tender offer, citing the disruption created by the fuel scarcity during the period of the offer.

Nigerian minority retail shareholders have criticised the offer as self-serving and unfair.

Shareholders’ leaders said they would mobilise against the tender offer, describing it as a disservice and another way to sideline Nigerians from the benefits of the company they had helped to nurture with their funds and patronage.

Shareholders said besides the unattractive offer price, giving the foreign investor undue control could short-change the minority shareholders citing the voluntary delisting of Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) by the foreign core investors, who used their majority

shareholdings to push through delisting of the iconic company.

But Unilever Overseas Holdings B.V, in a statement signed by its director Richard Hazell, said it was making the additional share acquisition as part of long-term strategic plan by the conglomerate as it believes that Nigeria offers significant growth potential.

“The Unilever Group has had a major presence in Nigeria for many years and continues to believe that the country offers significant growth potential. This makes Nigeria a strategic long term investment priority for Unilever Overseas. Globally, the Unilever Group is focused on investing in the foods, household and personal care categories and the long heritage and great brands of Unilever Nigeria in these categories in Nigeria make it attractive for Unilever Overseas to increase its holding in Unilever Nigeria, while maintaining its

stock exchange listing,” Unilever stated in the statement enclosed in the tender offer.

President, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), Sir Sunny Nwosu, said the tender offer is another way of taking control of Nigerians’ shares and it would detract from Nigerians’ ability to benefit from the wealth creation from their national and personal resources.

According to him, shareholders and other stakeholders need to look beyond the metrics of pricing, procedures and technicality of such tender offer to real national issue of economic wealth creation, participation and empowerment.

“I am totally against it, and the regulators should sit down and review the proposal. If they can stop GlaxoSmithKline from such transaction, I don’t see reason why they shouldn’t take a sec-

•Chairman, Lagos Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), Mr Babatunde Fowler (right) speaking during his visit to Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa (right) and his deputy, Hon Wasiu Eshinlokun-Sanni.

IMF plans risk-based approach on money laundering HE International Monetary Fund (IMF) is planning a risk-based approach to Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/ CFT) supervision in Nigeria, Acting Director, Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), Francis Oka-Philips Usani, has said.

At the workshop by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) on AML/CFT regimes in Nigeria, he said the determination to tackle the menace has resulted in the development of similar procedures across

T

By Collins Nweze

all regulatory authorities as well as the financial intelligence unit that involves the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the National Insurance Commission and the NFIU. Usani, who spoke on the theme: “New international initiatives in combating money laundering”, said the Presidential Committee and the agencies are at the fore of the national risk assessment to provide a basis for further developing the overall AML/

FRSC, multinationals fight over governance code - P 26

CFT regime and strategic framework.

He said more than 20 African countries, including Nigeria, have ratified the United Nations Convention against corruption, Article 14, which deals with money-laundering prevention.

“The convention calls for all states to implement a regulatory and supervisory regime which minimises the possibility of money laundering through customer identification, reporting of suspicious transactions and record keeping,” he said.

He explained that there is

also a recommendation which requires that states establish methods to monitor the movement of cash and negotiable instruments across borders.

“Like most of the other regional and global initiatives, the Convention calls all signatory states to criminalise the act of money laundering,” he said.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in October, 2013 removed Nigeria from the list of countries identified as jurisdictions with significant deficiencies in their AntiMoney Laundering and

CBN battles to save naira, foreign reserves - P28

Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regimes.

This came on the heels of the 2012 and 2013 amendments of the MLPA, 2011 and the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2011.

The global anti-money laundering body gave its countenance to Nigeria’s significant progress in improving its AML/CFT regime and noted that the country had established the legal and regulatory framework to meet its commitments in its Action Plan regarding the strategic deficiencies that the FATF evaluators had identified previously.

ond look at this,” Nwosu said.

He berated Nigerian capital market professionals rooting for such acquisitions, noting that they were putting their personal interests above the interest and benefit of shareholders and capital market.

Alhaji Gbadebo Olatokunboh, a founding member of the Nigeria Shareholders Solidarity Association (NSSA) and shareholders’ activist, said there were no incentives in the tender offer and it could lead to future regrets for shareholders.

Chevron to divest from OMLs 86, 88

By Emeka Ugwuanyi

C

HEVRON Nigeria Limited has started the process of divesting its 40 per cent interests in oil mining leases (OMLs) 86 and 88, located in shallow waters of the Niger Delta Basin.

The American oil giant, it was learnt, has invited some Nigerian oil and gas firms to offer bids for its stakes in the oil blocks. OML 86 contains the Apoi fields; the largest being North Apoi with producing capacity of 3,500 barrels of oil per day (bopd).

According to Africa Oil+Gas Report, OML 86 also holds Funiwa with 1,300 bopd, Sengana and Okubie fields.

One recent discovery - Buko, straddles Shell Nigeria operated oil prospecting licence (OPL) 286 and is either on trend with, or even on the same structure as the HB field in OPL 286. OML 88 holds the Pennington and the Middleton fields, as well as the undeveloped condensate discovery, Chioma field, it added.

On completion of the sale, Chevron would have sold off all the legacy shallow water assets it inherited when it purchased Texaco in 1999. Between 2013 and 2015, Chevron sold its stakes in five acreages, two of them, OMLs 83 and 85, being former Texaco Nigeria assets. Chevron’s largest producing asset in Nigeria, Agbami, is from that turn- of –the- century merger with Texaco; this deepwater field alone produces 250,000 bopd, about half of Chevron’s total operated crude oil production in Nigeria.

Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc recently acquired 40 per cent working interest in oil mining lease (OML) 53, onshore north eastern Niger Delta from Chevron Nigeria Limited. Seplat also acquired 56.25 per cent of the share capital of Belemaoil Producing Limited, a Nigerian special purpose vehicle that has 40 per cent interest in OML 55, located in the swamp of south eastern Niger Delta, previously held

by Chevron Nigeria Limited.

Raising renewable energy entrepreneurs - P38

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

26

THE NATION

BUSINESS MONEY

e-mail: money@thenationonlineng.net

FRC, multinationals fight over corporate governance code

M

ULTINATIONAL companies have picked holes with the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) over certain sections of the proposed National Code of Corporate Governance (NCCG) under review.

The Managing Director, FRC, Jim Obazee, said the firms are kicking against some sections of the proposed code, especially the provision of joint auditors proposal by the Council. The Council has inserted a proviso that where one auditor is a foreigner, there must be a Nigerian auditor working alongside with him.

The draft code also stipulates that if your turnover is not less than N10 billion, or your market capitalisation is not less than N5 billion, you should have joint auditors.

But from what we received so far, some interest group that have written, especially the multinational firms, are asking: Why do you want joint audit?

“For the auditors, if one of them is an international firm, where one is an alien, the other firm must be a

Stories by Collins Nweze

Nigerian company. And, we said, and we said the Nigerian firm must not have a partner that is an alien.

Our agenda is not only to generate employment for Nigerians, but to also ensure that Nigerians are also trained. Every government agency must pursue an agenda that says that Nigerians are training and gainfully employed. They should have technical support,” Obazee said.

Obazee said the NCCG is also stipulating a five-year mandatory rotation for external auditors posted to oversee companies’ accounts.

He said the new rule on auditors, which is contained in the NCCG document, is meant to ensure that the auditors do not become used to the company.

“The NCCG code contains a fiveyear mandatory rotation for external auditors. This is because we discovered that after five years as an external auditor to a company, many of the auditors become part of the company and may not achieve the desired result,” he said.

Obazee said Nigeria boasts of six different persuasive codes issued by

six different regulators to meet the need of the entities they regulate.

He said the codes were being applied by the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, he National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), The National Pension Commission (PenCom), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Corporate Affairs Commission and Nigerian Communication Commission.

He however said modern society believes that the era of very weak and persuasive corporate governance codes was long gone due to stiff competing environment for foreign direct investment; of which binding regulation is a major factor being considered by investors and stakeholders, hence the need for new code.

He said provisions had been made for the development and enforcement of a National Code of Corporate Governance in the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria Act No. 6, 2011.

He said Section 50 of the FRC Act, 2011 provides that the objectives of the Directorate of Corporate

• From left: Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Mr. Jibril Aku, handing over keys to Toyota Corolla car donated to the Ikoyi Passport Office to Deputy Comptroller of Immigration, Ikoyi Passport Office, Mrs Modupe Anyalechi and Assistant Comptroller-General, Nigeria Immigration Service, Zone A, Lagos, Mr. N. A. Ibrahim.

Why CBN ordered banks, MMOs to institute mobile wallet sending money to THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) fraud desk ac-count in the bank or account in the has ordered deposit money banks, Mobank sending money to mobile walbile Money Operators (MMOs), switches and all payment service providers to establish electronic fraud desks to enable the institutions check rising cases of fraud in the subsector.

The apex bank's Director, Bank-ing and Payments Systems Department, Dipo Fatokun, said the establishment of the new industry desk followed submissions to the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF) and consultation with the deposit money banks as well as electronic payments service providers.

The new desk, Fatokun said, would set up effective mechanisms for receiving and responding promptly to fraud alerts, to help manage and reduce electronic payments fraud in the banking industry.

In a circular to all stakeholders the CBN gave all banks and e-payment plat-forms July 1 deadline to set up and staff a functioning fraud desk. He noted that the staff of the desks must be trained on emerging fraud trends on various electronic payments channels, while stating that defaulting banks risk serious sanctions.

While speaking at the unveiling of

By Collins Nweze

the 2014 yearly report of the NeFF, with a call for sustained innovative efforts against cybercrime, Fatokun said it has become imperative that an ef-fective mechanism for receiv-ing and responding promptly to fraud alerts be set up within the banking industry, towards managing and reducing suc-cessful electronic payments frauds.

He said "the mobile money space started in Nige-ria just about four years ago in 2011, and currently we have licensed about 21 mobile money operators."

He noted that it is not right to say that "we are not making progress, but it will be right to say that our expectations on mobile money has not fully been met and probably be-cause we are a little bit ambitious in setting the targets."

He added: "Each transac-tion in mobile money runs into billion, in fact, more than N5 billion every year, but what we have noticed is that most of the transactions in mobile money is either subscriptions, payment for subscriptions and remittances, maybe the

let," he noted.

The Group Managing Director (GMD) /Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Diamond Bank, Uzoma Dozie, said cybercrime has become worrisome and dominating global financial discourse, as perpetrators get more sophisticated in their approach.

For him, the underline ideology for cyber security is to provide relevant strategy and framework against cyber threat, as well as secure the business in the advent of attack and nurture the same cyber.

However, the circular stated that the desk would provide, among other services, support to customers on electronic fraud with a minimum of 10 dedicated phone lines, manned and available at all times, to handle calls directed from con-tact centre for fraud alerts and complaints. The desk would also log on all customer fraud alerts and complaints and redirect them to the appropriate authorities in line with internally predefined path, while preparing and sub-mitting reports regularly to the Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System (NIBSS) on fraud in-formation.

Governance shall be to develop principles and practices of corporate governance ; promote the highest standards of corporate governance; promote public awareness about corporate governance principles and practices; on behalf of Council, act as the national coordinating body responsible for all matters pertaining to corporate governance and promote sound financial reporting and accountability based on true and fair financial statements duly audited by competent independent Auditors.

Obazee said the Council shall enforce and approve enforcement of compliance with accounting, auditing, corporate governance and financial reporting standards in Nigeria”.

He said the code will also address socio-economic issues including corruption and lack of corporate independence.

“It is also an opportunity to raise the bar in the public and private sectors so that directors are personally accountable for their actions and inactions. The committee completed this assignment in the last quarters of 2014. This was the reason the annual Financial Reporting Summit, organised by our Council in December 2014, concentrated on issues of corporate governance,” he said.

“We are delighted to inform you that the NCCG has been finalised and has been exposed for comments from stakeholders for 30 days effective from April 15, 2015. The deadline for receiving comments on the Draft NCCG is 14th May, 2015. A public hearing shall hold on the subject on 19th May, 2015,” he said.

He said the NCCG is in three parts, namely, Private Sector, Public Sector and Not-for-Profit.

RenCap lowers Nigeria’s GDP to 3.4%

R

ENAISSANCE Capital (RenCap), an investment and research firm, said Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) this year could fall to 3.4 per cent against the targeted 4.5 per cent.

RenCap’s Sub-Saharan Africa Economist, Yvonne Mhango, said in a report titled: “Nigeria GDP: How low could growth go”, said that the most common way of measuring GDP is the production approach, which shows the industry composition of growth.

She said the expenditure approach is less common, because of problems with availability, timing, valuation and coverage of expenditure source data.

“The business registry is an important source of expenditure data as a large amount of retailing and consumer services output goes to household consumption, and a high share of building output goes to fixed investment. In Nigeria, a high share of businesses is in the informal sector and so is not covered by the business register,” it said.

She said Nigeria’s rebased GDP, measured via expenditure is only available over a short period, implying limited history to forecast from.

“However, when we consider the impact of lower oil and activity-stalling elections on expenditure, we think there is significant downside risk to our 2015 growth projection of 4.5 per cent. In particular, we see household consumption – which accounts for 70 per cent of GDP – slowing sharply in 2015, mainly due to negative real wage growth,” she said.

Mhango said the proposed cut in

the 2015 budget oil price to N53/ per barrel against N77.5/per barrel in 2014, means government consumption, which accounts for eight per cent of GDP, could be slashed by one-third.

“We believe this implies a wagefreeze (at best) for government workers. That, coupled with rising inflation, signals that negative real wage growth could deepen. In addition to a fall in demand for imported consumer goods owing to naira weakness, the consumer may also be hit by a VAT hike to 10 per cent against five per cent,” she said.

Continuing, she said: “The 2015 budget presented to the National Assembly in December, proposed slashing capex by two-thirds to N387 billion (0.4 per cent of GDP). The recent cut in the proposed budget oil price suggests capex could fall further. This implies a decline in business for government-dependent contractors. Moreover, some corporates have announced that they are slashing their 2015 capex plans; Flour Mills, for one, plans to halve its capex.

All this indicates a fall in fixed investment (15 per cent of GDP), which is negative for real GDP growth”.

She said a slowdown in net exports is likely to be tempered by a weakernaira induced decline in imports.

“This should mitigate the fall in exports. Given the headwinds expenditure is likely to face in the short term, we think GDP growth could turn out softer than our initial projections. We thus downwardly revise our real GDP growth forecasts to 3.4 per cent and four per cent in 2015 and 2016, respectively, from 4.5 per cent and five per cent previously,” she said.

Western Union, Skype partner

W

ESTERN Union, a global money transfer company, has announced an agreement that allows Skype customers to replenish their accounts at more than 50,000 Western Union Agent locations in the United States.

A report by payments.com said Skype Credit, the payment service that enables calls to mobile and landlines worldwide — as well as text messages to mobile — on the Microsoft-owned video, voice chat and messaging service, can top up the Western Union Quick Collect service.

The service facilitates consumerto-business payments. While Skype-to-Skype calls are free, Skype Credit is required to call landline or mobile numbers.

Western Union President for the Americas and European Union, Odilon Almeida, said: “The relationship is a logical one, as both Western

Union and Skype have a mission to connect people when they are apart.

Western Union is optimising its money transfer system to link cash and digital for money movement and payments across the globe. We are driving our innovation on the back of what our customers want. Skype is a classic example; where customers can enjoy full digital access with a walk-in payment option.”

Director of Business Development, Microsoft, Enrico Noseda, said: “Through Skype, Western Union customers can stay in touch with loved ones to let them know about money transfers and share everyday experiences.”

Western Union’s Skype partnership comes a few weeks after it announced a new partnership with Hyperwallet, and a few months after Western Union announced it would accept Apple Pay at several flagship locations.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

27

MONEY

CBN battles to save naira, foreign reserves Last week’s meeting with bank chief executives and their treasurers to preserve the naira and the foreign exchange reserves shows how determined the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is to achieve exchange rate stability. Although the apex bank acted to save the naira and foreign reserves against falling oil prices, many doubt that this measure will do the magic in an importdependent economy like Nigeria’s, writes COLLINS NWEZE. eral Reserve was supplying a total of about $85 billion into the U.S. economy monthly, through asset purchases. This programme came to an end last October, thereby significantly reducing the supply of US dollars in the global economy.

Another difficulty, which has contributed to the continuing depletion of Nigeria’s foreign reserves, and its capacity to defend the naira is that the combination of a fall in oil prices and the end of the Quantitative Easing programme by the US Federal Reserve have led to a depreciation of most currencies in the world against the dollar.

I

T was long expected, but when it finally came, it was below expectations. Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, President, Association of Bureau De Change of Nigeria (ABCON), said of last week’s closed door meeting between the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), bank chief executive officers and their treasurers.

The meeting focused on issues surrounding CBN’s policy on the foreign exchange market, the conditions of the naira and foreign exchange reserves and the need to review the tight control on the forex market.

It also discussed JPMorgan’s threat to eject Nigeria from its Government Bond Index (GBI-EM) by the year-end unless it restores liquidity to currency markets in a way that allows foreign investors tracking the benchmark to transact business with minimal hurdles.

The CBN had imposed tight controls on the foreign exchange market in February to curb speculation on the naira and save the dwindling foreign reserves, which closed 2013 at $43.6 billion, about $500 million below the $44.1 billion recorded on December 28, 2012.

The reserves have dropped to $29 billion.

The CBN set its exchange rate peg at N198 to the dollar in February but has changed it to N196.90 against the dollar last week, with dealer, saying the tweaking was not a reflection of the market.

Before setting the restrictions meant to protect the reserves, the apex bank had been battling to prop up the naira after a sharp fall in the price of oil, which triggered a selloff in assets by foreign investors. The CBN has also fixed the rate at which banks can buy dollars from oil companies.

But Bureau De Change (BDC) operators said the meeting would achieve nothing positive because its members and other critical stakeholders in the forex market were shut out of the discussions.

Gwadabe told The Nation the CBN shut out critical stakeholders from the meeting, hence, it will be difficult for the outcome of the meeting to impact on the forex market fundamentals.

He said the exclusion of the nearly 3,000 BDCs and manufacturers made them feel shortchanged on a policy that will directly impact on their businesses and economy.

He said the CBN felt that only 22 commercial banks were needed to fix the mess in the forex market and falling foreign reserves, but it actually needs the collaboration of stakeholders.

“They CBN always see us as small players.

But remembers we have nearly 3,000 BDCs, meeting the import demands of over 170 million people. Today, almost every Nigerian is an importer and we are the ones meeting their forex demands.

“I don’t see any sense in making a discussion that will affect the lives of over 170 million private. We feel short-changed. The CBN needs to know that the discussions should be a two-way process. Even manufacturers should not be left out,” he said.

CBN Spokesman Ibrahim Mu’azu said the outcome of the meeting would be published this week, but he refused to comment on BDCs’ exclusion.

Analysts said the battle to restore exchange rate stability had been long. Although the naira closed at N197 to the dollar at the interbank last week, it still exchanges at N210 at the parallel market and has remained in that threshold for nearly six weeks.

At its weakest, the naira sold at a record high of N235.60 to the dollar, a decline of 30 per cent since November. The naira also dropped to N220 at the parallel market before the apex bank closed the Retail Dutch Auction System (RDAS) in February.

Gwadabe said though some of the steps taken by the CBN have helped the market remove illegitimate transactions, he urged the regulator to continue to carry stakeholders along.

Also, Sub-Saharan Africa Economist at Renaissance Capital and co-author of the Fastest

Previous steps taken by CBN

• CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele

• Gwadabe

Billion Yvonne Mhango, said the CBN has shown commitment to dealing with the dwindling fortune of the naira.

“While Nigeria cannot do much to influence the oil price, the combination of measures sends a powerful signal to all stakeholders on the CBN’s intent to do what it can to preserve macroeconomic stability,” she said.

Head, Equities Market at FBN Capital, Olubunmi Ashaolu, said the CBN has, by the policy, an objective on its monetary policy. He said the stock exchange positive reaction was an indication that local and foreign investors now understand where the naira is heading.

“As long as there is clarity and good investment climate, the equities market will benefit,” he said.

He advised that such action would make Nigeria’s investment climate more attractive to foreign investors.

ket body said it would sell dollars only at N197, a move that amounts to a de facto devaluation of the currency.

This policy is part of what the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, promised to stabilise the currency. He listed some of the challenges he is facing defending the naira, adding that the naira/dollar exchange rate has been under pressure over the last couple of months.

Explaining the difficulties in managing exchange rate stability, the CBN boss raised a poser: “What then can a Central Bank do to react to such a situation of falling reserves and pressurised exchange rates?

“One course of action would be to continue to deplete the foreign exchange reserves in trying to keep the official rate at a stable level. But there are several difficulties with this option.”

He said regardless of its critical nature in an import-dependent country, such as Nigeria, the exchange rate operates like any other ‘price’ in the market.

The dollar/naira exchange rate is simply the ‘price’ of dollars in naira. The forces of demand and supply, he said, determine its movement. “When demand rises, the price rises. When supply falls, the price also rises as well. In recent times, Nigeria has faced a perfect storm of simultaneous dwindling supply of dollars and rise in demand. Both forces have led to a rise in the price of dollars, that is, significant reduction in supply of dollars to the market, even with constant output of crude oil production,” he said.

The other global factor, which has significantly reduced the supply of dollars in the market is related to the end of Quantitative Easing by the United States (US) Federal Reserve.

At the height of the programme, the Fed-

CBN’s moves Some of the steps taken by the CBN to fix the naira and reserves include fixing the rate at which banks can buy dollars from International Oil Companies (IOCs) at not more than N2 spread to its clearing rate, dealers said. The policy is the bank’s latest attempt to prop up the naira hit by the drop in oil prices. The CBN has pledged to stabilise the naira and has been deploying various measures. Dealers said the apex bank did not issue a formal circular on the directive, but instead resorted to persuasion, adding that the total outstanding dollar demand of about $600 million was not met.

Oil companies usually sell dollars through auction to lenders to buy naira to fund their local operations. The CBN has also scrapped its bi-weekly currency auctions and a mar-

‘Analysts said the battle to restore exchange rate stability had been long. Although the naira closed at N197 to the dollar at the interbank last week, it still exchanges at N210 at the parallel market and has remained in that threshold for nearly six weeks’

The CBN has directed that all importations involving electronics, finished products, information technology, generators, telecommunication equipment, and invisible transactions will henceforth be funded from the interbank foreign exchange market only.

In a circular to authorised dealers, CBN Director, Trade & Exchange Department, O. I. Gbadamosi, told stakeholders that the policy was to maintain the stability in forex market and strengthen the various policy measures, already initiated by the CBN. On the development, Head, Africa Strategy at Standard Chartered in London, Samir Gadio, said: “The importation of electronics, finished products, information technology, generators, telecommunication equipment, and invisible transactions importations shall henceforth be limited to the interbank market only.

“We’re seeing more foreign-exchange flexibility. Perhaps they do not want to burn FX reserves unnecessarily. It’s a risky strategy though as the market will now look for the topside of dollar-naira and also because the lower rates will reduce the incentive to hold naira fixed-income assets.”

BDCs policy Last June 23, the CBN, among others, raised the minimum capital requirement of BDCs to N35 million from N10 million. It raised the mandatory caution deposit to N35 million from $10,000.

Again, on July 7, the apex bank extended the deadline from July 15 to July 31, in response to appeals and intervention of the ABCON and both chambers of the National Assembly.

In a circular, CBN’s Director, Financial Policy and Regulation, Kelvin Amugo, said interest would be paid on the mandatory caution deposit of N35 million, based on the savings account rate. The CBN, Amugo said, would, on expiration of the deadline, cease to fund any BDC that failed to comply with the fresh requirements.

Naira crises complex The misfortune of the naira seems complex.

The thinking is that massive inflow of forex from surging oil prices and the boom in the capital market were responsible for the appreciation of the naira in the past few years.

Unfortunately, oil prices have nosedived and Nigeria capital market is in a shambles. The fall in the price of oil has major consequences on government revenue, aggregate output, capital formation investment, employment, trade and fiscal balance.

The 2008 global financial meltdown also contributed to naira’s freefall. Chief Executive Officer, Financial Derivatives Bismarck Rewane, said Nigeria was unprepared for the shock.

“The economy believed to be one of the most resilient in the world was caught unawares by the global crisis,” he said.

Analysts said a gradual appreciation of the currency will require building confidence in the financial system and price of crude oil in international market. This is what is going to drive the exchange rate now and beyond. We cannot isolate what is happening in the global economy like the issue of diversification of energy sources.

28

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

THE NATION INVESTORS

Analysts optimistic on Nestle Nigeria’s future returns

N

ESTLE Nigeria Plc has a strong potential to generate double-digit return on investment in the year ahead, according to analysts at FSDH Securities Limited.

Analysts at FSDH Securities placed “buy” on the shares of Nestle Nigeria, citing the company’s historic performance and ongoing initiatives.

Nestle Nigeria recently distributed N13.87 billion to shareholders as final dividends for the im-

By Taofik Salako Capital Market Editor

mediate past business year ended December 31, 2014. Nestle Nigeria had earlier distributed N7.93 billion as interim dividends, bringing total dividend for the year to N21.8 billion.

Shareholders received a final dividend per share of N17.50, bringing total dividend per share for the year to N27.50. The final dividend was paid from the pioneer

profits of the company and as such it was not subjected to deduction of withholding tax.

Key extracts of the audited report and accounts of the company for the year ended December 31, 2014 showed that turnover rose by eight per cent from N133.08 billion in 2013 to N143.3 billion in 2014. Profit before tax however dropped from N26.05 billion in 2013 to N24.4 billion in 2014. Profit after tax was almost unchanged at N22.24 billion in 2014 as against N22.26 billion in

2013.

Analysts at FSDH said they considered Nestle Nigeria’s investment and innovation in plants, which should improve efficiency, technical partnership with the parent company and large market size in Nigeria and stable growing population as major drivers in deciding the future outlook of the stock.

Analysts also noted that Nestle Nigeria’s products have strong demand at all levels, which could moderate the potential downsides that may be

created by the prevailing stiff competition in the industry and foreign exchange exposure and possibility of a further depreciation.

“Our fair value for Nestlé Nigeria Plc share price is N937.29 per share and the stock is currently trading at N850.10. The total return, a combination of the capital appreciation and the dividend, generates 12.68 per cent. Going by historic trend the company shares would always trade at a premium to its fair value,” FSDH Securities stated.

Red Star Express’directors meet on dividend IRECTORS of Red Star Express Plc are scheduled to meet tomorrow to consider the possible dividend to be recommended to shareholders as investors await the audited annual report and accounts of the courier and logistics company.

The meeting, scheduled for the company’s office in Lagos, will focus on the final review and authorisation of the audited report and accounts for the year ended March 31, 2015.

Red Star Express distributed N206 million as cash dividend in 2014, with shareholders receiving 35 kobo on every share.

It has maintained a progressive dividend pattern in recent years in spite of tight bottom-line. The company increased cash dividends slightly from N176.85 million in 2012 to N188.64 million in 2013. Dividend per share thus improved from 30 kobo in 2012 to 32 kobo in 2013.

Key extracts of the unaudited report and accounts for the third quarter ended December 31, 2014 showed appreciable growth in turnover but the bottom-line remained under pressure. Turno-

D

ver rose to N5.0 billion in 2014 as against N4.77 billion recorded in comparable period of 2013. Profit before tax inched up from N441.03 million to N441.56 million. Profit after tax rose slightly from N308.72 million to N309.09 million. Earnings per share stood at 52 kobo.

Red Star Express’ share price dropped by five per cent to close at N4.75 per share at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday. At the current price, Red Star Express carries a probable dividend yield of about 9.3 per cent based on the previous year’s dividend payout.

Red Star Express was incorporated as a private limited liability company in 1992. It became a public limited liability company and was quoted in 2007. Wholly owned by Nigerian institutional and individual investors, the major core investor in Red Star Express is Dr. Mohammed Koguna. Koguna, through direct and indirect holdings, holds 33.25 per cent equity stake. Red Star Express has some 4,361 shareholders with 589.5 million ordinary shares of 50 kobo each.

Experts advocate effective credit management for economy

T

HE best way to rescue the country from the prevailing economic downturn is to have an effective credit system in place.

The foregoing suggestion was the summary of the interface and discussion sessions by financial and economic experts at a public forum in Lagos.

The event was at the Credit professionals and networking luncheon of the Institute of Credit Administration (ICA).

In his opening remarks, Prof.

Chris Onalo, Registrar/Chief Executive Officer of institute, who set the tone for the discussion, said credit management should be given a more practical approach by the government to enhance profitability among Credit management, Onalo stressed, can help focus on the nation’s economy which over the years has been lacking of qualitative and qualified professionals in the financial institutions.

The ICA boss urged established financial institutions to make SMEs payment invoice on timely basis as prompt payment paves way for opportunities in the market place.

The guest speaker, Mr. Godfrey Ozulumba, underscored the need for effective credit management in financial institutions, said regulatory aspect is a major key point in credit management as policy summersault has remained the bane of

the credit sub-sector.

“To make credit decisions, an independent-minded person based on qualitative and quantitative ideology should be available to train and work with others just as integrity should not be underestimated.”

Echoing similar sentiments, Mr. Omotayo Ajani, who spoke about credit markets in emerging and developing markets like Nigeria, said a good credit administrator must broker deals and understand pricing mechanism just as he should get familiar with the environment to know what drives the market at every given time.

Financial institutions in Nigeria, Ajani maintained, “Should to take a cue from the global financial system and global integration of newly industrialised countries because the industry is very important in credit management that brings about productivity and seriousness in a country.”

In his own remarks, Mr. Felix Aremo spoke on the need for credit managers to harness every opportunity inherent in the credit management profession and to further try to utilise ideas for attaining a better structured credit management portfolio so as to compete extensively in the global financial markets.

The highlight of the occasion was the induction of 73 new members of the Institute, including fellows and associates.

•From left: Convener of Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP), Mrs. Adeleke; Chairman of the CECP, Prof. Pat Utomi; Head, Corporate Services Division, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Bola Adeeko; Musician, Mr. Banky Wellington and Group Managing Director, United Capital Plc, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Sanni, during a visit to the NSE to commemorate the National Cancer Week.

Global securities regulators launch 43-point strategy to deepen markets

T

HE International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), the global body for regulators of more than 95 per cent of the world’s securities markets, has launched a 43-point strategic plan aimed at fostering and deepening the capital markets over the next five years.

The “2020 Strategic Direction for IOSCO” envisages that IOSCO’s goal for the rest of this decade will be to reinforce its position as the key global reference point for securities regulation. The strategic direction was approved by the Presidents Committee of IOSCO, which comprised of all the chairs of ordinary and associate members.

Nigeria is a member of the board of IOSCO. The strategic direction and goal will be implemented through 43 initiatives in action plans covering six priority areas including research and risk identification, under which the global body plans to identify risks arising from securities markets, including market activities, technology and product developments, and unintended consequences of changes or proposed changes in laws and regulations.

Also the global body will improve the international regulatory framework for securities markets by developing standards and guidance that are timely, responsive to market developments and internationally recognised.

IOSCO will also promote implementation of IOSCO standards through monitoring and assessment while simultaneously addressing capacity

building needs of its members, particularly in growth and emerging markets.

It will also strengthening the exchange of information and cooperation in the enforcement of markets regulation, and in the supervision of markets and market intermediaries while ensuring effective representation of IOSCO’s views in other international organisations and effective collaboration with other standard setters within the international financial regulatory community.

“The Strategic Direction to 2020 builds on our achievements in recent years by intensifying activity across each of our programs. This is what our members are telling us they want. It will benefit all members – with a particular emphasis on members from Growth and Emerging Markets,” Chairman of IOSCO, Greg Medcraft said.

IOSCO had at its annual conference in London discussed the progress of its work across its policy, research, capacity building and co-operation agenda.

IOSCO’s private meetings preceded public sessions focusing on the theme of Building a New Financial World which will focus on conduct standards, financial innovation and the many other challenges which financial regulators and industry face.

“Our work agenda continues to highlight and reinforce our role as the key global reference point for securities regulation during a period of rapid change,” Medcraft said “We continue to be proactive and forward looking in building trust and confidence in markets which are grappling with new and emerg-

ing opportunities and risks, including those posed by digitisation.”

IOSCO’s Growth and Emerging Markets (GEM) Committee, the largest of IOSCO’s Committees, also met and agreed to conduct policy work in priority areas,including impact of digitisation and innovation on capital markets, strengthening corporate governance, and the development of a toolkit on crisis management and contingency planning for emerging markets.

Members also agreed to publish the GEM Committee’s report on SME Financing through Capital Markets, which reviews and identifies ways to facilitate capital market financing for SMEs in emerging markets.

IOSCO is the leading international policy forum for securities regulators and is recognised as the global standard setter for securities regulation. The organization’s membership regulates more than 95 per cent of the world’s securities markets in 115 jurisdictions and its membership continues to expand.

Nigeria is a member of the board of IOSCO, the governing and standard-setting organ of IOSCO. IOSCO board consists of 32 securities regulators, including securities regulatory authorities of Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, Ontario, Pakistan, Portugal, Quebec, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom and the United States.

Newspaper of the Year

AN EIGHT-PAGE PULLOUT ON THE SOUTHWEST STATES

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

PAGE 29

Subsequent to the death of former Deji of Akure, Oba Adebiyi Adesida, on December 1, 2013 after three years’ reign, a new monarch, Oba Patrick Aladetoyinbo from Osupa Ruling House, has been installed by the state government DAMISI OJO reports the colourful ceremony.

On his ancestral throne

nbo Oba Aladetoyi ori (middle), his Ol bsu and one of the jects

•Oluboyo presenting the Staff of Office to Oba Aladetoyinbo

F

OR two-and-a-half years, the ancient town of Akure, the Ondo State capital,

was under the leadership of a Regent, Princess Adetutu Adesida. This resulted from the death of former Deji of Akure, the late Oba Adebiyi Adesida from the Ojijigogun Ruling House.

Tradition demands that the traditional stool would not be vacant before a substantive Deji is selected through a rigorous traditional process. Therefore, one of the daughters of the late monarch would have to rule as a Regent pending the time a new traditional ruler would be selected by the kingmakers.

INSIDE

The Oba

Monarch to testify in 8-year-old kingship tussle

PAGE 34

In the circumstances, Princess Adesina, who resides abroad, was called upon to take up the traditional headship of the city.

Hearkening to the request of her people, the Regent had to abandon her family and job as a United States-based Pharmacist to respond to communal call to advance the tradition, culture, norms and values of the ancient city. This was supposed to be an interim arrangement, as a situation without a substantive monarch affects the cultural and economic activities of the town. For instance, markets, espe-

Freedom for kidnapped Catholic Priest

PAGE 32 - 33

cially the daily market known as Erekesan Market had to be shut down, even as many other markets in the city were closed in accordance with tradition.

According to the tradition of the Akure Kingdom, the markets are expected to be closed down the day the traditional ruler of the city dies and will remain closed until a new monarch is installed and he will re-open them.

This was the situation till June 9, this year when history was Continued on pages 30-31

Residents want collapsed bridge fixed PAGE 35

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

30

SOUTHWEST REPORT ‘I’ll make UI attain world-class status’

Deji on his

From Sikiru Akinola, Ibadan

T

HE new Pro-Chancellor and chairman of Council of the University of Ibadan (UI), Dr. Umar Musa Mustapha, has said he would ensure that the institution attains world-class status and one of the top 100 universities in the world.

He also pledged that the institution would become a university of first choice for Nigerians interested in earning quality degrees, especially at post-graduate levels, saying that serious attention would be focused on producing more renowned and accomplished scholars such as Professors Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe and Iya Abubakar, among others who will attract international recognition to the institution in particular and the country in general.

According to a statement by the Director of Public Communication of the institution, Mr. Olatunji Oladejo, Mustapha expressed his belief in education as a life-long project, noting that he would seek more harmonious working relationships with the academic and nonacademic staff of the institution towards improving the teaching and learning environment for teachers and students.

On the academic activities of the institution, he said efforts would be deliberately made to transform, within the next five years, the university’s newly established School of Business to be one of the best in Africa just as its Medicine, Forest Resources Management, Fisheries, Ecotourism, Mathematics, History and English language programmes, among others have attained recognition.

He said: “I desire more harmonious working relationships among members of academic and non-academic staff of the university and for the students of the institution to have an environment conducive to teaching and learning and enjoyable accommodation.”

He urged the university management to vigorously pursue implementation of policies that would improve the welfare of students, especially in terms of decent accommodation, feeding arrangements, transportation, Medicare and spacing of lectures, among other issues.

Mustapha, who is a Mathematician promised to assist the ViceChancellor in any way possible towards the actualisation of the Mathematics Centre Project. He emphasised the need for both lecturers and students to avoid plagiarism which could bring the reputation of university to public ridicule.

•Oba Aladetoyinbo after his installation as the Deji of Akure

Laboratory equipment for schools From Leke Akeredolu, Akure

A

former member of the Ondo State House of Assembly, who represented Ilaje State Constituency I, Oyebo Aladetan has donated laboratory equipment to three secondary schools in the area. The benefiting schools were Community Grammar School, Ilepepe, C&S Academy, Ugbo-Nla and Progressive Secondary School, Igbokoda, all in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State.

He said the donation became necessary in order to make the students have adequate science background.

“My motive is to ensure that the students have sound foundation, especially in science education, taking into consideration the dynamism of the society.

“We are now in the computer age where people start with innovation and we should not be lagging behind. My intention is to give them the opportunity to have first-hand experience, touch the equipment and use them for their future benefits,” he said.

He blamed his poor academic background on Science subjects for not being a medical practitioner, saying the secondary school he attended had no laboratory equipment, even as the teacher who taught them General Science was not well grounded on the subjects.

Aladetan said: “Two things motivated my donation of laboratory equipment to these schools; they are my experience in United States where 12 doctors conducted an operation on me and my poor background in science. While in the secondary school, my class teacher would only ask us to define “laboratory and name 10 apparatuses used in laboratory every term.

“Who knows, if I had had the opportunity to experience, touch and use laboratory equipment during my secondary schools period, I would have been a medical doctor.

Be safety-conscious, firms advised From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta

T

THE state Controller, Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Mr. Clement Fatoki has urged industries operating in Ogun State to commit themselves to “safety culture and standards” in their work places.

Fatoki said strict adherence to occupational safety and health would reduce accidents in work environments among staff and management.

The Controller, who spoke in Sagamu, Ogun State, at this year’s “Health and Safety Month” of Lafarge plant said industrial accident is preventable if people commit themselves to health and safety culture.

He praised Lafarge for its safety standard, saying the cement manufacturing firm “has operated the Sagamu plant for 1, 237 days running with zero-accident while Ewekoro plant also recorded 506 working days without accident.”

Fatoki, who was represented by the Honorary Secretary, Industrial Safety of Nigeria (ISN), Jacob Oni, urged industries to take the safety and health of members of staff seriously.

Contributing, the Managing Director of Lafarge Africa Plc (WAPCO Operations) , Adepeju Adebajo, said the event was meant to create safety awareness and control among the company’s truck drivers.

According to Adebajo, measures have been taken to reduce trucksinduced accidents on the Nigerian roads, even as he revealed that Lafarge has installed monitoring systems to control over-speeding and behaviours of its drivers on the roads.

•Oba Aladetoyinbo greeting his subjects Continued from page 29

made as a new traditional ruler; Oba Patrick Aladetoyinbo was installed as the 47th Deji of Akure.

This was after Akure had been under the rule of a Regent, Princess Adesida, who was installed as the Regent of Akure in 2013.

However, the intrigues that surrounded the appointment of Oba Aladetoyinbo almost threatened the traditional mien of the town; a development which made some indigenes of the city, especially youths, to protest against the nomination and selection of Aladetoyinbo.

The process that led to Aladetoyinbo’s emergence as the new Deji of Akure began when the Osupa Ruling House where the monarch hails from commenced the nomination process after receiving a letter from the state government through the Akure South Local Government Area to the effect that it was its turn to produce the next Deji of Akure.

Out of 13 Princes from the ruling house who showed interest to become the new Deji of Akure, the name of Aladetoyinbo was the only one presented to the state government through the Akure South Local Gov-

ernment Area; a situation which was condemned by some members of the ruling house who complained that the name of Aladetoyinbo did not go through the Ifa oracle as tradition demands.

The situation prompted some members of the royal family to protest the decision of the ruling house, as they claimed that consultation of the Ifa oracle was a pre-condition in the selection and appointment of the Deji of Akure Kingdom.

It cited successive Dejis who had ruled the city based on the recommendation of Ifa oracle.

Some of the contestants for the stool of the Deji were Samuel Adegboro, Kayode Oluwole, Adegbola Adelani, Kayode Adegbite, Femi Adejuyigbe and Adeolu Adepoju.

Others were Patrick Aladetoyinbo, Leye Agbebi, Ojo Awimoro, Oluyemisi Bello, Damilola Adeyemi, Oluwole Oguntuyi and Ade Falodun.

However, the Head of the Osupa Ruling House, Dr Ade Ogunleye said the family’s decision was in line with the tradition of the town, stressing that all the necessary gods were consulted before

The state government’s decision to hasten the process of appointing a new traditional ruler for the city was informed by persistent protests by market women and shop owners at Erekesan Market who groaned over the closure of their shops since 2013 following the death of Oba Adesida. This might have quickened government’s action to have a substantive Deji on the throne in order to facilitate the opening of the market the family presented the name of Aladetoyinbo to the kingmakers who later forwarded his name to the state government through Akure South Local Government Area.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

31

SOUTHWEST REPORT

ancestors’ throne

He said the State Executive Council approved the name.

This is contrary to the rumours making the round that the family was bribed to present the name of Aladetoyinbo to the kingmakers as the consensus candidate for the stool of the Deji.

Dr Ogunleye said: “We consulted the Ifa oracle and all necessary rituals were carried out. After the necessary traditional steps that we took collectively as a family, we concluded that Aladetoyinbo was fit for the job. And thank God he was not rejected by any of the kingmakers, even as the state government gave his appointment speedy approval.”

Ogunleye also denied speculation that the choice of Oba Aladetoyinbo was as a result of the state government’s interest in him, saying that the family was not instructed by the state Governor, Olusegun Mimiko or any official of the state government to nominate Aladetoyinbo for the position of Deji, but his choice was simply the “will of God”.

However, the deposed traditional ruler of the city, Adesina Adepoju who is still interested in the throne, has dragged the ruling

house to the law court, seeking an injunction to restrain the state government, the Osupa Ruling House and the kingmakers from approving any candidate for the stool pending the determination of his suit.

Adepoju, who is also from the Osupa Ruling House, claimed that he was still entitled to the throne, since, according to him, he was wrongly removed from the throne.

He further argued that his removal was being challenged in court.

From his sojourn in the United Kingdom, Adepoju headed to the Appeal Court in Akure when his case was struck out at an Ondo State High Court. Judgment has been reserved in the suit at the Appeal Court on whether or not he could be dethroned as the traditional ruler of Akure by the state government under the circumstance on which he was dethroned.

It would be recalled that the state government dethroned Adepoju on June 10, 2010 for allegedly battering his wife, Mrs Bolanle Adepoju, who later died in 2012 after confessing, through the media, that the incident that led to her husband’s banishment was exaggerated.

Adepoju, in a statement, described the state government’s decision to appoint a new Deji of Akure as illegal, considering his case which is still pending before the Court of Appeal in Akure.

However, the late Oba Adebiyi Adesida from Ojijigogun Ruling House was installed in 2010 as the 46th Deji of Akure, but died on December 1, 2013, a situation which paved the way for his daughter, Adetutu to be installed as the Regent of the city.

Southwest Report learnt that the state government’s decision to hasten the process of appointing a new traditional ruler for the city was informed by persistent protests by market women and shop owners at Erekesan Market who are groaning over the closure of their shops since 2013 following the death of Oba Adesida. This, observers believed, might have quickened government’s action to have substantive Deji on the throne in order to facilitate the opening of the market, which was immediately done after Oba Aladetoyinbo was presented with staff of office.

But the appointment of Aladetoyinbo was, however, protested against in major parts of Akure, especially in markets and major streets, as many, mostly youths who are alleged to be working for the interest of the deposed monarch, condemned t h e process through which Aladetoyinbo emerged as the new monarch.

During one of their protests at the Akure City Hall, the protesters accused the kingmakers of complicity and bribery that made them choose the new monarch, even as they alleged that some prominent indigenes of the city, including Chiefs Olu Falae and Reuben Fasoranti were behind the appointment of Aladetoyinbo as the Deji of Akure.

During the protests which lasted for two days, they carried placards; some of which read: “Mimiko, bring back our Kabieysi”, “Kole Aladetoyinbo is a bald-headed man and he can’t become Deji” and “Iroko save Akure from Fasoranti, Falae, kingmakers,” among others.

During the protest, a member of the Osupa Ruling House, Mrs Adero Adebayo said market women would not accept anybody except Adepoju who was deposed as the traditional ruler of the city by the state government, adding that the deposed monarch should be recalled to occupy the traditional stool for peace to reign in the community.

She further said Akure would not know peace and the reign of the new monarch would be disturbed particularly by the youth. She said: “Adepoju was forced out of the throne, but we still love him being our own and he should be allowed to rule us in Akure till he dies.”

But the kingmakers, headed by the Lisa of Akure Kingdom, High Chief James Olusoga said all traditional rites regarding the selection of Aladetoyinbo had been done by traditionalists in the city and nothing could change the choice of the new monarch as the traditional head of the city.

Chief Rotimi Olusanya, who spoke on behalf

of the kingmakers, said they followed all the traditions and norms that guide the selection of the Deji of Akure, adding that the new monarch has commenced traditional rites to ascend the throne of his forefathers.

He revealed that the monarch had gone to Ayere village in Akure North Local Government Area where he will stay for days before he moves to the palace, saying that the monarch would be incommunicado for seven days at Alakure Forest where some traditional rites would also be done before he starts exercising authorities as the Deji of Akure.

According to him, the Palace of the Deji will remain closed until all the traditional rites are concluded, while the monarch would begin to exercise all the authorities that accrue to the stool of Deji as soon as he completes the rites.

Governor Mimiko had declared that the process that led to Oba Aladetoyinbo’s emergence as the Deji of Akure was fair, transparent and conforms to the guideline for the appointment of Deji of Akure and the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He urged the people of the ancient city to support the new monarch in the discharge of his duties.

He urged the youth to restrain from being used by some people who might have lost out of the struggle to foment trouble in any part of the city, saying the new monarch is the choice of the people of the city, especially the Osupa Ruling House that presented him, hence the need for calm in all parts of the city.

Speaking during the presentation of Staff of Office, Oba Aladetoyinbo promised to encourage participatory traditional governance within the Akure Kingdom and her various component towns.

He said: “In the last 120 years, it had never been so stressful for kingmakers to assess 13 aspirants that contested for the vacant stool of the Deji of Akure Kingdom.”

The monarch said: “I promise to promote peace, respect for constituted authority and the traditional institution of the city,” warning that he would not condone thuggery, disrespect for law and order or any act of violence in the city.

According to him, the Deji traditional institution would be used as an important agent of meaningful development.

Meanwhile, the Regent who had been ruling the city for over two years, Princess Adesida, has since vacated the palace. Southwest Report gathered that she might have relocated to a new location pending the time she would return to the United States where she was working.

She had earlier denied knowledge of the installation of a new monarch for the city.

It was learnt that the Regent was not contacted when the kingmakers commenced the process of installation of a new monarch.

With the appointment of Oba Aladetoyinbo as the 47th Deji of Akure Kingdom, it is expected that the ancient town would witness fresh socio-economic development .

32

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

33

SOUTHWEST REPORT

E

KITI State is fast becoming the hotbed of kidnapping in the Southwest, with many residents and passers-by falling victims.

The gunmen, in the course of carrying out their nefarious activities, killed some people and set vehicles ablaze.

The sight of a man who was heading for a wedding ceremony alongside his wife looking on helplessly as his spouse was being spirited away by abductors who obviously left him behind to look for ransom, was a gory and nervewracking one.

Many acts of kidnapping took place along Ido-Ekiti axis in Ido/Osi Local Government Area where the locals are currently gripped with fear following the crackdown on the area by the hostage takers. The people were yet to come to terms with the kidnap of 11 people; albeit at various locations, when the news of the kidnap of a Catholic Priest broke out.

The rampaging kidnappers added a new dimension to their operation on June 9, when they stormed the premises of St. Benedict’s Catholic Church in IdoEkiti at 8:00 .p.m. and abducted the Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Akingbade.

The news of Fr Akingbade’s abduction was shocking, indignant and incredible to his parishioners, the people of Ido-Ekiti, the clergy and all laity of the Ekiti Catholic Diocese.

The three-man gang reportedly broke into the vicarage and ordered, at gun point, one of the occupants to lead them to the room of the Parish Priest.

On finding their target, they abducted him and whisked the defenceless man to an unknown destination from where they established contacts with the Catholic authorities in the diocese.

The kidnappers made away with the Priest’s laptop, mobile phone and undisclosed amount of money.

The news of the abduction of the cleric soared like a harmatan bush fire the following day, June 10 and threw the community into confusion as youths poured to the streets to protest his seizure.

They blocked the highway that traversed the town with used tyres, logs of wood and other objects, demanding his immediate release.

The irate protesters wondered why the town is being targeted by kidnappers as many have been kidnapped in the community and its environs.

Many motorists plying Ifaki-IdoOtun Road eit h e r parked their vehicles or turned back so as not to be caught u p i n t h e protest.

Aki n g bade, who

•Fr. Akingbade

is also a lawyer, was born on September 9, 1971 and was ordained a Priest on July 18, 1998.

He is also the Assistant Director, Justice, Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) of the Catholic Diocese of Ekiti.

The kidnap of Rev. Fr Akingbade threw the Catholic world into anxiety as the news reached the Vatican, the seat of power of the Catholic Church. Pope Francis, the head of over 1 billion Catholics worldwide was also worried.

In the same manner the first generation church prayed for Apostle Peter who was kept in the gulag of Herod and was awaiting execution by decapitation, the Catholics, the world over were praying for Fr Akingbade’s safe release.

Masses were held, candles were lit and supplications made to the Almighty God for him to come out of the “lions’ den” unscathed.

Only God knew the type of prayers the abducted Priest offered in the kidnappers’ den. Would it be the one Jonah prayed in the belly of the fish or the one prayed

by Daniel in the den of lions?

It was a traumatic period for the Catholic Bishop of Ekiti, Most Rev. Felix Femi Ajakaye, under whom the kidnapped Priest was serving before the incident occurred.

Other Priests in the diocese were concerned about the safety of one of their own and this formed the topics of discussion anytime they met or visited the Catholic Secretariat or the Bishop’s Court in Ado-Ekiti.

The parents of the kidnapped Priest, who are from Ipole Iloro in Ekiti Wrst Local Government Area, were also concerned about the safety of their son; but they received assurances from the Bishop that their son would come back unhurt.

As the kidnappers held on to Fr Akingbade, they started making demands for ransom. Southwest Report gathered that they initially asked for a N20 million ransom which was flatly turned down by Bishop Ajakaye, who made it clear to them that no ransom would be paid for the release of Fr Akingbade.

It was a mixture of a rude shock and a startling surprise when the kidnappers changed their mind and upped their ransom demand to N200 million with many Catholic faithful wondering what could have prompted the fiends to jerk up the amount demanded.

But they met their match in Bishop Ajakaye who maintained that no ransom would be paid to secure the release of Fr Akingbade.

The Bishop hinged his tenacity on the fact that any Catholic Priest that makes a vow to serve God in his vineyard has given himself, including his life, up to God and if death comes along in the course of the service, so be it hence no ransom would be paid by the church.

That seemed to be the game changer with the kidnappers reaching the dead end as they could not fathom the tenacity of the Bishop and the support of the clergy and laity that no ransom should be paid to secure the Priest’s release.

It was with a huge relief that the Catholics received the news of Fr Akingbade’s freedom from the grip of his captors on June 16, exactly a week after he was abducted.

On learning about the cheering news, many Priests and church members trooped to the Bishop’s Court to confirm the arrival of Fr Akingbade.

Other sympathisers, including the pupils of St. Joseph’s Catholic Nursery/Primary School, led by their teachers and Rev. Sisters were seen in jubilation.

The atmosphere of gloom and uncertainty which had enveloped the diocese suddenly gave way to joy, fulfilment and celebration.

Journalists too paid visits to the Bishop’s Court on learning of the return of Fr Akingbade.

To further prove that the Priest was back, Ajakaye directed one of his aides to bring out Fr Akingbade from the inner chambers for reporters to see him after which he was ushered back.

Speaking on his experience since the Priest was kidnapped; Ajakaye expressed worry about the worsening security situation in Ekiti State in particular and Nigeria in general.

He insisted that the concerned authorities must address the malaise, noting that

• Olusola (holding mic) addressing traditional rulers and leaders of ethnic groups during a meeting in his office. To his left are state government functionaries and high ranking security chiefs. On his right (sitting) are Olugbole of Igbole-Ekiti, Oba Emmanuel Adetiloye, Oba Ajibola, an Urhobo ethnic leader, Andrew Orishetimehin and Mr. Francis Omoroghoye.

Freedom for kidnapped Catholic priest The kidnap of a Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Akingbade, sent shockwaves round Ekiti State as it marked the first time a man of God would be abducted by kidnappers in the Fountain of Knowledge. ODUNAYO OGUNMOLA, recalls the drama surrounding the saga, the relief which followed the cleric’s escape from his captors and the state government’s effort to halt the scourge. “the matter affects us all “.

He expressed shock that some people could place money on the head of an innocent person for pecuniary gain; wondering why the much-cherished values of being one’s brother’s keeper is fast disappearing.

He said: “They (the kidnappers) told me it (kidnapping) was business and I told them that Catholic Church don’t pay ransom. They have been speaking with me and they still spoke with me yesterday (Monday).

“He (Akingbade) spoke with me in captivity twice. It was a trying and hard moments for me. We pray and we want his abduction to put an end to abductions in Ekiti State.”

Bishop Ajakaye expressed sadness that Ekiti State entered the record book for the wrong reasons as it became the first state in the Southwest where a Catholic Priest would be kidnapped.

The Bishop said he hoped that the incident would mark the last time abduction would happen in Ekiti State.

He also advocated a review of the anti-kidnapping law in the country, noting that 10-year prison term is mild in curbing the menace.

While expressing gratitude to the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase; Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Ita Ekpenyong; state Commissioner of Police, Etop James, state Director of the Directorate of State Security (DSS), Duke Fubara and their officers for their effort in the search for the abducted Priest.

Bishop Ajakaye, however, called for better equipment of security agencies to perform their statutory responsibilities of protecting lives and property and an enabling environment to function.

The Bishop said: “This morning, we thank God. We saw him (Akingbade). God did it and I thank everybody for their prayers because we rely on God, we believe in God and God can do anything.

“But we told our people not to abuse the abductors because we wouldn’t want the abductors to be cursed and we want things to change for the better in our state and Nigeria as a whole.

“What happened to Fr. Akingbade happened to every member of the Church, so all over the world, people were praying.

“They were even threatening that they would kill him and I told them that on the day he was ordained he had sacrificed himself.

“But we were still negotiating. They asked me how much we could afford, I said even one kobo, we cannot afford.

“We thank God who took control. We told them we would be praying, that we would not even curse them. I told them that they should know that they are children of God, that Fr Akingbade should be released unconditionally, that we are not paying any ransom to them.”

While lamenting the sad experience the church went through during the Priest’s captivity, the Bishop described abduction and other vices plaguing the country, particularly Ekiti State, as “menace that must be fixed.”

He further said: “We cannot give up on Ekiti State; we cannot give up on Nigeria. We need practical change even

though people deserve the type of gov- litical leaders to also form a strong coalition with security agencies to bring ernment they get.

“The law must be revisited. This thing the situation under control.

He said: “We cannot deny that the must be addressed and all of us must speak against it. What we have not been ugly incidences have been driving inexperiencing before in Ekiti State, is now vestors away from Ekiti State.

“Those who used to ply the Federal happening on daily basis.

“In a place where there is no security, roads in Ekiti to Abuja no longer pass no justice, there can be no development. through them because of the fear that The energy of the kidnappers can be bet- they could be kidnapped. It has also affected the economic activities of the peoter diverted to other good things and ple. there should be respect for “But I share the belief human dignity. that God will intervene While maintaining in the matter. One of that no ransom was our prayer points paid, Bishop during this year’s Ajakaye declined revival is that to reveal how Fr God should exAkingbade repose these evil gained his freedoers”, he statdom. But an ined. side source disThe upsurge closed that he in kidnapping escaped from has affected the his captors “milifestyles of resiraculously”. The dents of Ekiti State Bishop promised •Bishop who are now more Ajakaye to talk on that latsecurity conscious er. This would go than ever before. down in record as the Residents now come first celebrated kidnap home earlier than before saga in recent times upon while visits to pubs, hotels, discowhich no ransom was paid.

Assessing the security situation in the theques and other relaxation spots have state, another cleric, Prophet reduced drastically.

Owners of exotic vehicles and sport Hezekiah Oladeji has expressed regrets that the upsurge of kidnapping and oth- utility vehicles (SUVs) no longer use er criminal activities in Ekiti State has them at night as drivers of such vehicles been driving away investors wishing to have become targets of kidnappers.

Nightlife has been affected while do business in the state.

He spoke during a press briefing those doing their businesses at night ahead of a week-long revival pro- close early. Apparently disturbed by the gramme tagged Apostle Joseph Ayo Ba- horrible trend, the state government has balola Power Explosion 2015 at Erio Ekiti threatened to sanction communities and individuals harbouring suspected kidin Ekiti West Local Government Area.

The Prophet, who is the General nappers and other criminals.

The government said any building, Overseer of Christ Apostolic Church, Canaan Land, charged religious and po- farm land or property harbouring crim-

inals or discovered to be used for criminal activities will be confiscated or demolished while owners of such property would be treated as collaborators and heavily sanctioned.

The Deputy Governor, Dr. Kolapo Olusola, made this known at a meeting with traditional rulers and leaders of some ethnic groups from outside Ekiti State dwelling in areas identified as hideout for kidnappers.

The meeting was attended by the representatives of the Commissioner of Police, Director of Department of State Services (DSS) in Ekiti State, Secretary to the State Government, the Chief of Staff to the Governor and other top government functionaries.

Olusola frowned at the spate of kidnapping in Ekiti State which he noted was formally adjudged the most peaceful and with lowest crime rate in Nigeria.

The Deputy Governor said kidnapping and other criminal activities were very alien to Ekiti.

He opined that the kidnappers would not have been successful in their operations if there had not been collaborators in those communities, hence the need to urgently address the issues before it grew out of hands.

Olusola called on the traditional rulers whose domains have been identified as hideouts for kidnappers to hold meetings with their subjects and other ethnic groups living in their communities with a view to reporting any suspicious movements to security agents before the criminals carry out their nefarious acts. The Deputy Governor expressed joy that Rev. Fr Akingbade who was kidnapped Penultimate week at Ido-Ekiti has been released without payment of any ransom.

He urged leaders of the various ethnic groups from outside the state to caution their kinsmen living in those areas and in Ekiti State generally to be careful and be wary of harbouring any criminal. This is because most of the suspects arrested over the kidnap saga so far are non-Ekiti State indigenes.

Olusola said: “Everybody should join hands with the government and security agents to curtail this ugly trend that has thrown the state into panic. Anybody found to be collaborating with the criminals, either by harbouring them on the farmland, at home or anywhere, would be dealt with decisively.”

He urged the people not to panic but be security conscious, assuring that the government and the security agents are on top of the situation and that all the criminals and collaborators would be completely chased out of Ekiti.

The representative of the Commissioner of Police, Mr. AbdulKadir Mohammed and the Director of the DSS Mr. M. C. Odika also commended the co-operation of the government and the people, even as they called for more timely information from the people.

The security chiefs said the people should go about their lawful businesses, assuring that the police will work round the clock to ensure that peace and security are restored in Ekiti.

Elesure of Esure, Oba Adebanji Ajibola and the Olugbole of Igbole, Oba Emmanuel Adetiloye, who in their separate remarks explained their personal efforts and that of their communities to assist the security agents, noted that security officers needed to be more pro-active and respond more quickly to distress calls.

They (the kidnappers) told me it (kidnapping) was business and I told them that Catholic Church don’t pay ransom. They have been speaking with me and they still spoke with me yesterday (Monday)...He (Akingbade) spoke with me in captivity twice. It was a trying and hard moments for me. We pray and we want his abduction to put an end to abductions in Ekiti State...Everybody should join hands with the government and security agents to curtail this ugly trend that has thrown the state into panic

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

34

SOUTHWEST REPORT •From left: Supervisor for Education Hon Ladega Junaid, Student of Isale-Eko Senior Grammar School Miskiai Adebayo, Executive Secretary Lagos Island Local Government, Hon Adetoyese Tijani Olusi, another student Kasali Quam and Council Manager Mrs Olaide Arunrashe during the distribution of 2015 GCE forms to studdents of the local government recently.

Monarch to testify in eight-year-old tussle T

HE Akarigbo of Remo, Oba Michael Sonariwo, has been listed as a witness in the suit filed by Prince Adetayo Odunsi challenging the nomination of Albert Mayungbe to the stool of Odemo of Isara, Remo. The preconference trial (PTC) of the suit has been fixed for June 30, this year by the trial judge, Justice Olugboyega Ogunfowora of Sagamu High Court Ogun State.

The stool of Odemo of Isara, Remo had remained vacant since eight years ago after the death of the former ruler of the ancient town, Oba Idowu Onadeko. The Akarigbo, who is one of the four witnesses listed by the claimant, has already filed an affidavit before the Sagamu High Court, Ogun State.

Informed sources said Oba Sonariwo, who is also the para-

As at the time Mayungbe married Arobo, who hailed from Akure, she came with a male child whose name was Ogunsakin from her earlier marriage and that when he later became king, he accommodated Ogunsakin in the palace

By Adebisi Onanuga

mount ruler of Remoland, had, in a letter dated April 12, 2011 and addressed to the Caretaker Committee of Remo North Local Government Area, raised objection to the nomination of Mayungbe by the kingmakers. He alleged that Mayungbe is not of a royal blood in response to the enquiry of the Remo North Local Government Area that sought his consent on the nomination of Albert Mayungbe.

The monarch believed he should not have been nominated and subsequently declined to give his consent to the choice of Mayungbe purportedly by the Erinsiba/Ayoledoye Ruling House. He had referred to the grave objection raised by one Prince Olufemi Omoyele who is alleging that the first defendant is an Odi, which he said was “well founded”.

Joined as co-defendants in the suit number HCS/158/2013 are the head of the ruling house, Prince Obafemi Awoyade; Secretary, Remo North Local Government Area; Oliwo of Isara, Chief Ajibowu Ogunfowodu; Apena of Isara, Chief Jimoh Soyombo; Chief Ladipo Ogunyemi; Ogbeni Odi of Isara, Chief Olajubu Osibote; Ekeji Asipa Odi, Chief Tunde Kalejaiye; Asipa Odi of Isara, Chief Owuye Logba.

Others are Ekeji Asipa Odi of Isara, Chief Efuwape Sotikare; Olori Emo of Isara, Chief Bashiru Awoniyi; Ekeji Olori Emo of Isara, Chief Korede Ogunwole; Asipa Emo of Isara, Chief Nosiru Sodipe; Ekeji Asipa Emo, Chief Adewole Sopitan; Ogun State Governor; Executive Council of Ogun State Government;

the state’s Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and the Attorney- General and Commissioner for Justice as second to 18th defendants respectively.

In his 32-point statement of claim, Prince Odunsi, who is a direct descendant of the late Oba Oyemade Mayungbe and progenitor of Erinsiba-Ayoledoye Ruling House averred that he is lawfully entitled to the stool of Odemo of Isara Remo.

Giving a chronological order of the obas produced by the ruling house, he averred that their progenitor was Rosanlu, also known as Erinsiba and that “Rosanlu begot Oyetade who, in turn, begot Oyemade, also known as Mayungbe alias Ayoledoye” adding that Mayungbe had four wives of which Arobo was the third.

The claimant also averred that as at the time Mayungbe married Arobo, who hailed from Akure, she came with a male child whose name was Ogunsakin from her earlier marriage and that when he later became king, he accommodated Ogunsakin in the palace.

The claimant maintained that when Oba Oyetade Mayungbe ascended the throne, “in order to differentiate Ogunsakin, his step son and an outsider from other children in the palace, he made Ogunsakin an “Odi” meaning a servant to the king.

He stated that under Yoruba custom and tradition which are also applicable in Isara-Remo, an “odi” is not a member of a ruling house and can never qualify for nomination into the stool of Odemo of IsaraRemo” and that Ogunsakin also

•Oba Sonariwo

served as “odi” to Oba Poke, the successor to Oba Oyetade Mayungbe.

To buttress his claim, he stated further that “Ogunsakin begot Oyekunle who, in turn, begat the first defendant and that upon the death of Ogunsakin, Oyekunle, his son, the father of the first defendant, also served as “odi” to two successive Obas in Isara-Remo, the late Oba Samuel Akinsanya and the late Oba Adeboboye Osideinde”.

He further claimed that the selection of the first defendant as Odemo-elect “is wrongful and should be declared null and void on the grounds that he is not a member of Erinsiba-Adyoledoye Ruling House but a lineage of past odis in IsaraRemo and thus not qualified for nomination as a candidate for the Odemo of Isara chieftaincy title.

Odunsi sought seven prayers and orders against the defendants; namely “ a declaration ýthat the first defendant is not a member of the Erinsiba-Adyoledoye Ruling House and therefore not qualified to contest for the stool; that under native law and custom applicable in Isara and Remo land generally, an odi (servant of the king) or any of his descendants is not qualified to contest the stool of Odemo of Isara; that the first defendant’s late grandfather and father,

late Ogunsakin and Oyekunle Mayungbe were odi to the late Oba Samuel Akinsanya and the late Oba Adeboboye Osideinde and therefore not qualified to aspire or to be considered for nomination to the stool”.

He, therefore, sought an order of the court setting aside the nomination exercise of Erinsiba/Ayoledoye Ruling House held on February 21, 2011 at which meeting the first defendant emerged as one of the candidates for the Odemo of Isara chieftaincy stool; an order setting aside the decision of the kingmakers selecting or electing the first defendant as the candidate for the Odemo of Isara chieftaincy; an order setting aside any recommendation, if any, made by the 19th defendant and generally by the 15 th , 17 th and 18 th defendants in relation to the first defendant as the Odemo-elect of Isara-Remo and an order directing the third defendant to issue fresh notice to the second defendant, as head of Erinsiba/Ayoledoye, to summon a fresh meeting of the ruling house for the purpose of nominating candidates to fill the vacant stool of Odemo of Isara, to the exclusion of the first defendant.

In their statement of defence and counter-claim, the first, second, sixth to tenth and 14th defendants admitted some of the assertions of the claimant and denied others.

The first defendant, Albert Mayungbe, insisted on being a “bonafide member and descendant of the Erinsiba/Ayoledoye Ruling House and that the late Oba Mayungbe, aside from being a trader, met and married Arobo in Akure where Ogunsakin, his grandfather, was born.

He further claimed that odis in Isara are not servants to the Obas but appointed from among the royal houses and trusted relations, adding that his grandfather, Ogunsakin, rendered assistance to Oba Samuel Akinsanya which the Oba appreciated by appointing his son, Oyekunle Mayungbe as his odi contrary to the assertions of the claimant.

Council official empowers women

T

HEY thronged to the venue wearing glowing faces.

Women in Oshodi/Isolo were splendidly dressed as they marched to the secretariat of Oshodi/Isolo Local Government Area to receive empowerment items from the Head, Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Oshodi/Isolo Transition Committee, Alhaji Adedayo Thomas.

It was an empowerment programme which many described as manifestation of love for humanity.

Some of the materials donat-

By Ibrahim Adam

ed to the women were gas cylinders, deep freezers electricity generating sets, gas cookers; microwaves and standing fans, among others.

Alhaji Adedayo, who is also the Coordinator of the Lagos Vanguard for Buhari (LVD) said the project, was one of his personal efforts to empower women in the local government, even as he said he believes in rendering service to humanity.

“My stewardship is a personal project despite being a member of the transition committee. The project aimed at empowering our women. I am do-

ing it for my love for the society.

“Since January, I’ve been saving my salary to determine what should be done to the society, and with support from my family and friends, I was able to gather together these materials.” he said.

He added that empowering women is key to national development, urging wealthy individuals in the country to be committed to the service of the people.

“If we could do this, we will do more when we are in better positions. I am determined to serve you all and I promise not to let you down.

This is so because in 2008, I built a clinic outside my local government and handed it over to residents of the local government. I believe you will get more as you all support the APC.” Contributing, the chairman of the APC in Oshodi/Isolo Local Government Area, Alhaji Olamide Kasali said: “Whatever he is providing you today is on behalf of the APC, and we pray that God continues to strengthen him to do more for you.”

Another APC leader, Fidelis Osho also urged members of the party to be patient with the current administration and also appreciate Alhaji

Adedayo for the empowerment.

In a chat with Southwest Report, one of the beneficiaries, Mrs. Kate Akambe who received a gas cooker said: “To God be the glory for this project and I pray the change we are talking about will continue to be real. I am grateful to the organiser.”

Another beneficiary, Mrs. Bose Ayantunde who got a gas cylinder said: “I am so happy because this is my first time and it really impresses me. For Alhaji Adedayo doing this, we believe he will do more for us.”

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

35

SOUTHWEST REPORT ‘I’ll give quality representation’

By Ambrose Nnaji

A

•The planned presidential lodge

Fading dream of Abiola’s presidential lodge

F

OR over a decade now, June 12 has been regarded Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta as significant day for the commemoration of the la’s personal Presidential Lodge upon assumption of late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, the presumed winner of the annulled June 12, office as the President after the historic election, has 1993 Presidential election. In Southwest Nigeria, for in- multiple rooms aside a unit within it said be designed stance, it is usually an important day so much so that it for his wife, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, who was assassiis observed as public holiday in honour of who many nated in 1996.

The spacious sitting room has a capacity for over regard as the symbol of Nigeria’s contemporary polit1,000 worshippers were it to serve as a church or ical evolution.

In Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, the state gov- mosque and the heavily-padded concrete pillars supernment organised a novelty match between players of porting the structure at strategic points, shows that former Abiola Babes and the state’s All Star Players at Abiola might have had an ambition to erect a building that could withstand intense shock or stress such as the M.K.O Abiola Stadium, Abeokuta.

The novelty match was part of the activities lined up shelling.

It was expected, according to a source, to have a sort by the government to commemorate the annulled June 12, 1993 Presidential polls which was adjudged to be the of Helipad atop for landing of helicopters and the conmost credible and freest in the annals of Nigeria’s elec- struction had been accelerated as the building firm hurried to meet the delivery date slated ahead of the toral process.

Also at Oja -Agbo, the Gbagura area of Abeokuta, a envisaged swearing-in of Abiola as President of Nigeprayer for the repose of Abiola’s soul was observed. ria in 1993.

But following the annulment of the polls, the arrest While the prayer session lasted, members of Abiola family, friends and officials of the Ogun State Govern- of Abiola after the famous Epetedo declaration, the ment in attendance, prayed for the continued peaceful contractor pulled out of site and had not returned till repose of his soul as well as the stability of the family, date.

A closer look still reveals worsening degrees of Ogun State and Nigeria.

Expectedly, even with the deluge of eulogies for Abi- degeneration, and buffeted by the elements all year ola as a political martyr and icon of Nigerian democra- round in the last 22 years while the decking leaks whenever it rains just as the steel materials also rust away. cy, and cries of neglect by governments from those The occupant of the building, Mr. Kamoru he left behind, nothing is said about the late Akindele, told Southwest Report that strangepolitician’s decaying and uncompleted ly enough, every June 12, pro – democradream Presidential Lodge. cy groups, rights organisations and parIt is as if there is subsisting queer ticularly, the Ogun State Government, conspiracy between man and cirindividuals and groups in Yoruba cumstance to rob the building of land make it a habit to remember the badly needed attention. the late politician and business As it has become an unformogul. tunate norm in the scheme of Akindele, a staff of the Ogun things since 22 years after the State Housing Corporation, said annulment of the election and he has been living in the pre17 years after the death of Abimises of the uncompleted buildola in detention, memorials ing for free in the past nine years of June 12 held are always held with the permission of the Abibut no thought is ever spared ola’s family. for how to realise Abiola’s He noted that June 12 memodream house. rials are used to sustain the tortuA glimpse at the edifice from ous struggle and sacrificial death beyond the weather-beaten gates of Abiola that ushered in the curmade of corrugated iron sheet or rent democratic era and the through the bland perimeter fence •MKO Abiola attendant freedom being witnessed toaround it, one sees uncompleted buildday by most Nigerians. ing sitting in the prestigious Government He is questioning the rationale behind the Reservation Area (GRA) Ibara Abeokuta that yearly event in Southwest while Abiola’s properappears pathetically odd when compared with othties, particularly the dream Presidential Palace, lies er houses in the serene neighbourhood.

About 25 meters away from the gate, 47-year-old desolate and almost in waste without a thought to reMrs. Omotayo Elegbede, a petty food vendor who oc- deem it.

He said it is regrettable that of all the benefits that cupies a space by the fence for her business, rued the neglect of the late businessman’s and politician’s dream accrued to individuals, groups, states and the countries following Abiola’ s huge sacrifice for democracy, home.

Omotayo told Southwest Report that she never met none has deemed it fit remember his uncompleted Abiola or seen him while he was alive but deemed it a projects.

He reckoned that even if the rest of Nigeria treated great help selling at the uncompleted building at no Abiola’s struggle with ingratitude, should the Southcost to her.

Inside the building was so dark as light only pene- west states toe the same path?

“The anniversary is meaningless and of no effect trated through the open or leaking portion of the roof.

There are many staircases leading to the various rooms when Abiola’s dream house remains desolate. What is in the house; forming a labyrinth which some people the gain? He died for the democracy of today but what say was designed to confuse any stranger who gained has that translated to in relation to this property?

“If the rest of Nigerians ignored him, should the access into the building without approval.

And from one compartment of the building to the Southwest states do same? The anniversary can only other, birds are heard chirping above the cellar. Bats be meaningful if the house is completed and the key hung from several pillars and many other reptiles found given to the Abiola family.

“I’m tired of seeing the house in this decrepit state. the place as safe haven; hiding in one of its many dark corners while walls leak as a result of wear and The picture of the house is published and governors of the Southwest states see it and have not done anything tear and the heavy rain.

The building, which was conceived to serve as AbioContinued on page 36

LAWMAKER representing Oshodi/ Isolo State Constituency, Hon. Jude Idimogu has promised to deliver the dividends of democracy to his constituents. He spoke after the inauguration of the 8th Assembly in the state recently.

Idimogu said Oshodi/Isolo had been backwards in terms of infrastructure such as roads, water and electricity. He therefore pledged to collaborate with his colleagues in the House to improve the living conditions of people. He also said youth empowerment will be given priority attention.

Idimogu said he would meet with the youth periodically to discuss areas that will impact meaningfully on their lives.

Nevertheless, he advised the youth to be law-abiding and give respect to constituted authority, adding that they should work hard to actualise their dreams in life.

He said: “As lawmakers, we will put in place effective laws that will favour Lagos residents in general and my constituencies in particular and also do what we call over-sight function and representation.

“I want to assure the people of my constituency that their reposing their confidence in me will not be in vain. I don’t believe I alone can achieve all; therefore, I will collaborate with the executive and my colleagues in the House. By the grace of God, there will be a difference.”

New president for league of Imams From Bisi Oladele and Sikiru Akinola, Ibadan

T

HE hall was filled to capacity with turbaned clerics from across the Southwest states as well as Edo and Delta. They appeared in some of their best attires. Looking radiant and exuding joy, they exchanged banters with one another as they sat on their seats in the oval hall where announcement of the new President for their association was to be made.

The venue was the Secretariat of the League of Imams and Alfas at the highbrow Bodija Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

They came elect a new president to replace the former President and Chief Imam of Ibadan land, Sheik Suara Haruna who died in April.

At exactly 10:14 a.m. when members of the executive of the league emerged from an emergency meeting, the General Secretary, Sheikh Hammed Aladesawe made the much-expected announcement.

He informed the congregation that Keulere has been elected as the new President of the League of Imams and handed him over to the newly turbaned ýChief Imam of Ibadan land, Sheikh Abdul Ganiyu Agbotomokekere.

The shout of Allahu Akbar (God is great) rented the air as other state and grand Imams took turns to endorse him.

Cleric advises Nigerians to support Buhari

By Adegunle Olugbamila

A

cleric, Prophet Ezekiah Oluboye Oladeji has warned public office holders and other Nigerians who are bent on sinking the nation to desist from such act to avoid risking God’s anger, even as he said they must repent, as God is prepared to deal ruthlessly with Nigeria’s enemies.

Prophet Ezekiah Oluboye Oladeji of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) (Canaan Worldwide) gave the warning on Sunday as the church begins its annual “Power Explosion” on Oke Erio (Erio Mountain) in Ekiti State.

The week-long event which ends on Saturday is already attracting many visitors from within and outside Nigeria.

The Prophet said Nigeria should rejoice because new times are here.

“Nigerian will succeed. God will silence those who are bent on destroying Nigeria. I warn every fifth columnist to repent now, otherwise they may not live to see the glory of this country when it eventually crystallises,” he said.

Continuing, he said: “If as a leader you are dishonest, a betrayer or fraudulent, God will strike you in His wrath.”

He said it was revealed to him that Nigerians should expect great transformation in all ramifications in the current dispensation. “God is going to do things that are extra-ordinary in people’s lives,” he said.

Praises for Anglican Communion From Damisi Ojo, Akure

A

AN Islamic leader in Ondo State, Alhaji Ibrahim Kilani has urged Nigerian political class to emulate the Anglican Communion in the pattern of its succession process to the highest positions in the church which is always devoid of rancour.

Kilani spoke while giving a speech at the Synod of Akoko Diocese holding at the St. Stephens Cathedral Church, Ikare-Akoko._ In attendance were over 500 delegates from various archdeaconries within the diocese led by the Diocesan, Rt. Rev Gabriel Akinbiyi.

Kilani, who is the chairman, Nigerian Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) in Akoko North East Local Government Area also praised the leadership role of Akinbiyi in areas of education just like the Ansar ud deen Society of Nigeria (AUD).

The theme of the Synod is “Salvation by Grace through Faith and for Good Work.”

He said:” We need to join hands and pray for the new administration of President Muhammadu Buhari so that the various problems confronting the country can be surmounted and life becomes bearable for the citizens.

The NIREC chairman called for more religious tolerance to facilitate peace that would attract many investors from outside the country for business purposes.

At the occasion, Bishop Akinbiyi urged politicians to give Nigerians positive change that would enable the country to witness economic transformation.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

36

SOUTHWEST REPORT Fading dream of Abiola’s presidential lodge •Continued on page 35

•From Left: Project Engineer, Ministry of Water Resources, Mr. Dahiru Abdulkareem; Task Team Leader, World Bank, Mr. Hassan Kilda; National MIS Consultant with World Bank-Assisted Project, Mr Michael Ale and Institutional Development Expert on World Bank-assisted Project, Mr. Hossan Danjan during the national workshop on monitoring and evaluation protocols for data collection by European Union.

Residents seek repair of collapsed bridge

R

ESIDENTS of Idi-Kanga area of Ibadan North East Local Government Area of Oyo State have urged government to quickly re-build the bridge linking the area with Iwo Road to ease the frustration of motorists and residents.

Most part of the decrepit bridge

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

has been washed off by erosion, thereby cutting off the community from others.

The Vice-President of Youth Advance Movement (YAM) in the community, Mr. Biodun Ale, who inspected the collapsed bridge with his

members, pleaded with the state and local governments to repair the bridge.

“Government must quickly fix the bridge to alleviate the suffering of motorists and residents who have to spend more time on alternative routes to get to their destinations,” Ale said.

Free medical programme for women

I

N its bid to provide better health care for the people, a social club has offered free medical programme for market women in Bodija Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

The club, Zontal Club International provided free diabetes health check to checkmate the prevalence of the disease among them.

Addressing the women, the President of the Club, Prof. Olufunke Egunjobi said diabetes is a silent killer which is yet to have a cure, stating that informed the reason the club partnered with Diabetes As-

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

sociation of Nigeria (DAN) to reduce the deadly disease through early detection and treatment.

According to her, the club was giving full backing to the DAN to educate market women about the disease and to screen them free.

She said Zontal Club of Ibadan is one of the more than 1,200 clubs in 67 countries of the world that is made up of professionals and executive women to empower their fellow women who are less-privileged.

Prof. Egunjobi noted that market women who are described by the Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka as the queens of the road, are ever so busy to feed the nation at the expense of their health, stressing that it was the reason for Zontal Club to deem it fit to provide the medical service to them.

Corroborating her assertion, the chairman of DAN, Chief Emmanuel Adeyinka said many people are not aware of their health status, resulting in many people dropping dead without any cause.

about it. It is an embarrassment,” Akindele told Southwest Report.

He recalled that about eight years ago, the premises was overtaken by weeds and shrubs that dwarfed the entire structure.

According to him, it was also a common site that some youths routinely hunt alligator lizards there, while a section of it serves as shelter for lunatic couples until they were evicted by the late politician’s family.

He revealed to Southwest Report that last year, Kola, Abiola’s first son, used to visit the place occasionally, and would look at the decaying structure for some minutes before taking his leave.

He expressed the hope that Kola would, one day, rally his brothers and sisters in a bid to salvage what is left of the once-envisaged Presidential House.

Two years ago, Abiola’s younger brother, Alhaji Musibau Abiola, also told Southwest Report that the building was so gigantic that a single individual may not be able to provide the needed fund for its completion, even as he noted that perhaps, only governments help–be it federal or state-could salvage the situation.

According to Musibau, the sorry state of the abandoned structure was a source of worry and discomfort to the family as it still remained one of the many losses and setbacks they had been contending with since the aborted June 12, 1993 general election and subsequent death of his brother.

Southwest Report gathered that during the administration of Chief Olusegun Osoba (1999 -2003), he showed interest in the building and was contemplating rallying help towards salvaging it. However, his inability to return to power in 2004 stalled his plans in that direction.

In the past two years, prominent Ogun State indigenes, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, had acknowledged the huge sacrifice Abiola paid for Nigeria, but many still hope that one day, someone would galvanise the financial help required to make Abiola’s dream house a reality.

An observer, who has great knowledge about property development once told Southwest Report that it would require over N60 million to rehabilitate or complete the building, excluding the cost of fittings. But he was quick to say that with the increasing decay on the structure, coupled with the rising cost of materials, N60m can only achieve little.

According to the observer, there is nothing wrong in the state government taking it upon itself to put the structure in shape, and also turning it to a five–star hotel before handing it over to the Abiola’s family.

He said this would be one valuable way to honour Abiola by the state government and thus save the late philanthropist’s name from the embarrassment and painful memory the continued sight of the forlorn dream building evokes in passers-by.

Last year, a member of Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s government Southwest Report that the issue of Abiola’s uncompleted building was not as simple as it seemed.

The government official, who pleaded for anonymity to avoid being quoted, said the family, however, has options.

Monarch praises O’odua Youth Congress on visit

H

IS Royal Majesty, Oba Aremu Gbadebo Alake and paramount ruler of Egba land, has praised the vision of the O’odua Youths Congress (OYC) which aims at liberating Yoruba youths from impoverishment and engaging them to embrace self-advancement through diverse entrepreneurial support and empowerment programmes. He pledged his support to the group.

The Alake of Egba land praised the group when its leaders paid him a courtesy visit at his palace in Ake, Abeokuta Ogun State The monarch, who was highly impressed with the youths’ focus, especially coming at a time when millions of Nigerian youths are experiencing uncertainties due to the alarming rate of unemployment, gave his full support to the various empowerment programmes of OYC, particularly the agric-business and entrepreneurship development programmes of the group which aim at supporting over 600,000 youths from the Southwest region in the next two years.

Oba Gbadebo urged the youth leaders to remain focused in their bid to work Yoruba youths out of poverty. He pledged his total support whenever needed.

He called on government at all levels to invest heavily in microsmall, medium enterprises (MSMEs) which he said has the capacity to generate millions of employments for the youth and huge revenue for government.

While thanking the Alake identifying with their programmes, President of OYC, Ogbeni Moronkeji Oladapo, noted that Yoruba youths have continued to experience enormous socio-economic challenges and felt it was time they made efforts to genuinely empow-

OYC’s Deputy President, said the group is motivated by its strong belief in the capacity to galvanise the youth of various classes and replace their fear with hope through various empowerment programmes which it has mapped out.

On the agric programmes, OYC’s Director of Agric-business, Mr. Alade Adesanmi said: “We intend to embark on innovative agricultural projects for the Yoruba youths. We will provide the necessary financial and training supports that will encourage our teeming youths to embrace agric-business and help the existing farmers increase their crop yields, improve income and food security for their families and communities and create jobs for their neighbours.”

The Ogboye of Egbaland, Chief S.O.

Akinremi, a retired cocoa farmer, who buttressed Alake’s position on the need to reposition agriculture in Yoruba land, said agric-business remains a goldmine that should never be ignored, adding that the various monumental edifices in the Southwest were constructed mainly with proceeds from agriculture. He, therefore, commended the OYC’s initiative, even as he urged Southwest governors and other well-meaning Nigerians to support their laudable programmes.

Other members of council of OYC present were Wale Adebiyi, treasurer; Wale Popoola, Director of Programmes and Kayode Fapohunda.

er themselves.

He assured that the OYC is committed towards reposition Yoruba youths for greater economic empowerment through deliberate engagement with stakeholders at various levels and increased access to decent employment opportunities, entrepreneurship support, civic participation, protection of vulnerable youths, health and innovative poverty eradication initiatives.

Oladapo revealed that “OYC is currently working with thousands of Yoruba youths through various empowerment programmes such as agriculture, entrepreneurship, creative arts, job placement facilitation, career development, scholarship and sports programmes. We are creating oppor-

tunities for Yoruba youths to meet the demands of adulthood, be economically independent and become more productive Nigerian citizens.”

He argued that with increased empowerment opportunities, young people have the opportunity to work their way out of poverty, transform their lives and create a better future for their families and communities.

This is what OYC intends to make of Yoruba youths.

He said: “The OYC, among other goals, aims at promoting self-employment and small-scale business development as potent wealth generating initiative for the Yoruba youths. We will leave no stone unturned in our quest to achieve this.”

Contributing, Mr Bode Olalekan,

OYC is currently working with thousands of Yoruba youths through various empowerment programmes such as agriculture, entrepreneurship, creative arts, job placement facilitation, career development, scholarship and sports programmes.

Oba Gbadebo, (middle), flanked to his left by Alade Adesanmi, Wale Adebiyi, Oladapo and to his right by Mr. Bode Olalekan and Wale Popoola, council members of the OYC, during a courtesy visit to the Alake at his palace

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

37

THE NATION INVESTORS

Odu'a Investment unveils five-year growth plan

O

DUA Investment Company Limited has unveiled strategic growth plan aimed at turning around the fortunes of the company in the next five years.

Group managing director, Odu'a Investment Company Limited, Adewale Raji, gave this hint recently while speaking with The Nation.

Raji who took over the company last year, lamented that for a company whose assets base is in excess N80billion, but generate a little above N1billion, has had a run of misfortunes these past years.

"In all these years, no dividend was paid to shareholders which is an aberration in a business enterprise by my own background," he said.

Going down memory lane, he recalled that the Holding Company and the Group had no manufacturing company in existence as Nigeria Wire & Cable, Ibadan, Askar Paints, Ibadan, Epe Plywood Ltd, Epe and Cocoa Industries Ltd, Ikeja which were operational at the resumption of his predecessor had all became moribund at the time of his resumption.

"The subsidiary companies were also struggling with Lagos Airport Hotel, Lafia Hotel, Premier Hotel and Odua Printing & Publishing Company recording losses in 2014.

By Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf

Only the Group Head Office that is beneficiary of rents on our properties and dividends from our equity holdings in quoted and unquoted companies, Wemabod Estates Limited (properties) and GlanvillEthoven Insurance Brokers are those that are profitable."

Gloomy as the situation is, Raji however, holds the view and very strongly too that all hope is not lost.

In his determination to turn around the fortunes of the company, Raji said a restructuring programme has since been approved by the Board.

Specifically, he said, the new ideal being pursued by the company is now: "To change the orientation of the Company from 'rent collectors' to that of an 'enviable conglomerate' that can stand tall among peers like UAC, PZ Cussons and Dangote in the very near future. "This means recreating the 'vision' and the strategic goals and ambition."

To achieve this lofty height, the Odu'a Investment boss recalled that KPMG Advisory Services was engaged to facilitate a five year strategic plan for the management staff of Holding Company and managing directors of all subsidiaries.

Expectedly, part of the growth projection is grow the Group Busi-

ness in five years (2015-2019) from N4.5b to N20billion with an underlining 15% profit before tax.

"It is the vision of the management and board to reposition Odua Group to create an enduring value that will be the pride of the South West. We also identified that core to achieving the five year plan will be the active engagement of our people by emphasising professionalism and best practices as well as retention and attraction of best in class talent."

Raji said it is heartening to note that things are already looking up for the company.

"The unaudited account of the Holding Company for End December 2014 presented to the Board shows a profit before tax of N609m which is a 61 per cent increase over 2013 figure of N378m. This is a testimony that we are on the right trajectory as we recorded 7per cent revenue growth and 6 per cent expense curtailment compared to 2013 to post the 61 per cent profit before tax position."

Pressed further, he said: "After a visit

to Spain by two Non-Executive Directors and myself on my initiative, we have successfully created a 50/50 Joint Venture with a Malaga based Spanish Company and registered it as WestlinkTodoconstruccion Ltd to market highly discernible and innovative building material finishes in Nigeria. Product range include but not limited to wall and floor ceramic and porcelain tiles, marble and terrazzo, wash room sanitary wares, taps, showers, closets etc, PVC doors and windows, bullet proof glass and doors etc. "Target Turnover set for remainder part of 2015 is N200million and there is a proviso in the Agreement for local manufacture to commence in Year 5 or on attainment of a specified Euro Turn over. Two showrooms for display and marketing of products are underway at Western House, Broad Street and Philips House, Ojota, Lagos with plans to extend to other owner State Head Quarters."

•Raji

Odua Investment, he stressed, "has successfully negotiated and concluded an agreement as major off-taker of 30 Hectares of land out of 100 Hectares planned reclamation at Agboyi Foreshore facing the Lagoon in Ogudu in Lagos. The Promoter is Veron Cades Ltd and the Contractor proposed is CCECC with a delivery period starting in June 2016."

Resort Savings reiterates commitment to less-privileged

R

ESORT Savings and Loans Plc, a quoted mortgage bank, has expressed its desire to continue to support the poor in the society and create an environment that will help enhance their economic status.

The mortgage bank made the commitment while donating some food items and toiletries to Little Saints Orphanage in Lagos.

The donation, according to Mrs Titilope Osunsanya, who led a delegation from the bank to the orphanage, was in line with the bank’s commitment to the society.

“This is our own way of supporting the society and giving back to it. Our desire is that the less privileged will continue to get help and also be able to rise to a position of becoming economically independent. We believe the only way to fight poverty is for all stakeholders to rise in their sup-

I

port and also ensure that they get basic needs,” Osunsanya said.

She said further that “the bank is committed to identifying with the plight of the less privilege of the society and encouraged other well-meaning Nigerians to imitate this gesture.

While receiving the gifts, a representative of the orphanage Mrs. George expressed appreciation to the bank for the visit while also thanking it for its show of love.

She disclosed that the orphanage had a total of 112 children, adding “that such visits are important to help us to grow up with love and happiness”.

The representative also encouraged other well-meaning Nigerians to show love in order to build up a credible work force for the nation as a whole.

•From Right: Managing Director of InternetSolutions Ltd (IS), Mr. OlusolaTeniola; Managing Director, Rack Centre Ltd, Mr. Ayotunde Coker; Group Executive Chairman, Jagal, Mr.Anwar Jarmakani; Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Oscar Onyema; Managing Director, Nigerdock Nigeria Plc, Mr. Lloyd Crispand and Head, Technology, NSE, Mrs.Yetunde Ojo during Rack Centre's CEO Briefing forum in partnership with the NSE in Lagos.

Stock exchange as ultimate voting machine (2)

NVESTORS purchase shares or securities of a company with the view that the company has strong future prospects. While making their investment decisions, Investors are typically concerned with a number of factors but the top two often considered by most are: value – investors consider whether a security represent good value and success –investors measure the future of a security (or company) by looking at its financial strength and evaluating its future cash flows. These factors can be determined through analysis of the company’s financial statements along with a look at industry trends that may define future growth prospects and the pedigree of its leadership. In the case of a sovereign security, investors would typically use the growth rate of the economy, unemployment figures, security, balance of payment, gross domestic product and level of budget deficit as indicators.

The market voting process

Accreditation begins in the morning, much similar to the ceremonial bell ringing or gong ringing as is the case at the NSE on the floor at 9:30am, heralding the pre-open session. Note also that the system opens a log on the point of login by the Stockbroker as every broker that has been validated to trade by the Exchange has a

By Ade Bajomo and Kenneth Ohaeri

unique username and password. The log captures time of entry, volume, account numbers and automatically assigns ticket numbers to the matched trades. In addition, it also captures the time any order was amended, cancelled and edited and the name of the executor. This is to facilitate a comprehensive and independent market surveillance process and provide audit trails, for playing back market activities, in order to resolve disputes or provide evidence which may be required in the event of a market infraction to secure a disciplinary conviction.

The order books are filled by the Stockbrokers in consonance with the mandates of the clients and queued on the system. A valid order must have the following features: Price, Volume and the client’s account number duly verified by the system.

Voting (matching of orders) currently begin at 10:15am, immediately after the opening auction and the process continues until 2:30pm when the Closing Bell (or Closing Gong in our local setting) sounds, signaling the close of all trading activities for the day.

For a trade to occur, the system establishes price equilibrium on both sides of the order i.e. the bid and of-

fer. It generates a ticket number for that trade with a time stamp. Thus, the trade becomes valid. An SMS message from the Exchange’s notification infrastructure, known as X-Alert, is triggered into the mobile telephone handset of the investor, detailing sales or purchases made and specifying the volume and price of the transaction. In the event that the investor did not authorise the transaction, he can summarily abort the process by placing a call to the NSE. Reports are also released immediately at the end of the day as brokers communicate the day’s transactions to their clients.

In Nigeria, aggrieved clients may seek for redress using the disciplinary process starting from the Nigerian Stock Exchange to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Investment and Securities Tribunal (IST).

The Stockbrokers could be likened to the Electoral College; a group of professionals licensed by the Exchange and chosen by the people (in-

vestors) to vote for the candidate (securities) of their choice. The SEC (the Apex Regulator of the Nigerian Capital Market) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange are the umpires that watch and regulate the entire trading activities just like INEC. The contestants here are the Bears and the Bulls.

Feeling bullish or bearish?

A common colloquial expression in the market is the relation of market sentiments to bears and bulls. The thought of facing a raging bull or a grizzly bear sound all too dangerous - and so are extreme market sentiments - but from a market perspective, a bullish market indicates that investors are confident about the outlook of the securities in the market and express this by increasing their trading activities. Prices consequently go up and so do the indices. A bearish market is the opposite, with lower confidence levels prevailing and prices falling. Technically, a bear market is defined as one where prices have declined by 20% or more over 20 consecutive trading sessions.

The use of the terms “bull” and “bear” to describe markets came from the way the animals attack their opponents. A bull thrusts its horns up into the air while a bear swipes its paws down.

The Automated Trading System serves as a polling station where mandates from investors are executed, while the Message Handling System serves as a window where market information, also known as Market Data and other relevant news items including financial reports, price sensitive infor-

mation, forecasts and corporate actions are relayed to the market and investors in real time as it emanates from the companies and the wider market. The market reacts to information immediately as evidenced by their orders or mandates. The driving force for various dynamics of price movement is basically the interpretation of these information released by investors.

Information could lead to a change of voters’ position on the polling units, in the same way, investors react to news from companies. For instance, in a regulatory move in August 18, 2009, the Central Bank Governor sacked the top management of five banks in Nigeria. This news sent shivers down the spine of the investing community, resulting in panic sell offs. The price drop over a five month period for three of the banks and the All Share Index are represented below and the overall market became bearish for some time.

Conversely, good corporate news emanating from companies could influence investors’ decisions over time. For instance, in July 5, 2012 Livestock feeds Plc was highly on offer (sale) during the pre-open session of the market. However, the order book changed during the continuous trading session when news hit the market that Livestock Feeds Plc notified The Exchange that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with UACN Plc, one of the listed blue-chip companies, on plans to make an equity investment in Livestock Feeds Plc.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

38

SMALL BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Essiet_daniel@yahoo.com 08180714151

With the energy shortage in the country, agro entrepreneurs are tapping biomass resources such as cattle dung and poultry waste for generation of biogas. This will create a new generation of rural entrepreneurs and industrialists with bias for biogas based energy infrastructure, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

B

Raising renewable energy entrepreneurs

IOGAS energy is using animal waste to generate electricity. This development is bringing about a better quality of life to many Nigerians and creating business opportunities.

Experience in Ibulesoro Community, Ondo State, has demonstrated both its resilience and viability. A biogas plant located in the community has not only reduced greenhouse gas emissions, it has also created a potential business opportunity for entrepreneurs to supply biogas digesters to people who want to generate electricity at affordable cost.

Usually, if the business booms, many contractors and dealers in spare parts and appliances will benefit. At the end, viable local entrepreneurs will emerge.

The Coordinator, West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP-Nigeria), Federal College of Agriculture, (FCA) Akure,Ondo State, Dr Adeeko Abiodun, told The Nation, that biogas is a very attractive option for both the economy and for households.The biogas plants, he said, could serve a household for 20 years. There are plants,he disclosed that can last for 100 years.

According to him, the operation of a biodigester, consists mainly of feeding the installation with a mixture of dung and water.

The biogas digesters convert animal dung into combustible biogas.

Once completed, units are filled with cow dung, which is then left to ferment. This produces methane gas which can be piped into the resident’s house , thus providing the house with a supply of energy for cooking, heating, and other tasks. With manure being deposited directly into the digester, the farmyard is no longer littered with animal droppings, so hygiene immediately improves.

Abiodun said operators of the

•Abiodun

•Test-running of the lamp and gas burner after completion of the biogas digester at Ibulesoro Community

gas plants can use either cow dung or poultry droppings. The droppings would be put into a sealed tank called a digester, where they are heated and agitated. In the absence of oxygen, anaerobic bacteria consume the organic matter to multiply and produce gas that can fuel a generator.

With more biogas units being installed, a range of entrepreneurial enterprises will be established.

These vary from animal rearing, to vegetable growing and selling.

For Abiodun, it is a win-win situation. While allowing homes to generate power, it helps farmers to monetise waste. On the whole, biogas programmes are profitable even when the overall cost of the programme is taken into account.

With no more time and effort going into fuel gathering, and with the extra income from emission, operators find that they have a lighter workload.

According to him, entrepreneurs are going to sniff an opportunity

to make money. The use of biogas plants to power local households is opening an opportunity for rural entrepreneurs. Many rural households that do not have access to electricity are going to team up to purchase biogas.

With the efforts made by WAAPP, and FCA, there are possibilities of entrepreneurs exploring the range of possible value-added bio-based products, among which are bio-fuel and bio-plastics.

For this reason, many entrepreneurs are going to be experimenting with biogas plants to produce electricity and power for small business units.

Biogas production will not only make households less vulnerable to energy shocks, but will radically improve their economic prosperity. According to him, biogas technology has a huge potential and its plants can produce gas for lighting, electricity for power generation. Opportunities are going to

open for intermediaries to collect cow dung or poultry wastes from farmers and sell to biogas plant owners, who do not have enough cows or poultry.

According to him, the project will convince the rural people that renewable energy technologies provide a workable solution to their energy problems.

On the prospect, Abiodun said the school has made success in bio gas the cornerstone of its renewable energy technology programme.

He said the school is training and developing technicians to market, install, repair, and maintain biogas for their rural customers.

Meanwhile, the World Bank, in collaboration with the WAAPP and the University of Abuja, has inaugurated a biogas facility that would help generate electricity for residents in rural communities.

The biogas facility, which was developed by the University of Abuja,

was donated by the World Bank/ WAAPP to residents of Kilankwa II Village in Abuja.

Speaking at the inauguration of the facility, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Michael Adikwu, said the facility would not only help residents generate electricity but would also serve as a power source for their stoves.

“The biogas facility generates gas which could be used to power stoves and light so that they (residents) can have electricity,” he said.

Explaining how the facility works, the professor said the technology was based on the use of waste that could be converted to energy.

He said: “If well constructed, the biogas facility can last for a 100 years as long as the amount of dung and water level in it is appropriate. This will help residents keep their environment clean because all residues that would have been regarded as waste can now be used to generate electricity and gas for cooking.’’

Right footsteps for right returns The demand for sodium silicate, a major raw material for soap making and the textiles industry, has created an opportunity for an entrepreneur to make a venture out of it, reports, DANIEL ESSIET.

I

N the 1960s, when most engineering graduates were scrambling for white collar jobs, the Managing Director, Prime Standard Chemical and Projects Limited, Igbesa, Ogun State, Abimbola Onaolapo thought otherwise. He struggled to learn more, possessed the drive to excel and planned to accomplish something big in his life. So he chose the private sector.

Since he graduated with a degree in glass technology from Ahmadu Bello University, he has worked with several companies. And as they say, he never looked back. Over the last one decade, Onaolapo has built a sodium silicate producing business, which today services the nation’s detergent, pulp and paper, chemical, petroleum, catalyst, water treatment, construction, and the beverage markets.

He has created 50 direct jobs in the process. Having spent more than three decades in the glass industry, he has seen a great opening and demand for sodium silicate an essential raw material in the manufacture of washing soap, ceramic wares, flooring and metal foils, paper boards and corrugated containers, and wall board, among others.

To take advantage of this, he and a team of promoters established Prime Standard Chemical and Projects Limited in 2004 to manufacture sodium silicate.

He conceived the idea of the sodium silicate business with some other promoters to help Nigerians who take pride in local production to improve their standard of living.

According to him, the plant started with the production of liquid sodium silicate in

2004 with the sourcing of the solid silicate from importers.

He said the management projected to start the liquid plant as phase 1, and thereafter with solid silicate using locally available raw materials.

It was a complex project because of its size and scale. He cited approvals and clearances, land acquisition, and development of utilities infrastructure as the key issues in developing it.

Along the line, he has suffered great misfortunes that has led to relocating the company. But he has the mentality of refusing to see problems as setbacks. In the end though, he was able to overcome the challenges with patience and perseverance.

The business located along Igbesa area of Ogun State, falls along the border of two large industrialised areas. The location of the business provides the advantage of proximity to the Special Economic Zone (SEZ).The area enjoys a functional partnership with the Government of Ogun State.

His story is one of determination and following one’s passion, no matter what seems ordained for one in life. One reason for his success is that he has been successful is because of a fanatical commitment to his work and the team spirit in the company.

Today, Onaolapo is an entrepreneur working to turn the sodium silicate business into a national brand , while helping sand dealers to improve their standard of living.

Getting started, however, requires a significant financial investment to build a plant and purchase machinery. He explained that he got support from Bank of Industry(BoI).

This has helped them to transform the idea into a reality.

BOI took interest because the business has the potential business to promote economic growth and development through linkage with the large scale industries.

The factory design employs a closed system that allows higher-quality silicates to be produced, while recapturing the water and sands that can be used for other things.

He said the company’s products include solid alkaline sodium silicate,solid neutral sodium silicate,liquid alkaline sodium solution,liquid neutral sodium silicate,caustic soda liquid and sodium meta silicate. Explaining the process of how sodium silicates are manufactured,he said this is done by fusing Na2CO3 and specially selected silica sands at 1100 - 1200oC .

The resulting product is an amorphous glass (commonly called cullet) which can be dissolved to produce hydrated sodium silicate in a variety of forms. He said precipitated silica is widely used across several industries, including rubber, electronics, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, cosmetics, and agriculture.

According to him, the company offers two types of sodium silicate ,liquid and block sodium silicate. Only block form of sodium silicate is good for long distance shipment. His company has a plant to produce sodium silicate directly from the local sand.

He noted, however, that the competitiveness of the business sector is hampered by a number of structural issues, chief of which is high cost of transportation. According to him, energy costs are very high as he has to use natural gas to produce sodium silicate directly. He said Nigeria is blessed with the best quality silica sand,

•Onaolapo

and since they are equipped with the best knowledge in sodium silicate production, the company’s products are outstanding.

The major raw materials required for the production of sodium silicate,he noted, are soda ash and sand. Soda ash are supplied from domestic sources,while Silica sand is abundant along the course of main rivers, found in the region.

According to him, the process is very challenging as reliable measurements of components have to be maintained. Electricity, water and furnace oil are the major utilities utilised by the plant. He noted, however, that the company is facing the challenge of rebuilding fallen margins in light of increasing raw material and energy costs. The energy crisis has made everyone in the supply chain, from producer to end user, sensitive to the need for cost recovery.

So far,he said the natural gas supplied by Shell to his company is helping to bring down the cost of energy compared to when he was using LPO.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

39

BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL

‘Reasonable’ Greek offer raises hopes

E

URO zone officials welcomed Greek concessions as a possible step toward a deal on averting a default, but politicians dismissed expectations of a breakthrough at a summit later in the day to secure the country’s future in the euro.

Hopes rose on financial markets as the officials accepted the reform proposal for the first time as a “reasonable” basis for negotiating an aid-for-reforms agreement between Athens and its creditors at the European Union (EU) and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

But Germany, the biggest European contributor to Greece’s bailout programmes, warned that the meeting in Brussels of euro zone leaders could be only “a summit of consultations” without a detailed technical agreement.

Chancellor Angela Merkel signaled that any settlement could take days to reach and her Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said he had seen nothing new from Athens, even though Greece faces a 1.6 billion euro repayment to the IMF on June 30, which it probably cannot make without help from its creditors.

After months of acrimony, accu-

•Germany kicks sations and wrangling between Greece and its creditors, positive mood music in Brussels injected new hope that a long-awaited aid agreement might be near.

European shares surged and the Greek stock market jumped nearly seven percent while the borrowing costs of Italy, Spain and Portugal - the countries most likely to be hit if Greece headed for the euro zone exit - fell sharply.

In the proposal, Greece moved to acquiesce to lenders’ demands for tax increases and pension reform by offering to raise the Greek retirement age gradually to 67 and curb early retirements. It also offered to reform the valueadded-tax system to set the main rate at 23 percent.

“This is now, for the first time, a reasonable paper on which you can have an informed and productive discussion,” one euro zone official said. “I cannot predict it will lead to an agreement tonight, but it is what was expected in form and in substance from such a paper.” the official said.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis

Tsipras headed into talks with figures, including European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and IMF head Christine Lagarde before the summit.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, a veteran EU dealmaker, gave Tsipras a warm welcome after he arrived in Brussels, taking him by the shoulders and patting him on the cheek. This contrasted to earlier this month, when a frustrated Juncker rebuked Tsipras for failing to observe the “minimum rules” of friendship.

Merkel held open the possibility of a deal. “There are still a lot of days in the week in which decisions can be taken,” she told reporters in the eastern German city of Magdeburg.

But Schaeuble, who has taken a consistently hard line with Athens, was pessimistic. “There is nothing new beyond many trying to create expectations which are not supported by substance,” he said.

“Without substantial proposals which can be examined seriously, we can’t seriously prepare a euro summit.”

Other European ministers played down the prospect of an agree-

Numericable-SFR offers 10b euro for Bouygues Telecom

F

RENCH telecoms giant Numericable-SFR has made a •10billion ($11.4billion; £7.2billion) offer for rival Bouygues Telecom.

Shares in Bouygues jumped more than 14 per cent in morning trading in Paris after the bid was announced.

A deal between the two would create France’s largest mobile phone operator.

However, the government has already expressed concerns, with Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron, saying further consolida-

tion in the sector was “undesirable”.

“Now is not the time for opportunistic tie-ups which may be of interest to some people but which are not in the public interest,” he added.

“Jobs, investment and better customer service are the priorities,” he said.

Last year, Numericable parent Altice, owned by billionaire Patrick Drahi, outbid Bouygues to acquire rival SFR. The Board of Bouygues will discuss the offer.

Oil rises on Greek deal hopes

O

IL prices has risen toward $64 a barrel, joining stronger financial markets on speculation that European Union leaders could avert a Greek bankruptcy.

Global stocks, the euro and peripheral euro zone bonds all rose on Monday, lifted by a wave of optimism that Greece and its international creditors will strike a lastminute deal that will see Athens avert default.

Brent crude for August delivery was up 53 cents at $63.55 a barrel by 7.30 a.m EDT, after falling nearly 2 per cent over worries about a potential Greek debt default.

Front month United States crude was 40 cents higher at $60.01 a barrel.

Prices rebounded from early lows after the EU’s positive response to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s latest proposals to try to resolve the country’s debt crisis ahead of a meeting of European leaders on Monday evening in Brussels.

“Hopes that agreement could be reached in the debt dispute with Greece at today’s EU summit are lending buoyancy to oil prices as the new week begins,” Commerzbank analysts said in a note to clients.

But a crude oil overhang, particu-

larly in the Atlantic basin, is limiting gains.

Around 10 million barrels of unsold crude, mainly from Nigeria, are held in offshore storage despite strong summer demand, Morgan Stanley said in a research note on Monday, potentially creating a negative outlook for oil in the second half of the year.

“If there are this many challenged cargoes in this strong demand environment, we worry about the outlook for physical oil this fall (autumn) when crude runs and gasoline demand fall seasonally,” the note said.

High domestic U.S. oil production, which has held up at around 9.6 million barrels a day, the highest level since the early 1970s, continued to weigh on oil prices.

U.S. oil producers added a rig each in the key Permian and Bakken shale basins last week, fuelling worries over high domestic oil output, even as the total number of active U.S. rigs fell last week, data have showed.

Although U.S. oil production was expected to decline slightly between the second and third quarters of 2015, output “would continue to grow in 2016 by 150,000 barrels per day at the current rig count,” Goldman Sachs said.

CVC, Temasek to buy Alvogen for $2b

E •From left: Director, Home Lottery Limited, Mr. Christian Abraham, presenting a cheque to the first winner of a house in the company’s on-going Home Lottery, Mr Gabriedl Mokogwu at the Gold Estate in Alimosho, Lagos state. Wi them is the Managing Director of the company, Mr. Kelving Otung.

Thorntons shares jump 42% on £112m Ferrero offer

T

HORNTONS shares rose more than 42 per cent after Italian chocolate maker Ferrero International made a bid for the firm.

The cash offer of 145p per share valued Thorntons at around £112million, and represented a premium of around 43 per cent on the closing price.

Thorntons saw sales and profits fall in the half year to 10 January, and issued a profit warning in December.

Ferrero is known for Nutella spread, Ferrero Rocher chocolates, Kinder Eggs and Tic Tac sweets.

Thorntons has urged shareholders to back the offer. Chairman Paul Wilkinson said: “Ferrero is a successful global confectionery business with a strong family heritage and as such represents a good cultural fit for Thorntons.

“The board of Thorntons therefore has given its unanimous recommendation for the offer from Ferrero.”

Ferrero chief executive Giovanni Ferrero said: “We delivered our best ever results in the UK in 2014, giving us confidence that now is the right time to broaden our roots in this important market.”

In March, Thorntons said its halfyear profits were “disappointing” after pre-tax profit fell 8.8 per cent to £6.5million, with sales down 8.2 per c ent to £128.2million.

It said it was hit by a drop in orders by two major supermarkets and supply problems at its new centralised Derbyshire warehouse.

The firm issued a profit warning in December due to poor sales of its products in some supermarkets.

Thorntons was established by Joseph William Thornton in Sheffield in 1911, and has 242 of its own shops and cafes in the UK and Ireland, It also has 158 franchise outlets.

Teachers besiege Maltina Teacher of the Year website

A

S entries for the newly launched Maltina Teacher of the Year Award draws to a close, organisers say they have recorded a deluge of entries as teachers rush to meet the deadline.

Reports from collation centres of the Maltina Teacher of the Year indicate that scores of secondary school teachers are submitting entries for the coveted award.

This is coming even as Kufre Ekanem, the Corporate Affairs Adviser of Nigerian Breweries Plc., hinted that collection and submission of application

By Chikodi Okereocha

forms/entries may be extended to give opportunity to every qualified teacher to compete for the coveted prize. He stated that interested candidates can obtain hard copies of entry forms from designated collection and submission points scattered all over the country as contained in flyers, posters and other belowthe-line (BTL) advertising materials being circulated across the country.

Ekanem added that candidates can also download the

application forms from the Maltina website, www.maltinanigeria.com, complete the application and upload to the site or return a printed copy of a completed entry form via the company’s postal address in Marina, Lagos.

According to Ekanem, entries for the competition will be subjected to an intensive selection and judging process by an external independent panel of judges, which has been constituted to ensure transparency, credibility and objectivity of the exercise.

UROPEAN private equity fund CVC and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek [TEM.UL] are to buy a controlling stake in the pharmaceutical firm Alvogen, its chairman and chief executive said.

Robert Wessman, former CEO of Actavis, founded the New Jerseybased generic drugs firm in 2009.

The size of the stake the consortium purchased was not disclosed, but the deal values the company at around $2 billion, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday.

The transaction is the latest sign of the hectic pace of deal-making in the healthcare sector, which has seen more than $250 billion of mergers and acquisitions so far this year, up nearly two-thirds from a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Wessman sold a stake in Alvogen to the private equity fund Pamplona in 2014. The new owners also include U.S. investment group Vatera Healthcare Partners.

Wessman and Pamplona will retain a stake.

The fast-growing company currently has 350 generic products on the market and has been pushing into the Asia-Pacific region with several acquisitions, including that of South Korea’s Dream Pharma last year.

“We have grown from a small base in the U.S. back in 2009 to a global player with operations in 35 countries,” Wessman told Reuters.

“Our growth has been 76 percent a year in the past six years, a majority being organic, but with access to network and capital from

our partners you should expect to see more acquisitions.”

Generic drugmakers like Alvogen are looking to get bigger to enjoy economies of scale in manufacturing and distribution, while CVC has an interest in health through previous deals, such as a 2012 investment in Chinese drugmaker Venturepharma.

“We want to be a company that can build up one of the leading positions in Asia Pacific, and on a global level we expect to be among the leading companies in a few years from now,” Wessman said.

He explained Alvogen’s strategy as focusing on high-growth emerging markets, developing a “difficult to make” product portfolio in the U.S. market, and building a strong presence in copies of biotech drugs or biosimilars.

Generic drugs are manufactured once the patent for a branded drug has expired and sold far more cheaply than their original counterparts.

Wessman and his team face increasingly tough competition, as rivals also bulk up through takeovers or mergers, with Israel’s Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Alvogen’s current revenue this year stands at $750 million, with core earnings (EBITDA) of $220 million.

CVC has just bought the theatre production company Stage and the German perfume business Douglas, and recently hired Goldman Sachs (GS.N) dealmaker Alex Dibelius as a managing partner.

Jefferies acted as financial adviser to the investment consortium, while Goldman Sachs advised Alvogen and Pamplona.

40

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

BUSINESS AFRICA

PENGASSAN to Buhari: address irregular T oil blocks allocation HE Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN)has challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to address irregular allocation and transfer of oil blocks, which it identified as one of the major challenges affecting the oil and gas industry.

The union also called for immediate declaration of state of emergency in the industry, saying anything short of this would be cosmetic because the industry is a critical sector of the nation’s economy.

President of PENGASSAN, Francis Johnson, who said this in his address at the Fourth Triennial Delegate Conference of PENGASSAN in Abuja, argued that the state of emergency was neces-

By Toba Agboola

sary to highlight the many challenges bedeviling the industry.

He said: “The association is using this forum to restate its call on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the oil and gas industry in view of the highlighted challenges bedeviling the industry.

“When you are talking about allocation of oil blocks, under normal circumstances, the Department of Petroleum Resources in conjunction with the minister will do something that is transparent, it must be

open. But what is on ground now does not represent that.

“That is why we are calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to address the issue and we said that for the oil and gas sector to grow as expected by all Nigerians, the government must declare a state of emergency.”

Johnson further highlighted the challenges confronting the industry to include crude oil theft and pipeline vandalisation, irregular Joint Venture Funding and nonpayment of JV Cash Calls, poor state of the refineries and fuel subsidy claims.

He also identified bad state of access roads to operational locations (refineries, depots e.t.c), non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and divestment

by International Oil Companies as other issues facing the sector.

He explained that the state of emergency should be an all-inclusive stakeholders’forum which would chart ways and evolve a framework for the industry as well as hold periodic meetings to evaluate and review the success and workability of the framework.

The PENGASSAN chief noted that the forum would lay the bedrock for the resolution of challenges confronting this critical sector of the economy.

• President Buhari

NAHCO donates bus to ANCLA

T

HE Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (nahco aviance) has donated a brand new Toyota Hiace bus to the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) NAHCO. During the presentation at the company’s head office in Ikeja, Lagos, the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Norbert Bielderman, said NAHCO considers ANLCA as vital to its groundhandling business. He said NAHCO places premuim on the welfare of ANLCA and its members.

Chairman of ANLCA, Mr Aloy Igwe; the Vice Chairman, Bola Ashiru-Balogun, and other excutive members expressed the appreciation to Nahco’s management.

He said NAHCO by its gesture was solidifying their relationship.

According to Igwe, ANLCA has a good relationship with NAHCO. In his words: “A good relationship already exists but this will only strengthen the tie even more.”

Both bodies pledged to sustain the relationship between them and sought for cooperation in new areas.

After the handing over, Igwe drove the bus round with NAHCO and ANLCA officials in the bus.

At the event were the company’s Secretary, Mrs. Folasade Ode; Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Hassan Yahaya; Head Corporate Services, Ahmed Bashir Gulma; Chief Commercial Officer, Seyi Adewale and Head, Special Projects, Keleshi Amaeshi.

Rock Hill dedicates business monument • From left: Rector, Institute of Management and Technology, Ugep, Cross River State, Dr William Pedley; DeputyPresident, Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC), Prince Dapo Adelegan and Group Head,Corporate Planning & Business, Mr. Charles Somorin, at the NBCC BusinessRound-table in Lagos.

Diamond, Cortina eye Africa Bank deals X-BARCLAYS Plc Chief Executive Officer Robert Diamond has a rival: Spanish billionaire Alberto Cortina, who is building a banking presence in West Africa to take advantage of demand from sovereign and corporate clients.

Cortina is conducting due diligence on a retail bank in Senegal after his Banque de Dakar investment bank started operations in the West African nation this month, he said in an interview in Madrid. He’s also planning to set up an investment banking unit in Ivory Coast to the East by the end of the year.

Africa is attracting investor interest as growth outstrips that of many developed countries. Diamond and Ugandan entrepreneur Ashish Thakkar set up Atlas Mara

E

Ltd. to acquire African financial service companies and is in talks to invest in Banque Populaire du Rwanda. David Bonderman’s TPG Capital is also looking at deals, and said last week it partnered with billionaire philanthropist Mo Ibrahim’s Satya Capital to invest in African healthcare, consumer and financial services.

“We want to create a financial institution for Africa,” Cortina said. “Senegal has a history of political stability.”

The businessman and partners, which he declined to name, plan to operate in the West African Economic and Monetary Union region, known by its French acronym UEMOA. The region enjoys relative political calm and a common currency, the West African CFA franc, backed by the

French central bank, he said.

Through the investment bank, the company aims to act as an adviser on corporate deals as well as sovereign and company issuances and private banking, said Cortina, speaking alongside Vasco Duarte-Silva, a former banker at Citigroup Inc. and Banco Santander who is leading the BDK Group in Senegal.

Cortina says he felt the “special call of Africa” when visiting for the first time in the early 70s.

While he made his wealth in construction more than four decades ago, he has a wide range of investments, from oil to dairy products, including a dairy venture in Nigeria. He also owned a farm in Kenya for several years and was married to a heiress in the 70s.

Rand is double-edged sword for South Africa

S

OUTH Africa’s rand is proving to be a double-edged sword for the nation’s current-account deficit.

While the currency’s slump to a 13year low this month against the dollar should be benefiting exports, that’s being offset by rising import costs at a time when electricity utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. is buying more diesel to run emergency gas turbines because of a power shortage. The weaker rand has pushed inflation to the highest this year and fueled a sell-off in bonds.

An index of South Africa’s local-currency debt lost three percent for dollar investors this quarter, compared with average gains of 0.4 percent among 31 emerging markets tracked

by Bloomberg.

The rand’s drop probably didn’t boost exports enough to narrow the deficit on the current account, the widest measure of trade in goods and services, in the first quarter. A central bank report on Tuesday will show the shortfall unchanged at 5.1 percent of gross domestic product, according to the median estimate of 15 economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

“With Eskom’s operation of dieselpowered stations, it definitely will push the oil import bill higher,” Isaac Matshego, an economist at Nedbank Group Ltd. in Johannesburg, said by phone. “The weaker rand is definitely putting pressure on the import bill.”

South Africa ran a 32.6 billion rand

($2.7 billion) shortfall on its trade account in the first three months of the year, compared with 27 billion rand in the same period last year, according to data from the South African Revenue Service. Eskom says it will need an additional 10.9 billion rand to import diesel in 2015 as it struggles to meet demand for electricity.

The utility is running diesel plants to augment power supply and limit blackouts. Eskom has increased rationing of electricity since November because of plant breakdowns and delays in bringing new facilities online. The power crisis in stifling factory production and curbing the ability of manufacturers to boost exports and take advantage of the weaker rand.

N exhibit that honours the contributions of Rock Hill’s African-American Business District has been dedicated.

Dr. Gladys Robinson, who chairs the African-American Cultural Resources Committee, said the celebration is about more than physical structures.

Robinson said the importance of the monument is more about what it represents, “and how the history

A

featured in the monument will keep alive a very significant part of Rock Hill’s African-American community history’’.

The African-American business district was located between West Black Street, West Main Street and what is now Dave Lyle Boulevard.

During the mid-1970s, a federal urban renewal project demolished many of the structures that made up the historic district.

Institute inducts fellows

T

HE Institute of Chartered Administrators and Researchers of Nigeria (IARN) has inducted some fellows into its fold.

They are wife of immediate past governor of Rivers State Dame Judith Amaechi; Vice Chancellor, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Prof Vincent Tenebe; Chairman, Maritime Academy of Nigeria(MAN), Chief Mike Adiotomre; Registrar, Lead City University, Ibadan, Dr Oyebola Olusola Ayeni and Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Dr Abu Moses Alidu.

Five persons received the Distinguished Merit Award. They were: Angelina Ogweche Okewu, Pastor Olugbemi Oluwatoyin Ayinde, Ijogun Adeniyi Ayodeji and Abdullahi Abubakar while Olaoye Seun Bejamin was made an Associate Member.

The institute’s Director-General/ Chief Executive Officer Prof Jacob Etinagbedia urged the recipients to be versatile by embarking on research to proffer solutions to the challenges facing the nation.

“For you to be revelant and valuable to this institute and our country, you must endeavour to commit yourselves to continuous studies and research. It is very sad to note that a lot of Nigerians are no longer reading, believing that being a graduate and having secured a good employment, they felt there was no need to read, but to be influential and affluential. I hereby

By Joseph Eshanokpe

challenge you to continually study to show yourselves approved to the society,’’ he said.

He urged President Muhammadu Buhari to invite technocrats into his much-expected cabinet, noting that in the past, some politicians who were appointed ministers failed.

Etinagbedia advised members of the institute, who are in the public service to shun corruption “and exhibit high degree of integrity, probity and transparency, always remember that a good name is better than riches. Don’t bring our institute into disrepute. You must be honest, trusted and dependable, as an ambassador of the institute”.

He added: “Let me use this opportunity to appeal to the Federal Government to invest in research, even though it has improved a bit because with vigorous, we will be able to nip the insurgency in the country in the bud, taking into cognisance that without adequate research, there can’t be any meaningful development in the country.’’

On the theme Moving Nigeria forward to the Promised Land: Issues and challenges, guest speaker Dr Peter Ekong urge Nigerians to contribute their quota to national development.

He noted that there is no country without its challenges, and that it is the ability to tackle the challenges and move the nation forward that makes it a great country.

43

WEDNESDAY JUNE 24, 2015

POLITICS THE NATION

E-mail:- politics@thenationonlineng.net

The 8th House of Representatives, which was inaugurated on June 9, is up and running. In this piece, VICTOR OLUWASEGUN and DELE ANOFI take a look at what the House and its Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, can do differently from the past sessions.

What difference can 8th House make?

T

HERE seems to be some calm after the huge row over Hon. Yakubu Dogara’s election as the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

One of the issues that continue to resonate in the polity is the direction the 8th House of Representatives will take, particularly in the light of the deep animosity generated by the election of key principal officers.

Dogara’s supporters in the Consolidation Group had described as a fraud the straw election conducted by the leadership of All Progressives Congress (APC) that threw up erstwhile Minority Leader Femi Gbajabiamila as the candidate of the party for speaker. So, it was clear from that point that not everyone was clapping for the outcome of the straw election.

Now that the battle has been fought and won, the process of unification and delivering the dividends of democracy should earnestly commence. There are quite a number of issues before the 8th House which must be attacked with gusto.

The Speaker has hit the ground running; it is equally and extremely important for him not to run in the wrong direction.

The achievement of the 7th House would not win an award in any clime, unless from cronies and allies of the leadership of the last session.

The promise of the 7th House to “pursue an aggressive legislative agenda to reposition itself as a key branch of government, able and determined to deliver on the key elements of governance”, was not met because of the meddlesomeness of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

However, what former Speaker Aminu Tambuwal failed to say was the inability of the 7th House to rein in some of its differences (albeit personal ambition of the lawmakers) and work cohesively in the pursuit of the common good for the people.

The legislative agenda of the 7th House, a 26-page, 7-part document encompassed Review of Internal Processes of the House; e-Parliament, Archiving and Documentation; National Economy and the Budgetary Process; Priority Legislation and Policy Issues; Engagement with Stakeholders; and Monitoring and Evaluation. More than enough to achieve on.

But for most of the time, members were working along party lines and hence the House could not achieve as much as it should. Even an important legislation as the (PIB) was given a lack luster treatment as it got stuck for over two years in the hands of an adhoc chairman that was either not interested, incompetent, lacking in capacity or had no idea of what it was all about.

After expensive zonal hearings and more expensive consultancy services, the legislation was raced through a kind of process at the tail end of the 7th session, so Nigerians could assume that it was passed. The 7th upper chamber did not even bother itself with the bill, notwithstanding its importance to the socioeconomic growth of the country’s economy.

Dogara needs to put his hands on the plough. He should realize that a tree does not make a forest. While declaring his intention to vie for the post of the Speaker, he had said: “My conviction to run for the Speaker derives from my belief that we have a lot to offer, working with my colleagues, in the House , our colleagues in the Senate and the Executive in getting this country on the path of progress and development.

For us, change means work. A lot of work has been done by the legislature in the past, we believe a lot more can still be done to take our parliament and the nation to the next level.”

His proposal to introduce sectoral debates on specific legislative sitting days or weeks for various aspects of the Nigerian economy as innovation notwithstanding, the question is, if such time allotment would translate into better results than the previous House. After all, whatever Dogara’s legislative agenda is can be found within the seven segments of the 2011-2015 legislative agenda of Tambuwal, except, if it includes changing the colour of the Chamber.

Dogara said of the sectoral debates: “Such identified themes, sectors, areas or problems include - Unemployment, Health, Education and Social Services; Power/Energy Sector, Oil and Gas, Science and Technology; Commerce and Industry; Transportation; Telecommunications; Agriculture; Mining; Manufacturing; Diversification of the Economy, Finance, Corruption, Security Matters, Infrastructure etc.”

The debates are meant to culminate in new laws or amendment to existing ones or make recommendations on how to better manage the economy.

Dogara said he would, among other things, promote equality among members and encourage a Committee system that places premium on the experience and career interests of members.

He also promised to “improve administrative issues in the House by ensuring that electronic voting is instituted at regular intervals and to strengthen oversight and ensure that public funds are judiciously applied and accounted for. Those can be found on pages 7, 8 and 9 of the agenda of the previous House.

Dogara should however, remember he would be held to his promises. He said: “After the euphoria of today comes the difficulties of tomorrow.”

The agenda of the 7th House was well thought out, insight-

•Dogara

The 8th House under Dogara’s leadership does not have much to fear as it has a whole four years to surpass this not too inspiring record. Dogara must ensure that the 8th House does not fall into disrepute or joke with legislative issues the way the 7th House did ful and profoundly encompassing in terms of putting Nigerians in the crosshairs of the dividends of democracy, but what was the level of implementation?

The shortcomings of the 7th House is there for all to see.

Important bills were left gathering dust and when the House suddenly realised that “ time was not on its side,” it passed a plethora of bills, including the all important Petroleum Industry Bill, on its last day.

Bills that were browsed over in a bid to induce a sense of hard work by the Green Chamber include the Nigerian Army Institute of Technology and Environmental Studies (Establishment) Bill, National Social Welfare Commission (Establishment) Bill, Labour Safety and Health Bill, Acts Authentication Act, 1962 (Amendment) Bill and Nigerian Football Association Act, Cap. N110, LFN, 2004 (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bill, Corporate Manslaughter bill, 2015; Animal Health and Husbandry Technologists (Registration) bill, 2015; Criminal justice (Release from custody) (Special provisions) Amendment Bill, 2015. Others were: Border Communities Development Agency (Amendment) Bill, 2015; Hydro-Electric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2015; Nigerian Automotive Industry Development Plan (Fiscal Incentives,nAssurances and Guarantees) Bill, 2015; Engineers (Registration, etc) amendment bill, 2015 and Proceeds of Crime Bill, 2015.

The bills were given second and third readings after relevant rules of the House were suspended in spite of warnings from a member, Hon. Betty Apiafi that the Chamber was engaging in an unprecedented anomaly. However, the former Deputy Speaker/Acting Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha has said there was nothing wrong in what the House did. That is ridiculous to say the least. Rightly, civil right organizations have appealed

to President Muhammadu Buhari not to assent such hasty pieces of legislation.

Again, going by Sam Tsokwa’s revelation, of the 767 Bills introduced to the 7th House,143 were passed (including those fastracked); Of these, Executive bills were 70, Private members’ 679 and Senate’s 18. As at the time the 7th session closed Bills awaiting second reading were 348, those pending in Committees 140, awaiting consideration 34 and those Negatived/withdrawn were 23. And Of 868 motions introduced, total passed as resolutions were 259 while 28 were Negatived and 23 withdrawn.

He said 558 were referred to Committees. In terms of Petitions, total presented to House were 112 and the number considered were 86 while 27 were awaiting consideration as at the end of the 7th session.

The 8th House under Dogara’s leadership does not have much to fear as it has a whole four years to surpass this not too inspiring record. Dogara must ensure that the 8th House does not fall into disrepute or joke with legislative issues the way the 7th House did.

The 7th House gave important nation-changing legislations, including the PIB to incompetent people to handle; gave profound investigations like the alleged fraudulent sales of oil blocs to an interested party and the recommendations were rejected by members before it was read half through. He should avoid putting square pegs in round holes and people with crooked characters in charge of high profile probes as was discovered in the subsidy regime investigation of the 7th Session.

Also, the 7th House made funny decisions like killing the Banking and Other Financial Institutions Act Amendment ( BOFIA) Bill, despite its importance. Even before it was finally killed, some members of the committee where the bill was referred doctored and watered it down to a level of ridicule. What were the lawmakers thinking?

The Speaker has vowed to block revenue leakages from Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDA). Already, caucuses from Kano, Jigawa, Kogi and delegations from Bauchi state have impressed upon the Speaker to let the friction of the speakership election be a thing of the past, it is instructive that the Speaker has already promised to unite the factions in the House in the spirit of sportsmanship and patriotism.

It is now left to Dogara to chart a swift course for the legislative vehicle of the 8th House. Like he rightly noted, the legislature has ran out of excuses to deliver dividends of democracy to Nigerians.

Ten mistakes to avoid: Skimming aides salary Though this may be a surprise to some people that are conscientious, but the fact is that some of the lawmakers in the National Assembly skim off some of their aides’ salaries. In the dark days when the National Assembly was paying the salaries of the aides,into the accounts of the members, aides of lawmakers had it really tough. the salaries of most of them were high- lacked by their principals and they were left with little or nothing. Those that had the heart to confront their principals got the shock of their lives when they were kicked out of the offices of members into the cold hard world of unemployment. Now that the National Assembly has decided to pay the salaries of aides into their personal accounts one would have thought the issue would be a thing of the past but some greedy members have found a way round this hurdle by negotiating with the intended employee even before he or she got the job.

This is because to a large extent, the employment of the worker is mainly at the pleasure of the member. This is not the way to go for any member in the NASS. Even at that, aides were still owed their dues and a litigation as recent as last month was a prove of that fact. The aides took the National Assembly Commission to court for refusing to pay hem appropriately. The Commission pleaded with the court to allow the Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Clerk of the National Assembly to be joined as defendants. The Commission said the three were principal to the case as they were directly responsible for the aides.

So the new Speaker must be more compassionate to the aides by finding means of ensuring that those concerned with the payment of dues of the aides do not default.

It is now common place that majority of the lawmakers employ their immediate family members as aides. That in itself could not be faulted but not having these aides at work for moths and years and yet drawing salaries is not right.

Dating secretaries This is very rampant in the National Assembly and has been a limiting factor to the effective operation of some lawmakers.

Many lawmakers are in steamy affairs with their secretaries and other aides. Some of the secretaries are consenting for reasons • Continued from page 44

44

THE NATION WEDNESDAY JUNE 24, 2015

Once they are sworn in, they have a feeling of omnipotence ‘and believe they can do anything and get away with it. The poise and mentality change unfortunately take on the barbaric

POLITICS

’

‘My administration ‘ll make a difference’ L AGOS State Governor Akinwumi Ambode has reiterated his determination to make life more easier for Lagosians through the implementation of progressive policies and programmes.

The governor welcomed constructive ideas from stakeholders, saying that nobody has a monopoly of knowledge.

Following his inauguration as the fifth elected governor, Ambode has hit the ground running. He has not come to learn on the job, as it were, having served as the Accountant-General and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance before he bowed out voluntarily from the civil service two years ago. When he was alerted to the tanker accident along Iba-Idimu road, his response was swift. He issued stern warning to drivers fond of wrecking havoc on the metropolis, saying that they must be curtailed to avoid further disaster to life and property.

Ambode slated a meeting between the government and tanker drivers to explore ways of reducing avoidable accidents that have brought untold hardship on the people. No responsible will close its eyes to this type of horror, he said.

The governor is perceived as a politician that will fulfill his promises to the people.

Last week, he assured Lagosians of a new deal, saying that his administration will make life more happier and easier. “Our intention is to return governance to the people,” he said, adding that he will not take any step without consulting with the stakeholders.

Yet, he is not afraid of stepping on toes

By Emmanuel Oladesu, Group Political Editor

in the interest of the state. His dissolution of some agencies boards of parastatals underscore his readiness to maintain a clean break from the past. He explained that the move will enable the government to reposition them and foster efficiency and accountability.

Many Lagosians expect Ambode to set up a cabinet of talents. A source said its composition will reflect the five divisions of the Lagos, which is made up of Lagos Island, Epe, Ikeja, Ikorodu and Badagry. Also, the State Executive Council will have representatives from the pre-existing 20 local governments, the source added. According to the source, it will be a mix grill of politicians and technocrats.

But, Ambode has hinted about structural changes in the civil service. For example, he has said that the Ministry of Rural Development will be abolished. Its functions will be taken up by the new Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs.

It is a government of continuity with improvement. We will be creative and receptive to new ideas

•Ambode

Under the new administration, the quest for a special status for Lagos will be intensified. In the Seventh Senate, Senator Oluremi Tinubu (Lagos Central) has brought the demand to the front burner.

But, Lagos must tap the resources available to it for development as it waits for the granting of special status by the Federal Government or the constitution. This, the governor said, will be done. “‘Lagos must create a hub for the African continent. We will set up the Office of Overseas Affairs to improve on trade and commerce. This will increase the GPD and generate employment,” the governor added.

An efficient civil service is critical to good

governance. Ambode said that “the civil service will be re-arranged.” In his view, agencies of government, including LASTMA, must be re-organised so that it can be more civil in the discharge of its duties. The governor said: “We will apply technology to deliver service.” Reiterating that his administration will build on the legacies of his predecessors, he said: “It is a government of continuity with improvement. We will be creative and receptive to new ideas.”

The nation is facing hard times. Lagos is not insulated from the effects of the revenue crunch. Ambode, a chartered accountant, allayed the fear of heavy taxation as a recipe. He said taxation will not be abused, adding that government will not impose any burden. However, the governor promised to reduce the cost of governance. According to experts, the first step is to block loopholes.

Ambode said that he will preside over an all-inclusive government. “This government is nit about the APC alone. It is a government for all Lagosians,” he stressed.

The governor promised to contribute to the success of the ‘Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN).’ Economic integration of the six Southwest states is important, he said, adding that it is in the interest of Lagos State, the region and the future of its children. He said if other Southwest states are developed, the migration to Lagos, which has led to decongestion and constituted more pressure on the state, will reduce. “More people come from other Southwest states to Lagos for medical attention.

We will support regional integration. It is in the interest of all of us,” he added.

Ambode also promised to promote tourism, saying that it is an income-yielding sector. “To boost tourism, we need to ensure security and infrastructural development. Our administration will focus on these imperatives,” he said.

New agenda for House of Representatives mittee. Hence, on getting into the Green Chamber, they would do anything to get into a perceived juicy committee. This easily make members to lose focus.

Legislative arrogance

•Lasun

• Continued from page 43 known to them, probably for the financial benefits accruable to them, while others are forced into the relationship because of the fact that they are scared of losing their jobs. A secretary once confessed that her principal, who was in the 7th House, did it to her sometimes twice daily in the office. Also, it was common knowledge that a crisis was averted when a lawmaker in the 7th House impregnated a cleaner. It took the intervention of the former Speaker to resolve and prevent the scandal from escalating. In the 6th House, a member living in a rented apartment bought a house for a mistress in a high brow area of the FCT. Luck lady. Some of these secretaries often times become overbearing and on several occasions, notwithstanding the environment arrogantly insult their principals and guests.

Controversy over juicy committees New lawmakers come into the House with great expectations. They have heard stories of how money flows in the legislature and one of the avenues to unlimited cash flow is by being a member of a juicy com-

Haughty, abrasive are the adjectives for some members. Once they are sworn in, they have a feeling of omnipotence and believe they can do anything and get away with it. The poise and mentality change unfortunately take on the barbaric. Sometimes, this attitude is also exhibilted by their aides. In the 7th House, a member from Katsina ran a policeman over with his car. He claimed the policeman insulted him by stopping him at the gate and asking for his identification. After some arguments he was allowed to pass. But, he turned back and ran the unwary policeman over. It was a big scene and the policeman was rushed to the NASS Clinic in the White House and later transferred to the National Hospital as his case deteriorated. The former Speaker, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, and the former Majority Leader, Hon. Leo Ogor, had to step in to prevent the case from escalating. Another member from Oyo State supervised his aides as they beat a Federal Road Safety Corps official into a stupor and tore his uniform.

This was because the member’s car was parked in an unauthorised place and the poor FRSC officer had the effrontery to clam the car. Journalists and security men have been slapped in the past by aides: Would we see these in the 8th House?

Seeking to defraud the NASS There are quite a lot of fraudulent activities going on in the National Assembly, particularly on the side of lawmakers. Constituency allowances are meant to be retired. This

means you tender expenses against allowances via receipts and other documented evidences. Usually, it was alleged that members seek professional liquidators to obtain receipts, while some believe the funds do not need to be accounted for. Others are fraudulent employment of aides and requests for backdating of employment of aides who in most instances are family members of the lawmakers.Thankfully, the ICPC is now in partnership with the management of the NASS on such issues.

Abuse of oversight functions Oversight is a key part of the responsibilities of the legislature. Lawmakers are meant to check the Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government to ensure the judicious use of public funds. Unfortunately, the intent of such exercises have been corrupted over the years as members now go to MDAs cap in hand begging for one favour or the other. For some lawmakers, it is cash. Others seek contracts. This has eroded the respect accorded such events as MDAs now shut their doors against members. Members were kept waiting in some instances while the heads of Ministries and Agencies sneak out through back door due to the excessive demands of lawmakers. There have also been stories of connivance between lawmakers and MDAs through the budgeting processes whereby extra funds are inserted into certain areas and ex-

tracted after the budget to has been passed. Though a number of committees in the 7th House were forthright in their conduct and never waited for or seek handouts from MDAs, the Speaker must however be a superman to stem this unfortunate norm.

Conflict of interest In past sessions, many members that were hot on impacting in the legislature by coming up with quality bills and motions most times often became cold midstream. What could be responsible for this? Investigations have revealed that some members have businesses that are in conflict with the oath they swore.

While some are clueless on what they are in the legislature for, others are carefree and just there for the fun of it. To this extent, lawmakers come into the chamber, or committee meeting just to show face, sign the register and disappear.

Profligate impression The jumbo pay of National Assembly members is currently in the public domain. Lawmakers insist it is not jumbo, the public says it is. But the lifestyles of members sometimes give an impression of overt opulence. Fancy houses, cars, strings of local and imported concubines. a lawmaker in the 7th House came in with 29 ladies from Niger Republic to a recent event in Sokoto State.

Also, a former Rep member had a string of exotic cars that were

Some left instructions that visitors must fill a form and state what their mission to the lawmaker was. How humiliating could that be when the aide or the secretary decides to go through the content of the filled form and decide the fate of the poor visitor right there

branded numerically. This can’t but give a particular impression and stiffen the resolve of others to get to such positions...or die trying.

Borrowing beyond capacity For a new legislator, it can be a great challenge getting a house in the Federal Capital Territory. However, moderation is the word when it comes to borrowing from banks.

Many curvaceous, pretty marketing weapons are deployed by banks immediately a new session begins.

They have new members, especially in their cross-hairs and usually talk them into trouble by giving a seemingly blank cheque for loans.

Fencing constituents A member in the 6th House from Sagamu and Chairman, Communications Committee, hated to see his constituents in his office. He gave his Secretary instructions not to allow any of them sit when they came to his office. He said he has an office in his constituency meant for them and wondered what they were looking for in Abuja. He was not alone. The same scenario played out in the 7th House in member offices. It got to a head when some lawmakers removed the chairs in their offices so that their constituents (and other visitors) would not be able to sit, if they visit. These are the people that voted to the National Assembly.

Some left instructions that visitors must fill a form and state what their mission to the lawmaker was. How humiliating could that be when the aide or the secretary decides to go through the content of the filled form and decide the fate of the poor visitor right there. Though some operate open-door policy, many lawmakers can’t be seen without prior appointment.

Would things change in the 8th House? Time will tell.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

45

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

46

NEWS

Catania officials arrested over alleged match-fixing

S

EVEN people linked to Serie B outfit Catania have been arrested by Italian police over suspected match-fixing during last season.

Catania struggled on their return to the second tier of Italian football after dropping out of Serie A in 2013-14, and the arrests relate to matches alleged to have been fixed to ensure they avoided successive relegations.

At the end of the 42-game campaign, Catania finished 15th in the table, two points clear of being involved in any play-off matches and

five off automatic relegation.

"Police executed seven arrest warrants against leaders of Catania who would buy a few games of the Serie B season that has just ended to allow the team to win and avoid relegation," a police statement read.

"The executives arrested are accused in various ways of fraud in sports competitions.

There are further raids being carried out in Rome, Chieti, Campobasso and Catania."

S

Ramos calm over United rumours

ERGIO Ramos is calm over his future, as speculation mounts that the experienced Spain international defender could swap Real Madrid for Manchester United.

Ramos has emerged as a transfer target for Premier League giants United, who are preparing to play hard ball over in-demand goalkeeper David de Gea. Real are desperate to sign Madrid native De Gea but Louis van Gaal and Co. want one of the club's prized assets in return, preferably Ramos.

Ramos, who is believed to be frustrated over an impasse on contract negotiations with the 29year-old entering the final two years of his current deal, responded to questions over his future in Madrid on Monday, telling reporters: "I never worry."

The former Sevilla centre-back has been an ever-present for Real since arriving from Seville in 2005, amassing over 400 appearances in all competitions.

During his 10 years in the Spanish capital, Ramos has helped the club to three La Liga titles, as well as UEFA Champions League glory in 2013-14.

•Ramos

Toshack hails ´special´ Monk

S

Navas avoids surgery on Achilles

K

EYLOR Navas has confirmed he will not require surgery to the injured Achilles tendon that saw him leave Costa Rica's CONCACAF Gold Cup squad.

The Real Madrid goalkeeper was forced out of Paulo Wanchope's squad for the tournament – which starts on July 7 – after suffering with tendinitis during training.

Wanchope suggested the 28-yearold could undergo surgery to correct the problem, but the player has confirmed that will not be necessary.

"Happy, grateful to god, the club doctors have assessed me in Madrid and have discarded an operation on the heel injury," he posted on Twitter.

"Today I received plateletrich plasma treatment on the left heel. Now to rest."

Navas made 11 appearances for Real in all competitions last season following his move from Levante after a successful World Cup campaign.

WANSEA City legend John Toshack has heaped praise on Garry Monk after the 36-year-old manager led the club to their highest Premier League finish last season.

Under the guidance of Monk – in his first managerial role – Swansea finished eighth, and also set a new club record for the number of points collected with their haul of 56.

Toshack – who played and managed Swansea – has been impressed with the way Monk has made the transition from player to manager.

"Most players when they finish playing go down and learn their trade, they don't start off

in the Premier League," he told the South Wales Evening Post.

"I was a European Cup winner in the morning and by the evening I was managing a fourth division side.

"But Garry's a special case because he's been at Swansea so long that he knew the club inside out.

"Garry went in and Swansea probably thought 'we'll see how he goes'. Then he did well

on and get into Europe," Toshack said.

"Swansea got into the Europa League before under Michael [Laudrup] after winning the League Cup, now they must try to do that through league position.

"But at the same time it's important not to get carried away. They're doing more than well enough with the resources they've got."

Ings: I want to earn iconic Liverpool number

D

ANNY Ings has opted against taking one of Liverpool's iconic shirt numbers, stating that he wants to earn the right to follow in the

•Monk

•Navas

enough to get another contract."

But the former Wales international has warned Monk not to allow Swansea to rest on their laurels, instead calling for another push to reach European football through the league.

"Everybody has got to be pleased with what Swansea have achieved, but the aim must be to push

footsteps of the club's greats.

The striker will move to Anfield upon the expiry of his Burnley contract having agreed a move to Merseyside earlier this month.

Ings could have chosen to take the number seven shirt worn by the likes of Kenny Dalglish and Kevin Keegan, and left vacant by the exit of Luis Suarez to Barcelona.

Captain Steven Gerrard's departure to LA Galaxy has also left the number eight shirt available, while nine may become an option with Rickie Lambert's future in doubt.

However, Ings has opted to take 28 - a number worn by Gerrard when he first broke into the team - as he wants to first prove he can step up to a higher level.

"You have got to take that pressure off yourself as a young lad coming through. That is what I personally think," said Ings, who is on Under-21 duty with England at the European Championships.

"I would make sure I am established before taking any of those numbers. It is such a huge club. That was the thinking behind it.

"I wouldn't want to go to Liverpool and chuck a shirt on my back like that - it is pressure you don't need. The expectation

at clubs like that is huge.

"Obviously I am going to work my socks off to earn that number one day. For now I will take a high number and work hard."

•Ings

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

47

The Midweek Magazine

E-mail:- ozoluauhakheme@yahoo.com

OLOWO OF OWO AT 74

The Olowo of Owo, Oba David Victor Folagbade Olateru Olagbegi III (CFR), will be 74 years old tomorrow. He was given the certificate/ letter of his appointment as the Chancellor of the University of Jos, last Friday. One of his children, Prince Leke, is getting married this weekend. The monarch spoke about the triple joy with TAIWO ABIODUN.

Triple celebrations for Owo monarch

F

OR the past one week the ancient town, Owo in Ondo state has been agog as it has been receiving visitors, and this week starting from tomorrow again, the palace will be feasting and hosting visitors. Reason?

Tomorrow, Oba David Folagbade Olateru Olagbegi III (CFR) will clock 74 years old.

The monarch was born on June 26, 1941.

Last Friday, the palace received over 50 top management Staff from the University of Jos, who came to officially present the monarchwith a letter of his appointment as the Chancellor of the University.

The monarch was among the Chancellors appointed by the immediate past President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as one Chancellors of Federal Nigerian Universities.

Decked in his white flowing apparel (agbada), and dangling on his hand, legs and neck are beads meant for a royal status with his red cap to match, the monarch was presented the official letter from the University by the Pro Chancellor , Dr Dan Etiebet, and assisted by the Vice Chancellor Professor Hayward Babale Mafuyai.

The Monarch thanked the top management staff on the appointment and promised to do his best in making the university be ranked among the best in the country .

On his birthday, the monarch said it would a low key , “I would like it to be a low key “, he said.

The Olowo of Owo who could not do without celebrating his birthday in the Redeemed Christian Church of God ‘Jesus Palace Parish’ in the Palace compound said he would be going to the Palace Church for thanksgiving , he said “ though I want it low key but I will go to Jesus Palace Chapel to thank God for sparing my life till this moment .“ Quoting from the Holy Bible he said God has been merciful and kind to him, adding that: “I thank everybody for their prayer and love for Owo kingdom and for my humble self. We should endeavor to continue to love ourselves, be prayerful and be positive”. He also extend his greetings to Muslim brothers who are observing the Ramadan fast to remain steadfast and do the will of Allah”.

Before the monarch was the Holy Bible on his table where he quoted conspicuously from without using his eye glasses .

At 74, Olateru Olagbegi III does not use glasses while he does not walk with the aid of walking stick except the royal beaded walking stick for occasions.

According to him, it is part of gift God gave me. “I don’t use medical recommended glasses to read. God gave me good health and I thank him. There will always be challenges but the important thing is to put your trust in God, the bible says you should not put your trust in Man but in Him (God). Holy Bible contains the words of God .You cannot do without the words of God. He is the King of kings, the saviour, omnipotent and omniscience and no one can be compared with Him,” he said.

•Continued from Page 18

• Dan Etiebet presenting the letter of appointment to the Olowo

CELEBRATION When reminded of the Bible passage that says a man has fulfilled God’s given age at 70 , the royal father did not agree and said “It depends on where you are reading in the Bible. I think it is David in Psalm 70, but if you read another area in the Bible God says He wants us to live up to 180 while another passage says if a person does not live up to 100 years that means that person is accursed ,So those who want to claim 70 can claim 70, and for those who will claim 80 or 180 should but ,there are some people who live more than 100 , some don’t live up to 70, very few people live up to 120".

When asked about the speculation in town of the monarch living up to 100 years, the monarch said “there is nothing God cannot do, I claim it in Jesus’ name. I pray to be up to that. Since I was young I knew its only God that does not disappoint. He has not disappointed me in life, God is my refuge, companion and my father , He does not leave me. I put my trust in Him and when you trust Him , He will supply all your needs.

“In the book of Isaiah , it says if one is not up to 100 that means the person is accursed and yet in the book of Genesis Chapter 6

•Oba Olagbegi

‘I don’t use medical recommended glasses to read.

God gave me good health and I thank himThere will always be challenges but the important thing is to put your trust in God...I was given ‘David’ by my parents. I tried my best but I can’t compare myself with the a biblical David’

verse 3 says “and The Lord said my spirit shall not always strive with man , for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.”

On his name, David and Victor that are synonymous with the Biblical David , he said “I was given ‘David’ by my parents. I tried my best but I can’t compare myself with the a biblical David‘, he declared with humility.

In the book of Isaiah, it says if one is not 100 that means the person is accursed and yet in the book of Genesis Chapter 6 verse 3 says “and The Lord said my spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is

flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years”. Another passage in the Bible of Isaiah, says if a man is not up to 100 it means he is accursed.

On lawn tennis which has been the family trade mark , the monarch says he has long played it “ I am supposed to be playing it.

I have not played it for some time .You know as one is getting old the bone is growing weaker.But as per my daily activities, I wake up in the morning and pray, in the afternoon I pray, in the night I pray.God says we should pray without ceasing .Prayer is the key”.

Ogidi Day: Feasting for economic growth

“And through that draw attention to the parlous state of Ogidi. No government establishment that will attract workers to live in Ogidi. But we have found an anchor to our creative enterprise. One day, tourists from across the globe will arrange their holidays to visit Ogidi,” he added. On the criti-

cal interventions by the Ogidi Ela Forum in the areas of education and infrastructural rehabilitation, he said: “The two schools in Ogidi are not in good shape as there are not teachers apart from corps members. If we neglect our education, we will deny ourselves of comfort hence we tackle the challenge frontally.”

In pursuance of its immediate needs in the community, Ogid Ela Forum has raised about N1.5million that will be expended in phased rehabilitation of the community school.

The event also witnessed performances by different cultural troupes such as Ondo State Troupe, Iyah and Nupe group,

Osogbo/Agbo Olode group, Nike group, and cutting of cake marking the birthday of Mrs Habeeb Folarin. Also there was a life painting session by four artists Owolabi Ayodele, Adeleke Hakeem, Biodun Badejo and Alabi Dimeji who captured the hilly landscape of Ogidi on canvass.

48

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

The Midweek Magazine

E-mail:- ozoluauhakheme@yahoo.com

‘I am not going to give up that easily’ ADETAYO ADEMORIN speaks with up and coming musical act, Omowumi Fosudo on her career

W

HAT is the focus of your songs?

I want to be able to pass across the message of the music.

You talked about passing a message.

Is there any social message in your first single ‘Gbona’? Or did I miss it?

My focus is on love. You know how they say “love is the greatest”. “Love makes the world go round” and all that. Well, love seems to cover everything- Within its context you will find everything elselove for family, friends of both sexes, God, country and other people- which is the social issues you are talking about. It is not just portraying or lamenting about what is in society that’s important but also what we can do about it and I think love is the answer. Love is a verb. It is proactive It seems you’re stay in America has you talking lots about Peace and love.

The whole love and peace thing, is that he American part of you?

There is nothing more love and peace out there than there is here.

How long were you in Nigeria before you left?

17 years How long were you in the US? 10 years That’s long enough to colorize you…make you think like them You could say so but the switch back here is definitely an eye opener and a bit of a culture shock. I mean for one thing, there seems to be a social event here every other day. Everything is fast paced here.

There is no cruise control here. No cruise control in Nigeria.

At what point did you decide to take up music?

It was way before I actually did. I thought about it and talked about it for like three years but I couldn’t work up the courage to do it. It took me time to find the guts to eventually make the move.

What happened to your guts? They failed you?

Not really. It was a question of how you explain it to the people around you. It won’t make complete sense to them I believe you’re a graduate of Finance?

Yes I am.

Why didn’t u stay back in US and do the music thing there?

Well. I have always been fascinated with Nigerian music and wanted to be part of it…and I couldn’t be part of it from there.

What fascinates you about Nigerian music?

I love our sound. I love the fact that we are growing as an industry. I have been following things here for a while and then finally decided the time was right. It was like ‘now or never!’

You kind of fascinate me too. Running away from a stable society, comfortable job, leaving all you had going on for you in the US and coming back here.

It is not just me. A lot of other people have taken that risk at so many different levels. They left better conditions than the one I was in to come back home. Thing is, you can’t come back home with a double mind, with a soft mind. You have to be all in to be just to stand a chance.

So you came back with a plan, saved up all you needed…

No. I don’t have like all the money and everything but slowly and surely we’ll

• •Fusudo

MUSIC get there. A lot of people who start this journey- whether abroad or here- didn’t start with everything. If you’re going to be something…you will be.

So you believe in destiny?

Of course, I do.

Which Nigerian musicians have inspired you the most?

Asa. First and foremost. I remember when her first album came out. It is one of the best albums I have ever heard in a long time. They were playing it everywhere- in barbecues, in bars and lounges.

Another thing I heard that got me was Tufaces’ African Queen which was the soundtrack to the movie, Fat Girls. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

Then of course there is Fela. The boldness of his messages, his craftsmanship, the rawness of his sound, the afro-centricity of the whole thing. That’s why he is celebrated worldwide. A true voice of Africa.

Apart from these three, almost everyone

here inspires me. The pure resilience, the work rate, the belief, the outputs are just amazing. Tiwa Savage, Flavour, Omawunmi. What they have done here helped inspire me to come back.

Are there people you would like to work with?

Definitely. I would love to do a duet with Patoranking. He simply has so much soul. Asa and Tuface of course…Flavour too.

So what is different from what you are bringing to the table? Anything distinct about what you are doing?

I like to fuse genres. My first song is a fusion of Afrobeat and Soul. The next song is a fusion of R’n’B and highlife. I like to fuse. I love to create. As long as I can be creative and successfully do that…one day Nigeria will ‘recognise.

You feel you have what it takes to blow here?

Of course. Of course. I recognize the fact that a lot of people are out there trying.

Some are succeeding more than others

‘I like to fuse genres. My first song is a fusion of Afrobeat and Soul. The next song is a fusion of R’n’B and highlife. I like to fuse. I love to create. As long as I can be creative and successfully do that…one day Nigeria will ‘recognise’

and that life offers no guarantees but I strongly believe that if you work very hard, focus on improving the quality of your output, there is nothing that can hold you back.

So if this doesn’t work out the way you planned, would you go back to your banking job in the US? There is no going back. We are here. We are doing this. Will do mainstream music as long as I can then who knows what next? Judge talent shows. Coach other artistes. Talk shows. The entertainment industry here is going to keep growing.

There is so much to do, so much to plug in to.

So what do you have lined up next?

Definitely a super duper highlife and R’n’B song in about a week and then a super duper club banger.

So it’s just music?

Yes. If you want to do something, do it well. Stay focused, keep at it. Been busy learning. Learning the industry. Learning the environment. Learning how things work.

How have you been learning?

Observing, Mingling. Talking. That’s how you learn.

Who and who have you mingled with since you came back?

A lot of people. I don’t want to star name drop but of course I have linked up with several artistes and producers. I can safely say I have met Ikon and UC Profthe producers of my first single and the one that’s dropping soon.

And you have had some performances?

Of course. I did the Lagos countdown in December at the beach. I performed at the one on Christmas and the one on New Year’s. After my debut single dropped, I was performing a lot.

So you have been enjoying the industry?

Enjoying? I enjoy what I am doing, the process, the lessons, the friendships but I am not sure one can say they are ‘enjoying’ the industry till one reaches a certain level of success as an artiste.

Has there been any kind of pressure?

There is pressure to do the kind of music that is popular. Pressure to play it safe and conform to what everyone else is doing, not doing love songs and expressing yourself. A lot of pressure to go ‘commercial’. You know when they are doing the big shows, they don’t usually call those who are pouring their hearts out talking about love and all.

How have you been taking it?

Think I am taking it well. I understand that it isn’t an overnight thing. I know nothing comes easy. Some people it takes 8 songs before they get their hit. Some take 10 years. So I think I am doing ok so far.

How are you coping with male fans and admirers ?

Male admirers? They admire you. There is nothing you can do about that.

No bad encounters?

Nothing out of the ordinary really. As a woman you learn to respect yourself and appreciate them. There is no wahala there.

Since you’ve come back, have you had any memorable experience? Is there any experience that stands out?

Let’s talk about the fuel scarcity! That was a memorable experience! There was so much I had to do- photoshoot, recordings but we couldn’t do anything. No movement. It was scary on the Sunday because no one was selling. It felt like a war zone. Like there was some kind of zombie apocalypse.

You don’t feel like running back?

No. I am not going to give up that easily. I know people who have run back to the States after two months after selling all they had to come back to Nigeria but there’s no going back for me.

When do we get to see your music videos?

We are currently working on a video treatment for the new single and we are hoping to shoot it mid- June.

So what can we expect from Imanse?

The best. Nothing but the best. I will keep putting out good music that will keep getting better and better. I will keep tweaking the sounds. I will keep performing. Reaching out to the fans.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

49

The Midweek Magazine

E-mail:- ozoluauhakheme@yahoo.com

When ‘God’s abundance grace’ prods man to the zenith...

H

Journey of a peasant

IS story spiraled from the errant boy groomed in the rustic but agrarian Ijesa-Isu in today’s Ekiti State, to the bois-

terous town of Ibadan the once political hub of the First Republic, coursing through the never-say-die world of students unionism in the University of Ibadan, and climaxing in esteemed position in the Nigerian Customs Service. The author’s biography simply showcases unwarranted favour which could only come by the grace of the Almighty God. “Enjoy the journey of a peasant farmer’s son who retired as Ag. Comptroller-General of Nigerian Customs service, and may your eyes be enlightened as the mystery of God’s exceedingly great grace that ‘raises a man from dust and causes him to sit with kings’ is laid bare once again...” says Comptroller Eporwei Edike the author’s former colleague who wrote the introduction to the book.

The circumstances of the author resonates with his father Chief Jeremiah Akande Olugbemile, the only surviving son of his father’s nine children. Tayo too himself from a polygamous home is one of the surviving four of the eight from his mother’s siblings.

Interestingly the author was born few weeks after the Second World War and at a time agitations for self governance particularly in Africa were rife. Thus the author’s parents, well aware of their son’s adventurous spirit, had to weave a web around his movement sometimes restricting him from catching fun with his playmates This adventure eventually propelled the author’s journey to education. He recounts how, out of sheer curiosity, he sneaked behind his elder brother Dele to school only to be ‘trapped’ by a sharp-eyed teacher who then summoned him to place his arm over his head and see whether it measured up to his left ear, an archaic practice of which to ascertain children ripe to begin school in those days.

But even then, the author’s sojourn in school was pretty challenging given his poor background.

“A school bag and sandals were not part of my early schooling life,” the author recalls. “Father could not afford such luxuries. I walked barefooted to school, carrying my books in my hands. For several years, I attended primary school without shoes and had quite gotten used to it. This was to the extent that when in later years I got my first pair of shoes I wore them to the ‘bush latrine’ and forgot them there.”

His father’s default in paying his school fees was another headache; but thanks to the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s free education policy which the author credits , describing the gesture as the ship that saw his education dream sail.

The second chapter of the book is dedicated to the author’s mother whom he fondly referred to as eye mi. Eye mi was well aware her son’s childhood escapades but would rather tolerate him and leave the scolding to her disciplinarian husband.

Though she was the third wife, Eye mi, says the author, displayed virtues of humility and love to her husband and two elder wives, attitudes that earned her a coveted position among senior wives in the entire household. Eye mi was also the type whose eyes were fixed on merchandise. She assisted her husband in nurturing food crops in the farm and selling same in the market, while using the proceeds for petty trading.

As a young boy, the author too would not look the other way; he usually walks his mother six miles on foot to neihgbouring villages to sell. This was here the author’s enterprising spirit was sharpened.

“I developed a spirit of courage and fear-

farmer’s son

BOOK REVIEW From Uzor Maxim Uzoatu Title: Abundance Grace (Journey of a peasant farmer’s son) Author:

Tayo Ogungbemile

Reviewer:

Adegunle Olugbamila

Publishers: Expand Press Ltd lessness. If anything, my sense of adventure deepened,” said the author in a tribute to his mother.

His childhood pastimes such as farming, hawking, hunting, drumming and playing flute in school still lingers in his memory.

Those little experiences, he believes, contributed to what formed the foundation of his life.

However, like the proverbial two sided coin, the author’s father, was the exact opposite; a disciplinarian to the core. Aside his penchant for corporal punishment or a disgraceful public spectacle each his children err, Chief Olugbemile would have none of his children performed below first to third positions. To him, every other position is a woeful failure once a child failes to meet that benchmark. The author recalls one of the sad episodes where his father accompanied him during his final year valedictory in primary school. Chief Olugbemile must have been disappointed when his son’s name did not feature among the first three. He was livid! As usual, the author had his ‘dinner’-his father had him thrashed by the cane. But despite the pains, the author has learned a lesson.

“The lesson I learned from the incident is to maintain an excellent path in life. It became important for me to sustain a good track record in whatever I did. This is a guiding principle that has helped me throughout my professional career; it is one which I have imbued in my children too,” he recalls.

Securing admission at Ansar-Ud-Deen High School Ikole Ekiti at an older age was another uphill task.

Despite this, providence smiled on the author as he shone like a million stars among his classmates compelling the school management to grant him double promotion. The luxury however did not come without some hitches- the author’s former classmates developed inferiority complex, while his current contemporaries saw him as an usurper. That not whistanding, few still bonded with him. He was later to dwarf others clinching the first position at every turn to the envy of others.

This feat, the author recollects, further cemented his relationship with God and compelled him to write his ‘Goal attainment list’ which he religiously followed for uninterrupted 13 years.

It was at this secondary school the author also consummated his passion for social life and sports. He featured prominently in certain sporting activities including triple jump, discuss throw and marathon. This was in addition to enlisting in the school drama group as well as literary and debating society which the author believes helped him oil his talent in public speaking. Even

when the author’s father ran into financial crisis and couldn’t afford paying his son’s school fees because his (author’s father) only helping hand in the far had left him, the school management had to wave the author’s fees and allowed him pay in installment. Reason: management simply could not lose a material like Tayo who remained prominent in virtually all facet of the school activities.

Having completed his secondary school in1966, the author’s desire to migrate to Lagos surged. He had always imagined himself being a part of the hustling and bustling of life in that coastal city. Following a passage read out to them about the beautiful city by his former English teacher chief Tunde Aluko, the author in company of his friend Ephraim, had sneaked to Lagos. Tayo lied to his father who had initially turned down his request to move to Lagos, that the school was taking them on an excursion to Lagos. The author spent a week with his elder brother Dele visiting all beautiful places especially the upscale Ikoyi. Thereafter, his mind was glued on coming back to permanently settle in the beautiful city- but that would not materialise until 31 years after.

His sojourn to Ibadan at the instance of his father after completing School Certificate was like a blessing in disguise. Through the instrumentality of his uncle, he hadsecured a temporary job at Olivet Grammar School, Ibadan; initially found himself in the school principal’s bad book because of the rather controversial circumstances which he was employed. He later had a scruff with the same principal over alleged intimacy with a girl in his class, resulting in his termination of appointment. The author later moved to Lagos on the guise of going to write GCE as ‘transferred candidates’ who suffered displacement owing to the Civil War. Through a former schoolmate, the author began a new life in Lagos as a clerical officer in the Ministry of Transport, reveling in all economic and social life of the sprawling city. Having substantially resolved issues bordering on his continued stay in Lagos with his father, the author passed his A Level exam and was subsequently offered admission into the University of Ibadan to study Sociology.

“Indeed, that was one of the happiest days of my life,” he recalls with nostalgia.

Life in UI, the author soon found out, was a different kettle of fish as against his exploits in elementary and standard schools.

His course-Sociology, opened his eyes to variations in human behavious. The era also coincided with the Civil War at the climax of which the Government of Western State gave a bursary of 100 pounds per session to all students of Western State extraction.

For the author, that was a big financial relief as the bursary guaranteed he would complete his university education.

His extrovert nature continues to propel him even when he ventured into the often murky waters of politics contesting for the office of the vice president of the Students’ Union of UI in 1971.Yet, he would not forget his first baptism of fire as a student unionist. Upon a successful election of which he was a part, the SU executive had decided a welcome party for ‘ freshers’. The author as a sociable person was the arrowhead of the planning. Unfortunately, there was a cholera outbreak in Ibadan at the time and the then vice-chancellor the late Adeoye Lambo a professor of Psychiatry and former Director-General of the World Helath Organisation,, would have none of that.

Lambo directed that the planned welcome party be cancelled forthwith, a decision that irked the author and other members of the SU executive. The SU replied the management with a strongly-worded letter signed by the author, saying they would not budge.

The SU executive members were summoned to the vice chancellors home the following day. The author without a prophet knew the implication of such action. He could see in his mind’s eye there was trouble in the offing. “(From his (VC) tone, “the author says in retrospect, “something told me I was in deep trouble. My ‘Goal Attainment List’ flashed across my mind. I had a feeling he had mentally registered my name in his memory for disciplinary action. If I did not

retrace myself, I could earn myself suspension if not rustication from the university.

But back to the realities on ground, I could see that Prof Lambo was very angry with our confrontational stand.”

Buoyed by the successful protests the UI SU staged across Lagos and other parts over the rude invasion of the Portuguese mercenaries by the Republic of Benin during that period, the SU ha swung into a fresh protest over what it saw as poor standard of students’ welfare in the Zic Hall of UI. To register their displeasure, students in the Zik Hall had embarked on a three-day hunger strike. The development later resulted into bloody protest that saw the author and SU president Solomon Agunbiade arrested but later released, as well as the shooting of one of the students Adekunle Adepeju, 27 and a final year Agricultural Studies undergraduate by the anti-riot policemen that came apparently to quell the crisis. To add more salt into the injury, Aderoju was the only surviving son of his parents.

News of the deceased had spread like wild fire into other campuses, inflaming students of the UNILAG that went on rampage burning down police post at Unilag and the Sabo Police station in the process.

“Students of University of Ibadan were given orders to pack out of the campus within 24 hours and the university was shut down. I took the opportunity to travel home to present myself before my parents at home in Ijesa-Isu, as news had floated back to the village that I had been arrested, “the author recalled.

Unlike what we have now, then was also the era of transparency where students generally had to make sacrifices to raise funds for the executive.

“There was openness and accountability, said the author in retrospect. “ Indeed, the Students’ Congress passed a motion describing our own executive as ‘infallible’ due to the manner we conducted the union’s affairs. There was confidence in our team which was demonstrated in the way in which they supported us. At least on two occasions, students gave up their lunch for funds to be remitted to the union coffers to meet exigencies. Once the students had given their approval, the university’s bursar remitted the funds to the SU’s account.

If the students had no faith in our government, they would not make this kind of sacrifice.”

“Arguable the current crop of student activist unfortunately lack the focus and fevour to make changes. Sadly in my view, the problem is that the polity is corrupted and Students’ Union compromised. Students today, perhaps for selfish reasons, pursue a cause for personal interest. The pervading corruption in the system has eroded genuine students’ activism in Nigeria universities,” he further recalled with fond memories, Upon graduation in 1972, the author shunned the civil service jobs government was then wooing fresh graduates to take; his interest however was glued on journalism. While almost his classmates secured jobs and began in 1972, the author remained unemployed for four months. He had to squat in his elder brother’s house. By strings of luck however, he reunited with Agunbiade who was then in the Nigeria Customs and Excise, his former SU president who, through his instrumentality, the author secure a job in NCS. Despite that many of his contemporaries later resigned afer several years due to either slow or non promotion, the author stayed put, taking his fate rather philosophically.

“I chose not to compare myself with anybody and I anchor everything about my life on the master key-holder, my creator, “he said.

The latter part of his career was beset with pitfalls as the author sees NCS as the ‘microcosm of Nigeria’. According to him, NCS is fraught with policy somersaults, pull –himdown colleagues, leadership succession palaver including other self-inflicted problems, Eventually however, he attained the peak of his career as the Comptroller General of Customs, albeit in acting capacity.”

“In the course of my career in the Nigeria Customes Service, there were expertly pockets of serious challenges- anxieties, disappointments and palpable fears. Through the abundant grace of God, I passed them all unscathed,” he concluded rather triumphantly.

50

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

The Midweek Magazine

E-mail:- ozoluauhakheme@yahoo.com

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

ALL FOR CULTURE Mrs Nike Okundaye at the Ogidi Day celebration last Saturday.

PHOTO: OZOLUA UHAKHEME

UNN conference on El Anatsui, Udechukwu opens today

•Ozumba

T

HE Faculty of Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka holds its interdisciplinary African arts conference series in honour of Prof El Anatsui and Prof Obiora Udechukwu

beginning from today Wednesday till June, 27 at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

The theme of the conference is African Art and Artists after the Millennial Turn, which is an interdisciplinary approach to the discourse of the current state of art and artists in Africa and in the African Diaspora.

Organisers of the conference have received papers and panel proposals from scholars in the visual arts, art history, mass communication, theatre and film studies, linguistics, literary studies, music, economics, anthropology, history and international relations, archaeology, tourism and museum studies and law that examine the followings: • the life and work of important contemporary African artists at home or in the Diaspora, • the rising concern surrounding ownership of Africa’s cultural patrimony and the call for the restitution of Africa’s art objects looted by the West, • the place of African national museums

and galleries in the global art world, • the low level of critical and theoretical engagements of artistic production within Africa, and the way forward, and the intersections and divergences between African visual art today and other branches of the arts in general.

Scholars from over ten countries will be converging on Nsukka for the conference, including Prof Emerita Sidney L. Kasfir, Prof Jean M. Borgatti and others. The opening ceremony has been scheduled for 10am Wednesday June 2015 at the Princess Alexandra Auditorium, University of Nigeria, Nsukka Campus. The keynote address will be delivered by eminent Professor of Art History, Babatunde Lawal of the Virginia Commonwealth University, USA. Prof Frank Ugiomoh will present the lead paper at a plenary session scheduled for Thursday June 25 at the Energy Centre, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

A conversation between the celebrants

(Anatsui and Udechukwu) will hold on Saturday June 27 also at the Energy Centre and will be moderated by Dr. Chika Okeke-Agulu of the Princeton University, USA, whose new book has been scheduled for presentation at the opening ceremony.

The conversation will be chaired by Prof Obioma Nnaemeka of the Department of World Languages and Cultures, Indiana University, Indianapolis, USA. An art exhibition that highlights the influence of Anatsui and Udechukwu, mounted by Dr. Chijioke Onuora and his curatorial team will open at the basement of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Library, University of Nigeria, Nsukka on Wednesday. There will also be film screenings on the life and work of our celebrants, music presentations by the Department of Music, as well as a drama presentation by the Department of Theatre and Film Studies (showing Dancers from Africa: A Dramatic Tribute to African Innovators by Greg Mbajiorgu and Benedict Binebai.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

51

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

52

SHOWBIZ

I’m going blind and I’m homeless - Lari Williams

V

eteran actor, Lari Williams, on Tuesday lamented that he needed help from philanthropists because he was homeless and going blind.

“I have heard people say that the Lagos State or the Federal Government had given me a two-bedroom flat somewhere, it is all lies,” said Williams who is also the pioneer president of the Actors’ Guild of Nigeria.

Williams told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that he was only conferred with a Member of the Federal Republic (MFR) honours by the government; without any cash backing.

The thespian also revealed to NAN that he was recently evicted from his three bedroom apartment, by the landlord, who told him that he needed to use the house for something else.

He expressed sadness at the hardship being experienced by veteran entertainers across the length and breadth of the nation, with no help in sight.

“We served this country and helped to build

the entertainment sector that a lot of people are benefiting from today, but there is nothing for people like us to show for it.

“Most of us are left unsung because of the kind of structure being run; we should be recieving benefits like the civil servants.

“In other climes, artists live on government subventions and are structured in such a way that they earn from their creative works,” he said.

Williams added that government should carve out an enclave for entertainers to live and thrive.

“Nigerian cultural policy should be looked into so as to fashion out ways that can benefit the government and the practitioners.

“The present government should be very careful in whom it will appoint as ministers, that it will sent to the arts sector.

We need hands-on individuals to be made ministers.

“Government needs to have time for the creative sector so that it can have a voice, arts has been the unfortunate ministry.

“If it is well structured, then we can stop dying poor.

“Look at Femi Robinson who played the second headmaster-character in the Village Headmaster: a Nigerian television drama, Dan Maraya Jos and others, they all died with nothing.

“We are not handing over what we have in us to the next generations; because the room was not created for that,” he said.

Famed for acting in ‘Village Headmaster’ and ‘Mirror in the Sun’ and in over 15 other soap operas and home videos, Williams studied and produced plays in England and went to one of the best drama schools in Britain – Stratford East-15 Acting School and Mountview Theatre School, North London. He was a Senior lecturer at the Department of Theatre Arts, University of Calabar.

He held the traditional title of Omenka 1 of Akumazi Kingdom (Delta State) and he was director of the Lari Williams Playhouse.

Solidstar promotes new single

I can’t mix private life with career-Mary Remmy

N

N

OLLYWOOD actress and wife of IrokoTV CEO, Mary Remmy Njoku who is expecting her second child, has revealed the reason she does not grant interviews because she wanted to draw the line between her private life and her career.

The undergraduate of English at the Lagos State University, Isolo Campus, said, “You know, you cannot have both. So I have decided to focus on my family and practice my career when I am needed. That is the reason, I hardly give interviews.”

The actress showed off her huge baby bump at the movie premiere of “Thy Will Be Done” in London, earlier in the year.

She got married to her beau in August 2012, and had their first child, Njoku Jr., in July 2013.

In May 2013, according to reports, Mary Remmy-Njoku, her husband and Bastian Gotter launched SPARK; a $2m-backed company to support and develop aspiring Nigerian tech and Internet entrepreneurs. Since its launch, the

By Joe Agbro Jr.

• Mary with family on vacation

By Dupe Ayinla-Olasunkanmi

company has received hundreds of emails from entrepreneurs looking

to join the SPARK network, as well as interest from investors around the world looking to collaborate with the new company.

Mr Ibu hangs out with top African footballers in Ghana

By Dupe OTABLE singer, Joshua Ayinla-Olasunkanmi Iniyezo, aka Solidstar has dropped his first official The deal had Solidstar record the single for the year. official Super Eagles theme song Titled In My Head, the song which which was used to unite and inspire is produced by Kuk Beat, was the players on and off the pitch. released by the R&B artiste with a photo shoot which he shared • Solidstar on the social media recently.

In My Head is coming after his 2014 song, Baby Jollof, featuring Tiwa Savage, which enjoyed massive airplay across radio stations in the country.

The artiste in the photo release posed in different attires: a black suit with fitted white shirt, a complete denim jeans outfit and white trousers and a long sleeve shirt, complimented with a blue jacket.

Solidstar started his musicial career in Ajegunle, when Achievas Music moved him from there to Festac, where he dropped his first single, One In a Million.

In 2014, he signed an ambassadorial deal with the Nigerian Football Supporters Club, to compose and perform the theme song for Brazil 2014.

Helen Paul promotes Africa in photo shoot

By Dupe Ayinla-Olasunkanmi

K

T

OP Nollywood comedian and actor, Mr. Ibu, who was in Ghana last week to shoot a new movie, took out time to hang out with some famous African footballers at a high profile nightclub in Accra.

Mr Ibu was spotted in the company of Togo and Tottenham Hotspur of England striker, Emmanuel Adebayor and Ghana National team captain, Asamoah Gyan.

According to sources, the footballers were delighted to the Nigerian actor at the night club and

• Lari Williams

subsequently took pictures with him before returning back to the dance floor to continue partying till the next day.

Mr Ibu who recently buried his

mum in Amurri, Enugu State, left for Ghana the following day to shoot a new movie there. He was in Ghana for over three weeks before returning back to Nigeria.

IDDY-styled comedienne and TV Presenter, Helen Paul recently shared some new pictures on her Instagram page, posing in different African traditional attires.

There are indications that the mother of two might be up to something new.

The actress cum singer, posed in such attires as the Hausa, Edo, Kalabari, Zulu and various other tribes, goofing and making funny faces in most of the pictures, which also depict some dance steps.

It will be recalled that the artiste joined the likes of Waje, Omawumi and others as Globacom Ambassador last year.

The co-host of Jara popularly is called Tatafo, released her debut

• Helen Paul

album Welcome Party in 2012.

Helen opened a bridal and fabric boutique in Lagos; Massive Fabrics and Bridals in 2012, and in 2014, she opened a film and theatre academy, named Helen Paul Theatre and Film Academy.

MTN Project Fame auditions for Ibadan, Ghana

T

HE second phase of the MTN Project Fame auditions will hold on July 27, in Ibadan and Ghana.

The first leg of the auditions held in Abuja and Port-Harcourt, attracting a host of some of the country’s most talented music enthusiasts, all seeking an opportunity to be selected for the live auditions in Lagos.

While the Abuja leg of the Audition featured a special performance by Goeffry, winner of last year’s edition of Project fame, the Port Harcourt audition was no less exciting as the hopefuls put in superlative

By Joe Agbro Jr.

performances all in a bid to impress the judges.

The Judges for this year’s MTN Project Fame auditions are Matilda Duncan, Gang and Gospel On Da Beatz in the Abuja leg while the trio of Mary Ann Okon, Ada Onwusiribe and Chuks Robert ran the Port-Harcourt leg.

At both auditions, it was an admixture of emotions. For some of the contestants, it was a sad end to their quest for the fame. Others yeses from the judges which earned them a

passage to Lagos for the Live Auditions. A number of the contestants who got ‘maybe from the judges were pitched against each other to decide who would join the others to the Lagos auditions.

“I think the Abuja auditions have been quite an experience given the array of talents that we have seen so far,” said GospelOnDebeatz, one of the judges at the Abuja auditions, expressing optimism that the eventual winner will emerge from Abuja.

“It’s nice to see that some of them have been

very consistent in coming back to try their luck year even when they didn’t make it in the previous years. With what Abuja has produced, I am sure that one of these guys will go all the way to emerge the winner.”

The winner of the competition will win a grand prize of N5m, a brand new SUV and a multi-million naira recording deal while the first runner-up will get a saloon car and N3m in cash. The second runner-up will recieve a brand new saloon car along with N1m while the third runner-up will receive a cash prize of N1m.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

53

BUSINESS EXTRA

Odu’a to focus on manufacturing, says GMD

O

DU’A Investments Limited, is refocussing with renewed interest in manufacturing, its Group Managing Director/CEO, Adewale Raji, has said. yesterday expressed its new love for the manufacturing sector of the Nigerian economy.

Raji, who made this known yesterday in Ibadan at a press briefingto mark his first year in office, said the company has also commenced moves to increase its investments in the agro-allied sector in order to create value, wealth as well as job opportunities for the youths.

Raji, who is the 8th GMD of the conglomerate, said the new leadership has adjusted the vision and mission of Odu’a, the investments company of Southwest states of Oyo, Ondo, Ogun, Osun and Ekiti. with a view to stimulating growth and enhancing profitability in its existing subsidiaries in real estate, hospitality and insurance brokerage.

He said his mission is anchored on Growth, Profitability and Sustainability (GPS), adding that his five-year plan’

From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

is intended to grow the company’s total revenue by 250 per cent. He pointed out that the plan has started yielding positive results.

He said: “Currently, Odu’a does not have manufacturing companies that are functioning well. But we are now keen to go into manufacturing. They will produce products needed most in our environment and these factories will provide job opportunities for our teeming youths which was the original dream of the founding fathers of Odu’a.

“We believe that by putting our brands in the market, we will be moving towards our goal of growing revenue by 250 per cent within five years.”

On the ambition of revenue growth, Raji said his first year has been spent to lay a good foundation for activities that will make the goal realizeable.

He also announced the successful completion of the Ire Clay and Burnt Bricks project in Ekiti state, which he said was a huge success after about 10 years of failings. “I am de-

•Raji, (middle), addressing the press ... yesterday. With him are (from left), the General Manager Finance and Investment, PHOTO: FEMI ILESANMI Mrs. Yinka Tunji Ojo Olawale, and Company Secretary/Head of Legal, Mrs. Abiola Ajayi.

lighted to share with you the exciting news of the rolling out of the first set of fired bricks on Tuesday June 16, 2015 after about 10 years of the abandonment of the factory. It is indeed a big relief that after many years of toiling and perseverance, we were finally able to see finished blocks roll out from the factory.

“Coming with Ire clay and burnt bricks is a good match in Westlink TodoConstruccion joint venture recently consum-

mated with a Spanish partner.

Westlink TodoConstruccion Limited markets highly discernible porcelain and ceramic finishes for floors and walls as well as bathroom, living room and kitchen features. This is one company that promises to genuinely radicalize the interior finishing stage of building construction in Nigeria,” Raji disclosed.

He hinted also that Odu’a is taking a cue from the vacuum of industrial storage for mas-

Insurers lose over N60b to fake motor policy

W

ITH 12 million out of the 15 million vehicles on Nigerian roads uninsured, over N60 billion is being lost to fake motor insurance certificates yearly by insurers.

This estimates according to insurers is derived from the assumption that the 12 million vehicle owners with fake insurance buys only the statutory third party motor insurance and pays the base premium of N5000.

Chairman, Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) Godwin Wiggle who spoke yesterday with reporters in Lagos said if comprehensive policies are considered, the loss would be over N60 billion.

By Omobola Tolu-Kusimo

Wiggle said the figure quoted excludes how much insurance brokers are also losing yearly to fake policies.

Wiggle said the association was able to checkmate fake motor insurance through the Nigerian Insurance Industry Database (NIID) which objectives are to phase out fake papers and allow genuine insurance to thrive in the sector.

The NIID enables law enforcement agents and vehicle owners to easily verify the authencity of motor insurance certificate within one minute by either sending a text meassge or the policy number

on the insurance certificate and the number plate to 33125.

When this is done, a reply confirming whether or not the policy is genuine is sent.

He said: “In the year under review, the association continued to make giant strides in the implementation of the NIID. The association is not relenting in its efforts to extend the areas to be covered by the device.

“More verification devices were distributed to member companies to enhance their marketing activities. As a fallout of the public acceptance of the device, the number of uploads has increased significantlyover the past few

years.As at May 2015, over 3million vehicles have been uploaded by the 41 member companies underwriting motor insurance business.

“The association will continue its drive to extend the states covered by the NIID device in order to bring more motor vehicles into the NIID net.”

He implored motorists to make sure they buy genuine insurance certificates from insurance companies, brokers or accredited agents and to resist the temptation of patronising touts, and other unauthorised sources as they do not sell genuine motor certificates and cannot be guaranteed any benefit in the event of a loss.

Common tariff may affect imports of textiles, furniture

T

HE Federal Govern ment may lift the ban on the importation of textile materials, furniture and other items that are currently on the its Import Prohibition List.

The ban may be lifted based on the readiness of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to commence the implementation of ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET) in all air- ports, seaports and land borders across the country.

CET was adopted by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) member-countries to enhance economic integration in the sub-region.

NCS Comptroller-General, Alhaji Dikko Abdullahi gave indications to this move during the launching of CET in Lagos yesterday.

The Federal Ministry of Finance gave the NCS the directive to start the implementation of CET on April 1, this year.

Represented by the Assistant Comptroller-General

By Oluwakemi Dauda

(ACG) Zone ‘A” Victor Gbemudu, Dikko said with the adoption of CET by the ECOWAS countries, most of the items on the List have been removed and that importers are now allowed to pay the tariffs imposed on them.

“Largely, if you go through the common external tariff, you will notice that many items have been removed from the prohibition list and that is what is being implemented,” he said.

Dikko also allayed the fears of terminal operators and clearing agents that bonded cargoes may be diverted to ports of neighboring countries over the implementation of CET and send them out of business. “That is why we have import adjustment tag,” he said.

Also, the representative of the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and Head of programme SEDIN, Mr Christian Widmann said Germany is in full support of the NCS

and the Federal Ministry of Finance in the strive to implement CET in the country.

He explained that under CET, Customs Union abandoned their individual country tariff structure and adopted a common external tariff on trade in terms of customs duties, import quotas, preferences or other non-tariff barriers to trade.

He commended the NCS initiative to launch the implementation of the CET across the country so that all stakeholders would be carried along about the details and rationale of the new policy.

Also, the Head of Trade and Economics Section of the European Union (EU) Delegation to Nigeria, Mr. Filippo Amato said the implementation of CET would help the region to grow and also help in achieving the distribution and redistribution of wealth across the region.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs agents

(ANLCA) has urged the Federal Government and NCS Comptroller-General to ensure that CET is not abused by those that are going to implement the scheme.

Its national President, Prince Olayiwola Shittu, who was attended the occasion said the role of Nigeria cannot be equated with the role of any other membercountry and urged the Federal Government to take steps that will ensure that the scheme is not abused by importers, customs and othe stakeholder Shittu said most of the ECOWAS countries are depending on the Nigerian economy and urged the Federal Government and the NCS to ensure that the country is not turned into a dumping ground.

Speakers at the forum pointed out that before CET, there have been laws and other protocols which have not been able to promote trade in the region and urged the government to key into it.

sive agricultural produce by focusing on the agric value chain through collaboration with large commercial farming operators to put it’s existing land bank estimated to be over 50,000 hectares across the owner states into optimal farming and processing enterprises.

He added: “The company has also commenced search for credible local and foreign technical investors as partners in its targets sectors of the Nigerian economy especially hos-

pitality, agribusiness, real estate, manufacturing, financial services and other blue ocean opportunities.

“We are mindful of the need for us to attract affordable and long-term capital to fund our initiatives. It is for this reason that we are committed to exploring available options to secure low-cost capital as well as identify and invest in highgrowth businesses in target sectors of the Nigerian economy.”

EFCC arraigns two for hacking into Enterprise Bank’s database

T

HE Economic and Fi nancial Crimes Com mission (EFCC) yesterday arraigned two men for allegedly attempting to hack into the database of Enterprise Bank Plc. The suspects are Ola Lawal, Abass Ajide while the third person Olumide Kayode was said to be at large.

The defendants were arraigned on a four count charge bordering on conspiracy to defraud, felony, stealing and forgery before the court presided over by Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo.

According to the prosecution, Seidu Atteh, the suspects conspired to defraud Enterprise Bank by hacking into the bank’s network with their laptop, router model and grabber/key logger to obtain the password of key operations staff through the Central Processing Unit (CPU).

He said the defendants aimed to access the network of the bank without authority to conduct fraudulent transactions.

Atteh alleged that the defendants wanted to access the CPU

By Adebisi Onanuga

to conduct fraudulent transactions and transfer unauthorised money into other accounts.

He also alleged that the second defendant, Ajibade forged a Certificate of National Diploma purportedly issued by The Polytechnic of Ibadan to one Ajibade Abass Rotimi with matriculation number 029511.

He said the offences were committed on July 10, last year within Ikeja Judicial Division.

According to him, the offences are contrary to Sections 323, 361(1)(e), and 409 and punishable under Sections 285(1) and (363)(1) of the Criminal Laws No. 11, Lagos State of Nigeria, 2011.

When the charges were read, the defendants pleaded not guilty to the four-count charge.

The court did not take their plea as Justice Lawal-Akapo ordered them to be remanded in Kirikiri Maximum Prison, Lagos pending when their application would be heard.

He subsequently adjourned the matter till October 26, this year.

SEC chief promises to create products to woo investors

T

HE Director-General, Se curities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr. Mounir Gwarzo, has promised that the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) is planning to create products that will encourage new investors to invest in the market.

A statement from the SEC said Gwarzo spoke in an interview with CNBC Africa, in London, monitored in Abuja.

Gwarzo said efforts are being made to bring Pension Funds Administrators (PFAs) into the NSE platform.

This, he said, will make the capital market competitive and attract more investors that

From Nduka Chiejina

will in turn improve the nation’s economy, just as he added that the commission is also working out the possibility of a unified corporate governance structure.

He said: “We still operate with very few products and one of the things we are doing is to as much as possible engage PenCom to come with guidelines for PFAs who will invest in those funds. We are aware that PFAs can only invest in an instrument that is secured. We will encourage development of new products in the market.

54

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

EQUITIES NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE

DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 23-06-15

DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 23-06-15

Experts urge government to promote listing on Stock Exchange

T

HE new government of President Muhammadu Buhari should consider incentives and possible fiscal and legislatives provisions that will ensure that major companies list their shares on the Nigerian stock market.

At the ceremony to flag off the 20th anniversary of the Pearl Awards in Lagos, experts agreed on the to promote listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) especially companies of national importance and large assets such as the telecommunication and oil and gas companies.

Former president, Institute of Directors (IOD), Mrs Eniola Fadayomi, said government may need to consider a dualapproach of incentives and fiscal and legislative restrictions to ensure that companies list their shares on the stock exchange.

According to her, a “carrot and stick” approach may be the best option given the state of Nigeria’s economic development as depending on incentives and voluntary compliance alone may not achieve the desired result.

She noted that national franchises such as national licences for telecommunication and other utilities as well as natu-

•Pearl Awards celebrates at 20

By Taofik Salako Capital Market Editor

ral resources could be tied to listing at the stock market, providing compelling reason and incentives for companies to seek listing.

Chief Consultant, ‘Biodun Adedipe & Associates, Dr. ‘Biodun Adedipe, said government should use incentives to drive listing on the stock market noting that people and companies behave in line with the economic maxim that people respond to incentives.

He pointed out that the Indian government used deliberate incentives to woo companies and develop its information and communication technology sector.

Adedipe said the new government represents a new opportunity for Nigeria to rethink, re-imagine and begin to rebuild national institutions noting that governance is a serious business and should be treated as such by the President’s team as well as the legislature and judiciary.

“The more transparent, accountable and equitable a sys-

tem is, the more confidence it inspires in the current players and the more attractive it makes the market become to prospective investors. The Nigerian capital market has the potential for the kind of capital formation required to drive an economy the size of Nigeria’s and trigger the much desired inclusive growth,” Adedipe said.

According to him, one of the most responsive and at times volatile, markets is the stock market as it reacts quickly to policy pronouncements or actions by key government functionaries, or any individual or organization that is respected enough to affect perception and actions of the players in the market.

President, Pearks Awards Nigeria, Mr. Tayo Orekoya, said the 20th anniversary of the Pearl Awards highlighted the milestones and contributions of the initiative to the development of the Nigerian capital market.

He reiterated the commitment of the board and organisers of the awards to sustaining the highest ethics and principles upon which the awards has built its enviable profile over the past two decades.

DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 23-06-15

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

55

MONEYLINK

T

CBN seeks way forward for naira

HE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has outlined its concerns with the poor state of the naira, insisting that changing naira trading rules may further hamper the local currency.

The naira fell to a record low of N206.32 per dollar on February 12, the day before the apex bank prevented dealers from buying greenbacks without matching orders from customers. The unit has since rallied and closed within a range of N197 to N200.7 every day since the end of February. It weakened less than 0.1 percent to N198.90 yesterday.

At a meeting with bankers last week, CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele and his team said while they are in favor of boosting liquidity in the foreign exchange market,

FRC gets court’s nod on public hearing

T

Stories by Collins Nweze

there was concern that would lead to a surge in demand for dollars, a source at the meeting told Bloomberg.

Local banks can’t access enough foreign-currency under the current rules, the person said. The apex bank asked treasurers and members of the Financial Markets Dealers Association to consider ways of stopping the naira from sliding if it did allow trading to increase, the source said.

Faced with a plunge in the price of oil, the source of 90 per cent of Nigeria’s exports, Emefiele, started imposing restrictions in the last three months of 2014 as he sought to protect the naira, which has weakened 18 per cent against the dollar in the

•CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele

past year.

Bankers at the meeting told the regulator that the curbs were making foreign investors shun Nigerian bonds and stocks and preventing local companies from buying all the dollars they need to pay for imports, according to the person.

AfDB to facilitate funding window for FERMA projects

T

HE Chief Country Economist of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Zerihun Alemu has said the bank will facilitate meeting with top executives of the AfDB to explore project funding opportunities for? the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA).

Alemu said there are various finance windows th?e agency could access in order to meet its mandate.

The AfDB representative spoke during the bank’s Country Performance and Institutional Assessment meeting held in FERMA headquarters yesterday in Abuja.

He reacted to requests on how the bank could support FERMA to achieve its five years vision from 2015 to 2020.

Alemu said: ”What I can promise is that if you want us to discuss on financing road maintenance in Nigeria, I can arrange a ?meeting with

•As Bank understudies 2nd Niger bridge project team of the bank stationed here and we can explore the financing opportunities.”

“Like I said, the bank has financing windows ?for road maintenance. I believe the government can apply in terms of funding from AfDB. So as long as it’s of what is required, I don’t see any reason why they can’t get funding.

“We will try to arrange a meeting We all have to think of creative way of funding. Resources are limited and AfDB cannot finance every project so there is need for innovation when it comes to financing,” he added.

In terms of Public Private Partnerships (PPP), Alemu said AfDB is open to discussion for

whoever want to bring along the private sector such that they could work together.

Earlier, FERMA Managing Director, Mr. Gabriel Amuchi said the agency has achieved its mandate by fully recovering and sustaining 4, 400 kilometres dual carriageways in the country.

He said Federal Roads Committee on Surveillance and Action Against Road Abuse (FERCSARA) was established to monitor occurrences on the road.

According to him, the agency is hopeful that the new administration would consider new funding measures to meet finance need of the agency.

He said budgetary allocation to the agency has been declining such that alternative source of funding is inevitable.

HE Financial Reporting council (FRC) of Nigeria has been granted leave to hold public hearing on the proposed National code of Corporate Governance.

This is sequel to the vacation of exparte injunction by Justice O.E Abang of a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, restraining FRC from proceeding with the public hearing on an earlier scheduled date.

The court vacated the order following its concurrence with the objection of the counsel to FRC Dr. Fabian Ajogwu (SAN).The public hearing was scheduled to start on May 19,2015 before the injunction obtained by a group of

shareholders who objected to certain provisions in the draft NCCG. FRC spokesman, Mack Ogbamosa said the Council has fixed the public hearing on June 30, in Lagos for public and private sectors and July 2 for Not-For-Profit organisations respectively.

When adopted, the new National Code of Corporate Governance will replace the six existing codes adopted by the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Insurance Commission, Pensions Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission, Corporate Affairs Commission, and Nigerian Communications Commission.

United Mortgage Bank lists merger gains

T

HE United Mortgage Bank Plc (UMB) yesterday said its merger with Spring Mortgage will bring about a bigger institution that meets the needs of customers.

Speaking at a customers’ forum in Lagos, the Group Managing Director of United Mortgage Bank, Mr. Walter Akpani said the meeting with Spring Mortgage Bank customers is to ensure provision of efficient services.

He said: “As an institution, we like to meet our customers, both those that have been with us over the years and those that are also going to join us soon. It is because of you that we are in existence. Secondly, for us to continue to remain in existence and be able to deliver on our promises, it became necessary that both institutions merged”.

Akpani said if it were something that was within the firms’ control, most of the institutions would like to remain on their own. “But based on the fact that the Central Bank of Nigeria asked that capital be raised and that in raising capital, if you can’t do it on your own, you look

for a partner that you can merge with and it didn’t take us time to find Spring Mortgage,” he said.

He said the merger will being inherent benefit for the customers.

“Before, Spring Mortgage had just one branch, but with the merger and with United Mortgage Bank coming on stream, we now have to start with five branches. In other words, by the time the merger is completed, you can go to Abuja, Ajah, Festac, Victoria Island and Gbagada to transact business,” he said.

Akpani said mortgage bank already has approval to establish four more branches in Surulere, Ikeja, Apapa and in the north.

“These have already been approved.

So, as we grow bigger, it means other things are expected of us. We are expected to make our customers happier and also for them to get the benefits of this merger,” he said.

Following the directive of the CBN that state mortgage banks shall maintain a share capital base of N2.5 billion, UMB and Spring Mortgage Bank merged to form the United Mortgage Bank Plc.

MEMORANDUM QUOTATIONS AFRINVEST W. A. EQUITY FUND ARM AGGRESSIVE GROWTH BGL NUBIAN FUND BGL SAPPHIRE FUND CANARY GROWTH FUND CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST CORAL INCOME FUND FBN FIXED INCOME FUND FBN HERITAGE FUND FBN MONEY MARKET FUND FIDELITY NIG FUND • UBA BALANCED FUND • UBA BOND FUND • UBA EQUITY FUND • UBA MONEY MARKET FUND

126.04 9.17 1.12 1.19 0.63 1.39 1,744.73 1,104.77 112.34 121.16 1.67 1.1978 1.3117 0.7319 1.1349

125.82 9.08 1.12 1.19 0.62 1.33 1,744.73 1,104.00 111.75 120.30 1.62 1.1912 0.7203 0.7203 1.1349

SYMBOL

O/PRICE

C/PRICE

CHANGE

UPL SEPLAT MOBIL FO PORTPAINT NEIMETH LIVESTOCK TRANSCORP DANGFLOUR AIICO ZENITHBANK

6.05 315.80 146.01 179.75 4.25 1.28 2.21 2.80 3.99 0.96 19.50

6.50 331.59 153.31 188.65 4.45 1.34 2.30 2.88 4.10 0.98 19.90

0.45 15.79 7.30 8.90 0.20 0.08 0.09 0.08 0.11 0.02 0.40

LOSERS AS AT 23-05-15

VONO NPFMCRFBK HONYFLOUR CHAMPION DIAMONDBNK EVANSMED FIDSON NEM MAYBAKER ABCTRANS UBN

O/PRICE 1.38 1.14 3.80 7.00 4.44 1.59 3.40 0.74 1.50 0.53 9.91

C/PRICE 1.26 1.07 3.61 6.65 4.22 1.52 3.26 0.71 1.44 0.51 9.57

FOREX RATES (NairaVs Dollar) June 22, 2015 Inflation:April

8.5%

Monetary Policy Rate

13.0%

Foreign Reserves

$28.2b

Oil Price (Bonny Light/b)

$67.91

CHANGE -0.12 -0.07 -0.19 -0.35 -0.22 -0.07 -0.14 -0.03 -0.06 -0.02 -0.34

Interbank ($/N)

199.00

$1

Black Market ($/N)

210.00

$1

London Inter-bank Offered Rates (LIBOR)

Money Supply (M2)

GAINERS AS AT 23-05-15

SYMBOL

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

N16.42 trillion.

Credit to private Sector (CPS)

N17.2 trillion

Primary Lending Rate (PLR)

16.5%

Tenor 1 Month 2 Months 3 Months 6 Months 12 Months

June 21

June 22

Rate)%

Rate (%)

0.1735 0.2147 0.2615 0.3841 0.6709

0.1715 0.2108 0.2626 0.3857 0.6744

Nigerian Stock Market Indices

Tenor

12-02-15 Rate (%) Rate (%) 13-02-15

Overnight (O/N)

14.683

76.583

1M

15.033

15.977

3M

15.809

17.177

6M

16.493

17.908

Transaction Dates 03/02/2015 3/12/2014 1/12/2014

Amount Offered in ($) 500m 400m 350m

Amount Sold in ($) 499.93m 399.97m 349.96m

Statistics All Share Index Mkt Cap (NGN’bn) Deals Volume (mn) Value (NGN’mn)

21 June 34,649.3 11.8 3,385 564,28 6,087.80

June 22 29,383.93 9,804.36 3,714 377,75 6,568.66

GOVT. SECURITIES YIELD – SECONDARY MARKET

Tenor

June. 22, 2015

Rates

T-bills - 91

12.44

T-bills - 182

13.85

T-bills - 364

13.92

Bond - 3yrs

15.92

Bond - 5yrs

17.22

Bond - 7yrs

16.59

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

56

NEWS

A

Dogara recognises Gbajabiamila as ‘Leader’

FTER a two-week recess, House of Representatives members yesterday returned to full legislative business onthe floor of the Green Chamber. Their resumption almost gave away the likely emergence of Femi Gbajabiamila as the House Majority Leader.

On resumption, plenary desolved into a one hour executive session where issues on welfare took the front burner, it was learnt.

Also discussed was the anxiety of new members over when and how the first installment of salaries and allowanc-

From Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

es will be paid.

The 28-day hotel accommodation allowance as well as office accommodation and other logistics for lawmakers were said to have been discussed as well.

According to a source, hotel accommodation allowance was hotly debated as members were said not to be too impressed with non-payment so far.

However, emerging from the executive session, members were seen milling around Gbajabiamila, who occupied the first front row seat, usually reserved

for Chairman, Committee on Rules and Business.

One after the other, several lawmakers cutting across all interest groups went to his seat in what looked from the gallery like congratulating him.

On calling the House to order, the Speaker started with the presentation of his Legislative Agenda on the way forward for the next four years.

He said the draft document will be debated today and tomorrow with inputs of members expected to be included in the final document.

The business of the day commenced with a point of order

by a member, who asked for House Rules to be suspended for the motion to be taken.

His plea was supported in a voice vote, which former Minority Leader, Gbajabiamila explained was against the Rules.

However, to give credence to the speculation, the Speaker, while recognising Gbajabiamila for his point of order, said “Leader, your point of order”.

Raising his point of order, Gbajabiamila was his old self, lively and concise as he articulated his concerns as provided for in the House Rules.

He looked anything but a lawmaker that just lost a speaker-

•Anambra State Chief Judge, Justice Peter Umeadi (fourth left), Chairman, Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Onitsha branch Mr Chudi Obieze (fifth left) and others during the association’s visit to Umeadi in Onitsha... yesterday PHOTO: NAN

Gunmen kill Lord’s Chosen Pastor in Lagos

S

USPECTED armed robbers on Monday killed a senior pastor at the Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries.

Pastor Chukwuemeka Akpokpo, according to church members, was the Lagos Zonal Coordinator founded by Lazarus Muoka, which has its headquarters in Ijesha, on Oshodi-Apapa Expressway.

It was learnt that Akpokpo was gunned down by men operating on three motorcycles, who according to sources trailed him from a commercial bank around Apple Junction in Festac, Amuwo Odofin.

It was gathered that his assailants shot him severally to ensure he was dead before they sped off with the N3million he was said to have withdrawn from the bank.

There have been several incidences of motorcyclists ambushing bank customers on the busy Oshodi Apapa Expressway, with ‘’no arrest made by the police’’.

When the news of Akpokpo’s death broke in the church and his body brought, the church members, it was learnt prayed from that time till about 8pm hoping for a miracle to happen.

The Pastor is believed to have had premonition about his

By Precious Igbonwelundu

death, as a church member was said to have claimed he complained of tiredness all Sunday night.

The said member, it was learnt had told others he slept in the same place with Akpokpo on Sunday night because they attended a crusade in Ogun State last weekend.

According to a member, Mrs. Onyinye, Akpokpo was killed about 12pm on Monday.

The woman who said the Pastor was married with young children but does not know his residence, wondered why his assailants did not take the money and spare his life.

Onyinye, who said the zonal pastor’s killers were hired assassins, explained that Akpokpo left his car and ran into the bushfor safety but his assailants still pursued him.

“They started trailing him before he got to the bank. When he noticed they were pursuing him. He left his car and ran away.

He ran into the bush and they followed him.

“We heard that his killers while shooting him said he should come and collect the post. It is not the first time they have attempted to kill him.

“There was a day he parked

his car but before he could come out, all his tyres were deflated.

So, I don’t think it was just a case of armed robbery. They are hired assassins,” she said.

Similarly, one Mathew corroborated Chineye’s theory of assassination, adding that there are a lot of people eyeing Akpokpo’s position as zonal coordinator in charge of Lagos.

“Pastor Emeka (Akpokpo) might have been assassinated by those who are eyeing his position. Aside being zonal coordinator, he is incharge of building and I am sure he was killed by some envious people who want to take over his seat.

“Many see him as being too favoured by the General overseer of the Church, (Muoka).

Many of them were jealous of the Pastor who was trusted by the GO. “In fact, the church did not believe it that the Pastor was actually dead. When his corpse was brought to the Church, we kept praying from 12.30 to 8pm hoping that God would revive him because, we love him so much.

He was later taken to his home town, near Umuahia, Abia State about 8pm.

Insisting that the deceased was assassinated, Matthew said his killers ensured he was dead before they left him.

He urged the police to consider other options and not just conclude that Akpokpo’s killers were armed robbers because they collected money.

He said: “Why I said so is that the Pastor offered all he had to the gunmen and they still went ahead to kill him.

“He was shot severally till he gave up the ghost. His killers made sure that they pumped enough bullets into his body and made sure that he died before they left the scene.

“If it was armed robbery attack, the robbers would have collected the money and left in a hurry, but the killers made sure they remained till he finally died.”

Police spokesman Ken Nwosu, a deputy superintendent confirmed the incident.

He, however, stated that the Pastor was gunned by two armed men who operated on a motorcycle, adding that investigations were ongoing to unravel the culprits.Police spokesman Ken Nwosu, a deputy superintendent confirmed the incident.

He, however, stated that the Pastor was gunned by two armed men who operated on a motorcycle, adding that investigations were ongoing to unravel the culprits.

ship contest.

Dogara’s handling of what followed could be said to be his first test since emerging as Speaker.

Gbajabiamila, in his argument, said suspending Rules should be decided through electronic voting with two third of the members in support and not a voice vote as ruled by the Speaker.

Nicholas Ossai (PDP, Delta) said the suspension of Rules has been a tradition that has been used by past Speakers, and that the sponsor of the motion was in order.

He was countered by Ali Madaki (APC, Kano) who noted that a mistake committed by a Speaker did not mean the House should continue with it, especially when the rule book has provisions for it.

Ruling on the matter, the Speaker explained that the situation at hand required that wisdom be applied.

He also took his time to explain that while arriving at his decision, he sustained Gbajabiamila’s point of order because it was valid but pleaded that his decison be taken by his colleagues.

Dogara said: “We should do everything we can to deliver quality legislative service to Nigerians

“As a responsive House, I plead that we should continue with this practice of suspending rules until we fix the electronic system.”

He ruled to to the applause of members.

To further support the speculation, a motion titled: “Need to commend members for facilitating a rancour-free election of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the Eighth House and also salute the Speaker for being magnanimous in victory” was stepped down by the sponsor, Jerry Alagbaoso (PDP, Imo).

One of the prayers of the motion commended the spirit of sportsmanship displayed by those who lost out in the last general elections.

It was, however, gathered that Alagbaoso was prevailed upon to drop the motion that could possible rock the boat and ruffled the fragile peace in the House.

All the principal officers are expected to emerge before the end of the week.

The Speaker also constituted three ad-hoc Committees on Information, Code of conduct and Review of House rules chaired by Sani Zoro (APC, Jigawa), Okeja Emmanuel and Aminu Shagari (APC, Sokoto) respectively.

Falana, others hail Buhari’s directive on dismantling of military check points

L

AGOS lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) and some security experts yesterday hailed President Buhari’s directive on the dismantling of all military check points in the country.

Falana said the directive should be extended to the presence of the military in security outfits.

Mr Ben Okezie, a security Analyst told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that by the directive, the president

had correctly interpreted the constitution which said that the military was in charge of external security, while the police was in charge of internal security.

He said with the pronouncement, the military would be officially handing over the duty of internal security of the country to the police and the DSS. “Which means the police need to be better equipped to fully be in charge of the internal security.

Aggrieved policemen seek justice

S

IX hundred and twenty eight police inspectors, allegedly denied promotion, have called on the Inspector General of Police (IG), Solomon Arase, and the Police Service Commission (PSC) to intervene in their case.

They said their promotion to Assistant Superintendents of Police (ASPs) was due in 2007.

Their spokesman, who pleaded not to be named, said: “In 2007, graduates of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) were sent to the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) for an aptitude test in preparation for a promotion course to ASP cadre.

“At the end of the examination, authorities divided us into three batches and in 2009, the first batch was sent on course.

In 2011, the second batch went, but the 628 inspectors in the last batch were denied the opportunity.

“The police authorities sent out a memo titled: ‘ASCON ASP/Inspectorate Promotional Examination,’ asking graduates in the NPF to appear for screening, aptitude test and interview, not minding the third batch of inspectors who have been on standby since 2007.

“We plead with the IGP and PSC to consider us and send us on ASP’s promotional course and end this injustice”.

‘Real estate contribution to GDP can grow to $13.65b’

A

CCOUNTING giant Pricewater Coopers (PwC) has projected an increase in real estate’s contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) from $9.16 billion to $13.65 billion next year if the right environment is created.

It urged operators to brace themselves for the challenges ahead and key into the opportunities in the sector to grow the economy.

Managing Director, Alpha Mead Facilities and Management Services Ltd, Femi Akintunde urged facility managers

By Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie

to position themselves as key drivers of the real estate sector and be part of its success story.

Speaking at an event by facility managers in Lagos, Akintunde urged them to brace themselves to sustain the anticipated growth.

“Going by PWC revelation and the quest to meet the vision 2020 target, a lot needs to be done towards improved public infrastructure to drive the required positive change in the real estate and facilities management industry, in addition

to improving the living condition of the average Nigerian.

“For the facilities management and real estate sectors to contribute meaningfully to the economy, practitioners must embrace global standards and best practices in the execution of projects,” Akintunde said.

He said the firm had been in the forefront of exploring ways to raise awareness, set agenda, and promote global standards in the industry.

Former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos State, Supo Shasore (SAN) said the facilities man-

agement industry was positioned for growth.

He described as regrettable, the country’s 134th ranking of 144 economies by the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2014-15.

Shasore lamented the deficit in Nigeria’s infrastructure, saying: “The country’s core infrastructure stock is estimated at only 35-40 per cent of GDP, in contrast to international benchmarks of 70 per cent of GDP. This low value has been driven by historically low public and private spending on infrastructure”.

The highpoint of the event was the introduction of the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM), Nigeria chapter, which according to Akintunde, is a welcome development to strengthen the advocacy for best practices in the industry and encourage knowledge-sharing among members and professionals.

The event drew participants from five major sectors of oil and gas, telecommunications, real estate, government, public services and financial services.

Participants from the oil and gas sector said facilities manage-

ment was still at its infancy stage and could not attract the right investments thereby making it difficult for the sector to engage the services of local players.

Speaking on behalf of the financial sector, Head, Administration, Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE), Gabriel Igbeke said facilities managers lacked the financial capabilities to execute projects. He stressed the need to set up a regulatory body to oversee the operation of professionals in the sector.

He also advocated the need to train and retrain managers for efficiency.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

57

NEWS ‘Jigawa Assembly to get list’

Police arrest three suspected kidnappers

From Ahmed Rufa’i, Dutse

T

HE Benue State Police Command said yesterday that it had arrested three suspected kidnappers in Makurdi.

Police spokesman Austin Ezeani gave the names of the suspects as Joseph Emeka, Oscar Ezeala and Sunday Nnaemeka.

He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that an army deserter was among the suspects.

Ezeani said the suspects were caught while attempting to kidnap Susan Audu from her home in Makurdi.

The spokesman said a pistol containing eight rounds of ammunition was found with the suspects.

He said Audu was driving out of her place in a Toyota Sienna bus, when the gang of five intercepted and dispossessed her of the vehicle.

Ezeani said they bundled her into the trunk of the vehicle and escaped through Gboko Road.

According to him, the suspects were unlucky, as Audu’s screams attracted commercial motorcyclists, who pursued them.

He said the motorcyclists caught up with the vehicle at a military checkpoint on the outskirts of Makurdi, and the suspects were arrested.

The police spokesman said the suspects are in detention at the Command headquarters, adding that a search has begun for the arrest of the two suspects.

He said one of the suspects at large was an army lance corporal serving at the 82 Division, Enugu.

Ezeani said the Police had contacted the Army for the arrest of the suspects, assuring that they would be charged to court as soon as investigations were completed.

Three pupils fall into well From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

T

HREE pupils of Ayaki Secondary School, Okerimi-Oro community, in Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State have died in a well.

The deceased are Naijim Saka, Ismail Yusuf and Ojo Igbalajobi.

It was learnt that one of the boys wanted to fetch water from the well to perform ablution and he mistakenly fell in it.

A member of the community said: “Instead of alerting adults to rescue their colleague, the second boy tried to climb into the well to rescue him, but he also fell in the well. The third boy fell into the well in his attempt to rescue his friends.

The incident has thrown the community into mourning.”

A witness claimed that the leaves thrown inside the well as part of rituals got dried, adding that the well also got dried after the bodies were taken out.

The deceased’s parents declined comments. Their relations described the incident as an act of God.

•From left: Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa,ad Abubakar; Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar and Emir of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Umar Garbai El-Kanemi, during Emirs’ meeting with the President at the Presidential Villa, Abuja ...yesterday.

PHOTO AKIN OLADOKUN

Senate to review own budget, says Saraki

T

HE Senate will reappraise its budget in line with economic realities, Senate President Bukola Saraki said yesterday.

He said an ad-hoc committee would be set up to reappraise the structure of the National Assembly budget.

Saraki spoke yesterday in response to the criticism of the N120 billion 2015 budget of the Senate, which is considered too high at a time the economy is down.

Saraki, in his welcome address to senators, noted that the committee would also work to make the National Assembly budget more open.

He said there was no doubt that with the falling oil price in the international market and the attendant reduction in revenues, the fiscal stress was already beginning to affect the country’s economy, with some states becoming hard pressed to pay even salaries of worker.

•Panel to fashion legislative agenda From Onyedi Ojiabor and Sanni Onogu, Abuja

Saraki also lamented that the implementation of capital projects under the budget had become very challenging The Senate President referred to what he described as false and malicious report about jumbo wardrobe allowance and noted that as reckless as the report maybe, it emphasises the need for the National Assembly to run a more transparent system to avoid the attendant misinformation.

The Senate will constitute another 18-man ad-hoc committee to formulate a legislative agenda for the Eighth Senate.

The committee, which will be made up of three senators from each geopolitical zone, is expected to submit its report within a week.

He did not immediately name members of the committee.

Saraki said: “It is my hope that the recess afforded some of us time to rest from the dizzying activities of elections and inauguration such that we could feel the pulse of the nation again and be ready to get unto the business of making laws for the peace, order and good government of Nigeria.

“As I had noted in my inaugural address, the task before us is enormous, but very clear. Nigerians voted for change. They demand that we deliver to them tangible change “They expect that we improve the quality of governance. Three issues agitate their mind today; the falling government revenues and the current fiscal crisis in many of our states, the unsustainable cost of governance in the country and the rising cost of doing business in Nigeria.

“These concerns have also agitated our minds indi-

vidually and collectively and we must provide answers because it can no longer be business as usual.

“It is clear that it is at times like these that nations either buckle up, face the realities of their predicaments, and forge ahead to ensure a brighter future for the next generation, or turn a blind eye to the extravagant facts that are staring us in the face.

“As it stands, given the trust that Nigerians have placed on us, legislators of the eighth National Assembly, to leave a historic impact on the affairs of our nation, we must choose to show that we are made for this moment, to leave a historic impact.

“Without doing so, we will not have the moral authority to question Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that carry on with little regards for the public good.”

Teenage female suicide bomber kills 10

A

TEENAGE female suicide bomber yesterday attacked a market in Yobe State, killing over 10 and injuring 23 people, eyewitnesses have said.

The sources said the bomber targeted the grains section of Wagir Market in Gujba Local Government and detonated her Improvised Explosive Device (IED), killing

•23 injured From Joel Duku, Yobe

herself and traders about 11am.

“She entered the grains section (Kasuwan Hatse) at Wagir market where people gathered to buy foodstuffs and detonated the IED, killing herself and other people,” Mus-

T

•Jang

HE A l l P r o g r e s sives Congress (APC) government in Plateau State has set a machinery in motion for the probe of the eightyear administration of former Governor Jonah Jang.

Jang, now a senator representing Plateau North, was the governor between 2007 and May 2015.

The probe is being carried out by a transition committee headed by the Deputy Governor, Prof.

tapha Abdullahi, who escaped the attack, told our correspondent at a hospital in Damaturu.

Shettima Adamu, one of the commercial drivers, who brought victims to the Specialist Hospital, Damaturu, said he counted more than 10 bodies at the scene of the attack.

Gujba is one of the local governments initially captured by Boko Haram

insurgents. It was reclaimed by the Army early this year.

The Medical Director of Sani Abacha Specialist Hospital, Garba Fika, confirmed that 26 injured victims were brought to the hospital.

He said four of them would be referred to the Federal Medical Centre, Nguru for better medical treatment.

JIGAWA State Governor Muhammad Abubakar Badaru has promised to submit the list of commissioners to the House of Assembly for screening and confirmation next week.

He addressed reporters in Dutse when reacting to why he has not formed his government.

According to him, the delay was deliberate because he wanted to constitute a quality executive council.

Badaru said: “We are not in a hurry to make appointments because we want to appoint competent hands that will rescue the state from economic difficulties.”

He said financial constraints and the poor economy were responsible for his delay in appointing commissioners.

The governor said he was studying the situation, particularly the financial situation, before making appointments.

He said his transition team met civil servants to know the situation of the government. “Without knowing the size of government, you cannot make any appointment.”

Ortom sends nominees’ names to Assembly From Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi

BENUE State Governor Samuel Ortom yesterday sent a list of 13 commissioner-nominees to the House of Assembly for screening and confirmation.

A letter by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Targema Takema, sent to the Speaker, asked the lawmakers to screen and confirm the nominees, to enable him constitute his executive council (exco). Those who made the list are Michael Gusa (Gwer), Prof. Dennis Ityavyar (Vandeikya), Dr Tersoo Kpelai (Ukum), Mr. James Anbua (Logo), Nicholas Wende (Kwande) and Mrs. Mwuese Mnyim (Makurdi).

Others are Emmanuel Manger (Tarka), Sekav Iortyom (Buruku), John Otokpa Onoja (Ado), Dr. Cecilia Ojobo (Okpokwu), Mr. Lawrence Ekpo Onoja Jr. (Ohimini), Mr. David Olofu (Apa) and Mr. Ode Agih.

Lalong to probe Jang’s administration From Yusufu Aminu Idegu, Jos

Sonny Tyoden.

The committee, which mediated between the former government and the administration of Governor Simon Lalong for a smooth transition, was mandated to investigate the contents of the handover note from Jang.

The Nation learnt that the probe of Jang’s tenure was necessitated by the

alleged last-minute looting by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government noticed by the APC administration.

Besides, the Lalong administration inherited many uncompleted projects.

The governor has said before he would complete inherited projects, he would review them.

“My government inherited many uncompleted

projects. It will be in the interest of the people to get these projects completed. But before I do so, I will review them to understand their origin, who are the contractors, the quality of the jobs and the terms of the contractors,” Lalong said.

He urged civil servants to cooperate with the transition committee, to ensure a successful performance of their assignment.

58

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

NEWS Cash crisis: Buhari vows to recover stolen billions Continued from page 4

He said: “We will try and put the system back into the right position. What happened in the 2nd Republic has apparently happened again, and even worse, but we will restore sanity to the system.”

On an immediate lifeline for states that owe months of salaries, Buhari said a committee headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will look at the ECA and see what can be shared immediately.

The governors presented a six-point wish-list to the President. These are: •obedience of extant Supreme Court ruling that all monies go into the Consolidated Federation Account; •an order from the President that all revenue generating agencies must pay into the Consolidated Federation Account; •review of the Revenue Allocation Formula; •refund of the monies expended by states on federal projects; •a special consideration for the three states of the North East under Boko Haram infestation; and •full details of the amounts that accrued into the Excess Crude Account from 2011, and how the money miraculously shrank without official sharing.

Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) Chairman Abdulaziz Yari, who is also Zamfara State

governor, spoke to reporters along with Bauchi State Governor Mohammed Abubakar and Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, at the end of the meeting.

The proposals given to the President, he said, include reimbursement of some projects sums embarked upon by states instead of requesting for the bailout, extension of repayment periods of loans’ balances owed by states from durations normally between four and seven years to 20 years.

Opposing the operation of the ECA, he said governors wanted first line charges stopped and revenue such as the $1.6 billion tax paid by the Liquified Natural Gas (LNG), be paid into the Federation Account.

Yari recalled that before the NGF was divided, $10.3 billion was left in the ECA ýbut only $2.6 billion was left even though sharing had been stopped since May 2013.

He said the meeting was not really about a bailout but how the states and the Federal Government can overcome their financial crises.

Yari said: “We proposed to Mr. President that instead of being given bailout, ýthat the funds for jobs, projects that were done by the states should be refunded by the federal government. If the affected states are able to get the money owed them released, they can be able to start paying salaries without bail out.

“Secondly, we also brought to his notice that most of the loans owed by the state, some between four and seven years, if it can be stretched to 20 years, the states willl be relieved and would be able to continue other businesses, including paying salaries.

“Also, the first charge money that are paid by LNG about $1.6 billion, we requested that instead of paying to the federal government, we requested that it be paid to the federation account so that it could be shared amongst the three tiers of government, so that we can also get money to do one or two things.

“Also, we urged the President to follow the Constitution when it comes to money sharing, Section 80 is very clear.

That all monies should go to the Consolidated Revenue Account ýfor the purpose; no account should be kept anywhere because this is what the constitution says.

“And Sectioný 162 also is explanatory, that whatever is going to happen to the money will be after sharing to the three tiers of government. That the NNPC or any other revenue generating agency should not have the first line charges.

“So we met the President and we shared knowledge from what was gathered from the Transition Management committee, the findings and what is on ground. We also briefed him on the condition of our states, and we all appreciated

that something has to be done and going forward, we are going to ensure that most of the states and the federal government that have not paid salaries, that something will be on ground in the next couple of days.

On Boko Haram, Yari said: “We also discussed the issue of frontline states as regards insurgency Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. The President briefed us on his meeting with the G7 countries which have agreed to support the Nigerian government to fight the insurgency.

“Also, it was noted that the insurgency has done so much damage to our infrastructure schools, hospitals and bridges.

“The President said he has put a committee in place to assess the situation and he has also made a commitment that he will not request money from any G7 country but support to rebuild the destroyed infrastructure.

The governors kicked against the timing of the dismantling of military check points.

“We also raised concern about the dismantling of military checkpoints ýon the highways. We are saying it is not timely. But Mr. President cited some incidents at the military checkpoints but where necessary, he has given the Chief of Army Staff the permission that they can continue, especially in the North, Southeast and the frontline states.”

Amaechi left handover notes, says ex-Commissioner Continued from page 4

when Governor Amaechi was leaving office, the debts owed the contractors in the Ministry of Works, which were for ongoing road projects, totalled N44, 942, 354, 44.10.”

On the state’s power plants, Amaechi said only 70% equity of the projects was sold to foreign

investors.

The statement said: “For the records, the Government of Rivers State under Dr. Peter Odili made substantial investment in electric power related Projects with the aim of mitigating the malaise of inadequate power supply. The projects included generation (Omoku and TransAmadi 1), transmission and distribution interventions. Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi on assumption of office recognised the importance of improved electric power supply in the socio-economy regeneration of the State. “At the time Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi assumed office, of the 350 Megawatts (MW) total capacity generation assets invested by the state, only 70MW (equivalent to about 20 per cent) was available.

“With enthusiasm, Rt. Hon.

Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi ramped up the efficiency to 77 per cent availability, including injecting another 360MW Green Field Generation Project at Afam, of which 180MW have been commissioned and is in commercial operation.

“To mitigate the swing in efficiency and its debilitating impact on the economy, the State Government sought private sector operators and sold 70 per cent equity stake in the power generating assets’ company to NG Power HPS. For the transaction, the State Government adopted the same model as the Federal Government in the sale of Egbin Power Plant.

“The sale was at a price per MW higher than all the privatisation MW rate done by the Federal Government. The proceeds from sale of the equity in the

power generating assets’ company was captured as income in the 2014 Appropriation Law and deployed into funding capital projects as appropriated.”

Amaechi faulted Wike for alleging that he did not pay workers’ salaries.

The statement said: “All civil servants received their March salaries while payment for April salaries had commenced by the time the administration was winding down.

“Again I reproduce for the avoidance of doubt, excerpts of Governor Amaechi’s valedictory speech in this regard. ‘As at today, we have commenced the payment of April salaries and parastatal pensions. We have made the requisite provisions and expect all salary payments to be concluded as funds are received’.”

‘$2.078b left in Excess Crude Account’ Continued from page 4

were sitting for qualifying examination to occupy the office following the exit of the past AGF. The Federal Government, the states and local governments shared N409.354 billion from the Federation Account for the month of May. This is slightly higher than the N388.339 billion shared for April.

While the Federal Government got N151.805 billion, state got N76.998 billion; local governments gott N59.362 billion. Another N29.071 billion was distributed as 13 per cent derivation to the oil producing states.

For Value Added Tax (VAT), the Federal Government got N8.182 billion, state governments got N27.274 while local governments received N19.092 billion. A cash of N31.240 billion was shared among the federal, state and local governments as exchange gains proceeds while the Federal Government received an additional N6.330

billion as refund from the NNPC. The collecting agencies’ allocations got allocations in the following order: Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS)N2.403 billion as four per cent of collecting what went in for statutory allocations, the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) received N2.881 billion as seven per cent of cost of collection and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) collected N1.541 as its cost of collection. For VAT, the FIRS collected an additional N2.273 billion as its four per cent cost of collecting VAT. Mrs. Nwaobia said the gross revenue of N324.061 billion received for the month was higher than the N282.062 billion received in the previous month by N41.999 billion.

She attributed this increase to an “improvement in the bulk revenue that came from exchange gains on foreign exchange transaction because the exchange rate has been steady and higher than the benchmark exchange rate projected

for the year.”

However, she said delays in issuance of this year’s third quarter export permit led to a drop of about 160,000 barrels per day (bpd) in April and that the shut down and shut-in of trunks and pipelines at terminals also continued to impact negatively on crude oil revenue.

An increase in the average price of crude oil from $56.04 in March to $59.88 in April she said, brought about $19.70 million gain in revenue. Government she explained, “is making efforts to block leakages and we hope that revenue will continue to improve.”

The permanent secretary said the non-oil revenues are expected to perform better in the latter part of this year due to some mechanisms put in place by the FIRS. Mrs Nwaobia dismissed claims that the Federal Government was owing federal workers’ salaries stating that the ministry plans to fund the relevant account next week so that federal workers will receive their next salaries.

APC Senators yet to agree Continued from page 4

positions belonging to the APC in the upper chamber.

The forum condemned the meeting, saying it was unconstitutional and an affront to the party leadership.

However the Like Minds Senators loyal to Saraki countered that the Lawan group were only out to scuttle the smooth take off of the Eighth Senate.

One of our correspondents who witnessed the break-up of the meeting said it was not quite clear what led Senator Kabiru Marafa, spokesperson of the Unity Forum, and Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, representing Kwara South and member of Saraki’s Like Minds Senators, into a near fisticuff.

The two senators were charging at each other; others were battling to seperate them.

Senate Unity Forum Secretary Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi (Kaduna North), who spoke to reporters at the venue of the botched meeting, said the uproar was as a result of an attempt to force leaders on the senators.

He noted that the method adopted by Saraki to pick leaders was unknown to the party’s constitution.

Hunkuyi said: “The group that gathered here was under the auspices of All Progressives Congress Senators Caucus.

“The APC Senators caucus is not an instrument of the constitution of the APC. The issue of leadership of the chamber that belongs to APC cannot be decided here. It is common reasoning and common sense.

“We have a leadership of the party. The leadership of the party, that is the APC, still reigns supreme to decide the four positions of leadership where it should go and who shall have it.

“An attempt here to do otherwise is the cause of this rancour. We are just coming from the national headquarters of the party and we are aware the leadership of the APC is doing all it can do to curb part of what should not have happened in this chamber. “ Therefore, simply put, the cause of the rancour is an attempt by the leadership that has emerged, in otherwise fishy circumstances to again force their will on the majority of the Senators of the APC, notwithstanding the fact that there is a leadership of the APC that has not come up with the final decision.

“You could see it is a very simple thing but we believe it is an attempt, but a very bad one for that matter because it cannot happen.

“The Peoples Democratic Party that is even trailing behind has a procedure. The leadership of the PDP will definitely suggest and come up with procedure to give leadership of their own group which are four in number.

“Why is somebody trying to impose something else through another means, through another procedure that is not constitutional to APC. That will not happen.”

On whether names were proposed for the principal officers in the APC, he said: “That is not the issue first. The issue is that there are positions and they are supposed to be balanced. That is the first procedure and it cannot happen because we cannot claim to have the leadership of the APC here at the National Assembly.”

Asked at what point the Unity Forum suspected that people were going to be imposed on the APC caucus without the input of the party leadership, he said: “Because the party is not aware of what is happening here. As I told you, we are coming from the National Headquarters of the party.

They are not aware.”

He was also asked whether it will be safe to say that the meeting broke up without achieving its desired objectives.

He said: “There is no way it can achieve any result. It does not exist anywhere within the constitution of the APC. This does not exist.”

But a member of the Like Minds Senators, Senator Ibrahim Abdullahi Danbaba (Sokoto South) said Hunkuyi’s account of what transpired in the meeting was wrong.

He said: “I didn’t get to hear exactly what the Senator said but because I just came around and I realized that there was a press conference that was going on, I had to stop because a lot of lies were being said.

“Now what I know is that yesterday evening there was an invitation for all APC senators to meet here at the National Assembly Complex Hearing Room 1 by 11pm.

“We came. There were two groups before the election and we all agreed that now there should be no faction within the APC. “You know we had the Like Minds and we had what you call the Unity Forum. So, virtually most of us were around until around 11.30pm when the former leader of the Unity Forum, distinguished Senator Barnabas Gemade came to say that there was need for the meeting to be postponed till today and that was the reason why that meeting was put to 2pm today.”

Earlier in his opening address at the meting, Saraki pleaded with the APC Senators that it was time to bury the hatchet and renew the spirit of love, cooperation and trust in one another.

He told the lawmakers that outstanding issues were not only surmountable but also resolvable in an atmosphere of love and understanding.

Saraki described the disagreement that had been trailing his emergence as “ a family affair”.

Buhari’s fund recovery drive Continued from page 4

fined and crude oil must be addressed. The huge volume of stolen crude, which sometimes is put at close to 400,000 bpd, must be looked into. It will be foolhardy to expect foolproof oil intake without adequately covering for the interest of oil producing and bearing communities.

Buhari’s funds recovery drive, as it were should weigh in more on the subsidy scam, which has punctured a big hole in the nation’s account under-belly. In

the last three or fours of the immediate past administration, over 25 per cent of the nation’s national budget was devoted to paying subsidy provisions.

Even as billions have been paid to accredited fuel importers, billions are yet being contested as unpaid subsidy sums. It will be better appreciated the funds that have been misappropriated if we juxtapose the amount so far paid for subsidy with the yet unverified ones and for others that are being prosecuted for outright subsidy scams.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

59

FOREIGN NEWS

Major heat wave kills over 700 people in Pakistan

A

scorching heat wave across Pakistan’s southern Sindh province has killed over 700 people, authorities said yesterday, as morgues overflowed with the dead and overwhelmed hospitals struggled to aid those clinging to life.

Most of the deaths were reported in Karachi, the country’s largest city and its commercial hub.

The port city on the Arabian Sea had at least 600 fatalities.

Temperatures reaching 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) first struck over the weekend in Karachi, with mercury rising in the rest of Sindh province. Hourslong power outages, typical in Pakistan, left fans and air conditioners inoperable.

The heat wave compounded the struggles of ordinary Pakistanis as it struck amid the holy, fasting month of Ramadan, when observant Muslims abstain from food or water during daylight hours.”We have confirmed data that 622 people died of the heat wave across the whole of province,” said Saeed Mangnejo, the top administrative health official in Sindh.”But the worst hit is Karachi, where over 600 people died of heat stroke, 19 died

in other parts of the province,” he said, adding that he expects the number of fatalities to climb even further.

The Karachi toll was a significant jump since earlier in the day, the city’s director of health Zafar Ejaz said at least 436 people have been killed by the heat wave.”Many people have been taken to private hospitals where they have died ... we are collecting that data,” Mangnejo said.

The power outages also affected the sporadic water supply in Karachi, where those who can afford it rely on tankers of water being delivered to their homes.Most of the dead are the elderly, said Seemi Jamali, a spokeswoman for Karachi’s Jinnah Hospital.

Thousands more are being treated for heat-related ailments, including fever and dehydration and stomach-related illnesses, she said.

Mortuaries were running out of space, with local television stations showing bodies stacked inside of cold storage rooms of morgues.Many arrive at the hospital already unconscious or staring out blankly.

Some fainted in hospital doorways, while patients lay on public

benches and crowded corridors in wheelchairs and stretchers. Panicked families fought with hospital staff to admit their loved ones.

Provincial Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah on Tuesday ordered schools and public offices closed until the heat wave ends. He blamed the Pakistani federal government for the deaths, saying authorities had not responded to his appeals to fix the power grid. But Abid Sher Ali, a junior minister for water and power for the federal government, blamed Karachi’s local government for the deaths, saying they were not able to manage their own affairs.

Meteorologist Abdur Rauf called the heat wave the worst in at least a decade to strike Pakistan. He said expected monsoon rains in the coming days likely will bring relief to the area.Karachi’s residents tried to find running water to cool off at public taps or broken pipes.

Some bathed with their clothes on, while others washed their hands, faces and heads.

As power outages rolled across the city, women and children walked down roads looking for shelter after leaving their small, suffocating hot homes.

• Pakistani relatives mourn the death of a heatstroke victim outside a hospital in Karachi on June 23, 2015. More than 450 people have died from a three-day heatwave in southern Pakistan, officials said as medics battled to treat victims after a state of emergency was declared in hospitals PHOTO: AFP

China’s factory activity shrinks in June

C

HINA’s factory activity shrank for the fourth consecutive month this year, according to a private survey Factory activity in the world’s second largest economy, China, contracted for a fourth month in a row, but the sector did show signs of stabilising in June.

The HSBC/Markit flash manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) was at a three-month high of 49.6, up from 49.2 in May and beat forecasts of 49.4.

But, the preliminary reading stayed below the 50 mark which separates contraction from expansion.

Analysts said there were growing calls for economic stimulus to boost growth.

The uptick in activity led new orders to return to positive territory.

Exports also fell at a slower than expected pace, but companies cut more jobs - jumping to the fastest pace of layoffs in more than six years.

Markit economist Annabel Fiddes said the private survey showed a mixed picture about the state of China’s vast manufacturing sector.

“On one hand, the sector shows signs of improvement as output stabilised amid a slight pick up in total new work, while purchasing activity also rose slightly over the month,” she said.

“On the other hand, manufacturers continued to cut staff. This suggests companies have relatively muted growth expectations.”

‘I’m still NIDO Chairman’

T

HE Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO), Zambia chapter, Mr Alaba Adetayo has debunked the statement credited to the Nigeria’s Ambassador to Zambia, Mrs Umaru Momoh that he has been asked to resign by the Nigerian community in the country.

Mrs Momoh also claimed that Mr Adetayo’s position is long overdue In a statement issued yesterday and signed by him Adetayo said he presided over their last general meeting which was held on the May 31,2015 and that the group have no leadership tussle.

He said:” In that general meeting we launched our new constitution.

This information is verifiable. On her using security reason as excuse for banning NIDO from using the Nigeria embassy chancery for our meetings, that was a blatant lie hence we have been conducting our affairs peacefully in d same embassy for the past 20 years.

According to Adetayo, it was mere blackmailing by Mrs Momoh, which was meant to get back to NIDO for check mating her nefarious activities.

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

NIDO: “On her claims that Alaba Adetayo is no longer the Leader of NIDO Zambia, it a lie. We wish to reiterate that On her claims that financial transactions passed through the Embassy Accountant and Auditor, we wish state here that the Nigeria High Commission Zambia has no internal Auditor. This could be verified through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “The Accountant is just like her rubber stamp hence she operates the embassy like a monarch. There’s this case of Usd50,000 which she withdrew from the Embassy Coffers which has not been accounted for and another amount which is above $200,000 sent by the Foreign Affairs to the Embassy for the renovation purposes. She shared this money with her cronies who masquerades as contractors,” the organization alleges.

The NIDO chairman also accused two ministry staff, Charles Sona and Fatima Ojiaku of withholding petitions earlier written by the organization to the Minister. He claimed the two staff acts as cronies for Momoh.

Kurds capture Syrian town north of Raqqa

T

he YPG captured the town of Tal Abyad on the Turkish border last week, cutting a major supply line for IS. The jihadist group has suffered a string of defeats to Kurdish forces since being forced to withdraw from the town of Kobane in January after a four-month battle.

The Kurds’ rapid advance through Raqqa province continued on Monday with the fall of Brigade 93, a base which IS captured from the Syrian military last year.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, reported that the YPG and allied Syrian rebel fighters overran the base before heading south towards Ain Issa, supported

by US-led coalition air strikes.

By Tuesday afternoon, they had taken full control of the town and

nearby villages, YPG spokesman Redur Xelil told the Reuters news agency.

“Islamic State’s defensive lines have now been pushed back to the outskirts of Raqqa city because the area between Raqqa and Ain Issa is militarily weak and they have no fortifications,” Rami Abdul Rahman, the Syrian Observatory’s director, told the AFP news agency.

Ain Issa is situated at an intersection of the main roads from Raqqa to other IS-held areas in Aleppo province, to the west, and Hassakeh province, to the east.

Kurdish forces are now only 50km (30 miles) from Islamic State’s stronghold of Raqqa Raqqa is the de facto capital of the caliphate whose creation IS announced a year ago after it captured large swathes of northern and western Iraq.

Syrian Kurds reverse gains in IS stronghold

T

HE capture of the town of Ein Issa - hours after the Kurdish troops took the nearby Brigade 93 military base further squeezes the IS extremists, especially after they lost a major supply line when the Kurds captured the town of Tal Abyad on the Turkish border last week.

The advance put the Kurdish fighters within about 50 kilometers (30 miles) of the Islamic State’s stronghold of Raqqa. But even with the aid of U.S.-led airstrikes, battling even closer to Raqqa could prove costly for the Kurds and allied Syrian rebel factions.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and

Kurdish activist Mustafa Bali said Kurdish fighters from the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, captured the military base on Monday night.

Later Tuesday, the Observatory and YPG spokesman Redur Khalil said Kurdish fighters and their allies took over the nearby town of Ein Issa, the last major residential area north of Raqqa. The Islamic State group considers Raqqa the capital of its self-declared “caliphate” spanning Syria and Iraq.

“Ein Issa and dozens of villages around it are under our control,” Khalil said over the telephone. He said the next task is to reinforce and protect the areas ahead of any counterattack.

Greek debt crisis: Eurozone leaders hopeful ment on Thursday morning.

ERMAN Chancellor Anof deal Even if eurozone finance ministers gela Merkel said Greece’s U.S. says Benghazi attack suspect latest offer constituted markets and economy are on the and the European Council agree to a

G

“some progress”. But she said more work was needed and “time is short”.

Greece must repay •1.6bn (£1.1bn) to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by the end of the month.

If it fails to do so, it risks crashing out of the euro and possibly the EU. Although no deal has been struck, key obstacles appear to have been cleared, the BBC’s Damian Grammaticas reports from Brussels.

There is a script which seemingly all eurozone leaders are urged to learn, which is that if the currency union is in the grips of crisis, no solution can or should be found till

verge of a heart attack The European Central Bank (ECB) approved additional emergency funding for Greek banks to cover withdrawals, allowing banks to stay open and providing breathing space for a deal to be reached.

It has acted repeatedly after anxious savers withdrew more than •4bn in recent days.

The Greek banking system is on the verge of collapse due to savers’ loss of confidence.

Eurozone finance ministers meet again on Wednesday. They hope to approve a package to be put to eurozone leaders for final endorse-

deal, it still needs to be approved by the Greek parliament and eurozone governments by next Tuesday.

After talks ended on Monday evening, Mrs Merkel said that everyone taking part wanted Greece to stay in the eurozone, “myself included”.

Mr Tsipras also met the heads of Greece’s three international creditors - the IMF, the European Commission and the ECB - in Brussels.

French President Francois Hollande said Greece and its creditors were “moving towards an accord” but there was “still work to be done”.

killed in Iraq

T

HE US says an air strike in Iraq has killed an Islamic State (IS) militant linked to an attack on a US diplomatic compound in Libya three years ago.

The Pentagon says Ali Awni alHarzi died on 15 June in the city of Mosul, which is controlled by IS. He was designated as a terrorist by the US Treasury and state department.

The US ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, was among four Americans killed in the Benghazi attacks in September 2012.

US officials blamed the attack on

militants linked to al-Qaeda.

The Pentagon described Harzi as “a person of interest” in the attack on the US compound.

It said he was an organisational intermediary who operated closely with extremists linked to IS - also known as Isil or Isis - throughout North Africa and the Middle East.

“His death degrades Isil’s ability to integrate North African jihadists into the Syrian and Iraqi fight and removes a jihadist with long ties to international terrorism,” Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

60

NEWS

RAMADAN KAREEM

Ramadan 7, 1436AH

Group cautions scholars against dangerous preaching From Abdulgafar Alabelewe, Kaduna

A

N Islamic group Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jama’ah Islamic Society (ASWAJIS), has urged scholars to avoid ‘dangerous’ preaching.

ASWAJIS said Muslims have been facing problems from negative ideologies by different sects.

The group issued communiqué in Kaduna by Sheikh Binyamin Yusuf and Abdul Waheed Abdul Azeez, its Chairman and Secretary, after a two-day training for Islamic preachers for Ramadan.

ASWAJIS said such preaching was alien to Islam.

The group enjoined Muslim preachers to acquired Islamic knowledge to guide their colleagues toward the path of truth.

“ASWAJIS hailed the new Federal Government, under the leadership of President Muhammad Buhari, in combating insurgency. It prayed for the success of the new government, especially in finding lasting solution to corruption, economy and insurgency.

The programme, third of its kind drew participants from Kaduna State and its environs.

Personalities at the event included: Sheikh Tukur Isa, the Chairman of Izalatul Bid’ah was Iqamatus Sunnah Society (JIBWIS), Kaduna State, Sheikh Muhammad Sulaiman, ASWAJIS Amir Sheikh Sani Yakubu, the head of JIBWIS, Zaria Chapter, among others.

•Lagos State Solicitor-General and former Lagos State Secretariat Mosque Executive Committee Chairman Mr Lawal Pedro (SAN) flanked by Shurah Council Chairman Alhaji Waliu Onibon (left) and and former 1st Vice Chairman Dr Tajudeen Afolabi during the Annual General Meeting (AGM of the Mosque at Alausa, Ikeja

Why I cancelled Ramadan gift, by El-Rufai

ALLAH forgiveth not (the sin of) joining other gods with Him; but the forgiveth whom He pleaseth other sins than this. One who joins other gods with ALLAH, hath strayed far, far away (from the right).

•Sheik Gumi backs governor’s decision From Abdulgafar Alabelewe, Kaduna

Qu’ran 4 vs 116 Sponsored by ALHAJI KHAMIS TUNDE BADMUS Asiwaju Musulumi of the Yorubaland

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

Challenge of Tafsir

I

T is understandable that most of the Tafsir books available in the world today are in Arabic language.

The language of the revelation of the Qur’an is Arabic.

Most of the companions of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who interacted closely with him and were privileged to deeply understand, through him, the interpretation of the Qur’an were Arabs. Ditto the disciples who followed their footsteps.

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

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

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

There is nothing like being literate in one’s mother tongue. The Arabs have demonstrated this abundantly through Tafsir. But since Tafsir of the Qur’an is not meant for the Arabs alone, shouldn’t there be a means of making it available to majority of Muslims in the languages understandable to them?

That is one major question which the global Muslim leadership was not able to answer for centuries but which technology has come to answer succinctly especially through the means of internet. Any Muslim scholar who is not computer literate today is therefore an illiterate cannot be strictly called a scholar.

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

•El-Rufai

K

ADUNA State Governor Malam Nasir El-Rufai has defended the cancellation of Ramadan gift by his administration, saying the process was fraudulent.

El-Rufai last week announced the discontinuation of the practice of distributing food items and gifts during Ramadan. But the decision has been criticised in many quarters.

The governor, while hosting religious leaders explained that the state is broke, and needs to tighten its finances to serve the people better.

The governor, who spoke yesterday through his aide on Media and Publicity, Samuel Aruwan said: “The government stopped issuing contracts to so called ‘super’ politicians to supply foods, beverages and other essentials as Ramadan gifts across the state because the process is entirely fraudulent

with nothing tangible to show for it, except playing to the gallery to score cheap political goals and fraudulently enrich a few individuals.”

Aruwan added: “It is a known fact that the so-called feeding of the poor during Ramadan is a window created to loot the public treasury with impunity using religion as a cover.

“Findings have revealed how it is mainly prominent politicians and influential personalities that benefit from the Ramadan and Christmas gifts instead of the so called ‘poor’.

“Food stuffs, bought with public resources, are distributed to prominent government officials and other personalities, while the poor in whose name those foods are procured queue in droves for crumbs and are constantly subjected to several forms of hardships and degrading circumstances after such sham gestures. The hundreds of millions of naira involved have not translated into visible feeding points in Kaduna.”

Aruwan explained further that, “the state government will no longer tolerate the siphoning of government re-

sources in the guise of gifts to prominent politicians, public servants and famous figures, or the feeding of indigent persons during religious occasions; neither will it be involved in sponsoring people.

“The governor is committed to always helping the needy in a transparent and sustainable manner. He is focused on providing sincere leadership, and that includes taking steps against the looting of the public treasury in the guise of feeding ordinary citizens who are deprived of social justice and basic amenities.

“The governor’s position is simple. He will not dip his hands into the public treasury or aid the swindling of public funds using religion as a cover. Instead his generosity to the poor will continue in his private status as a Muslim. His commitment to Zakat is constant and has been done for decades without any form of publicity.

“The governor encourages people of means to do the same in their private capacities, and not abdicate their religious duty to care for the less well-off to the government.

“This year, Malam Nasir El

Rufai and his friends are pooling resources to provide Ramadan feeding as private individuals to the vulnerable in our society.

“This is a healthy way of building a caring society, and if more widely adopted by people of means, will certainly provide for more persons than a fraudulent system of government provision that at best reaches only a few.”

Meanwhile, prominent Islamic scholar in the state, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, backed El-Rufai’s decision to cancel Ramadan welfare packages to religious bodies.

Gumi hailed the governor’s decision, saying the Ramadan package was not mandatory or compulsory.

According to him, “the government should focus more on the welfare of its civil servants rather than distributing package to other people during fasting period.”

Sheikh Gumi said it was wrong for any state government to owe its civil servants their monthly salaries.

He said if the economic situation in the state stabilises, the government can revisit the feeding programme.

Gawat’s case still mystery, says group

T

HE Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN), Lagos State Area Unit has lamented the continuous disappearance of an ace broadcaster and presenter of the popular E ji Sari programme, Alhaji Rasak Aremu Gawat.

In a Ramadan message, its Amir (President) Alhaji Kaamil Kalejaiye, bemoaned the inability of the security agents to unravel the circumstances behind Gawat’s sudden disappearance.

He described it as mystery.

According to Kalejaiye, the insecurity today is what has made the disappearance of Alhaji Gawat a mystery that has not been unravelled over the years.

He prayed for an end to

By Tajudeen Adebanjo

the incessant cases of kidnapping, killings and tanker explosions.

“As we also pray for the growth of Islam all over the world, we should not forget thousands of lives that have been lost to terrorism, the numerous people kidnapped and killed. We call on world leaders to support the oppressed in Egypt, Burma and Gaza.

“With the special month of Ramadan, hostilities and fatalities all over the world, such as Palestine, Yemen, Syria, Libya, and Ukraine among others should also end,” he said.

Kalejaiye enjoined Nigerian leaders to govern with the fear of Allah, saying

good leaders is key to the nation’s development.

“We should also supplicate for good governance.

Our country needs good leaders. Leaders that won’t be bias; leaders that won’t promote the demolition of Mosques and prevention of Hijab and encourage criminal activities,” he added.

He urged Muslims to increase their piety, right conducts and concerns for fellow brethren regardless of their locations.

According to him, a high level of dedication is needed from Muslims and Nigerians during the Holy Month for Allah’s mercies and blessings; national integration and development.

“It is an opportunity we must use to increase our pi-

•Alhaji Gawat

ety through regular acts of worship. I pray Allah grants us peace, harmony and religious understanding. This is indeed another opportunity to gain mercies and blessings of Allah; stand up now to worship your creator.”

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

61

NEWS Buhari presenting a souvenir to the out-going Ambassador of the State of Palestine to Nigeria, Dr Montaser Abuzaids, who paid him a farewell visit at the Presidential Villa in Abuja... yesterday.

Special Envoy from Cameroon, Mr Rene Emmanuel Sadi (left) presenting a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja... yesterday.

•L-R: Chairman, Corporate Governance, Steering Committee for the Development of The National Code of Corporate Governance, Victor Odiase; Chairman, Nigeria Philanthropy Forum, Mrs Onari Duke; Chairman, Heirs Holdings and Founder, Tony Elumelu Foundation, Mr. Tony O. Elumelu; Founder, African Women’s Development Fund, Mrs Bisi Fayemi; Executive Secretary/ CEO, Financial Reporting Council (FRC), Mr. Jim Obazee; CEO, Tony Elumelu Foundation, Parminder Vir; (Back row), Executive Director, Nigerian Network of NGOs, Mr Oyebisi Oluseyi and CEO, Dangote Foundation, Ms. Zouera Youssofou at the Tony Elumelu Foundation and Nigeria Philanthropy Forum consultation with the Financial Reporting Council on the draft of the Nonprofit Oganisations Governance Code held at the Heirs Holdings office, Ikoyi, Lagos.

•Executive Secretary, Amuwo Odofin Local Government, Deaconess Modupe Ajibola-Ojodu (second right); Council Manager, Mr. Segun Ajayi (right); Human Resource Officer, Mrs. Abiodun Balogun (second left) and Relationship Manager, Stanbic IBTC, Mr. Emeka Okunamiri, at an interactive session with the potential retirees of the local government, at the council secretariat, FESTAC Town, Lagos…yesterday.

Benue House members in fisticuffs

Be firm, APC governors tell Odigie-Oyegun

E

IGHT governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday met with National Chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and urged him to be firm.

The governors arrived at the secretariat after a meeting of the National Working Committee.

Governors Adams Oshiomhole (Edo), Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo), Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi), Nasir El-Rufai (Ka-

duna), Tanko Al Makura (Nasa Abubakar (Bauchi), paid an impromptu visit to the secretariat after their meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.

Oyegun, who left the venue at 5.18 pm did not speak to reporters.

But it was learnt that the governors were unhappy with the way the national secretariat handled the election into the leadership of the National Assembly.

•Vice Chancellor, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Prof. Joseph Ahaneku (left) greeting new Chancellor of the university, Gbong Gwom Jos, Da Jacob Buba when her visited the new Chancellor in Jos... yesterday.

T

•Odigie-Oyegun

HE Benue State House of Assembly sitting yesterday turned into a boxing arena as All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members engaged in fisticuffs.

The brawl started when Speaker Terkimbi Ikyange, brought up the issue of selection of principal officers.

The PDP claimed that the member representing Obi

State Constituency, Nick Eworo, was still a member of the party and as such they were still in the majority with 15 lawmakers against APC’s 14.

The APC members insisted that Eworo is a member of the party.

During the argument the APC member representing Makurdi South, Benjamin Adanyi and the PDP member

representing Makurdi North, Martin Aza engaged in a fisticuff for about eight minutes Their colleagues intervened to end the fight.

The Speaker ruled in favour of the APC and went ahead with the selection process that led to Benjamin Adanyi being named Leader; Nick Eworo, Deputy Majority Leader, and Titus Uba, Chief Majority Whip.

62

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

SPORT EXTRA

Mikel to hold Chelsea talks • Turkish club, Al Ain show interest in Eagles' ace

A

TOP source of the Super Eagles' midfielder, John Mikel Obi has told NationSport that the ace is having discussions with top

From Tunde Liadi,Owerri officials of the Stamford Bridge side, including Jose Mourinho to get the final decision on his future be-

• Mikel

fore he considers offers before him.

Mikel Obi is expected to leave Chelsea the club he joined in 2006 after nine years with the club. His brother, Ebele Obi has told NationSport that his elder brother is discussing with Chelsea, probably to officially tell the club he would like to end his romance with them after his bit playing role last season with the English Premier League champions.

Al Ain Sporting Club of the United Arab Emirates and an unnamed Turkey side have shown interest in acquiring the services of the Eagles' star. Ebele said NationSport that Mikel would make his new club public immediately he tells Chelsea he wants to leave.

Ebele, a goalkeeper with Heartland who is presently

out injured with a knee complaint, said Mikel would consider more than footballing reasons before agreeing to join a club, adding that his brother would miss Chelsea, London and the spotlight of the English press when he decides to leave the club that has brought him fame and fortune.

"For now, Mikel is locked in top discussions over his future. He will let people know in the next few days what the future holds for him. I believe he will make the right decision," Ebele Obi told NationSport.

Meanwhile, The Naze Millionaires' shot-stopper has however assured his fans that he would be fully fit of his knee injury woes and that very soon he would recover from the complaints to help his team.

2016 RIO OLYMPICS

MFON Adebutu pledges support for I’m okay Wheelchair basketball

A

MEMBER of the House of representative representing Remo Federal Constituency, Ladi Adebutu Kessignton has pledged financial support for the Nigeria wheelchair basketball team qualification for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The Nigeria Wheelchair basketball team will in September, participate at the Olympics qualifier holding in Algeria.

As a result of this, the businessman-cum politician whose love for special athletes is quite high at a meeting with the leadership of the Nigeria Wheelchair Basketball Federation (NWBF) promised to support the team’s quest to qualify for the Olympics and urged the players to ensure that they pick the Olympic ticket.

The member House of Representatives stated that he has seen the success of the federation hence his decision to contribute his quota to the team in its quest to making the country proud. ''It will be joy of every Nigerians to see your

team at the Olympics and as such will want you to go to Algeria and pick the Olympic ticket where I believe you will also make the country proud,” he said.

President of Nigeria Wheelchair Basketball Federation, Bukola Olopade expressed appreciation to the philanthropist and assured that the players would pick the ticket in Algeria, adding that he was

undergoing serious training and that th e federation will not leave any stone unturned to achieve this. '”We thank Honourable Ladi Adebutu Kessignton for his kind support to the federation and most importantly for associating with the special sports athletes, which shows that he is truly the man of the people and lover of sport,'' he said.

• Wheelchair basketball players during a tournament

N

IGERIA international Mfon Udoh has rubbished reports in a section of the local media which claimed that his career was under serious threat as he was suffering from stroke.

The Enyimba striker was not pleased with the malicious article, adding that the journalist failed to confirm the authenticity of the story from him before going to press.

“It’s disheartening to see journalist pick stories without confirming from the source,” Mfon Udoh said in a statement made available to allnigeriasoccer.com.

“How come, why did they write that I’m down with stroke when it’s obvious I’m doing fine.

“Is it the writer that gave me stroke? It’s really annoying to put such story out without speaking to me. It’s a big shame.”

It would be recalled that Mfon Udoh was excused from the national team get together a month ago after reporting to camp with an undisclosed ailment.

C’wealth gold medallist advocates for Dickson Wrestling Classics

C

OMMONWEALTH Gold Medallist, Aminat Adeniyi has appealed to Bayelsa State Government to ensure that the annual Governor Dickson National Wrestling Championship holds next month ahead of the 2015 All African Games scheduled for Congo Brazzaville.

The competition which is organised by the Nigeria Wres-

• Adeniyi

tling Federation in conjunction with Bayelsa State Government and always attracts athletes from the 36 states of the federation, FCT and various wrestling clubs in the country was last held in 2013.

Aminat who won gold at the last edition of the competition is already looking forward to this year’s edition which according to her will help to prepare the wres-

tlers ahead of this year’s All Africa Games.

“Attending the Governor Dickson Classics will no doubt keep us in shape because we hope to dominate the All Africa Games this year. But when you train and no competition, you will not be able to know your weaknesses. Even if they did not beat you, at least the coach will still notice the flaws in you. Since the federation has hinted us of the plan to hold the competition in July, I will appeal to the state governor to support them as he has been doing in the past,” she appealed.

President of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation, Hon. Daniel Igali had said this year’s edition of the Gov. Dickson Wrestling Championship might as well be used in place of the National Championship which is normally used for selection of athletes for major championships.

“We are hoping to have the Governor Dickson Classics next

month and hopefully by the middle or end of next month, we’ll have our national championships and trials for the African Games. We are looking at having a tournament in Romania sometime in the second week of July, so right after that we can go into our selection criteria.

“The Governor Dickson Classics has to take place because we have no choice. If we are lucky to have the Classics, then we could use that as the National Championship and go to Abuja to have the trials to select the team.

“So we are hoping that the tournament takes place this time around because it has been postponed twice. We’ve had fruitful discussion and I think it’s not as a result of lack of zeal on his part but issues of elections and I’m hoping now that the elections are over and since it’s an annual tournament in his name, we should be able to have it by July”, Igali said.

ALL AFRICA GAMES (AAG)

‘Selection process 'll be followed in raising taekwondo team’

G

EORGE Ashiru, President of the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF) says the selection of athletes for the 11th All Africa Games (AAG) will strictly be based on current form.

Ashiru, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Tuesday that past winners of gold and silver medals in various weight categories would be invited to national camping to take off sometime in July to defend their titles.

He said that the federation was committed to selecting the skilled taekowondoists that would be keen to win laurels for the country at the Games. ``We are optimistic that the National Sports Commission (NSC) will soon approve the commencement of national open camping next month, so that we can immediately invite our taekwondo practitioners for closed camping. ``The federation has records of performances of our taekwondoists from championships held so far, to guide us on those to make the camping.

There will also be internal trials too.

• Ashiru ``It is after these trials that we can come out with the authentic list of our representatives to the Games,’’ he added.

He said that a large number of the practitioners were abreast of the use of the electronic scoring device; in the past, we used to award points to athletes at continental and international events. ``We are certain that adequate provisions will be made to ensure that the athletes will be comfortable at the camping site, but I am not certain when it will take off,'' Ashiru said.

Organisers unveil plans for Konamii 2015 season 3

T

HE yearly Konamii football tournament organised by Change Africa Project for Orphanage Homes has been scheduled to hold on Saturday, July 25th, 2015 at the Campus Mini-Stadium, Lagos Island by 10am.

According to the President and Founder of Change Africa Project, Mr. Olamide Olabisi, the competition which started in 2013 and is now in the third season can be regarded as the first InterOrphanage Homes Competition in the whole of Nigeria and our aim is to make it the biggest charity football event in Africa. “And our dream as young men is to take this competition to Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, United Kingdom and other parts of the world”.

He went further to state that the event sees over 2,500 young and vibrant people gather under a football ambience but more importantly to support orphans with clothes, food, money, products and gift items. Though, every competition has got its own challenges which ours is not an exception and one of the many challenges we face includes: Inability of Sponsors to financially support the

event, insufficient time between our academics and visitation of orphanage homes, Volunteers not willing to render selfless service not also forgetting their activities not generating enough media attention.

The President feels inspite of this little challenges presently experienced we have made up our mind that proceeds received from gate earnings as well as financial support from individuals fifty percent will go to the homes with the remainder going to other pending projects.

In the same vein Vice President Event Management & Corporate Secretary, Mr. Kola Lawal, reiterated the organization’s commitment in years to come to raise the bar in terms of orphanage homes invited for the tournament which has always been two from Mainland and Island. “We wish to state that

by God’s grace this number next year should increase to probably eight until we touch every orphanage homes in Nigeria”. “Because truth of the matter is that after visiting the homes in 2013 we concluded within ourselves that the living conditions must be improved” He said.

• L-R. Head of Logistics and Finance, Babatunde Awodiji , Vice President , Event Management Kola Lawal, Vice President Intellectual Property Posi Lawore , Founder/President change Africa project , Olamide Olabisi , Vice President, Media and Publicity , Gbenga Sanusi , Head of Human Resource, Tofola Fabamwo.

THE NATION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

63

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

VOL.10 NO.3255

TODAY IN THE NATION ‘The current development in the National Assembly should provide the necessary opportunity and ammunition for the leadership of the APC to review and appraise its strategies, more so now that they have transformed from being in opposition to being the ruling party’ DELE AGEKAMEH

COMMENT & DEB ATE EBA

A

LL roads last Thursday led to No. 2 Dendo Road, off Ahmadu Bello Way, the commercial artery of Kaduna City.

The address houses perhaps the newest think tank in Nigeria and potentially the most influential. This is the Gusau Institute, the brainchild of Lt-General Aliyu Gusau Mohammed, until last month our defence minister and easily Nigeria’s longest serving spymaster if only because he holds the unique record of serving as the country’s National Security Adviser thrice.

On the said Thursday the Institute formally opened shop with a seminar on how Africa will possibly shape out in the world’s political economy by the year 2040, and which of its countries will play the leading roles in helping it begin to realize its potential. As debuts go it was hard to identify a better topic and a better keynote speaker.

This piece, however, will not dwell much on the seminar itself, incisive and thoughtprovoking as the keynote paper and the responses it provoked from the main respondent and the large and distinguished audience were.

According to the keynote speaker, Dr Jakkie Cilliers, Executive Director of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), a leading South African think tank, Africa may be rising, but by 2040 it is still unlikely to play more than a marginal role in the global political economy. Within the continent, however, the five biggest players, he said, would be Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, South Africa and, of course, Nigeria, its most populous country and biggest economy. “If,” he said in the summary of his paper, “Nigeria were to take the necessary steps that would see far-reaching changes to the governance issues and social challenges that currently beset the country, it could become Africa’s lone superpower.”

Without any doubt one of the big governance issues and social challenges facing the country, if not the biggest, is the Boko Haram terrorism which is widely regarded as a consequence of the bad governance that has bedevilled the country’s for almost all of its nearly 55 years of independence. It was hardly surprising therefore, that the chairman of the occasion and the country’s first Chief of Defence Staff and one of its finest officers and gentlemen, General Alani Akinrinade, contended in his opening remarks that perhaps the biggest task before the Gusau institute is to come up quickly with a military doctrine that can tackle the novel challenge of Boko Haram’s type of internal insurrection.

Of course there are other governance issues and social challenges besides Boko Haram.

There’s corruption. There’s unemployment.

There’s acute power and infrastructural deficits.

There’s illiteracy, laziness and inequity, etc. None of these is amenable to quick fixes. All which means the Gusau Institute has its job cut out for it, namely, to research into how these problems can be tackled and seek to influence public policy accordingly.

With one of the richest private libraries in the land – possibly richer than that of Arewa House, Kaduna, a think tank affiliated to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and certainly richer than the Kaduna State Library - coupled with the fact that its founder has arguably the most extensive global network of intelligence gurus among the country’s spymasters, the institute should be

RIPPLES DON’T USE YOUTHS TO FOMENT TROUBLE, says Governor

So they should use ADULTS...EHN?

People and Politics By

MOHAMMED H ARUNA ndajika@yahoo.com

The Gusau Institute: the new ‘kid’ on the block

•Gusau

able to live up to its promise of becoming one of the country’s topmost think tanks before long.

Already, its library which, according to its librarian, Mrs. Marlene Maritz, has over 17,000 titles and more than 25,000 books – many of the titles have more than one copy – is where post graduate students of most universities in Kaduna’s catchment area, notably the degree awarding Nigerian Defence Academy, the state’s own university and ABU, go to for up to date answers to issues in their research projects.

And since it started functioning quietly nearly two years ago, the library has, according to Mrs Maritz, donated thousands of books to universities, mostly to Kaduna State’s, and to secondary schools. Besides, the library has a rich trove of newspapers and magazines with plans to make them digital for easy reference. It also has an even richer e-library which can be accessed via wifi from the premises.

By all counts – the quality of the keynote paper, the quality and quantity of the audience, the clocklike efficiency of the organization, you name it – the institute’s inaugural lecture was a huge success. But, as the founder told this columnist in not exactly those words, you are only as good as your last outing. And so the institute is already planning to surpass, or at least match, Thursday’s

N

IGERIA’s own Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote has obviously been caught in the thrall of the White man’s long juju – football. And Arsenal Football Club is no doubt one major coves of worship. This is quite understandable. Yours truly too must confess upfront that he is also under the same spell of English football and a member of the Arsenal FC congregation.

Football indeed may well be the new religion, the new opium, the new global economy and even the future world order. Is it for nothing that the US recently started fiddling with FIFA? Or has the new power game just begun? Why are the Abramovichs, the Glazers, the Kroenkes, Usmanovs the Arab and Asian moguls taking positions in English and European leagues? Now Aliko has joined the fray. These fellows are no ordinary folks, they sure see farther than the rest of us.

Such is the growing importance of football that Aliko wishes to buy Arsenal – almost at all cost. He is pitching in a board that has strong American (Kroenke) and Russian (Usmanov) blocs. Over the years, the Gunners, as Arsenal is known, has grown to be among the greatest soccer landmarks not only of

seminar.

Next time the focus will reportedly be on domestic socio-political history, so to speak; the stories of the leading figures of the team without which Sir Ahmadu Bello, the first and only Premier of the North, would never have built a legacy which has remained unmatched and for which he has always been singularly praised. The moral of the seminar clearly would be that a tree does not make a forest, a thought that must surely be exercising the mind of our new president, Muhammadu Buhari, as he sets about bringing the “change” for which the nation, tired of so much barefaced venality and incompetence, elected him. One can only pray and hope that he is able to raise a team of such quality as Sir Ahmadu’s.

It is a measure of how great the great man’s legacy is that, as Professor Ango Abdullahi, vicechancellor of ABU over 30 year ago and the emergency respondent to the paper – the

scheduled respondent and current vicechancellor, Professor Ibrahim Garba, was unavoidably absent – pointed out, Sir Ahmadu’s last budget for 1966, the year he was assassinated in our first military coup, was equivalent to that of Kaduna North Local Government which is only one of the over 400 local governments that exist today in the North!

The Gusau Institute is, of course, only one of a relatively large number of think tanks this country can boast of. According to a global rating of think tanks by the University of Pennsylvania, USA, Nigeria, with 46 think tanks, ranks second only to South Africa with 87, in the number of such institutes in each country. These are, of course, puny compared to, say, America’s which has over 1,800 out of a global total of over 6,300.

But then America is centuries older than most African countries, is more populous than all of them and has a democracy with the richest economy in the world.

With 46 think tanks – and still counting – the Gusau Institute obviously has a lot to compete with. These come in various shapes and sizes.

There are state sponsored ones like the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Lagos, our own equivalent of Chatham House, London, and the Nigerian Institute for Social and Economic Research (NISER), Ibadan. There are party sponsored ones like those of the erstwhile ruling PDP and private ones like the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA), established in Abuja seven years ago by Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, until last month, our one and only Coordinating and Finance Minister.

Given its founder’s global connections, commitment and knowledge, the Gusau Institute should outclass most, if not all, of these in a not too distant future. Certainly it will be a key player in generating the ideas that should truly transform our country into the greatness destined for it by its size and resources, human and natural.

RE: SARAKI AS PRESIDENT OF THE 8TH SENATE Sir, Saraki needed not to have acted the way he did. He may have won even if the entire 109 senates participated in the election. Nobody would have cried foul. When God chooses a man, he makes him to endure; unlike when a man through desperate ambition chooses himself.

Funso Enoch, Ilesa, Osun State, +2348033779630.

Sir, Your piece in The Nation today (June 17) has revealed you as one of a very few writers and political commentators whose understanding of political science and its application to social reality is, to me, an embodiment of excellence. Majority of Bukola Saraki’s critics couldn’t even, perhaps because of bias and sentiments, fathom the principle of power separation. That was why some senators loyal to (Senator Ahmed) Lawal chose to attend a meeting arranged by APC when the President had even issued a proclamation which stipulated that sitting should commence at 10am. +2348025498722.

Sir, I had thought the election of Dogara as Speaker should have assuaged the fears of Christians in the North just like Akume if he had been elected Senate President. But you didn’t acknowledge this fact. For me you just set out to discredit Saraki and I am disappointed. +2348033315859.

Note: In the light of the controversy that this subject has continued to stir, I’ll publish more and longer reactions next week, God willing.

M.H. •For comments, send SMS to 08059100107

HARDBALL Aliko vs. Arsenal’s long juju England but in the football world. Nigeria alone would boast of no fewer than 10 million fans while its worldwide fan base would likely nudge the billion mark.

This is no doubt a huge global brand that could be deployed to sell even products as lugubrious as cement. This may explain why Aliko, Nigeria’s own Midas has been under the spell of this football club and insists he must own it if not today, certainly, tomorrow.

He had made the first bid to acquire substantial interest five years ago but was apparently rebuffed.

He was not deterred. Aliko said recently that he had been a fan for about 30 years when he was taken to watch Arsenal by David Dein, a one-time major shareholder and grandee of the club. And here is what the multi-billion dollars mogul thinks: “What I always say is that money doesn’t have colour. It doesn’t matter whether you are from Africa or

•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above anywhere in the world. The colour of money is the same. Once I put money on the table, they will not think if I am an African.”

Aliko also debunked the notion by some commentators that he is setting about some form of vanity investing in which he is bound to lose money. He said pointedly that the club is doing well and requires just another strategic direction for it to do even better.

Well, Hardball has one or two frank words for Aliko here: first, without discounting his deep business acumen, football doesn’t seem like such a money spinner; it seems more an ego business.

Second point is that it would take some doing and an unduly large cash too to hand Arsenal to an African.

Finally, Aliko’s charity must begin from home. Kano, his home state is teeming with a horde of sports-crazy youth who have scarce opportunity to express themselves or get discovered. Kano could use some modern sporting facilities for catching and grooming young talents. Aliko can help in this regard before he buys Arsenal.

Published and printed by Vintage Press Limited. Corporate Office: 27B Fatai Atere Way, Matori, Lagos. P.M.B. 1025,Oshodi, Lagos. Telephone: Switch Board: 08034505516.

Editor Daily:08111813080, 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